Stargazer is Finished!

I was able to complete all of my cross stitches when I was in the hospital for a few days due to a blood clot. 

I was happy with how the colors still showed up on my dark fabric. Now time to add the beads! It was pretty easy adding the beads to the dress, but once I had to start adding them out in the "sky" it was sooo difficult with no frame of reference to work from! Counting was already hard on the dark linen, but I had gotten used to it. What complicated the counting when attaching beads was that I was using an "invisible" thread to attach the beads! I finally came up with a perfect solution that made the counting monumentally easier: a head lamp! Family teased me of being a miner while I sat stitching on my corner of the couch, but hey, it worked!

I completed attaching the last bead on Saturday, July 26, 2014: 376 days after beginning the project. I usually would just say it took me a year to complete if asked, but with this project I kept track of the actual hours I spent. The final tally was 166 hours. That averages to be about 3 hours of stitching each week for just over a year. 

The following Monday found me anxious to find a frame for my piece so I could enter it into the upcoming county fair and local Peach Days. I didn't have the time to get it custom framed in time for the fair, so I came home from the craft store with a 16x20 frame that fit it okay, but that I didn't totally love. I had forgotten to bring my phone with me to the store and when I arrived home I found my husband completely distraught with the news that our 5 year old niece had been killed in a tragic accident. We spent the rest of the evening in shock, crying, praying, and pondering. I kept looking at my finished cross stitch piece and in my heart I felt moved to give it as a gift to my sister in law. It was no longer mine. It now has become a symbol of love and of the importance of holding on to hope, faith and trust in a plan of a loving God who desires our growth throughout our lives, especially through the darkest moments of mortality. A few weeks later my mom came to visit and when she heard that I wanted to give the piece to my sister in law, then she insisted on taking it back in to be custom framed. As such a gift of the heart, it deserved nothing less than the best. 

Stargazer @ 52 hours

Please don't mind my wrinkles... Here's what my Stargazer looks like at 52 hours worth of stitching. I'm hoping the brighter blues that I have yet to stitch will help the dress pop out of the dark fabric like I was hoping. I feel disappointed at how the darkest color in her dress is matching so closely to the dark fabric. I hope she doesn't completely disappear! I'm concerned about how her hair will blend into the dark fabric as well. Oh well! There's no going back now!

Sparklies

Googling cross stitch stuff paid off big time for me... I discovered Sparklies! It's a lady in the UK who hand dyes fabrics and they are beautiful! I had chosen a new Mirabilia design that I want to stitch and so I chose this fabric to work it on. I was so giddy with excitement the day I chose it out and the day it finally arrived in the mail. It is AWESOME. It's called "Pitch" and I chose it in opalescent (which means it SPARKLES!). It's gorgeous and I began stitching on it yesterday. 

This material is going to make this piece simply breathtaking, in my opinion. The design I'm stitching is called Stargazer. It's of a woman in a beautiful flowing dress, hands to her chest, eyes lifted heavenward towards a sky full of stars. It's full of beadwork that will be in her dress and the stars in the sky. I can't even begin to describe to you how excited I am to be working on this! I'll post pictures of my progress as it's coming along. 

Queen of Peace

This was my favorite project to do! I loved doing all of the beautiful beadwork on it. I stitched it on 32 count linen. For Christmas, my dad and stepmom paid to have it custom framed for me and it is hanging up in our dining room. Every day I see it and it makes me want to do another one like it!

Queen of Peace by Mirabilia

Stitched design 10.5" x 20"