Mystery Project Part 4

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It is finished! And yes, it is the pyramids at Giza! I loved working on this and it was so easy. Except… the colors don’t look anything at all like the colors on the finished photograph from the chart. The blues of the sky are not even close. It called for DMC colors, so I am not sure what happened, but I think it looks ok and no one will be comparing the two side by side anyway. The instructions were also non existent and there was no color number listed for the shade that I used behind the hieroglyphs. So I had to just decide on a color. I opted for a light gray and in the end I was a bit disappointed because, again, it didn’t look like the model photo. Oh well.

I really have no idea how I am going to frame this because it is such an odd size. It’s also very small. I stitched it on 11 count to make it as large as possible.

XXX
Carrie


Khufu

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The October 2019 issue of Cross Stitch Crazy magazine featured in one of its columns a small pattern for the Egyptian pharaoh Khufu, the commissioner of the Great Pyramid. Loving all things Ancient Egypt, I knew I had to add this to my to-do list. It wasn’t until a year later that I needed a quick project to work on and decided to give this one a go.

The fabric was left over from Spaceship Earth and was just the right size for this chart. I debated about what fabric to use for almost as long as it took to stitch the design, because I wanted the finished piece to resemble the only statue that exists today of Khufu, which is in a museum and is approximately 3 inches tall.

What do you think? Does the cross stitched piece look like the original?

I didn’t take any progress photos because this one stitched up really quickly. The colors used were all very similar, so good lighting was needed to complete this one. And it really didn’t look like much of anything until the backstitch was added.

I am not sure how I am going to finish off this piece. My initial plan was to cut the figure out and stuff it, with a weighted base, so he would resemble the actual statue. But I am not sure how that would really work out, and it would probably get lost in all the clutter sitting on my desk. I may end up framing it instead, but for now I am not sure.

XXX
Carrie


First Finish of 2017

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I am so excited to be done with this project, and to have my first finish for 2017. The last year or so has been really rough, between all of the things on my schedule along with not physically being well enough to cross stitch. So here it is, at long last, my Pyramids by John Clayton.

pyramids12

Currently this project is sitting in some dish soap and lukewarm water. After I dry and iron it, I will probably need to have a custom frame made, as I don’t think I have anything on hand that will fit something this long and narrow.

XXX
Carrie



Happy Mother’s Day!

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I spent most of my Mother’s Day cross stitching, with the intent of finishing the Pyramids at last. Unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be. Hopefully I will get time tomorrow to finish it up. My son especially was really delighted with how it is coming along, and is already asking what my next project is going to be. That’s a good question!

pyramids10

XXX
Carrie




Egypt!

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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.

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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


Half way done!

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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



Pyramids Update

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I haven’t had much time for stitching lately but I did manage to get in a bit of work on The Pyramids since I started it way back in May. The purple started to drive me crazy after a while, but now I have moved on to the pyramids themselves. I am loving how this is turning out.

pyramids2

XXX
Carrie


Step One: The Sky

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I have started on John Clayton’s “The Pyramids”, which I am excited about. Here is 4 days worth of stitching. So far it is just two shades of periwinkle. I can’t wait to get the sky done and get started on the pyramids! This is a nice easy project to work on in the evenings while watching TV.

pyramids1

XXX
Carrie