Ukrainian Embroidery Workshop

Hey Blog Buddies,
Yesterday was the Big Day!  Our Guild brought Terri Bay down from Minnesota to teach us her Ukrainian Whitework Diamond Ornament.   To refresh your memory, here it is:

I still have to redo the cording on mine, but it's not in my list of top 10 things to do.

The venue, Briar Ridge Country Club, was beautiful--

lots of natural light.  There was a window wall behind the photographer, too.

Terri is knowledgeable and fun,

and her charts and instructions are very detailed.

There was plenty to eat:  coffee, tea and Danish first thing,

soup and salad bar for lunch,

and giant cookies in the afternoon!

(Sorry, no food photos!)

Our Guild also made a little money back

from some handmade items and gift baskets

that were donated by members and raffled off.

(Yikes, I didn't get photos of those, either.)

At our request, Terri brought some

of her other charts to sell,

and displayed some of her beautiful work

for show and tell:

...a stunning, large lace piece and cute needle fob...

...blackwork(!) and Ukrainian embroidery...

...a hem stitch sampler...

...and who knew just eyelets and cable stitch

could be so gorgeous!

We had 27 sign-ups, only one no-show

and no major catastrophes.  Phew!

A big, big thanks to Terri for making our workshop so special,

and to everyone who attended and/or helped!

(You know who you are!)

Now I'm off to shred all my lists from last week

and spend some quality time

with my bottle of California jug wine.  ;)

Hope your weekend is going swimmingly.

Thanks for visiting!

Ukrainian Ornie: A Finish-Finish!

Hey Blog Buddies,
I figure if I keep on finish-finishing ornaments myself, "someday" I will be adept enough to do it so that (a) they're to my liking and (b) I quit pulling my hair out during the process.  In the meantime, here is my little Ukrainian whitework project, finished as an ornament:

It really looks cute finished this way.

My first attempt at making the cording went awry.

(My cord was just a little too short.)

So I was determined that my second cord

would be long enough--and it was.

You can't see the tassels in this photo

because they hang about 12 inches

below the ornament!

If you would like to learn how to do this whitework technique

and live anywhere near northwest Indiana

(or would like to go on a road trip),

my Guild is hosting a workshop

on September 8, 2012,

and anyone is welcome to sign up!

And bring a friend!

We have lots of space now,

but the number of students is limited.

Click the photo of the ornie on my sidebar

to get all the details.

Or email me--that would work, too.

Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend.

Thanks for visiting!

WIPocalypse 2012 - May Report

Hey Blog Buddies,

This past month my WIPocalypse rotation just got kicked to the curb!  It was a combination of my trip to Fargo, ND, for the Nordic Needle Retreat and some obligation stitching.  Oh well, that's the way it goes sometimes.  But I did find a little time in the past three days to work on CT 13.  I guess DH must be getting a little tired of the swirly red tree, because when it reappeared on Wednesday he said:  "Haven't you finished that yet??"

Here's where I left off last month.

Here's where I am as of today.

We had a bit of lopsided three growth!

Isn't it weird what different lighting

will do to the color?

The top photo is more representative

of the floss color.

I also have a little bonus finish to show you!

I'm including it here just because.

This is a model for a Ukrainian whitework workshop

that's being offered by my Guild in September.

I think the design is cute as a button!

And the workshop will eventually be

opened up to the public,

so stay tuned.

That's it for this full moon.

Happy stitching...

...and thanks for visiting!

Pop Quiz

Hey Blog Buddies,

First of all, thank you for all your kind comments.  I appreciate them more than you know.

Now, for the pop quiz.  Have you ever done it in public?  At a baseball game?  In a park or on the beach?  On a bus or train?  I've done it in parks (but not the beach--too sandy), libraries, trains, cafeterias and on my desk at work (but only during lunch hour!) and county fairs.  I'm sure many of you have done it in a doctor's waiting room.  Sure, you may get some strange looks, but then there are some curious people who will come up to you and ask what you're doing and ask if they can do it with you.  And it's always more fun to stitch with a buddy.  Yes, stitching!  What did you think I meant?

As many of you may already know, this Saturday, February 4, is Stitch-in-Public Day here in the United States.  The Mothership (Embroidery Guild of America) is sponsoring this event.  When I told DH what I would be doing this Saturday, he was genuinely puzzled and asked what the point of it was.  So I explained:  (1) to get people interested in stitching; (2) to teach people to stitch who are so inclined; and (3) to promote our guild.

Here is the flyer.

As you can see it's from 10am to 4pm

at the Munster Public Library,

8701 Calumet,

Munster, Indiana.

If you're in the area,

bring a project, come on down,

and do it in public with us!

No sign-up or registration required.

We're a fun group and

we won't twist your arm to join the guild, I promise!

Here is what I've started this week:

Kinda looks like a goal post, doesn't it?

But it's my first attempt at

Ukrainian drawn thread embroidery.

The vertical sides are satin stitch,

the top row is hem stitch,

and the next row is Roman stitch.

That's all I've done so far.

Hope what you're doing today is fun.

Thanks for visiting.

First Start of the Year

Hey Blog Buddies,

Happy New Year to all of you!  2012 is rollin' and it's the 2nd already.  I do have one modest little start to share with you.

As you can see, it's the January Flip-It by Lizzie Kate.

I haven't gotten too much done on it, because I'm working to finish-finish a little giftie for a friend who sometimes pokes her head into this blog.  A photo of that little project will be forthcoming in a few days.

I have been reading your blogs and notice that there are a lot of posts about progress on 2011 goals.   I didn't have any goals for 2011!  This blog didn't even exist last year at this time.

HOWEVER.... I did finish 26 projects last year.  OK, a lot of them were small:  ornies and bookmarks and such.  But still, that's pretty good for me.

This year I have joined the 2012 WIPocalypse.  Everyone works on their WIPs in hopes of finishing them.  But you don't even have to limit yourself to WIPs, you can add new starts, too--it's very flexible and sounds like it will be a lot of fun.  Measi is in charge, and the deadline to sign up isn't until January 15th.  If that sounds like fun to you, run over to her blog here and sign up.  You could end up winning a prize!  Here is my WIPocalypse list so far:

Lizzie Kate's January Flip-It (above)

Libby Sturdy's Uptown Stitcher

3 more Quilt Collection ornaments from Laura J. Perin

Needle Delight's Rainforest Revisited

Plum Street Sampler's Hare's Christmas

Alessandra Adelaide's CT 13

Stumpwork Cardinal by Marsha Papay-Gomola

A couple of quilting projects, to be determined

...and you know more will be added as the year moves along.

The other thing I want to accomplish in 2012 is learning how to do Ukrainian Drawn Thread Embroidery.  I have an instructional book...

..so that's a start.

I had a groovy 2011 here in Blogland.  Thanks to all of you who stopped by to read my ramblings.  And a very special thanks to those of you who took the time to become Followers and/or commented on a post.  It means a great deal to me--otherwise I'd think I'm just talking to myself here, and that would be no fun.

I hope that 2012 is happy, healthy and filled with stitchy goodness for all of you.

And, as always, thanks for visiting!