Rotation Recap

Hey Blog Buddies,

Hope your December holidays were happy and fun-filled.  The Southpaw Stitcher staff had a great Christmas and look forward to a New Year celebration consisting of stitching and old movies.  

At the beginning of the year, I picked out ten medium-to-large-sized projects that I wanted to finish or at least make significant progress on this year.   Here are the photos of how each looked at the start of the year, and how they look now.  

In no particular order...

1.  Pristine by Cindy Valentine Designs

This was the albatross around my neck.

Started in 2006, messed up and cut a thread in the ground,

thrown back into the bag for about eight years.

I got really motivated with it this year.

Now it's all finished!
It's a shame that all the eyelets
and the satin stitch motifs
don't show up well in this photo.
At the beginning of 2015,
if I had had to pick a project
that I thought wouldn't get done,
this would have been it.

2.  A Tree by Itself by Rosewood Manor

The second biggest of the ten,

this one was left "by itself" (ha!) for most of the year,

but I've been working on it this month.

Here's where I'm at now.
As you can see, I'm over halfway done.

There's no good reason why

this piece shouldn't get finished next year.
And if you glance at the lower right,
you'll see I stitched in next year's date.
Now I'm committed.

Here's a close up of part of it.
It's hard to see the individual motifs when 
the entire piece is in the photo.

3.  99 by Ink Circles

At the start of the year,

there were only 55 bottles...

But now there are 99.

4.  Nordic Panel by Laura J. Perin

This is a Nordic Needle exclusive

stitch-along from 2014.

I was only about halfway done in January.

I finished this one, too.

5. Carrots by Jennifer Reifenberg

Not only wasn't I very far along with this in January,

but I managed to photograph the piece

face down!

Luckily, after I finished stitching

and attached the beads,

I photographed the correct side.
Some pieces just become favorites,
and this is one of them.

6.  Liberty Inn by Plum Street Samplers

This was my modest start in January.

I was shooting for an Independence Day finish

(and was successful),

but this piece is being displayed

all year long.

7.  Frederika by Carriage House Samplings

In January I had a wing...

And here is Freddi all her glory.

I don't understand why I had never stitched

anything from CHS/Kathy Barrick before,

but this piece definitely won't be my last.

8.  Summer Logs by Needle Delights Originals

I had just started on the second

quadrant in January

This was my ANG chapter's stitch-along,

with a scheduled finish date in June.

It was pretty easy to keep up with the SAL.

NDO charts are usually fast and fun.

9.  Save the Stitches by Blackwork Journey

This was (and is) a very generous 

free pattern from Elizabeth Almond

on the Blackwork Journey website.

As you can see, it's huge.

Here's where I was in January.

I did get a little bit done,

but I haven't touched this since February.

I just had too many projects going;

something had to give, and this was it.

And if you've checked out the newest
freebies on her wonderful website,
isn't Pandora's Box stunning?!
I just love the combination of
blackwork and pulled work.
(Uh-oh.)

10.  Dawn Chorus by Long Dog Samplers

This was my New Year's Day 2015 start.

Here's where I'm at now--
about 60 percent done.
I hit a roadblock when I noticed
that my somewhat tight tension
was really showing up in the middle tree.
You can't really see it in this photo,
but there's a lot of white showing.
I tried pressing it, but it didn't help.
Once that tree is "fixed,"
this piece should get finished sooner
rather than later.

Seven finishes out of ten isn't too bad.
The rotation list does help to keep me focused.
I intend to do another in 2016,
which I'll share next month.
My three unfinished projects
will definitely be part of the list.

OK, those of you who know me are
well aware that I have way more than those three WIPs,
or for that matter, even the ten or so
which will make the 2016 list,
but we're ignoring those for now.
They'll get finished someday.
Well, most of them will.

Have a happy and safe New Year,
and thanks, as always, for visiting!

April Turtle Trot

We had some very severe weather in northern Illinois yesterday.  A little town northwest of Chicago was totally destroyed by a violent tornado.  At least one person died and several people were injured.  My thoughts go out to those families.  In our area, fortunately, all we got was rain.

Stitch-wise, it's Turtle Trot time once again.  For those of you not familiar with this virtual SAL, we all picked ten WIPs in January to work on, and we post before and after progress pics on the 10th of each month.

Despite the classes, workshop and new starts that happened in the last month, I did get some time to work on a few of my TT pieces.  I have to start out with Ink Circles' 99:

 Last month's photo.

