Friday, January 9, 2009

Touching the Autumn Sky - 100 Hours

This is actually my oldest WIP - started on 12/23/02 (yikes!). It is by Mirabilia, and I was pertty scared of her patterns for awhile - they just seemed so intricate. But after starting this and one other (Gathering Eggs), I realized that they weren't really that difficult - just kind of big. Her shading and the way she can make the fabric in the dresses look like it's really moving is just amazing. But she also has quite a few large blocks of color in her designs which make them much easier - nothing like the constant starting and stopping in Chat Noir. I find that when I'm working on this for a while I tend to lose sight of the big picture - the colors in the shading don't really work, but as soon as I step back a little, it looks wonderful.

I almost had a complete disaster with this piece. You know how when you decide to do something, and even as you're doing it you realize it will probably lead to disaster? Well, the other night I was looking at the skin in her hands and face, which I had originally stitched "over 1". This means for every one of the "normal" stitches you see here there are actually 4 little stitches instead. I read somewhere that it made the skin look more "delicate" or some such nonsense. Well, I was never really happy with it (the shading just didn't work for me) so, in a fit of absolute lunacy, I decided to undo it. Now unstitching or frogging regular XS is a pain in the neck, but taking out those extra tiny stitches is all but impossible. Instead of picking it out, you actually have to snip it with scissors. Figure out where this is going? Yep, while snipping the floss on the first hand I accidentally snipped through the background fabric. I just kind of sat there for a minute, kind of numb, trying to figure out if I had actually done what I thought I had. Now I've done a lot of crafts, but for sheer disaster, this sort of takes the cake. I had already logged almost 100 hours on this piece - just starting over wasn't an option. AND, I had the other hand and the whole face to go - a million more potentials for disaster. But I figured at that point I had nothing else to loose, so I would keep going and see what happens. I was able to unstitch the rest with no problems and then restitched it with "normal" sized stitches. Now most people who know me realize I am a perfectionist in such things - and even I can barely tell where the problem is. It's here - to the left the backstitching around her knuckle:

See that little bit of weave that looks like it's missing it's horizontal piece? (No idea what that's called in the weaving world - Melissa? Any idea? Ask Gene...) But this picture is waaaay zoomed in. You really can't see it at all in the big scheme of things. My only fear now is that when the piece gets stretched for framing it will be kind of like a run in your nylons and just zip all the way across. So I think I'll have to discuss this at the XS store where I get it framed beforehand. I already have a sort of solution in mind - a little key charm she looks like she's holding in her hand, a la The Secret Garden - my favorite kid's book. Doesn't it look like a scene right out of the book? All in all, I'm very pleased that the disaster was mostly averted.

And I had to post this - my parent's ridiculously spoiled cat Izzy, playing Apples to Apples, Jr. with us - thank God she wasn't as competitive as my brother was!

8 comments:

  1. I'm so impressed with all the technical XS talk. I have really no idea what you are talking about, but I love the picture of Izzy (not so much of me)

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  2. Warp or weft depending on which way it was woven...either way if anyone ever finds the boo boo without you showing them, they need to get a hobby!!

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  3. Kristen ~ that is AWESOME!
    Forget the accidental snip ~ no one would notice. Good luck on the framing, and also the new house!

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  4. Oooh she's beatufiul! I've got her waiting in my stash as well. Someday she'll move to the top of the pile.

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  5. Kristen, I have known about all your crafts for years but haven't really seen any.....I AM SOOO IMPRESSED. What a BEAUTIFUL picture !!!!!! Now that you have a bigger house you will have plenty of walls to display them all. I have driven by your house a couple times going to Riverdale Rd. It really looks nice...very homey.

    Linda Lathrop

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  6. Pattern name: Touching The Autumn Sky
    Item Code: NTB-3264.
    Number of colors used in this chart: 39.
    Stitch size: 200x190
    Fabric size: Aida-14: 44x42cm, Aida-11: 56x54cm
    Stitch type: full stitches, half stitches, quater stitches, petite stitches, french knots, back stitches

    رزرو هتل های تهران

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