Take A Stitch Tuesday 2012 Challenge - Week 22

Knotted Cretan Stitch! I figured it out but I was having tension issues with it. SO my knots appear a little wonky... more so than they appear here:


So here is the completed May "page" for TAST 2102:

2012: A Year of Challenges - week 21

Well, I stitched away on "Ornaments ala Round" and when I got to the long skinny one at "9 o'clock" on the wheel, it was one row too close to the one below it. Now, with all the frogging I have done to make SURE everything was placed correctly, I have a massive mistake I can't locate/ Which means I will HAVE to fudge those evergreen branches unless I want to rip out all the way to the beginning. AAARGH! So, I stalled out. It's pretty clear I'm not going to get this done in time for the fair ( way too much left to stitch on it, the fair is the first of August, sign-up is usually in June sometime, and it will need to be framed as well).

Here is where I stalled:

Take A Stitch Tuesday 2012 Challenge - Week 21

Butterfly Chain stitch --- I think I did it wrong. It LOOKS right, but I don't really see how this is anything like a twisted chain stitch... so I probably did it all wrong!

Shown next to last week's terrible bullion knots...

Can't wait to see what other participants do with their stitch studies --- they are all so much more creative than I with my simplistic bands.

International Hermit & Stitch Weekend, May 2012

I tried, I really really tired, and I put in hours on "Ornaments ala ROund" but that darned frog was visiting again and each of the five.5 ornaments I stitched had to be ripped out at least once. I keep telling myself that, once the basic cross-stitch is done, counting won't be an issue any more, but that doesn't make frogging any more fun!

So here it is after a weekend of concentrated effort - 3.5 more ornaments and seven evergreen branches to go before I can start the metallic stitching and beading:

2012: A Year of Challenges - week 20

Some completions this week --- the two pieces of the "Mittens & Mini-socks" bargello class and the Medieval Book of Hours twinchie for Color through the Ages:


Shopping my stash, I used DMC floss for the most part (blanc, 321, 326, 517, 518, 793 and 704) and Kreinik $3 braid (002) doubled for the gold.

I also go in some stitching on "Ornaments ala Round":

Hoping to get in a lot more this weekend, which is International Hermit & Stitch Weekend...

Mittens & Mini-Socks, May 2012

"Morning Sky" --- or maybe Sunset? I guess it depends on your point of view! I picked my colors based on a sunset I saw coming home from quilt guild: the slightly orangey pinks and the slightly greyed blues.

For the transition, I could find a suitable "off white/pale pale grey" so I used the very lightest pale blue I could find: DMC 3756 which happened to be in the same set of colors I picked for the blues: 3750, 3755 and 3760... The pinks are DMC 3706, 3708 and 3713...

The stitch is called "Triad" and the cuff is in "Scotch Stitch Steps"...

The mini-sock:


and the mitten:

Take A Stitch Tuesday 2012 Challenge - Week 20

AAARGH! Bullion knots. Now I have done these before. And done them well. O so I thought. But these suck! They look sloppy and I struggled to figure out how it was done... COuld it be because I had my fabric in a hoop? Possible --- but... these are embarrassing! Nine measly little tiny knots...

So I disguised them --- added some free chains and stem stitch and a bow and made a bouquet!

I expect I won't be eager to see Bullion Knots in a chart in the near future... but because this little example is so small, I can at least go back and try some more half-chevrons!

2012: A Year of Challenges - week 19

Besides completing week 19 of TAST and the May Color Palette/CQJP/BJP challenge (both posted here), I put in some time on both "Ornaments ala Round":



and "Kimono-revisted":


There's a new MIttens & Mini-Socks piece waiting to be kitted out adn I'm sure there will also be a new stash buster to occupy more of my time. Add to that I signed up for another online course - this one on stitch selection; a short one this time, but I'm hoping it gets me started on a canvas my husband purchased more than a year ago in California!

I had forgotten about quilt guild meeting this week, and it ran long (I mean REALLY REALLY long) so I lost a day of stitching there. Which means I'm virtually certain there's no way "Ornaments" will be ready for the fair.

