A little inspiration

Inspiration by Rosewood Manor. Not a ton of progress, but I'm happy with how it is progressing. Because there are so many stops and starts this is one where you feel like you are running in place for ever and ever and then all the sudden you take a step back and Hey! there IS progress after all. :) I think I'll have that next moment when I finish filling in the leaves and flowers in the emptyish section. (Yes I'm making up words now, must be tired~)

I'm back to working on Alhambra Garden now, probably will work mostly on that until it is finished, which still might be another month or so. I am finishing the last of large triangles on the bottom now. I'm expecting the stitching to still take some time to finish and then all the beading in the center will definitely be time consuming too.

I got all the rest of threads for Covenant Herbal Garden for Christmas, so I have them soaking and bleeding out all the excess dye now. I decided to make this my new start for 2011 on New Year's Day even though I know I won't be done with Alhambra. My plan is to stitch on Alhambra til Jan. 1 - then stitch CHG through the New Year weekend and Monday (I have Monday off) so I get a good start on it. Then I'll go back to Alhambra until it is finished.

Fourth Fountain Finished!

I finally finished all four fountains. The first seemed to take forever and I know I frogged and cursed a lot, the second wasn't too bad, and the third was fine. This one seemed to fly by - don't know why it seemed so hard at first. Anyway, all four are done now. I'm not going to make the end of the year, but it'll definitely be done in time for fair this year. :)

Oh, and Covenant's Herbal Garden is almost completely kitted - it will be started as soon as this one is finished. :)

Advent Wreath Ornament

This little beauty was designed by Belinda of Tor Rhuann Designs. It is a freebie on her page if you are interested. I changed out most of the supplies for what I had on hand.

The fabric is 32 ct Driftwood Zweigart Belfast. The floss is all DMC rayon - 33607 (purple) 30899 (rose) and 30501 (green). I used PB25 Treasure Braid and Swarovski Crystals for the flames. The beads are Mill Hill 00332 (green) and 00367 (red).

This is my first biscournu finish and I love that it is small and delicate. I've always found the biscouru interesting, but the larger size made me wonder what to do with it once finished. Having a small one was perfect for an ornament for the tree. I really love how it turned out - Thanks Belinda for a great design! :)

I orginally intended to give this to my sister because she was saying she couldn't find many Christmas decorations that celebrated Advent, but I think I've decided to keep it for myself! :)

Think these guys know what's in my frig?

I guess these turkeys don't understand that it is almost Thanksgiving or they wouldn't be venturing so close to my backdoor. Or maybe they know I already have the bird thawing in the frig - so no need to fret?

We also get deer and the occasional red fox sauntering through the backyard despite being in a relatively populated area.



In stitching news, I've been working on TW's Persian Floral. Finished one of the inside corner motifs, which was fun, but tons of backstitching!

1818 Elizabeth VanDoren

I finished this name on my Mother's Tree last weekend already, just took me this long to get it uploaded to the blog. This one is going pretty fast - I just do one name each rotation and then whatever I can finish before the end of the weekend on the next name.

I'm worked some more on Alhambra Garden this weekend, but didn't finish enough yet for another pic - probably in a week or two I'll have some more to show on that one.

In other news, Katie has taken to playing with Alex's old match box cars. Course she doesn't quite play with or use them in quite the same way. :) She put them in the shape of a star, a heart, and spelled lots of various words. At least you cannot accuse her of not having an imagination. :)

Alhambra again

The latest progress on Alhambra Garden. I asked Katie to step into the picture as so many of you commented last time that it helped show size/perspective.

Also you can see my working copy of the chart in the background. I copied all the pages so I wouldn't ruin my chartpack and then cut and taped all the pages together. I really stink at trying to flip back and forth between pages, so that has really helped me a lot even if the entire pattern is huge. This way I can mark and bend and fold and no worries. :) I also clip the entire thing (often folded to the spot I need) to a music stand. I love having a music stand for my charts. I've seen several needlework chart stands that cost $100 or more - this was $12.50 several years ago at the local music store, and it does exactly the same thing.

