Finished Project: Sleepy Fox

After a long hiatus of not posting because I had no finished projects to share, I finally finished something! I’ve been working on this cross stitched fox for a long time (it was supposed to be for a friend’s birthday, which was in August).

I guess it will just be an early present for his birthday this year!

The pattern is from Daily Cross Stitch.

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WIP Wednesday: Last update of 2015

Happy last Wednesday of 2015, gentle readers! I thought we could ring out 2015 with a round-up of my as-yet-unfinished cross stitches:

First, more progress this week on the Simpsons on the couch.

And an update on the flower of the month project. Just January and February to finish in the new year!

And some older projects I’ve been working on a while, like this sleeping fox.

And the Steotchalong, which I obviously abandoned two weeks in. The half and quarter and blended stitches just got to me too much!

My new year’s resolution is to finish all of these in 2016, and of course to start new projects, too! Do you have any resolutions for 2016, crafting or otherwise?

WIP Wednesday: I Didn’t Forget!

I took a picture of my work in progress cross stitch this morning, but then I kept forgetting to post it when I was at my computer. There are still a few hours of Wednesday left here, so here it is!

As you can see I have added a few more flags since last week, and I fixed the mistakes I made on the “Z” flag. Tonight I’ll work on the “K” while we watch some new television. We finished up Buffy the Vampire Slayer last night, and now we’re starting Angel.

In other news, the Malcolm Tucker cross stitch chart is now available on Craftsy, so go buy it!

Free Chart Friday: Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

Free Chart Friday is back! Today’s chart may be not safe for work if you happen to work as a sailor:

This chart shows the maritime signal flags for Whiskey (W), Tango (T), and Foxtrot (F). It is bordered by Morse code reading “SRSLY WTF.” The chart is designed to fit nicely in a 5 inch hoop when stitched on 18 count aida.

Download the chart as a free PDF from PDXstitch.net!

Enjoy the chart and please share pictures if you stitch it up!

Free charts are for personal use only. Please read my free chart use policy here.

WIP Wednesday: Not Much to Report

I don’t have a very exciting progress shot to share with you this week, but I did make some progress on a signal flag sampler that I designed:

I should be getting started on May’s flower of the month, since May is nearly over, but I haven’t started it yet. Maybe this week coming up.

I Want to Believe Poster Cross Stitch

It is done! I finished the X-Files cross stitch late Saturday night, and washed/dried/ironed it on Sunday. Then I backed it and added hanging loops on Monday and waited for a sunny(ish) day to photograph it. Bask in its glory:

Posing proudly with the completed piece

This is the first piece I’ve bothered to sign and date, but as the biggest piece I’ve ever done, I want posterity to remember who stitched this and how long it took!

And some more detailed shots:

This is possibly my favorite part of the piece. I love the shading from one color to the next and the way it is framed by the black.

The UFO is pretty great, too.

It now has a proud place next to the front door.

It really ties the room together

To compare, here is a still from the show that shows the poster in Mulder’s office:

Image source: Know Your Meme

And here are the stats on this piece’s construction:

• Fabric: 18 count white aida
• Pattern source: Self-made (now available on Dropbox)
• Number of colors: 13 (DMC floss)
• Finished size: 270 stitches tall and 234 stitches wide (15 by 13 inches)
  • 63,180 total stitches
• Start & end dates: July 18, 2014 — May 9, 2015
  • Time to complete: 296 days (estimated 215 hours, but probably more than that)
• Finishing: Piece is backed with a piece of grey Kona cotton stiffened with iron-in interfacing. I added tabs for hanging by sewing folded-over ribbon into the top seam.
• Television watched while working: Approximately all of it
  • But seriously, just off the top of my head, I watched a season of Borgen; all of Weeds and Stargate Universe; a good chunk of Stargate SG-1 and Atlantis; several seasons of Buffy; all of Firefly and Dollhouse; both seasons of The Fall; several episodes of Farscape; The Thick of It; True Detective (though I worked on March’s flower of the month for most of that); Better Call Saul; some VEEP; some Last Week Tonight and Colbert Report; Black Mirror; the first season of Hatufim; The Inbetweeners; Black Books; several episodes of Friday Night Dinner… and that’s not even considering the many hours of working set to music, radio, and the eerie silence of my own thoughts
• Birthday parties attended with this project in tow: at least 5 (but interestingly, not my own, even though I did have my birthday while working on this)

Now the question is: what to do next? I’ve already started some other projects, but they all seem to take no time at all compared to this one.

Updated to add: If you would like to stitch this yourself, click here for the link to download the pattern (free).

WIP Wednesday: Malcolm Tucker

I finally finished the X-Files cross stitch! Pictures will be forthcoming, but until then, I have started a new project. It is just a simple hoop of a quotation from Malcolm Tucker, a character in the British TV show The Thick of It. As you might imagine if you’re familiar with the show, the piece contains some strong language, so click through to see it (but not if you’ve got easily offended persons looking over your shoulder):