I can't believe it but I actually stitched this week and I'm making some progress on "Revenge"! I am on color three of twelve: I also have a completion to report: my Crazy Quilt /Bead Journal Project block for November. LOts of leaves, falling and otherwise, seem to be what is characterizing this warmer-than-usual, but windy, November. Also, it seems to be darker this month, mainly due to longer nights, but also to overcast skies. So my block is darker than the rest of the quilt blocks have been, and has swirly winds and lots of blowing leaves... Quilt guild meets tonight but I hope to get back into my stitching routine Friday. There is a night football game (with our big rivals) next Tuesday night and there will probably be Thanksgiving planning going on as well, but I still hope to see a lot more color in "Revenge" by next Thursday!
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That pesky cold is back again, along with a sprained lower back… Yesterday morning was husband’s high school class monthly breakfast so we had to get up early to get there. And then there was last night — a night football game, kick-off at 8PM. It was televised so each 15 minute quarter lasted an hour (we finally gave up and left at 11 PM, end of the third quarter, when our team was leading 48 - 17). It was warm for November (70 at kickoff) and the President’s Suite was crowded with people (there are 35 seats, give or take a few, but there were a LOT of people standing as well) and since it’s a close space, it was HOT in there. With this cold starting up again, I wasn’t too keen on staying for the whole game, however much I love my Falcons, and I surely wasn’t going to take up my needlework when we arrived home around Midnight! So I wasn’t very good for stitchery this week. I did get some work done, however. I quilted (!!!). Those three place mats are finished and ready to take to guild next Thursday night. I know that the Meals on Wheels gifting is currently oversubscribed but some others have stepped up with nursing, assisted living and retirement homes as possible recipients so I will take my poor first attempts at serious quilting in and hope they get good homes… Here they are, front and back… I also started the color fill on the Roll Your Own Mandala “Revenge; color # 1 is roughly 1/4 complete: Cold permitting this next week looks pretty much unencumbered by events. Also, I’m hoping I can stitch all day long Friday night/Saturday when husband will be off daylily conferencing.
Well, I managed to “force” myself to try to live up to the goals I posted in the latest WIPocalypse: I stitched! Every night! Not sure it was really enjoyable, but I did get a good bit accomplished, despite a lot of competition from various events in out lives. First of all, over the weekend, I planned out, gridded, and assembled the blocks for October, November and December in the Crazy Quilt/Bead Journal Project for 2015: That took the whole weekend working on my sewing machine (which still hates me!). Heck, I even managed to load a bobbin in the right color for quilting placemats! Then, I alternated stitching on the October block and “Roll Your Own” (“Revenge”). What resulted was a completed October block: and one corner of the outline for “Revenge” nearly complete: Tonight is quilt guild and this weekend a Dyan Reavley Art Journaling class, so I won’t get a lot more done until next week (I may take my traveling needlepoint along to the class to work on evenings)… And next week is further complicated by a dentist appointment (always puts me off anything for the entire day — purely psychological, but…). And the following weekend starts off with two early (VERY early) morning volunteer sessions on the phone banks for the local public radio station ( have to get up at 4 AM in order to be there at 6 AM, and that ruins the day for this night owl). Maybe my stitching mojo will get a rest and come back in November, refreshed and eager to go. Maybe…
An ornament completion… Designer - Charlette’s Collections; from the Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornament Issue, 2015, On plastic canvas, using DMC floss, Mill Hill Beads, Beading Wire and one 1/4” butterfly paperclip. And never again! Never again will I try a finish like this one. Agreed, it’s unusual, and interesting and all but trying to ship stitch such small pieces together around the arms of a butterfly clip, with the thread catching on everything from the edges of the plastic canvas to the beads on the wings, is not something for my klutzy fingers to attempt. If all the swearing done when working on this little insect attaches itself to the insect itself, then there is some very bad karma associated with this soon-to-be- gifted ornament. Oh well, perhaps the end result is worth the effort to the recipient, assuming it survives the mailing…. Here is a step by step of it’s assembly and how it looks in various views. Wings on the clip, top view,side view and with clip arms straight out: Body and antennae made of beading wire (finally got an in-focus photo that my computer would accept!): Body and antenna after wire stitched to bottom of body: Completed butterfly from top, from bottom and with clip arms straight out after body is attached (supposed to be glued but none of my glues held so I sewed it on!): Maybe the substitution of DMC for braid wasn't the best idea for coverage, especially for the whip stitching around the edges but I didn't have any braid of the colors I wanted and, besides, I hate stitching with it so it would have been an even more unpleasant stitching experience!
