2014 - Staying Connected, Week Forty-Three

I did get some work done at guild retreat, although I forgot to take my handwork with me and ran out of things to do by dinner on the first full day! Didn't help that I was so very sleepy the entire time adn had very little focus...

Anyway, here are the pieces I did work on...

November block for Crazy Quilt Journal Project 2014:

Blocks January - September for the 2014 Crazy Quilt Journal Project assembled (blocks for October and November are awaiting December for final assembly):

The 2013 Crazy Quilt Journal Project blocks assembled (needs borders, backing and binding):

The 2013 Bead Journal Project assembled (needs borders, backing and binding):

Also worked on this week were the John Clayton Golfer (one new color added - DMC 321):

the Roll Your Own mandala "Bride" - finished second and third colors and working on the fourth:

and Take a Stitch Tuesday ##136 and 137, Knoitted Buttonhole and Beaded Buttonhole bands (the latter is a little rough given that I kept losing my place):

I also skimmed the fourth, and final, lesson in Pillowpalooza and will be preparing my homework assignment this weekend.

2014 - Staying Connected, Week Forty-Two

Despite all the interference with stitching for the International Hermit and Stitch Weekend,  I did manage to get motivated and get some pieces finished this week:

October Bead Journal Project - "Bat Bird":

Take a Stitch Tuesday #124 - Beaded Fern Stitch (shown here along with the two rows I did for #134, Fern Stitch):

I also made a start on the sporting themed piece I want to enter in next year's fair, a John Clayton golf chart. Lots of colors, lots of vertical and horizontal half cross stitch but no backstitching. Should be interesting! One color (DMC 666) completed:

And I worked on the Roll Your Own mandala, "Bride", almost completing color #2:

I read through Lesson Three in the PillowPalooza class form Funk & Weber but have yet to complete this week's assignment. 

No progress on "Save the Stitches"...

This next weekend is as booked up as last weekend was: dentist on Thursday for the final fitting a a new crown , which probably means I won't be worth much Thursday afternoon and evening! Friday through Sunday is our quilt guild retreat. I need to get something together to work on for those few days and I will probably take my traveling needlepoint with me as well, so th weekend won't be a total loss, stitchery-wise.

International Hermit and Stitch Weekend - October 17 - 19

As I expected, two very early mornings on Thursday and Friday, working the phone banks for fundraising at the local public radio station, and a football game Saturday afternoon, pretty much wiped out my weekend stitching. Basically, all the time for stitching was Sunday when I:

finished binding the challenge block for the  quilt guild retreat this coming weekend:

and got three-quarters of the way through the background on my October Bead Journal Project:

2014 - Staying Connected, Week Forty-One

In the past week, I have completed five 4.5" square crazy blocks for swapping at the guild retreat (Technique taught by Mary Lee G at guild on the 9th of October. I have yet to master working with small pieces so my scraps are a little on the large side..):

the October Crazy Quilt Journal block (I do much better using a foundation and a larger blocks size (these are 6" square finished):

and the Take a Stitch Tuesday Stitch # 134 (Fern stitch). Played a little with adding beads to the "spine" of the fern...:

I have read through lesson two in Pillowpalooza and am preparing the homework assignment for that class for posting this weekend.

I also started the color filling on "Bride" in the Roll Your Own mandala series (One color (very light blue- if you squint you can just make it out) complete and the second nearly a quarter complete)

:

the beading on my October Bead Journal Project ("Bat Bird"?):

and the quilting on my guild retreat challenge block (An attempt at stitching "in the ditch".Missed that ditch in a lot of places! Only the binding to go.):

I am a little more sleep deprived than usual, given the need to be up and ready for the washing machine repairman on Monday (a blocked drain filter) and the house cleaner today. And it won't get any better in the next few days as we have the early shifts on both Thursday and Friday at the local public radio telephone banks (need to be there at 6 AM! AAACK), and there is Legacy Weekend at the University with a football game viewed from the President's Box on Saturday (which means Saturday will be both adrenalin filled/ stressed out and off limits for stitching most of the day). So, even though this coming weekend is International Hermit and Stitch Weekend, it looks like I will only have Sunday for unimpeded stitchery. 

I think I am going to give up on trying to catch up. Trying is jst adding more stress to the mix, and stress makes me avoid stitchery in favor of just about ANYTHING else!. 

