finished!

Little Hoots, stitched over two threads on 28ct. cornflower blue hand dyed jobelan from Wichelt Imports using DMC floss. 128w x 150h. Will be winging its way to Hoffman Distributing soon and will be available on my website either later tonight or tomorrow!

wHooT!

Well, I finally wrapped up number four of the fifth bunch o'lil flakes. Am incredibly pleased with how they turned out. I debated, you see. I wasn't sure if I wanted to do a fifth installation of the little dudes. Overkill? But then I thought about it and decided that maybe with a wee bit of freshening up, they might just work.

I know there are a lot of stitchers that just abhor backstitching. However it's always been a part of my designing. But then most of my designing has had an animated feel to it. Backstitching adds to that.  So, instead of rigidly following the edges, I decided to try and outline as freely as I backstitch smiles, thinking about drawing with a sharpie felt marker. Did the same thing for the Lil Boos and Boo Crew.

Lil Flakes #5

We went camping over the long weekend. It was enjoyable and I did a few things I haven't done in 25 years. Like tubing down the river.  Did a lot of sketching, too. Tried out my new flower loom. Hammered out some new ideas for fresh patterns. 

Not sure what I'm moving on to next just yet. I will have to do some charting and see what calls loudest to me.

lil flakes (snowfall #5)

 Started stitching the models for Lil Flakes (Snowfall #5) I finished the first one last night. 

They are little buggers, finishing up right around 40w x 40h, which translates to 3" x 3" when stitched over two threads on 28ct. jobelan. The fabric I used is a yummy new color from Wichelt Imports, Cornflower. 

This group are a little different than the other Lil Flakes I have done in the past. They're a little cleaner, a little more detail packed into the tiny space they occupy. I felt the need to freshen them up a bit so that these did not feel like the same old same old.

Going to settle in with coffee and QSnaps shortly to start work on the next.  Golden Girl reruns playing in the background and no place to be today other than a creative zone of my choosing, and I think today it'll be 'stitch til your fingertips go numb'.

valentino

Introducing Valentino of the SnowAngelz Collection. Stitched over two threads on 28ct. African Daisy hand dyed Jobelan using DMC threads and Kreinik's #4 braids for wing and heart and Val's rosy cheeks. Finished count 77w x 84h.

Winter Blessing

I finished up the first of the SnowAngelz collection today,  Winter Blessing.  I stitched my piece over two threads on blueberry hand-dyed jobelan from Wichelt Imports. This one finishes up at 68w x 98h, and uses DMC floss and Kreinik #4 braids and blending filaments for the wings and snowy sparkle.

I'm not all together sure what I want to work on next. I've a few ideas in my head that need sketching, and the weekend's random stitching has me turning a few other concepts around, more for upcoming fall craft and artisan shows than commercial cross stitch. I might just take a few days off right now too as we ready to move my son to North Dakota this weekend and then seriously dig in next week with the new stuff!

snowangelz

Today I started working on the first of my SnowAngelz collection.  I'm in search of more snowy-angel quips -n- quotes for the other designs that are in various stages on the drawing board. This first one will be stitched on Wichelt's blueberry hand-dyed jobelan, 28ct. over two threads. I am also going to get back into using some sparkle and shimmer, using Kreinik's blending filament in a blend with DMC winter white for the wings, and the other sparkles are going to be done with #4 braids to add some dimension.

I am almost done with block #3 of 5 for the Irish Quilting Magazine submission. Now I am rethinking the other blocks, which will be strictly fabric, traditional blocks of some sort. I have the fabric I would *like* to get, just waiting to see if I can get my hands on it.

Looks like I got more done than what I thought I was going to at this time yesterday. A nice rain last night cooled things down some, and an early night to bed cleared my noggin' enough that I was up early and working slmost an hour before the Golden Girls reruns started.

It's been a good weekend.

Now for a good, productive week!

sketching, stitching and tiles

Homework completed, well, as much as I could get done. Page upon page of thumbnail sketches and a few more detailed comprehensives. Now I just need to pull some of it together in Flash (~twitch~) on Monday.

I have also spent a good share of the holiday weekend stitching. I am working on a design for Wichelt Imports for a January Freebie Chart release. Once that is completed, I think I'll be starting on the next in the Popsicles Collection. Still up in the air with that.

A few more swatches/tiles played with as well, and here they are! I think I will put these on Spoonflower as well and order some test swatches just to see how the colors translate.

These all started with a photograph I snapped at Rasmussen Woods this last summer....I think. It might have been from Sibley Park too now that I am thinking about it.

I think I will wrap the weekend up by popping into Photoshop and see if I can't get my grandma's old pictures patched up!

All in all, a pretty productive weekend!

introducing 'three frosty stooges': the popsicle collection

Three Frosty Stooges: The Popsicle Collection

The first of the new Popsicles Collection finished tonight!

'Three Frosty Stooges' finishes at  97w x109h. I stitched my piece over two threads on 28ct. blueberry jobelan from Wichelt Imports.  The piece uses DMC floss and Kreinik blending filament.  I will be including a small white button with each pattern, and as is typical for me in all my recycling ways, the buttons will vary in each pattern pack, carefully selected from the fruit jars filled with buttons that I have in the studio.

Next up, the first of the Snowflakes Collection. They will be similar to the Snowbugz and Lil Flakes, but just a smidge bigger, and there will be three different patterns in each pack. I started sorting through embellishments for these lil guys over the weekend.

My Chilly Chums

My Chilly Chums
Carolyn Manning Designs 2010

I finished "My Chilly Chums"  this morning.  The finished design is 103w x 100h. I am recommending Wichelt Imports 14ct. Babbling Brook hand-dyed Jobelan for the pieces, but there are so many bright colors in this design that it would adapt well to just about any color fabric. All full stitches and single strand backstitching.

Now off to chart the next design. I can't believe I have gone through all the designs I had in my "ready to stitch" file. I spent the morning with coffee cup and pencil (the sharpener close by), and I managed to get quite a few new ideas down on paper and a few scanned.