September 21, 2009
Posted in Cross Stitch at 11:14 am by Kimberly Tyree
I’m working on the color white on the angel right now, though it is a bit hard to see on the white background. I’m glad I didn’t start with white! I didn’t quite finish the gray blend color, since I ran out of DMC 452, but I got most of that color done. So now, I’ll try to finish the white. There is a lot of it! I’ve completed most of one sheep, as shown in the detail image, though it is hard to pick out without all the other colors in place.
I will be taking a break on the angel for this week, since I am in the airport right now, starting a 6-day trip. I left the cross-stitch at home, and just took the crochet table runner with me. I probably will not get too much more done on it either this week, since I am dedicating my time during this trip to a thorough edit of my new novel! But I will be back to more crafts next week, so stay tuned!
Now, I need to decide whether or not to go over and get that cinnabon while I’m waiting for my next flight….
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September 15, 2009
Posted in Crochet, Cross Stitch at 8:29 am by Kimberly Tyree
I’m getting a little further on the angel. Directions for cross stitch patterns usually say to find the middle first, by following the arrow markings on the sides of the patterns, and to find the middle of your fabric by folding it in half both ways (side-to-side and top-to-bottom). Then you can either start with the color and stitch right there at the middle, or else count over to the top corner and start there.
I have to admit, I don’t think I’ve ever counted over to the top corner to start. I’m too lazy to count all those stitches on a blank piece of fabric.
I do usually start at the middle, or within a few stitches. I find a nearby color that has a lot of stitches in a block, and start with those. For this angel, however, all the stitches near the middle were white. And I did not want to start with white, especially on a white piece of fabric. For one thing, it would be hard to identify which stitches I’d done without squinting and holding the fabric in a bright light. And for another thing, it would look like I hadn’t made any progress, which is way too discouraging this early in a big piece. I need to see progress. So I went a little farther from the middle, and started with red. Now that’s a noticible color!
I also tend to do all the stitches of one color at a time, before moving to the next color. A little easier to keep track of what I’ve done, and I tend to try and finish one thing before moving on to something new (though not always with crafts, as you may have noticed). Doing all of one color is a little more difficult with a larger piece, so I relented and didn’t finish all the red first in the angel. There was a large gap between the red I’ve done and the next red section, and I didn’t want to count that high. So I started on some of the gray. But at least there’s still enough red to make the piece attractive and colorful enough for me to enjoy working on it more! I do like colors.
Working on the angel is a bit harder when the kids are awake, due to the tiny, sharp needle and scissors and all the colored threads which the little ones are extremely attracted to. So I’ve started working on another crochet project too, for when I have time to work when the kids are awake. I picked the Spring Blossoms Table Runner which I recently ordered from Annie’s Attic. I’ve worked a lot with size 10 crochet thread, but this is my first time with size 20. Very delicate! It does take a steady hand to start up, but it is fun to work with, and produce
s such beautiful, intricate results. I’ll have to try and design something with this thread too. I will be going on a trip next week (so may not write any entries), and this project may be just right to take to do on the plane. This will be my first time flying without any kids for quite some time, so it will be nice to have some time to work undisturbed!
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September 11, 2009
Posted in Crochet, Cross Stitch at 11:18 am by Kimberly Tyree
This picture shows my current progress on the cross-stitch angel. At least I’ve gotten started, but there’s a long way to go! I’ve been working on this website lately, so haven’t taken much time for crafting.
I had my daughter pick out her favorite out of a bunch of really fancy crocheted doll clothes patterns for me to make for her. She picked out a pink one (no surprise there), so I figured out what supplies I would need. I had 2 balls of pink size 10 thread, but I needed 1600 yds (5 balls), so I looked for more when I went to the craft stores the other day. I looked for 3 more skeins of the color I had, but neither store had any. They did have another pink which I liked better, but one store only had 2 and the other only had 3. I didn’t get any at the first store, and didn’t feel like going back to get them after finding more at the other store (I had both girls with me, so not so fun getting them both in and out of car seats at every store), so I got none. Maybe I’ll order some all at once, but for now, the doll clothes are on hold.
