Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Firefighter Logan: Second Post

Two more letters down, one and the border to go!

First up is the L.  This is the one that also had a dalmatian.  Since I liked the dalmatian in the O better, I swapped this one out.  This was actually the last one I designed for the piece so I knew I wasn't going to be using the firefighter from the A.  I thought it'd be a good idea to use one of the other firefighters.  I found I liked the one on the letter P the best.

In redesigning it, I found most of the actual letter was no longer visible.

But that's okay, the firefighter is just standing in front of it.
I did lengthen the hose to drape over the L, added color on his jacket buckles and the hose nozzle.  I also changed his hair line slightly with two quarter stitches.  I did find that the black crosses on his eyes made me think he looked dead. :(

I fixed that with backstitching.  There wasn't supposed to be any backstitching around his eyes, but I wanted the firefighter alive, not dead.
I also used some blue Kreinik that I had as water spray from the end of the hose.  And he's smiling too, that makes him look even less dead.

The A was next.  As I mentioned this one had a firefighter with an ax, but I didn't really like the way it looked so I ended up taking the fireman's hat from the letter B and putting it on A's "head".  Here's the letter.

Here are the hat's colors.

And a little bit of backstitching.

Project Stats:
Pattern: Firefighter Logan
Pattern by: Firefighter's Sampler
Started Stitching: October 11, 2013
Fabric: 28ct. White Evenweave
Floss: DMC 2 over 2, or 1 over 2 Kreinick #4 Braid
Percentage: 58.61% complete
Stitches: 2,446 out of 4,173 complete

The N is next, I only changed colors on that one, then I also have a kind of plaid border that I created, hopefully it'll look good with the rest of the piece.

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Firefighter Logan: First Post


Here's a Christmas gift I started working on earlier this month, or is it a birthday gift?  I haven't decided yet.  It's for my nephew, Logan.  Recently his bedroom decor has changed from his baby jungle theme to a fire engine theme.  I found this firefighter's sampler when my sister told me of the change.  But I was not going to stitch the entire alphabet.  I was just going to stitch the letters of his name.

When I received the pattern I found it was an incredibly old hand written pattern.  I decided to digitize it to make it easier on me when stitching.  I also found that I didn't like the letters as they were.  Both the L and the O had Dalmatians, the G had boots that kind of looked like ski boots, and the A had a firefighter with an axe, but it was difficult at first glance to tell what it was.  Also, none of the letters in his name had a fire engine in them.  So I went to work on doing some altering.

The first letter I stitched was the G.  I took the original G and made it a little bit wider.  Then I took the fire engine from the Q and put it behind the the G I made, then filled in the blanks on the engine left by the now absent Q.  I took these pictures in the same way I took the pictures for the 12 Dragonlets of Christmas.  So, first up is just the letter G stitched.

Now, all the rest of the colors, the colors of the fire engine.

And now for the backstitching.
I'm quite proud of my rework on this one.  I also added color to the windows (half cross stitches), the yellow + and the squares in the middle of the hubcaps.

Next up is the O.  This is the only letter that I did not modify at all.  Here's the O first.

And this is the one with the dalmatian that I kept.

And here he is with the backstitching.

Project Stats:
Pattern: Firefighter Logan
Pattern by: Firefighter's Sampler
Started Stitching: October 11, 2013
Fabric: 28ct. White Evenweave
Floss: DMC 2 over 2, or 1 over 2 Kreinick #4 Braid
Percentage: 35.41% complete
Stitches: 1,478 out of 4,173 complete

Two of the remaining letters have been entirely altered, the other I only altered the colors.  I seem to be missing two of the colors, I'll just pick those up tomorrow at work though.  I also have a border that will go along the bottom, that matches the new bedding, drapes and pillows my sister ordered.  You'll see more soon.

Sunday, October 27, 2013

Nephew 2's Blanket: Fifth Post - Complete

Yay, I beat my nephew.  He's still being stubborn, but his blanket is ready for him when he decides he wants to see the outside world.


It's not the best picture, but you can see the edging on it.

Project Stats:
Project: Nephew 2's Blanket
Pattern: Pink & Blue for Baby
Pattern by: Teresa Smith
Started Crocheting: May 19, 2013
Finished Crocheting: October 27, 2013
Yarn: Red Heart Baby-Econo Swim
Percentage: 100% complete

Now it's time to work on Christmas gifts.

Nephew 2's Blanket: Fourth Post

I've been slacking on working on this for quite a while now, but since my sister believes she's going to have my nephew at any instant, I've been working on his blanket.  I must have it done before he's born!

I finished up all the rows:

All I have left is the border.  I'm already about ¾ of the way done with the border, and I did finish up the fourth skein while working on the border.  I really wanted to finish, but I needed a break, my brain and my hands were just done.  I should finish it up Sunday when I get home from work.

Project Stats:
Project: Nephew 2's Blanket
Pattern: Pink & Blue for Baby
Pattern by: Teresa Smith
Started Crocheting: May 19, 2013
Yarn: Red Heart Baby-Econo Swim
Percentage: 90% complete (approx.)

Since I wanted to make sure the two blankets were as identical as I could make them, I borrowed the blanket I made for my first nephew, Logan.  We were all at my parents house and I took them with me to work on, I was laying them both out on the floor and Logan started helping me smooth them out and get them flat.  Then he laid down on his blanket and just started saying "I love my blanket" over and over again:
I became rather speechless and insanely happy, so I took a picture and I gave him a big hug.

Saturday, October 26, 2013

Completed Project Add: Bead Weaving - Pink Playboy Bunny

This project was made for a friend I worked with.  I made her this and she made me something in return.

She liked pink and she liked the playboy bunny, this is what I came up with:

I am not going to link to the Playboy site in my project stats.  But I believe he turned out well.  Or is the bunny a she?  You know, I never thought about it until now.

Project Stats:
Pattern: Playboy Bunny
Pattern by: Me
Finished Beading: November 14, 2007
Beads: 11/0 Delicas
Thread: White Nymo Size B
Percentage: 100% complete
Rows: 104 of 104 complete
Beads: 2,548 of 2,548 complete

Sunday, October 20, 2013

Beaded Chip 'n Dale: Third Post - Complete

I'm happy to say that I've completed Chip 'n Dale!  I took some time off after my last round of working on them, but picked it up two days ago.

I actually only did two rows the day after my last post on them, which looked like this:
As of August 21, 2013, 102 Rows
 When I worked on it yesterday I did 21 rows to bring it to this:
As of October 19, 2013, 123 Rows
 And today, I did the final 21 rows:
As of October 20, 2013, 144 Rows - Completed
I think they look cute.  I'm quite happy with the way they turned out.  Now I just have to figure out how I'm going to display these guys, I have absolutely no idea.

Project Stats:
Pattern: Chip 'n Dale
Original Artist: Disney
Pattern by: Me
Started Beading: March 31, 2013
Finished Beading: October 20, 2013
Beads: 11/0 Miyuki Delicas
Thread: Silamide
Percentage: 100% complete
Rows: 144 of 144 complete
Beads: 9,504 of 9,504 complete

I think the next one of these I'll work on will be Pluto.  He's my next favorite of these that I've designed.