Hélène's small projects UPDATE : 27/06//20

[richardandtracy]

Lovely to know what it means and how to say it. Thanks, Lyudmila.
My attempts came nowhere near the correct pronunciation. They were amusing to the family, though.

Regards,

Richard.

[poppy]

A nice kit. In Russian it is called "First sucess"(in plural)(="First achievements").

Thank you, Lyudmila. I knew I could count on you to translate
You are so clever. French is easy peasy compared with Russian and Ukrainian.

Today, I stitched in the garden in the sun. Wow, what a difference it makes to have bright daylight. I did not need any magnifier. It made it so much easier.

[fccs]

Oh my gosh, that is soooo cute! I can’t wait to see it progress.

[Squirrel]

That looks like a real cutie Helene and I am looking forward to your updates.

[poppy]

First update...
The Magic Needle kit is very good actually. I am impressed with the clarity of the chart and the quality of the threads.
Thanks for looking

[Squirrel]

You have made a good start on Mr Hedgie Helene and I am looking forward to the next update

[Podolyanka]

Congratulations on a good start, Helene. Thank you for the comment on the chart, as I will possibly be stitching its Christmas designs.

[rcperryls]

Great start! This should be a lot of fun to stitch and for us to watch your progress!

Carole

[Roland]

Very cute

[karen4bells]

Great start on a most adorable design!!

[luv2craft2]

Love the finished project. great now it is all completed.

Looking forward to seeing the mother's day present as you work on it - that is cute too. as well as unusual & I like unusual things

[Mabel Figworthy]

Lovely to see his face first!

[poppy]

Thank you for your kind words.

He is taking shape. I should have done for gridding first. I did not as it is a small project but will use a Mark B Gone pen to carry on. Griddings helps me a lot to get my bearings.

[Squirrel]

Well done on this cutie Helene, he is coming along beautifully.

I grid everything before starting it is much easier that way.

[wendywombat]

I do like this little fellow! Real progress there Helene.

I've never gridded anything. I do however find the centre and stitch a rough cross shape through the centre side to side and vertically top to bottom. I find that gives me enough guide. I unpick that once I have the design under way.
I don't mark my chart either but I sometimes make a 'working copy' on a large design. I use magnet strips to find my place.

We are all different aren't we!

[Mabel Figworthy]

I'm not a gridder either, and I must say your lovely critter seems to be coming on really well without it!

[rcperryls]

I had never been a grinder until I started stitching HAED charts(hadn't even heard of it before)and except for a few pieces that are smaller I usually grid (Hardanger and the few embroidery pieces not included) most everything is easier if I grid. I didn't grid the first of the baby samplers and it was really hard with the colors so close to each other, The current piece is easier because of the grid. I think it ultimately comes down to what you get used to. Which is another great reason that cross stitch and needlework are so good.

Carole

[richardandtracy]

I gridded my first project, even though I didn't know what gridding was or had ever seen anyone do it. I honestly didn't think I could keep the stitches in position without. OK, my first project (shown below) was 320 x 240 because I had no idea of the implication of the size.

Sorry about the Photobucket watermark, but it's the only online copy I have of that piece now that the CSF gallery has been killed off and not replaced.

Regards,

Richard

[poppy]

Wow, this was your FIRST project! You went straight into the deep end, Richard. I love it!
It is beautiful. You had to work with many light colours.
Did you find the gridding helpful?
I find that it really helps me.

[richardandtracy]

The gridding was absolutely impossible to do without.
You have absolutely no idea how naive I was about it; The last time I had done cross stitch was 40 years before when I was at school aged 6 working with what I now know to be 6 count Aida. I had absolutely no concept of how much I didn't know. Probably helped, actually!

I received the kit on 7 Jan 2011 and finished at 11.58pm, 31 Dec 2011, 59000 odd stitches. I bought & read one book on how to do it (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Versos-Complet ... 210&sr=8-1) and that was it. Bought a roller frame because it seemed sensible, started in the middle and worked out from there. I think my total investment was £19 including the 24" x 12" frame at £10. As an introduction it was OK. But it was one from a very limited range of kits I didn't actively dislike, so I searched for free charting software to make my second picture closer to what I like.

In May 2014 I was getting dissatisfied with 14ct, 29 colours max and wanted to find more. Didn't know what, just wanted to find what else there was. It struck me there must be a cross stitch forum where ideas were exchanged & eventually stumbled in here.

Regards,

Richard.