HAED Santa and the Mouse Ornament Completed!

In 2014, I discovered Heaven and Earth Designs (HAED) and fell in love with their cross-stitch charts. I was intrigued by the fact that back stitching was not required. The temptation to buy a chart was huge, but I opted to try out a smaller chart first. I wanted to see how similar the completed cross-stitch compared to the photo on the chart. I also wanted to see if a small ornament-sized project would hold my interest before embarking on a larger project. (There are enough UFOs in a drawer awaiting my attention without adding more!) 

On May 2, 2014, I opted to try the Santa and the Mouse Ornament that was offered as a freebie on the HAED website and I just loved watching it come together. (The free charts are updated periodically.)

Last night, the final stitches were added. Now, I just need to decide exactly how I want to finish the piece off. (There is a very high chance crazy quilting may be involved!)

The project took me roughly 15 months. However, there were some weeks (and sometimes months) that not a single stitch was added. 

My youngest son is quite happy this project is complete because it means I will be starting the Twilight Duel chart based on artwork by Ruth Thompson next. (This 24-page project will be just for him and I am thankful he is happy to watch it grow over the next 5-6 years. He is even encouraging me to take breaks from it to work on something with more than blues, black, and white.)

Hmmm... I will also need another small travel-sized project to work on and there is a 35% off Labor Day sale at HAED right now...

Thank you so much for following me on this long, slow journey! And I would love to thank the readers that took the time to comment, encouraging me to make a post as soon as it was complete.  It is done!

I am linking today's post with the 1 Xmas Item a Month blog.

Thank you for stopping by!
Renee

Updated: I discovered there is a Quick Stitch ornament of Santa and the Mouse that includes more of the original picture. There is a link to it here. 

Work in Progress Wednesday 08/26/2015

Another Work in Progress (WIP) Wednesday has arrived already. This week I completed over 600 stitches on Santa and the Mouse. (The photo above shows how it looked last week.) There are only 546 stitches remaining and I wish I had time to just sit with this project to finish it up right now. 

It is so close to completion! The question is, when I finish, do I wait and share pictures with next Wednesday's WIP post? Or, should I just share it in a separate post? What do you think? (Either way, I imagine I will be grinning from ear to ear, doing a happy dance and telling anyone in my household that will listen, "It's done! It's done! Look, it's done!") 

Changing the subject... Have you heard of Love Rocks? I learned about them when someone in our town found one a few days ago. I think it is a sweet, sweet way to honor two little girls lost in a tragic accident. I read the story about Love Rocks here and read a few stories others shared about them here on the Facebook page.  I may have to make one to share... 

Earlier this week, I read that 69 firefighters flew in from New Zealand and Australia to help with the multiple wildfires burning in the Northwest. My prayers of gratitude and for safety are going out to all of the brave souls out there fighting the blazing flames and smoke. My heart and prayers are also with the families of the brave men we lost to these fires this summer. Our weather forecast indicates we may have a touch of rain this weekend. I hope so. (As much as I love a good thunderstorm, I am hoping for rain with no lightning that may ignite more fires.)

As for my week... I get to volunteer with our high school's registration, which is always fun. It is great to see the staff members, parents and students in our community. We are also moving my eldest son to his dorm for his freshman year of college. (Time truly does fly! It seems like just yesterday we were signing him up for preschool.)

Thank you for stopping by. I hope you are having an amazing week!
Renee

Last Week's Goals:

1. Complete 250 x-stitches on the HAED Santa & the Mouse chart (which is no longer available, but it is a part of this chart at Heaven and Earth Designs.) Exceeded. See photos above.

2. Link up with the Monday Stitchery Link Party #20 at Super Mom No Cape on August 24th. (If you missed the party on the 17th, you may check it out here!) Done! If you missed the post, you may see it here. 

