A mysterious project appears! Shrouded in secrecy!

So, after finishing my last project I tried to keep my positive momentum going and picked up another project.  This one has been waiting around a while to be stitched with materials bought but simply no progress made.  And finally we have a cross stitch project!  I tend to think of cross stitch as my main craft, so its really odd that I haven't posted a cross stitch project here until now. 

I won't be giving out too many details on this project, since it will be a gift for a friend and there is a slim chance that they might find their way to the blog and see it and I don't want to ruin the surprise.  But this picture is mysterious enough that I think even if they find it, they will have no idea what it is. 

Again I've done most of the work while watching Criminal Minds.  It helps that I've seen most of the episodes before, so I know when to pay attention and when I can be a bit more distracted.  I don't get as much done when an episode pops up that I really like (usually involving Spencer Reid) or when one I haven't seen comes on, but it still lets me get a lot done. 

There isn't much else to say in this one since I'm keeping quiet about most of it.  Feel free to guess what it is, unless you happen to recognize the actual pattern, then please don't say anything.  But general guesses are fine.  Happy crafting everyone!

Kanji Completion! Happiness for all!

So here we have another finish.   The kit is by Dimensions and its appropriately called Happiness. It's on 14 count mesh canvas.  I knew this one wouldn't take too long once I got going on it again.  I'd say it probably took me less than a week of actual work, but it was actually about twice that long to finish as I kept getting distracted from it, much as I did for the years I had it in Japan.  I did a lot of the stitching while watching Criminal Minds, which makes me really happy, despite what a depressing show it can be, so I felt that was appropriate. 

As I said before I really hate mesh canvas.  It was really hard for me to keep my stitches even, and to me (and probably only to me) parts of it look really bad.  Apparently I need some sort of frame, but its such a small project I wasn't going to go out and invest in something just for this.  I do have two more needlepoint projects that I really want to turn out well, so I may have to look into something.  I much prefer working on plastic canvas to this stuff as it is stiffer and easier to work with. 

This was also my first time working from a pattern that was not exactly charted.  I'm used to cross stitch, where every stitch is carefully mapped out and you count and make sure they go in the right place.  With this kit the background pattern is stamped on.  The only precise pattern I had was for the black stitching of the kanji and the letters.  The rest of the pattern didn't have a grid.  It looked more like a color by number pattern.  It gave the general area and shape that each color would make.  So instead of counting a lot, I just had to eyeball the stamped pattern and stitch accordingly. 

I found this much easier to do in natural light.  After doing the kanji in the center I did the red borders and then started with the darkest yellow which was the easiest to see.  I kept going to lighter shades until I got to the last two and then switched to the lightest color since there was less of it.  Telling the last two colors apart was almost impossible in artificial light.  They were just too close. 

I actually changed a few things with the pattern in regard to the back stitch.  I decided not to backstitch the kanji.  In the picture that came with the pattern it just looks messy in some places where the stitches don't line up exactly.  It doesn't look fluid and beautiful like kanji should.  I thought it looked just fine without the back stitching, so I didn't do it.  Also, they only wanted me to use one strand of thread for the backstitching on the corners and the border.  I did one corner, and hated it.  You couldn't even see the detail.  I showed it to my fiancé and mother and neither of them could even tell I'd worked on that section till I told them.  So I ripped it out, added another strand and started again.  It looks so much better. 

Since I didn't have to count, or even consult the pattern much I think this went together much faster than I'm used to with cross stitch.  But the lack of precision also made it frustrating in different ways.  Overall I'm just glad to have another project finished.  I'm not sure what to do with this one, so I might just try to find a nice little frame for it. 

I'm also a bit curious about what to do with all of my leftover thread.  With all of the projects I've finished I have some stuff left over, and each company seems to have their own special color code, so its not like I can just add it to my DMC stash.  I will keep it of course, but I have no idea how to lable or store it other than to just have a bag of leftover scraps.

Frustrating happiness! A work in progress!

So I'm totally still alive, and have in fact been crafting some more.  I have a WIP picture to share with anyone who reads this. 

This is yet another project that got started in Japan, but then got forgotten and never finished.  It's a needlepoint kit that has the Chinese character for happiness.  It's my first project on mesh canvas and I kinda really hate the stuff.  I'm sure I'll ramble more about that once I finish it, but I just can't get my stitches to lay evenly without being able to put it in a hoop.  Also, I hate not having an exactly charted partern.  This stamped-on-general-area-pattern is not for me. 

Anyway, here is where I am at the moment.

When I left Japan I wasn't even quite finished with the reds on the border, so I've really come a long way.  It stitches up quickly which makes me feel rather productive.  I have only two colors left to stitch and unfortunatly they are very close.  It's hard to tell where to stitch each color on the canvas unless I have natural light, so rather than my normal habbit of stitching at night, this one will need to see some serious progress during the day.  But once that is done I'll just have the back stitch and then I can put this one to bed as well!

I have some plans for this blog.  In order to attract more readers and share the craft I love I'm hoping to post some patterns I have made.  They are mostly anime and Japan inspired.  But those are things I like and I know other people enjoy them as well.  I'm currently fighting with my pattern program to figure out a presentable way to post the patterns.  I'm a little nervous about sharing my patterns, as I know there are so many great patterns out there on similar things, but hopefully I can share some unique things that aren't too terrible looking that other people might enjoy making.

But for now, that is all!  Happy stitching!