March 9, 2010
Miss August
I finished the pillow form part of the Miss August doll dress. It was not very fun to make, since it was just lots of lots of double crochets around in a circle. But it’s finished now, and I’m starting on the dress part, which is much more interesting. The first picture shows the pillow form and the bodice part, which I finished as well. Just ignore the crazy hairstyle on the doll – my 4-year-old let me borrow her doll, which has been through a lot! I’m hoping that if I do more of these dresses, I can just reuse the same pillow form and only do the dress parts. If it doesn’t show through much, then a pink form may be just fine for all of them!
I have finished stitching the Red Fish I designed to complement the Blue Fish I completed earlier. I think I actually like the Red Fish better! They both look really nice together though. I need to get them framed next. At least I have finished writing up the patterns and getting them formatted into pdfs.
I’ve mostly finished the crocheted purse I was making. I did add a side panel to give some depth to the purse, and to provide a place for a cell phone pocket. I also added a zipper for the closure, since I all too often end up dropping my purse when I’m getting all the kids out of the car, and I didn’t want everything to fall out! The short handles work ok, but I think I might eventually add a shoulder strap, and I’d like to add a liner sometime too. Of course, a liner involves sewing with fabric, and that’s not my favorite thing to do…. But all in all, the purse works fairly well for me, and is pretty too.
It might take me quite a while to finish this project! There are quite a few little extra details. And when I’m done, I don’t know if I will be able to bring myself to give it to my daughter, given how she treats most of her toys. This might be a “look, don’t touch” toy for a while! Maybe something to save up for her to have when she graduates? From college?
I finished stitching my blue fish design, and I’m quite happy with the way it turned out. It looks much better when stitched than on paper (or computer screen, as the case may be). Designing cross stitch takes a bit to get used to, due to the low resolution compared to all the graphics we’re used to seeing on tv, the internet, and in magazines. I’m working on polishing the pattern, adding instructions and the like, and then I’ll get it on the website, and hopefully submit it to a few cross stitch places. I have really enjoyed designing and working my own project. I could get used to being a cross stitch designer! Hopefully others will like my patterns as well…. I’m sure my designs will improve as I do more and more, as I learn what works well, what is fun to do, etc.
I have made good progress on my aquatic cross stitch design. Here is a preliminary picture of the pattern. I think I am ready to start stitching it now, though I may make some changes as I go. I am playing around with several different cross stitch computer programs, for developing and printing out the pattern. I use Microsoft Paint for a lot of the initial work, after drawing a sketch and scanning it in. I also have a Java program I wrote myself, though when I use it, I spend more time playing around with programming than with cross stitch, so I am thinking I should just use someone else’s software at this point, so I can focus on the cross stitch. I found a free program called KG-Chart LE for Cross Stitch, and it is quite nice for free, but it is a bit buggy. I may end up using the definitive cross stitch program available on the market today – PC Stitch. I’ll at least try it using the free trial they offer. I feel a bit guilty buying someone else’s software, when I can program my own! But they’ve put so much work into the software that I’m sure it will be worth it.
I still am not sure of the proper spelling (or pronunciation) of the word “coozy” but I’m just going to spell it this way! I got the pattern written up and on the website finally! Here’s a picture of the finished product too. I hope that it is helpful for somebody. To go directly to the pattern, you can 
I finished one side of the crocheted purse, and am about halfway done with the second side. I’m debating whether to just make it the way it is written, sewing the two sides together back to back, or to add a strip in between the two sides to add more depth and perhaps add a pocket for my cell phone along the edge. I don’t think the purse will be big enough to hold my wallet, sunglasses, regular glasses, checkbook, keys, and cell phone, and it would be nice to have an outside pocket for the cell phone. I might add a lining too. Some of the purse patterns in the book have linings, but this particular one doesn’t. I’ll probably wait and see how it turns out before deciding about the lining.