3. Finish a project to add inventory to my Etsy shop. One project is almost done and another is getting close.

4. Share progress with the ICQC 102 course from Shawkl Designs. Finishing this class will be a priority this next week.

5. Share a TAST Weeks 6 & 7 post on August 25th. Done! If you missed it, the post is here. I am happy to say I am all caught up! 

This Week's Goals:

1. Complete 250 x-stitches on the HAED Santa & the Mouse chart (which is no longer available, but it is a part of this chart at Heaven and Earth Designs.) 

2. Link up with the Monday Stitchery Link Party #21 at Super Mom No Cape on August 31st. (If you missed the party on the 24th, you may check it out here!)

3. Finish a project to add inventory to my Etsy shop. 

4. Share progress with the ICQC 102 course from Shawkl Designs.

5. Share a TAST Week 8 post on September 1st.

6. Share a 1 Xmas Item a Month Post.

TAST Weeks 6 & 7: Chevron Stitch & Detached Chain Stitch

TAST WEEK 6: Chevron Stitch

Using size 8 green perle cotton and the chevron stitch, I couched a red ribbon over a seam on a crazy quilted Christmas stocking I am making for Mutt. (Mutt is the nickname my youngest son and I agreed on when he was little, because he loves dogs.) 

I planned to add beads between the chevron stitches, however, when I finished couching the ribbon down, I envisioned Christmas trees. So, I used size 8 variegated perle cotton to make zigzagging straight stitches to fill in the trees. Next, small yellow beads were added to the top of the trees for stars. Brown bugle beads became the tree trunks. This was such a fun combination to create and my son loves it.

I have not used this stitch a lot, but I do have a few favorites to share. The seam above was created on the camera block I embellished for a dear friend of mine. I used white perle cotton to create the chevron stitch. Then, I created heart flowers. The stems are straight stitches. The leaves are detached chain stitches. The hearts were created by making two stitches that I suppose would really be two open detached chain stitches that meet in the center. I love this combination! (Of course, I love hearts...)

The seam above was added to Barbara's block for the Heart Round Robin I participated in last year. I used size 12 ecru perle cotton to make the chevron stitches. Size 8 green perle cotton straight stitches and detached chain stitches created stems and leaves. Next, size 8 dark red perle cotton was used to create sets of 3 detached chain stitches for the flower petals.

TAST Week 7: Detached Chain Stitch

Detached chain stitches are SO versatile. I use them all the time. For TAST, I opted to create an angel seam on the Christmas stocking I am making for Mutt. Using 2 strands of metallic gold DMC floss, I began with a closed buttonhole stitch to create triangles for the bodies. Two detached chain stitches topped each triangle to create wings. A French knot "head" was centered above each set of wings.  (I discovered and fell in love with this seam combination in 2013 when I went to the library and checked out the book An Encyclopedia of Crazy Quilt Stitches and Motifs by Linda Causee. Disclaimer: This link takes you to see the book at Amazon.com. I am not affiliated with the book, but do earn a small credit for purchases made at Amazon through my blog.)

In the past, I have frequently used combinations of detached chain stitches and straight stitches to create tiny fish in under-the-sea themed blocks, like this block I embellished for Nicki Lee.

Detached chain stitch is just perfect to create leaves, as seen in this "snowball" I created for Donna.

This flower was created using 4 mm silk ribbons and detached chain stitches with a bead in the center. (I have not shared this project yet. My seam ripper and I need to schedule a date first...)

This block that I embellished for Kathy in the Heart Round Robin we participated in together shows detached chain stitches creating leaves, flower petals, and butterfly wings.

TAST stands for Take a Stitch Tuesday. It is a personal stitching challenge offered by Sharon B. on Facebook and on her blog, pintangle.com. You may read more about it here. This week, the detached chain stitch was introduced. If you follow the TAST Facebook group, you know there are some incredibly inspiring examples of these stitches being shared. Thank you, Sharon, for offering TAST!

Thank you for stopping by!

Renee

Oregon State University Crazy Quilt Block Completed!

