Some progress made this week on the birth sampler, mainly on the single-stranded cross stitching of the grass and water, despite one night of stitching foregone in favor of binge watching the last series of "Lewis"!. Only three more pairs of animals to stitch (one is started) before the backstitching. Man, do I ever dread that! This coming weekend is going to be a real test of my mojo since there is quilt guild tonight and the Friends of the Library book sale and the Volunteer Firefighter’s “steak out” on Saturday. That means at least two days where I won’t have the energy or time to stitch. Sure am hoping to get this done and to the framers as the kid is already a week old!
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What a week! Here I was, stitching away on the birth sampler for a great-nephew who was supposed to be born next week. Naturally, he must have heard I have deadline issues because he was born on August 30! And I am nowhere near finished. Oh well, at least I have all the data needed to finish the sampler when the overall stitchery is finished! Here is where I stand so far - only three more rows of the sea to do in in that variegated blue/green floss and a flag on the flag pole and the I can move on to the left half. Oh, and then there's the backstitching! Oh, by the way, I’ve been calling it “Two by Two” and I got that wrong, it’s “All Creatures Birth Sampler”, a “lite” version of “Two by Two”! Good thing it's a "lite" version too,! I'd NEVER have attempted the full-blown version for this deadline!
Back to the stitching grind-stone — there’s a lot of green grass on the left that will probably take several days (all that space in one color! AAARGH!) and several pairs of animals before I can move on to the backstitching! Well, I didn’t get as much stitching done this past week as I had hoped. A big kerfuffle about someone hacking my Apple Store account took all of Friday on the phone and back and forth to Federal Express. And Wednesday night was filled with tornado warnings, tornado watches, sever thunderstorm warnings and heavy downpours. Both event tended to put me off my stitching “stride”, as it were. But I did get some stitching done and the full cross-stitching right-hand-side of the birth sampler is nearly done: I hope to do better this next week! But then, I always say that, don’t I? The WIPocalypse topic for discussion this month is “Have you ever read any fictional books that involve embroidery? If so, give us some recommendations…” Yes, I have although I hate to say that most needlework-related fiction uses knitting - and a few years ago, quilting - as a theme more than traditional embroidery. In fact there is even a sewing circle-themed mystery series… But I digress. There are three needlework authors in my “library” and I have read many of the books listed here. I can highly recommend the Needlecraft Mystery Series, all in paperback (a few in hardcover) by Monica Ferris (pseud. of Mary Pulver Kufeld), set in Minnesota. The books include clever (albeit cozy) plots and well-developed characters and includes needlework patterns. (Note, even she has gone over to the “dark side", with her latest boom a knitting themed one!)
I am a little less prone to recommend the two series I have on my iPad. The first is The Embroidery Mystery Series by Amanda Lee (aka Rebecca York), set in Oregon. To be honest, I can't remember if I have read any of these even though they are in my "read" file":
The other series I have on my iPad is the Mainly Needlepoint Mystery Series by Lea Wait, a cozy series set in Maine. I have the first three and have read the first one.
Last month, I had low expectations for my stitching this month. My mojo was gone and I was struggling to put in even minimal stitching. However, I DID manage to complete the "Roll Your Own" mandala series (Ironically, on the day the county fair I had been aiming for ended! Maybe next year! Instead of moving on to the "Save the Stitches" blackwork sampler, I took my own advice and started something new. Even though it has a deadline of early September, I took on the Bothy Threads "Two by Two" birth sampler and, even though it is full of fudging because of counting errors, I am making some progress on it: It is a break from all that blue and that, along with stitching on 14ct AIDA, helps. I wouldn't call it a cure for my lack of stitchery mojo but maybe it's a start...
So next month, my plan is to have finished this piece and send it on to our niece. Since I completed the last of the “Roll Your Own” mandalas on Monday, it was possible for me to get a start on something new (I simply am not ready to get back to “Save the Stitches” yet) so I pulled the Bothy Threads “All Creatures” Birth sampler kit from my project bag and got started. Only got the two zebras done in two nights: This may take longer than I wish! Of course, it didn’t help that three of the colors might just as well have been “white on white”! Even on AIDA, that’s hard to see…
Oh well, it isn’t blue! I have finished something! Woo Hoo! I couldn't wait until my usual check-in to celebrate! Here is "Return", completed: And here is the complete series, ready to frame (man will that cost a fortune --- the stitched portion of the fabric is a little more than a half yard! This started out as an online SAL, organized and moderated by Tracey Horner of InkCircles There are 9 Roll Your Own mandalas. I decided I would do them all on one piece of fabric ("Iris Garden" by Silkweaver, 32 ct Jobelin) in the "Tropical Ocean" colorway.
