My 2014 projects UPDATED 15/9/14 A new Finish

[tausigma]

Hi,

I'm relatively new to the forum but I love all the sharing of ongoing projects (or WIP as I have learned recently )
So I thought I will share mine as well.
At the moment I have several smaller projects and I'm starting my first HAED as well though I have already problems with it and would appreciate some help.

I started with a kit from Dimensions "Rose Cuttings". It's 14ct Aida, 2 over 2. Quite easy to stitch.


It's coming along nicely, I love the colour of the roses.


Then I fell in love with the designs from Ink Circles. They are all so pretty. I decided to start with a smaller one, Damask Square, which I'm stitching 2 over 2 on 28ct Lugana with DMC's 4025 variegated thread. It's the first time I'm using variegated thread and I had to change my stitching a bit as I normally would do a row half crosses first and would do the top strand on the way back, which doesn't work well with this kind of thread.



Then I saw some blackwork in someone's post and had to start one myself. I got Ciara Blue from Blackwork Journey.



I started stitching on 28ct evenweave but as you can see the fabric isn't woven evenly! Already there is a difference of 1cm between height and width and I stitched only 1/4 of the design. I have to find a better fabric and restart this.




Meanwhile I found a Renato Parolin design on my holidays in France. It's going to be huge! It's stitched 2 over 2 on 40ct Edinburgh linen. And the design is 124 x 762. So far there are only two little deer



And then I started my first HAED yesterday. I bought Garden of Delight by William Morris. I love these amazing tapestries. It will look like this:


I chose a 25ct Lugana, and stitched 2 over 1. And you can see I didn't get very far. The 2 over 1 is so bulky you can't even recognise the cross anymore. But with 1 over 1 the coverage isn't good enough for the darker parts (I test-stitched at the edge). So now I don't know what to do. I'm considering using a 20ct Bellana but then the whole thing will get bigger than my biggest frame or I could do 1 over 1 on 28 ct. But that will be tiny


These are all my WIPs. What do you think?

[Squirrel]

WOW what a fabulous lot of new starts you have there. Love the Roses - and it is absolutely beautiful when its all done too. A friend of mine did it and I loved watching it grow - so I will enjoy watching yours grow too.

The Ink Circles is beautifully intricate and delicate and what an amazing blackwork design that is - I must not get this - Imust not

The 2 deer are gorgeous and as for your William Morris design its awesome and is going to be so beautiful when its done.

Thank you for sharing your lovely new starts.

[Allyn]

You've got some very lovely starts going.

.....I chose a 25ct Lugana, and stitched 2 over 1. And you can see I didn't get very far. The 2 over 1 is so bulky you can't even recognise the cross anymore. But with 1 over 1 the coverage isn't good enough for the darker parts (I test-stitched at the edge). So now I don't know what to do. I'm considering using a 20ct Bellana but then the whole thing will get bigger than my biggest frame or I could do 1 over 1 on 28 ct. But that will be tiny ...

The 28 ct over 1 won't be a whole lot smaller than the 25 ct over 1 (approx. 14x21 vs 12.5x19), but probably small enough that the coverage will be better with one thread. If you like the size of the 25 ct, you could do 2 over 1 but do tent stitches instead of full crosses. That will reduce the bulkiness.

[rcperryls]

WOW what a fabulous lot of new starts you have there. Love the Roses - and it is absolutely beautiful when its all done too. A friend of mine did it and I loved watching it grow - so I will enjoy watching yours grow too.

The Ink Circles is beautifully intricate and delicate and what an amazing blackwork design that is - I must not get this - Imust not

The 2 deer are gorgeous and as for your William Morris design its awesome and is going to be so beautiful when its done.

Thank you for sharing your lovely new starts.

I completely agree with everything Sally said.
For your HAED I know exactly what you are talking about. We have had a lot of threads about HAED fabric sizes and types of fabrics that work best. Most recently this thread which should provide you with some help. Allyn's suggestion of trying tent stitching is a good one, IMHO. I personally like the coverage that tent stitching using 2 strands of thread on 28 ct fabric.

Carole

[fccs]

Those are all fantastic, but I especially like the Renato Parolin. I don't think I could ever do something that large without losing my mind, but I sure hope you'll keep us updated because it's going to be gorgeous!!

[karen4bells]

Love all of your projects!!!

[NeedleAndFork]

Lots of wonderful starts there! I especially like the Ink Circles - I've been wanting to stitch one for ages, i just need to find a spot for it in my rotation.

