stirling stitches

Penny Stirling's cross stitch and blackwork embroidery

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4.5 years and 151 pokemon later, it is done.

2020′s progress

lickitung: DMC 4210

koffing, weezing: Cottage Garden Threads 508

rhydon, rhyhorn: Cottage Garden Threads 808

chansey: Jodyri Designs 005

mr mime: DMC 4212

scyther: Threadworx 10461

jynx: Threadworx 1088

electabuzz: Cottage Garden Threads 1506 + 1803

magmar: Cottage Garden Threads 2306

eevee: Threadworx 1077 

vaporeon: Threadworx 1077 + DMC 4022

jolteon: Threadworx 1077 + Colour Complements 187

flareon: Threadworx 1077 + Colour Complements 37

porygon: Kreinik #8 042L

omanyte, omastar: Cottage Garden Threads 414

dratini, dragonair, dragonite: CGT 1605

mewtwo: Threadworx 11311 + Kreinik #8 012L

mew: DMC 48 + DMC #8 107 + Kreinik #8 3540

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Hello!

2019′s progress

hitmonlee, hitmonchan: Threadworx 1078

tangela: DMC 4245

kangaskhan: Threadworx 1036

horsea, seadra: Threadworx 1056

goldeen, seaking: Jodyri Designs 208

starmie, staryu: Colour Complements 58

pinsir: Threadworx 1012

tauros: Threadworx 10351

magikarp, gyarados: Colour Complements 32

lapras: Colour Complements 45

ditto: Threadworx 1154

kabuto, kabutops: DMC 4130

aerodactyl: Threadworx 1080

snorlax: Threadworx 1139

articuno: Anchor 1349 + Kreinik #8 051HL

zapdos: Threadworx 1105 + Kreinik #8 021HL

moltres: Anchor 1316 + Kreinik #8 003HL

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I finished the egg lads in April but forgot to post! Marowak was another one where I kept changing my mind about the fill pattern. This was a last-minute re-re-re-re-substitution. I don’t know whether I like it that much, but it works better than the other options.

March’s progress.

exeggcute, exeggutor: DMC 4505

cubone, marowak: Jodyri Designs 236

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I finally redid the patterns for abra! Which means I’m now two-thirds through my sampler! Soon I’ll be moving my qsnaps and starting on the last 50...

February’s progress.

abra, kadabra, alakazam: Weeks Dye Works 4107

voltorb, electrode: Kreinik #8 001L

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Oops this is a bit late but here’s February’s progress on the sampler! I had a summer break from embroidery for surgery recovery and then decided to ease back into stitching by working only on this for a while. I’m now a bit more back into the game and splitting my time between projects. (I wasn’t happy with leek duck’s original pattern so I’ve replaced it.)

Btw I’m more likely to post WIPs on IG, if that’s your cup of tea! Also birds. Many birds.

October’s progress.

geodude, graveler golem: Threadworx 10362

ponyta, rapidash: Threadworx 1107

farfetch’d: (still) DMC 4068

grimer, muk:  Threadworx 1158

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In 2018 I fell in love with Dragon Friends and desperately wanted to stitch something for it, but my to do list was so long I couldn’t possibly. Finally, after deciding that in 2019 I wanted to experiment more with blackwork gradients, I realised I could “allow” myself to do a small Dragon Friends piece instead of any WIPs if I did as gradient practice. So I did! "Hello bees!” is one of my favourite SFW running gags in the show and it was the easy choice.

As a practice piece it was very helpful, because I don’t like it. There are 9 threads of different thickness/weight in this piece, and for the most part the gradient is too subtle for such discrete sections. This gradient would look much better as an unbroken section in a larger piece, and this piece would look much better with a less subtle gradient, perhaps using 7 or 5 threads instead.

From bottom to top, the threads I used are Gütermann bobbin; Gütermann sew-all; Gütermann cotton 30; DMC mouline special 25; Gütermann cotton 12; DMC coton a broder 25; DMC coton a broder 20; and DMC coton a broder 12 just for the south-most border.

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Pokemon Adventures triptych 1/3: Red.

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ice ice baby. just half and cross stitches to try and get some colour to show through rather than any fancy fill patterns.

September’s progress.

seel, dewgong: DMC 4010

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Well it’s been... a while... since I last worked on my Pokemon blackwork sampler, but from now on I’m going to try to work on it a little every month.

May 2017′s progress.

krabby, kingler: Jodyri Designs 206

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It’s been a while! Have had some health issues this year which... are still not totally fixed but it seems??? like we’re getting somewhere at last.

Stitched this splendid fairy-wren, though, very slowly! Had a lot of trouble photographing this boy, as you can see by the blues looking wildly different.

Branch and legs are done with variegated thread. Everything else is solid DMC mixed together. Bit of an experiment combining different blue shades rather than using variegated, learnt a few things! Primarily: I didn’t need to use four different shades in the darker areas. I forget how many exactly, but I used at least 16 different shades of blue/teal.

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This star destroyer is my first-ever commission! Click to see the full-size image!

35 x 20 cm. Count 14 aida. Thread: 5 grey shades, 2 white, 1 yellow. Approx 38 stitching hours all up, plus of course set-up time and pattern-making time.

The best/worst part of working on this was showing acquaintances WIP photos and then them feeling really awkward when I explained I won’t be seeing the new Star Wars film, because I don’t like Star Wars... :v

I’ve been nearly commissioned by several friends and acquaintances over the years. Mostly requests to remake What Are Birds? for them, actually. That one is really popular! Which feels like a huge honour, except then when I went “okay well I know that the original What Are Birds? took me roughly X hours, so let’s say mates rates, $Y” where mates rates is less than $10/hour (and I live in Australia, where minimum wage is $17/hour). And then their face falls, and oh, but that’s too expensive, isn’t it? 

Now, it’s one thing of course if a needlework commission is out of your budget. That’s one thing. That’s disappointing for you, but it’s fine.

It’s another thing entirely to say that my time isn’t worth $10/hour, or even $5/hour. That this thing you want me to create, using my skills that I have accumulated over hours and years in a craft that you have never even attempted, using my time, using my materials, using my energy and risking my wrist health, should only cost you a mere fraction of what it is worth. If I say that’s going to take me 10 hours to create, and you tell me that $50 is overcharging, well... that is certainly another thing entirely.

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A gift for a friend’s first baby—a bb-1, if you would—before I added the name and date.

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WE’RE GONNA RISE UP RISE UP

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It’s always lovely seeing your pieces framed, and then seeing people’s reactions when they receive one as a gift.

Galahs close-up. Rainbow lorikeets close-ups.

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Rainbow lorikeets!

Feathers done with eight colours of Kreinik #8.

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@littletitancry uh the pattern was already included in the post...

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I made a thread weight chart for the threads I currently have, thought I’d upload it in case it’s useful for anyone else! This was stitched on size 14 aida.

Top row: Gütermann Sew-all Thread, Gütermann Sulky Cotton 30, Gütermann Sulky Bobbin, DMC Mouliné Special size 25 (Cotton Embroidery Floss), DMC Pearl Cotton size 12, size 8, size 5, DMC Broder Special size 16, size 20, size 25, size 30 (one day...)

Bottom row: DMC Mouliné Special size 25 (Light Effects Thread), Kreinik Fine #8 Braid, Kreinik Very Fine #4 Braid