March Madness

Well, this is my version of March Madness, anyway.  Certain bloggers that I know and love have been doing a new start every day since almost forever (I won't name names, Linda and Claudette) but for me it's a little nutty to have four new starts in the space of just a couple of weeks.  Let's review.

This first new start shouldn't even count!  I've had it kitted up for a couple of years and I only started it because I wanted a small travel project.

This is the only painted canvas project that has been offered by my ANG chapter since I joined.  It was designed by Lynn Deininger, a member of the chapter, and will be a scissor case when it's all finished.

Next, I signed up for a 2-day workshop hosted by that same chapter.  Kay Stanis came to teach her Copper Illumination.

This is what it will hopefully look like when it's completed.  It's all silk, beads and metallic braid, with some purl purl (sometimes called Jaceron), and a piece of copper sheeting thrown in.  I wanted to try it because it's so far out of my comfort zone.  Yes, it's a piece of plain copper sheeting, and we were given instructions to create the tulip pattern on it.

Most of the first morning was spent lacing our canvas to the stretcher bars on two sides (something most of us had never done) and basting the design outline in gold silk thread.

This is my progress so far.

But it was a fun weekend and we were all in the same boat.  The End of the Table Gang(?) from left to right:  Julie, Sue, Joyce and Beth.  Becky, our sixth Partner in Crime, is not in the photo because she sat this one out.

I started this next project because I just needed a dose of Spring, and this design makes me smile.  This piece is also giving my brain a little break!

This is Bloom by Art to Heart.  There's one more flower to stitch, and the word "Bloom."  I'm hoping to get this done before the summer solstice (this year).  The linen is light yellow, but I don't think it's ever going to photograph correctly.

Finally, this past weekend I took a class from--you guessed it--my ANG chapter.  There is a trend here.  Debbie Rowley from DebBee's Designs created a teaching piece for our chapter.  It will be offered as a class at other venues around the country, but the chart isn't available in stores.  So, how could I pass up the opportunity, right?

The piece is called Angles and this is the chart.

It's 105 pages long.

Really.

I changed the colors to these.

The light was doing funny things to the colors,
making some way too dark
and others too bright or off-shade,

but basically it's blue, magenta and shades of gray.

Here is my start on the spratt's head stitch.

It doesn't look too bad from this distance!

There are approximately 80 stitches

and/or stitch variations in all.

We went over the first 40 on Saturday,
including the ominous double fan doubled.

Wish me luck with this one!

That's enough madness for this month.

Hope your weekend was fun.

Thanks for visiting!