Last week, I was fighting the cough to beat all coughs, but after my WIPocalypse summary showed how little I had accomplished in the past month, and with International Hermit and Stitch Weekend being this past weekend, I determined to get some finishes and clear the decks of at least some of the items that have been "cluttering" my growing WIP list since the first of the year. So, in addition to the weekly TAST, i stitched on my August Crazy Quilt Journal Block (and completed it), stitched on (and finished) Purple Daisy, and the 2012 Color Palette/ Crazy Quilt Journal/Bead Journal Project wall hanging (the last two sashing strips were attached): It needs pressing and then it will be ready for batting and backing.
Yes, I'm still way behind on BJP and I haven't touched "Midnight Garden" in ages but my WIP pile looks significantly less imposing and I think I can have a shot at catching up, at least a little, in the next month or two (when there is a Quilt Work Day September 14 and a Quilt Retreat October 11-12-14 to force me to focus). I put in a few hours on Friday night to get this August Crazy Quilt Journal block done: It looks unbalanced to me (that peacock is too "horizontal, maybe?) but maybe, when assembled with it's 2103 compatriots, that will cease to be an issue.
Not caught up but it feels good to get something completed! My version of stitch #78 cloud filling, for Take a Stitch Tuesday (TAST), in two shades of purple #5 perle cotton:
This month's themes were: Designer – Long Dog, Style – Smalls, Colors – Blue and Red.
My only completions during the past lunar cycles were TAST - Zig Zag Chain, Woven Zig Zag Chain, Vandyke Stitch and Woven Cross Stitches . I did bead a little on the June butterfly for BJP but it still is three wings short of being complete, and started on Laura J Perrin's Purple Daisy class - Lesson One is complete and lesson two is 25% complete: Still works in progress (rapidly turning into UFOs) are "Midnight Garden" (which hasn't been touched since June), three BJP butterflies (June, July, and August), my August Crazy Quilt Journal Block, the InkCircles online "Roll Your Own" mandalas (there are six so far), Janet Perry's online class on stitching journals/background stitches (printed out but not read, let alone started) and Janet Perry's Stitch Guide practicum (which just arrived in yesterday's mail). What is more, there is a quilt block I really need to assemble for the Quilt Retreat Challenge in October and there is another that needs assembly of a quilt guild January challenge; I have the fabric for both and am awaiting some embellishments purchased online, but not gotten any further...
Not a good stitchery month for me. Too much traveling (a weekend at a stamping expo and a two night stint at the Stratford, Ontario Festival), too much prep for the fair (out of nine entries: 5 blues, two reds, one white and an honorable mention; also helped at Quilt Day set up) and a nasty cough/cold have held me back, I fear. Also, that stitching mojo seems to still be in hiding... Wednesday and Thursday were no-stitching days (we were either on the way to, in, or on the way back from Stratford, Ontario to see some Festival plays) and Friday was a "recover-from-the-bus-trip" day, I didn't really stitch much this past week. It doesn't help that I apparently picked up some bug along the way between Stampaway/Cincinnati and Stratford because I have a dry cough that I cant kick.
Besides TAST, I stitched on "Purple Daisy" and finished lesson 1 (lessons 2 and 3 are here already and the final lesson, really a review, will be in my mailbox next weekend so I'm behind on this one too!): Here are a scattering of woven cross stitches, this week's TAST stitch: If I were better at random, this would make a great background using thinner thread than the perle cotton I used here, I think.
I just couldn't face that June beaded butterfly so I decided to try a change of pace, especially since I was traveling this past weekend (went to a stamp expo with two friends) and needlepoint is easier for me when traveling, Of course, I didn't count on the extremely bad lighting in the hotel room but I did finally get this far with "Purple Daisy": This is an email class from Laura J Perrin, with the final goal being to "messy bead" the center of the flower...I'm far from finished with lesson one and lesson two is already here. And the printer is out of ink and I don't know how to replace it! AAACK!
Maybe if I finish something different, I will be able to go back to BJP and catch up. I hope so... The "standard" Vandyke stitch is on the right top. I played around with this stitch a little, varying the lengths of the "barbs" to create different "shapes": Sure does use up a LOT of thread! But I like the possibilities of creating a sort of ribbon border in floss.
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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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