Two completions and a work-in-progress

First, here's my Take-a-Stitch Tuesday band for week 19 - half-chevron stitch:

I had already stitched three versions when I realized that I had too much slant in my stitch and realized  I was stitching it wrong... When I figured that out (lower left of the band), I decided to bail for the time being and use the correct stitch in my Color Palette/CrazyQuilt Journal/Bead Journal Project block for May... It's the red stitchery on the green ribbon, embellished with orange and pale yellow seed beads, in the lower right quadrant:

The color palette is the one provided by Judy Laquidara and VIcki Welch; the block is 6 x 6 square per the rules of the Crazy Quilt Journal Project and uses the grid for block 52 of Sharon B.'s  "I Dropped the Button Box" crazy quilt on Pin Tangle; and is also being stitched to satisfy the May installment of the Bead Journal Project.

My WIP is continued progress on "Ornaments ala Round", a Glendon Place chart:


Empty spaces are eventually to be filled with Kreinik braids and Mill Hill Seed Beads. I can tell you now --- I do not like those evergreen branches --- murder to count, for one thing. And I seriously doubt, now, that it will be done in time for the fair... Oh well, c'est la vie!

WIPocalypse 2012 - the SUPER full moon

WIPocaplypse - May 5, 2012

Since the last check in, I have several completions, one _catch-up, and a few new starts ...

The completions are:

Take a Stitch Tuesdays - satin stitch, stem stitch, French knots, wheatear stitch, and crossed buttonhole

Janet Perry's Color through the Ages - Ancient Greece

Janet Perry's Mittens & Mini-Socks - Faded violets (except I'm calling it Lime Ade), the mini-sock and the matching mitten

Janet Perry;s Stash Buster - Tropical Diamonds and Hexipuffs

The catch-up was "Kimono-Revisited" from SNS --- I caught up with all assignments through April on April 30! Of course, on May 1, I was behind again but it's a start! 

The new starts are:

 the May installment for Color Palette CHallenge/Crazy Quilt Journal Challenge/Bead Journal Project where I have selected the fabric  and put together the basic block. Still more to do on this one in the way of embroidery and beading.

Glendon Place's "Ornaments ala Round" --- which was visited by the frog on the second day of stitch so not a lot of progress can be seen but...

Kitted up but not started is Winter Sampler by Victoria Sampler - another possible fair entry if I can just get moving on that front.

I expect new installments for Color Through the Ages and Mittens & Mini-Socks in the middle of May, and of course, there is the ongoing TAST. The issue for May will be "Do I keep up with 'Kimono-Revisited'" or do I go full bore on 'Ornaments Ala Round'?" which I do so want to enter in the fair.

2012: A Year of Challenges - week 18

Didn't do too badly this week! For one thing, I caught up with "Kimono-Revisited" --- just barely since the May installment of 13 sections came in a day later. But ...

And I used that "Kimono-Free Zone" to do week 18 of TAST and make a start at the Color Palette Challenge - still more to do on this one but my start is pretty good so far:


I finished The May 2012 Stash-busting project, a piece made entirely from odds and ends of variegated glosses (an eclectic mix of GAST, WDW, DMC Variations, SanMan, Carries Creations, and Stranded by the Sea brands) with an DMC Ecru "grout" between the tiles:

Janet Perry intended this to be larger and destined to be an eyeglass case but, as usual, I trimmed it down and have no immediate ideas for it's use.Ornament? It's a little large (roughly 4" X 4") but maybe...

And finally, with the help (NOT) of that visiting frog, I made a start on "Ornaments ala Round". These are the four central bells (the blank spots will be filled with beads and Kreinik metallics).


Leaf Green Cashel linen (28 ct)  instead of teh gold used in the model. I didn't have any gold of the right size and didn't want to wait for (or pay for) a special order fabric when this perfectly suitable green was in my stash. Think I'll get it done in time to enter in the fair? Maybe if I left "Kimono" lapse again for a month or two...

Take A Stitch Tuesday 2012 Challenge - Week 18

This week's stitch was crossed buttonhole:

I'm doing May's "page" on 28ct Cashel linen ("Coral Reef") which has a different "hand" than the Jobelins I used on previous pages --- so my lines of stitching look a tad wonky (OK, it's not all the fabric's fault --- I have counting issues too! LOL). Threads were the usual GAST: Forest Glade, Butternut Squash and Old Blue Paint.

I also auditioned fabric for May's Color Palette Challenge:

What I like about this palette is that five of the fabrics above have appeared in previous Crazy Quilt Journal Challenge blocks (the floral red second from left, the batik orange, the two greens and the darker yellow) so there is "connection" with previous blocks. Sure hope there isn't a need for that floral red in future, though , because it's down to a scrap right now! I have a grid picked out and marked for the Crazy Quilt Journal and will be working on selecting embellishments today...