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!

2012 - A Year of Challenges - Week Thirty-Eight

I continued on with "Birds of a Feather" and actually got started on the metallic threads! Maybe you can see some of the bling in the right-hand and top borders?

I suppose I could have continued but my conscience was bothering me --- so many pieces sitting there, unstitched! So on Friday...

First, I tackled Take a Stitch Tuesday week 38, Drizzle Stitch. Keep in mind I HATE threading needles and I'm not a fan of "knots" so this one was hard for me to do but here are five "Drizzles" in a flower with a stem stitch stem and French knot center:

Next up was Color Through the Ages, Lesson 7 - CIvil War Colors! I got ambitious (OK, I couldn't decide on a colorway! LOL) and did all three with GAST, WDW and DMC from my stash.

Here is my Union Uniform version, using all GAST: Midnight, Brethren Blue, Pacific Green (yes, green --- doesn't look it, does it?), and Blueberry (0230) for the blues and Oatmeal for the background.

Here is my Confederate Uniform version - I used GAST Brandy and Tarnished Gold and WDW Tin Roof (1174) and Pelican Gray (1302) for the uniform colors and DMC3033 for the background.

And last, my Patriotic Colors version - I used GAST Blueberry (0230), Midnight, Mulberry (02350), Walnut and Flax for the background (consider it "distressed!):

There is still my Color Palette/Crazy Quilt Journal/Bead Journal piece waiting in the wings, to say nothing of the September installments of "Kimono-Revisited" (and October is almost here!), so I'm not caught up yet. But there's only so much stitching one can do in one day!

Oh, and I signed up for another online-SAL! I'm out of my mind, I know...

International Hermit & Stitch Weekend - September 14 - 16, 2012

I put in a total of 2032 stitches in on "Birds of a Feather" this weekend and only have two more DMC colors to go before I have to start on metallics, speciality stitches and beads! So it was a good weekend!

2012 - A Year of Challenges - Week Thirty-Seven

This weekend is International Hermit & Stitch Weekend for September and I am stitching on "Birds of a Feather", which is here right now:

So, in order to have the weekend clear for "Birds", I decided to finish as many of the outstanding small projects as I could. I did finish TAST week 37; I pieced the basic block for the Seotember color palette/crazy quilt journal/bead journal project piece; the Mittens & Mini-Socks for September (San Francisco Fog), and the September Stash Buster (Scrap Stars):

No progress on "Kimono - Revisited" though...

I stitched a lot yesterday...

And have a few completions to show for it!

First, the Take a Stitch Tuesday for week 37, which was the "pistil" or long tack knot stitch. I'm sure there are uses for it besides being the pistils of flowers but I wasn't thinking very imaginatively yesterday so here are my pistil stitch in a stem-stitched flower with couched stem and leaves:

Having spent the morning kitting up the Janet Perry Stash Buster and Mittens & Mini-Socks for September, I decided to work on one of them as well... I chose Mittens & Mini-socks - "San Francisco Fog" and got both sock and mitten done:

I used DMC921 for the bridge (as close as I could come, in my stash, to the memory of the rustoleum color they actually paint the bridge); DMC 3072 alternated with four strands of 3072 blended with 2 strands of GAST "Pebble" for the fog (the blend wasn't very successful as the GAST was way too close in color to the DMC, I think), and GAST Barn Grey for the cuff. 

Finally, I stitched together the basic block for the color palette/crazy quilt journal/bead journal project challenge:

Now to do seam treatments and beading...