2013 - Reconnect to My Stitchery, Week Seventeen

Not a lot to report on that hasn't already been posted. The only thing I have worked on since completed the TAST assignment has been my April BJP butterfly:

Sadly, what with eye surgery today (and next Monday as well), I suspect April will NOT be completed in April, and neither will my 2012 Color Palette/Crazy Quilt Journal/Bead Journal Project wallhanging, because blurry vision certainly means I won't be stitching! But I gave it the old college try!

Take a Stitch Tuesday 2013 - Stitch 63

Here is my take on the Scroll Stitch, using #5 perle (purple), six strands of DMC cotton floss (dark red) and boucle baby yarn (pale pink): 

I did have tension issues on this one, especiallywhen I neared the end of a strand of thread, so teh "scroll" nature of the stitch isn't nearly as visible as I would like. In fact, it looks a lot like what a two-year-old would call handwriting to me!

WIPocalypse 2013 - April 25...

For April the themes were: Designer – Mirabilia, Style – Samplers, Colors – Blue and Orange.

Well, I do have some Mirablia charts but I haven't stitched one, ever. I do have some sampler charts, but I haven't been into samplers for a while so there are no WIPS there either. As for blue-and orange color themes... well, I've been avoiding blue because there was so much last year but... Midnight Garden's DOES have some blue in it, and part two of the Sumptuous Surface Embroidery Class was also in blue.. And the April Crazy Quilt Journal Project challenge block was orange...

What did I accomplish in this full-moon-to-full-moon cycle?

Completions include:

• Take a Stitch Tuesday: Breton Stitch, Diamond Stitch,Up-and-Down Feathered Buttonhole, and Raised Cross stitch Flower
• Sumptuous Surface Embroidery, parts one and two
• Crazy Quilt Journal Project challenge for April
• Mittens & Mini-Socks

Still in progress are this past week's TAST (actually not even started yet), "Midnight Garden", the April Bead Journal Project butterfly and the finish-finish for my 2012 Color Palette/Crazy Quilt Journal/Bead Journal Project challenges.

2013 - Reconnect to My Stitchery, Week Sixteen and IHSW for April 2013

Despite having a week full of obstacles to stitchery (dilated eyes on Tuesday, absurdly early risings on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday), all of which made it impossible to focus properly on anything requiring counting and acute vision, I did manage to complete the weekly stitch for Take a Stitch Tuesday and the last mitten for "Mittens & Mini-Socks" early in the week!

For International Hermit and Stitch weekend for April, I tackled the following works-in-progress, and while I didn't finish any of them, I did manage to get quite a lot done...

There was some stitching done on "Midnight Garden":

I have all four rows of the 2012 Color Palette/ Crazy Quilt Journal/Bead Journal Project challenges assembled, with only two long side sashings remaining:

and I outlined my April butterfly for the April 2013 Bead Journal Project: 

I'm trying to clear the decks of as many WIPS as I can because I have eye surgery scheduled for April 29 and May 6, meaning lack of ability to see clearly for a while, I suspect...

Take a Stitch Tuesday 2013 - Stitch 62, and a mitten

Tuesday's stitch was the Raised Cross Stitch Flower (AKA Whipped Cross Stitch) and here is my sampler, using three different threads (from left to right, DMC six-stranded floss, DMC #5 Perle, and a boucle baby-weight knitting yarn):

The "Flip" mitten, the last in the "Mittens & Mini-Socks" class series, stitched using DMC Perle #5 variegated(4250) and DMC variegated cotton floss ($220) for the bargello, DMC Perle #5 (211) for the dividing line and Stranded By the Sea 134 (Sea Sponge) for the cuff (a completely different look from the sock):

2013 - Reconnect to My Stitchery, Week Fifteen

A busy week this week, trying to clear up lots of little odds and ends and I think I did pretty good with my list. I completed two Take a Stitch Tuesday "assignments",and  my April Crazy Quilt Journal Project block, both posted earlier this week. 

But that's not all... Other completions are...

The last sock for the Janet Perry "Mittens & Mini-socks" class. She called it "Ghosts of Flowers" but I don't have the right colors of threads to make the look she had so I went with a totally different palette and just call it "Flip" which is what the bargello is --- flipped on either side of the diagonal...

I used Stranded by the Sea #271 (Mandarin Fish) and GAST "Blue Jay" for the bargello, Caron Watercolors #44 (Ice) for the diagonal divider, and, for the cuff,  DMC Perle #5 (962).

