A Win at the County Fair!

Waaaaay back around the midway point of Beauty and the Beast, I got the crazy idea that I could maybe enter it into the fair when it was all done. I have never entered anything into any sort of contest, but I figured that Beauty and the Beast might just be worthy. I didn't get it finished in time for the fair that year, but I did get it finished in time for this year's fair. I almost missed the deadline to enter it, but thankfully they allowed me to still enter it with a $5 late fee.

The judging for our fair is open, which means they have chairs set up for people to watch the whole process.  It was really interesting to see how they score, exactly what they are looking for, and how closely they really do look at the pieces. The judges don't know who stitched each piece, and it was fun when they pulled out B&B to see them say 'Oh my gosh look at all of those stitches! Oh! Look at this over here! Would you look at all of those french knots? They are so even! OH! Look at the rose!' and just to see their reaction to the overall piece :) I made the right decision entering it for sure. One judge said, 'I know we don't usually give bonus points for kits, but this is such detailed, intricate work, and she did such a good job, can we give her bonus points for it?' The point that I lost on my score sheet had to do with the framing - they said it was very square and centered in the frame, but it doesn't look quite as flush up against the backing as it could be in some areas. I guess if I were to put a piece of light batting behind that it would help to mask some of the areas with lots of thread on the back.

Anyway, overall, here is how I did:

I took first place in my class (medium-size wall hangings), won Reserve Champion (2nd place) in overall counted work, and received a Special Award for Outstanding Work on 18 count or smaller :) Woo hooooo! And I think, after looking at a lot of what was entered in the Needlework area, that I am going to enter a few items next year, too. I don't know if I will have Snow White finished in time or not (maybe!), but I want to make a biscornu, and do a flour sack towel or something with other embroidery stitches. My mom said she is going to maybe enter something into machine work (she makes the CUTEST kids clothes for her grandkids!) and my mother-in-law said she might enter something in machine work, and possibly a baked good, too. 

It was just such a neat experience, and I encourage everyone to enter something you finish in the next year into your county fair. It would be great to see lots of awards for you all!

Beauty and the Beast is Framed!

Guess what just came back from the framer? Woot woot! I am so excited!

The picture doesn't do it justice. It is so pretty in person! Totally worth it, even though the hubby wants a go at the next one to see if we can do it a little cheaper... :)

Princess Cross Stitches Are Done!

That's right, I only have the backstitch detail left on this baby! And to be honest, I finished the crosses on Tuesday night last week and have been backstitching ever since. I just want to do a photo of it all at once. There is a LOT of it on this one, so it is taking me longer than I thought it would, but I should have the finished picture sometime this week, or at the latest by next  Sunday. Anyway, here it was last week:

And here it was on Wednesday morning when I had the light to take a picture:

The backstitch is really making everything pop, big time. At first I thought the charcoal gray was too big a contrast, but as I keep going it looks better and better. And just think: once I'm done stitching this one, I can work on something else! I have asked for a set of 26" scroll rods for my frame for my birthday, so then I can do more work on my blackwork piece, too. 

Oh! And I started shopping around for framing so I can get Beauty and the Beast framed! I knew it was going to be expensive, and so far my quote is ~$130 from Hobby Lobby. That includes using a pre-made frame that will be 50% off and then using a 40% off coupon on the glass (which is normally $65 for the museum glass). The mats I chose there are pretty expensive; one is a dark blue suede mat, but it looks SO good with the piece. I just really feel (and my family all agrees with me) that I put a lot of time into the piece and I did a good job, so I should spend the money and have it finished the right way. I am part of a SAL group on Facebook for the Disney Dreams pieces, and I am amazed at how many people do a sad, sad job framing their finished pieces. I mean, even if you don't take it in to be professionally done, you should block it and square it up, or for goodness sake at least IRON it before you put it in a frame! My husband laughs at me because this bothers me so much, but really folks. Take some pride in your work! I am glad to see that all of the finished pieces I have seen on blogs that I follow are beautifully finished. 

Anyway, here is a great tutorial on finishing a piece after it is all stitched. Everything from washing to pinning and blocking to ironing and lacing, etc. etc. etc. It gives me hope for a good finish job on Princess. :)

Week 32 Beauty and the Beast FINISH!!!!!

