SYOA - Chapter 3 - Teacup - update #8

Today I worked on the lightest pink on the right side of the teacup.  Well I didn’t get the teacup finished this weekend, but that is because I spent time stitching on the Pepermint Purple SAL as well.  I still have all of June before Chapter 4 is released (July 1).

Peppermint Purple (Green) - weeks 19 & 20

I decided to give everyone something different to look at, so I thought I’d work on the Peppermint Purple SAL

Week 19 - I used the leaves pattern.  I started from each end to make it symmetrical.

Week 20

Here is the whole project so far.  I’m not caught up yet, still need 2 more weeks.  This week Wednesday, May 27 was week 22.

SYOA - Chapter 3 - Teacup - update #7

Today I worked a little more on finishing some of the pink at the top of the teacup.  Hopefully I get lots of stitching time this weekend.  I’d like to see this Chapter finished.  I still have some of the cream/beige to do on the right side of the parchment to finish.  Also, I think I will add the book title “Monster Book of Monsters”.  When I showed it to my son Jordyn, he thought it was a house until I told him what it was. 

Thought you’d like to see how the whole project looks all together.

Mermaid Birthday Card

I forgot to show everyone the mermaid birthday card I made for my sister Pam.  Her birthday was on Tuesday, May 26th.  This is an interactive slide card.  The mermaid can slide or twirl in a circle.

Front

Inside

Back

SYOA - Chapter 3 - Time Turner - colour change

I’d like to thank Jo at Serendipitous Stitching for her comments on the Time Turner.

“I love your rune stones!

I have to be honest and say the gold doesn’t show up terribly well in the photo. Have you considered stitching a line of brown around the yellow/gold? So it looks woven in the thread?”

I thought about her suggestion and decided that won’t work because I am only using 1 strand of floss for the backstitching,  I decided to frog the old colours and find a new one that would still look like gold but with a shade of brown.

Time Turner - old colours (metallic gold chain/DMC 729 pendant).

Time Turner - new colour (DMC 167 for both the chain/pendant and 746 for beads inside).

Here is how it looks from a distance.

SYOA - Chapter 3 - Teacup - update #6

Yesterday I went back to working on the teacup.  I have to create the left edge of the cup because there was none on the original design.  It was designed so the cup just ended at the bottom of the Chapter 3 parchment, since I moved the cup to the top of the parchment, I want it to look like there is a complete teacup (other than the chip and crack from the original design).  Sorry for the pink thread on the left of the photo.  I forgot to pull it to the back before taking the photo.  Chapter 3 is getting close to a finish.  Hope to have it finished by the weekend.

SYOA - Chapter 3 - Time Turner

I got quite a bit done yesterday.  I finished the 4 ancient runes and started the time turner.  I stitched the necklace chain part using one of my DMC metallic gold floss.  I started stitching the time turner with metallic, but had a hard time getting it to look right, so I pulled out the metallic and used DMC 729 instead.  I’m happy with it so far.  What do you think?  Can you see the detail or should I use a darker gold thread or lighter because of the brown fabric?  Should I leave the metallic gold for the chain or redo it with a gold thread instead.  I’m looking for honest opinions please, even if I need to frog. :)

Here is a close up of the time turner and ancient runes.  

It looks better in real life, but doesn’t show up in the photo as much.

SYOA - Chapter 3 - Runes

Yesterday, I only had about an hour to stitch so I started the Ancient Runes.  My runes will spell SYOA.  Stewart designed the whole alphabet using 4 colours (purple, blue, green and red) and I wanted to use all 4 colours.  Unfortunately, S and O were both purple, so I changed the O to be blue and now I have one of each colour.

This is the whole project so far.

SYOA - Chapter 3 - Teacup - update #5

I spent almost all afternoon yesterday cross stitching.  I can’t remember the last time I did that, and it felt great!  As you can see below that I got a lot done on the teacup.  It is slow stitching because the chart doesn’t match now that the tea leaf shapes are in the middle of the teacup.  I am double and triple checking before stitching too much in case it is wrong.  Not that it would be too noticeable with all of the shades of pink.  I stopped on the left because that is the last full row of the chart, I had to add another section (basically flipped the right side of the teacup) to make the other side look the same.

