Finished Project: Companion Cube in 3 Dimensions

I had to take a break from the giant Helix Nebula to work on something short and sweet. This need perfectly coincided with picking up Portal 2 again, after taking a five year hiatus (I had stopped literally during the final fight, much to the annoyance of my spouse). Well, the good news is that I finished both the game and this three-dimensional cross-stitched companion cube.

The cube is stitched flat with two strands of floss on a scrap of aida (I think 18 count but I’m not sure). After stitching, I cut around the stitched area, folded it into a cube shape, and sewed the edges shut with black thread. It’s stuffed with leftover thread pieces. It’s tiny, about 1.4 inches on each side (3.5 centimeters).

The cube now lives in my cubicle at work, and occasionally gets loaned out to coworkers having a difficult day.

The free pattern is available on pdxstitch.net.

 

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WIP Wednesday: A Day Late

I know, I know, today is Thursday and it’s almost over, anyway. But we finally got a sunny day and the light was so nice that I actually got to take a picture of the Helix Nebula with natural light!

And now that tax season is (pretty much) over, I might actually have the time and energy to stitch for more than 10 minutes at a time. Hoping to have this finished before the year is out.

I’m also starting on knitting my first sweater; I just ordered some deep blue fingering yarn for it yesterday and I can’t wait for it to arrive.

Finished Project: Calc You Later

Tax season is upon us, which means that I have been spending more time at my desk and less time at home. I wanted something to brighten up my cubicle and what’s better than an absolutely atrocious pun?

I am glad I went to the extra effort of painting the hoop with two coats of red acrylic paint. It really makes it pop. I think this is my first finish of 2018, too, since I finished the York mittens on New Year’s Eve.

Buy the pattern on Etsy and visit the pattern page on Textillia

 

WIP Wednesday: 2017 Wrap-up

2017 is almost over, and this is the last Wednesday of the year for me to share my work in progress pics with you. I’ve got four main projects in the works right now.

Helix Nebula is coming along nicely, but has been put on a hiatus while I finish my Mom’s Christmas present.

This is my Mom’s Christmas present. As you can see, I have not yet finished it, despite it being after Christmas. She knows that it is on the way, though, so posting a picture won’t spoil it.

And I’m also knitting up some mittens for my sister-in-law’s Christmas present. These are also not a surprise, I spent most of Christmas day with her working on them. The pattern is York Fingerless Mittens, free on Ravelry.

And finally, I’m in the home stretch for piecing the Colorwash quilt top. My goal was the finish the top before Christmas, because I got the kit last Christmas. I just need to sew together all the rows and add the borders. All the rows are pinned and piled on my sewing table.

That does it for WIP Wednesday for 2017. See you in the new year!

WIP Wednesday: Helix Nebula #4 & Colorwash Quilt

When this post publishes, I’m going to be sitting in the Portland airport on my way to Toronto, Ontario, to celebrate my birthday with my mom. But before I left, I wanted to post an update on the Helix Nebula cross stitch.

I’m working on page 3 of 12, and you can see how close I’m coming to the far right edge! It’s actually starting to look like something now. I am going to clean up the pattern and plan to release it on Etsy and Craftsy soon.

And here’s what my quilting and sewing space looks like this morning. I finished piecing the top of the cat quilt. I’m waiting for a chance to borrow my mother-in-law’s nice big kitchen floor for an afternoon to baste it together for quilting. In the meantime I started on this Colorwash quilt kit from Craftsy.

The cutting instructions leave a lot to be desired, so thank goodness there was enough extra fabric in the kit to recut pieces (and by the way, pattern designers, would it kill you to take ten seconds to put a scale on your printable pattern pieces so I can check that the printer actually printed your templates correctly?) So that setback was kind of incredibly frustrating, but I’ll live.

What are you working on today?

WIP Wednesday: Helix Nebula #3 & Cat Quilt

It’s been two months since the last Helix Nebula stitch update. I haven’t finished the second page of the pattern yet, but not for lack of trying.

I’ve also been trying to finish the quilt top for my cat-block quilt. I have to finish it so that I can put the big ironing board away and we can get our living room back.

I have three (of six) rows sewn with sashing. Today I don’t have classes or any pressing homework, so my goal is to finish the rows and (maybe?) start sewing them together.

(Cat-block pattern is from here.)

WIP Wednesday: Helix Nebula #2

With just a week left in #30for30crafting, it looks like I am going to meet my goal of finishing the first page of my Helix Nebula cross stitch.

Incidentally, it is nigh impossible to photograph this thing because of how much black is in it. Unless the light is just right, it looks like a big dark blob.

But I’ve only got a few big sections and all those scattered stitches left to go to finish up the first page! At the current rate, I could probably finish the entire thing in less than a year. Even though it’s as large as the X-Files project, because there’s so many different colors and shapes, so it keeps it interesting.

WIP Wednesday: Helix Nebula #1

Happy Wednesday everyone! I know it’s been a long time since I last did a work-in-progress Wednesday post, but I’ve started a big new project and I’m gearing up for May’s #30for30crafting challenge, so I thought today would be a good day to start posting my WIPs again!

Introducing my latest cross stitch project, the Helix Nebula:

This is just (part) of page one (out of 12).

The finished piece is going to be as big as my X-Files cross stitch, 270 stitches tall and 234 stitches wide on 18 count Aida (that’s 63,180 total stitches). It uses a lot of colors. Not sure exactly how many but this is my box with threads just for the project (and there’s about 6 more that I have out on my worktable and not in the box):

The pattern is self-made, based on this image from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope and the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX).

As you can see, I’m still working on the outer edges and haven’t made it to the nebula yet. Here’s a close up.

Lots of confetti stitches!

Kitty Committee Continued: Orange Tabby

I finished another installment in my Kitty Committee series: the orange tabby. I’m not quite as happy with the colors on the orange tabby as I was with the other kitties, but it’s still pretty cute.

This orange kitty is available in my Etsy shop as a completed hoop and as a DIY pattern.

Free Pattern Friday: No Ban No Wall

It’s been far too long since I posted anything for free pattern Friday, but I’m back with a vengeance this week, with the first in a series of resistance-minded cross stitch patterns.

Click here to download the PDF from Craftsy. The pattern download includes both a full-color and a black and white version of the chart.

Although you can download it for free, if you enjoyed this chart, I encourage you to show your appreciation by donating to the American Civil Liberties Union, Border Angels, or the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

Keep fighting & keep stitching.