Blog Archives - Carol Stitches

2012 - A Year of Challenges - Week Thirty

7/28/2012

Well, I need some sleep, having spent the last six hours watching men's cycling road race! Why, you ask, as if you know me, you know I can't keep a bicycle upright at street speeds, let alone 50 mph? Well, it was started and finished in the neighborhood of where we lived for nearly 5 years and it was so cool to see our old neighborhood from the air (from Putney Bridge through Richmond Park) , however fast they moved through!

At 9:30, I was first in line at the fairground to hand in my entries (three categories of ornaments, one cross-stitch set, one framed picture and one fair theme entry). What I found out was that they already have next year's theme selected so I need to ask when I collect my pieces on August 8. Then I can concentrate on what I stitch for the fair earlier than I did with "Ornaments ala Round"!

Anyway, besides TAST, "Kimono" and Mittens & Mini-Socks this week, I worked on "Birds of a Feather" and here is where I am so far...

It's slow (because nothing is more uninteresting than straight lines! I thrive on patterns!) but it's progressing...

rifestitch wrote on Jul 31 Good luck with the fair entries! Yes, I agree, straight lines are a nice break from other things occasionally, but they lose their appeal quickly!

Take a Stitch Tuesday 2012 - Week Thirty

7/26/2012

The oyster stitch, done in a variegated perle because I just KNEW that if I tried it in floss, I'd be screaming and tossing it across the room! I suspect if I had four hands, this would be a lot easier and I'd be less likely to lose my place in the steps.

Yet another wonky circle...

And I just noticed --- check back on the previous couple of posts and note that nearly everything I'm working on is the same shade of BLUE! AAACK! N WONDER I'm getting sick of Kimono and slow in Birds!

It's the color! Gotta be!

rifestitch wrote on Jul 31 Oyster stitch - never heard of it! It is a cool effect, though, and I love that blue :) I have to make myself NOT pick stuff up because it is purple or red, so your blue theme is understandable :)

International Hermit and Stitch Weekend - July

7/23/2012

This weekend, I stitched, and completed, two stitching tasks!

The first was the July installment (sections 66 - 78) of "Kimono - Revisited":

which means I'm all caught up with that class.

And the second is the sock portion of the July "Mittens & Mini-Socks" class from Janet Perry:

Same threads as for the mitten but a slightly different auroral "wave" from the same photograph. Still have coverage issues with that navy...

I also got in a few stitches on "Birds of a Feather" - the outside border is now about 2/3 complete:

In all, a productive weekend!

rifestitch wrote on Jul 23 Yeah, I'd definitely call that a productive weekend! Kimono looks really great - I'd love to see those stitches in person! You have such a good variety of projects!

tashacat wrote on Jul 24 Carol, that kimono is amazing. I just love the colours. And great stitching on your other projects - a successful IHSW.

2012 - A Year of Challenges - Week Twenty-Nine

7/21/2012

Besides TAST and Color Through the ages, which I posted on the 19th, I have one more completion for this week - The Aurora Borealis mitten:

The Aurora "pattern" is my own, based on a photo called "Green Aurora Rising" but I used blue threads instead of green because my stash was somewhat skimpy on green "shiny" threads!

The Aurora is Kreinik 1/16" ribbon (014HL), DMC Jewel effects (E334), Kreinik #4 braid - 3 strands (3214) and DMC Pearlescent effects (E3747). The "sky" is DMC 3750 (I have coverage issues with dark threads...) and the cuff is DMC 3756.

I plan on doing the sock as well, although I need to buy more DMC 3750!

Otherwise, my stitching has been focused on the July installments of "Kimono - Revisited" which I hope to have completed before the weekend is over... After all, this is International Hermit and Stitch Weekend so I should be putting some time in (after my husband's garden is clear of visitors, that is --- he's on the local hosta and daylily society's garden tour today!).

Some Completions...

7/19/2012

Take a Stitch Tuesday - week 29: Basque Stitch:

It was "OK" but not really pleasing to stitch --- I'm not a fan of trying to keep a needle in the fabric while wrapping thread around it. My fingers always end up being too big! But my circle is a little better on this one --- now if only I could keep the "rays" all the same length!

Janet Perry's "Color Through the Ages", lesson Five - Japan (A Japanese Star):

Based on the dsicussion in the lesson, I opted for a "September" feel of fallen leaves and went with DMC3830 as the accent color (in the sashing) and the color range of 3820, 3821, 3822 and 3823 as the dominant color (the stars and the backgrounds). Perhaps the color choice wasn't different enough to show the centers of the stars off well enough but finding a range of colors for that deep gold "fallen leaf" color isn't that easy to do... at least in my stash!

