2012: A Year of Challenges - week 17

Here it is, anther Saturday, I I don't have a picture of a WIP to share! I finished up all my "smalls (TAST, Stash Buster, Colors Through the Ages and Mittens & Mini-socks) and posted them through the week. Sent DH to Hobby Lobby to get the two missing colors of "Ornaments ala Round" (I was on the way to renew my membership at the community center when I found out I had forgotten my list of colors to buy and it didn't make sense to go home and get it - long story, long way to town since two roads are completely closed off on my way and one has to go the long way round). Oh, and he came home with a handful of other colors he "liked"! Did I ever tell you my DH is an enabler?

Didn't stitch a stitch on "Kimono-Revisited" and there are only three more stitching days to catch up with April before the May instructions come out.. And one of those days (Today) I spend the afternoon at the library book sale. Looks like I'll still be catching up in May!

A Stash Buster completion

The Tropical Diamonds Mini-Sock was the April Stash Buster project.
Miscellaneous solid and variegated DMC floss with a "blanc" background. Another experiment in "random" --- you'd think I'd be getting better at that but I'm still not comfortable with "random"!

Take A Stitch Tuesday 2012 Challenge - Week 17

Here are my wheatear studies --- I enjoyed this one:

I tried curving it and also beading it and ended up with a batch of "grass"! Also tried making a frame for a detached Rainbow Gallery ribbon trefoil. More beads!

And here is April's completed "page":

Here's the matching mitten for the Lime Ade sock...

I did have the yellow floss in my stash, in abundance but I need to replace the green and the perle and the rayon and... my floss shopping list is growing! LOL

International Hermit & Stitch Weekend, April 2012

I actually did quite a bit over the weekend. In my post on Saturday, I showed where I had gotten on "Kimono-Revisited" on Friday night. Here is where it was on Saturday::

I am now caught up with the class assignments for February (sections 1 - 13):


and March (14 - 26):


I took a break from Kimono on Sunday and did two Janet Perry pieces - Lesson 2 of Color Through The Ages (Ancient Greece --- threads used were all DMC:  blanc, 310, 355, 3827 and 3838):


and Lesson 1 for Mittens & Mini-Socks Bargello Club (she called it Faded Violets; mine is more like Lime Ade! Threads used were all DMC: rayon 30676 for the "cuff", #5 perle 4060 for the variegated, and 727 and 955 for the second and third colors. And I ran out of 727 and 955!) :

Broke 3 needles --- at the eye, in my fingers --- on these last two pieces. Have no idea why --- I've never broken needles like that before! Kind of frustrating, though... And I was going to do a matching mitten for the mini-sock but ran out of both my secondary colors!

I also did the floss toss for Stash Busters Club and for the Glendon Place  "Ornaments ala Round"  (would you believe that I didn't have full skeins for two DMC colors in this piece! Why is it, when I have such a huge DMC stash, I ALWAYS end up having to go to the shop and buy more?).

2012: A Year of Challenges - week 16

Well, I finally squeezed in TAST Thursday --- and started back again on Kimono-Revisited. Here is my progress so far (it's slow because i find I can't see the holes in this congress cloth as well as I thought I would be able to. Over one on 32-count is a bear!).

This is where it was as of April 17 It was moving along quite nicely until I hit that purple below the green stripes - I misread the chart and, while it looked OK,  it HAD had to be frogged - it was rayon and had to be cut out --- little fluffs of rayon all over the place! Needless to say, that slowed me down a lot):

When I hit a "what color next?" block. Finally resolved to just plow ahead and here it is as of 2.5 hours of stitching last night (only 5.5 sections done!):


