Ooops --- someplace, I can't figure out where, I miscounted and my larger blocks aren't large enough! SO the twinchie is 4 stitches short of being 2"! When I'm not so pressed for time, I'll try another and get the proportions right! Its called "VIntage Kitchen" and was stitched with DMC cotton floss, 310, 349, 746 and 909. I like the red (349) and the "white" (746, which is really a very pale yellow, sort of how white bakelite goes when it's old) but next time I would probably darken the green (909) up more... this came out a little "Christmassy".
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While avoiding all that backstitch in the "Red Thai Mandala"
(funny, I usually like backstitch in blackwork but the light oclor of that gray is driving me nuts) another completion of a small piece... It's lesson 11 in the "Color Through the Ages" twinchies by Janet Perry, and uses DMC 310, 3706, 5282 and E677. I THOUGHT I was electing a silver metallic but when I started stitching with E677, it turned into a pale pale gold. Since ripping out DMC metallic is a PITA, I decided to leave it even though it isn't really Art Deco in feel any more. It's called "Sweden" and there were two color palette possiblities. Since I'm burned out on blue, at least for now, I went with a green version: The threads used were DMC blanc as background, DMC 498 as the red "Accent" and various shades of light greens (DMC 369, 504, 523, 772, 955, 3813, and 3817; GAST Willow; and Stranded by the Sea 102 - Mermaid's Whisper and 212 - Reindeer Wrasse).
Still a TAST to do for 2012 and I do want to get back to that Michael Powell Home Sampler but the holidays may well get in the way... Lesson 9 in the "Color Through The Ages" class is all about colors from the "Mod Era" of the 1960s! This twinchie is stitched using DMC blanc, 307, 792, 906, 970, 3607, and metallic 5283 threads and was completed November 24, 2012:
I was having a mental block on color choices for this one --- the examples shown in the instructions didn't resonate with me, somehow, perhaps because of all the Chinese "stuff" we accumulated in Beijing, a lot of which was on white backgrounds and even more of which was almost monochromatic But I started checking out the embroidery pieces we acquired while there and decided to use two of them as my guide for color choice. First is a Q'ing Dynasty embroidery collar for a child. It was done in colored silk, in satin stitch with a few beads, on various colors of felt. Here is a picture of a segment of that collar showing the embroidery on concentric rings of green and black felt and with beads connecting the rings. MOST of the color you see here is satin stitch in single strands of silk: Then I pulled a "modern" piece, an embroidered zodiac horse (I'm a water horse in the Chinese zodiac which is why I bought it), done on an even weave in silk, again, in satin stitch (Apologies for the glare off the glass): In both pieces, notice the dulled down blue, red and green, the bright orange, the pinkish white and the bright yellow. Notice a distinct lack of white (the modern piece has pure white around the eye of the horse but what appears to be white in the collar is really more of a pinkish white, almost a variegated thread). So that's what I aimed for in my thread choices, minimizing yellow because, in Chinese tradition, yellow was reserved for the emperor, and using a gold braid for the cloisonné-like outlining. My color choices were DMC cotton in 725, 798, 970, 3347, 3770 and 3831 and Kreinik #4 braid in 002HL: So another Color Through the Ages completed...
I continued on with "Birds of a Feather" and actually got started on the metallic threads! Maybe you can see some of the bling in the right-hand and top borders? I suppose I could have continued but my conscience was bothering me --- so many pieces sitting there, unstitched! So on Friday... First, I tackled Take a Stitch Tuesday week 38, Drizzle Stitch. Keep in mind I HATE threading needles and I'm not a fan of "knots" so this one was hard for me to do but here are five "Drizzles" in a flower with a stem stitch stem and French knot center: Next up was Color Through the Ages, Lesson 7 - CIvil War Colors! I got ambitious (OK, I couldn't decide on a colorway! LOL) and did all three with GAST, WDW and DMC from my stash. Here is my Union Uniform version, using all GAST: Midnight, Brethren Blue, Pacific Green (yes, green --- doesn't look it, does it?), and Blueberry (0230) for the blues and Oatmeal for the background. Here is my Confederate Uniform version - I used GAST Brandy and Tarnished Gold and WDW Tin Roof (1174) and Pelican Gray (1302) for the uniform colors and DMC3033 for the background. And last, my Patriotic Colors version - I used GAST Blueberry (0230), Midnight, Mulberry (02350), Walnut and Flax for the background (consider it "distressed!): There is still my Color Palette/Crazy Quilt Journal/Bead Journal piece waiting in the wings, to say nothing of the September installments of "Kimono-Revisited" (and October is almost here!), so I'm not caught up yet. But there's only so much stitching one can do in one day!