Let's all just do a HAPPY DANCE!!! This one is finished! All I have to do is sign it, but I figured I would do that after all of the pictures were done :) This post will be picture heavy, but that's just because I really want to show this sucker off. It's freaking awesome :)

Okay, first, 2 full shots of it, because with the flash you can really see the backstitch detail and without the flash you can really see the french knots.

Now for some of my favorite parts:

The village

Lumiere, Cogsworth, Mrs. Potts, and Chip

The beautiful french knot flowers (There are about 1200 french knots in this piece. Probably more. And I loved them all!)

Belle and the Beast, although I can't figure out how to get the sparkles in her dress to come through. In real life they look sooo pretty!

And my personal favorite part, the Rose: 

Before, I wasn't all that happy with the way the rose looked. It had a pink stem and looked kind of wilted. To me it was always a super important part of the movie, so I wanted it to look really good. I made the stem dark green and added some leaves (I just followed the pink backstitch line and stitched over 2 of the pink squares for the leaves), and I used Mary Corbet's video on making a bullion Rose Bud for the actual flower. I love the dimension it adds. I also threw in a couple of white backstitched 'sparkles' to make it seem shiny :) 

I started this on Christmas 2011 and finished it today, but there was an 18 month no-stitchy time in there so basically I actually worked on this for 32 weeks. It was absolutely an incredible, beautiful, challenging, and very enjoyable experience for me. I had never done anything anywhere near this detailed, and I honestly thought at the beginning that I was biting off way more than I could chew. I love Disney though, and especially Beauty and the Beast, so I kept with it. There are 62,208 cross stitches, over 1200 french knots, and lots and lots of backstitching. A lot of people say they don't like french knots, but I really found Mary Corbet's video tutorial helpful. The biggest advice I have on them, is to pull all the slack out to the base of your needle and then hold the thread steady as you pull it through. That really doesn't make much sense unless you watch her video, but not sure how else to say it. 

My next step is to sign this, then I need to wash it, block it, iron it, and have it framed. I have told my hubby that for my birthday I want this professionally matted and framed. I just feel like it is worth it after the hundreds of hours I have spent on it. 

Anyway, now that I am finished I don't feel like I have to spend every spare waking moment working on this. It's time to finish the book I'm reading, make a couple new starts, and probably start with the spring cleaning. Thanks for looking, I am super proud of this :)

Week 31 Beauty and the Beast

I have been doing some finish work on this one this week, so I will let you take a look-see :)

Everything to the left of the balcony is done being back stitched and french-knotted. I finished the castle last night and started on Belle - she has a face now!!! I need to finish her and do the rest of the characters on the balcony, plus all the french knots and other backstitch on that side. Then I need to do my boullion rose because I just think the rose as it is is kind of bleh. I want to do something to make it stand out more and be more than what it is now.

I am not going to do a lot of close up pictures this time because I want to save them for when it is completely finished (hopefully later this week!!! EEEEEEEE!!!!), but I do want to show a close up of the french knots. They are actually really fun to do, and so far I have done around 580 of them. I am about 1/2 way done with french knots. :)

Remember, if you click the pictures they will show bigger. Duh :)

I also made a couple of adjustments to the colors I used during this stage, that I will post more about when it is finished. Mostly to add more contrast, or with these flowers above, the light pink knots and the other pink knots were going to be almost the same color so I wanted to be able to see more of a difference.

Anyway, hopefully another update will come later this week when I can report a finish... ;)

Week 29 +5 Days Beauty and the Beast

Surprise post! I finished everything but backstitch and french knots on Beauty and the Beast!!!!! All 62,208 stitches of it! I have been obsessing over this a little bit this week, so I got done earlier than I thought I would. At the beginning of the week, I thought that I probably wouldn't make it by Sunday, then even yesterday morning I thought I would have to just post by the end of Sunday. Then I stitched and was not very productive with anything else at all yesterday and today, and VOILA! BAM! Here she is:

And a close up of the balcony and some of the castle:

There are still hundreds and hundreds of french knots to go, and SO MUCH backstitching, but the end is in sight! And then I can say, 'Look, I spent hundreds of hours on this so I can hang it on my wall. MARVEL AT MY AWESOMENESS!'

Week 29 Beauty and the Beast

I stitched... a bit... this week :) I was hoping to get the big urn and those flowers done this week, but I was able to do even more than that! Closer and closer and closer she goes:

This week I will finish the greenery to the left of the lamp post, and then the final base stitching stretch begins :) Just the lamp post and the greenery to the right of it, and then backstitch! And then french knots! And then I have to figure out what I want to do for a border and such, but the pattern part of it will be done. 

