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Saturday 18 June 2011

Giveaway and more Baby Swing

First things first - Bev has moved her Wee Stitchy Blog to Wordpress.  I can't say I blame her, it's been over a month now and Blogger still isn't right plus there is Radio Silence from the officials.  Anyway she's having a giveaway to welcome people to her new home here.

Here's the latest on Baby Swing:

There's one more leaf to go in at the end of that liana on the right and the flowers need some long-stitch on top of the cross stitches.  Then I have some metallic backstitch to do in apple green (or the closest I have in my stash). And finally the swing ropes.  These are tricky!  You take 4 strands of 2 different colours, come up at one point then a long straight stitch down another, then you fix them using a "surget point" in a 3rd colour.  At the rope ends you cut all 6 strands off on the front of the fabric to make a frayed rope end. The instructions are half in English and half in French so you have to read very carefully and look at the picture ALOT.
The symbols are quite confusing too, there are a set of symbols for DMC in 2 strands and a different set for DMC in 1 strand.  However the wings are stitched in 2 strands but half stitches and sometimes the symbol is found in the 2 strand section and sometimes in the 1 strand.  The half stitches are clever, the left hand wing they go \\\\ and the right hand wing they go //// which is a lovely effect.
I also substituted the flesh tones, they suggest 3825 and 3856 which frankly are orange.  I subbed 758 and 950 which usually go with 3064 and 951 on most other skins I've stitched.
The designer was very helpful when I emailed her to ask what colour the metallic No 25 is, so when I've finished stitching I'll email her a pic with my comments.  And hope she's not offended!!   It really is the most beautiful stitched piece and I know my friend will love it.  My only problem is - she has two other children!  I'm teaching her to stitch so she can make them something too.

Thanks for the comments on my previous post, it's so nice to know other people are extroverts who need to be alone sometimes!  I learned about this on a course I took, the tutor was explaining people are not simply introvert or extrovert.  Some introverts get depressed if they are alone too much and actually need people around them to thrive.  Not all extroverts are the "life and soul of the party" type, you won't find me dancing on the tables or doing karaoke.  But I had to speak in the school assembly yesterday to 250 children (and a dozen teachers) and I was nervous beforehand.  We'd organised a competition to find which was the greenest class in their method of travel to school (eg walk or bike or scooter).  The reaction when I announced the competition winners was worth it though!  The winning class were so excited even before I told them what they'd won.  They got a certificate each, a sticker, a pencil and an extra playtime - you'd think I'd sent them to Disneyland from the excitement!

It's International Hermit and Stitch weekend this weekend so of course I'm out on a meal tonight!  It's Father's Day tomorrow so not sure how much I'll get done - have to make sure the boys spoil their Daddy.

11 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi, just leaving a quick note to let you know that you have a new reader. :) I'm a first-time participant in the IHSW and decided to take a peek at all of the blogs whose owners had signed up for it. I like your stitching and your stories, so I ended up adding this blog to my Google Reader. :)

We Finns celebrate Father's Day in November, so I plan to spend the whole of tomorrow with my stitches - I'm working on Fairy Wishing Well by HAED and I'm totally behind from my goal. Good luck with Baby Swing, looks really good so far. :)

Mouse said...

ooooo it looks lovely :0 mmmm the rope bit sounds fun ???? hope you can sort it out ok :) have fun on your IHAS weekend :) love mouse xxxx

Gabi said...

Baby swing looks great. I like your color choices. The skin is looking just great.

wendy111 said...

Baby is looking lovely, I like the descriptions of the challenges faced and the end result will be much loved by your friend

Unknown said...

I started Fairy Wishing Well in December 2009, so I've been working on it for about a year and a half. I also have other WIPs that I want to finish, so I can't dedicate as much time to it as I would like to, but I plan to have it done by 2020. :P

You're right in that HAEDs take just about forever to stitch (Fairy Wishing Well has around 220 000 stitches and 90 different colours in it...), but the finished pieces are so gorgeous that I think it will be worth the time and effort. You just need to choose your HAED very carefully so that you won't get bored with it during the 5-10 years it will take to finish it! (Of course, a lot of people stitch faster than I do, so for them it might be more like 2-5 years.)

Giovanna said...

What a cutie! You're really cruising along with it, Jo, great going!

Lissanne said...

This is sooo cute! How adorable! I can't wait to see more!

Joysze said...

Jo, LOL... like a dork I clicked on the link that was incorrect and sat here for the longest time puzzled. Of course, it being 2:30am probably didn't help.

I looooove baby swing. He's so darn cute. Ooh, the rope should be fun to do. Can't wait to see. How was Father's Day celebration?

anojaa said...

I also clicked on the link, and didn't understand a thing. And I don't have any excuse except maybe that now is nap time :)
Baby swing is so cute! And you've almost re-designed the chart ;)

Jo who can't think of a clever nickname said...

The funny thing about the wrong link is - I didn't mispell the hard word "serendipitous" I mispelt "blogspot"!

Heli, the longest I have worked on one piece continously is 6 months for TW's Castle and a bluebell wood piece for a friend. I cannot imagine having one piece on the go for 5 years!! I'll just stitch vicariously through you guys :-)

Kaisievic said...

So lovely to come back and read a retrospective post, Jo, don't think that I knew you when you were working on this design - lol!