I suppose I could consider working all weekend on this and catch up - it is International Hermit & Stitch weekend for April, after all, but I do so want to finish kitting up my three outstanding Janet Perry classes (Stash Busters only needs some canvas cut; Mittens & Mini-Socks needs a floss toss; Color through the Ages ALSO needs a floss toss) and that  Glendon Place piece "Ornaments ala Round" that I want to do for the fair also needs a floss toss (I have the beads and the silk ---just need to get the DMC out, and some fabric too). Oh, and I made a major mistake last night. I was cleaning out my back catalogs and was getting ready to pitch them but I left the stack on the kitchen island before we left for the radio station for the phone bank (5:30 in the AM is NOT my best time for thinking ahead!). When we got home, hubby caught sight of the stack, especially the one on top (Nordic Needle) and a cover photo of a winter sampler ... darned pricey in my opinion, especially when you throw in the silks asked for (and Nordic Needle's prices for fabric... GASP!). Still, his response (my husband is an enabler) was "why worry about cost if you like what you are stitching? So... I ordered it (I'm easily convinced! LOL) and found a substitute fabric at Stitches 'n Things for about 1/3 the cost of what it would cost at Nordic Needle. Just what I need --- another BAP!

Take A Stitch Tuesday 2012 Challenge - Week 16

French knots! What does one do with French Knots? Well, for me, it's always been flower centers, the odd scattered "dot" and maybe eyes on some critters. So... here's the April "page" so far and what I did was connect a little French knot "sketch to the stem stitch sketch I did last week:

A row of knots, just to show I could! A little paisley in stem stitch with a detached chain flower in the middle and a rim of knots around the outside and in the flower center. A continuation of one of the stem stitch curves from last week, extended behind the paisley and tipped with three groupings of knits sort of flower heads.

I was late posting today --- phone bank at NPR this AM meant I had to be up at 5:30 AM (AAACK) and that meant, when our shift was over, it was back to bead for me! Just catching up, and since today is the beginning of International Hermit and Stitch Weekend for April, I really need to get stitching! It won't help that I also agreed to participate in a book "club" on line about Anna Quindlan's latest (and got a review copy for my offer) so I need to really sit down and read it!

Oh, and Kimono is languishing, partly because I reached a "What color next" point and partly because I now have a Stash Busting Club, a Color Through the Ages lesson and a Mittens & Mini-socks lesson awaiting me, to say nothing of the Glendon Place  piece I want to try to get ready for the fair in August! All these commitments are finally catching up with me... and Kimono pays!

2012: A Year of Challenges - week 15

I finally did it! I started filling in "Kimono-Revisited"! Yeah --- I know. Doesn't look like much but... here's a closer view of the first six stitches:



And I think I need to check my floss stash and get some lighter versions of those blues as it's coming out awfully dark... at least in real life! Doesn't look so dark in this photo.

What else did I do this week? Well, there was TAST... and quilt guild! I won one of the door prizes at guild (they are taking stash from ladies who have passed away or moved to nursing care and parceled it out into little bundles/packets/boxes for door prizes): a tin full of LARGE stainless steel safety pins!

Anyway, I THOUGHT this was International Hermit and Stitch Weekend for April but, as usual, I was off a week, but still... it got me started on Kimono!

Take a Stitch Tuesday 2012- week 15

Stem Stitch (and whipped stem stitch and outline stitch as well...): 

I suppose one parallel set should be called outline stitch because they twist in the opposite direction to the other but, to be honest, I don't really know what it means to "keep the thread to the left" ... or "... to the right". I just keep the twist going in the same direction. Gets a little messy when the curves are sharp but there you are --- that's what you get when you have a self-taught embroiderer and I learned stem stitch way back in my crewel days!  I "whipped" the outside rows with a darker blue so while it may not be obvious, I actually did three different stitches! LOL

Couldn't really see filling up an entire band with rows of stem stitch, though, so I played with a little free-form on the right hand side, and threw in some French knots and some satin stitch too, 'cause if you remember, last Saturday, I said I wanted to do more with the satin stitch...

More GAST threads --- Old Blue Paint for the band stitches on the left, with Brethren Blue for the whipping; in the free form piece - Butternut Squash and Buckeye Scarlet  for the little satin stitch flowers, Old Blue Paint and Butternut Squash for the little stem-stitched blue "flower", and Blue Spruce, Shutter Green, Green Pasture, Forest Glade and Brethren Blue for the stem stitches "stems"! 