SYOA - Chapter 3 - Teacup- update #4

I finished the 3 tea leaf shapes (grim, skull and falcon).  I started stitching the cream parchment edges in the top right corner because I want to backstitch around the teacup so it stands out from the parchment.  I also continued with the green vines around the edge of the teacup.  I really love the soft pink colours of the teacup against the light taupe evenweave.  I am a tea drinker, so I definitely needed to have the teacup in this chapter.

SYOA - Chapter 3 - Teacup - update #3

I stitched some more last night, I outlined whether 3 tea leaf shapes will go. I will be stitching a skull, falcon and grim in no particular order. I already swapped the placement from my original layout.  The falcon was supposed to be right but now the skull is there, so I’m thinking I should swap the other 2 and then they will be all in different spots.

SYOA - Chapter 3 - Teacup - update #2

Tonight I stitched the rest of the outline darker pink of the teacup rim.  I stitched it all, but didn’t realized it was the wrong colour (that’s what happens when you stitch while watching TV) until I was finished with the whole outline.  It’s my own fault for not checking the colour key, I just grabbed the darkest pink.  I frogged and restarted with the correct pink. 

SYOA - Chapter 3 - Teacup - update #1

I only had a little bit of stitching time yesterday.  Dave & I were busy working on a 2000 piece jigsaw puzzle.  I also spent time playing video games.  I added some more lighter pink, not that you can tell.

Animal Crossing New Horizons Birthday card

Today my youngest son Jordyn turns 26.  We haven’t seen him since March (for Dave’s birthday), but I talk too him when we play Animal Crossing New Horizons.  I find it hard to choose topics for my sons birthday cards.  

This year I made him a card that looks like an island from our new video game Animal Crossing New Horizons.  I was trying to create different elevations with different green paper and my island design is not to scale.  The white rectangles represent the 2 stores. Nook’s Cranny for furniture, tools, wallpaper, flooring and flower seeds.  The Able sisters is where you can buy or design your own clothes.  There is a Museum to donate bugs, fish and dinosaur fossils.  Resident Services for help and bank machine is inside here.  I also added houses.  You have a house (and mortgage) to decorate.  It is called Animal Crossing because your Villagers are all animals. Maximum villagers on the island is 10.  I made Jordyn’s house red because it is his favourite colour.  I just added extra house to represent some villagers.

When you start playing the game you receive 4 random islands to choose from. There are over 80 random islands, so usually you don’t get the same one as your friends/family you are playing with. My son Jordyn and his fiancé Sarah we’re both choosing their islands at the same time and didn’t realize they both chose the exact same island. They were both surprised, and happy that they got different starter fruit trees and their airports are different colours.  So strange, what are the chances?

Inside I added 4 coloured balloons with gifts because in the video game we shoot down these balloons with a slingshot to receive items ... 

Yellow balloons usually have money ($1000,$5000,$10,000).

Blue balloons usually give you crafting items (iron, clay).

Red balloons sometimes will give you recipes to make with the crafting items.
Green balloons furniture (bed, wardrobe).

This is what the balloons look like in the game.

When I play later today, I will mail him a gift in the game.

SYOA - Chapter 3 - Teacup

Today I started stitching the teacup.

This is my final layout for Chapter 3.

SYOA - Chapter 3 - Monster Book - Happy Dance

Last night I finished the Monster Book. It looks a lot better than my original design.  Now that I see the photo, I will add a few more fur pieces to the left side of the book cover. Not sure if I will add the book title “Monster Book of Monsters”. I’ll try it on the computer program first to see how it looks and if I have enough space.

Here is my original Monster Book design.  The only thing I changed was how I stitched the teeth.

I am moving elements around in my cross stitch program again.  I started stitching the monster book a little lower than I planned which should give more space between it and the tea cup.  I have also decided to not put the blue Divination book in the space.  The time turner kind of looks lost sitting on the book.  I will also move the runes so they will be evenly spaced with everything else.  I’ll show an updated design concept after I decide on placement.

SYOA - Chapter 3 - Monster Book - Update #7

I’m still working on the dark brown stitches, then I will backstitch the fur at the bottom edge (above the mouth).  

SYOA - Chapter 3 - Monster Book - Update #6

Last night, I continued stitching the fur around the book cover.  I just need to finish the last edge of fur and then fill in all of the dark brown and it will be complete.

SYOA - Chapter 3 - Monster Book - Update #5

Last night I finished the nose area and moved on to the fur around the edge.  This is slow going, I use 2 needles and do the stitching and then backstitch right away so I have the shape correct.  Otherwise all of those 1/4 stitches will be in the wrong place.  I hope to have the book done by the end of the weekend. 

