Friday Finishes #34: Artiste’s Snail

Today’s Friday Finish is an adorable snail I just had to stitch, plus it’s one of my first projects where the entire background on the piece is stitched. Join me to learn more about Artiste’s Snail!

Name of Piece: Snail

Designed by: No designer listed

Chart or Kit?: Mini Kit

Distributed as a kit by Artiste under their “Mini Cross-Stitch Kit” series

Kit Contains: Floss (colors listed), 18 ct aida fabric, needle, pattern, instructions, and frame

Finished Size: 2.5 inches by 2.5 inches

The Story: I fell in love with this mini kit the moment I saw it. I thought it was absolutely adorable! Plus, I think the colors in this piece are fantastic. I bought it immediately upon seeing it and started it fairly soon after. I don’t know why, but I didn’t realize that the entire background needed filled in until I took a look at the chart. This is the first piece I’ve ever worked on where the entire chart is meant to be stitched. There are no empty areas whatsoever!

You can follow along on the progress on this piece below:

Progress Report: Artiste’s Snail: Part 1, Part 2

Time To Complete: Due to the fact this was my first time stitching a piece that covered the entire chart, I believe the total stitch time was about 8-10 hours. Total start to finish time was several months, because I picked up and put the WIP down quite a bit.

Review: One of the best parts of this piece is there are no fractional stitches whatsoever and very minimal back-stitch. In fact, more than 75% of the stitching is just color fill for the background, which makes for easy stitching. The floss was decent quality and easy to use. It also has a small amount of back-stitch and French knots, but only enough to really make the few details on the piece pop.

Artiste’s Snail makes a good starter kit for beginners looking to get into cross-stitch for the first time. The chart says for ages 13 and up, and I would agree with that because the 18 count aida fabric is a very small count to start out on. As long as the beginner doesn’t mind the little holes, this is a perfect starter piece!

I will also mention, the cover art for the mini kit made a mistake… the cover art uses the orange snail color for the antennas, while the instructions call for the black thread. I went with black and personally prefer that much better, as it helps them stand out.

The Finished Piece:

Final Verdict: I adore this piece, and I think it finished beautifully! Besides the fact that the stitches look a little uneven due to tension issues… But other than that, it is adorable and I love it. And I love the fact the whole background is stitched. It seems like this is a great beginner stitched piece and I would recommend to anyone!

Have you done this piece before? How did it go for you? How did you like it, or not like it, as the case may be? Leave a comment below or head on over to our Facebook page and tell us how it went!

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Friday Finishes is a segment where I catalog and review all the cross-stitch pieces I have ever completed. Some of the pieces I no longer have information on, or I don’t have pictures because I gave away the piece as a gift and forgot to take a picture, but I’ll do my best to be as informative as possible! Check back on Fridays for more.