U, V and Three C's

Happy Friday, Everyone!

Except for the past couple of days, our weather has been either hot & humid or rainy, so I've been busy stitching.  I have a lot to show, considering it's been slightly less than a month since my last post.  (I'm getting better...)

I'll do the letters from the title in order. I showed the unfinished U from the PS Alphabet leaflets last month.  Here is the finish.

You know, I just realized that

I didn't stitch the dog's eye, so it's almost a finish.

Next, my goal was to start and finish the V this month...

...and I did it!

This appears to be a nod to the Aesop's Fable

about the fox and the grapes.

But that's no fox -- they don't have flop ears!

I think it might be a redbone coonhound mix

who dipped the tip of his tail into a bucket of peroxide.

But he's still cute.

Now for the C's:

I got the Chickadee that I showed you last month

finished and framed!

He'll be going to the Fair.

Yes, it's Fair time again -- starts one week from today,

and the needlework exhibits have to be

brought in tomorrow!

Next up is a new (to me) designer.

As many of you know, this is my hometown.

The designer is Tiny Modernist.

I haven't finish finished this yet,

but it will probably become a small pillow

since wall space is at a premium around here.

And finally, my 11th hour finish for the Fair:

Christmas Cardinal by Jemini Designs.

This is from the Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornament magazine.

His wings are of wool, and the tail is

made of memory thread, in case anyone is wondering.

I've had it kitted up for several years,

and just finished it the day before yesterday.

As far as the WIP pile is concerned,

I plan to start on the W tomorrow;

I've made minuscule progress on

Blue Jeans & Daisies and Poppers,

so won't show them here.

And I have a new small start:

It's time for some Hallowe'en with

Spell of the Moon,

another chart that I've had for quite some time.

My Ho Ho Ho ANG challenge project

is still in the planning stage. 😉

Have a great weekend,

and thanks for stopping by!

This Year's Goals

Hey stitching peeps. How's 2018 been treating you so far?

I've put some effort into planning my stitching line-up for this year, and the list is surprisingly modest...so far.  Let's start with my current WIPs:

This is Winter Wind by Prairie Schooler.

This photo shows only the top third of the design,

but I'm quite a bit farther than that.

I generally don't like to predict,

but this will likely be my first finish this year,

perhaps some time this week.

I've got a bit done on Blue Ribbon Designs'
Blue Jeans and Daisies.

This is a fairly good-sized piece, and
I'm hoping for a mid-year finish. (hehe)
If I don't finish it this year,
I'll have to pick out the date!

Here is Ho Ho Ho by Debbie Forney.
At a minimum, I need to do Santa's beard,
to convince myself that I still remember
how to do the bullion knots that make it up.
If I get the beard and mustache done,
it will all be downhill from there.
Maybe.

And my last current WIP is
our old friend the Prairie Schooler Alphabet.

Poor headless owl.
A little more done in the past couple weeks, no?
My fervent desire is to finish O through X this year.
(hahhahahahahaha)

A piece that I need to get started on

is Plum Street Sampler's Merry Friends.

This needs to be finished by the vernal equinox,

because I will be taking a tart finishing class 

from Vonna (the Twisted Stitcher) at

the Fancy Works retreat in March,

and this will be the tart!

No, I have not started this one yet.

There will be a patriotic pincushion exchange

at the retreat, and if the tart stitching goes well,

here is something that I had planned

to make for the exchange:

Liberty Starburst by

Summer House Stitche Workes.

This one is a definite maybe.

And I simply must do a blackwork piece, right?

I have this cute bird from Tanja Berlin, all ready to go.
I must admit that it looks a little intense.

In March I have two workshops to attend:

Kathy Rees (Needle Delights Originals)
is teaching one of her pieces at my ANG guild!
I'm really excited about this one.
I've done so many of her pieces,
but I've never had the opportunity to take one of her classes.

The name of the piece is Highland Circle.

Then my quilt guild snagged Bonnie Hunter (Quiltville)
and she will be teaching her Pineapple Blossom quilt.

I'm a little nervous about tackling this,
but the only way to improve a skill is with practice, right?

And that's it, so far.
As I said before, a modest line-up for me.
We'll see what the rest of the year brings.

Hope you're having fun with your stitching
because that's what it's all about.
Thanks for visiting!

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.

Leap Year List - June Report

Hey Blog Buddies,

This month things got finished, moved along, and there were even a couple of new starts, too (no!!).  Make yourself comfortable and get ready for lots of photos.

Our old friend, Autumn Logs

by Needle Delights Originals.

This is where I was at last month.

Finally, it's finished!

We can bid this project a fond farewell,

but first a couple of close ups...

Onward!  Last month Dawn Chorus

by Long Dog Samplers looked like this...

I didn't think it would get finished this month,
but lo and behold!

Yes, my framer is really fast.

And the farewell close-ups...

Moving on, here's what Tanja Berlin's

Blackwork Horse, Haflinger Breed looked like

last month...

The clock is ticking on this one.  

My self-imposed deadline is the end of this month.

I'll make it if I stick with it.  Here's what he looks like now...

There'll be a little more definition in

the head once I do the stem stitch outline.

That will be done last.
The mane has a lot of dense stitching,
so that will probably take a while.

Way back at the beginning of the year

I showed this piece as part of my list,

and you haven't seen it since.

This is The Missing Piece by Jennifer Riefenberg.
Quite apropos, no?

It was last October's class at my local ANG chapter.

As you can see, there are rectangles

(each one a different stitch and a different thread)

and the puzzle piece outlines kind of overlay them.

The reason I hadn't started this piece

is because I had to draw all that on the canvas,

and I procrastinated because I thought it would be
a nightmare.

I finally took the plunge,

and the drawing of the canvas went a
lot more smoothly than I had anticipated.
This piece is designed to be an exercise in compensation.

Here is a small seasonal piece
which is not part of the Leap Year List.

I started and finished this piece in May.

Red White and Blue by Lizzie-Kate.

I finished it as a small picture,

instead of the pillow it was intended to be.
The fabric in the background was
included in the kit to be a pillow backing.

This past month, I also started my
EGA Chapter's mystery sampler.

The basting is completed,
and one of several borders is stitched.
The four sections will depict the four seasons.
That's I all know about it so far.

Finally, as a reward for finishing Dawn Chorus,
I started yet another piece this month.
Frequent readers of this blog will not
be surprised to learn that it is
The Prairie Schooler Alphabet.

I was fiddling around with the colors a lot.
I started out using the called-for DMC,
but most of my colors appear a lot darker
than the photo on the leaflet.

The color on the left is the "red" that was called for.
The color on the right is the red I ended up using.

As you can see, if I had used the called-for "red," 
the B would not have been distinguishable.
The gray-green on the pie pan is too dark as well.
You can't really see the design very well.
But I'm not ripping it out.
I substituted a lighter shade for the door.

This has been put away for now,
but I can't wait to start the A.
(I did the B first because it was in the middle of
my three-across row, and I like to start in the middle.)
The biggest difficulty so far has been
rolling the 70 inches of fabric onto my scroll bars!
It was a challenge getting it tight enough,
but now this project should be smooth, if lengthy, sailing.

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