Brummie Blogger

The Great Escape - Finished

Whoo hoo! It's finally finished. It's been ages since my last update on this. The reason is that in order to complete part eighteen, I needed beads. I thought I had some that were suitable but when I came to use them, they were just too large so I obviously needed to get some smaller ones. I knew which ones to order, as I'd bought some for the Around the World SAL and they were the right size, although the wrong colour. I'd have borrowed them otherwise. The problem was that I didn't want to order just two tubes of beads, and pay postage on them, when I didn't need anything else. I'd been waiting for August's Cottage to become available to order at The Patchwork Rabbit, so I could pop the beads on that order. And once I'd got the beads, I then had to wait until I'd finished off July's Cottage, and part three of Around the World.

So, with those out of the way, I finished off part eighteen which consisted of the moon, some stars and the part that needed the beads - some rather pretty moths.

The moon is in a variation of Jessica stitch. I did try adding some blending filament but it didn't look right so I just used standard thread. The stars are Star Eyelets and should be pulled stitches but I wanted a slightly fuller effect so I didn't pull them. I used a silk thread to make them a bit shinier. The moths wings are a variation of Rhodes stitch with the antennae in backstitch.

All I had to do after doing one more moth and scattering the rest of the stars was to add beads to some of the flowers.

There are three lots of flowers that have beads in them and once I'd got it figured out I managed to get all the beads the same way up. Good practice for Around the World as that has hundreds of beads in it.

This is what the finished piece looks like. It isn't perfect but as it's my first attempt at doing different stitches, I'm really pleased with it. And I do love that owl.

I'd quite like to do some more on the Tree of Stitches now that this one is finished. Especially as I seem to be on a roll at the moment...

The Great Escape - part seventeen

This part is a sapling at the side of the Owl. It's done in backstitch and Leaf stitch. I used the same green as I have done for the other stems and the grass plus the off white that I used for the flowers on the other side. I did think about using a pale green for the leaves but as it's in the moonlight, I stuck with the off white.

Just one more part to go, and I already have that printed off as it's just been released. I'm just going to finish part two of Around the World first and then I'll finish off this. I'm really looking forward to seeing it all done. It feels like I've been working on it for ages.

The Great Escape - part sixteen

This part consisted of some more flowers and some stems. The flowers were simple enough. They're just Eyelet stitch worked around in a square, leaving a square empty in the centre. I'll be putting beads in there once it's all finished. After doing several variations on both Eyelet stitch and Ray stitch for the first part of Around the World, this posed no problems at all.

For the flowers I used one of the off-whites that I've used for the other flowers. The green is the same one used for the stems at the bottom of the design. I'm trying to use as few colours as possible to keep it looking more like a night scene.

The stems were done in backstitch on the chart but Abi suggested several variations on that to make them stand out more. She gave instructions for a couple of types of whipped backstitch and also a thinner chain stitch. I decided to be a rebel though and got out my Jane Greenoff book to find something interesting, and ended up using stem stitch. I think it looks quite good and is another stitch that I hadn't used before.

Not much left to do now. I'm guessing it'll be the remaining flowers on the right side for the next part and the moon and stars for the final part.

The Great Escape - part fifteen

There wasn't much to do for part fifteen but I needed to get some more thread to use for the spider's web. I had a couple of different metallic threads but nothing in my stash was suitable. I finally found something in Hobbycraft. I've used some DMC in a silver. It's not ideal but it's better than anything that I had and it saved having to send for something online and then paying postage. And you just know that if I'd done that, I'd have added several more items to my order to make it worthwhile...

This is the spider and his web that caused all the problems.

It's quite difficult to get the web to show up on a photo. It's supposed to look like a web glistening in the moonlight, which it does pretty much, but that doesn't translate digitally.

The other bit of part fifteen was a few flowers on the other side of the Owl. They were in Lazy Daisy stitch but weren't the same as the ones that I've been doing for Around the World. The instructions for TGE were excellent though and I had a good read through them before doing the other project and they helped a lot with the Lazy Daisy stitch on that even though it was done a bit differently.

This will have beads in the centre of the flowers but as with the others, I'll add them once I've finished the whole project.

Just three more parts to do now. I've got part sixteen printed off and will be doing it this week if all goes to plan. I can't believe it's almost finished.

The Great Escape - part fourteen

I've decided that I don't like Van Dyke stitch. It's not that it's particularly hard to do. It's not. It's just hard to get the tension the same all the way down. Plus, the stitch sort of wiggles from side to side once it's done so it just doesn't look neat. I can't get a consistently tidy finish to it and that annoys me.

This is what it looks like, in Crescent Colours Dark Chocolate.

There was quite a lot of it to do, three rows in all, and the rows were split so had to be stopped and restarted as you have to have a special starter stitch at the top. Then there was the backstitch along the sides, and the backstitching that makes up the sign with a touch of cross stitch.

If you don't look too closely at the wiggly and uneven bits of the Van Dyke stitch, it looks ok, so overall I'm quite happy with it. It's made quite a difference to the picture now. The mouse that is trying to make his escape can now see which direction his home is, so he knows which way to run.

Can't wait to do a bit more to this. I wonder what we'll be stitching next. Some more flowers perhaps? Or maybe a spider...

