An Unexpected Finish

I've been working on my Autumn Tree lately. I finished all of the leaves and started to work on the 'wind' element. I had chosen a beautiful HDF blue silk that matched the richness and intensity of the leaves, but from the first stitch I knew that I didn't like it. I hoped that the colour would grow on me like the leaves had, so I kept stitching. No such luck. After 3 lengths of thread, I couldn't stand it any more, and I frogged it all out. I LOVE the tree as is and I think the leaves worked out beautifully. I think I'll take artistic license and leave the wind off the piece.

And so ... my Autumn Tree is suddenly finished!! Yay!

What do you think?

I've added a few leaves in golden yellow to my Autumn Tree. What do you think?

I'm undecided so far. I want to love it, but am not entirely sure that I do.

This project is done on 28 ct cashel linen from Picture This Plus (of course I can't remember the exact colour name). I've used HDF variegated silks in Kodiakery, Terra Firma, Marque des Cercles, and Old Blue Eyes.

August IHSW Update

I participated in IHSW again. (International Hermit and Stitch Weekend hosted by Joysze at Random Ramblings - check out her blog to see details and follow everyone's progress.)

Since it was my birthday weekend, not as much hermitting happened as I would have liked, but I still managed to get a little stitching done.

I worked exclusively on Autumn Tree this weekend. When I started on Friday, it was just a brown trunk with branches, but now the orange leaves on one half of the tree are completed. Once the orange leaves are done I can start adding the golden yellow ones!

Here's where I got to:

I must admit that I really don't like stitching on linen. The roughness and unevenness bugs me! The camera catches all of the imperfections that I hate. Thankfully it's not as bad in real life.

Double Update

I've made a little bit of progress on two different projects.

First, my little Autumn Tree is now a whole tree sans leaves and wind.

Second, the poppy in Drama Queen is starting to POP and some more background got done too.

LIke I need another new start ...

I recently returned from a 3 week vacation abroad, having taken along my HAED BB SAL QS Terra to stitch on (which I really don't enjoy THAT much), and I crazily decided once I got home that I needed a new start. All of the projects I have going at the moment - Home Sweet Home, Drama Queen, QS Terra - are all huge projects (56, 16, and 6 pages respectively). I needed a littler project where I could see a finish in the near future.

And so, I pulled out an already kitted up project - what I call Autumn Tree. If you are a long time reader, you might remember that about a year ago I stitched an Alessandra Adelaide tree for my brother as a family heirloom. Well, I'm now working on its little brother. I'm stitching the same tree pattern, but this time it is 1 over 1 on hand-dyed 28 ct Cashel linen (from Picture This Plus via my LNS) and the leaves on the tree will be orange and gold instead of green. As before, I'm back to using my beloved variegated Vicki Clayton HDF silks. They are beyond lovely to work with! I'm planning to make this my mom's Birthday or Christmas present, depending on when I finish it.

Without further ado, my start:

Walk in for one thing, walk out with something else entirely

I popped by my LNS today, not really for any reason in particular, just to poke around and look at the new things that had come in and ask about some beads I'd ordered.

After checking out the latest patterns, I headed straight for the hand-dyed fabrics and accidently found a great light brown 28 ct linen. Now I don't really like working with linen, but the colouring on this piece just called to me. So I picked it up (along with another piece that I liked, but not as much) and wandered over to the wall of thread. Specifically, I headed to the varigated HDF silks. Oh man I love silks ... they are beyond lovely! Next thing I know I was tossing silks onto my fabric and ideas for a project flooded my brain.

This is what I ended up with ...

If you recall, a few months ago I stitched an Alessandra Adelaide Needleworks design of a tree for my brother. Well, ever since I've wanted to stitch it again but in autumn colours. I think this might become another family heirloom. This time I'll give it to my mom, as those colours will suit her house perfectly. I plan to stitch it over 1 as well; it'll be a tiny tree!

HSH - Page 1 Finished!

Over the holidays I managed to finish page 1 of my HAED Home Sweet Home. It took me about 3 weeks to stitch, though at the end I was stitching 5-6 hours a day since I was on holidays.

While at my parent's place, I remembered to take pictures of the framed AAN tree that I stitched for my brother.

AAN Tree - Finished but not framed yet

I finished the tree ... finally! It feels like I've been working on it for a long time, but in reality it took me just over a month to stitch it. I'm a little impressed with myself.

I think it looks stunning. Not quite how I'd pictured it in my head before I started, but I love how it turned out.

I will admit that I am now totally hooked on stitching with Vikki Clayton's hand-dyed silks. They are so lovely to work with and they add a whole new dimension to the project.

The Tree ...

I was so hoping to finish this tree before I had to leave for the weekend, but alas, it is not to be. (I'm headed to my brother's place for his 40th birthday party, so I can't take it with me.) I am very close though!! The tree itself and all of its leaves are complete, and I'm over halfway done the wind. I think it looks magnificent! I'm very proud of it. (And I'm contemplating stitching an autumn coloured variation of it sometime next year.)

Still Growing ...

I haven't been able to touch anything else since I started this piece. Now I have to put it down :( because I've run out of silk. Hopefully I can pick up some more later this week.

I think it's looking just gorgeous though.

A few more curly-ques on the far right branch, 6 leaves, the main trunk of the tree and the wind and I'll be done. Not that much more to go to be honest. :)

It's Growing!!

I haven't been able to put this piece down! It's a simple stitch and I'm finding it very relaxing. (Besides, all I'm doing in my other projects is backstitching at the moment ~ bleck!)

You can see some of the subtle variation in the threads in this picture. I can't wait till it's all done! I'm curious to see how the wind turns out at the bottom.

Albero Delle Fiabe by AAN (It's a tree)

Years ago my brother somehow acquired an old piece of embroidery that my grandmother stitched and hung it with pride in his house. He sweetly refers to it as a family heirloom. I decided that a new stitched piece would make a great Christmas gift ~ a "new" family heirloom.

I choose to stitch Albero Delle Fiabe by Alessandra Adelaide Needleworks.

While I don't love the monochromatic model, I do love the shape and flow of the tree. When I give it to my brother I'm going to call it a Family Tree Heirloom. I think he might get a kick out of that.

I'm stitching it on 18ct ivory Davosa evenweave and it's stitched with hand-dyed silk. I've never worked with silk before, but I am LOVING it. So soft, so supple and the delicate variation in colour is awesome. I've customized the colour scheme and given the piece a more natural look:

So far it's been a fun and easy stitch. I'm so excited about finishing this and seeing my brother's reaction. Actually, I like this design so much I might just have to stitch it again for me. :)