Oh, and the last of the indoor Christmas decorations came down on Friday night (yes, I now, a full month and a half late... and the ornaments probably are in the wrong boxes and bins but it is done and back in the storage room!) and the tax booklet for our accountant was completed Sunday afternoon (and copied and FedExed out this morning). So, in all, a good weekend!
I started a new piece just for the weekend (and because I had finished my first "Roll Your Own" mandala and wasn't ready to start on the second mandala of the series!). My new project is "Save the Stitches", a blackwork sampler SAL from Elizabeth Almond. Here is how far I got this weekend on parts 1, 2 and 3 for the SAL: the outline and 3.5 of16 fill patterns: I changed out things a little from the pattern since I wasn't too keen on using DMC metallics and I don't have the colors called for in Kreinik. So... out came the same set of DMC colors I'm using for "Roll Your Own" - two blues (DMC 312 and 798)and a green (DMC 3850). You might be able to see the colors better here in this closeup: I have to pick out some beads still but the beading will be the last thing I do on this.
Oh, and the last of the indoor Christmas decorations came down on Friday night (yes, I now, a full month and a half late... and the ornaments probably are in the wrong boxes and bins but it is done and back in the storage room!) and the tax booklet for our accountant was completed Sunday afternoon (and copied and FedExed out this morning). So, in all, a good weekend!
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I didn't really "hermit and stitch" much this weekend. Having finished "Ladybug & Daisy" on Friday, and finding my project bag empty of WIPs, it took a whole day before I could gin up the courage (yes, I said courage --- a blank piece of fabric is as intimidating to me as a blank piece of paper is to some authors!) to start a new project. I finally settled on the "Roll Your Own" Mandalas from Tracy Horner at InkCircles, which have been kitted up since October. There are nine of them, six larger and three smaller, and I plan to do them all in the Tropical Ocean color scheme on one piece of overdyed 32 count Lugana. I put in two hours on the outline for the first ("Roll Your Own" ) and got roughly one-eighth of it done: The outline is the tough part, I think, since it HAS to be counted correctly. I'm going slow because it is 32 count and because I do not want to do any frogging! I suspect two hour stretches are the best I will be able to do until the outlines are finished so I will need to come up with another piece to work on in between (besides Crazy Quilt Block Project and Bead Journal Project Challenges, that is).
For IHSW, I worked on three WIPS. I had the body and two top wings and part of the bottom wing beaded on my December BJP butterfly before the weekend. Over the weekend, I managed to get the third wing done and started on the fourth: Early in the week, I couched red cording around the appliqued flower and sewed on the buttons in the heart of the flower --- cording (passing as "string") and buttons being two of the requirements of the "Green Thumb Challenge" for January's quilt guild meeting. Over the weekend, I couched black perle cotton (more string) as the stem of the flower: I also completed the ladybug in "Ladybug & Daisy" - now on to the blackwork (once that blasted December butterfly is completed, that is): Also completed this week were four variations of a stitch in TAST: Stitch #94, the Reversed Buttonhole Bar.
I have found my inspiration fabric for the 2014 Bead Journal Project --- and ordered it (it was on sale, although the coordinating fabrics were not! Phooey! Oh well...). Still mulling over a format for the 2014 Crazy Quilt Journal Project... I really don't know how much stitching will happen this coming week, what with the holiday and all... Being neglected is "Roll Your Own" mandalas (which is now fully kitted out and I only need to start), and two online classes from Janet Perry... It's embarrassing how many OTHER pieces I have in my pile of unstarted projects, some kitted up, some not, that are calling to me. And to think the year is almost over! Merry Christmas, everyone! This week, I managed two more completions --- my November monochromatic orange crazy quilt block for the Crazy Quilt Journal Project and the two TAST stitches that were assigned. Otherwise, I tried calculatiing how to place the nine Roll Your Own Mandalas and think I have come up with a plan, using Iris Garden overdyed 32ct linen (even though my husband is no fan of the fabric) and the Tropical Ocean color scheme. The I forced myself to work on two neglected pieces because it was, after all, November's International Hermit and Stitch Weekend--- the Chinese Coins quilt and the November BJP butterfly. The Chinese Coins top is finished, even though the top and bottom borders had to be sewn on twice because I forgot to put right sides together when pinning! 37 inches x 2 (because I didn't catch my mistake until I had done both borders) of ripping! AAARGH! Here it is laid out on my craft space floor: and as you can see, I am at the limits of my "design floor" so basting it will be an issue... You can get a better idea of how it looks, hung from the two Chinese armoires in my craft space: At present it is roughly 37 inches wide and 41 inches long so will probably finish nicely at 36 x 40... I also started the November butterfly, which will be in shades of brown and yellow - probably turn out to be anoher "camoflage" butterfly!. The body of the butterfly is done and the wings are (barely) started: Spent a good portion of Sunday (roughly 4 PM through 7 PM) watching live coverage of the storm that passed through here, getting ready to bail to the basement when our tornado warning sirens went off (and they did).. Needless to say --- NOT conducive to stitching!
