This month's topic for discussion is: "What finishing style have you never tried but would love to do?"
I can't say that there are many that I haven't tried.
I have done framing, three-dimensional (mainly boxes and ornaments but also pillows and easels/stand-ups), even banners! I can't say I've had rousing success with all of them...I still prefer a professional framer to my own handiwork and getting banners cut right, hemmed and properly lined is a pain I associate with my terrible record with making quilts (many of which have featured embroidery, although not cross-stitch)!
I have never tried using cross stitch on cards (although I have stitched on paper) and don't really see the need for that.
~~~~~
As per usual, I have not stitched at all this month because of my wrist/thumb injury. I am out of the splint and in to strength-building PT for at least three more weeks. I see the surgeon for the second follow-up on October 3. We shall see if the thumb will ever be "nornmal" enough to allow me to hold a hoop again...
Sunday, September 29, 2019
Thursday, September 5, 2019
WIPocalypse Check-In, August 25, 2019 (a few weeks late here)
This month's question was:
"What do you have on your stitching bucket list? (for example, specific projects, designers, fibers, etc)"
Well, on August 25 (the day this was supposed to be posted), I had been dealing with a cast and subsequent splint on my left hand resulting from a rupture of the flexor tendon to my left thumb on July 24 and surgery to repair said tendon on July 26. I'm still in therapy (passive exercises only) and see the surgeon on September 9 to see if the splint can be removed and active therapy. followed by stength building, can be initiated. So, clearly, I did no stitching this month!
Getting full use of my left hand with a capable left thumb is my immediate bucket list goal. And someday getting BACK to stitching is the entirety of my bucket list right now!
"What do you have on your stitching bucket list? (for example, specific projects, designers, fibers, etc)"
Well, on August 25 (the day this was supposed to be posted), I had been dealing with a cast and subsequent splint on my left hand resulting from a rupture of the flexor tendon to my left thumb on July 24 and surgery to repair said tendon on July 26. I'm still in therapy (passive exercises only) and see the surgeon on September 9 to see if the splint can be removed and active therapy. followed by stength building, can be initiated. So, clearly, I did no stitching this month!
Getting full use of my left hand with a capable left thumb is my immediate bucket list goal. And someday getting BACK to stitching is the entirety of my bucket list right now!
Monday, July 29, 2019
WIPOcalypse Check-In, July 28, 2019
The question for the month is:
“How do you get yourself out of a stitching drought?”
Good question. Since I was in such a drought for nearly two years because fo try aftermath of a broken left wrist, I’m not really a good source for a solution. I managed to “force” myself into a finish back in April and even that didn’t have a permanent effect. I tried to use the second stitch-a-day challenge with new pieces and it seemed to be working until…
~~~~~
July 16 (I missed a day because of a late night after two days of house guests following an exhausting road trip to and from Wisconsin) and then July 24, when I ruptured the extensor tendon to my left thumb (yes, the same hand I broke!) and ended up in surgery on July 26. The cast makes stitching, or any other two-handed activity, impossible.
“How do you get yourself out of a stitching drought?”
Good question. Since I was in such a drought for nearly two years because fo try aftermath of a broken left wrist, I’m not really a good source for a solution. I managed to “force” myself into a finish back in April and even that didn’t have a permanent effect. I tried to use the second stitch-a-day challenge with new pieces and it seemed to be working until…
~~~~~
July 16 (I missed a day because of a late night after two days of house guests following an exhausting road trip to and from Wisconsin) and then July 24, when I ruptured the extensor tendon to my left thumb (yes, the same hand I broke!) and ended up in surgery on July 26. The cast makes stitching, or any other two-handed activity, impossible.
And it will continue to be impossible until well after cast removal on August 12, 2019, because Physical Therapy will be require to get function back. This is practically a replay of the wrist break events and I expect it will result in similar stitchery impacts.
~~~~~
I did accomplish some stitchery this month, however. There was the finish on July 7 of a Michael Powell "twinchie", floss on 18ct canvas:
~~~~~
I did accomplish some stitchery this month, however. There was the finish on July 7 of a Michael Powell "twinchie", floss on 18ct canvas:
There was the stitching on a road trip on a kit, "Leopord Purse" by Design Works (Marilyn Robertson), floss on 14ct Aida, between July 10 and 13:
And the stitching on a second Michael Powell twinchie between July 8 and July 23:
Two frogging attacks in the second twinchie and a massive mistake in color choice in the aida piece (which I decided to live with as I didn't discover the mistake until three days in) did not help with the motivation.
All in all, the month started out good and fell apart at the end.
All in all, the month started out good and fell apart at the end.
Tuesday, July 9, 2019
A Compleion!
I finished a little 2x2 square designed by Michael Powell. It's meant to be one side of a scissor keep but I think I'll make it into an ornament instead and stitch the other side as another ornament.
OK, I shouldn't brag but it's been so LONG!
OK, I shouldn't brag but it's been so LONG!
Two strands of Anchor floss over one --- in an 18 ct (I think) canvas. A bear to frog so there is one mistake I simply fudged around. Luckily, Powell designs are wonky enough to make fudging invisible!
On to the other side --- this is where it is as of today:
On to the other side --- this is where it is as of today:
It would have been further but after stitching three rows in white, I realized it was SUPPOSED to be a blended white/blue thread and that could NOT be fudged around! So... I carefully frogged for half an hour, trying to save as much of the flow as possible.! ARRGH! Here's hoping I can substitute DMC on the other two charts in the kit because I suspect I will run out of what was supplied VERY soon!
Monday, July 1, 2019
WIPocalypse Check-In, June 30, 2019
This month's topic for discussion is:
"Half-year recap: How are you doing with your goals so far this year?"