SYOA - Chapter 3 - Monster Book - Update #4

Last night I made quite a bit of progress.  We now have 4 eyes and a nose shape.  I wanted to finish all of the back stitching, so I can fill in the rest of the nose later while watching TV and not having to follow the pattern. 

Here is the whole book to see the proportions.  That brown line at the top is the top of the book before the fur section.  I’m really happy with how it looks so far.  Sometimes you see things in your head, but when you create the pattern it doesn’t always look the way you want it to.

I thought it was Spring ...

I thought is was Spring, but it looked like winter this morning when I woke up.  My hot tub cover is covered in snow.

The roof of my neighbours shed.

This is the same scene tonight, thank goodness all of the snow is gone.

SYOA - Monster Book - Chapter 3 - update #3

Last night I finished the fur for the back cover of the book, then started the area for the eyes and nose.  I’m happy with how it is looking so far.

SYOA - Chapter 3 - Monster Book - update #2

I have finished the book pages, book mark and mouth.  I will continue working on the back cover with fur.

SYOA - Chapter 3 - Monster Book - update #1

Last night I finished the mouth (top and bottom rows of teeth) and the tongue (bookmark) on the left side.  I started backstitching lines to represent pages in the book.  I also started stitching the fur on the back cover of the book.  At first I was following the pattern for the fur, but I just started free handing as I go along the edge of the book cover.  I’m happy with how the fur is looking.  I’m not planning on putting any cross stitches inside the mouth because I think it will take away from the effect of teeth.  What does everyone else think?  

SYOA - Chapter 3 - Monster Book

Last night I finally started Chapter 3.  I am beginning with the Monster Book of Monsters that I designed.  It is slow stitching because I’m modifying it as I go.  I designed the teeth with backstitches, but I actually stitched it with satin stitches instead.  I’m happy with how the teeth are looking, but it has made the mouth taller than originally designed.  We’ll see how it changes as it is stitched.

Peppermint Purple (Green) - week 19

Tonight I started stitching the first long block which I remembered to use the light green floss.  This block you choose one of several filler and font patterns to complete the block.  I chose a leaf pattern which is stitched on to two ends and then you add a message in the middle.  Not sure what to write in here.  I might just fill the whole block with the leaf pattern.

SYOA - Chapter 3 - elective classes

If you are interested in these patterns, you can get them at Cunning Cross Stitch.   There is also a Facebook group which you can join to get alternative patterns, discuss the project and get inspired from seeing what other stitcher’s have changed in their project.

Chapter 3 was released on May 1.  It is a smaller area at the bottom right of the project.  This chapter is all about Elective Classes.  specifically Divination, Ancient Runes and Care of Magical Creatures.  Here are the choices I had to choose from.

Divination - reading tea leaves and looking into a crystal ball are things you will learn in this class.  We are given enough space to add 3 pictures made from tea leaves to use for the tea cup.  Stewart created 10 pictures for us to choose from.

Ancient Runes - is all about learning how to read ancient languages.  We are given enough space to add a message with a maximum of 10 letters.  Stewart also created an alphabet for us to use.

Care of Magical Creatures - is learning about unusual animals.  We were given the following 4 options.

1. Niffler - is an animal that searches for treasures.

2. Unicorn - is a beautiful and mystical animal.

3. Thestral - is a skeletal horse that can only be seen by someone who has watched someone die. 

4. Hypogriff - the front is an eagle and the back half of a horse.

I have decided to combine all 3 classes into the space.  I know it seems like a lot, but I find it a challenge to add more than is necessary.

Divination - tea cup (grim, skull and falcon tea leaves) sitting on top of the book called Unfogging the Future.

Ancient Runes - letters will spell SYOA.  I had to change the colours of 2 of the runes because I want to use all 4 colours.

Care of Magical Creatures - I designed a Monsters Book of Monsters (furry book with teeth).  I hope the book will look better after it is stitched to look like brown fur.  I plan to use the magical animals somewhere else in my project (possibly at the bottom).

I also designed a Time Turner like Hermione used in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, so she could take extra classes.  It is hard to see because I only used  backstitched.  It will show up better when I add all of the metallic gold thread.

This is the toy stuffed version of the Monster Book of Monsters for anyone who doesn’t know what it looks like.

This is the Time Turner I was trying to design.