April, Come She Will

...from the Sounds of Silence album by Simon and Garfunkel.  A lot of my projects seem to remind me of songs.  Does that ever happen to you?

Anyway, I have a finish to show you today!

This is one of two designs from Prairie Schooler Book 152

entitled (are you ready?) April.

It was finished into a beautiful flatfold by

Averyclaire NeedleArts.

Here is a better view of the lovely material

that she used for the back of the piece.

And now for something completely different...

I do knit from time to time.

This project is called Slopes Scarf

and the pattern is available on Ravelry.

It's not quite finished--

I made sure that the needle didn't 

make it into the photo.

Unfortunately, I don't remember

the brand/color of the yarn.

It's a Merino wool and it's

self-striping.

And here's something I'm really excited about...

Wha-a-at?

I ordered some antique white, 32-count,

Monika evenweave from Tanja Berlin,

and it came this week.

Its measurements are 18 x 70.

I don't think I'll need all of the 70,

so I might have some left over for smaller projects.

For those that are interested in this fabric,

Tanja sells it in either a half-yard or a yard,

and the width is always 70 inches,

which was perfect for me

because I intend to use this on the

Prairie Schooler alphabet.

I plan on stitching it all

on this one piece of fabric,

3 letters across and 9 down.

There is an extra pattern in the Y-Z booklet

which comes to an even 27.

Friends that know me personally

are well aware that I'm very eager to start

this piece.  However, I'm going to

try to show some restraint

and wait until Dawn Chorus is finished

before I start.

We'll see if that happens.

That's it from here.

Have a wonderful weekend.

The weather is supposed to 

be gorgeous in the Chicago area--finally.

Thanks for visiting!

Leap Year List - April Report

Hey Blog Buddies,

The calendar says it's Spring, but the weather here has been really crazy.  It certainly isn't unheard of for it to snow here in April, but on Saturday we had sleet, horizontal snow, graupel (tiny hail-like pellets) and bright sunshine in a constant rotation about every 10 minutes.  And let's not forget about the high wind that lasted all day long.  Yesterday, the temp hit 70 degrees and now it's snowing lightly again.  Spring in Chicago.

On to the stitching...

Last month I posted this photo of

Rosewood Manor's A Tree by Itself.

I know I posted a photo of the finish

a couple of weeks ago, but...

here it is all framed and hanging on my wall.

(Yes, I do still have some wall space left.)

From last month, Carriage House Samplings'

The Song They Sang.

Yes, another framed finish!

Here is last month's photo of 

Needle Delights Originals' Autumn Logs.

Here it is now.

That brown thing in the lower left corner

is the beginning of the border.

We haven't seen any progress on this one all year.

This is Long Dog Samplers' Dawn Chorus.

Here it is now.

There is the obvious progress,

and the progress that you can't see.

I ripped and restitched all of the black in the middle tree

because my tension was too tight and

too much white was showing.

That was my big roadblock on this one.

It's still not perfect, but it's a big improvement.

This piece is now back on track!

I know a lot of stitchers just love to start new projects,

but I am not one of them.

I think about it, and procrastinate.

I've been trying to talk myself into starting

my blackwork horse for a long time.

I've got the nasty part done.

I traced the outline onto tissue paper,

and basted it onto the fabric.

Then I ripped the tissue paper off.

You may notice that in the process of

removing the paper, some of the basting stitches

have stretched and sagged.

This is normal.

But then I started reading the instructions

(what a concept!)

and realized that there was a chart!

I didn't have a chart in my package.

So I contacted the designer (Tanja Berlin)

via email and received a PDF chart

the very next morning.

Now I'm thinking that I should just cut

all the red basting out and follow the chart,

because life's too short.

Wish me luck with this one.

Hopefully you'll see some actual stitches

next month.

My EGA chapter hosted a Stitch-in-Public Day
at a local library on Saturday

(the day of the crazy weather).

We had a pretty decent turnout, considering.

Here is a photo of our members' stitching

in the library's display case.

Each item is a different technique.

Next year I will wait until

the glass door is swung open

to take my photos!

(You can click on the photo to make it bigger.)

That's it from here.

Hope your April is going well.

Thanks for visiting!