A Finish and a Start

Hey Blog Buddies,

Hope your weekend was fun.  Winter returned here on Saturday, complete with tiny ice pellets, and early summer made an appearance on Sunday (70 degrees--a gorgeous day).  And I did finish one of my ongoing projects this weekend, to-wit:

Variations on a Theme of Rhodes

by Freda's Fancy Stitching

This was a class I took in January.

Rhodes stitches aren't really that difficult

and they're actually fun, except when you

have instructions that call for extra-long lengths of thread

for stitches such as the corner triangles.

Those weren't too bad because the triangles were stitched with

just one strand of Carol Watercolours (Flagstone)

even though the length recommended was

"double the length of your outstretched arms."

What drove me nuts (just ask DH about my language)

were the Jessicas that called for 3 strands of DMC floss

which were not quite as long but had to be laid.

For those of you not familiar with the Jessica,

it is the round stitch, middle left.

I realize that the more I do this technique

(laying multiple strands of thread)

the better I will get at it,

but I guarantee that I will never enjoy doing it.

The smaller triangles you see pictured

were also stitched with three strands of DMC.

Eight of each needed to be stitched.

I'm very happy to be done with this one,

but I don't regret doing it because

the design is so eye-catching.

Having finished my Rhodes piece,

I'm feeling less guilty about starting a new project,
Rosewood Manor's A Tree by Itself.

Here is what the project will look like (one day):

It calls for 56 colors, 31 of which are shades of green!

The saying at the top reads:

"Hold on to what is good, even if it is a handful of earth.

And hold on to what you believe,

even if it is a tree which stands by itself."

According to the booklet,

the saying is from the Pueblo nation.

Here is my modest start:

The colors are a little on the dark side

because it's a cloudy day here.

The linen is 36-count lamb's wool,

and I'm using the recommended DMC threads,

except for the saying, which I'm stitching in

CC German Chocolate instead of 310.

(Yes, my lovelies, the color of that first "Hold" will be changed.)

Well, the excitement for this week will be

a 630-mile road trip to Fargo, ND with my friend Joyce (no blog).

We'll be attending Nordic Needle's annual stitching retreat.

They have quite a bit of snow up there, with more predicted.  Oy!!

We're leaving on Wednesday, and will be back

the following Monday--with four new WIPs for each of us.

Stay tuned for photos and a retreat recap!

That's it for now.

Have a wonderful, stitchy week and

thanks for visiting!

Blackwork Exhibition

Hey Blog Buddies,
I got the latest copy of NeedleArts magazine in the mail today, and, being the blackwork fan that I am, when I saw the cover, all I could say was "oooooooooo!"

The Embroiderers' Guild of America (EGA)

is having a contemporary blackwork exhibition at their

headquarters in Louisville, Kentucky from now

through the end of June.

The cover features one of the prettier pieces on exhibit--

and there were a bunch of very "interesting" pieces

illustrating the story inside the magazine.

Now that I've seen selected photos of these beauties,

there may be a road trip to Louisville in my future!

In other news, I was the winner of Sharon's giveaway!

I got this cute Purple Heart chart

by Ewe and Eye and Friends,

and a bunch of limited edition GAST overdyed floss,

in an array of happy spring colors.

Can't wait to stitch the heart!

Thanks again, Sharon!

I've made some progress on

Variations on a Theme of Rhodes:

The sheaf stitches are new, as are the small squares.

I'm actually a little farther along than this photo shows,

but I stopped at a point where the elements were not symmetrical,

and didn't want to photograph the piece that way.

(I'm a little nutty in that regard.)

I went to a scissor holder class on Saturday.

It's my first painted canvas in almost forever.

Hey, I mounted it on the stretcher bars!

Does that count as a start?

This project should be a lot of fun.

Last but not least,

my right mitten and left hand are very happy

that I completed mitten #2.

I will be wearing these when I go out this evening.

They have already seen action at

the local home improvement warehouse store

earlier today.

Well, that's it for now.

Hope you had a fun, stitchy weekend.

Thanks for visiting!

New Start: Canvaswork Class

Hey Blog Buddies,
January has turned out to be a very busy month, stitching-wise, here at The Southpaw Stitcher.  I've put stitches into 12 projects (the usual rotation is about one project per week) and finished 7 of them, and the month isn't even over!  Most of them were small projects, or projects left over from 2012, but still.   I signed up for a canvaswork class which was held today, and now I have a new start to show you:

This is the start of Variations on a Rhodes Theme by

Freda's Fancy Stitching.

Like the name of the project says,

all the stitches are some type of Rhodes stitch.

I couldn't get the colors right

no matter how hard I tried.

The center square is gray/purple

and not green/burgundy

(it's Watercolours Flagstone),

and the aqua isn't quite as intense.

There's nothing like a canvas full of Rhodes stitches

to generate an immediate wow factor.

Unfortunately, this little beauty must be set aside.

I'm stitching on a valentine-themed piece

for Jo's Secret Stitching Sweetheart Blog Hop.

I'll be keeping this one under wraps until the 14th of February.

Click here if you'd like to join in the fun!

Finally, don't forget to check out my giveaway,

if you haven't already.

The last day to enter is tomorrow,

January 27th at 11:59 p.m. Chicago time.

Click here to find out all about it.

Good luck!

That's it for today.

Hope you're having fun this weekend.

Thanks, as always, for visiting.