This has been such an amazing project to work on. Much, much more in depth than anything I have ever tried, and I am excited that I will finish it - I am not much of a project finisher in much of anything. Then I can start my drawn thread sampler and work a lot on the blackwork sampler. And of course I will probably start the "Once Upon A Time a Princess Was Born" birth announcement for my daughter... since she's 3 now... :) And I have Snow White and Little Mermaid and Sleeping Beauty still to do of these patterns... And and and and and - But all of that is on hold until this one is done! 

Week 28 Beauty and the Beast

I am so close to being done with this one! It's so exciting! All of the characters are completely stitched now (except for back stitch, of course). This next week will be lots of greenery and flowers. If I can keep up with my pace (not likely) then I think I can be done with the base stitching in 3 more weeks, probably more like 4 or 5. Still, after 7 months of stitching time, one more month doesn't seem too bad :)

Week 27 Beauty and the Beast, Blackwork Sampler Start

It was a busy week this week. My son turned 1 and we had his birthday party, my husband and I went out on a date (yay!), and I was sick for part of the week so we went to bed at the same time as the kids most nights. Still, I was able to stitch Lumiere's flames and almost finish Belle's dress, and I got just about all of the blues on the Beast done. Just gotta keep plugging away, I suppose! And now that I am just about done with the pearl filament and partial stitches, I am hoping it goes really quickly.

I also started that Blackwork Sampler from Blackwork Journey. I am doing mine in blues and a little bit of purple. I really didn't have much time to stitch on this but I couldn't resist putting in just a little bit :) Here is the outline for the first block:

I am stitching this on a 28 count white evenweave that I picked up at Joann's. I will have to make a couple of alterations as I go to make it fit the fabric a little better - mostly instead of making the sampler 6 blocks tall and 3 blocks wide, I will make it 5 blocks tall and 4 blocks wide. It will also give me 2 extra blocks to fill in as I want, with other filler designs I find that I might like. I will probably only update this one once a month, since that is how often she will be releasing new steps. I am very excited to try this new style of embroidery! 

Week 26: Beauty and the Beast, Hogwarts Crest

I have not posted any progress pictures so far on my Hogwarts Crest, so I thought I would do that. This one is very slow going as it is at my parents' house, so I only get to work on it when there is time there. This means that I typically am only able to put in 3 or 4 lengths of floss per week in. Add that to the fact that this one also took an 18 month hiatus, and you have not much progress. Oh well, I still really like this one :)

I am starting with all of the black outlining, just because it is easier to only have to deal with one color at a time with the way I have to store this one.

As for Beauty and the Beast, I actually feel like I did a lot this week!

Lumiere has made an appearance, as well as the puppy footstool :) It was nice to stitch something with such vibrant colors as a change from all of the browns and grays I have been stitching with. The patio floor has been going pretty quickly so far, and on Lumiere's right side it is done up to the greenery. Lumiere still needs his flames, but those are blended with the pearly filament so I have put them off because I hate that stuff. I will try to do them this week. 

Every week gets a little closer, and I am to the point now where I WILL finish this one. The end is in sight, so I have pretty much put everything else that I want to stitch at home aside so that I can have a major finish hopefully fairly soon. I love looking around on different forums and reading other blogs to see what other people are working on because it motivates me. There are so many different things I want to stitch, but I already have so many WIPs that I need to finish one or two before I start any more. Who knows why I like to choose hobbies that take FOREVER? :) Not me, but I sure do love this one!

Week 25: Beauty and the Beast

We had a house full of sick people this last week. My husband and both of my kiddos had strep throat, along with head colds. Thankfully I have been able to stay pretty healthy and just have a minor head cold, but it was a busy week taking care of everyone. I was able to get one or two good nights of stitching in though, so I do have some progress to report this week. I filled in the area down by the flowers and added more on the ledge. And, a new character has appeared!

Cogsworth thought that it was time for him to show his face this week. :) I am pretty happy with how he turned out, and I am excited for when I can back stitch him. You can also just see the base of Lumiere starting to take form. There are soooo many partial stitches with the characters and details in this piece. It takes a long time. I think that the next one of these that I do, I will do on an evenweave fabric instead of the aida, even though it already comes with the aida. I think it will be much more manageable. 