Last year, I pieced this block as part of the Crazy Quilt Journal Project 2014 (CQJP 2014.) My goal was to embellish a block to create a purse or bag with each month. (I fell behind, but I am still plugging away!)

This was the bare block. My goal was to only use orange, black and white embellishments. Sometimes working with only 3 colors can be a challenge. On this block it was a lot of fun!

Some of the seam combinations I used were introduced by Valerie Bothell in the Joyful Embellishments Facebook group.

Others were shared as examples of stitches taught by Sharon Boggon through her Take a Stitch Tuesday (TAST) lessons.

I also played with some glow-in-the-dark #8 fine braid Kreinik to create this spider and web. (I learned how to make this type of spider from Marsha Michler's book The Magic of Crazy Quilting: A Complete Resource for Embellished Quilting. Please note: the link will take you to the book on Amazon.com. I am not affiliated with the book, but if anyone enters Amazon through my blog and makes a purchase, I do receive a small credit. I found the glow-in-the-dark Kreinik at Amazon.com and at the Friendship Crossing cross-stitch store in Corvallis, Oregon.)

It was hard to photograph, but you can sort-of see it glow in this picture. (I had to play with it a bit in Picasa to get it to show up at all. It may show up better if you click the photo for a larger view.) It looks SO great in person. The web glows a yellowish-green and the spider glows orange. I just love things that glow-in-the-dark!

Creating unique Oregon State University items for the OSU alumni in my life is always fun. (There are enough OSU grads in my family that I think it makes me a Beaver fan by default!)

The block will be finished off in a project later this week and I will share it with my 1 Xmas Item a Month post. 

This post is being linked to the Monday Stitchery Link Party #20 at Super-Mom No Cape! If you have a blog and do any hand embroidery, I encourage you to join the fun. If you do not, I still encourage you to see the variety of lovely work other bloggers share.

Thank you for stopping by!
Renee

Work in Progress Wednesday 08/19/2015

Above is a picture of Santa and the Mouse that I shared last week. (This was a free Heaven and Earth Designs (HAED) chart that is no longer available. You may see the current free HAED charts here.)

253 stitches were added to Santa's coat this week. I hope to exceed my stitching goal next week, as I am eager to complete this project! There are only 1,185 stitches remaining.

If you regularly read my blog, you know I have a hard time passing up swaps, round robins and blog hops that interest me. I have a lot on my plate at the moment, but I am seriously considering signing up for the Halloween Haunts 2015 Blog Hop that Marian at Seams to be Sew is hosting. If you are interested, you must sign up by August 31st and the hop begins on October 16th. You do not even need to have a blog to participate.  The details are all here. (I have not signed up... yet. I love Halloween decorations, so it is certainly tempting!)

Thank you so much for stopping by!
Renee

Last Week's Goals:

1. Complete 250 x-stitches on the HAED Santa & the Mouse chart (which is no longer available, but it is a part of this chart at Heaven and Earth Designs.) Done! See photos above.

2. Link up with the Monday Stitchery Link Party #19 at Super Mom No Cape on August 17th. (If you missed the party on the 10th, you may check it out here!) I had stitching to share, but did not find the time to write the post up on Monday. Next week...

3. Finish a project to add inventory to my Etsy shop. 

4. Share progress with the ICQC 102 course from Shawkl Designs.

5. Share a TAST Weeks 4 - 6 post on August 18th. I completed weeks 4 & 5. If you missed my post, you may see it here. 

6. Share pictures of the 6 blocks I made for the CQI UTS RR #2.  Done! If you missed the post, it is here.  

This Week's Goals:

1. Complete 250 x-stitches on the HAED Santa & the Mouse chart (which is no longer available, but it is a part of this chart at Heaven and Earth Designs.) 

2. Link up with the Monday Stitchery Link Party #20 at Super Mom No Cape on August 24th. (If you missed the party on the 17th, you may check it out here!)