Anyway, I'm really getting excited that I just might finish this one day. :) I'm starting to order the silks and such for Covenant's Herbal Garden - I've decided to start that when this one is finished. :)

Dance Bag Happy Dance

I finally finished Katie's new dance bag. It is on Aida, which I haven't stitched on in forever and half. I stitched it with some mystery pink varigated silk from my stash - I think it might be from a Dinky Dyes ooopps pack.

I have a tendency to believe that since I'm stitching something all in one floss color that it will be sooo so easy and quick. Yeah, not so much. I kept losing my place in the pattern with no color changes to go by and also it was kinda tedious and boring. Oh well, I'm reasonably happy with the result and Katie loves having a unique bag that I stitched. Just glad she is still young enough to appreciate stuff mom makes. Soon enough I suppose she'll only want the ultra cool brand name bag that all the other kids have - so I'll enjoy that while it lasts. :)

Some Heritage Sampler progress

Some good progress on this - I really like how it is coming out, but it is probably going to be forever and a half before it is finished. I guess that is okay, I'll just keep plugging at it. :)

This time I finished another band where the names will go, and I did a few more of the over one alphabet along the left-hand side.

Some more on Stone Roses

This is coming along quite nicely. :) Only one problem - I'm noticing that the white looks a little yellow or dirty in some spots. It doesn't show up in the picture as much as it does in real life, but you can kinda see it toward the bottom of the white section that is stitched. I always try to keep my hands really clean when I stitch, and I've never had this issue before when stitching large sections of white. :/ I might try and wash it, but I'm a little nervous that the silks will bleed, but at least they are not red. I think I'll wait to get a bit more done before I decide whether she really has to have a bath or not.

Goal Orientated Rotation

I have been working in a rotation for several years now, but always seemed to go by how much time I spent on a piece - not necessarily how many hours actually stitching, but one night, two nights, one week, etc. I think I've come to realize that it actually works better for me to do a goal-orientated rotation. When I pick up a piece I decide to stitch until I reach a certain point. I try to pick something that will take a week or less, but sometimes I don't get as much stitching time as I'd like, or it takes longer than I think, or the frogs visit or whatever. I still keep stitching until that goal is met. Very satisfying to stay on one thing until I meet the goal I think. You sort of get that satisfaction of being a "one-at-a-timer" but you still have the variety of the rotation.

This time my goal was to finish the second scene in Heritage Stitching Sampler by Victoria Sampler. I started with the white and metalic bargello and cross stitch band above it. The over one vine slowed my down a little bit, but not as much as I feared and I finished this one day earlier than I expected to - which almost never happens.

Anyway, I'm going to work on Katie's dance shoe bag tomorrow before going back to Alhambra Garden, which is my current focus piece.

Alhambra Garden

One pic of just the WIP - one with Vanna. LOL

Katie just needed to be in that last pic, so I let her. :) I made some good progress on this one the last two weeks. Finished the triangle on the right and worked some more down on the yellow and brown lattice work. I *think* I *might* just be able to finish this piece before 2010 is out - certainly for fair next year!

I also started a new travel project - just two small monochromatic designs of ballet figurines that I'm stitching on a tote bag made of aida. It has been so long since I've stitched on aida - but at least it is easy and this will be a fun project to work on while watchingng Katie's dance classes. If you didn't already guess, the finished product will be a dance bag for her dance shoes. Maybe I'll show a pic next time I post, right now it is just sort of a blob.

Inspiration 8/15/2010

This time I filled in the area on the left side down to the pot and started the vines beyond. I like to backstitch in the vines first in an area to sort of mark it out and then I go back and fill in all the flowers and birds. This is fun to stitch cause it goes relatively fast in spite of all the color changes. It is a little challenging to anchor all those loose ends in a way that they don't show, but it isn't too bad either. This is a relatively good picture except that the fabric color is a bit yellower than it appears here.

Persian Floral - new WIP

My new start - Persian Floral by TW. I included the mag cover as this is probably not one of the more well-known of Teresa Wentzler's designs.

I don't really keep track of my stitching time, but I'd guesstimate this is about 7 or 8 hours of stitching. It was fabulous to get that much stitching time in one weekend. Something that doesn't usually happen that often lately.

I'm all motivated now to get going on my other WIPs too. I'm going to work on Inspiration next and then Alhambra Garden, as that will be my new focus piece. If I can stay motivated I just might have another finish before 2010 is done!

