Hall of Shame

Certain stitching bloggers from time to time "show off" their UFO's, whether for a challenge, a SAL or other reasons.  I had mentioned mine a while back, and thought that I would catalog them here, in hopes of (shaming myself into?) finishing one or more by the end of this year.  I probably have fewer than some, but more than others.  I do find, however, that my UFO's seem to have one thing in common:  they are all, except two, from either a class or workshop that I once attended.  So here they are, all 14 16 of them (I just found two more as I was going through my stash), from the most recent to the oldest...

1.

Austin Patch, a 2017 workshop given by Tony Minieri

through my local ANG chapter.
This is Tony's model.

I've got a good start on it, haven't I?

2.

This one is Fire and Ice by Toni Gerdes,

another 2017 workshop hosted by my ANG chapter.

This is Toni's model that she brought

for our inspection.

This is what I was able to finish in class.

The stitching is fun and easy, but the silk thread

needs to be ironed before using.   (sigh)

3.

This trio of ornaments is from the

2016 Illinois State Day workshop hosted by

my local EGA chapter.

These were the three colorways

and you needed to pick one for your kit.

I felt that I needed to support my chapter by attending.

That's all I'll say.

Here's my start.

That's a practice motif on the lower right.

4.

This was a 2016 boutis workshop held after

a regional EGA meeting.

The finished needlebook is beautiful.

Here is my start.

Yes, there are stitches on that fabric,

you just can't see them

because the thread matches the fabric.

5.

This is very sad.

This is my challenge project for my local

ANG chapter this year.

The deadline is the 4th Saturday in June.

As you can see, it will be a

very cute, 3-sided Christmas stand-up.

One day.

I have not worked on it at all since last June,
when it was chosen by the members
from the three projects I brought to the meeting.

I've thought about it a lot, though.

There's still time, but I may end up

paying the $10 penalty for not finishing.

This is where I'm at.

It's been sitting around since 2016.

6.

This is called Dresden Doodle.

It was a blackwork workshop taught by

the redoubtable Marian Scoular in 2015.

Each participant received a large piece of

fabric with the design drawn on.

Then we were given a variety of "diaper" patterns,

and told to have at it.

 Here are some of Marian's stitched models,

three showing various Dresden designs.

7.

This was another 2015 workshop, this one

taught by Ellen Chester.

Participants received the wooden carry-all,

with instructions and materials for a pin cube,

needle roll, pipkin, ruler cover and scissor case.

I did stitch and finish the pin cube!

I've shown it here before, but you don't

mind looking at it again, do you?

None of the other pieces

have even been started.

8.

This was a 2015 cyberclass on

reversible cross stitching.

I think I was confused about the half cross stitches,
so I put it aside.

Here is what I've stitched so far.
And it is reversible.

The material provided is very nice.

Looking at these now, I think

I should just finish them up however I can.

I have enough material for

four little coasters.
They won't take long to stitch.

So what if the back isn't perfect.

9.

This project really fell into my mental dustbin.

I had it listed under "Kitted" instead of "Started"

in my cross stitch app.

But rummaging through my stash

I did find that I had stitched a wee border

for one ornament.
It's kind of hard to see.
The wavy lines may be due to the
flecks of metallic thread woven into the canvas.

This was a class from my ANG chapter.

If I finish it, I'll get another pin for my nametag.

But on the other hand,
 I may already have enough pins on my nametag.

However, I'm not quite giving up on this one yet.

10.

This was a 2014 pilot class that I took through

my ANG chapter.

We were given the middle and the right trees

to stitch and give feedback to the designer.
All required feedback was given.

The one on the right is done.

The middle one is not.

11.

This is Elizabeth Almond's 

wonderfully generous 2014 blackwork freebie called

"Save the Stitches."

I fell in love with it back then.
Yes, it is huge.

I don't have a photo of anyone's finished piece.

12.

Ah, the Little Bee Eater by Trish Burr.

This was a needlepainting class

that I took at the 2014 Nordic Needle retreat.

Since then, I took another needlepaintiing

class with Tanja Berlin.

(I did finish that piece.)

I plan to rip out what I started

and do this one Tanja's (better) way.

Honest, I do.

13.

This is from the 2011 EGA Indiana State Day.

The piece is Ruby of the Forest by Marsha Papay-Gomola,

who is a wonderful teacher with a great sense of humor.

Take a class from her if you get a chance.

I swear, every single year I say to myself,

I need to get this guy finished up.

I've got all the padding done,

and a lot of the stitching on the bird.

Those were the only tricky parts.

The finished size would be a small ornament.

I can do this.

14.

This was a 2011 workshop hosted by

my EGA chapter.

My start is on the left.

