Bent Creek Black Kitty

October 28, 2007April 19, 2011 KateLeave a comment

In celebration of Halloween, I’ve worked up this little design from Bent Creek, “Black Kitty” on 40-count sand linen with two strands of floss over two. I like the nice, thick effect this “overuse” of floss creates.

The cat has been done in DMC 310, classic black, but the rest was worked with Gentle Art Sampler Threads. To create a “halo” effect around the cat, I stitched around the edges of the cat in concentric circles. I don’t know if it actually shows in the final product, but I would still do it again to avoid, for this particular design, that horizontally-oriented variegated look.

Because I am making this into an ornament, I “designed” a little matching pattern for the back — basically the same outline and background as for the “Black Kitty” pattern with the word “Boo!” (on the right). It’s a little surprise for anyone who checks out the back of the ornament.

And here they are together side by side:

And in the process of sewing up the two halves for final finishing:

Bent Creek Black Kitty Sewn-up, Front — Bent Creek "Black Kitty" Sewn-up, Front

Bent Creek Black Kitty Sewn-up, Back — Bent Creek "Black Kitty" Sewn-up, Back

Now if I could only find my polyfiber fill and twisted cord maker… maybe they’re hiding as part of a Halloween prank they’re playing on me. Trick or Treat!

A Portrait of Satan

October 22, 2007April 19, 2011 KateLeave a comment

“A Portrait of Santa” by Donna Vermillion Giampa

Like Frankenstein’s monster, this project has been an albatross around my neck for about twelve years.* I’m not kidding — twelve years. The copyright on the pattern says “1992” and I think it was bought shortly thereafter. A friend of mine, a lover of old-fashioned Santas, bought it thinking she was going to stitch it. I “borrowed” the pattern from her and she’s never seen it since.

A friend of mine, Anna of Stitch Bitch, had a UFO once of a rooster that she was making for her mother to match, if I recall correctly, a recently redecorated kitchen. That was about ten years ago and I believe the “Frickin’ Chicken,” as it came to be known, is still unfinished. Likewise, I am dubbing this project “A Portrait of Satan.” This nickname is, of course, no reflection on the quality of the pattern itself, which is excellent.

This pattern is a perfect example of bad stitching timing. I was initially attracted to this design because of all the intricate details of Santa’s face and the holly and mistletoe. I, too, love the look of old-fashioned Santas. I’m not religious, so when Christmas season comes around (as it is relentlessly does) Santa is a traditional cultural figure I can relate to. This Santa reminds me of the Kris Kringle figures from when I was a child and we lived in Germany for a few years while my father was in the Army.

Also, at the time I started “A Portrait of Santa,” I was really into stitching naturalistic-looking, complicated patterns with a lot of floss changes. For example, I was also stitching the Teresa Wentzler “Fruit Bellpull” at the same time (see right). I finished “Fruit Bellpull” in 1996 and it’s now hanging in the entrance to my place, but, alas, poor Santa sat in a drawer for years, forgotten except for the occasional discovery by accident and subsequent guilt trip.

My tastes changed. My patience for frequent floss changes dwindled. My love of simpler graphics and variegated floss flourished. And poor Santa languished in a drawer.

But no more! I am hereby resolving to have this project finished by Christmas 2007 to present as a gift to my poor friend who lent me the pattern those many years ago (whose birthday is today, by the way). It’s time to stitch or cut floss!

Stay tuned….

*Pardon me for mixing my Victorian metaphors, gentle readers. You’ll have to forgive me on the grounds of extreme emotional disturbance brought on by prolonged exposure to the same pattern.

A Quaker Study: 30 hours completed

September 19, 2007April 19, 2011 KateLeave a comment

To the left, we have the latest incarnation of “A Quaker Study” by Carriage House Samplings, as stitched by yours truly. This is the sum total of my work to date, the whole piece so far, in all its Quakery glory.

Although it’s been a couple months since the end of my last ten-hour rotation (ahem! July! ahem!), I’d really like to emphasize how fast this project is to stitch. Once I started stitching on this project in earnest, I could really see the progress I was making.

This is also one of those projects that looks a lot better “in person,” so to speak, than in photographs. Or maybe it’s just my photography… Or the lighting… Yeah, that’s it–it’s the lighting! Also, for some reason, these photos have a kind of bluish tint to them, at least on my monitor. In real life, there’s no blue in this pattern at all. Oh, to have a professional photographer at one’s beck and call!

To the left is a photo focusing on the progress made from hours 20 to 30, basically everything below the first row of letters. If you want to see the last progress shot, taken after 20 hours of stitching, go here.

With any kind of luck, another ten hours ought to do it.

Summer Solstice Stitchin’

June 21, 2007March 30, 2014 KateLeave a comment

I have a dream.

OK, so my dream is nowhere near as lofty and admirable, say, as a day when our children will live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character, but it is, as the Bard might say, mine own.

I have long been obsessed with cross stitch designs based on seasonal themes–so obsessed that I have an entire 3-inch binder filled with designs labeled “Seasons and Holidays other than Christmas” (just imagine how many binders I have devoted to Christmas!). One day, if I can ever afford a home of my own in California’s insanely overpriced real estate market, I’m going to have an entire wall devoted to seasonal and holiday-themed cross stitch designs that I rotate in as the year progresses.

If you can understand that dream, you’re my kind of crazy.

For now, I am content taking steps towards that goal by stitching the Mirabilia “In My Garden” series, beginning with “Summer in My Garden”:

My goals are to stitch “Summer in my Garden” in summer, “Autumn in my Garden” in autumn, and so on. And, as a major geek, I’ve chosen to define the seasons according to the solstices and equinoxes. Today is the summer solstice, the longest day of the year, so I begin today with my summer project. This plan gives me three months to complete each one–doable, I think. Yes? No? Anyone else care to join in?

Since these are (relatively) simple patterns with a lot of “white space,” I am going to do them on hand-dyed linens. Coming soon: you get to vote on what color linen I should use!

Chapter One: I am born

March 10, 2007March 31, 2011 KateLeave a comment

The lyf so short, the craft so longe to lerne.
Th’ assay so hard, so sharp the conquerynge,
The dredful joye, alwey that slit so yerne;
Al this mene I be love.

–Geoffrey Chaucer, Parlement of Fowles, l. 1-4

With this blog, I want to share some of my passions, specifically knitting and needlework (especially cross stitch), with occasional forays into other crafts like quilting or paper crafts. I hope you enjoy reading this blog at least as much as I’ve enjoyed creating the projects that inspire it. Please check out my About page for more detailed information about the background and goals of this blog. Thanks for reading!