#yearofstitches

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Day 3: I stitched a little turtle for Yoshi! 🐢😊 I also doodled in my next stitches.

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Day 4: I stitched a camera for my love of photography and a little kitty button for my kitties :)

[witcheswhimsy]

Work in progress with lots of new stitches. Went off on a complete other limb in the #YearofStitches sampler. If you also want to join me in this slow meditative calming practice of stitching, you can join our community anytime and learn one new stitch a week or at your own pace by signing up with @badasscrossstitch on her Patreon. (Image: embroidered light blue sleeping bunny on a nest of green moss made of french knots and bullion knots with a fuzzy turkey stitch tail. Surrounded by various stitches of grass anf flowers) . . . #RestAndRepair #SewCrafty #YearOfStitch #MakeDontBreak #Bunny #EmbroiderySampler #StitchersOfInstagram (hier: Berlin, Germany) https://www.instagram.com/p/CdFv3xxs8Bd/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[witcheswhimsy]

Only now am I getting around to posting these samplers, which are part of a whole year of learning one new stitch per week. If you've always wanted to dabble into embroidery, now is your chance. You can still join the #YearofStitches by @badasscrossstitch anytime. It's also go at your own pace, do your own thing, the community that Shannon has helped build has really saved me through many of the hard spots these last two years. So join us! PS: my samplers are hexagon shaped and will eventually join other bits for a new quilt. You can make your samplers into other things as well.... (Image 1: embroidery that says "The Patriarchy isn't going to smash itself" in red and purple on white fabric. Image 2: embroidery of an anatomical heart in blue and red, with the words "Follow Me" beside it, also on white fabric) . . . #YearofStitches #YearOfStitch #SewCrafty #MakeDontBreak #Stitcherhood #DiscoverEmbroidery #SmashThePatriachy #ChooseLove #WitchesWhimsy (hier: Berlin, Germany) https://www.instagram.com/p/CbX5saisWT3/?utm_medium=tumblr

[witcheswhimsy]

Still I dream of taking up space.... #SewCrafty holiday party challenge completed. Swipe for some details and view of the hoop guts (for those who love that). Do you also want to make things like this? Then join me for the #YearofStitches with @badasscrossstitch. . . . #SewCrafty #CraftingInCommunity #MakeDontBreak #YearOfStitches #EmbroideryWork #ChallengeYourself #JustStabIt #WitchesWhimsy (hier: Berlin, Germany) https://www.instagram.com/p/CYFoNSpIiY9/?utm_medium=tumblr

[amandalyn111]

Y.o.S. Days 31-33

Sadly, I don’t actually have any progress pics. 

In all truth, after that last “final stretch” all-day crafting and finishing up the dream catcher project... the next morning I discovered all the muscles in my hand were sore. I think the last minute beading really pushed me too far. It was such a weird feeling to have my fingers actually ache every time I squeezed with my thumb.

Needless to say, I took a few days off to recoup. I wasn’t quitting, I just need a break. I had--dare I say it--crafted too much.

[amandalyn111]

More photos of the finished Dream Catcher Wall Art Pair. Because you bet your ass I took pics from all the angles. I was too in love with it NOT to have a photo shoot.

In case you missed the work in progress post with all the gritty details: here

[amandalyn111]

Y.o.S. Days 12-30 The Dream Catcher Project

Here’s a look behind the scenes of my progress on my Dream Catcher Project, and how my #YearOfStitches evolved into #YearOfCrafts. 

First trip to the craft store and I came home after spending way more money than I intended (but that's always the case, isn't it?). But I had plenty of all the necessities of the project. Plus, I can never say no to another box of beads. lol

I fell in love with this etsy pattern when I saw it on pinterest. And it quickly became the aesthetic I built the rest of the piece around.

I got a lot of the cross stitch done on one of my days off (the above progress pics). The fiance was gone for the day and I had nothing better planned than to sit in my bed and cross stitch all day. It was the kind of self care I needed. :)

The colors of the DMC floss I used were: 3862 (brown), 3820 (yellow), 954 (green), 813 (blue), 553 (purple), 3801 (red--3705 was used on the dream catcher since they were out when I went back to the store to get more). And I stitched it on aida 18 count, using 3 strands of thread.

I actually don't have a lot of progress pics of the actual stitching of the middle of the dream catcher since it was a relatively easy pattern that worked up quite quickly. I could have finished it in one setting if I hadn't decided to start it right before bedtime.

I used a 3.25 mm hook and the thread was Premier Yarns--Serenity Garden Yarn in "Gems." I ended up using a 10 in diameter hoop, but I could have gone the next size up easily if I wanted a more stretched/taught finished product. But one, I was not making another trip to the craft store. And two, I didn’t want the dream catcher to completely dwarf the cross stitched piece.

Onto the feathers.

Remember back to the title of this post? The “days 12-30″? Yeah. A good chunk of those were me slowly finishing these bad boys.

I started off kind of rocky... the pattern just didn’t seem to quite work for me.  I'm not sure if it was the yarn or the hook size I used, but the number of stitches just seemed too dense for me and I did not like the way the feather was turning out. So I ripped out some stitches and improvised a pattern as I went. The first feather turned out a little wonky, but they started looking nicer after that. In the end, I was happy with my adjusted pattern.

Number two already looked better. And the rest followed suit.

With those done, I turned my attention back to the dream catcher. It was time to add all those frills--the finishing touches that really made it something special, in my opinion. 

With the ribbon, lace, and beads added, I was already loving it. 

Now I just had to plan on how I was attaching the feathers.

Then came the beading and braiding that really added those fine details.

I don’t have any progress pics of me adding the beading/feathers to the cross stitch piece. After the above picture I was in super craft mode. Which translates to me trying to get it all done before my hands cramped up.

But I was really glad I decided to pull some of the feathers and add them to the second piece. I think, in the end, it really tied the two pieces together to make them a cohesive wall art pairing.

Anyway. This post has already gone on long enough. If you want to see more pictures/angles of the finished object, see this separate post.

All the links were included in this post, but you can also check out my #YearOfStitches Pinterest board to see all the pertaining archived links.