As for the HAED - I'll second trying it on1 over 1 on 28 count - it won't be that much smaller, and you can use a larger mat between the finished piece and the frame. Another option is to try substituting Anchor's black for DMC's 310. A lot of people do that for HAEDs that have large areas of black because they find that DMC's 310 is thinner than the other colors and can result in the fabric showing through, while Anchor's is thicker. If you did that, you might be able to stick with the 25 count that you already have the fabric for. I definately wouldn't try to do full crosses with 2 over 1 on 25 count though - you're having trouble now with an area that's solid (or nearly solid), imagine what it'll be like when you have lots of confetti!

[Oriettait]

Great projects!! love the Ink circle and the Parolin one, it is going to be awesome!
as for the HAED you choose a beautiful pattern, i like 2 over 1 tent stitches for mine, but as everybody told you, the best for you is to test, we all have different stitching style and tension and nobody can really tell what will work best for you

[richardandtracy]

!!!!!!!!!
You have shown as many project starts as I have ever completed, and I've never had the nerve to start more than one at a time.

The William Morris is going to be tricky. I see you are a dedicated 'cross country' stitcher, but it may be worth considering using the parking method for this one with heavy confetti. I have been trying the method out, and it has led to better formed stitches and it may be easier in the long run, even though it takes significant concentration while learning the method.

Regards,

Richard.

[LostinFloss]

Beautiful WIPs! Damask Square is on my to do list I just cant decide on the thread.

[tausigma]

Thanks for all your nice comments

I re-started Garden of Delight yesterday. I did some test-stitching on the fabrics I had around and went for a 27ct Linda evenweave 2 over 1 tent stitch. That's a first again, as I have never tent stitched big projects.

That's how it looks so far:


I'm doing a mix of parking and cross country stitching. All new and quite slow at the moment. Also, this area is so confetti rich, I actually run out of needles
And I have a question: I have several threads which only appear once or twice every other 10x10 square, do you carry them along?

[Serinde]

I wouldn't -- it just adds bulk for no purpose. Guess you'll have to buy more needles!

Lovely starts btw, but how totally aggravating that your evenweave isn't even!! Which manufacturer? You should definitely let them know. Isn't that a stitcher's nightmare: the curse of the uneven evenweave?

[rcperryls]

Lovely start. I'm glad that you were able to find a fabric and technique that you like. I am looking forward to more updates on this and your other projects.

Carole

[imogenX]

I love all of your projects! I'm not buying any of them.... I'm not.... I'm....not....

Your blackwork looks SO beautiful - what a complete nightmare that the fabric isn't even! With a more rustic design, I would say just go with it - but with this geometric pattern, I'm sure it would drive you batty.

When I switched to evenweave, I discovered that my tension is really tight. I've found that if I concentrate on stitching more loosely, I like the coverage of 1x1 on 25ct. It's all about trial and error, so you're right on track!

[Rose]

I just love all of your works!!!!!! I am glad that you found a new start that you like for your HAED it is too big and time consuming to work it on something you are not happy with.

[imogenX]

I'm not buying any of them.... I'm not.... I'm....not....

This didn't last long... I bought Colour Noveau from Blackwork Journey.

[tausigma]

I'm not surprised, her Blackwork Designs are amazing.

[tausigma]

I was quite busy last week, but I still got some stitching time in. Though I start to struggle with decent lighting in the evenings.

At the moment I'm using my camping LED head light, looks super funny and the light moves as soon as I move my head

Not that much happened with my Ink Circles design, just added one more swirl. I just love the colour of the thread.



I managed to almost finish stitching the red roses and started on the yellow one. Doesn't it look pretty?
I also have a question, the background shading is stitched in tent stitch. Which way are you stitching? The same as the first or the second leg on your Xs?




And here is my HAED. Seemingly nothing has changed (except that the number of threads multiplied), though I put at least 6h in. This will be slow
I got out off parking by the enormous amount of confetti (23 colours 10x10, next one 30 colours ...), went for cross country, miscounted several times and now will give parking another go.

[rcperryls]

Great updates! I have always done a half stitch in the direction that the chart has shown, if there is a direction, otherwise I do the first leg of my cross stitch. I think in general it is a matter of personal preference. My first leg is / , left bottom to right top. But as with most things in cross stitching, no hard and fast rules.

Carole

[Rose]

Beautiful work!!!!!! Yes I do like the thread color in your ink circle design!!!!!

Background stitching is a personal choice and for me it is different with each pattern. It all depends on what the finish is to look like as to which way I stitch it. Sorry not really much help there.