3. Finish a project to add inventory to my Etsy shop. 

4. Share progress with the ICQC 102 course from Shawkl Designs.

5. Share a TAST Weeks 6 & 7 post on August 25th.

TAST Weeks 4 & 5: Cretan Stitch and Herringbone Stitch

TAST Week 4: Cretan Stitch

For the Cretan stitch, I used size 5 orange DMC perle cotton. Small flowers were added to each side using 2 strands of orange and black DMC embroidery floss.

Above is one of my favorite crazy quilt seams that I created using the Cretan stitch. It was added to Lisa Boni's block in the Heart Round Robin we participated in together in 2014. (You may see the completed block here.)

TAST Week 5: Herringbone Stitch

Using white size 8 perle cotton, I embellished this seam with the herringbone stitch. I added a second layer of herringbone stitches with blue size 8 perle cotton. 

Above is a seam I created using the herringbone stitch. This seam was added to Alexandra Henry's block in the Heart Round Robin we participated in together in 2014. (You may see the completed block here.)

TAST stands for Take a Stitch Tuesday. It is a personal stitching challenge offered by Sharon B. on Facebook and on her blog, pintangle.com. You may read more about it here. This week, the chevron stitch was introduced. I am one week behind, but should be all caught up by next Tuesday. I must admit, some of the creativity being shared with this challenge is truly inspiring!

Thank you for stopping by!

Renee

CQI Under the Sea Do Your Block Round Robin #2

Let me just say (with a chuckle) that I should stop telling myself I am not going to sign up for another round robin for a while.

You may click on any photo for a larger view.

Bare Block 1

As the last Crazy Quilting International Under the Sea Do Your Block Round Robin (CQI UTS DYB RR) came to a close, I told my family I did not plan to join another round robin until next year. Then, one of the members asked if we would all be interested in a second round and of course I said, "Yes!" 

Bare Block 2

I promise, I do have will power. Just not when it comes to stitching!

Bare Block 3

The three blocks above were pieced back in February for the first UTS round robin, but I decided to go with a different idea. For this round robin, I sent them out with a note that the first person to stitch them may decide if the sandy section will be the ocean floor or if it will be the sandy beach. The blocks were designed to line up from left to right for a wall quilt.

It took me a while to decide what to do for the next 3 blocks. I contemplated using the free mermaid patterns on Kathy Shaw's blog for 2 of the center pieces. However, I decided to color white cotton fabric using my own sketches instead.

Bare Block 4

Please pretend with me that my sunken boat looks like a sunken boat...

Bare Block 5

This tutorial was very helpful when I first attempted coloring fabric, so I used it again for these blocks. A black micron marker was used to draw the outlines onto the fabric. (Here is a link to one at Amazon.com. However, I bought mine in a set of multiple colors years ago for a lower price. Once heat set with an iron, the ink is permanent.) 

Bare Block 6

The blocks were mailed to Sandy Black last week and I cannot wait to see what she does with them!

Thank you for stopping by!
Renee

Work In Progress Wednesday 08/12/2015

Wow! I have not shared an update on my HAED Freebie Santa and the Mouse project since July 8th. Last night was the first time I touched it in the past (gulp) 5 weeks. I only managed 44 more stitches, so I was not even sure if I should share a new picture...

In the end, I decided progress is progress. There were a few more stitches added to finish off Santa's collar. That's it. I have a spreadsheet that I update each week that tracks how many stitches are remaining in each 10x10 grid on the chart. Looking at that today was a bit disappointing because I had been on track to finish this piece by August 18th. I'm not going to worry about it though. July was a month of quality family time with wonderful people I had not seen in 4 years and one I had not seen in 18 years. That was well worth the delay in progress!

I did manage to get a few of the more important items marked off of my To Do List! I finished Donna's snowball and finished piecing the last 3 blocks for my next Crazy Quilting International Under the Sea Round Robin (CQI UTS RR).

