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Showing posts from January, 2006

Yet another HD :)

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Thanks to everyone for your comments on Earthdancer. She has waited so patiently for me to get her finished and I am so excited to see that finally happen its just beyond words :) While this one hasn't been a HD in the making quite so long as Earthdancer I'm excited to see this one done just as well. This one will be framed with an hexagon mat in a square frame most likely. I have to make a trip to the frame shop and see which color mat will look best though as I will probably just use a simple frame as to not take away from the piece itself. This is going to be one of my new starts once I gather all my fibers. It was in the Sampler & Antique Needlework Quarterly Winter 2005 issue. This is a case to hold sewing accessories. Thread as the picture shows will fit inside and then the sleeve on the top will hold a pair of scissors. I am thinking of using some of the thread in the picture but I have to pick up the fabric and see how everything will look together, I'

A finish a long time coming

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She's done!! She's done!! Drinks all around! I finished the last bit of her fringe this evening while watching a movie. Its late and I'm so excited to have her finished I may be up for a while longer, hmm... perhaps a glass of wine in celebration. I was figuring this out, I started Earthdancer somewhere in the late 1980's... Yikes!

What's NEED got to do with it?

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But really now, it was all on SALE :) I got this batch at Hobby Lobby when I stopped in to pick up a DMC color I needed. DMC Skeins should be endless so I can avoid this situation. Today we had some things to take to the finisher and there are 2 other stores in the area we stopped at. First was Shay Pendray's Needlearts Inc in Dearborn, then we headed over to Westland to Stitch-n-Time only to find tons of charts 60% off! I thought these mini's would be excellent in the White Scroll Frame I found a while back. I got one that looks sort of like each of the 4 seasons since I know I am entirely too lazy to keep changing them for each of the months. And I finally found a Tacky Bob!! If you haven't seen these you should check them out. Its about the size of a mini cd case and the inside is tacky to hold beads securely and there's a magnet for your needle to make beading a bit easier. I've tried to order one of these on more than one occasion and I was exc

Froggin'

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Am update on Baroque. Monday night I brought it along to sit and stitch and finished up the "anchor rows" so last night when I put it on the stand I was ready to begin some of the "fun" stitching. Alas, that was not to be. You can see the start in the center, the gold/teal star motif. Well, I had that in and done last night and got a start on the amadeus stitches that border the light blue circle, thats where the fun began. I got to the second Amadeus and things just weren't lining up as they were supposed to. I got out the master chart only to find that the light blue circle was stitched wrong, UGH! Each row of smyrna crosses are supposed to drop one thread not the two I had done so the whole thing was too big. Grudgingly I tore it all out and began restitching the light blue circle, I made it about half way around and checked, didn't line up... so again frog frog frogging I went twice! *sigh* It was getting late now and I was extremely unhappy so I gave

Winter Queen

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Here is my latest progress on Winter Queen. I have a good start on her wrap and her arms here. Alot of the area on the top of her arm is beaded so I can't really do that so I'm trying to fill in the area as best I can. She's being put away for a bit tonite and I will pull the next piece in the pile to work on. 

Twister

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Got another wedge done on Twister this weekend. For those of you who have seen this and think its cool and want to try it, let me just say this. I had the very same thought when I bought it and then I started to stitch it. Its more of a learning piece than anything and by the time you're done you'll be a master at compensating stitches. As the wedges narrow you have to do this on each wedge, completing as much of the stitch as possible within the space. I don't mind it so much but my mother started it as well and hers has been banished eternally to the "Never going to finish" pile ;) No I'm not trying to deter anyone, this is a fabulous piece, I've seen it finished, In my humble opinion well worth the effort.

Stitching Weekend!

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I did nothing much else this weekend... Fine China came along Saturday when I had my ANG meeting and then I met with some of the ladies from the EGA in the afternoon at someone's house to stitch. I managed to get the center finished and another section of the outer edge.

A New WIP?

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This isn't mine mind you, this is a UFO of my mother's. They were talking about Lavender and Lace projects at sit and stitch and I started picking on my mom about this one as its been in the attic for YEARS! She finally admitted she decided she didn't like it as well as the initial thought and had no plans to finish it...  I was only more than happy to take it off her hands. I probably won't get working on it right away as I want to get Earthdancer done first but I did get her all pressed out and ready.

Baroque...

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I did a bit of this over the weekend and last evening I started the smyrna's that go inside of the 4 outer squares but I forgot to take another shot of it this morning. That design should be the end of the "anchor" stitches that have to be done and then I can get on to the fun part of the decorative stitches where anyone within hearing range of me will learn new inventive ways to curse when I miscount something LOL

Monday Again?

