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Sunday, January 12, 2014

A mash up finish to share

Oh my word do I feel gross and disgusting!  Dan and I have been in the basement all day cleaning the craft room and getting Christmas boxes put away.  I planned to sort through crap and throw things away and organize other things so I knew it was going to be at least an all day job if not more.  I also knew it was going to be a dusty dirty job since it hadn't been cleaned since Fall Retreat.  So I didn't bother to shower this morning and now I just feel icky!  Soon as I finish this I am hitting the shower!  I don't care that it's 5 o'clock and I'll get up tomorrow morning and shower again.  I'm one of those people that has to shower and wash their hair every day or I just feel disgusting.  So this will be a quick post but I did want to show you another piece I just finished.

When Little House released their Sheep Virtue series I thought about stitching them up separately and making the pillows out of them as shown.  But I also thought it would be cute to do something different.  I wasn't sure what at the time though.  Then last summer Connie and I were going through charts in the shop pulling things out to put in the 50% off bin and I ran across Country Cottage's Sheep in the Meadow chart.  We still had all 4 of our original order of these charts so into the sale bin they went.  And then I had a thought...what if I did a mother/daughter mash up?  I could use the virtues from Little House and the Sheep in the Meadow in the middle!  Well of course it wasn't that easy.  I had to make some changes to Sheep in
the Meadow so it would fit in the center and I am not a lavender lover so I had to change some colors on it too.  But after working on it for a few days I finally got it all to work mathematically, at least I  hoped.  Math is not my strong suit so the only way I was going to know for sure was to stitch it!  But then I encountered some layout issues with the sheep.  By this time I think there were 6 of the 12 charts released and I discovered my original plan to stitch them in the order they came out wasn't going to work for me without some tweaking here and there.  For instance, some of the sheep in the series were whiter than others.    I didn't want 2 blocks in a row to have white sheep so in some cases I had to switch sheep colors.  I also didn't like the blocks with lavender in them so I changed color on those.  I wanted the blue color to be in all 3 rows so I made the bird house in the bottom row blue.  Nothing major but I did have to think some on how it was going to work before I stitched it and then I never knew what the next block was going to look like either so I had to be prepared to rip some stuff out too.  But in the end I think it looks pretty good.



Sheep in the Meadow by Country Cottage


 I stitched this piece on 40 ct. cocoa fabric using DMC floss.  It measures approximately 15 x 9. OH...and those 4 unsold charts I told you about earlier?  After I had my epiphany I pulled them back out of the sale bin and I am happy to say that they are now all sold.  When people saw me stitching this piece and were asking for my changes I had them purchase the original chart first.   It wouldn't be fair to Country Cottage otherwise!

Now it's off to the shower and then stitching time!  I hope you all had a great weekend and thanks to my followers that are still following and commenting!  I appreciate the loyalty!

Take care till next time!

Julie

33 comments:

Ranae said...

Beautiful finish!!
I love cocoa linen

Cricket-bug Corner said...

Oh darn. I love this - but I already made 11 of the sheep and made them into boring pillows. Looks great!

Ronda said...

Love it!!! So creative!

katica said...

I love your finish!! Great idea, and I would love to know your changes! I have all the charts needed but never thought of putting them together!

Cari said...

Oh my gosh Julie…you are one talented lady. I love what you did with the designs to suit you. It is simply a darling piece. I love sheep and you sure did a fabulous job on combining all of them into one fab piece. Congratulations on a great design, and execution.

Stitcherpharmd said...

Love it!

Robin in Virginia said...

What a fabulous melding of the sheep virtues and the sheep in the meadow designs! Simply wonderful!

Robin in Virginia

santadeb said...

It is beautiful Julie and you are very talented to be able to "see" these things and then do them! Great Job!

Karen said...

What a wonderful finish! Very creative way to stitch such a nice collection.

happy stitching...

Shelly said...

I'm a lurker but I am so moved by your finish, I had to comment! Gorgeous and so inventive!

Blu said...

Oh that is a gorgeous finish! I love how you've combined all the designs. Truly fantastic.

Mouse said...

ohhh well done .. that is a lovely way to combine both the charts from each of them .. and love your changes too :)
and well done for sorting the stuff out ... can you come and help me ..lol love mouse xxxxxx

Cath said...

Great finish . Wonderful idea .xxx

Vonna Pfeiffer said...

Have you shown Diane or Nikki? I'm sending your blog link to Diane, right now. She will be flabbergasted and overwhelmed! It is stunningly gorgeous Julie! A true piece of art! You should be very proud. How stunning!

Sheila said...

I love shay you've done. It is beautiful!

Vickie said...

How creative! How cool!

Jannie said...

I love it! And, BTW, 3 posts in one month? Anyway - now I want to do this chart. Between you and Vonna, I'm overwhelmed with stuff I want to do now. What about what I've already got to do?!!! LOL!!!

Jannie said...

I love it! And, BTW, 3 posts in one month? Anyway - now I want to do this chart. Between you and Vonna, I'm overwhelmed with stuff I want to do now. What about what I've already got to do?!!! LOL!!!

wranglerkate said...

Wow -that is beautiful! And very much your own - what a great idea. Thank you for sharing!

valerie said...

What a great finish! I heard someone combined the two charts but didn't know who until now! I'll have to remember this if/when I ever get around to stitching the sheep.

Maggee said...

I LOVE THAT!! I have the CCN chart but didn't buy into the club of one every month...NOW I am rethinking that! It is such a terrific finish! Congrats Julie!! Hugs!

Melissa said...

That is just gorgeous!!!! I love how you mashed up the mom/daughter team. Thanks for sharing!!!

Paulette said...

WOW!!! I absolutely love love love that! Beautiful job, Julie!!

Paulette

Meari said...

*sniff, sniff* What's that smell?

LOL! Just kidding :)

Your mashup turned out really nice. Kudos to your for your ingenuity!

Rachel S-H said...

Gorgeous and a great way to display those differently.

Sharon said...

You did an amazing job with this piece. Love your changes! Congrats!

Cathi H said...

Just now seeing this post! That is beautiful Julie! I can't wait to see it framed

Robert said...

Great Dan story. As a male stitcher myself I say "Welcome to the club Dan! Your fish looks great!"

Love to Stitch said...

What a fabulous way to put this series together!! I think it is just perfect. Way to go :)

tangerinedream73 said...

Julie, I have yet to purchase all of the Sheep Virtues charts. Do you know if you purchase these charts/fabric from Cross My Heart, perhaps your conversions and configurations are available with purchase? I think that what you did with the charts is stunning. Thank you for your time.


Amy Varnell-Miller
tangerinedream73@gmail.com

Wanda said...

Oh my goodness, this is just stunning! What a terrific idea!!

teresa said...

Julie. Just wondering if you would share your thread conversions! I am not too keen in the lavender either. I absolutely adore your piece.

Ang said...

Julie, I just purchased the charts and fabric for this. Would you be willing to share your conversions and configurations? I think that what you did with the charts is awesome! Thanks