Crafty Sheep's November Color Challenge (One Week Late)

Hello! I am a bit late posting my Color Challenge piece.

Photo by Crafty Sheep

I have to be honest, I really don't care for what I did. I never properly selected a pattern, opting to instead simply practice different types of stitches. I ended up winging it and making up a pattern as I went along, and I am not so fond of the results.

This is the weirdest cross stitch piece ever.

Ew. What the heck is this?? I don't even know. It was going okay until I added the gray (646).

It doesn't look so bad here...too bad I had to go and ruin it.

Or maybe it was the addition of the backstitch lines around the piece that ruined it for me. I should have just stuck with repeating this pattern, incorporating the gray into it somehow.

Oh well. It is what it is. It was fun; it was a challenge. It was an experiment, and it was a good opportunity for me to practice some fancy stitches.

Seriously. It's weird.

It's confirmation that I really ought to stick to patterns. ;)

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Crafty Sheep's October Color Challenge

You may recall a couple posts I did in September about Crafty Sheep's Color Challenge. (If not, you can read those posts here and here.) I enjoyed the Challenge so much that I decided to participate again this month. 

Photo by Crafty Sheep

Aren't the colors for October's Color Challenge beautiful? I had fun deliberating over which pattern in my collection would be best suited for these rich pepper tones. I think I found one that really fit the bill. What do you think? :)

From the Sloth Mama's Day  pattern by Wild Olive

 

Eeep! So cute, right?!

Now, maybe I shouldn't even point this out, for perhaps you wouldn't have even noticed, but I totally squished my stitches with the iron. Oops. I generally don't need to iron my embroidery pieces after I am done with them, but this time it was necessary. And I smooshed and squished my stitches. I am not happy with myself! I should know better! Oh well. It doesn't take away from the cuteness of the piece, or the fact that I really enjoyed participating in another Color Challenge.

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Crafty Sheep's September Color Challenge, Part Two

Guess what? I completed the challenge!

Here is the blackwork piece I showed you last time. Sorry it's not a great pic, but my camera batteries ran out of juice and of course I didn't have any more AA's in the junk drawer. Grrrr. But I don't want to wait until I've had a chance to go buy more batteries to show you this, even though it would mean a clearer, crisper pic. I am really anxious to share this!

I definitely see more blackwork in my future!

And, because I loved September's Color Challenge very, very much, I decided to do a second piece (which I managed to get a good shot of before the camera batteries died). 

Eeeeeep! ♥ This is from a Japanese embroidery book I bought on Etsy a couple years ago. This is my first time stitching anything from the book...in fact, I do believe it's my first time stitching something from any Japanese embroidery book (I have a few). Why did I wait so long?

This piece, like the blackwork one, is super tiny. I didn't actually break out the measuring tape, but I'd estimate it to be about 2x2.5 inches. 

(By the way, that "K" on the mug was not part of the original pattern. Isn't it cute, though?)

I looooooooooooved doing this challenge. It was fun to venture out and try something new. I highly recommend it. I look forward to future Color Challenges! I may even play with some of the past challenge palettes. I've had my eye on Fresh Picked and Color Breakfast since they debuted this summer. 

How 'bout you? Have you participated in any of the Color Challenges? Do you plan to soon? Please, do tell!

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Crafty Sheep's September Color Challenge

Hello, hello!

Hey, have you heard of Crafty Sheep's Color Challenges? I have been wanting to do one for months, but haven't had the chance until now.  I just love September's challenge.

Isn't this palette fun?!

Photo by Crafty Sheep, aka Alexis, aka Awesome Crafter & Stitcher

With this challenge, I decided to go outside of my comfort zone with more than just color--I am also challenging myself with pattern. I have never done blackwork before, and I thought it would be fun to give it a whirl.

And it is fun. But it's much more challenging than I thought it'd be! I think it would be easier if I were stitching it all in one color. Oh well! A challenge is supposed to be challenging, right? ;)

As you can see, it's a work in progress. I used a pattern I found here (top one), and have been winging it a bit, too. The pattern is teensy (just 16x12 stitches!), so I put four of them together. What you're seeing here is the top half of my piece...well, a partial shot of it, anyway. 

It seems to be that blackwork, or at least this particular pattern, has a rhythm to it. Once I figured that rhythm out, I didn't even need to refer to the pattern. It was nice, and very repetitive. Maybe even melodic.

I don't know if you noticed, but I haven't used 728 in the piece yet. I didn't really plan out what I was going to do, and I don't really have a vision of how I'd like to see this turn out. Like I said, I've been winging it. I will be incorporating the 728 into this piece, and I think I know how I'll do it, but I am not sure yet. I guess I will just have to wait and see where the needle & thread take me.
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