The Great Escape - part thirteen

Two new stitches for part thirteen, both for flowers in the moonlight. The bottom flower is in Star stitch. There are only six flowers but they took a while to do as each one had to be done separately as any thread carried across the back would have shown. Also, I was being careful to get the threads to lay neatly. I've just ordered a trolley needle to help with all these fancy stitches.

In the centre of the flowers I can put either a bead or a French knot. I think I'll probably use beads and I'm sure I have some that are suitable. I'll add them at the end though. Abi also says that some beads could be added around the smaller flowers so I may do that too. I'll have a better idea if I want to do that once the rest is done.

The upper flowers are done in Tied Windmill stitch and again each one is done separately. Lots of counting, checking and double-checking of threads to get the placement right. The two lots of flowers are done in slightly different shades. Both overdyes so there's a variegation. The lower one is a touch darker. Both colours will be used quite a bit more throughout the design.

This is how it looks now.

I've still got part fourteen to do, which I'll be starting today or tomorrow. There's quite a lot of stitching in that. And then, finally, I can start Around the World as I'll have the fabric. Sew and So are replacing the problem fabric for me. It's in the post now so will probably arrive tomorrow.

The Great Escape - part twelve

There wasn't much to do for this part. There's one more mouse added. He's sitting beneath the first mouse encouraging him to make his escape from the owl. He's made of the same stitches as the first mouse and I used the same silk for him. I do like using that silk. It feels lovely and smooth on my fingers.

There are also two beetles. You can see one in the photo above. He's just peeking out from the log. I used some silk for him too, from the same card of leftovers as the mouse silk. It's CC Belle Soie and is just a shade darker than the log, although it's difficult to tell from the photo.

The other beetle isn't hiding so you can see all of him.

As you can see from the full picture, this beetle is at the edge of the design and is running off into the distance.

I love this design and I'm really enjoying doing a bit every couple of weeks.

I'm going to do a bit more to the Cottage now as virtually none got done over the weekend due to the excellent F1 coverage on the new Sky channel. Luckily I have this week off work. I'll be out and about quite a bit, including my trip to the NEC for Sewing for Pleasure, but I should find lots of stitching and reading time.

The Great Escape - part eleven

Part eleven took me a little longer than I thought it would. I mean hey, it's only backstitch and straight stitch. That shouldn't be very time consuming. Right? Wrong. As I don't know what might be going in and around all of this part, I had to make sure that every stitch was in exactly the right place so I had to count, recount, and then count again. And as you can see, it goes all over the place.

The log and shading is in a chocolate brown and the grass is in a mossy green. Both are overdyed threads so there's some variegation. I do like the knots in the log although they were very fiddly to do. I think it's starting to look more like a scene now with the various parts appearing.

This is a close up of the log with its knots.

I've got part twelve printed off and may do that over the weekend. It adds another mouse and a couple of beetles and in the next part I think we start adding some flowers so I'm looking forward to that.

I need to fish out some simple stitching, maybe the Cottage, ready for the qualifying and race coverage over the weekend. I think the Hamilton cross stitch piece may be coming out from its temporary retirement soon too. I just need to finish Firefly, catch up with The Great Escape and finish this month's cottage. Not much then...

The Great Escape - Rhodes stitch

Part ten is the mouse, who is attempting to make his great escape from the clutches of the owl, who has mouse's tail under his talons. Mouse is made up of Octagonal Rhodes stitch, Heart Rhodes stitch and an adapted Ray stitch. There's some backstitch forming his ear, paws and tail too.

This part wasn't difficult at all. Rhodes stitch is simply a case of making sure you start in the right hole and then following the chart exactly. As Abi provides very good instructions and an excellent chart from which to work, you can't really go wrong with this, as long as you get the placement right.

This is how the whole thing looks now.

I used a slightly different colour for the mouse and to give just a touch of texture I used silk. I had some left over from a coffee design that I stitched and one of the colours just looked mouse-like. It's Crescent Colours Belle Soie and the colour is Cinnamon stick. It's very pretty.

I rather liked the height you get to the stitch with Rhodes. I took a close up at an angle to show it better.

I'm caught up with this again now and won't be starting the next cottage until March 1st. That's all prepped ready so there's nothing left for me to do to that, leaving me with almost a week to do something else. I have four other WIPs so you'd think I'd be getting on with one of those, wouldn't you? That was the plan but when I was rummaging last week, I came across the Pixel People charts that I have printed off. I've been wanting to make a start on one of those for a while. I do really like them so today, instead of cracking on with an existing WIP, I've started a new one.

Yes, really.

It was a toss up between The Eleven Doctors and Firefly but Firefly won. I spent a very happy hour earlier stitching Mal from his boots up. He's missing his coat until I get the right brown though. I may go shopping later...

The Great Escape - Queen stitch

The owl now has some feet and is complete. Next we'll be working on the rest of the design so I'm quite excited to find out what's coming up next. Queen stitch was interesting. It wasn't difficult and wasn't as fiddly as the previous two stitches but it did take some concentration on the placement. I like the effect though and I do like his feet.

I've taken a close up shot of one of his feet to show off the stitch a little more.

I've made a start on the February Cottage of the month. It's so pretty. I'm doing the cottage itself first starting off with the lovely deep pink and I'm really enjoying it. Update coming soon.