Fair Results and Rainforest, Framed

Hey Blog Buddies,

Thanks so much for all your kind comments about my pyramid!  (I will miss it when it's gone.)  To answer the question "Why 39?":  I am making one for each of the 27 people who will be attending my embroidery guild's workshop in September.  The rest will be sold at my quilt guild's boutique in November.  (Do I belong to too many guilds?)  And I will keep one, or maybe two, for myself.

Yesterday I got my stuff back from the Lake County Fair!

Front Row:  Uptown Stitcher by Libby Sturdy,

NOEL by Erica Michael, Soar by Brenda Gervais

Back Row:  CT13 by Alessandra Adelaide

No Sweeps or Champion ribbons,

but I'm quite happy with how I did.

And today, I went to pick up Rainforest Revisited at the framers.

This is Sue at The Great Frame-Up in

Orland Park, IL.

She does all my framing.

I love how it looks--you can tell I'm not a fan of ornate!

This one will go up next to Rainforest Crunch.

Now that I have two that can hang in the space I've picked,

I can take down all the small Christmas

pictures that have been up since last year!

That's it for now.

Hope you get time to do something fun today.

Thanks for visiting!

July IHSW: A Big Finish!

Hey Blog Buddies,
A couple of weeks ago, I received a $50 coupon in the mail from my local framing shop.  It had an expiration date of July 31st.  If that's not incentive to finish a project and get it framed, I don't know what is!  So I grabbed Rainforest Revisited and got busy.  At that point, I had nine squares to go, and I'm happy to tell you that it's now finished.  Well, happy and a little sad, too, because I'm going to miss it.  Every square was different (some were really different!), so I never got bored.

The finished size of the design

is 8" by 16".

Here are some larger-than-life close-ups

of the more recently worked squares:

Another "psychedelic" design!

This one is actually cuter in real life...

Kathy (Rees, the designer of this piece)

just loves to create multiple changes of direction!

I love the metallic threads

peeking out of the waffle-stitch band!

I changed the colors around on this one.

Winter Wheat was recommended

(not my favorite--too drab)

so I substituted the orange variegated thread

which is Watercolours Marigold.

That's it!  That's all I did stitching-wise this weekend.

DH was wondering (probably not seriously)

if there was going to be a void in my life now.

I have one or twelve other WIPs

clamoring for my attention.

So, no!

You know, I just realized that I have tended

to finish projects more often than not

during recent International Hermit and Stitch Weekends.

No pressure for August, though!

Click here for links to see what my

fellow hermitters were doing this weekend.

Hope you had a fun weekend!

And thanks, as always, for visiting!

WIPocalypse 2012 - July Report

Hey Blog Buddies,

The year is half over, but am I half done with my WIPocalypse list?  Uhhh, no.  Here's what I accomplished last month:

This was a quick start and finish.

(And see, it did get framed!)

I have had this Lizzie*Kate chart for several years.

Here is another start of a chart that I've had for a while.

(Raise the Roof's Crabby All Year)

The finish on this one won't be quite as speedy.

If I can complete two squares per month,

it should get done this year.

Rainforest Revisited got a tiny bit of love.

Here's where I was at last month:

And here's where I'm at now:

I stitched the three squares in the current top row,

which is actually the second row of the piece.

I also recently started Plum Street Sampler's Boris.

That didn't turn out too well (see previous post).

But here is the new and improved Boris:

He looks so much better (IMO).

The area of the fabric that I frogged

almost looks like aida cloth now (heheh)!

But those puny-looking letters have to be redone, too!

Will everything on my list be completed

before the end of the year?

Realistically, no.

I have a fair amount of commitment stitching

staring me in the face.

And there are two or three recently-purchased (cough, cough) charts

that are just begging to be stitched.

But I'm pretty certain Rainforest will get done.

And there will be other finishes from the list, too.

Stay tuned...

Click the dragon on my sidebar

to find out more about this SAL.

Hope your month has been productive.

Thanks for visiting!

A Short Walk through the Damp Woods

Hey Blog Buddies,

I was working on Rainforest Revisited this past week, and it seemed to be going pretty slowly. Oddly I just wasn't in the mood for it, so I only finished three squares.  Here they are:

(the prettiest one)

The star is worked in one color (Caron Watercolours Rainforest).

