The Ballet Dancer...

To embroider this picture, I made some changes again on my own ... I made the background in half-stitch. Because the colors was not difficult to see on graphic where should I use half-stitch and where should I use full cross-stitch.

Figure 01: The Ballet Dancer

(60 colors used, stitches: 111 H x 180 W)

It's amazing how the picture resembles my cousin Ana Thereza.

That's it...

Russian Gift...

Living in Los Alamos, NM gave me a chance to have contact with different cultures, since there is a lot of people from outside the United States and I attended English classes for foreign (ESL - English as Second Language).

 

Attend courses at the University of New Mexico (UNM - Los Alamos) also gave me friends, some of  them I'll carry in my heart forever. They are very special people: Irina, Aneta and Elizabeth.

 

Elizabeth was our English teacher, same age, she took place in our group so fast. She went  to our meetings - Friday morning, usually at Aneta's home - just to talk while tea kept us warmish from outside.

 

Aneta, from Poland, learned to cross-stitch from me. One day she came to my home, saw my embroideries, and asked if I could teach her. I used all my English "the book is on the table" and I gave a simple pattern to her. I also lent needle and threads to her... and after a week she asked me if she could borrow the Tree pattern (Landscape Magazine - Figure 01) from me, because she would like to try it! I lent it to her ... and my greatest pride, she made it... she framed (which is very expensive here) and she hung it in her living room.... she also never stopped .... When I moved from Los Alamos, NM to Tallahassee, FL, she was beginning her third project!

 

 

Irina, from Russia, also liked needle crafts and fabric and she also had her cross-stitch projects. She gave me, as a Christmas gift, a Russian cross-stitch kit - St. Basil's Cathedral (Собор Василия Блаженного). Genuine Russian - all instructions in Russian - and the thread was not the same material we usually use, it was kind of wool ... very thin .... even difficult to embroider with her because I love to embroider using  long threads, and this one easily unraveled.

 

Figure 01: Собор Василия Блаженного (St Basil's Cathedral)

(17 colors used, stitches: 180 H x 130 W)

 

That's it...

Horses...

When I arrived in the US, I was amazed with the cross-stitch patterns that I found. EVERYONE was beautiful! It was hard to decide which one to buy!

My first niece, Gih, loves horses. When I saw this chart, a panel with horses, this one was not hard to choose, for sure!

Despite this panel is for her, it is with me .... I have some difficulty to let my projects go .... usually I dedicate so much time on them and an emotional bond between my projects and I are created .... Maybe one day I can break this bond... who knows?? 

Figure 01: White Horses

(14 colors used, stitches: 295 H x 81 W)

Time goes very fast, and Gih is already in college ... As a gift for her high school graduation, I made another project for her ... but this one I really gave to her... I think because it was a small project, I spent less time on it, and the emotional bond created was not so strong.... but it was not easy...

It was a kit ...and to embroidery blue thread on blue fabric is a little tiring ... At the end, we have one more in our collection!

Figure 02: Horses

(20 colors used, stitches: 98 H x 80 W)

I'm thinking... it is better stop embroidering "intent to ____" and really start cross-stitching "to ____"... because I do not know if I'll have enough walls to hang so many pictures. (Now I have not, they are all saved! Lol)

That's it...

Flowers!

I did not realize that my posts were thematic - collection, landscapes, wolves, little vases .... - I will follow this model until I post my projects already finished.

I made 3 projects with flowers.... 2 of pansies (same pattern) and a daisy.

The first one, the Daisy (Figure 01), I did a modification on my own:  I changed the background from full cross-stitch to half-stitch (the chart asked all stitches in full cross-stitch). My idea was to pop the flower up in this work . I liked the result so much that I started to do this modification often.

 

 

Figure 01: Daisy

(18 colors used, stitches: 170 H x 170 W)

I have another flower to pair with this ... but it is still in line waiting its turn.

I also made two embroideries of pansies: a gift for my mother (following exactly the pattern - I'll take pictures to post here the next time I visit her) and one for me, where once again I made a few modifications on my own ... I made the background using half-stitch instead full cross-stitch, and petals, for some colors, I used metallic thread together the specified color for each stitch. I think the result was very very good!

Figure 02: Pansies

(54 colors used, stitches: 98 H x 150 W)

I thought the metallic thread is very difficult to use, but not impossible. I already have a project for the future  were I'm thinking to change the background to half-stitch again and also to use the metallic thread in some details... but this is for the future ... and consequently,  another post.

That's it...

Wolves!

Living in New Mexico, it was easy to find patterns of wolves to embroider.

The first one that I embroidered (Figure 01) was a kit, (it came with fabric, threads, color chart and pattern) and it also was the first project I've done that is not retcangular. I liked the result.

Figure 01: Call of the Wolf

(21 colors used, stitches: 170 H x 170 W)

One wolf more ... one more that I love it! I think that it is beautiful too! (I'm feeling proud of myself .... I like all my projects.)

Figure 02: Brother Wolf

(29 colors used, stitches: 141 H x 146 W)

While I was cross-stitching As Damas da corte (Back to the collection, Figure 02) that was huge and never end ... I did a quick project... I needed to see a result rght the way to energize myself and keep the larger project running. So I did this cub .... also from a kit. It is nice too!

Figure 03: Wolf

(18 colors, stitches: 98 H x 70 W)

To close my post with wolves ... the one that I consider my masterpiece! Embroidered on black fabric ... it took me long time to finish ... it was very difficult ... I couldn't see the point .... but in the end ... after much persistence .... one for the collection! The most beautiful of all !!!!!!

Figure 04: Northen Lights

(27 colors, stitches: 194 H x 154 W)

That's it...

Moving...