Here is an overall shot:

It seems like it is such slow going with two kids - I am constantly having to start and stop to address one thing or another with them, but such is life, and progress is progress. I am so excited by how far I have made it on this, and I know that I will finish it. Especially when I can see how little I have left, it's very encouraging to me. :) 

Week 24 Beauty and the Beast (A Year and a Half Later...)

I am not completely sure what happened to make me suddenly just STOP stitching, but it may have had something to do with my little girl being 18 months old at the time, and I figured out why I was so COMPLETELY useless then: I was in the first trimester of pregnancy with my son, who will turn 1 in just a couple of weeks. Eeek! That means that I haven't stitched in FOREVER, but I recently got motivation to pick it back up again. See, I didn't realize they had come out with a Sleeping Beauty and a Little Mermaid Thomas Kinkade cross stitch, and I saw them and they are both beautiful. And I want them. And I already have Snow White to do after Beauty and the Beast, so I figured I couldn't really buy one until I finished the one I already had started, otherwise my husband would roll his eyes and think I'm crazy. Oh wait, he does that anyway... But good news, I got the Little Mermaid one for Christmas! It's soooo purty :) That means that I can ask for Sleeping Beauty for my birthday, or just buy it after I finish Beauty and the Beast. At that point I think I am pretty much set for life... :)

Anyway, my sister and I also decided that since I (obviously) didn't get this done in time for the fair in 2012, I should get it done for the fair this year. I think that is very manageable as long as I don't lose my stitchy bug before then, even with 2 kiddos running around :)

So technically, this is the 24th week I have stitched on this, even though it has taken over 2 years... And I am pretty sure that I have put more hours into stitching this than Thomas Kinkade put into painting the original. :) Here is the progress I made this last week:

I got frustrated with Belle and her sparkly dress, so I decided to do other work down in the corner instead, to get back into it. I was able to reach the bottom right corner, which means all 4 corners have been reached. I had forgotten how much I really enjoy doing this. Maybe this time my stitchy bug won't leave me, since I won't be getting pregnant anymore. Two kids is good for this family. Here is a close up of what I did this week:

Well, glad to be back in it. Hopefully this one will go quickly now and be finished soon. I don't think I've seen another finished one, other than the picture that comes on the cross stitch. Wish me luck!

Week 23 Beauty and the Beast

I really hope I haven't hit a wall.

I have not had quite as much motivation to stitch lately, which is really weird. I saved all of the characters for last for the sole purpose of NOT losing motivation towards the end. I think what I have run into is that stitching Belle with the pearl filament added is a little bit of a nightmare. Add to it all of the fractional stitches involved and how much confetti there is in her dress, and I didn't make much progress this week. I didn't even finish Belle... I'm kind of ashamed, but I know I needed to post my progress anyway. Maybe this will motivate me to stitch like a mad, crazy woman this week and get a ton done...

Anyway, here is my progress for the week. And even with all of my complaining, I do love how the sparkly thread is turning out. The picture doesn't do it justice at all, and as hard as it is I am happy I made the choice to stitch her sparkly. :)

Week 22 Beauty and the Beast

I have stitched the first of the characters in this piece! I think it's funny that they are all off to the one side, but it made it so I get to stitch them all last. Mrs. Potts and Chip are done being stitched (except backstitch, of course, so they look funny). They were probably the most difficult part so far to stitch, between the tweeded threads, the amount of colors in such a small space, and the number of fractional stitches. I barely got in my 2000 stitches this week to keep on track for the fair, but I had a couple of off days that I didn't feel like doing anything at all. No house work, no stitching, nothing. I feel like I'm better now, so hopefully I stay that way.

Anyway, here are pictures from this week:

Again, they look a little weird right now, but they will get better :)

Also, thank you for all of the nice comments. I'm excited that I have followers and that people actually read this! :)

Week 21 Beauty and the Beast and IHSW

So, I know that it's not the end of the weekend, but I wanted to go ahead and post my progress from this last week on Beauty and the Beast so I can get to the next part. :)
I did somewhere around 3000 stitches this week (maybe a little more?), and that is AWESOME! If I can keep this up, I will have it done no problem in time for the fair. The trick is keeping it up... If nothing else, I have allowed myself a little leeway.
I finished the second overpass and all of the water for the waterfalls, I stitched the stairway, and some more greenery below the castle. And what is that I see an outline of? It's Belle! So, so excited that the characters will start to come into play. I won't stitch her this next week though, because I have a question:

I have quite a bit of the 'pearly' filament that makes the rainbow and the sunset all sparkly, and there are only a couple of other spots that need it. I am thinking about also stitching Belle's dress with the sparkly thread - what do you think? Let me know, and I will hopefully be able to stitch Belle during week 23. I am hoping to see Mrs. Potts and Chip this week though!