The background was supposed to be Belle Soie silk,

but I'm not a big fan of (1) silk or (2) using a laying tool,

so I substituted DMC #5 pearl cotton in the same color as the silk!

Works for me!

(I'm probably one of only a handful of stitchers who will

substitute the called-for silk with DMC!!)

This would be really psychedelic

if it weren't stitched in all browns.

(I know I'm dating myself using that word!)

Last but not least, the designer

described this stitch as like basketweave, 

only over three instead of one.

And of course it changes direction,

like almost all of the stitches in this project. 

This coming week I'm planning on

starting a "new" project.

It's on my 2012 WIPocalypse list

and has been kitted up for ages.

This one would be a snap if it didn't have

all the letters of the alphabet floating around in the ether.

Did I mention it's on 36-count linen?

Bring out the magnifiying glass!

(Can you guess which one it is?)

Hope everyone had a good weekend!

Thanks for visiting!

WIPocalypse 2012 - June Report

Hey Blog Buddies,

May was a much more productive month for me than April, so I've got a few things to show you.  Let's start with a finish!  Here's the before photo:

And here's the finish,

Alessandra Adelaide's CT13:

Rainforest Revisited by Needle Delights Originals

also got some love in May.

Here's the before picture:

I added eight more squares since then

(the top and bottom rows):

Last and probably least,

at this point anyway,

I made a start on Raise the Roof's "Crabby All Year."

It's on my list because I've had the charts for quite a while.

So, say hello to June:

"B"?  Really??

Yes, June is "Bugs!"

I had a bad moment with it this morning.

As you can see, I did measure for the center and

basted a line down the middle.

Trying to be careful here

because this is another BAP.

I'm doing all the months on one piece of linen.

Then it hit me:

there's an 80-thread header I forgot about!

I vaguely remembered Joy at House of Stitches

telling me I was getting a little extra

when she cut the fabric.

(I think my measurements were

almost equal to the width of the fabric.)

So I counted, and there's plenty of room at the top!

Whew!!

That's it for this month.

Hope your month was productive, too!

And thanks for visiting!

May IHSW: Three Squares

Hey Blog Buddies,

The May International Hermit and Stitch Weekend has come and gone and I am happy to say that I stitched three squares in my Rainforest Revisited project (my goal was at least two):

This square is a bit on the dark side

and not too contrasty--

not one of my favorites, I must admit.

(It's actually a bit brighter in this photo than in real life.)

It also took me quite awhile to stitch

because there were a lot of

over-one and over-two stitches.

This is a really fun design--

although the color in the photo is off.

What appears to be beige is a lot more gold IRL.

And the pinks are a bit more orange.

This little cutie stitched up really quickly

because a lot of it was over four.

One more square

and I'll be at the halfway point

in the project!

It was quite crazy in Chicago yesterday,

and today promises to be more of the same.

Needless to say, we didn't go into the city

let alone anywhere near the Loop or McCormick Place!

It was a really good weekend

to hermit and stitch!!

Hope your weekend setting

was a bit more serene.

Thanks for visiting!

And thanks for all of your kind comments, too!

WIPocalypse 2012 - April Report

Hey Blog Buddies,

It's the April full moon and it's time for another WIPocalypse update, so I'll get right to it:

First up is a finish!  I had a freebie Calico Crossroads chart in my possession...

(my "before" photo")

... since approximately the turn of the new millenium, so I finally stitched it up--and it's finish-finished!

I finished it as a bellpull.

The floss used for the lettering is something

I've had for a long time,

and the label has long since been removed.

Next is Rainforest Revisited by Needle Delights Originals.

Here is where I left off last month...

...and this is where it's at now.

I'm happy with my progress on this one.

There are 32 squares in all, so I'm over a third done.

Last is CT13 by Alessandra Adelaide, my swirly tree:

Here's where I was at last month...

...and here's what the tree looks like now.

It hasn't grown an inch over the past month,

but, like almost every other tree in this area,

it's sprouting leaves!

Many, many tiny leaves.

The leaves are bringing the tree to life,

but it's slow going and kind of tedious.

Some folks don't like to do backstitching--

I'm not a fan of this confetti-type stitching.

Well, that's it for this time.

If you want to check out all the other

April WIPocalypse posts,

go to Measi's blog for all the links.

