Author |
Message |
Sia
Member
03-11-2002
| Friday, September 17, 2004 - 3:33 pm
Just one more; I am sorry to bore you with these things:

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Vee
Member
02-23-2004
| Friday, September 17, 2004 - 3:54 pm
Oh, that's sweet, Sia, and so true, too!
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Texannie
Member
07-16-2001
| Friday, September 17, 2004 - 4:21 pm
Those are wonderful! I quit mine. 
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Marysafan
Member
08-07-2000
| Sunday, January 02, 2005 - 2:18 pm
I am a counted cross stitch fiend! I got hooked back in the 1980's. I have the first piece I ever did hanging in my kitchen right now. It is a Christmas sampler and it says I stitched it in 1983, although I swear it couldn't have been 21 years ago!!! Yikes! I've been doing this a LONG time! I had always finished one piece before starting another, but was always intrigued by folks who said that they had several projects going. Well, I tried that and the next thing you know...I had four unfinished pieces that I had no desire to finish. I took a break for a few months...(Ok maybe a year or so)...but then made myself go back and attempt to finish those pieces. One was a "Tribute to a Fireman" which was a computer generated graph (NEVER AGAIN!!!). The second was a Leisure Arts graph titled "Daisy Girl" which was a little girl in a dress and a bonnet standing in a field of daisies. It reminded me of my youngest daughter when she was small. The third was from Paula Vaughan's "Quilts of the Bible" book called "Jobs Tears". It is the eighth one from that book that I have done. And the fourth was a pattern from Lavender and Lace called "Nantucket Rose" where I made a mistake that I couldn't find or figure out how to correct. It was my first piece stitched on linen over two threads...and it wasn't as easy as I thought it would be! Well, I finally took the bull by the horns and finished Daisy Girl because she was almost done. Then The Tribute to the Firemen because it was the most difficult. Then I tackled that mistake in Nantucket Rose, and am nearly finished with it. (Should be done in the next week or so if all goes well) And finally, I only have to finish the outlining and detail on the sewing machine for Job's Tears. I have even picked out my next project which will be the "Angel of Freedom" by Lavender and Lace. I purchased the material online and can't wait to get it started...but NOT before I finish these last two projects. I know that I have stitched well over a hundred pieces, most of them charts by Paula Vaughan. The secret for me...was the way to start each thread. A friend of mine taught me that when stitching with two strands (which is what I usually do) to take a length of thread and fold it in half, inserting both ends through the needle. Then when you take your first stitch you don't pull it all the way through, but have a loop underneath. Then you bring your needle back down...and take it through the loop and you have a good anchor for your first stitch...and you are off! Until then I was forever having problems anchoring my thread at the start trying to hold it in place while stitching over it. The "loop" method made all the difference. I not only make photocopies of the charts...I enlarge them! Then highlight or color in the part I have finished. Starting in the center is also key for me, and I use the fold the fabric method as described above. I have so many patterns and charts that my stash status is officially SABLE. (Stash Above and Beyond Life Expectancy). But I am always looking at new patterns. My grandmother taught me to cross stitch when I was a little girl on the stamped pieces, but when I was introduced to counted cross stitch...there was no going back. Last week, my granddaughter expressed an interest...so soon I will teach her as I taught her mother. Hopefully the tradition will continue and someone will get to stitch all these charts I have acquired over the years.
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Marysafan
Member
08-07-2000
| Thursday, January 06, 2005 - 8:45 am
Well...I guess writing about my unfinished work got me motivated because I finished "Job's Tears" by Paula Vaughan yesterday. Those lazy Daisy stitches on the sewing machine were boogers, but we got through it! Woo hoo! Now I have just a little more of the greenery to finish on "Nantucket Rose" that I would like to get finished before my new material arrives. I miscounted the charts I had completed in the Quilts of the Bible series. Job's Tears was only the seventh one I have completed, so I am starting King David's crown. I am stitching these on Aida 18 which is pretty small because I want to use them as quilt squares some day. Perhaps one of my daughters will be able to have them made into an heirloom quilt someday.
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Jasper
Member
09-14-2000
| Sunday, December 04, 2005 - 2:26 pm
I now have a digital camera so you are all going to be subjected to pics of my projects: Finished:

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Jasper
Member
09-14-2000
| Sunday, December 04, 2005 - 2:27 pm

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Jasper
Member
09-14-2000
| Sunday, December 04, 2005 - 2:28 pm

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Jasper
Member
09-14-2000
| Sunday, December 04, 2005 - 2:29 pm
In progress

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Jasper
Member
09-14-2000
| Sunday, December 04, 2005 - 2:32 pm
I have some others of wizards but they are on black backgrounds and the pics end up over the allowable size. I would love to get some of these professionally framed but what a price tag that is! I became addicted to xstitching to relax and love it. I can't tell you how many kits are awaiting me in my stash. As well these are from a little kit I bought to make some xmas cards, they turned out very cute:

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Wendo
Member
08-07-2000
| Sunday, December 04, 2005 - 2:53 pm
Very nice Jasper.
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Native_texan
Member
08-24-2004
| Tuesday, December 06, 2005 - 1:27 pm
I love counted x-stitch. I have five Paula Vaughan patterns matted, framed and hanging in my living room. I prefer working with linen and one of the hardest pieces I ever did was on black linen for a gorgeous wedding sampler. I have Christmas stockings that I still have to put together. My favorite is my Christmas tree skirt. It took me several years to find one that was big enough and it took me almost a year to complete it. I tease my mom who x-stitches occasionally because the backs of my projects are so neat and hers are a jumble of thread. I just got a new digital camera also so I guess I'll have to come back and show some of them off.
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Native_texan
Member
08-24-2004
| Tuesday, December 06, 2005 - 1:30 pm
Oops! Posted twice.
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Jasper
Member
09-14-2000
| Tuesday, December 06, 2005 - 8:54 pm
Thanks Wendo and I would love to see your work Native. My backs are very neat as well (Mom's not so neat either, lol) . My mom and I did stockings for everyone, she is the expert sew-er so she pieced everything together. We did 15 altogether and then I did two more for another niece and nephew on my dh's side. They are gorgeous. 90% of the things I have done are on aida or a few anne cloth projects. I have one of a beautiful fairy on linen that is waiting but I don't have a lot of experience on linen. I have kits of a series of wizards that I have done one of and love how they look on the black, all the thread colours are jewel tones. I can't imagine how painstaking one would be on black linen! You are a true craftswoman.
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Native_texan
Member
08-24-2004
| Wednesday, December 07, 2005 - 2:40 pm
Jasper, it could be because I prefer it, but I don't find linen any harder to work with than Aida. I believe it gives the project a more professional, and sometimes a more heirloom, look. The black linen was very hard to work with but the result was gorgeous and greatly appreciated by the couple I made it for.
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Marysafan
Member
08-07-2000
| Monday, January 02, 2006 - 11:47 am
Native Texan, I am anxiously awaiting pictures of your work. Which Paula Vaghan's do you have? I just gave Perfect Patterns by Paula (How's that for alliteration!) to my daughter. It was probably one of the most intricate pieces I've stitched. The house in it looks a lot like our house, and we have cats, and I love quilts,...so it reminded her of me. Jasper! I love your work especially the English cottage scene and that bear!! The piece you are working on now looks like a lot of work, but those are usually the most rewarding. My angel is coming along. I need to get back to her now that the holidays are over...just for the record...I am not nuts about stitching with metalic thread...and the single stars...are a nuisance! lol!
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Jasper
Member
09-14-2000
| Tuesday, January 03, 2006 - 11:30 am
Thanks Mary. I thought being laid up that I could get lots of needlework done but I have yet to find a comfortable position to do it in. PS I hate the metallic thread as well! Always seems to start to shred. Any tips anyone?
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Jasper
Member
09-14-2000
| Sunday, July 23, 2006 - 2:00 pm
My latest, I just finished putting a backing and the binding on (never used it before, a bit finicky, but I'm pleased, not perfect but OK)
 
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Prisonerno6
Member
08-31-2002
| Sunday, July 23, 2006 - 4:47 pm
That's lovely!
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Mameblanche
Member
08-24-2002
| Monday, July 24, 2006 - 3:53 am
Very cute. You are so talented!
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Lumbele
Member
07-12-2002
| Monday, July 24, 2006 - 9:24 am
What a lot of work you have put into this baby quilt, Jasper. It is gorgeous! How long did you work on this one?
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Jasper
Member
09-14-2000
| Monday, July 24, 2006 - 9:41 am
Thank you all, now I need to find someone to give it to! I started this one when I was laid up in January because I could work on it in bed, then I left it alone for a while. Probably all told about 4-5 months of evening TV.
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Heyltslori
Moderator
09-15-2001
| Monday, July 24, 2006 - 9:45 am
Jasper, your work is beautiful!!
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Yellek
Member
08-22-2001
| Monday, July 24, 2006 - 12:55 pm
Wow, I didn't know there was a crosstitch thread here! (haha, crosstitch thread sounds kind of like a pun) I just have to share my two favorite projects now. This one is from a kit and has lots of beading on it which is hard to see in the image.
This one I used PCStitch to scan my wedding photo in and then stitched it for my parents. It's on 40ct fabric which was so tiny I could only use a single strand of thread and half-stitches for each!

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Jasper
Member
09-14-2000
| Monday, July 24, 2006 - 3:58 pm
All I can say is Wow Yellek, very nice!
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