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I love it all: embroidery, canvaswork, quilting, crochet. So much to do, so little time.





Sunday, January 28, 2018

First Finishes of the Year

Hello, people.  Hope your January has been going well.  I've been down with a nasty case of bronchitis this past week but am not complaining since I have the luxury of staying in bed all day if I need to (which I have for a couple of days).

Since photos of my pieces have all be taken, I'm hoping it won't be too taxing to do this little post.

My prediction about my first finish was correct, it was Prairie Schooler's Winter Wind...




and it was even framed...


I love this frame,
but I did make one bad framing decision recently.

When I took Ripple Rotation II in to be framed,
the first piece of moulding my framer pulled
was  a light orangeish salmon
which exactly matched the color in the 
corners of the piece below...

I loved it, but it was a flat finish and for 
some strange reason I thought the piece needed
a "shiny" frame, and that molding didn't have a shiny option.
So I selected a shiny green that
matched one of the darker shades in the piece.
Bad choice.
I got the piece home, hung it up,
and found that the frame actually 
sucked all the light and fun out of the piece.
I was a very unhappy camper.

I lived with it for a couple of days before
taking it back to my framer.
I explained my problem and asked to see
the orange frame again.
(You should always go with a color that you love.)
So they swapped out the green frame for the orange.
The day I went to pick up the piece,
I intended to pay for the new frame and any additional labor
because this was my mistake.
I did not expect money back on the green frame either,
because it was custom cut.
But they were going to have none of that.
"Put your money away," they said.
"You are such a good customer, this is on us."
So I left the shop with the newly framed piece,
and my original green frame, which I may use someday.
Even the lady at the framer's,
who was a little skeptical about the green being horrible,
agreed that this color works much better.

Back to the other finishes.

Hot on the heels of Winter Wind,
I finally finished M N O.
Of course, the bulk of this piece
was stitched in 2017, but it still counts
as a January finish.

And finally, I started and finished
my PSS Merry Friends piece
for the tart class in March.

I have two pieces that I'm currently working on:
Winter Thyme, a small seasonal pillow
which should make an appearance here
in the not too distant future,
and of course...

...the letter P.
I figured you might want a peek at the bird.
Ever onward with the alphabet!

This has been more or less my constant companion
during the last week when I didn't feel
up to stitching.

I like Annie Proulx's quirky sense of humor.
As you might guess, this is a library book.
It was written over 20 years ago,
so once I return it, hopefully no one will want to 
take it out any time soon.
As for me, if I need another book from the library,
I'm going to limit myself to those in ebook format,
at least until cold & flu season is over!

That's it from here!
Thanks, as always, for visiting.

8 comments:

Rita said...

O, I love all your stitching.

Yes, shiny pieces look better with solid frames...

Beth said...

Fallen in love with the frame you used for Winter Wind! Fabulous. Stay well.

Linda said...

Congrats on all of the lovely finishes.

Linda

Julie said...

The red frame looks amazing on the PS winter finish, love that.
What nice people your framers are.

Anonymous said...

Oh My...Winter Wind is my FAVORITE!! I think I need to make one of these! Always love your needlepoint pieces. Can't wait to see it in person. I love all the "colored" frames you choose. And your Alphabet piece is coming along REALLY WELL. That one is surely taking a lot of patience to finish. You always find such fun things to work on.

Meari said...

Wow, stitching up a storm. Kudos on all your finishes!

Carla said...

Lots of stitching for you this month :)
Love your Praire Schooler finish and the Ripple Rotation II looks awesome in that frame!

Carol said...

How very kind that your framer didn't charge you for the green frame, Pat... The salmon color does look wonderful with Ripple Roatation and I do love the red frame with the PS piece! Perfect!!

So sorry you have been ill--I'm getting afraid to go out :) I always wipe my library borrowed items with sanitary wipes as soon as I get home--you never know what germs are lurking! Feel better very soon!