Daily Craft - More tiny stitches

I am very impressed that, only 3 months after starting the project, I am so far along with my cross-stitch birth announcement. Cross-stitching is a labor of love, that's for sure. The advantages for this particular pattern are that there were big areas using the same thread that didn't involve switching between colors or having to repeatedly count to make sure that a single x wasn't missed. The background is complete....but now I'm working on the back-stitching.

I should note that I have a bit of a love hate relationship with back-stitching. I love how it looks, but I hate the fact that you think you're done with the piece, and then realize that you still have a ton of tiny outline stitches to do before it's finished. These stitches that seem like they'll take as long as it did to do the background.  You can see how much difference it makes in this picture though - all the definition and detail comes through.  So, I'll keep stitching on and with any luck I'll be done by the time we head to the hospital (although I swear I'm not going to feel bad if I'm not!)

Daily Craft - Tiny little squares

I'm working on the complimentary cross-stitch piece to go with the Asian butterfly I completed a little while back. It's amazing how each little square is starting to create the bigger picture. I almost think of each stitch as a pixel.

There's a long way to go before this starts looking like something recognizable but it's taking shape.Hoping it won't take over a year like the last one did!

Daily Craft - Finally finished!

A little over a year ago, I felt inspired to start my second ever cross-stitch project.  Of course, didn't think to get my feet wet with something small and instead launched right in with this Dimensions kit. It was somewhat slow going, but I loved watching it develop as I was stitching along.  I'm thrilled that I finally finished it yesterday and now I get to pick a frame for it to complete the look.

I have this complimentary kit already in hand and I'm debating whether to get started on it, or go for the dragon from the book I just bought. Decisions, decisions!

Daily Craft - Myth & Magic

I think I'm finally coming close to finishing my first proper cross-stitch project and seem to be building a little collection of cross-stitch books/leaflets.  I've done pretty well finding cross-stitch books at the thrift store and found another on my lunch break trip on Friday. This time I picked up a copy of Cross Stitch: Myth & Magic for a couple of dollars. I'm working on an Asian themed project right now, which is likely to go in our guest bathrom. I'm very excited that this book has a really nice dragon pattern that I think will be my next project and hopefully the two will look great hung up together!