Luckily, all we "lost" was a decorative flag that blew UP from the lake onto a sidewalk, but there was significant damage to the east and south of us, much of which has yet to be assessed. Lots of people without power, many buildings with roofs blown off and windows blown out (there were reported hurricane-strength wind gusts in nearby Bowling Green from straight line winds... and one house collapsed onto four inhabitants who were watching a football game and were slightly injured), and many road closures due to downed power lines, lack of traffic signals, cars blown into median strips and other debris not only in the roadway but also still blowing around in 35 - 30 mph gusts (sustained winds around 20mph). The weather around here is curiouser and curiouser! This past week (and this International Hermit and Stitch Weekend) were spent on catch-up projects. I started the week - and ended the weekend - by stitching away on the blackwork "Puppy Dog": Most of the weekend, however, was spent on my October Bead Journal Project butterfly for October and I ALMOST finished it. Would have, too, if I hadn't run out of purple beads! Here it is so far, waiting for a bead delivery from Mill Hill, stitched on one of the Halloween fat quarters I got at quilt retreat last weekend: If it weren't for those pesky ten or so beads, I could have claimed to be caught up! AAARGH! As it is, there is still "Roll Your Own" to start and the online classes from Janet Perry on background stitches and on stitch guides to complete as well as Take a Stitch Tuesday that can occupy my time this week while waiting for the mail!
All of my stitchery done this week was done this weekend, which also happened to be International Hermit and Stitch Weekend for September. In addition to tackling the week's TAST assignment on Friday and visiting the Needlework Show on Saturday , I made a concentrated effort to work on "Bling it On": which is now ready for beads, and on the August BJP butterfly: which now has an outline in place.
No completions but I am getting closer... 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 hate to admit it but most of this weekend was taken up watching the entire series 1 of "Endeavour". As my husband said, it's addictive! And I LOVE that theme music.
I did stitch this weekend... I finished Stitch 71 for TAST on Friday and the June block for the Crazy Quilt Journal Project on Saturday. Then I started on the 12 x 12 block I hope to enter in the county fair next month in the category called "Pink"...
All the seam treatments are finished and now it's time to embellish: My last week on drops for the left eye and an eye exam has resulted in new glasses (should be in in a week or so) which should solve any additional problems I have (except for the peripheral vision shimmer which still sometimes strikes without warning). I really lost my stitchery mojo last week --- so a few more photos of my husband's garden which has become a serial bloomer (everything from last week is past it's prime already) because of the heat. We got summer right after winter --- Spring was maybe a one-day season, so things are bolting! Anyway this week it's azaleas (I always loved azaleas in the south but Indicas won't grow here so we have the little Japanese ones): and one poor bush that doesn't look so happy... Tree peonies are blooming the back garden... A hydrangea (Ooops --- Husband says it's a Viburnum! Hey, who said I knew my plants anyway?) is in full bloom in the front yard... As is an Asian lilac And if you look carefully in the various beds, there are patches of blue... spiderwort ... and some sort of "Bachelor Button" which husband considers to be invasive weeds... I settled down on Sunday to get some stitches in on International Hermit and Stitch Weekend... Finally finished the April BJP butterfly: May's butterfly will be in orange and white on a yellow background. Just have to get it set up and maybe I will be able to catch up. I got kind-of behind what with eye surgery and all but finally caught up last night with Take a Stitch Tuesday Stitch #65: the buttonhole bar: I can see this doing a really really neat layering effect on top of other stitches! And it was fun to do! If I'd had more time, I would have tried it with different threads but getting one row done in perle cotton was good enough to learn the stitch. I also did the Coral Stitch (#66) in a different color perle cotton: It doesn't show up as clearly as I would like but I do like the effect...
My to-do project bag is still full but there's hope that maybe I can catch up before June is too far underway! |
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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