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!