WIP myself into shape, Week 30

I'm doing another Marilyn Robertson cat piece --- this one is called "Purrfect"... if you squint, perhaps you can see the pale pink outline of the two cats!

Finished it...

"Tea by the Sea", designed by Sandra Murray, chart book by Needle & Frame, stitched in Kreinik's silk mori (5104, 4044, 5103, 5102, 4196, 4163, 5105, 4043 and 4193) and very fine #4 braid (044) on Zweigert 28 ct linen Melrose.



Got interrupted not only by heat but also a power failure on Saturday which not only made it impossible to stitch (in the dark) but fried my DVR as well (And I stitch with television on in the background! So this piece will NOT have good memories associated with it, I fear...

I got out three possible kits last night to start and was overwhelmed... The sampler I bought at Needle in a Haystack ("Time Well Spent" from Sampler Cove) does indeed use NPI *and* 1/3 is white work, including hardanger! I have NEVER done hardanger before... so this will have to wait until the kit I ordered from Gift of Stitching's close out sale comes (a hardanger course).

Then I pulled out a Candamar kit called "Sewing with Mama" (I liked all the embellishment stitchery) but my gosh --- the chart is so hard to read: very tiny symbols and very faintly printed... can we spell overwhelmed?

So I think I have settled on another blackwork mandala from Elizabeth Almond that was in GOS... I have it kitted so...

Of course, there is always August BJP --- and I have finally gotten around to printing out three more bargello patterns from Janet Perry's Bargello Club 2011...

Decisions, decisions, decisions!

WIP myself into shape, Week 29

Well, I didn't pick even one of the projects awaiting me that I described in my last post. Instead, I explored my stash and found this little piece: "Tea by the Sea" by Sandra Murray. A study in satin stitch...


If it wasn't so hot here, I'd be done with it by now! But it drives me nuts since the silk mori it is stitched with catches on my rough hands (I had a fungal infection in college which still persists on my fingers in hot weather and they tend to "peel" in summer). My plan was to get used to stitching with silk again before I tackled that big, pricey sampler I bought and kitted out at Needle in a Haystack but the issues with the silk may have put me off for a while.

WIP myself into shape, Week 28

Gosh, not a single WIP to show! After I finished "Frog Pile", I found I have lost my stitching motivation. Not that I don't have a stash to choose from:

 - a whole slew of already-to-stitch charts in my project bag next to my bed (that shiny one is another Quaker called Spooky Quaker):


 - my August Bead Journal mask (at least I have an idea for this one..):


 - my 2010 BJP "book":


- the needlepoint piece my husband wants me to start (WHY do I dread the floss toss?):


to say nothing of two cabinets full of charts (some kitted up, most not), kits and UFOs!

But nothing in it is inspiring me at present. So this week, a break! Maybe the weekend will reinvigorate me...or maybe I need to clean up my work space, put away all those odds and ends of threads from the past few months of stitchery, find the top of my cutting table again, and get to work on a quilt top or two? AAARGH!

Oh, I registered my pieces at the fair office, only to be told by the clerk that her sewing group was so disappointed at the poor showing last year (I KNEW I won because no-one else entered!) that they are "flooding" (my word, not hers, but the implication is there) the fair with over 200 entries (not in cross stitch but definitely in machine embroidery and they don't distinguish in the big money categories between hand and machine embroidery!) ! Get ready, for rejection, kiddo, 'cause the competition is being upped several notches!

It's done! FINALLY! Last night approaching midnight!

It's called "Frog Pile" , designer Royce B McClure, kit produced by Design Works, stitched on 14 ct Aida with the floss provided (except of course, they ran out of black for the back-stitching! Thank goodness DMC black matches, even if no other color on their code list quite matches!. Aptly named as frogs visited on a regular basis --- I think I may have ripped out as much as I stitched!


Husband's question, upon seeing the completed piece, was "What's next?" AAACK! He wants me to do that very pricey needlepoint canvas he found at Needle in a Haystack back in April! That means a floss toss is in my future...

WIP myself into shape, Week 27

"Frog Pile" is progressing, albeit slowly. Way too easy to be diverted by Bargello Club and Bead Journal Project!

"Palpitations"

The Janet Perry Bargello CLub 2011 installment for July:

I used as my overdyed, a Carrie Creations floss (Autumn Leaves" and paired that with three threads which "mimicked" the colors in that floss (some of them perhaps a bit too close in color but, hey, when you shop your stash...): DMC 3853 (the orange), DMC perle 3350 (the pink) and DMC Rayon 30503 (the green).

July BJP

It's obvious, I think --- "Star Spangled" for one of my favorite holidays! Great use for some og those "Just Another Button Company" buttons!

All caught up in schedule and even have an August idea in mind. But it's back to "Frog Pile" for now...

WIP myself into shape, Week 26

The year is half gone and I'm slowing down. This "Frog Pile" is turning out to be not as fun to stitch as it is to look at! Oh, well, one more frog done, two more well on the way and the last two at least with some placing stitching in. And it looks like there is enough fabric, barely...



I've started on the July BJP as well and decided that my Christmas ornaments will have to do as fair entries as is... no further embellishments! Fair entries are being accepted starting this coming Tuesday so... here's hoping I recoup some of my entry fee in prize money and am not too despondent about not winning blues in every category! LOL