Egypt!

Posted on

pyramids4

Well, this doesn’t look like much but it is progress. I am sort of working all over the place now – if the kids are occupied and the house is quiet, I work on areas with lots of counting. If I am watching TV I do areas of large blocks of color. Interestingly, I am listening to a new course I got called The History of Ancient Egypt by The Great Courses. It is presented by Dr. Bob Brier, a professor and Egyptologist who is really fun to learn from. I also just bought another course of his, which teaches you how to read hieroglyphs, but I definitely won’t be studying that while trying to stitch!

Yesterday I went through my collection of Egyptian patterns and have made a list of things I want to stitch. I have two patterns from Dennis Art Needlework which unfortunately don’t have photos to go with them – they are simply black and white charts (with full stitches only, no backstitch). One is called Mask of Tutankamen (I realize this is spelled wrong) and the other is of Nefertiti. I have already stitched a different pattern of Nefertiti, but this is more of a sideways portrait. I did a Google search and found these, which do appear to be the same as the charts I have:

dennis

Then of course there is the huge sampler featuring Tut in the middle, which I have already mentioned in a different post that I want to stitch some day:

egyptxs

I also desperately want to find issue #221 of New Stitches magazine so I can find the third portion of the Gods of Egypt chart.

godsegypt

A chart I didn’t even realize I had was by Stoney Creek from their book Landmarks Around the World. There is a chart of the Sphinx in this book, which I would love to stitch. It is not a terribly large pattern, but the drab colors look kind of daunting.

sphinx

Mary Hickmott’s New Stitches magazine also has an issue (number 81, from way back in 1999!) with a sampler of different world landmarks in it, including the Pyramids. I would love to stitch this one even though it is kind of similar to what I am stitching now. I just can’t get enough of Egypt! This chart is called Dawn of the New Millennium and features all sorts of world marvels such as Stonehenge and Monument Valley, but I am only interested in the pyramids. If you are interested in this issue, I do have copies left in my store: http://www.crossstitchers.com/shop/store.php?&view=NS81-135

NS81

And finally (well, this is not all of my Egyptian patterns, just the ones I REALLY want to stitch!) there is an Egyptian Sampler from Anchor that was in issue 241 of The World of Cross Stitching.

sampleranchor

Yes, that is a LOT of stitching to be done!

XXX
Carrie


Ariel!

Posted on

mermaid

Okay, she isn’t exactly Ariel, but she is a mermaid with red hair. And she’s gorgeous! I just received the latest issue of Cross Stitch Gold magazine in the mail (well, the latest for the US, anyway) and it said that this beauty would be in the next issue. Of course, this happens to be one of the issues I won’t be getting because of their horrible subscription deal for US stitchers. The magazine is published 9 times a year, but only in Britain. US subscribers get 6 issues per year. This means that you get two issues in a row, then miss one issue, then get two more issue, miss one, and so on. Of course, being the addicted stitcher that I am (especially when it comes to my British mags) I have to have those missing issues. How do I solve this? By getting a digital subscription through Zinio, when they have their 5 issues for $5 deal going on. Since you can stack subscriptions, I re-subscribe any time they do this offer (2-3 times per year) to ensure that I never lose an issue. Yes, I do get issues digitally that I also get in the mail. I prefer to read the hard copies, BUT if I want to stitch a pattern it sure is nice to have the digital copy to print out the chart instead of having to scan it in. I simply cannot stitch something without destroying the heck out of the copy with either highlighters or colored pencils. So this way I don’t ruin my mags. Anywho, the DAY AFTER receiving a copy of Gold in the mail, the next issue came out on Zinio. And there she was, just wanting to be stitched! I have the pattern printed out and ready to go and have selected the fabric and beads. But I will not be starting this until the Pyramids are finished. I know I should work on A Summer Ball and the deer in the woods, but I have a feeling I won’t be able to stay away from this mermaid for long!

XXX
Carrie


Half way done!

Posted on

pyramids3

I have reached the halfway point for the Pyramids. I had to take the scroll frame out of the stand so that I could get access to more fabric. It kind of looks like a papyrus scroll! Counting today there are 8 days left of Spring Break. I am determined to make the most of this time and get in some serious stitching.

XXX
Carrie