I decided maybe I’d work on a plastic canvas project for the kids instead (I’ve only done one plastic project before). I got out the Noah’s Ark pattern I got from Annie’s Attic the other day, to hold beanie babies. The girls had recently gotten a bunch of beanie babies from McDonald’s happy meals…. Anyway, I had looked at the pattern earlier and bought what I thought was enough plastic canvas sheets at the craft stores. I started marking out the objects on the plastic before cutting them out – and found that for some of the objects, the sheets were not big enough! Then I looked at the general instructions in the front of the booklet – it called for 12″x18″ sheets, and not the smaller ones I bought. Oh well. I guess I’ll have to buy some of those later too. I appear to be gathering a longer and longer list of supplies to purchase online!
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September 8, 2009
Posted in Crochet, Cross Stitch at 10:06 am by Kimberly Tyree
The bathrobe is finished, 
and my daughter no longer has to be chilly in the mornings! It turned out pretty well, and I’ve added the pattern to the website.
I’ve now started one of my cross-stitch angel patterns, the Angel of Peace. This will likely be a present for Christmas too. I have a stash of cross-stitch embroidery thread, but I had to go and buy a dozen more colors for this project. It also uses Mill Hill seed beads and Kreinik blending filament. I couldn’t find the Kreinik at either of the two craft stores I went to! I can’t find it many places online either, at least not in individual spools. A few places had bundles of Kreinik stuff, but I needed specific colors. The Kreinik website does sell its stuff directly, but I did find one small online store that sells it a bit cheaper, in case anyone’s interested. It’s called Salt & Pepper. Before buying anything, I went upstairs to my office/craft room, and did find some of my old spools from a peacock design by Teresa Wentzler I did years ago. Those spools should be sufficient, so I decided not to buy any new ones. Using some slightly different colors won’t make too much difference.
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September 5, 2009
Posted in Beading at 3:05 pm by Kimberly Tyree
The beginning of the bead banner is the trickiest part. I had a very hard time getting all the beads to stay on the thread and then weaving the top bar through every other one. The next few rows were hard too, trying to keep the beads straight and in their places, and not get the thread all knotted. Once I taped the edges of the top bar to a piece of cardboard (the cardboard that came with the kit, actually), then it got easier. Then I had both hands free to wrestle the beads in place and keep the thread untangled. I still spent more time untangling thread than anything else, I think! But it turned out better than I expected, and didn’t take too long either. I did stab myself with the needle a few times, and dropped a few beads. This wasn’t a good project to work on while the babies (my 10-month-old and my 22-month-old) were awake. Crochet is really the best to do while watching the kids, which is why I’m working on the robe concurrently. But the coyote turned out well, and I think will be a good Christmas or birthday present for my brother.
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September 4, 2009
Posted in Uncategorized at 9:44 am by Kimberly Tyree
Just a quick note to say that I received my order from Annie’s Attic. I had been eyeing this kit for a lacey table runner for the longest time, and finally decided to go ahead and get it. The kit, including directions and a ball of size 20 crochet thread, was only $6.95. Then, since the shipping cost would be the same even if I purchased another $7-8 of stuff, I was only being cost-effective to go ahead and order some more stuff, right? I went through all the clearance items, and found a bunch of patterns for less than a dollar each: some cross-stitch angels, a plastic-canvas booklet of little beanie baby “houses” to make for my girls, some plastic-canvas treat bags, and several crochet patterns for doilies and table decorations. So, all in all, I got a bunch of stuff for a very good price!
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September 3, 2009
Posted in Crochet at 8:23 pm by Kimberly Tyree
The robe is going very quick – much faster than I expected. Of course, I’m just doing it with a standard pattern – back piece, 2 front side pieces, and sew them together. Now that I’ve gotten it together a bit, I realize I could have done it all in one piece, leaving a gap for the armholes, but I am still kind of new at designing. Maybe I’ll make another one for my younger daughter later, and try it a bit differently. After putting the pieces together, I’ll do a collar, the sleeves, and a belt and belt loops. I don’t think I even need to do a border around, since the yarn is fuzzy enough to make the edges look good already.
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