2012 - A Year of Challenges - Week Forty-One

I haven't touched "Birds of a Feather" in over two weeks, and TAST - week 41 is barely in progress. It's been a busy week off the needle and all I have accomplished, really, is completion of a Mitten & Mini-Sock. But I can share the latest update on "Kimono-Revisited" which I caught up on October 8:

Some Bargello Completions

Two finishes for the Janet Perry Mittens & Mini-Socks bargello class... Autumn Trees, completed October 10, 2012, using all variegated threads (except for the tree trunk): Threads used - DMC 3031 for trunks; DMC 4126 for cuff;  for tree leaves, DMC 51, 61, and 4075 4130; WDW Kudzu (2200), Cornbread (2222), Marigold (2225), Carrot (2226),  and Fiesta (4131); San Man Threads Autumn Leaves (049) and Hot Stuff (058); and GAST Bittersweet, Forest Glade, Fudge Ripple, and Pumpkin Patch (4402). Variegated threads are hard to predict when in teh skein which colors will end up where so there are a few trees that sort of merge together... And the mitten for the same assignment, completed October 11, 2012: Threads used - DMC 3031 for trunks; DMC 4126 for cuff; and for tree leaves: DMC 51, 61, and 4075 4130; WDW   Kudzu (2200), Marigold (2225), and   Autumn Leaves (2234); San Man Threads Autumn Leaves (049); and GAST Bittersweet, Forest Glade, and Fudge Ripple. Because of the shape and overall size of the mitten, it used fewer colors. This pattern reminds me strongly of the one I did last back in November, 2011, in the 2011 Bargello Club:  White for the "stems make it looks like a lot of pastel lollipops! And the lollipops are oval instead of round... and in rayon threads instead of cottons!

2012 - A Year of Challenges - Week Forty

A day without internet, thanks to a gardening husband and his sharp little spade adn a very close encounter with the internet cable! But I have to give him credit --- after finding out from customer service that it wouldn't be until monday after 5 PM that someone could get out here to repair it, he talked to the dealer downtown and they had someone out last night instead! So only one day without. Bad enough!

However, every bad event has a good side. I stitched instead of hovering around this laptop for three hours --- which meant I got a LOT done this week!

In addition to the day of Rhodes Squares on "Birds of a Feather" and TAST 2102 Week 40, I did a fabric toss for the color palette challenge and kitted up the last Stash Buster Club project! Then, yesterday, in all that freed up time, I stitched the Stash Buster, called "Diamond Scraps", using my different shades of brown and dark yellow from my scrap bag:

Then, once this was done, I attacked my Color Palette/Crazy Quilt Journal/Bead Journal Project challenges with some gusto. The colors weren't exactly my cuppa but all but one had been used in previous blocks, and I managed to arrange them in a grid (block 12) from Pin Tangle's "I Dropped the Button Box" crazy quilt. I set about adding my signature chain stitch swirl and a strand of crystal beads in addition to some ribbon, a piece of lace, and a small jewelry finding. Not a lot of embroidery on this one --- just didn't have the mental energy to tackle complex seam treatments so some of the seams aren't touched at all. I MIGHT come back later and try to embellish further, but I figured that I was at that point where attempting to add more just would mess it up.

The October sections of "Kimono - Revisited" are in now so I think I may spend the weekend trying out my new rayon thread straightening device and working on that. I'll report back on what I think of the device (it came highly recommended by one of the Shining Needle Society gurus so I expect it will do wonders for my love/hate relationship with rayon threads!).

Take a Stitch Tuesday - Week 40

The stitch is/was the Beaded Hebedo Edge and while it started out logically, I ended up melting down last night when trying to actually do the Hebedo part of the stitch. Not a hardanger person here and I simply couldn't picture what I was doing. MANY thanks to Sharon B who answered my very loud call for help and guided me, with three generous emails and a link, to what I THINK may be a completion. Couldn't get a picture close enough to show the detail but...

Once a single line was completed, I bailed. The thread I was using (two strands of GAST "Aged Pewter") simply didn't like this stitch either (possibly part of my problem --- it kept curling, knotting, separating, blocking my view, etc. especially after picking it out, over and over and over --- believe me, you do NOT want to have to pick this stitch out if it goes wrong on you!) and after my struggles, I considered myself lucky to get this far! Didn't even try to come up with a design possibility for it. I think I can do it now, but odds are, I will only use it for straight line seam treatments, if at all.

The other thing I did yesterday was select my fabrics for the color palette challenge:

Only one fabric new to the blocks --- the purple/pink one on the far right. All others have been used at least once in my blocks for the other color palette challenges...

ever notice, in crazy quilting, everyone else uses patterns and fabrics with texture and the like, and I seem to end up with solids --- maybe the odd batik? My stash is really limited and I don't seem to do pattern in fabric much! SO I have to resort of laces, ribbons, threads, beads and the like to spruce up my blocks. Still, my blocks look awfully simple compared wit those displayed over at the Crazy Quilt Journal challenge! The ladies who post there are really an inspiration to me to try harder in this form of needlework...

WIPocapolypse - September's Full Harvest Moon, 2012

What did I do this past "moon"?  Well, there were      •    the Take a Stitch Tuesday stitches: Pistil Stitch,  Drizzle Stitch, and Knotted Buttonhole Stitch;  and "Autumn Break" sampler, and the completed "page" for September.     •    The September Stash Buster from Janet Perry      •    The September Mittens & Mini-Socks from Janet Perry --- both a mitten and a sock      •    The September Color Through the Ages from Janet Perry      •    the September parts for "Kimono - Revisited":     •    The September Color Palette Challenge/Crazy Quilt Journal/Bead Journal Project block      •    and quite a bit on "Birds of a Feather", shown here (all cross stitch done, including metallic braid - next step: speciality stitches!):

Basically caught up, but tomorrow there will be more Kimono sections and another color palette challenge, Tuesday will bring another TAST, and there are certainly Mittens & Mini-socks, Color through the Ages twinchies and stash busters waiting in the wings as well.

2012 - A Year of Challenges - Week Thirty-NIne

First of all, I finished week thirty-nine of Take a Stitch Tuesday - the Knotted Buttonhole Stitch:

Here is the page with the September stitches:

And I also stitched the September installments of "Kimono- Revisited":

In all, a pretty productive week, I think!

Color Palette/Crazy Quilt Journal/Bead Journal Project Challenges - September 2012

I struggled with this one --- somehow, the color choices didn't resonate with me, even though MOST of them were used in other blocks. I suspect the black and gray are the culprits, although I am getting a tad tired of blue and orange! LOL

The color challenge was posed by Judy Laquidara and VIcki Welsh back in the beginning of September and is based on a photo of a mineral spring at Yellowstone National Park. All fabrics, beads, threads and laces are from my stash. The block grid was a slightly modified block six from the "I Dropped the Button Box" over at PinTangle. As usuall, I added a strip of lace, some crystal beads and my "signature" chain stitch to tie the series of blocks together.

That white thread lower left --- a stray --- don't know why I didn't see it before!