Since I started to embroider many things happened, including move to another country. In 2005, my husband and I moved to the United States - it should be for two years .. but it is 5 already .... but that's for another blog.

  

Of course I brought my cross-stitch stuff with me (long time collecting floss e patterns to leave behind). 

What matters is that now I had all day to embroider ... looking for free patterns on line ... I chose few .... print out 2 .... and when I started the process to get the threads that I already have and see which one I need to buy... what a surprise: here in US I only could find DMC I had to start again ... from scratch ... because when we convert from one brand to another, the color is very close, but not exactly the same. I can't take risk of any color finish in the middle of a job, can I?

The first project that I made here - Creation of Eden - was a little tiring .... it was large (200 x 147 stitches), I chose a fabric of small stitches again and little variation of colors (14 colors) ... as always, it can take some time to get finished, but I'm done.

  

Figure 01: Pattern 569

(14 colors used, stitches: 147 H x 200 W)

That's it...

Back to the Collection

While the collection was sold in Brazil, I bought a one of them every week (the collection was weekly).

As almost always, respect for the consumer is not the most important thing to companies in Brazil, and this publisher just stopped selling the collection without warning. Anyway, I still got two more patterns to work on them.

These two projects were a little bit heavy. The first one (Figure 01) because the fabric that I chose ... to get a great stitch I had to place "the x" all right. The second one (Figure 02) because the size... it was very very large ... (stitches: 260 H x 160 W).

Figure 01: Dama Art Nouveau

(21 colors used, stitches: 170 H x 140 W)

Figure 02: Damas da Corte

(42 colors used, stitches: 260 H x 170 W)

I needed long time to find courage and start this big one project. That courage came in 2008 and it was one of those projects that needed more than a year to complete ... again chose a fabric with little stitches, but despite the delay, I made it!.

That's it!

Little Vases

Although I'm not the most organized person in the world, I realized that one of the things I love about cross-stitch is the organization ... I love the "ritual" before starting a new project ... see the colors of threads that they will be used .... check which one that I have ... separate the material ... cutting the fabric .... I just love this part!

Once all the frames of imported magazine were embroidered, I started search for new patterns ... and while not found .... I cross-stitched some flowers .... quicker than the big projects .... less details ... fewer points ... but it was what I could do that time.

Figure 01: Blues Vase*

Figure 02: Orange Vase*

Figure 03: Yellow Vase*

Figure 04: Green Vase*

That's it...

* I have no information at this moment (number of colors used, and number of stitches)

Landscape Magazine

After finishing my first project, the frustration of not finding other patterns to stitch  came.... it was very difficult ....patterns in the way I like it were only imported and not easy to find.

After so much searching .... I found a store that had imported several of these magazines and I was able to keep embroidering, now my new cross-stitch series.

The Tree was the first project of this magazine that is made. It was much faster than the first one ... I think it is because I choose a fabric with the stitches a little bit higher than the one before...

This one gave a little more work ... the color chart was for DMC... I needed to convert to Anchor (another brand common in Brazil), but in the end, it was worth....

Figure 01: Sunset Silhouette

(35 colors used, stitches: 130 H x 160 W)

I think the Tree is one of my most beautiful embroidery. (The photo can not be that great ... but, yes, it is one of the most beautiful! LOL)

Then I was embroidering the other pictures ... one by one ... stitch by stitch ...

Figure 02: Mountain Refuge

(35 colors used, stitches: 70 H x 98 W)

Figure 03: Mountain Meadow

(34 colors used, stitches: 70 H x 98 W)

Figure 04: Lighthouse Point

(37 colors used, stitches: 98 H x 70 W)

Figure 05: Cape Cod

(46 colors used, stitches: 98 H x 70 W)

And the biggest one so far ...

Figure 06: Sundown

(20 colors used, stitches: 140 H x 190 W)

That's it...

The Beginning...

I grew up in a family where the craft was always present ... or crochet from my grandmother, or at tapestries and sewing  from my mother, or knitting and crochet from my aunts. I could spend hours and hours just watching how they did, but I never tried much in the area. I loved to release thread to help them ... I felt part of the project.

When I was 10 I tried knitting ... I made a pair of shoes for a cousin ... of course I had some help from a cousin - Terezinha - I still don't know how to increase stitches in the middle of a knitting work ... indeed .... knitting ... only scarves (LOL) Scarves... these are for another posting .... LOL

Crochet has always been a frustration ... left-handed ... there was no one to teach me (in spite of the fact that my mother is also left-handed, she was never crochet-friendly) ... I could only made chains ... Today I changed this situation ... but this is for another post ... LOL

Then  it came the cross-stitch in my family ... everyone had your project - mother, aunts and sister - but at this time, cross-stitch didn't catch my attention. Today I think that it happened caused the kind of the needlework is thing they were doing (I like cross-stitch pictures!)

It all started when I stopped at a newsstand and saw a new collection being launched .... It was several types of embroidery, knitting, crocheting ... and I thought, why not buy? ... I bought!

I went home and started flipping through the magazine ... and I was blown away with a framework in cross-stitch... and decided to try ... after all, I barely could pass thread in a needle-hole.

I went to a store close to my home .... I bought fabric, needles, every color of floss, box to arrange the threads, label to wrap the threads ... and I started ... through self-taught ... when I had a cruel doubt I asked my mom ... but I was handle it.... after one year ... I finished my project! I chose a fabric with very small stitches.... my eyes get tired soon ... but I insisted and... stitch by stitch... I ended my first job! It was super proud of myself!

Figure 01: Idílio à beira-mar

(25 colors used, stitches:140 H x 112 W)

That's it! This is my first needlecraft in cross-stitch ... That was in 1999 and since then I never stopped!