Now back to "Kimono - Revisited"!

2012 - A Year of Challenges - Week Twenty-Eight

7/14/2012

It may seem like I didn't stitch much this week with only two "completions" and little else to show and I suppose that was partially true --- no stitching on Tuesday because of Girls' Night Out or Thursday because of quilt guild meeting but, really, I did stitch quite a lot.

I did the TAST for the week and finished my Color Palette/Crazy Quilt Journal Page/Bead Journal project block for July. And I stitched on "Kimono-Revisited"! I actually got June's installments done (along with a lot of yelling and ripping out --- some of those patterns simply would NOT stick in my brain):

I even got working last night on the first part of the July sections only got one part done though - stitches are so SMALL on this congress cloth and it's so hard to see what I'm doing half the time, even with magnification!:

I finished all the threads I had but one so am starting over with the entire thread selection --- having put aside three sets of threads for sections which are repeats of ones done earlier. I decided that, since this was supposed to be a scrap kimono, made up from scraps of OTHER garments, that if a pattern was repeated, so would the colors I used used the first time (I just don't feel creative enough to try a made-up stitch and these colors are hard enough to work with as it is - I'm already tiring of my color-way choice - can you tell?). Besides surely there weren't 130 different kimonos in the same color way in that ancient Japanese sewist's cupboard?

The last Stitch Guide lesson arrived last night and I skimmed through it. The latest Mitten & Mini-Sock piece still awaits canvas before kitting it up (it calls for all sorts of metallics which I only have a limited selection of - DMC and Kreinik, primarily - so I'm a little flummoxed about how I will stitch this thing from stash).

I didn't get time to put in any stitches on "Birds of a Feather"... hopefully I will catch up with "Kimono" before the August sections are released and be able to work on that ore-or-less full time.

Take a Stitch Tuesday 2012 - Week Twenty-Eight

7/12/2012

This is the Up - and- Down (or Mirror) Buttonhole (or blanket) stitch;

I found the stitch pleasing and easy to do but I still have issues with circles!

Color Palette/Crazy Quilt Journal/Bead Journal Project for July

7/10/2012

The color palette comes from Judy Laquidara's Patchwork TImes and at Vicki Welsh's Field Trips in Fiber while the grid for the basic block was based on Block 57 of the "I dropped the Button Box" crazy quilt at Pin Tangle. I used a lot more beads this time since I felt that the previous blocks had been getting skimpy with regard to the bead journal project part of things.

rifestitch wrote on Jul 9 LOVE the colors in this! You do such a great job in combining all these elements!

Watch this space for a new blog address

7/8/2012

2012 - A Year of Challenges - Week Twenty-Seven

7/7/2012

In the past week, I have completed a) three Christmas ornaments on perforated paper, b) one rather tacky attempt at TAST week 27, and c) the latest lesson from the Stash Busters. I took my fair entry form (five categories this year so I won't make my money back, even if I won first in all five) in to the fair office and I paid my entry fees.

On Sunday, I started a new project which I have had kitted up for some time - "Birds of a Feather", designed by by Yvonne Horn of Papillon Creations which was published in The Gift of Stitching. I'm stitching this on 32 ct pewter linen (not because I think it's the right color choice but it was the only piece of 32 ct I had that was large enough):

The border is basically half-done now...

I also started on my July Color Palette/Crazy Quit Journal/Bead Journal Project:

The color challenge was based on a Picasso pastel shown and posted on Judy Laquidara's Patchwork TImes and at Vicki Welsh's Field Trips in Fiber: Funny thing was, as I was piecing together the block (based on Block 57 of the "I dropped the Button Box" crazy quilt at Pin Tangle), what kept coming to mind was a tee shirt I own from the University of Florida --- at least until I put in the yellow piece! LOL Go Gators!

Since it is so dratted HOT (100 before NOON, for gosh sakes ---I thought I'd left this kind of heat behind when we left Saudi Arabia!), I plan on stitching this afternoon after I get all my computer tasks done --- assuming, of course that my laptop stops dropping out --- so far, iPhoto has crashed twice and Safari once in less than 30 minutes!

Anyway on the stitching agenda today is "Kimono- Revisited" --- the instructor is getting antsy since it appears the entire class has slowed to a screeching halt on this thing, and has threatened dire consequences if we don't start posting pictures again!