Angel of Summer Finish! :)

Here she is all done! I'm not especially happy with the photos, but too lazy to retake them. She will likely be a present for my mom's birthday in November. I started this at her request back in 2004 or 5 I think. Probably mom has forgotten all about her. Just need to get her framed sometime before November I guess.

Cat

I know its been awhile, but I've been in a bit of a stitching slump lately. I think I'm getting out of it now though- knock wood.

Anyway, here is a small finish - Katie has been bugging me to stitch this up for her since it came in the mail from Susan after I won a giveaway on her blog some months back. It was a quick and easy stitch and I just framed it myself with a standard 4x6 frame I had laying around in the craft room - probably from a yard sale!

Nothing fancy, but Katie really likes cats and she's tickled with it. :)

I'm getting really close to finishing my Angel of Summer, just a little bit of filling in on the flowers on the bottom of her dress and some beading left! Whew - I'll be glad when that one is done.

Now, I need some votes on what to start next when I finish Angel of Summer - these are my top choices:

Persian Floral - Teresa Wentzler - I want to put this in an end table inset for in my craft room.
Covenant Herbal Garden - Chatelaine - saw a WIP of this somewhere and fell in love with the detailed flowers on this piece.
Tablecloth - I have several small tablecloths made of 32ct linen that I'm dying to have done up so I can use them - would need suggestions on designs though - holiday themes would be good as I really only pull out a tablecloth for holidays - Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving.

The first name done!

It took me forever and a half to decide what to do for the names threadwise. Mostly because the threads I picked when I started are silk Dinky Dyes and I was now questioning whether I'd have enough of it to finish and have some left for future names - without running into dye lot issues.

I finally ordered a bunch more of the color I wanted to use for the lowercase letters and good thing I did - the color that Mother's Tree is stitched in and the color that is the lowercase letters are really the same color - just two different dye lots. I love the Dinky Dyes threads, but it is something you really have to have all of the color on hand before you start (which I knew, but I misjudged how much I'd need). Anyway, I think I have plenty of threads in matching dyelot to finish now and I think I'll leave Mother's Tree in the different dyelot as it is still in the same color family and I think it looks good being a little different than the rest of the lettering. I have 8 more names to stitch (provided I finish before Katie starts having kids!).

2 for the price of 1

Some time ago I promised an updated picture of Angel of Summer, this is progress as of last week or so... I haven't picked it back up yet, so it is still current. Just took me forever and a half to get around to uploading the picture to the blog.

As long as I'm at it, I'll also show a picture of my recent progress on Stone Roses, here she is as of today - I actually got several hours of uninterrupted stitching time over the Mother's Day weekend. :)

The last Mira RR section - Petal Fairy

I'm officially done with all the obligation stitching I took on in 2009. I really enjoyed stitching all the Mira RRs, but I'm also glad to be done and be able to focus on some other things. :)

Next up, a few more days on Angel of Summer. I've had some progress on her since I lasted posted, but she moves so slow I don't want to bore everyone with a new pic every time I work on her. I will update though after this next time as I think I've finally made enough progress to show. After I get in some good progress on her I've been itching to get back to Stone Roses. :)

Heritage Sampler progress

Not a ton of really visible progress on this one since my last post, but trust me it was a fair number of hours/time consuming. I did the grape viney border next to the over one letters on the right and then I did the eyelet border under the top band and the orange line under that. I think next time it will be unavoidable and I'll have to do some more over one lettering! There is a lot in this piece. I'm happy with how it is coming out though. :)

Mermaids of the Deep Blue

Here is Rachel's RR - I did the section in the bottom center from Mermaids of the Deep Blue. A fun quick stitch. :)

3 Down, 1 to Go

Fountains that is! I really love this design, but those fountains always trip me up. This one actually went pretty smoothly though with no real major visits from the frogs. I finished the fountain on the right this time and began the triangle on the right out from the fountain. I think that when I finish Angel of Summer, this will likely be my next focus. I'd really like to finish it for fair this year, but probably shouldn't be saying that out loud! Don't want to jinx it!

Endless Pink Dress...