As always, thank you for stopping by!
Renee

Last Week's Goals:

1. Complete 250 x-stitches on the HAED Santa & the Mouse chart (which is no longer available, but it is a part of this chart at Heaven and Earth Designs.) Nope. 44 stitches. Photos above.

2. Link up with the Monday Stitchery Link Party #18 at Super Mom No Cape on August 10th. (If you missed the party on the 3rd, you may check it out here!) Done! I shared the snowball pictured in number 4 below. If you missed the post it is here.

3. Finish a project to add inventory to my Etsy shop. 

4. Embellish a snowball to swap with Donna A. in August. Done! If you missed the post, see the link at number 2 above.

5. Share progress with the ICQC 102 course from Shawkl Designs. Done! If you missed the post it is here. 

6.  Share a TAST Weeks 2 - 5 post on August 11th. Completed Weeks 2 & 3. If you missed the post, it is here.

7. Piece 3 blocks for the next CQI Under the Sea Round Robin that will begin on August 15th. (I have 3 I pieced for the first round robin, but changed my mind and made 6 others, so I did not send them out.) Done and mailed out today. I will share them all with you soon. Here is a sneak peek at one. I have been coloring fabric again...

This Week's Goals:

1. Complete 250 x-stitches on the HAED Santa & the Mouse chart (which is no longer available, but it is a part of this chart at Heaven and Earth Designs.) 

2. Link up with the Monday Stitchery Link Party #19 at Super Mom No Cape on August 17th. (If you missed the party on the 10th, you may check it out here!)

3. Finish a project to add inventory to my Etsy shop. 

4. Share progress with the ICQC 102 course from Shawkl Designs.

5. Share a TAST Weeks 4 - 6 post on August 18th.

6. Share pictures of the 6 blocks I made for the CQI UTS RR #2.

TAST Weeks 2 & 3: Buttonhole Stitch and Feather Stitch

I am a bit behind on the Take a Stitch Tuesday Challenge offered by Sharon Boggon at Pintangle and on Facebook. (For more information you may read about the challenge here. You set your own goals, so there is no pressure.) However, I did add the week two and week three stitches to the Oregon State University crazy quilt block I am working on. 

You may click on any picture for a larger image and click on the name of the stitch in each title to go to Sharon's instructions.

TAST Week 2: Buttonhole Stitch

For this seam, I used white perle cotton (size 8 I believe - but it could be size 12, I forget) to create a buttonhole seam with one short 'stem' and one tall 'stem'. I added 2 lazy daisy (detached chain) stitches to the sides of the taller stems and 2 straight stitches to the smaller stems to create leaves. A black Mill Hill petite glass seed bead was added to the tops of the smaller stems. Using black size 12 perle cotton floss, I added 3 lazy daisy stitches to the taller stems and topped them with an orange seed bead to create little orange and black flowers.

I added a small Swarovski crystal butterfly bead and some running stitches to create a flight path to finish off this embroidered scene.

This is one of my favorite base stitches for flowers. I love the way the seams above turned out on the camera block I made for my friend, Jo.

This heart flower seam on a purse I am making for someone dear battling cancer is another favorite.

This year I have frequently used the buttonhole stitch to create a bit of under-the-sea vegetation, as seen in the photo above of work I did on Sandy's block. It is hiding behind the anchor and the seaweed. I space the stitches irregularly and at angles before topping them with Mill Hill petite glass seed beads.

TAST Week 3: Feather Stitch

This seam uses a feather stitch combination I learned from Kathy Shaw in her free Basic Crazy Quilt Course (BCQC). (The next BCQC opens for registration on September 28th. You may learn more about it here. You may see the block I made in the class here.)

I love to use the feather stitch to create seaweed in under-the-sea blocks, as seen in the picture of work I did on Mary's block above.

I would love to thank Sharon for offering TAST. I know it is time consuming. For those of us participating, it is wonderful to see everyone's inspiring work.

Thank you for stopping by!

Renee