As I was examining it today,

I find that it will finish to an odd size (5.3" square).

I have a 4x4-inch box.

Maybe I can eliminate some of the borders

and make it fit into that box top.
It's a plan.

15.

This is a workshop that I took at a
2010 EGA regional seminar.

Here is the teacher's model...

Yes, it's supposed to be a nametag, but it's
almost 5" in diameter which, to me,
seems too big for a nametag.
We did do most of the tricky parts in class,
and it wouldn't take long to finish stitching,
but I'm not sure how I would want
to use this piece, if I ever finished it.
Hmmm.

16.
And finally, last but not least...

This is truly my oldest UFO.
It's a dresser scarf that I started
around 2000-2001, before I started keeping records,
using one of the patterns from the hundreds 
in this cool folk art embroidery book
that I bought back in the day.
I'd give you the title--I still have the book--
but am not sure where it is right now.

Unfortunately, when I peeked into the bag 
to check which colors I had been using,
I saw that the red is an overdye: Buckeye Scarlet.  Uh-oh.
Someone wasn't thinking when she chose her colors!
Not being able to wash a dresser scarf is not a good thing.
It's probably the end of the line for this one.

Well, that's it, I think.
If you've stuck with me through
all my thinking out loud, congratulations!
We'll see which, if any, I finish
by the end of this year.
My deadline piece
should be at the front of the line--
and it has the most left to do
(after Save the Stitches, of course).

Hope your projects are going well.
Thanks for visiting!

April's Rotation

Hey Blog Buddies,

There's been a bit of stitching and some sewing (say what?) since my last proper update in March, and I've got a bunch of stuff to show you.  Let's take a peek.

First up is a finish!

Barbara Ana's Funky Bird.

She suggested finishing this as a ditty bag,

but I'm going to do a small framed piece.

He looks like he's been eating

a lot of those flowers, doesn't he?

Here is Needle Delights Originals'

Spring Logs.

It was half done last time we checked.

Actually, I'm a wee bit farther than this,

but this was a good point to take the photo.

I'm on track for a June finish.

I picked up Kay Stanis' Copper Illumination, too!

Here's where I was at last year.

And here's where I'm at now.

I was humming along, doing a little each morning,

then I took a break for my small trip.

And I haven't picked it up since.

Here's a close-up of the hyacinths.

They're double beaded, first in black,

then the purple goes on top

in a somewhat haphazard fashion.

It's still doable to finish this by the end of June,

but I'm setting aside a 10-dollar bill

just in case this challenge project remains stalled.

Since my morning stitching slot was vacant,

out came Prairie Schooler's I.

At first I thought Indian corn 

was an odd pick for the letter I,

but when I tried thinking of "I" words,

all I could come up with was

idiot, imp, ink, interstate...

maybe ice cream.

I think Indian corn is perfect.

I took a quilt class(!) last week,

sponsored by my quilt guild.

I liked the pattern,

Plum Street Quilts' Shadowplay.

This is my modest start.

It should look like 3-dimensional blocks

when it's finished--
hopefully, some time later this year.

Since I finished a project, why not start a new one?!

I've had this pattern in my stash for years.

Joseph's Coat by Lois Caron.

I'm doing it on white congress cloth,

and it's about four inches high.

The 18-count canvas that was provided

would have made the piece
way too big for an ornament.
(Congress cloth is 24 count.)

Carla asked about the Easter finish

on my last blog post, specifically

did I follow any kind of tutorial

(I'm assuming for the rick rack).

The instructions I used

can be found at A Spoonful of Sugar.

That's it for today.
Hope April is going well for you.
Thanks for visiting!

The 2017 List - Part 2

Today's featured project is one we haven't seen for a while here...

Some of you will recognize

Copper Illumination by Kay Stanis.

This is my challenge piece for my 

ANG (American Needlepoint Guild) chapter.

It needs to be completed by the end of June,

or I will be $10 poorer.

This is where I left off.

It's not really a large piece, but

the blackwork section on the left is "random,"

the large flowers on the bottom 

are all beads with purl purl leaves,

there's more goldwork on the sprig

of flowers in the upper left,

and there is a small piece of copper sheeting

that needs to be shaped into

that tulip design you see in the model.

($10 won't break me.)

This piece is still on the list because

if it's not finished this year,

I'm afraid it never will be.

Thanks for stopping by.

See you tomorrow!

Leap Year List - October Report

Hello Blog Buddies!

How did your September go?  Mine went very quickly!  We had a very warm month here, so my head is still in summer mode and it's hard to believe that there are only 79 days until Christmas!  (Somebody slap me...)

Rotation stitching took a small hit this past month, but I did OK considering I had a few distractions, as follows...