Well, I'm stitching and that is definitely an improvement after two years hiatus! I finished one WIP ("Palm Tree Elegance") in April and dithered about for a month Finally, I decided to get my hand in practice for smaller stitches than called for on that needlepoint canvas so I took out a Michael Powell kit of key fobs and scissor keeps (Beach Huts Scissor Keep X131). It is four patterns (back and front of a scissor keep and back and front of a key fob), charted for double stranded floss on a very fine canvas, so I thought it would be a good test of whether I could handle cross-stitch on linen and other even weaves. Also, it is pretty small (I chose the 2" x 2" scissor keep) so should have been a quick finish.
I started mid-month and discovered that two strands of floss on canvas is a pain, and when it's two strands of different colors, even a bigger pain --- more for the keeping my threads organized than the stitching but the length kept catching on the edges of the canvas. Irritating to say the least.
I didn't get as far as I would have back in the day --- in three calendar weeks, I probably stitched only 7 days. This is the result:
"Half-year recap: How are you doing with your goals so far this year?"
Well, I'm stitching and that is definitely an improvement after two years hiatus! I finished one WIP ("Palm Tree Elegance") in April and dithered about for a month Finally, I decided to get my hand in practice for smaller stitches than called for on that needlepoint canvas so I took out a Michael Powell kit of key fobs and scissor keeps (Beach Huts Scissor Keep X131). It is four patterns (back and front of a scissor keep and back and front of a key fob), charted for double stranded floss on a very fine canvas, so I thought it would be a good test of whether I could handle cross-stitch on linen and other even weaves. Also, it is pretty small (I chose the 2" x 2" scissor keep) so should have been a quick finish.
I started mid-month and discovered that two strands of floss on canvas is a pain, and when it's two strands of different colors, even a bigger pain --- more for the keeping my threads organized than the stitching but the length kept catching on the edges of the canvas. Irritating to say the least.
I didn't get as far as I would have back in the day --- in three calendar weeks, I probably stitched only 7 days. This is the result:
Lots of confetti stitching left. It doesn't look like much here (it's supposed to be - no it WILL be - a wonky beach hut), but there is backstitching to come.
I'd like to say that my hands and fingers cramping were the main reason I did so little on this piece. They did cramp, but... it was more the fussing with the single strands of floss and all the confetti stitching that was putting me off. I'm not giving up, though!
I'd like to say that my hands and fingers cramping were the main reason I did so little on this piece. They did cramp, but... it was more the fussing with the single strands of floss and all the confetti stitching that was putting me off. I'm not giving up, though!
Sunday, May 26, 2019
Sunday, April 28, 2019
WIPocalypse Check-In: April 28, 2019
This month's topic for discussion is:
"Talk to us about your longest-running WIP or UFO."
I had to go back into my files to find the longest running WIP... it is a round robin I participate in on Cross Stitch Crazy, a long gone forum on the now defunct iVillage. I started in January 2007. I stitched it on full yard of Silkweaver's 28-ct Jobelin, in the "Carol's Meadow" color. It is a 12" x 12" square stitched with a knot garden in "blackwork" from Stitchin'spirations ("Brandon", designer Sally Rudkin) . The outlines of each individual garden plot were stitched in two strands (over two) of WDW Juniper (2158) while the blackwork fill and the plants around the outside were stitched in one strand of Caron Waterlilies "Distant Hills" (153). The garden "fence" was stitched in two strands of DMC 310 (black); the four urns at the central "gates" on each side were stitched in one strand of DMC 356 (terra cotta) and the pineapples at the remaining gates were stitched in one strand of DMC 61 (a variegated yellow-brown) with leaves in the WDW Juniper.
I sent it out to on its rounds (five other participants) with patterns for 18 possible Victorian house designs, all Nancy Spruance Victorian miniatures from three brochures: 3 copies each of Victorian Side Streets, San Francisco Scenes and Cape May Victorians, to be placed in the squares defined by the running stitches. In addition, I included a copy of fences, gates, urns and lamp posts (from Spruance's Victorian Miniatures pamphlet) which could be substituted for the embellishments shown in the house charts.
When it came back to me in August 2007, it had five houses stitched:
When it came back to me in August 2007, it had five houses stitched:
And I have never gotten around to finishing it. To be honest, I'm not exactly sure "how" to finish it, other than adding at least one more house to the bottom right. I know I have the house patterns somewhere -- that is only a matter of digging them out. And I had thought to make four blackwork motifs for the four corners but that wouldn't work if I don't compete the six "lots" on the sides...
What to do?
~~~~~
So on to my progress in April - and yes, hard as it may be to believe, I did make progress this month! That would make it to months running of stitching and...
A finish!
Well, sort of.. it still needs to be "finish"-finished (probably framed).
May I present "Palm Tree Elegance", a Dimensions needlepoint on mono-canvas, started in 2010, put into UFO mode in 2016 when I broke my wrist, and started up again this March:
What to do?
~~~~~
So on to my progress in April - and yes, hard as it may be to believe, I did make progress this month! That would make it to months running of stitching and...
A finish!
Well, sort of.. it still needs to be "finish"-finished (probably framed).
May I present "Palm Tree Elegance", a Dimensions needlepoint on mono-canvas, started in 2010, put into UFO mode in 2016 when I broke my wrist, and started up again this March:
I absolutely HATED the idea of backstitching this huge piece in hand (no frames here) and put it off for three days but, in the end, it only took an hour (not counting the untangling - the floss for the backstitching that came with the kit was NOT quality like DMC or Anchor, was too long and tangled terribly - and the juggling of the chart to see where the stitches were supposed to go...). The chart only called for one strand so I'm not even sure you can see it but it is backstitched on the leaves, trunk and on some pot details.
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