Thursday, September 8, 2011

The Halloween Fairy is Done!

Yes, that's right. The Halloween Fairy is DONE. 

Halloween Fairy, designed by Nora Corbett


Soon, I hope to find the perfect frame and add this gorgeous gal to the Wall o' Halloween Stitchery.

I haven't even taken her out of the q-snaps yet. Here she is, lounging on the floor near a basket of unfolded laundry.


I like to keep it real around here, people. ;)
This gal didn't come without issues. As you may recall (scroll to the bottom), I ran out of floss for one of the wings when I was close to being done. A visit to my local needlework store didn't solve my problem, as I'd hoped, for even though they had the correct color, it wasn't really correct. Since this project was stitched with hand dyed floss, the new color I picked up was from a different dye lot and looked NOTHING like the one that had come with the kit.  It was much lighter and had very little variegation.

Anger and panic ensued. Was my whole project ruined? Even though I had tried tea-dyeing the new floss, it wasn't right. What was I going to do?!? 

That's where Tracy, aka besomom, comes in.

Tracy, a fellow blogger (House of Hodgepodge--go check it out!) and super talented stitcher, read of my woes and graciously offered to send me the leftover floss from her kit. (Did your kit come with 2 skeins, Tracy? I forgot to ask how you had so much leftover while I didn't have enough.) "Hopefully it will be what you need," she wrote to me. And guess what? It was PERFECT. 

Tracy is an angel, people. She saved my project. :)

Here, take a look at this:


That's the new floss I bought, and the one Tracy sent me. "Do you see how different these are?" I asked my husband as I compared the two skeins. "Isn't is crazy how different they are?" 

"I dunno, they look the same to me," was his reply. 

"The same?? No, no, no. They are different. Very different!" How he didn't see that is beyond me, though I am pretty sure he didn't really look at the skeins. The TV was on, and you know how that goes. ;)


Anyway, it doesn't matter anymore, because the project is done. The skein Tracy sent me was a great match, and I am so grateful to her. 

How 'bout a few more pics of the fairy, hmmmmm?




I love the beaded wand. I love all the beads, really.

 The beading went quickly, as there really weren't that many to attach. I love the way they form a fringe near the bottom of the dress. And they sparkle so nicely when the light hits them.


One thing I should tell you about this is that I deviated ever-so-slightly from the pattern. The fairy's skin color was supposed to be Crescent Colour's Bella Rosa, but it was just way too pink. I changed it to DMC 948, which worked out quite nicely. My little fairy is very pale, just like me. I don't tan whatsoever, boo. Even if I burn, I don't fade into a nice tan like some people do, I go from red back to pale. But I digress. I did end up using the Bella Rosa for this project, but only to attach the beads. The stitching instructions didn't specify what I should use (in fact, there was no mention of the beads at all in the instructions), so I had to wing it. It turned out well, I think, and you can hardly see the thread where the beads are attached. I can only assume that's the way it was supposed to be done.
Now that she's done, I kinda miss working on her, despite the fact that I have so many other awesome things I want to stitch (and am currently stitching). Does anyone else ever feel like that after completing a large/involved project? 


14 comments:

Bex said...

Wow, she looks so beautiful! Your commentary cracks me up though. Sounds like my husband!

I often mourn when I get rid of some of my pieces. I just donated one that took me a while to do and I felt sad when it left my hands. I hope it raised some money though!

FullertonRegan said...

She's boo-tiful! Get it? GET IT???? Halloween humor!!!

Unknown said...

So pretty!!

Unknown said...

It is absolutely beautiful. You are just amazing.

Lisa said...

She. Is. Beautiful! You did a bang up job on this, and the beads are so pretty! Just the right amount of extra sparkle. Ok, yeah. I see a BIG difference between those flosses. That would have made me crazy too. Kudos to your bloggy pal for saving the day! I love this!

Anonymous said...

She's beautiful. Very, very nice job!

Anonymous said...

Gorgeous!!! I'd love to see a picture of your Halloween stitching wall. Do you leave it up all year? How cool!!!

Julie said...

She looks so good! You make me want to cross stitch! :)

besomom said...

I'm so glad the thread worked! It's been so long since I stitched her, so I don't remember for certain, but my kit must have come with two skeins for me to have had so much left over. The difference between the two dye lots is pretty incredible! LOL about your husband. Mine is the same way. He calls everything I do "knitting". Happy almost-fall!

Becky said...

She is absolutely GORGEOUS!!! Well done Kristi!

And yes, I do get those pangs when I finish a big project. Same way when I finish a good book.

Elizabeth said...

You did such a lovely job on this project!

Kristi said...

Wow, you guys!! Thank you so much for all the fairy love!

Robin--the wall is rather meager right now. I am working on adding more each year. It doesn't stay up year-round, so I will try to snap a pic of it in next month. :)

Rosemary said...

This is lovely, I really enjoy the closeups and your terrifically neat work. What a good bloggy friend to help you out in your hour of need! Yes, I understand what you mean about finishing a very involved project, being happy about it, but also feeling like you miss it...but with all the goodies you are working on, I think you will be pleased to be getting even more projects done!

SewKarenM said...

I LOVE this! So pretty, so magical. She is just delightful.