Regular readers of this blog know that I finished this piece a couple of weeks ago.  Here it is framed, but I'm afraid that my framer and I did not do a good job on this one.  She will usually let me know if she thinks that something I pick out does not work.  The piece just looks like a dark brown blob on the wall.  The frame is dark brown but appears much lighter in the photo than in real life because it's reflecting the flash.  I think the reflection of the glass (yes, there is glass there) is contributing to not being able to see the stitching, too.  My plan is to first remove the glass, then if that doesn't work, I will go to a lighter-colored frame.  Gold maybe?  I didn't choose to mat it because the piece is large and I don't have all that much wall space, but a light-colored mat would probably have done the trick, too.  (Just a tip for those of you stitching this piece on the "ale" linen.)

Next, I wanted to stitch something that I hadn't worked on for a while, so I chose Laura J. Perin's Nordic Panel.

This is where I left off in February.

I did the next band

and extended the borders

almost all the way down.

I have a love-hate relationship with this piece.

Here's a close-up of the band I stitched.

Next up is Needle Delights Originals' Summer Logs:

Last month...

 ...and this month.  This piece is just so much fun to stitch!  It has no metallics, ribbons or anything to be laid.  No open canvas where you need to avoid carrying threads.  Even the border is simply a two-row repeat and is very zen.  But all the different stitches do make it look textured and interesting.  I think I'm going to be a little sad when this one is finished.

Lastly, I chose another piece I hadn't worked on in a couple of months (and because July is just around the corner!), Plum Street Samplers' Liberty Inn:

Here's where I left off in February...

...and what it looks like now.

The lighting isn't the greatest in this photo--

as I mentioned before, it was very stormy yesterday--
 and the piece looks much prettier in real life.
Once I uploaded the photo to my computer
and finished cropping, etc., I noticed
that two small motifs have one stitch missing!
(That has already been rectified.)

I like this piece so much,

once it's finished I may leave it up all year,
not just in the summer.

Well, that's it from here.
To see what the other Trotters have been up to,
go to the BAP Attack blog.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Thanks so much for dropping by!

Oh Happy Day!

It's finished,

all 9 shelves, 18 brackets,

and 99 bottles worth...

Ink Circles' 99

Started:  Dec. 22, 2013

Finished:  March 19, 2015

Just a couple of close-ups:

The bottles were 10 stitches by 25 stitches

at their widest and tallest points.

Moose Drool Beer is depicted

by the middle bottle.

You know I had to show a bottle with a dog.

The middle bottle is

Laughing Lab Scottish Ale

(although it's from a Colorado brewery).

I'm so happy this is done.

I enjoy finishing projects much more than starting them!

Hope you're having a good weekend.

Thanks for visiting!

March Turtle Trot

It's Turtle Trot time once again and, as expected,

this month's report is much shorter than last month's.

But some progress is better than none, eh?

First up is Summer Logs 

by Needle Delights Originals.

Here's where I was last month:

This is what I accomplished this month:

This is such a fun, relaxing stitch.

If I didn't want to stay in sync 

 with my guild's SAL group,

I believe I'd have this finished by now.

Quit snickering--you never know!

Next we have Dawn Chorus by Long Dog Samplers.

I had made a great start on it last month...

Here's where I'm at now...

Didn't get as much done as I had planned.

But I have an excuse (dontcha love it?).

This was mounted on a too-small scroll frame

which was driving me crazy.

After I had taken it off (it was sewn on)

I realized that the frame this piece really needs

is in use.

So it will have to wait just a little while

for me to finish that other BAP.

I know I could just stitch this in hand,

but it's all pressed and I don't

want to wrinkle it up again.

Next we have Carrots

by Jennifer Riefenberg. 

Here's where I left off:

And here's where I am now:

More bands of "earth" have been stitched.

Last but not least, we have Ink Circles' 99:

Last month I was here:

And this month, here:

At first glance, it may look like all I did

was to finish off Shelf No. 7.

But I stitched Shelf No. 8, too!

And there are only nine shelves!!

This is the piece that needs to get finished

before I can get back to Dawn Chorus.

I'm too superstitious to predict a finish date,

but there is a great big light

at the end of this long tunnel.

Yes, I'm strange; 

we all have our little idiosyncrasies.

To change the subject,

as many of you are aware,

the Nashville Market was held recently.

Last week, averyclaire dragged me

(kicking and screaming, I tell you)

to our LNS to check out the

new Market pieces.

Well, she did have to wait

several nanoseconds 

before I hollered "field trip!"

Wanna see what I got?

 

Top row: LHN Oh Christmas Tree, 

BBD In Full Glory, PSS Lesson One of 

Serial Bowl Collection.

Bottom row: Kathy Barrick's 

Good Intentions and Bird's Eye View.