2012: A Year of Challenges - week 14

Well, besides finishing up my CQJP/BJP/Color Palette Challenge on Tuesday, the only thing I managed to work on this week was Take-a-Stitch-Tuesday 2012 - Satin Stitch:


I could have done more, I suppose --- I have a done a lot of satin stitch in my crewel days and except for coverage issues with dark threads, I usually manage to pull it off without a hitch. But I'm not sure how much room I'll need for the rest of the month of April on this "page" so I'll reserve things like Satin Stitch flowers petals, etc. until the end of the month if I have space to fill.

This is on 28ct MCG Textiles evenweave, color khaki (I know, it looks pink to me!) and stitch with GAST Butternut Squash, Cherry Bark and Buckeye Scarlet.

WIPocalypse 2012 - fourth full moon...

No pictures today --- just a wrap-up of what has been stitched since the last full moon!

Take a Stitch Tuesdays - I completed assignments for running stitch, whipped wheel, barred chain stitch, and a mini-challenge. I finalized the March "page" and started kitting up for the next "Page" of stitches

Stash Buster Club - a completion of "Arrows" and started kitting up for "Tropical" sock (still need to cut some canvas and transfer the pattern).

Color Through the Ages - completion of "Ancient Egypt"

Crazy Quilt Journal/Bead Journal/Color Palette Challenge - April block completed.

Just lots of small things because I am putting off working on "Kimono - Revisited" (my only "true" WIP at present)!  But...I did get the outline completed. A thread I ordered is on it's way though, so I'm rapidly running out of excuses!

I also want to stitch another BAP for the 2102 county fair --- their special category is "Twas the Night Before Christmas" and I have a chart for an ornament mandala by  Glendon Place called "Ornaments ala Round" --- need to toss the floss and order some beads and Kreinik braid!

CQJP/BJP/Color Palette Challenge for April

This one went quickly... my Crazy Quilt Journal Challenge block:


It's based on the grid pattern of block 47 from "I Dropped the Button Box" on Pin Tangle and the colors in the Color Palette Challenge from Patchwork Times. . Seam treatments are based on one of  the Take A Stitch Tuesday 2102 series over at Pin Tangle (basically, "half" whipped wheels) with some chain stitching and blanket stitching as well. Beading (#6 and #11 seed beads)  of the lace and seam treatments as well as the snail shell charm are for the Bead Journal Project for April.

Checking back in to say I did a fabric audition

for the Crazy Quilt Journal/Bead Journal/Color Palette challenge for April --- my, those moldy greens were hard to match and I'm not sure I really got there  (because, while I have TONS of blue fabric, none of them were quite there on the very light and very dark values...) but...
 
Here are the fabrics I picked form my stash:


In order to keep at least one fabric in common with my previous (March) block, I kept the medium brown and instead of going in a pinky-orange direction, I went in a browny-orange direction instead. And the moldy greens became teal/sea blues instead.

And here is the basic block --- requiring only seam treatment embroidery and beads to be done!

The block grid I used was Number 47 from the "I dropped the Button Box" crazy quilt Sharon B is doing over on Pin Tangle.

Now to start stitching!

March's "page" for Take a Stitch Tuesday 2102

I played with spider web, chain, French knots  and pattern darning stitches to fill the page, since there was no fourth stitch for March...

And I learned that stitching from the pattern as it appears on my iPad isn't the best approach. Not only does it go to sleep far to easily, the iPad loves to rotate the page when I want it to stay in one position so I can compare it with what I'm stitching. next time I do pattern darning, I'm printing out the pattern!

Color Palette Challenge for April is out today: http://www.patchworktimes.com/2012/04/01/april-2012-color-palette-challenge/ Never in my life would I have thought to use a moldy pie as color inspiration! But off to find eight fabrics to make my crazy block... ANYTHING to put off working on "Kimono-revisited" (speaking of which, the next 13 stitches were issued yesterday! AAARGH! Now I'm THREE months behind!).