Blonde Stircher's Progress - the birds are FINISHED 4/5

[BlondeStitcher]

Okay as promised, pictures of my current work.

The first piece is called Feasting Frenzy and its a kit on 18ct aida. I started this on 1/1/14 and actually was only half way done on 1/1/15 so I have picked up the pace lately. I only have 5 birds to finish then a backstitching nightmare ahead of me.

Here is a photo of the sample:


And here is where I am at:


I also started a stocking this week. This one is the Dimensions Christmas Sled kit on 16ct aida.I decided to try gridding this one, I think I will be glad I did this, but it just made me crazy and I actually stopped a few rows short. Figure if this one also takes me over a year I will be willing to grid by the time I get to the toe. I am also using this piece to figure out how I feel about and will use parking. I wish I had known about parking for the birds it wouldve made doing the feeder much easier as I hate counting past 5 and all those mixed colors drove me nuts.

Anyways heres the completed stocking:


Here is my start:


I love the way the purple and the blue blend in the top sky part. However I really do not like the color of the tree on the right side, I know its really difficult to see in the picture. But its suposseed to be a birch or aspen tree and the colors just seem wrong. The left side is beige, which is fine but the right side is done in a lavender color. Am half tempted to go find my own colors to make up the tree and try again before I reach the rest of the tree.

I took these pictures Saturday morning and stitched quite a bit this weekend. I figure I will post an update once a week.

[rcperryls]

Love the birds and you have made beautiful progress on it. Looking forward to your next update!
The stocking is going to be great also. It's hard to know what to make of the lavender on the tree, but it is possible that has to do with shading? I know that sometimes when stitching a piece I cannot for the life of me figure out why the designer chose green or purple or orange or some other color that doesn't seem to make sense until the whole section is stitched. Then again, it could be something strange. I wouldn't make any decision until you get to that part of the stitching. You can always choose a color you are more comfortable with.

Carole

[fccs]

I agree with Carole about not rushing into a color change on the tree. I've done a few Dimensions kits where I questioned the colors, but they usually ended up being just fine. It's going to be very pretty.

And I like seeing the Feasting Frenzy as I have that one in my stash, and since it will be awhile before I can start it, I can enjoy yours until I do.

[mouselady]

These are both beautiful projects and you are doing a great job on them. I'm not really into Christmas stockings, but that one is really pretty. Can't wait to see more of each!

[Rose]

Those are both wonderful projects and you are getting on very well with them. I agree with the ladies when they say to wait and see how it looks when you actually have a bit more of it stitched sometimes colors change when they are combined with browns or greys or blues and they really make the picture perfect. But when they are standing alone they look wrong and you think oh that just can't be right.

[msufly]

Both projects look great! I want to try my hand at making a stocking in the future but the finishing is scaring me off right now.

[fccs]

Both projects look great! I want to try my hand at making a stocking in the future but the finishing is scaring me off right now.

The finishing isn't really difficult at all. I figure if I can do it, anyone can. I say go for it! The hardest part of making a stocking is picking out just the right one for each person.

[wendywombat]

Well done! Feeding Frenzy is really lovely...I love bird subjects!

About the back stitching.... When there's a lot of back stitch it helps to do some as you go. Believe me! I really does help!!!

[BlondeStitcher]

Both projects look great! I want to try my hand at making a stocking in the future but the finishing is scaring me off right now.

Thanks for all the support everyone! I am totally in a Christmas craze right now and just decided I loved the look of stockings and had to do some ( it doesnt help overstock has most of the dimensions stockings 30-50% off right now). But like you msufly I have no idea how im going to finish it. I dont even own a sewing machine! perhaps my mother who is an excellent seamstress will finish them for me.

Well done! Feeding Frenzy is really lovely...I love bird subjects!

About the back stitching.... When there's a lot of back stitch it helps to do some as you go. Believe me! I really does help!!!

I did some of the back stitch a while ago and figured I would do each bird as I finished him but then I ran into lots of exceptions to the rule, like I had the bird done, but not the area where his feet would go and didnt want to forget any details so I gave up until the end. I am still not confident in my back stitching skills and might start a thread looking for advice on how to tackle some of the more complex areas of this chart.

[tiffstitch]

Beautiful projects! I love that stocking, and seeing Feeding Frenzy stitched up again is great.

[calico]

I love your progress on Feasting Frenzy!!! I have that as a wip and seeing yours makes me want to work on mine! I've decided to backstitch as I go but anyway you look at it, it's still backstitch and that's probably why I've put it in the wip bin
I love the sticking, too!!!

[lavenderbee]

The birds are just great You have stitched them nicely & they are lovely & colourful. Good luck with backstitching. Other project looks good & look forward to updates

[BlondeStitcher]

Okay so here is my progress on the birds this week. I finished all the shades of yellow! all I have left are the blacks and greys and im done with the full stitches.



I also worked on the stocking a bit but figured I would wait until I have the whole section done before sharing as its just a solid block of red.

Hope everyone is staying warm with the freezing tempeatures across most of the US. And glad to hear everyone survived the storms in Australia.

[Rose]

Beautiful work!!!!!!

[karen4bells]

Great update!!!

[rcperryls]

Beautiful update!!

Carole

[agi]

Lovely projects! Can't wait to see the birds come really alive with the backstitch. Think about this and perhaps you will enjoy it.

[BlondeStitcher]

So I havent posted in a while becuase I have slowed waay down on my stitching. Part of that is becuase I started in on the red strip at the top of the stocking and its sooo boring! I got bored when there were over 1000 stitches left in the same color red to go! Anyways I decided to make a deal with myself that I would move on to the next section ad long as I stitched at least one thread worth of red everytime I picked it up. Well now I caught up to where I am in the red and am really frustrated by how slow I am going. How do you handle really really boring sections?

[wtnlvr]

No easy answer to that. I did a project that started with a gazillion colors of blue sky. So boring as the main focus was a castle and a dragon-LOL. Just keep your eye on the prize as they say and keep on stitching. Could you move down on the left side and start a different color in the design? Just a thought.

[Rose]

Oh this is difficult, and your plan sounds like a really good one. One or two lengths of red and then you can continue with the other more fun parts. Or maybe you could pick up a small project to do as well as the stocking. Then you could reward your boring stitches with a whole different design.