Oh, and I signed up for another online-SAL! I'm out of my mind, I know... 2102 - A Year of Challenges, Week Thirty Four: Take a Stitch Tuesday and Color Through the Ages8/25/2012 Catching up on "smalls"! Take a Stitch Tuesday, Week 34, was the "Linked Double Chain". I did it as both a straight line and a meander, using perle cotton: Color Through The Ages, Lesson 6, was "Colors of the Amish" and took the form of a log cabin quilt block: Yeah, I know --- it doesn't look a lot like a log cabin to me either --- I tried to stick to the colors the Amish around here wear --- purples and blue, and sadly, in my stash, they aren't different enough to really show the log cabin effect. Anyway, I used DMC floss throughout: 301 for the border; 666 for the corners and the centers of each log cabin block; 824, 825 and 826 for the blues; and 794, 793 and 792 for the purples.
Perhaps it if weren't on a twinchie and each "log" were more than one row think, it might show up better, but I think I need to check my color choices on swatches before setting stitches in the final piece (it's too darned hard to rip out a mistake on this canvas with floss). But I'm too lazy to do what John Waddell calls "doodle cloths"! 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"! This was a week of "Finishing Frenzy"! Also a week of attempting to catch up, although I wasn't as successful in that. Let's start with new completions. 1. Take a Stitch Tuesday, week 25 - cable chain stitch. Didn't do really well on my first attempt but the second was better and by the time I finished five more rows, I pretty much had it down. Top two rows are plain chain stitch; next two are "laced" with a contrasting blue thread, through the cable part of the stitch; and the last three rows are "interlaced" through the chain part: 2. Color Through the Ages - Renaissance Reborn. This is a needlepoint adaptation of the "Nelson's Victory" quilt block pattern, stitched using DMC cotton floss (115, 310, 355, 3582, 3586) and DMC metallic gold (5282) on 18ct canvas: 3. Candy Cane Horse (I plan on making this the first of three so I can submit them to the fair in the Christmas ornament category), pattern from the Just Cross Stitch Christmas Orrnament Issue 2009, design by Charlotte Dockens of Charlotte's Collectibles on 14 ct plastic canvas using DMC cotton floss (blanc, 310, 321, 436, 725, 738, 746 and 3347) and Kreinik blending thread (002, 003, 015, and 032). I plan on switching out horse colors in ##2 and 3 (a darker brown in one, a dark grey in another is the plan at present), and maybe even the ribbon colors/pattern. Now for the finishes! 1. Four pictures back from the framer, all candidates for the fair! "Catpack" and "Purrfect", to be entered as a set, framed pictures, any count: "Sewing with Mama", to be entered in framed pictures, fourteen count (my husband says he likes this one best!): and "Ornaments ala Round", to be entered in the Fair Theme Category, framed picture or wall hanging: 2. And I got those three Christmas tree ornaments finished up as flat folds, using coordinating green fabric from my quilting stash of fat quarters (Kona Cotton) for backing, some silver cord for hangers and some white gimp for covering the raw edges: I might have gotten quite a bit more done but Monday through Thursday were lost causes, given that we had house guests to "entertain". So now it's time to catch up...
What is sitting in that pile of projects-to-do? Well, there's a Janet Parry "Mittens & Mini-Socks" piece called "Singular Carnation" (somehow, that title has me humming music form "A Chorus Line"!), a Janet Perry "Stash Buster", two more "Candy Cane Horses" and the inevitable "Kimono - Revisited" (the 13 parts for June haven't been touched, although I have read through the instructions), to say nothing of reading through the latest lessons in Janet Perry's "Stitch Guide" class. And, of course, on Tuesday there will be another TAST! And with July 1 there will be another 13 parts of "Kimono - Revisited" and another Color Palette Challenge (which means another Crazy Quilt Journal and Bead Journal project piece as well!). Given that fair registration begins July 2, I suspect "Candy Cane Horses" will take precedence... Some completions this week --- the two pieces of the "Mittens & Mini-socks" bargello class and the Medieval Book of Hours twinchie for Color through the Ages: Shopping my stash, I used DMC floss for the most part (blanc, 321, 326, 517, 518, 793 and 704) and Kreinik $4 braid (002) doubled for the gold. I also go in some stitching on "Ornaments ala Round": Hoping to get in a lot more this weekend, which is International Hermit & Stitch Weekend...
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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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