I Have Conquered "The Beast"!

Finishes

Yes, it's true.  I have prevailed over the Beast!  Not only is it finished, but framed as well.

My framer tends to finish these pieces in record time.  (Maybe he feels a sense of urgency because he's 94!)  Anyway, he works with his daughter, and she wasn't there when I went to pick this up.  They have a new credit card reader, and he hadn't yet gotten the tutorial on how to operate it.  So he just sent me on my way with the framed piece and said we could worry about the payment later!  We did go back later that afternoon, with our checkbook this time, even though he said it wasn't necessary that we come back the same day.  I hope he wouldn't do that with a new customer, although I wouldn't be surprised if he did--he's very nice.  And they do know me well.

Here are some close-ups...

I didn't bother to change the date!

Blue Jeans and Daisies

by Blue Ribbon Designs

I mentioned a March small that was being pillowfied in my last post.  Here it is...

It turned out OK!

A Prairie Year - March

by The Prairie Schooler

Progress

My Lizzie-Kate Spring piece hasn't received much love, so I won't show that here, but I'm moving right along on the Easter piece.

Holiday Delights, Easter

by Needle Delights Originals

New Start

I usually like to throw a blackwork piece into the mix, and this year I chose a PDF download from Ajisai Press...

Here is my start on the ladybug...

It's kind of scary looking, and way bigger than life-size.

It's like the ladybug that ate Cleveland!

So that's it from here.

Hope your February is going along well.

Thanks for visiting!

Only One WIP!

Let's pick up where we left off, and I'll tell you how my WIPs dwindled down to just one.  (Now when I talk about WIPs, I am not including any of my UFOs.  They will be a story for another post.)

My mammoth project, the PS Alphabet, was stitched up and shipped off to the finisher to be made more beautiful.

I previously showed this little canvaswork start, Valentine's Day by Needle Delights Originals:

Since this design is very February, I wanted to finish it quickly, and I did.  These small designs are very fun to do.

I have a six-by-six box that I use to display seasonal designs in the lid, and this one is there now.

I had also shown you this little start...

...another seasonal design that I wanted to display with my other "winter" pillows.

So here it is.  The red and gray felt "pennies" were included with the chart.  The way I attached them looks a little ragged to me; the designer predicted that they would look similar to this, and said that it is part of their charm.  Okaaay.

I started and finished the March design from PS's A Prairie Year leaflet, but it is in the process of being pillowfied right now, so I'll show it next time.

So that left me with only Blue Ribbon Designs' Blue Jeans and Daisies (the "beast") in the WIP pile.  Here is my start on the lower part of the left third of the design (previously posted):

And here is where I was a couple of days ago (yes, I'm a bit farther than this today)...

I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel on this one.  I really like finishing projects more than starting them.  But I need to switch between projects; I usually stitch on at least two, sometimes three, projects during the course of a day.  Does this mean I have stitching ADD?  

So I needed to go to my very local "store" -- my computer/sewing room, open 24/7, 365 days a year -- and see what I could find.  Many, many projects got my attention, but I limited it to just two.

This is Spring, from Lizzie Kate's Spring Smalls leaflet.  There is a theme here, isn't there?  This one was not kitted up, so I had to hunt around for the threads and fabric.  The model was stitched on a beige-y linen, but I pepped it up by using Kermit as the ground.  I think it works for spring as well as Halloween.  (I had previously used this linen for L-K's Hocus Pocus--you can see it somewhere in this rather long post.) I always buy more than I need of any linen that I like--which is most of them!  This strategy works out well when you want to start a project when the store isn't open, or you simply don't want to leave the house!  This project should stitch up pretty quickly.  Yes, this will be another pillow.  2019 is the Year of the Small Pillows around here.

Easter Sunday occurs pretty late this year but spring, hopefully, is just around the corner.  I could keep those canvaswork hearts in my box until summer at least, but why do that when I have the Easter design by--you guessed it--Needle Delights Originals.

The colors are displaying a little strangely on my computer.  They are much more pastel-y in real life.  The tulips at the top, for instance, are medium pink, light yellow and medium purple.  Hopefully that's what you're seeing.  This one was a no-brainer:  all kitted up and ready to go.

Well, that's it from here.

Hope you are enjoying the weekend.

Thanks, as always, for visiting.

Two Years, Eight Months and Three Days

That's how long it took to stitch

the Prairie Schooler Alphabet.  

And, yes, it's done!

This is by far the biggest project I have undertaken,

so it deserves its own post.

Those of you reading this blog in 2016 

may remember how excited I was to get

this long, narrow piece of fabric that

I had earmarked for the project.

It's kind of hard to photograph the entire piece.

With each block measuring 70 x 100 stitches,

including the little borders that were backstitched

around each block, the piece measures a hefty

216 x 916 stitches!

You can see a bit more detail

with these close-ups.

I went lighter on a lot of the

called-for colors.

I also looked at each chart carefully

to see whether any stitches

were charted outside of the

70 x 100 parameters.

Many were, and my decision

was to edit the blocks

so that they would be uniform.

N for Nest was a challenge because

the birds' tails hung out an

extra 2 stitches on either side.

I wound up shortening their bodies.

T for Time is my favorite block.

Finishing this project was bittersweet

because I really enjoyed every stitch.

The fabric is 32-count evenweave,

stitched 2 over 2,

so the finished size is

13.5 x 58 inches.

And daylight shows the true color

of the ground fabric.

That's it from here.

We're in for some record-setting

cold temperatures here,

so everyone dealing with

weather extremes,

please stay safe.

Thanks for visiting.

A Snowy Weekend...

...is good for eating snow, if you're Molly...

...and good for staying indoors and stitching, if you're me.

Here is my latest small finish:

This is from Prairie Schooler's

A Prairie Year booklet.

I am into small seasonal pillows this year.

And as long as we're talking stitching,
these are the projects that

I'm actively working on and

sincerely hope to finish this year.
Actually, I hope to finish at least
two of them this month:

Minimal progress has been made on the Beast.

But at least those @#$%^&* bees are done!

The actual name of the project is

Blue Jeans and Daisies by

Blue Ribbon Designs.

I'm having a lot of issues with it.
This is definitely not one of the projects
that I hope to finish this month.

This is Needle Delights Originals'

Holiday Delights Valentine's Day.

Would you believe that the small hearts

come from a skein of Watercolours that is

 a totally different color than

the large heart?

And they show up less well

against the lilac background IRL.

So I held my breath and
ripped them out (very carefully)

because I wasn't restitching that background!

And I was careful to avoid the pink parts
 of the thread when I restitched the small hearts.

Better.

Here's another little seasonal start.

There are two very similar designs in this chart:

Solitude and Serenity.

I'm doing Solitude.

Last but not least
this one needs no introduction:

So near, and yet so far.

I lightened up the flowers considerably.

The red flowers would have been

the same color as the watering can.
And the purples would have been darker.
The leaves were charted in a much darker color, too.

I'm happy with the changes.

That's it for now.
Thanks for visiting!