I started and finished this piece by

Plum Street Samplers, one of three patterns

from the Goodness and Plenty leaflet.

It will be made into a small pillow.

In September, I took an EGA French Boutis class,

taught by my good friend Averyclaire and

Elizabeth Janzen, the designer of the piece.

We were given a very detailed 10-page 

set of instructions to create this beautiful needle book.

Here is what I accomplished in class

on the wing of the cicada.

It's just a running stitch--

but there are a lot of them!

Then you take the provided yarn

and run it through the channels,

giving you a beautiful quilted look.

That is the short version.

This past weekend, I attended another EGA class

for Illinois State Day.

Kay Stanis was our teacher,

and Elegant Egg was our project.

We had three different colorways to choose from.

Most of us chose the purple.

First we had fun lacing up our canvas,

then we transferred the pattern onto the canvas

using the tissue paper method.

I didn't take a picture of that in class,

but it's similar to what I did

on Tanja Berlin's horse.

Here is my start on the

Milanese stitch background, 

done with metallic filament

right over all the lines that we basted!

The funky little flower in the lower right

corner was just for practice.

Hopefully, I'll do a better one

on the actual egg.

Speaking of Kay Stanis, I will segue right

into my rotation, and her

Copper Illumination piece.

You may recall this is my ANG challenge piece.

Here's what it looked like the last time we peeked at it.

Basically, this is what got done in the 2015 class.

Here it is now--all borders completed!

There's nothing like a little challenge to get
a project going again, eh?

A couple of close-ups.

I think this piece may go on hiatus

for a little while because

I don't need to have it finished

until next June...

For the past three years, my ANG chapter

has chosen one of the "log" designs

by Needle Delights Originals

as their ongoing project,

and this year is no different.

Here is my start on Spring Logs.

You can see that the logs

don't really line up on this piece.

This should be another fast, fun stitch.

Finally, one or two of you

may be wondering if I had any time

for my Prairie Schooler Alphabet piece.

I did.

My D isn't quite finished,

but I got a good start.

I love starting the day with this piece.

It's so easy, it's keeping me (somewhat) sane.

Well, that's it from here.
Thanks, as always, for dropping by.

Leap Year List - July Report

Hey Blog Buddies,

How's your July going?  We finally got some much-needed rain here overnight, and now it's really hot and steamy. Good weather to stay inside and stitch!

We've reached the halfway point of the year, and of the eleven pieces that I wanted to make progress on back in January, six are finished and two are active WIPs.  Here are the three that have been sadly neglected...

From the top:

Kindred Spirits by With My Needle;

Save the Stitches by Blackwork Journey;

Chicago Collage by Lynn Deininger.

Of these three, the top one, Kindred Spirits,

has been calling to me very softly.

I have five sides of the pin cube stitched,

so if I can finish that, maybe I can get going

 on the other small pieces in that group.

Notice I'm not saying anything about

the other two WIPs UFOs.

But, anyway, here's what's been going on since last month...

Tanya Berlin's Blackwork Horse looked like this last month.

I was hoping to finish it...

...and I did.  He's one of the 12 pieces I'll be taking

to the Lake County (IN) Fair this year.

Wish me luck.

I wanted to start (and finish) the "A"

in Prairie Schooler's Alphabet this month, too.

I didn't quite make it.

This block is about 40% finished.

Maybe next month.

I was working on another PS project,

so I can blame that for

my lack of progress on A is for Anchor.

This is where I was on A Farmer's Almanac

back in May.

Now, the barnyard has animals!

I'm doing this on 25-ct lugana over one,

and all that green just about did me in!

And yes, there is even more green to the left of the path.

The linen color is blue, similar to the first photo.

And I started and finished this, too:

La-D-Da's Summertime Roll-Up.

It will get finish-finished into a cute needleroll.

Last month I sketched out the pattern for 

The Missing Piece by Jennifer Riefenberg...

This month I got some outlining done...

And we have two additions(!) to the rotation...

This is another one by Needle Delights Originals.

This is my start.

I think I've done the only easy part.

And finally, last year I took a workshop

taught by Kay Stanis, Copper Illumination.

I haven't worked on this in over a year,

but the good ladies of my ANG chapter

chose this piece as my "challenge" for next year.

The vote was between

The Missing Piece (the smallest one),

Ripple Rotation 2 (probably too "easy"),

and Copper Illumination (the winner!).

This is where I'm at.

I have until the end of next June to finish it.

I forgot there were so many beads (all the flowers).

All I could think about was the blank piece of

copper that needs to be sculpted into a tulip.

If I don't finish in time, I'll owe the treasury $10.

I'd better start saving my pennies.

That's it for now.

Thanks for dropping by.