Well, not really, but it sort of feels endless. Probably because it is sort of boring and all I can think about stitching right now is my Alhambra Garden. Sooo guess what I'm going to work on next? :)

Last time I posted a progress pic of her, someone asked about the fabric. She is actually on that MCG Textiles fabric (Twilight Blue) so loathed by many. Yes, the fabric weave is uneven, and yes it is very slubby. I really don't mind though and I think she is coming along beautitfully inspite of these imperfections. I knew about the problems with the fabric before I began and chose this fabric anyway because I liked the color and because I had done another piece on it before and was happy with my beautiful, but slightly different (from everyone else's) Fairy Idyll. Gives the piece a uniqueness because the lady is proportioned a little differently, but not so badly as to notice any real issue. It wouldn't work on a geometric piece of course, but I might use MCG Textiles again on another figure like this one.

Inspiration progress

Just plugging along on this one. You can sort of see my approach to how I'm stitching this piece in this picture. I like to stitch some of the vines to "mark out" where things should fall and then fill in the leaves and flowers. Makes for fewer counting mistakes. I didn't get a whole lot done this time, worked on the border some and did the viney part that is missing the leaves/flowers and the planter on the left side.

Angel of Summer progress

Meet my new focus piece. I started it for my mom a few years back and I think it is time to finish her up. This time I worked on the greenery hanging down from her hand to that yellow sash - also finished the sash. That greenery is a real pain! I'm going to stitch some on Rosewood Manor's Inspiration next, but then I'll be back to this. I'm going to alternate it between my other pieces until she is finally finished. :)

I finished the tree! :)

I think I will now just mark where I will start the names and call it quits for now on this one. When I began stitching this piece I had decided to use the dark green you see and a lighter green for the non-dark green lettering. I've decided I really do want to keep the shading as it was designed and therefore I need two shades of lighter green for the lettering. Lucky for me, it just means ordering a third color of Dinky Dyes silk, which is what I am already stitching with: 052, 051, 050 for the curious. 52 is this color you already see, and I needed to order 50, as I had originally planned to just use 51. Anyway, it is going to take a bit for the silk to arive and I am ready to move onto something else for a bit now anyway.

I think I will stitch on my Angel of Summer next as she is the closest to a finish in the WIP pile.

Southwest Mermaid

Here is the latest section for the Mira RR all finished up! :)

I think for my next act I'll try to get a little stitched up on Mother's Tree. I think I can finish the tree this time if I put my mind to it. :)

New Year's Mish Mash 2010

Last year I started Stone Roses on New Year's Day. This year, instead of starting a new project, I decided to get some progress in on her because I really enjoy stitching her. Just. for. me. :)

I spent far too much of my stitching time in 2009 on obligation stitching, so this year my main stitching focus is to stitch what I want on my own projects. The only obligation stitching I'm doing in 2010 is to finish up the Mira RR I'm currently involved in. I don't think of that as too much of a hardship though - I love Miras to begin with, so meeting that obligation is not going to be too tough. :) But that along with the baby blanket I just finished meant that I didn't get in much progress on all my WIPs in 2009. I'm afraid the blanket was my only major happy dance for 2009 and I missed competing in State Fair because I didn' have anything to enter.

So anyway, no new obligations for 2010! I just want to focus on finishing as many of my current WIPs as possible. I may have a new start or two - but only as I finish something else. I spent the first three days of 2010 loving to stitch Stone Roses. I'll spend the next few days finishing another section on the Mira RR and then I want to get some progress in on each of these other WIPs:

Inspiration - Rosewood Manor
Mother's Tree - MLI
Angel of Summer - MLI
Heritage Sampler - Chatelaine
Alhambra Garden - Chatelaine
Stitcher's Heirloom Sampler - Victoria Sampler
Hardanger Table Runner - (don't know designer offhand - too lazy to go look)

The hardest one to work on is going to be the Hardanger Table Runner - I think it is just sort of an "I don't love you anymore" project, yet I've done so much I cannot just not finish it either. *sigh* maybe a little at a time?..

I also want to finish these completed pieces into framed pieces or other items:
Just Nan RR from a few years back - into a stitching book
Band Samler RR from a few years back - into a bellpull
Mirabilia Mermaid RR - into a framed piece

So that's it - I've made my New Year's post - hopefully I can stick to it (mostly)! :)