Now to figure out how to finish it...
The finished piece is 15" X 18" on 24 ct. pale blue Congress cloth (24 ct), using various ThreadWorX, DMC and Carrie's Creations threads and several shades of Kreinik #8 and #12 braid. The color scheme is called "Electric Blue" with the purple is my "spin" on the original thread collection. It was a Shining Needle Society on-line class from John Waddell which started last December 1, 2011.
Now to figure out how to finish it...
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This week, I caught up on the pale blue fan stitches in the border for "Birds of a Feather": Completed the latest assignments of Color Trough the Ages and TAST 2012, picked fabrics for the November Color Palette Challenge: and started on the last 13 sections of "Kimono - Revisited" (got three sections done in three hours!): I also went shopping for a new project (a class online called "Stupendous Stitching") but failed miserably in my quest for basic supplies (Michaels has filled the store with Christmas "stuff" and nothing crafty can be found!). In addition, I signed up for next year's Crazy Quilt Journal Challenge (although I probably won't make it part of the Bead Journal Project this time), am seriously considering TAST 2013, and am talking with the administrators of the Bead Journal Project about being a "detail angel" next year... I also have a name shield project waiting for me from Stitcher's Village and a whole lot of pieces planned for next year's fair. Needless to say, even though I am caught up, I am digging that hole even deeper in terms of simultaneous projects! Oh my... will I ever get back to cross stitch?
I haven't touched "Birds of a Feather" in over two weeks, and TAST - week 41 is barely in progress. It's been a busy week off the needle and all I have accomplished, really, is completion of a Mitten & Mini-Sock. But I can share the latest update on "Kimono-Revisited" which I caught up on October 8:
What did I do this past "moon"? Well, there were • the Take a Stitch Tuesday stitches: Cast On stitch, Pekinese Stitch, Linked Double Chain, and sheaf stitch, shown here: along with the completed "page" for August: • The August Stash Buster from Janet Perry • The August Mittens & Mini-Socks form Janet Perry --- both a mitten and a sock • The August Color Through the Ages from Janet Perry • the August parts for "Kimono - Revisited": • The August Color Palette Challenge/Crazy Quilt Journal/Bead Journal Project block • and quite a bit on "Birds of a Feather", shown here: Basically caught up, but tomorrow there will be more Kimono sections, Tuesday will bring another TAST, and there are certainly Mittens & Mini-socks, Color through the Ages twinchies and stash busters waiting in the wings as well.
I'm already collecting charts and ideas for next year's fair theme (Kitchens and cookery) and hope to start kitting up a few of those soon (and other entry candidates) soon. Meanwhile, my craft space is crying out for a little heavy-duty clean-up and organize time. 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. 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. I have been plugging away at "Ornaments ala Round" eve since the last WIPocalypse... and here is where it stands today --- one more color (in the evergreen boughs), and it will be time to start the metallic stitching! Also in progress is the June Color Palette/Crazy Quilt Journal/Bead Journal Project challenges. Here is my floss toss: and a close-up of the basic block as it will look when trimmed to size: The color palette is based on a photo of a Stargazer Lily, as seen on Judy Laquidara's Patchwork TImes blog and Vivcki Welsh's Field Trips in Fiber blog. The block grid block 29 of I dropped the Button Box on Pin Tangle by Sharon B. Again, I was lucky in that three of the colors in this block were used in the previous block so there is some color continuity in these blocks. Other completions this month have included: Take a Stitch Tuesday bands for half-chevron stitch, bullion knots, butterfly chain stitch, and knotted Cretan stitch. the May color palette/crazy quilt journal/bead journal piece the Mat Mini-Socks and Mittens lesson the Color Through the Ages "Medieval Book of Hours" twinchie I'm reading through lesson one in Janet Perry's Stitch Guide online class - this is the canvas I will be testing out in that class: and plugging away at "Kimono - Revisited" (for which I have a new set of 13 sections to work on) - here is where that piece stands at present: So, some progress on the BAPS and a few small completions. Still backed up in the WIP department, though! festitch wrote on Jun 4 Wow, you get so much done!! Great projects, all! Kimono is coming along nicely!
