Monday, March 21, 2016

South Seas Mermaid post #7

Okay, somewhat in the home stretch now, though I didn't stitch as much as I anticipated since my last post. I blame my friend who gifted me a copy of Stardew Valley. Life ruining experience. :p


All the regular stitching is done, which means it's time for... over one skin! I think I need to make myself an enlarged working copy so I can rechart it a bit as usual. I always smooth/round the transitions between the colors when doing over one, so I'll need to enlarge and play with it a bit.

In other news, the wisteria is in full bloom outside, and it smells amazing! I remember when this thing was just a pathetic little stick that needed a trellis. It's completely destroyed the wood trellis now and it almost covers the entire top of the pergola. Maybe it will cover the entire thing this year and look even more amazing next year!



I wish I could upload the smell of the flowers somehow, but you'll just have to trust me. It's lovely, and we have so many bees visiting! It's fun to watch the big fat bumblebees chase each other around, as if there isn't enough pollen for everyone or something!

Monday, March 14, 2016

South Seas Mermaid post #6

Mmm, seaweed!


So, I didn't end up working on the skin yet, but I may end up saving that for last (as usual) to keep it from getting handled too much. As you can see, I got her tail and fins done, plus most of the seaweed. There's a few more random colorful seaweed branches to be added, but that won't take more than an hour or two to finish up. :)

I'm still having a great time with her, so I may just press on until I finish! My monthly goals are important to me, of course, but fully enjoying my stitching is even more important. :)

I don't know if you can tell by comparing to my previous posts and the model picture, but I've made some small color modifications to improve the appearance of the stitching. I've also removed all blended colors and replaced them with a single DMC color, so I'll publish a list of all the changes I made when I post my finish on this lovely mermaid. :3

Monday, March 07, 2016

South Seas Mermaid post #5

Another weekend, another update! Here's where South Seas Mermaid is now:


I was hoping to have more progress, but we spent a lot of time on other things this weekend, so I didn't stitch for as long as I would have liked. Still, I'm pleased with my progress and with my progress on non-stitchy projects as well! Balance is important, right? :)

I've decided to stitch her skin over one, since she has a lot less skin than other Mira mermaids I've done over one. Whether I regret attempting this on Cashel is yet to be seen... :p

Next goal is to get her fin stitched, then make a start on her skin. Wish me luck! :)

Friday, March 04, 2016

South Seas Mermaid post #4

Cruising right along on this lovely mermaid! She's bigger than I thought, or maybe she just seems that way because I'm not used to stitching on Cashel...


One thing that has been somewhat frustrating is dealing with the Kreinik. The coverage isn't bad, but it doesn't want to lay flat against the fabric, so the stitches end up loose even though my tension is good. If I pulled much harder, I'd end up with large holes between the stitches, which is probably the #1 thing I can't stand when stitching. I've had to undo/redo quite a bit to get the metallics to be tight enough without messing up the fabric. 

I wonder if it has something to do with the Kreinik being sold on a spool, giving the thread an arched shape that doesn't want to flatten out, especially on a higher count fabric with more distance to cover on each stitch. I guess I could try a sample in another type of metallic to test it out.

Another minor problem is that I've managed to stitch this so the steely blue-grey portion of the fabric is directly behind portions of the fins that contain... a steely blue-grey color. It's not quite as obvious in real life, and honestly I have no intention of "fixing" it, but I thought I'd note it anyway. :p