Week 20 Beauty and the Beast

First of all, Happy Birthday to my husband today! Our dog's birthday is also today, and Happy Mother's Day to any moms out there! It's a good day :)

For Beauty and the Beast, I hit 2 big milestones this week: I finished an entire page! Lol obviously I have done more than a page worth of stitching, but now I have a completed page except for backstitch and french knots! I also.... wait for it... finished the castle!!! It has been this giant silhouette in the sky for-e-ver and I treated myself to something special this week and stitched it. I love, love, love how it looks. See for yourself:

I have also decided that my personal deadline for this project is the end of July. If I can finish it by or before then, I can enter it in the County Fair! I have never entered anything into a fair, and I thought it would be fun and give me something concrete to work towards. I am currently on pace to finish by then, but I will try to step it up to guarantee it, and maybe even be able to get it framed. Wish me luck!

Week 19 Beauty and the Beast

I did not get much done this week. I finished the flowery bush at the bottom, and did some more work on the first overpass. Things were crazy busy this week with me working nights and my nephew's birthday party and my grandma coming into town, etc. etc. etc. Next week might not be much better, but I only work 2 nights instead of 5, so we shall see. Anyway, here are pictures:

And a close-up

Week 18 Beauty and the Beast

I am through 18 weeks of stitching on this, and I'm still going strong! (Knock on wood...) I was able to get way more done this week than I thought I would. I'm not quite sure how that happened... Next week I'm not sure if I will get as much, because my husband will be working during the day and I will be working at night. I finished the green on the hillside and started on the first overpass. I also got some of the pool-things done. I'm not exactly sure what they are, but they look neat :) I love this more and more and more as I stitch it. Here are pictures of my progress from this week:

I have also run into a tiny setback. I have come across a symbol on the pattern that is not on the key, so I don't know what color to stitch. I am going to be writing an email to the manufacturer tonight to see if they can help me, but in the meantime if anyone knows what the symbol is, let me know! It is under the first overpass, here is what it looks like:

The case of the missing symbol! :)

Disney Dreams Beauty and the Beast Falling in Love

EDIT:

They got back to me very quickly and I have the answer! It is one strand of 6263 (Medium Grey) and one strand of 6297 (Medium Grey Pink). I also asked in the email about the purple dashed lines as the backstitch symbol on the overpasses because that was not in the key, either. She said that is stitched in 1 strand of 6237 (Dark Yellow Grey). Now, on with the show! :)

Week 17 Beauty and the Beast

I was so close to how much I wanted to get done this week. I have less than 100 stitches to completely finish the water up until the first overpass, but alas, there is housework to be done before my piano students come over tomorrow. I played harp in the pit orchestra for a local production of Camelot this last week, so that took up 5 evenings. All of the stitching I did was during the day, mostly while my little girl was sleeping :) Anyway, here are my pictures for the week, an overall and a close up (sorry the overall is a little blurry):

Don't expect too much from me this next couple of weeks. I will still post, but my Mon-Fri 5:30 to 10:30 p.m. will be taken up by my new part-time job. It should only go for a few weeks, as it's scoring tests and school will be out for the summer soon, but I gotta do what I can to help out right now. *Sigh* Why does being a grown-up suck sometimes, what with money and bills, etc. etc. etc... Oh well, life goes on :)

Week 16 Beauty and the Beast

16 weeks. Wow that seems like a long time, and yet I most likely have at least that much more to go, probably more. I gotta say, if you are looking at fun value per dollar, cross stitch is the best value! Lol these kits cost about $42 before a coupon (which come on, Hobby Lobby and JoAnn's always have coupons), and this is providing entertainment for hundreds of hours. Add to that the fact that this was a Christmas gift so I didn't even have to pay for it at all, and it's a way better value than going out to a movie! Lol now I just have to not buy more stuff until the stuff I have is done... Hmmm... :)
Here are my pictures for this week, I got the gate and the bridge stitched, and the other side of the river. :)