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I am so not excited to see Monday again...ugh. Oh well ;) This is my project from the weekend, Twister. I managed to get about 3 segments done on it while watching movies Sunday night. Yes, everyone cringe, that is tape you see over the thread there. Its painters tape which is supposed to have low adhesion so it could be worse but this helps me immensley when it comes to compensating the stitches to fit in each of the wedges. If you haven't seen this design, its done on 24ct congress cloth and the "pattern" is a book around 1/4" thick. My Monday night stitching group was doing this as a group project but everyone has kind of fallen off to do other projects, 3 of the 8 have finished theirs. Mine will get done as I think this will be a fabulous piece framed on my wall, I'm... umm... pacing myself, yes that's it :) It really doesn't take as long as it did when I started it though, there are something like 87 different stitches in it but they're all ba

Stumpwork

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Since I realized this is not the most common type of stitching here's a bit about it. According to Jane Nicholas, the teacher I learned the technique from; Stumpwork is a style of Raised and padded embroidery that has its origins in the seventeenth century. It incorporates a charming array of motifs - exotic flowers and fruits, insects and animals - all worked as delicate sculptural forms This is the start on my second piece, my first done in the class with Jane, and its from her book Stumpwork Embroidery (check it out, the images on the front and back cover are beautiful) It is a design of flowers and berries with a dragonfly all done in shades of white and cream. The technique itself is not too challenging, its more tedious than anything, the biggest difference thing is the needles, they're SHARP! It uses straw/milliners needles as well as crewel and chenille. The technique follows traditional embroidery and incorporates padding and wires to add dimension to the wor

Something different

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This came along with me to Sit and Stitch last night. Thought it was time it seen the light of day again as its been a while since I've done any work on it. I swear if I see another spider rose after I finish this I might scream. Indigo Rose designs seem to use alot of these on the blackwork style pieces and after doing a dozen or so they've become a bit tedious. I did that center ring of blue last evening and it took me 2 hours to do 6 of them - ACK! I'm going to try to do some work on the rest of my WIP list for the next week or so, I've made some good progress on Winter Queen and she's on a floor stand in my walking path so if I try to ignore her I'm likely to trip over the stand. Perhaps a bit more on her next week but for now I have several things going that are almost done that I really should devote some attention to. I've gotten my stumpwork out and I'm taking that today to do some work on at lunch so we'll see how far that gets. This

Still Waiting

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Have yet to see winter though. Its cold, sort of, today it was 52 and I was outside with no coat and driving with the roof open. Am I really in Michigan? This shot was taken at one of those cool covered bridges. Notice winter coat ;p it was cold alright, no snow though. I suppose I shouldn't complain though, as long as it keeps raining I don't have to shovel

Winter Queen

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Well, finally some notable progress to show off on my Mirabilia. I've been working on her the past 2 evenings and she's finally starting to look like something other than a cluster of random stitches :) I do think I may put her down now for a couple of days and work on some of my other pieces as they've all been neglected since I started with the Stitch-A-Long. Baroque still has some borders I need to put in and I really should get Earthdancer back on a scroll so I can work on the rest of her, we shall see. I've decided to not try to do a rotation as there are times where I'm just not in the mood to work on a particular piece so its best I just grab which ever one strikes my mood so I'm not glaring at the fabric and not really wanting to stitch on it.

Happy Dance!!

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Got Home in the Woods finished last night at Sit and Stitch, this time for sure. There wasn't a whole lot to go but that is precisely the point where I often abandon projects for no apparent reason. Now I'm hoping to finish it into a small pillow, I just have to get myself to the fabric store to find fabric for this and a few other projects that are awaiting the sewing machine.

A finish and Mirabilia Progress

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Here is the ciper bookmark I was working on last week. Just a simple one, this is 32ct raw linen and the initials are stitched over one. Then I did a very short straight stitch around the edges before I frayed it to keep the main piece together.

Another "Almost"

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I almost have my rabbit done, I took him with me for sit and stitch and the LNS on Thursday and finished everything I could. Silly me, forgot to bring along some charcoal for the eyes and I haven't taken the minute yet to dig some out of the stash and finish it. Looking at it now on here though, I see some gaps in the green that I may go back and fill in for a fuller look. This will most likely be finished into a small pillow so it will have a bit of a curve from the pillow form and those tiny white spots will just get worse if that happens. As solid as the stitching is on the back I'm rather surprised, I must have had a few areas that just didn't stay in as well as they should. And I was bad again and found a Mirabilia I just had to have. It was 50% off and I've long loved this set of seasons. This set is spring and summer, now I'll just have to track down fall and winter. I also had my eye on the Christmas elf ;) I have a gift certificate to the LNS that w

Resolutions...

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First of all here is a much better picture of Earthdancer. I got her cleaned and pressed tonite so I can get to the ultra suede trim and the dreamcatcher.

New Years Progress...

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Got Earthdancer a bit farther along this weekend, I did have plenty of time for that being a 3 day weekend and all :) She's getting a much-needed bath this evening. After she's dried and pressed I can put on the ultra suede and the dream catcher, there are a few bits of beading that need to be done as well. I thought I would never see the end of the trees those. Those 3 small trees were about 8 hours of work which seemed like an eternity.