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Friday 1 November 2013

Theme-a-licious Looking Backward and Forward X



Theme-a-licious is hosted by Heather of It's Geek to Me

Each month Heather thinks up a theme for us to stitch to, or in my case, a theme to somehow shoe-horn my existing stitching into, no matter how tenuous the link!

This was the theme for October:

Opulent October
It's time to don your tiaras and bring the bling! Stitch on projects with sparkly fibers, beads or charms.

The main piece I have been stitching in the evenings has been Titania, Queen of the Fairies for the Mirabilia Round Robin.  I finally managed to actually stitch some bling on her this week.  Mind you, the fabric is sparkly itself so maybe that already counted?



The interesting thing about Miras is that you stitch away for evening after evening and sometimes don't see alot of progress then all of a sudden you're on the last colour (white for me) and it's time for the bling!  You look at all the empty places and realise those are all for metallics or beads!  There is silver blending filament on the edges of the wings and the inside is solid Kreinik which I will be starting tonight.

The other blingy piece I stitched in about two hours was the Needlecraft Haven Challenge for October.  Christine has chosen a very small and sweet Christmas piece.  I'm not feeling very Christmassy yet but thought it would fit the Opulent October theme so here it is:

The mount is an old Christmas card.  I keep alot of my cards, either as gift tags or stitching mounts.

And here is a side shot so you can see how I made this one.

Totally beaded, not a stitch in sight!  Even the fabric is sparkly.

Looking forward to November we have

No-Xs November
What can you make without making an X?? Blackwork, hardanger, embroidery, needlelace, and the list goes on! Don't panic...you can even backstitch for the month!

Oh, I could have had the NH challenge for that too LOL.

And by lucky chance this new start fits in perfectly.  Serendipitous or what?!!


This is stitched on 32 count Belfast in Tobacco, the same colour I used for Autumn Typography.  The design is Glorious Fall by Stitchers' Hideaway.  A while back I stitched Hear the Sea Call by the same designer (see this post for my finish).  I changed my FB profile picture to the design and Sue the designer got in touch to find out how her pattern had reached across the sea to me!  She also told me she was bringing out a companion piece which, of course, I had to buy.  She sent me the chart and the threads, so far I have stitched the poem composed by Sue herself in pure backstitch.  The border will be a in lovely variegated thread.

Finally, the Hallowe'en Mystery Phrase Blog Hop is still open for entrants, you must leave a comment on that post before 7th November.  I know alot of people catch up with blogs at the weekend.  And Mr Boo is by Val of Val's Stuff.  Before another persons asks me!!  He was in last years JCS Hallowe'en special and has been very popular. 


8 comments:

Vickie said...

Hi Jo! Looking great. I do have a question for you regarding beading. I have a very large Riolis project I will work on before the end of the year. It has many, many beads. Do you not use a full cross stitch to adhere them? Many patterns say to attatch with a full cross stitch. Sorry, I do not know. I usually don't bead things up. And I know you are so experienced in this. =)

Linda said...

Everything looks great Jo. Have fun with the non x's this month. That would be right up my alley as I love to backstitch.

Linda

Preeti said...

Lovely bling projects!! :) I have used metallic threads and beads in crochet many times, but only once in cross stitch. Beads are fine but I find metallic threads difficult to work with.

Christine said...

Great stitching Jo, and the old Christmas card makes a perfect mount for the challenge piece

Zeb said...

Love the bling! And I wish I was blogging when Theme-a-licious started, this NO X month would have been a fun way to learn new things... I'm getting hardanger under my belt, but I'd like to learn other embroidery stitches. Oh well, don't need an excuse! XD

stitchersanon said...

A lovely idea; Yup, I think they count as bling and I love the embroidery/backstitch piece. Very pretty

zenuwpees said...

Felicitation ce blog est tres beau magnifique broderies bonne soiree Marie-Claire

Julie said...

The old Christmas card is so perfect for the design, you are clever.