Only the mitten to go, but I don't have enough of the GAST in the Blue Jay to do the bargello, so I will be using a different colorway in greys and purples...

Sumptuous Surface Embroidery - the color study - has been "designed and kitted up for a while so last night I decided to actually stitch it. I wasn't sure exactly HOW I was going to stitch it so I just winged it and it came out rather well for a beginner in such things, I think. It's stitched on an old piece of 32ct hand-dyed linen from Silkweaver called "Iris", using varying shades of blues, green and purples with yellow and gold as an accent. Threads included DMC cotton floss, DMC #5 variegated perle and some crewel and needlepoint yarns from my stash of leftovers from kits done long ago... I threw in a little Kreinik #4 braid here and there and two colors of Mill Hill seed beads. Stitches included stem stitch, backstitch, lazy daisy, detached chain and chain, feather stitch, woven buttonhole wheel and French knots. The border is some of that crewel yarn, couched with DMC cotton floss.

I also put in some stitching time on my 2012 CQJ/BJP block wall hanging. I now have two rows stitched together and two more are ready to stitch.  Slow going because it has to be by hand due to the beads being so close to the seam allowances.

And last, but not least, I did stitch a little (a VERY little) on "Midnight Garden" :

I  also kitted out my April Bead Journal Project butterfly... think green and gold for spring and daffodils, which I will HAVE to begin this week, along with the mitten for "Mittens and Mini-Socks" and the rest of teat CQJP/BJP wall hanging...and there will be more TAST, of course...A lot of WIPS, but with no more class deadlines to meet, I feel almost at a loss as to what to stitch next! Oh, my, is startitis raising it's beautiful head again?

Take a Stitch Tuesday 2013 - Stitch #61 and Crazy Quilt Journal Project 2013 - April

Even though I had a nasty cold, I could concentrate on free-stitchery so I managed to get two pieces done so far this week. 

First was my approach to the TAST stitch 61 - the Up-and-Down Feathered Buttonhole Stitch:

I even attempted a beaded version on my April Crazy Quilt Journal Project block:

And speaking of the April Crazy Quilt Journal block, here it is...

Not exactly "encrusted" like in that class I took on Encrusted Crazy Quilting but it is more in the style of the previous three blocks in this series so I will let it be...

Take a Stitch Tuesday 2013 - Stitch #60

The Diamond Stitch:

2013 - Reconnect to My Stitchery, Week Fourteen

This week's "report" is more of an unraveling than a wrap-up...

Thanks to house guests on Tuesday/Wednesday (one can't just run off to one's stitching place when there are people to entertain, and since these people were welcome guests, I was even less inclined to desert them) and a funeral on Friday/Saturday (husband's younger - by four years - brother, of complkcations from Stage IV porstate cancer), stitching time was somewhat constrained. Add to that, we got home fro the funeral and on Sunday, I woke up with a raging sore throat, dry cough and fever. It has been showing signs of coming on since Wednesday but I attributed the symptoms to the desire to avoid that funeral and ignored them.  So... all that really got done this past week was a couple of days of work on "Midnight Garden":

After being nearly caught up last week, I am now behind in TAST, Sumptuous Surface Embroidery, Crazy Quilt Journal Project and Bead Journal Project, all in one fell swoop. And not one stitch was put into the BJP 2012 wall hanging that I hoped to take to guild this week. Since this "cold" (for want of a better word for it) is till with me in what appears to be full force, I probably won't make guild either --- I'm not passing whatever this is along if I can help it.

2013 - Reconnect to My Stitchery, Week Thirteen

A week of "catch-up and I actually got to a point where I was caught up on EVERYTHING but "Sumptuous Surface Embroidery! I played with  a design for part two (color) of the exercise:

The fabric I chose is an overdyed from Silkweaver which I have had for ages in my stash --- it's 32 ct linen but I don't think that will affect me as I'm used to that fabric and I love the feel of the piece. The color palette, influenced by the fabric, will be shades of blue and green with touches of yellow and gold for accents... Sort of Peacock colors again --- I'm back to my blue phase! 

I also kitted up, and started stitching on, a new Elizabeth Almond piece called ?Midnight Garden". The middle medallion is almost done - there is a darker shade of blue that needs to be added... and beads, of course!

It's not a large piece, only a little larger than 8" square, but I find it restful to stitch blackwork so this is my fall-back piece when I get frustrated with free-hand embroidery, crazy quilts or beads! Because, as much as I do enjoy the latter, they do frustrate me because I'm such an amateur at them and can never get the piece to match what is in my head!