WIPocalypse - October 8

In addition to my weekly wrap-up, this is also report-in day for WIPocalypse!

Wipocalypse question of the month: "Am I a Halloween or Christmas stitcher?" 

Well, I'm not either, really. For a while, I stitched a lot of Halloween things, mainly ornaments. I have several dozen Christmas ornaments that decorate two artificial tress each season. I need more --- one of the trees is a little sparse and I calculate I need about 4 dozen more --- 12 of which are "underway", but these twelve are my Bead Journal Project pieces for 2014 so not exactly holiday stitching! I have no Christmas wall hangings or framed pieces and only one Halloween framed piece (stitched for entry into the fair a few years ago so, again, not exactly holiday stitching), no holiday pillows of any kind, and, with the exception of a few stand-up ornaments, no decor pieces either. 

So I guess I would have to say neither...

Since the last WIPocalypse report, I have completed the followng:

• Take a Stitch Tuesday - Stitches 129 and 130 (Lock an Double Lock Stitches), Stitch 131 (Beaded Lock Stitch), #132 (Kiko's Flower), and #133 Triple Chain
• Bead Journal Project for September 

Other than these meager accomplishments, I have managed to put in some stitches on, and complete, the outline for "Bride" in the RYP mandala series, assembled the basic block for the October Crazy Quilt Journal Project, and sketched out and kitted my October Bead Journal Project.

I downloaded the charts for installments 18 and 19 for "Save the Stitches", and I studied the videos for the "Seed Bead Botany" oniine class. The final class in the "Finishing" series ) "Pillow Palooza")from Funk & Weber started first of October and I have skimmed the first lesson for that, but so my goal of catching up is a miserable failure...

This month, I would like to continue with:

• Take a Stitch Tuesday
• Bead Journal Project for October 
• Crazy Quilt Block for October 
• Color in the RYO mandala "Bride"
• The outline and some fill for "Save the Stitches" installments 10 - 19
• Participate in the fourth, and final, fInishing online class from Funk & Weber (Pillow Palooza)

In addition, there is quilt guild retreat the last weekend of October for which I need to have a competed challenge block (it's pieced - needs to be sandwiched, quilted and bound) and where I hope to make progress on the wall hangings for my Crazy Quilt Journal Projects for 2013 and 2014, the placemat(s) for the Meals on Wheels donation and maybe even my Chinese coins top which I completed at the last retreat and have made no further progress on. I may even take on of my traveling embroidery pieces for a break from quilting while at retreat ...

2014 - Staying Connected, Week Forty

In this past week, I have completed Stitch #133 for Take a Stitch Tuesday (the Triple Chain):

finished the outline for "Bride" in the RYO mandala series from Tracy Horner:

assembled the basic block for my October Crazy Quilt Journal piece:

and kitted out my October Bead Journal piece.

Not bad, considering my ailing stitching mojo and the ever-present frog on"Bride'! I also completed a can't-put-it-down darn-it-it's-a-cliffhanger-ending book by Deborah Crombie ("To Dwell in Darkness") which I highly recommend (If you aren't current on her James-Kinkaid series, it might help to read the earlier book in the series "The Sound of Broken Glass" to set the stage before embarking on this page turner).

I have high hopes for stitching in the coming week, even though Thursday is likely to be a lost cause (in addition to the October quilt guild meeting which wipes out the evening stitching period, I have a dentist appointment in the AM for prep work on a crown for an upper-left molar that is about to part company with it's antique filling if something isn't done soon. AAARGH! But the weekend is International Hermit and Stitch Weekend and that is a great motivation to get me working on the long neglected "Save the Stitches"!

2014 - Staying Connected, Week Thirty-nine

It's been a very non-productive week. Since last week, I have stitched more on the outline for "Bride":

and the latest Take a Stitch Tuesday stitch (#132 - Kiko's Flower):

But otherwise, what with a make-and-take card party last Wednesday night and out-of-country company since Friday, I've been too busy and too darned sleepy to focus on stitchery. I'm hoping that things will get better this week, although there are several things that will interfere: husband's monthly high school class breakfast and haircut, both on this past Wednesday (the haircut was postponed from Monday due to company); and the security company to see about why their system shorted out our land line and whether or not it can be reconnected without shorting it out again (the Frontier linesman disconnected it last Thursday) and the county inspector to sign off on the new furnace and air conditioning installation (two weeks ago), both coming sometime between 8 and 5 on Friday.