June Bead Journal piece complete

It was a near thing --- started yesterday adn finsihed today. Not QUITE how I envisioned it --- it' called Deep Blue Sea and the encrustation of large beads is suppose to be foam on a wave...


On to July... and I sort of know what I want August to look like as well. SO I could actually get ahead of the game! Am I avoiding "Fog Pile"? Probably!

WIP myself into shape, Week 25

Yet another frog done. Three in the works and two as yet with no stitches in them! Wonder if there's enough fabric there at the top...


I SO want this to be FINISHED!

WIP myself into shape, Week 24

One more frog completed...


And my progress on my Christmas ornaments for the fair - I think they need a little something extra, like an edging or cording around each ornie...:


I checked into the Ohio State Fair entry requirements... The entry deadline for the State Fair is June 20, 2011 (this weekend! AAACK! but one can register online) and the delivery date/time is July 16 – 17, 2011 (the State Fair runs July 27 through August 7) from while the entry deadline for the county fair is July 5-16 while the delivery date is July 31 (County fair is August 2-8). Since  exhibits need to be delivered two weeks before the County fair entry, this will NOT work unless I use last year's pieces. So I guess I can, in good faith, decline to go to this year's State Fair!

The categories at the State Fair are much more limited: Any item (6-14 fabric count), Any item (16-22 fabric count)  and Any item (23-60 fabric count). Last year's entries would qualify since the State Fair says they can be made within the last two years but they also list judging criteria. So while I could submit in the 6-14 and the 23-60 categories, I suspect a few issues with "nice flat full stitches, no twisted threads, no visible carry over from reverse side or hoop marks, backstitching straight and even"! I know that some of my stitches are a little thin in places, some do have twisted threads (I do not use a laying tool because I stitch in hand) and my backstitching can get a little wonky sometimes! Besides, I just know that on one of these, at least, there are some cross that go the wrong way... BOUND to be! Another no-no which the county fair apparently didn't catch or doesn't care about! I'm too scared of rejection to submit something I KNOW will be marked down...

Picked up framed pieces for fair entry today...

Nine in all (six entries plus the Christmas ornament entry that didn't need framing)...

Here's what I'm thinking so far...

In framed pictures, Counted Cross Stitch 14 count


In framed pictures, Counted Cross Stitch Set with related theme (2 or more)


In framed samplers: Counted Cross Stitch 18 ct


In framed samplers: Counted Cross Stitch 25 ct or higher


In Needlework Specialities - counted thread on even weave


and in special themed contest (Halloween) - framed picture (oops, my camera strap is in the photos!)

Clearly, I don't have a common thread (no pun intended) in what I stitch! Eclectic, that's me!

WIP myself into shape, Week 23

Got sidetracked by the Bargello Club and quilt guild so not a lot of progress this week on "Frog Pile"... but there are now four complete frogs, five more with more or less stitching on them, and three totally invisible as yet. AND I discovered that one of the threads for the green frog at the bottom of the pile has some distinct color variation in the three strands provided. GIven that, as usual the DMC color numbers given do not correspond exactly with the colors provided, I'm wondering if there is enough in the strand I started with to finish green frog...



And there's still June BJP --- I have the beads and the plan; last year's BJP to "assemble", and lots of UFO quilt projects to think about...

"Reversi" Mitten completed

Another of the Janet Perry 2011 Bargello Club pieces, this one for June. She said shop stash so I did: the overdyed is a Weeks Dye Works "special" called"Old Glory" "#4133)and it caused the biggest headaches because there wasn't enough of it to "double" so after ripping it all out once, I had to go with single strands and coverage isn't so hot. The blues are an unknown three-strand tapestry wool (left overs from a kit I had done YEARS ago) separated into single strands and then doubled, Anchor floss # 1034 (doubled), and Caron Watercolors #44 "Ice". The "pink" cuff is another tapestry wool, DMC 7207, four stranded separated into two strands (and that wasn't easy! LOL).

I find these little pieces fast to do but this one gave me the most headache,s what with the separating strands of wool that didn't WANT to separate and the multiple rip-outs. That stitch in the cuff gave me headaches too --- for some reason I couldn't wrap my head around"Nobuko"!...

WIP myself into shape, Week 22

This "Frog Pile" is beginning to irritate me. That area in the lower left --- the rose pink one? That's just one frog that has been "visited by the frog", four times so far! First the orange eye was one row up and two rows to the left. The the pale yellow mouth was one row low and one row to the right. Then the coral mouth was one row too low (which resulted in three strands of floss ruined --- drat, this is a kit!) . Finally, the first attempt at the rose was one row low... It doesn't help that that yellow frog above it is one row too wide so I have to count from the soon-to-be-green frog at the right of it to get the count right. Did I say I can't count?


Oh well, two frogs done, two well on their way and seven more to go!