Besides completing week 19 of TAST and the May Color Palette/CQJP/BJP challenge (both posted here), I put in some time on both "Ornaments ala Round": and "Kimono-revisted": There's a new Mittens & Mini-Socks piece waiting to be kitted out adn I'm sure there will also be a new stash buster to occupy more of my time. Add to that I signed up for another online course - this one on stitch selection; a short one this time, but I'm hoping it gets me started on a canvas my husband purchased more than a year ago in California!
I had forgotten about quilt guild meeting this week, and it ran long (I mean REALLY REALLY long) so I lost a day of stitching there. Which means I'm virtually certain there's no way "Ornaments" will be ready for the fair. Didn't do too badly this week! For one thing, I caught up with "Kimono-Revisited" --- just barely since the May installment of 13 sections came in a day later. But ... And I used that "Kimono-Free Zone" to do week 18 of TAST and make a start at the Color Palette Challenge - still more to do on this one but my start is pretty good so far: I finished The May 2012 Stash-busting project, a piece made entirely from odds and ends of variegated glosses (an eclectic mix of GAST, WDW, DMC Variations, SanMan, Carries Creations, and Stranded by the Sea brands) with an DMC Ecru "grout" between the tiles: Janet Perry intended this to be larger and destined to be an eyeglass case but, as usual, I trimmed it down and have no immediate ideas for it's use.Ornament? It's a little large (roughly 4" X 4") but maybe... And finally, with the help (NOT) of that visiting frog, I made a start on "Ornaments ala Round". These are the four central bells (the blank spots will be filled with beads and Kreinik metallics). Leaf Green Cashel linen (28 ct) instead of teh gold used in the model. I didn't have any gold of the right size and didn't want to wait for (or pay for) a special order fabric when this perfectly suitable green was in my stash. Think I'll get it done in time to enter in the fair? Maybe if I left "Kimono" lapse again for a month or two... delete replyrifestitch wrote on May 7 WOW - you got a LOT of stitches in! Kimono is looking great - the sparkles are really showing up in that photo! I can't wait to see more of Ornaments :)
I actually did quite a bit over the weekend. In my post on Saturday, I showed where I had gotten on "Kimono-Revisited" on Friday night. Here is where it was on Saturday:: I am now caught up with the class assignments for February (sections 1 - 13): and March (14 - 26): I took a break from Kimono on Sunday and did two Janet Perry pieces - Lesson 2 of Color Through The Ages (Ancient Greece --- threads used were all DMC: blanc, 310, 355, 3827 and 3838): and Lesson 1 for Mittens & Mini-Socks Bargello Club (she called it Faded Violets; mine is more like Lime Ade! Threads used were all DMC: rayon 30676 for the "cuff", #5 perle 4060 for the variegated, and 727 and 955 for the second and third colors. And I ran out of 727 and 955!) : Broke 3 needles --- at the eye, in my fingers --- on these last two pieces. Have no idea why --- I've never broken needles like that before! Kind of frustrating, though... And I was going to do a matching mitten for the mini-sock but ran out of both my secondary colors! I also did the floss toss for Stash Busters Club and for the Glendon Place "Ornaments ala Round" (would you believe that I didn't have full skeins for two DMC colors in this piece! Why is it, when I have such a huge DMC stash, I ALWAYS end up having to go to the shop and buy more?). rifestitch wrote on Apr 23 Wow - Kimono is really coming together! And these other two pieces are so cute!
I have broken needles in succession like that - when I do, I put my stuff away and go read for a day or two, because I am clearly trying to muscle my way through something... :) thatyankstitches wrote on Apr 23 rifestitch saidWow - Kimono is really coming together! And these other two pieces are so cute! I have broken needles in succession like that - when I do, I put my stuff away and go read for a day or two, because I am clearly trying to muscle my way through something... :) I think you are right --- I must have been trying too hard... I could understand it with that rayon thread, but usually I don't have those issues with cotton floss... and it was ALWAYS the cotton floss in the needle when it happened. Hubby thinks I got hold of a batch of flawed needled! But since most of my needles are left-overs from kits, etc, there's no way to be sure ... rifestitch wrote on Apr 24 thatyankstitches saidBut since most of my needles are left-overs from kits, etc, there's no way to be sure ... Yeah, no telling what those might be - good ones, or... ones with a limited shelf-life. Who knows? tashacat wrote on Apr 24 Kimono is gorgeous and you got in some good stitching. Like the colours you used for the 2 smaller pieces. |
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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