Have a happy Easter, Passover, Equinox

or whatever else you may be celebrating.

And thanks for visiting!

Another Walk in the Rainforest

Hey Blog Buddies,

This was my week for working on Rainforest Revisited, and my goal was to stitch eight squares.  I'm happy to say that I accomplished that, even though the time devoted to it might have exceeded a week by a day or two.  But hey, it's my rule and I can bend it if I want to!  Following are the eight squares newly added to the piece:

This is probably the most "boring" square

in my opinion, although everything is relative.

The star in this square is constructed

very similarly to a waffle stitch.

It stitches up quickly once you get a rhythm going.

The rather zany variegated thread here is

a Caron Watercolour called "Burnt Toast."

I have never seen pinks or purples in toast!

Kids, don't try to stitch this one if you're tired...

The diagram alone gave me a headache,

but I like the finished product.

You can see every crack where the canvas shows

through in this close-up shot!

But it's not that noticeable to the naked eye

even 18 inches away...

Watercolours "Sticks and Stones" was used for the middle,

one of my new favorite colors.

This is the only square (so far) that has called for

metallic threads.  I like the sparkle.

Last but certainly not least is

another waffle-stitched star.

The instructions were to use

a 3-yard piece of thread(!) so that you

wouldn't have to start a new thread midstream.

This is probably my favorite square so far.

(My favorite keeps changing.)

I'll save the photo of the piece as a whole

for the WIPocalypse update on Friday.

Gotta have something new to show then!

Hope your weekend was fun!

Thanks for visiting!

Some Progress on Rainforest

Hey Blog Buddies,

I've been working on Rainforest Revisited by Needle Delights Originals this week, and despite having to frog out nearly half of one square, I have a total of four squares finished:

I am really enjoying stitching this project

(just like I enjoyed Rainforest Crunch last year).

There are some silk threads involved this time,

which means having to lay them.

I don't have a laying tool--oh, the horror!

I just use my fingers.

And the silk tends to stick to my fingers,

especially since they're so dry from the

low humidity in our house.

But it's all good.

The beige (as well as the brown outlining)

in this square are silk.

I would not have put the gold pearl cotton

with the pinkish Watercolour thread,

but I think it works.

This is my favorite block so far,

not only because it doesn't call for any silks,

but in real life the thread colors seem to just glow.

I'm sticking to my rotation,

which means I'm setting this project aside for now.

I've already started a small project this evening.

Hopefully, I'll have a finish to show you before

the end of the week.

Hope you got some stitching in this weekend.

Thanks for visiting!

IHSW: A Happy Dance That's Been Almost 10 Years in the Making

Hey Blog Buddies,

I did it--worked diligently during International Hermit & Stitch Weekend (IHSW), and  I put the final stitches in yesterday!  If you're a regular reader of this blog, you are probably tired of seeing her face by now--not, however, as tired as I was of putting my painfully slow progress out there.  So here she is, the Uptown Stitcher by Libby Sturdy:

She is now all dolled up

and ready for her first shopping expedition!

I was fretting the most about how I was

going to do the trim on the hat.

Well, the netting for the lace went on fine,

and the instructions for the flowers

were simply to make loops of different sizes.

So I did.

Didn't really have to frog anything

while I was doing it.

(Notice that she has earrings to match her necklace.)

Her @#%^& shopping bag

was another story, however.

I said I wasn't going to redo it, but it was

just bothering me too much to leave it alone.

I can't say that I'm pleased with my third attempt,

just that I dislike it less than the other two.

I'm not going to bore you with what is wrong with it

that I can't seem to fix after three tries.

I put cording around the body of the purse

because some canvas threads were showing

where I plunged the unwoven threads

attached to the purse into the main canvas.

I think that part turned out well.

And to treat myself for finally finishing

the old biddy the lovely lady,

I started a new project:

This is the first square from

Rainforest Revisited by Needle Delights Originals.

One down, 31 more to go!

This project should cause me

a lot less grief than Ms. Uptown Stitcher!

It's the companion piece to

Rainforest Crunch, which I stitched last year.

A big thanks to Joyce for hosting the IHSW!

To see the progress of all the other participants,

go to her blog for all the links.

Happy blog hopping

and thanks, as always, for visiting!