The Plum Street and Kathy Barrick designs

were all from Market.

This also came home with me:

Wow, it seems to be kitted up!

The fabric is a really pretty light yellow.

There was a gorgeous stitched model in the store,

and it just said "spring" very loudly to me.

I intend to start this the moment I finish 99 

(I do have some restraint),

and that's another incentive

to just get it done.

So those are my stitching plans,

with the exception of

a two-day Kay Stanis workshop

hosted by my ANG chapter this weekend,

and a rather challenging canvaswork class

to be taught at that same

enabling ANG chapter at the end of the month!

Go here to find out what the other

Trotters have been up to this month.

Thanks, Claudette, for hosting this fun SAL!

That's it from here.

Hope you are all having a fabulous March.

Thanks for visiting!

January Turtle Trot

Hey Blog Buddies,

It's Turtle Trot time once again.  For those of you unfamiliar with this stitch-along, the participants choose ten WIPs to work on during the year and we post progress updates on the 10th of each month.  Claudette of BAP Attack is our fearless leader.  January is the kick-off where we introduce all of our Turtle Trot projects, so without further ado, here are my ten WIPs--almost all of them BAPs--from the oldest to the newest.

 1.

Those of you who have been following my blog

will recognize this sorry hardanger tabletopper

from last year's Turtle Trot.

I worked on it very little last year,

but somehow it has remained a WIP in my mind,

if nowhere else.

I got bogged down in all the eyelets.

 It's Cindy Valentine's Pristine, started in April, 2006.

I picked it up yesterday,

so we'll see how much progress

I can make on it this month.

2.

Here we have Rosewood Manor's A Tree by Itself.

This is another one from last year's Turtle Trot

that didn't get worked on as much as I wanted to,

but I was able to get a few more motifs

stitched in the past month.

Started in April, 2013.

3.

Another familiar one,

this is Ink Circles' 99,

started in December, 2013.

I have put this one on my "fast track,"

and have stitched 15 bottles

and 2 shelves over the past month.

I didn't bother adding a photo of

the finished piece

because there are no surprises here,

just four more shelves of beer bottles

waiting to be stitched.

Sing it with me:  "55 bottles of beer on the wall..."

 4.

 Last February I started Laura J. Perin's Nordic Panel.

This pattern came out in monthly installments,

and my project fell by the wayside in July.

It uses YLI's metallic ribbon,

which I don't like dealing with.

At all.

I believe it's even worse than Neon Rays,

which is a rayon ribbon

that frays if you look at it wrong.

And of course the very next band

calls for the metallic ribbon.

You can see I'm a little over halfway done,

so I should just suck it up and start back on it.

And I will.

5.

 I took this fun workshop last March

through my local ANG chapter.

It's Jennifer Riefenberg's Carrots.

The reason it languished is

simply because there always seemed

to be another project that was more pressing.

I am hoping to make some real progress

on it this year.

6.

Last June my LNS persuaded Paulette Stewart

of Plum Street Samplers

to design this lovely patriotic piece

 and come to Lemont, IL, and lead a workshop.

It was a delightful day.

The name of the piece is Liberty Inn,

and I hope to have it finished by July.

Of this year.

7.

Here is Carriage House Samplings' Frederika.

It's part of my current fascination

with bird designs.

Started in September, 2014.

8.

 This is Needle Delights Originals' Summer Logs.

It's my ANG chapter's current ongoing project.

We did Winter Logs last year.

(I have the spring and fall versions kitted up, too!)

This, too, was started in September, 2014,

and should be finished by June,

if I keep up with the monthly assignments.

9.

This might be the BAP to end all BAPs.

It's Save the Stitches,

a freebie(!) from Blackwork Journey.

Here's a close-up of what's done so far.

Started in December, 2014.

And here's what my finished project should look like...
..."in the year 2525."
Yeah, the larger the project, the less detail you can see. 
But if you're interested,
google "save the stitches blackwork images"
to ogle some stunning WIPs
and see why I couldn't resist this project.

 10.

Finally, this is my New Year's Day start.

It's Long Dog Sampler's Dawn Chorus
and I just love everything about this design .

There are twenty birds sitting in the various trees.

So far it's been a very fun stitch,

and it continues to call my name.

These projects and the 3 workshops I've signed up for
(not to mention the odd gift/ornament exchange/seasonal design)
should keep me busy well into 2016.

Thanks for sticking with me
through this rather lengthy post.
To check out the other Turtle Trotters,
click on over to the BAP Attack blog.

Have a wonderful, stitchy weekend,
and thanks for visiting!