This ornament/"small flat gift" took six nights of stitching, from start to finish. The card, which is the main focus of the swap, will likely take me only half a day if it goes teh way I have in my head! Somehow, I think I overthought this whole swap thing! I changed my stitching plans this past weekend after finishing my September 2015 Crazy Quilt/Bead Journal block: It was meant to be autumnal, with all those purple flowers but then it occurred to me that Wisteria aren't autumn flowers so I added a few curlicues and turned them into grapes! I then changed course, abandoning "Roll Your Own" temporarily (I hope), and started work on a swap for Christmas. In my card swap group on Facebook, we are supposed to include a "small handmade flat gift" in addition to the card. I was at a loss for an idea until the Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornament Issue for 2015 arrived. In it was a small sparkly beaded butterfly that look like it would be just the ticket. But (and it's a big but) it was stitched in metallic braid, not my favorite thing, on plastic canvas and mounted on a butterfly binder clip! Well, I had the plastic canvas (in scraps at last but that should work) and the butterfly clip but switched out the colors to DMS floss in a totally different scheme (reds and greens instead of copper and peach). I have spent two nights on this little thing and have it only half stitched: It needs two more wings and then it needs finishing. It will take me as much as five times the time it will take to make the card! And because of the structure, it isn't quite flat so it will need a small box so it can be mailed. Oh dear, did I go wrong here or what?
Another busy weekend here at Chez Harper! Tomorrow (Friday Night) there is a reception (business attire - AAACK!) at the University, recognizing members of the "President's Club" of donors (of which we are an accidental member, having given a small amount annually since we graduated over 50 years ago!). Saturday, there is another reception, this one casual, for members of the 1910 Society, the Carillon Society and The Leadership Circle (we are part of the first two: 1910 and Carillon), followed by the University football game v Memphis (tickets in the President's Box, so if it rains, which it is likely to, we will at least be warm and dry!). Real philanthropists, aren't we? And all because we started donating $100 a year to a scholarship fund back in 1966! On Wednesday, the 23rd, we have more houseguests --- passing through on their way to Detroit. There is also an invitation to the preview of "Indian Summers" at the local public television station on Thursday, the 24th, but that kind of program isn't really husband's cuppa so I think we are passing on that. Anyway, with all that happening, I suspect I will be lucky if I get that butterfly done! And then it's on to assembling the last three base blocks for the Crazy Quilt/Bead Journal Project, quilting the three placemats for the guild holiday project, and pulling "Roll Your Own" back out of the WIP pile and finishing those outlines... Topic: Pick one of the WIP pieces you’ve stitched on this month, and tell us about your stitching journey with the piece. Well, I have two BAPs that have been ongoing since 2013! The first (which I did NOT stitch on this month) is "Save the Stitches", a blackwork sampler design by Elizabeth Almond. I started this back in early February, 2014 and it is now nearly half completed It was last touched in early April, 2015: The other, which I did stitch on this month, was the series of nine mandalas called "Roll Your Own", designed by Tracy Horner of InkCircles back in 2003. Back in 2013, this was originally a SAL with one chart, "Roll Your Own", which meant each person coud choose their own private colorway *or* use one of the those provided by Tracy. This evolved in two directions. First, people sent ideas to Tracy about colorways, often with an inspiration photo, and she came up with the colors to be used. Second, Tracy, decided to issue more mandalas and create a series which we could opt to subscribe to or not. I opted to subscribe to this series and a second (which is a set of circular mandalas with astronomical/geographical terminology - I have them downloaded but not started). I decided to use the "Tropical Ocean" colorway of 12 shades of blues and greens on a large piece of Silkweaver's "Iris Garden" 32ct Lugana and to stitch all 9 "Roll Your Own" mandalas on the same piece. Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time! Anyway, I finished the first of the mandalas, "Roll Your Own", February 21, 2014: The second, ""Roll Your Own Reloaded" was done on June 2, 1014: The third, "Bride of Roll Your Own", was completed by March 2, 2015 (clearly, other things got in the way and RYO was neglected for some time!): Next up was "Spawn of Roll Your Own", three small mandalas, each named after one of the daughters in "The Brady Bunch". These were quicker to stitch, given how small they were but... I was finding deadlines harder and harder to meet in both the Crazy Quit Journal Projects and the Bead Journal Projects so these took priroity. Also, a cruise and a road trip interrupted my stitchery as did a long repeated bout with a sinus infection from late 2014 through summer of 2015. Basically, I didn't do a lot of cross stitching on anything during that tie period. Anyway, the first of "Spawn" to be completed was "Marcia", March 29, 2015: Then came "Jan", completed August 16, 2015: And finally, last night, "CIndy": This is how the mandalas look so far: The three that are remaining are large mandalas like the first row, and will be arranged below the smaller ones in this order: "Revenge of Roll Your Own", "Rematch of Roll Your Own" and "Return of Roll Your Own". I will probably start with the outline for "Rematch", directly under "Marcia", so I can get the three placed properly (I'm no good at eyeballing placement so there will be a lot of counting and recounting and counting again before I put in that first black outline stitch.