There were a number of preset colorways available or one could design one's own (hence the name, "Roll Your Own"). Since I'm not that comfortable with designing color schemes, I opted for one already posted. "Tropical Ocean" consists of 12 DMC threads in four color groupings: Bright Green - 3850, 3851 and 959; Teal Green - 3847, 3848 and 3849; Delft Blue - 798, 809 and 747; and Navy Blue - 823, 311 and 312, all outlined in black - DMC 310. I started it the week of January 21, 2014 and finished on August 8, 2016! Talk about a BAP! The end is in sight! I finished color 11 and am a little more than halfway through color twelve (the last color) in “Return”, the last of the nine mandalas in “Roll Your Own”! I didn’t make my start of the year goal to finish in time to enter in the county fair for 2016 (it’s going on now, in fact), but it will be eligible for 2017. I might even forego the county fair and take a shot at the state fair (Both my neighbor and my husband are promoting the latter action and since the State Fair and the County Fair happen at the same time, I have to choose 0ne — I van’t do both!).
So, by this time next week, I expect to be able to show you the finished piece! That feels SOOO good! As I said last week, I haven’t been stitching much of late. I partly blame the heat — my room isn’t as cool as much as the rest of the house and it’s been darned uncomfortable holding that yard+ of heavy fabric to stitch on. Also, my stitching mojo is pretty week — has been for a year — and any interruption (a trip to Michigan to see a historic home on Wednesday, guests for dinner and the evening on Saturday - although we did watch a great movie “Spotlight”) tends to put me further off my stitching schedule. Still, I did “force” one night of stitching this week and finished off color #9 (of 12) in “Return” of the Roll Your Own mandala series. What is more, I have roughly 25% of color #10 done as well… With the weather forecast of more 90+ weather with high humidity to come (and no relief from rain), it’s highly unlikely that I will be productive. We can hope, though…
It was WIPocalypse on Tuesday and I didn’t even realize it! AAACK!
The topic for discussion was two-part: “If you are participating in the Olympic Challenge, tell us about your plans – which type of challenge you’ve selected, the pieces you’ll be stitching on, etc. If you are not participating in the challenge, tell us how this year’s stitching is going for you so far, and if you’re meeting your stitching goals so far for the year.” What is the Olympic Challenge? I wasn't sure so I had to look it up... “August 5 - 21: Olympic Challenge (rotation or distance or Olympic colors) The Summer Olympics will be held in Rio and will run from August 5th to 21st. [WIPocalypse will] be hosting a challenge for everyone stitching on their WIPs to run for the length of the Olympics with three different “competitions”: a rotation challenge (for those who like to work on a bunch of different pieces), a distance challenge (for those one at a time stitchers, or anyone else who wants to do some serious focusing on a particular piece), and a color challenge (stitch only in the colors of the olympic rings on your WIP pieces, OR… your nation’s flag).” Well, I probably will avoid the Olympics like I have avoided politics this year. It’s just getting to be too much for me and I hate how I feel when all this brou-ha-ha is going on. Anyway, I don’t really fit into any of the three categories for this competition (I’m not doing a rotation this year, I can’t really “focus” on my mandala piece any more than I have been, and there is no way I’m stitching in Olympic colors) so… No, I won’t be participating in the challenge. As for how this year’s stitching is going for me…I guess I have to say that my stitching goals for 2016 are NOT being met so far this year. Not that I made any realistic goals — I was hoping to finish at least one of my two BAP WIPs in time for the fair this summer (registration was the first week of this month) and, not only did I do NO stitching on “Save the Stitches”, but I’m still three colors away from finishing “Return” and therefore the “Roll Your Own” mandala series. I simply have lost my stitching mojo and when I do stitch, I feel like I’m forcing myself to do so. I think that starting something new would be a good break from all these BAPs (and the color blue) but I can’t find any project I’m totally enthused about. I have found two charts that would work for a wedding gift (belated - the wedding was in April) and a birth announcement (early September), but both have the dreaded feel of “deadline” attached to them and I’m lousy when it comes to HAVING to stitch. Even they may never get done. Perhaps a long vacation from stitching is in order… but the again, it was that horrible prolonged layoff in early 2015 when I had that terrible cold/sinus infection that set this lack of mojo in place so I don’t really know. If anyone has any suggestions on how to remotivate, I welcome them! It’s hot here in NW Ohio. VERY hot. And all the rain seems to be bypassing us. I suppose I should be grateful since most of that rain comes equipped with high winds and hail but, still, the humidity should at least spawn a thunderstorm or two, don’t you think? It’s been too darned hot to stitch, especially on “Roll Your Own” with all that spare fabric, so I really didn’t get in a lot of stitching this past week. I’m only about halfway through color #9 (of 12) in “Return”: I did get the charts I ordered though — one a belated wedding gift and the other a birth sampler. startitis will have to be in full force once I get “Roll Your Own finished” since that birth is expected in early September… Maybe I’ll put “Return” on hold and start the sampler this week, just to take the edge off. After all, there is no rush to finish “Roll Your Own” for the fair — registration is already past and the fair is in less than three weeks…
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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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