Two finishes and a start (of course)

I had a very productive weekend, completing two of my stitching goals for the month. One was finishing the stitching on a small gift for an exchange I'm doing (so no pictures yet!), and the other was finally finishing Baby Globe by Bent Creek!

Baby Globe - Bent Creek (finished 10/19/2013)

I made this for one of my cousins, who had his first daughter back in June. I started this back then as well, meaning it to be a quick stitch. I think it should have been, but for whatever reason this wasn't that enjoyable of a stitch. The fabric was a bit flimsy (it's 32ct linen, I think), and I just felt like it was hard to stitch on. Also, the chart had about a million errors in it, which was frustrating. It's a small enough chart that I could figure out what was going on by looking at the chart, but it was still very frustrating. There was one symbol that was used twice for two very different colors (in the chart, not the key), and two symbols in the key that were never used at all! Anyway, it's done and I've got the frame, so all I need to do is frame and deliver it.

And since I got those two finished, I was able to kit up and start another little ornament that I hope to send out when I send out my exchange gifts. This one is a surprise that I'm very excited about. I should have it done today hopefully, and then I will be able to start finishing all my ornaments and preparing to send them off.

This weekend I had a lovely surprise, as I was the recipient of an RAK (random act of kindness) from a HAED Freebie fairy, Dana Dragonheart. She was kind enough to send me the chart for this little guy. I think I might have to stitch this one up to keep me company at work.

QS Grumpy Owl - Annya Kai

A Wedding and a Thesis

I am more than happy to report that my Master's thesis was completed, defended, turned in, and approved last week, and now I am 100% done with school! I guess I have technically graduated as well, although I didn't attend the ceremony. I am anxiously awaiting my diploma though. :)

You may wonder what I have been doing since then, and the answer is studying. This may seem odd, as I just said that I was 100% done with school, which I am. What you probably don't know is that I have chosen a career path that largely consists of studying (at least for the foreseeable future). All of which is to say, I have a job! A real one! Where the word "intern" isn't part of my job title! And that job is as an entry-level actuary for a local company. 

If you are reading this and you are not my family, then there is a 97.4% chance that you are about to google "actuary". Let me save you time. In a nutshell, an actuary is someone who analyzes risk (usually related to insurance or finance) and uses mathematics and statistics to do so. Also, you have to pass a bunch of exams and other education requirements to become an accredited actuary. Which is now what I am on my way to do (hopefully). I have passed two exams already, while I was working on my degree. I will take the third in November. While the exams aren't much fun (in fact, they are quite challenging, even for someone like me who has never had test-taking issues), by working as an actuary, I now have paid study time and the company takes care of all of exam expences  (exam fees, cost of study materials, etc). So yay!

Alright, now that all of the boring stuff is out of the way, let's get to the stitching (more importantly, finished stitching)!

This is the wedding sampler I have been working on for my cousin Jennifer, who got married yesterday. I started this at the beginning of July, fully confident that I would have plenty of time to finish it before the wedding. I was able to do so, but not with plenty of time. Mostly, my thesis got in the way, so I spent the last week rushing to finish it up. 

On Friday night, I finished the last of the stitching around midnight and then spent the next 3 1/2 to 4 hours beading. And there's not even that many beads! Let's just say that I will not be beading anything anytime soon. Although I was sick of working on it by the time it was finished (all that white was starting to drive me crazy), I actually really enjoyed this project. I got to use silks for the first time, do specialty stitches for the first time, do beading for the first time, and frame something for the first time. Basically, a lot of stitching firsts. The frame is a temporary frame, until I can have it custom framed for her. My mom helped me stretch and pin it to some foam board. It would have been a mess without her help!

My slightly wonky beading

I was really pleased with how it turned out, and more importantly, so was my cousin. I stopped by while she was getting ready so I could give it to her in person. It was so sweet to see her reaction when she pulled the frame out of the bag. She really liked the vintage style. And miraculously, it turned out to be in her wedding colors! Her entire color scheme was based around cream and a sort of burlap color. Everything about her wedding had a vintage feel to it, so the sampler went perfectly with everything. She even asked me to display it on her gift table at the reception, which basically made my day. :)

This project was such a great experience. I don't know if I'll ever get the same amount of satisfaction stitching something for myself as I have doing things for other people. 

Wilde About Oscar

Does anyone besides my sister-in-law and I get the title of this post? It was starting to seem like that when I was working on this project because everyone that saw it in progress (i.e. co-workers on my lunch break) had no idea who Oscar was or why anyone would be Wilde about him.

This was a project of many firsts for me: first time making my own chart, first time charting a custom font, first time making a pillow, first time finishing a project for a deadline (barely).
The stitching is done on 14ct Fiddler's cloth Aida, completely in black (DMC 310). If I knew what I was doing when it came to blogging and crafting, I would know what kind of cording and backing fabric I used, but alas, I do not.

I do know that my lovely Nana Dana (yes, we have the same name) came to the rescue and whipped up the pillow part in less than an hour. I did at least help cut out the pieces, figure out the construction, and pin the cord. If I had allowed myself more time than two hours to make the pillow, I would have learned how to use the sewing machine myself. We'll save that adventure for another day.

Nana Dana hard at work

There are no up-close pictures of the pillow because I had to hand sew the opening at the bottom early this morning and I had no idea what I was doing and it came out a bit wonky. Also, I stabbed myself with a needle (since I was using an actual sewing needle and not the blunt tapestry needles I'm used to) so a teensy weensy bit of my blood is also on the bottom, should anyone need it for DNA analysis. I am very proud of the back of the stitching, though to be fair, it was a simple pattern with one color and thus pretty easy to keep neat.

Back view of stitching

One part of this project I found particularly interesting was charting a new font (i.e. a font that didn't come pre-packaged with my charting software, though it has a plethora). I did my best to make elements of the font consistent across all the letters, and though there are few issues, I think the overall product looks good.

Lesson learned: When doing cross stitch or other fine needlework, it is best to keep in mind that most people viewing the final product will not be viewing it from 6 inches away, so all those things that look like huge horrible mistakes to you are much less apparent than they seem.

Now I want to re-read The Importance of Being Earnest...

Happy Father's Day! (And a Finished Finish)

I gave away my first stitched gift tonight, to my dad. I found a pattern collection of Celtic knot bookmarks not too long ago and thought this one would be perfect for my dad as his favorite color is green, just like me. :)

It was really fast to stitch; I did it in one Saturday. But of course I left the finishing until the eleventh hour, which probably wasn't a good idea since I had never done it before. But it actually turned out pretty well, I think. I had to sew the folds together on the back, which wasn't much fun. It was hard to get the tension right so the design stayed centered on the front. I also bent a couple needles.

This was just part of his Father's Day gift. I also gave him a Nike t-shirt, which sports (pun intended) a twist on a classic workout phrase. And since he previously inquired if he would be able to eat any of his presents, I thought I had better make him some cookies, which are the size of personal pan pizzas.

All in all, it was a great Father's day, especially when you take into account that I got to have ahi tuna nachos!