I would love to have this done and framed for entry in the county fair next summer, but that entry deadline is likely to be late June 2016, and, given my track record on completing these mandalas, I seriously doubt that will be possible. Maybe summer 2017? So... on to reporting in on WIPOcalypse for August, 2015. Last month, my goals were "continue as we started - July and August Crazy Quilt/Bead Journal blocks and finish 'Jan' in Roll Your Own!" Well, I managed that plus a little more ("CIndy")! So this next full moon, my goals will be:
And if time is good to me, maybe pull out "Save the Stitches" and get a few more blocks filled on that one! And when these two BAPs are finished, I think I will try some color combinations OTHER Than blue and green! IHSW was posted early this month as part 1 (I assume there will be a part 2 coming on the assigned date of August 21-23, 2015. At any rates, I was stitching this weekend so here is what I accomplished... A completion! "Jan" the second of the "Spawn of Roll Your Own", a series of mandalas designed by Tracy Horner, is now finished: It was started back in the first week of April, 2015, and shouldn't have taken THIS long but other events intervened (nasty sinus infection, road trip to Florida and Georgia, etc) and I really didn't get back to it until the last weeks of July. It is in the "Tropical Ocean" colorway on "Iris Garden" dyed 32-ct Jobelin. Here is how it looks with it's "sister", Marcia, and the first three large mandalas, "Roll Your Own", "Reloaded" and "Bride of Roll Your Own": The outline for the third "Spawn" ("Cindy") is now started to the left of "Marcia" and there are three more large mandalas which will be lined up below the spawn (eventually!). I also spent some time with my sewing machine this weekend. The quilt guild I belong to is making place mats to take along at the holidays for the local version of "Meals on Wheels". I cut and stitched two place mats and they are ready to sandwich, quilt and bind: These place mats and "Cindy" of the Roll Your Own mandalas will be my projects to stitch on this coming weekend.
Another completion! The August Crazy Quilt/Bead Journal block: It's not really very imaginative, but as I said, August is always a problem for me as nothing much ever seems to happen to me in August (that I want to journal about in beads, at least!). And it means I'm caught up with Crazy Quilt Journal/Bead Journal Project for this year! Woo Hoo. I also stitched on the fifth motif ("Jan") from the "Roll Your Own Mandala" series and seven (out of 12) colors are now filled in (finally got to the blues --- I was beginning to worry that it would be all green!): Husband has a garden tour today and I have quilt guild tonight so no stitching this evening. But I have lots of plans for the weekend!
A completion, and ALMOST on schedule, finally! The July Crazy Quilt/Bead Journal Project block was finished on August 1! Because it is July, it HAD to commemorate July 4, even though we didn't go to a fireworks display or parade this year. However, we could see fireworks from our house --- some farmer apparently got permission set off a really good aerial show! So... the batik stars, the (VERY PALE) white-on-white stripes and the scattered star-shaped buttons are meant to be a patriotic reference! Meanwhile, I played with lazy daisy flowers using beads on one seam treatment, beaded a stem stitch on an adjacent seam, and added beads to the strip of lace on a third.. That means I had to get cracking on August, and this is how far I got... I don't really know how to embellish this to make it relevant to me in August. There is the fair this week, but I'm not entering (that sinus infection really put me off my game and I don't have anything to enter and there is no other reason to go, IMO). I'm no fan of the National Tractor Pulling Championships (two weeks from now)! And I have no kids to send back to school (hard to believe it starts August 24!).
There's always the garden, I suppose... August is, as always, a puzzlement... As for other works in progress, they weren't touched. I had great hopes for this weekend, but they were derailed by two wonderful movies on Saturday and horrendous heat/humidity all weekend. However, I did finally complete my June Crazy Quilt/Bead Journal Project for July. It’s supposed to be a representation of our three week road trip to Florida, Atlanta, North Carolina and West Virginia, visiting friends and indulging in daylily gardens. Silver charms represent each stat along a navy blue-and-white whipped chainstitch highway. Crystals mark the daylily conference in Atlanta and the visit to the Sight Different Nursery in North Carolina. while two fly stitch palm trees decorate Florida, I couldn’t come up with a motif to “celebrate” three days of car trouble in West Virginia, however… Sorry the charms are so blurry --- they reflect light something fierce...
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AuthorBorn in New Jersey, I grew up in Southeastern Ohio. Attended university at Bowling Green State University (B.Sci in biological science, 1964), University of Southern California (M. Sci in biological science, 1967) and University of Florida (Ph. D in zoology, 1971). Archives
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