Framed Tattoo Heart and Dagger

[grimmscreed]

I've been waiting for an opportunity to use this pattern since my copy of the Sublime Stitching Craft Pad arrived in mail back when it first came out.  When two of my friends announced their engagement, it's time had come!

I decided to try crayon tinting, which I'd been reading about on the forums here, and I think it worked out nicely.    It really adds a certain something, doesn't it?  This was also my first time framing a piece of embroidery.  It took a few false starts, but thanks to btlgrl's instructions here (http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=36349.0), I was able to get it done successfully. 

I had quite a bit of trouble with the initials.  I was afraid that marking them onto the fabric from the start would mess up the crayon tinting, so I left them until last, only to realize that crayon tinting made it impossible to transfer the initials on!  And this was far too work intensive for me to risk messing it up by free handing them.  In the end, I had to trace the initials onto a piece of paper, pin it to the back of the fabric, and embroider through that.  The stitching perforated the paper enough that it came off easily when I was done.

And here's a close up to show my stitches.  It makes the crayon tinting look ugly as sin, so I ask you to kindly ignore that -- I swear it looks better in person!  You can see that I used mostly stem stitch and split stitch, with a bit of backstitch.  In other areas I ventured into french knots, which I finally mastered thanks to Jenny Hart's detailed instructions at Sublime Stitching!  In retrospect I wish I had done the heart in chain stitch, but it's a bit late for regrets now.

I'm quite proud of this project, and can't wait to give it to the happy couple this weekend!

[RachelKristin]

Wonderful work! I love the look of crayon tinting  They are going to love it!

[Chellum]

Aww, it's so cute and it just so happens to be my boyfriend and I's initials. I like the pink lazy daisies in between the green.

[theatregirl25]

Lovely work. The crayon tinting is so cool. I may have to try that.

[kittykill]

Very cute! Great job!

[grimmscreed]

Thanks for the kind words everyone!

[tinkypen]

i'm very very new here! and very new to embrodiary but just order a Jenny Hart book/kit from amazon so I shall be dipping my toe in the water! But just wanted to say  - this is lovely!! and it looks like I may need to be buying the sublime stiching book too!! Lx