Steampunk Block

This needs to be mailed out by tomorrow and I finished it last night. It's the most complicated block I've ever pieced. The theme for the round robin is "my favorite things" so I went for steampunk. It's a bit more organic looking than I'd want, but it does do the whole complicated bit fairly well. Now to see if any of the other people working on the block even know what steampunk is...

Finally!

All the cross stitches on part five are DONE! I started on the special stitches on the outside of one of the corners. Since there are a lot less of them, I should take less than a whole year to get them done... anyway, I'm really happy that I'm done with all that stitching! There's a round of houses outside these corners yet to do.

All but the Border

Pretty much all but the border's done here, and I've finished it all since this picture on Friday. It's my May ornament, so I'm still two behind. On the other hand, it -is- another finish.

Can You See...

the progress? It's all brown, if that helps. I'm almost done with the first fluttery flyaway bit on her torch side. It's going to be hard seeing progress for a while, but it -is- happening, I promise.

Two Down, Ten to Go

I finished up the dragonfly belt buckle a couple of days ago. Figured I was so close when I finished the basketweave that I might as well go for it. It came out pretty well, despite all the difficulties with instructions and missing threads. Instead of replacing it in my rotation with another from the series, I decided to put in the old French round robin piece that has a blank area in the middle. I'll be putting an alphabet there and then my husband can frame it. Since he's already got the frame done and the mat and everything else, I need to get working!

Oh, and I went back onto a project challenge, this one for 25 finishes. It means I can't go out and just shop for shopping's sake for stash until I've done 25 from my stash. One down, twenty-four to go on that.

Cornered

Two of four corners done on this last band. If it wasn't such a huge band, I'd probably just sit down and get it done, but it extends quite a way and I want to make sure I get all the strange stitches right, since there's a lot of string art in it. My husband says he has ideas for finishing this, but he's not telling me yet.

Asian Nights Block

I originally meant to do a Japanese block with some fabrics my husband had picked up for me, but ... I started pulling fabrics and these are the ones that called to me. So, it's Arabian Nights for me. This round robin starts on the first, so I got my block finished on time. I spent most of yesterday putting it together.

Backing the Ground

I got more of the background done. There isn't a lot of it, but continental stitch takes a long time to cover an area. I think I've got most of the background done now; the majority of large spaces are covered.

M-I-C ... and Not Mickey

I'm up to two done letters this week, and started on a third, so progress is good. Not learning anything on this since it's all just cross stitch, but that's okay.

Almost Half Way

The four squares for the halfway point come out next week and I've finished part nine on time. Go me! I can keep a schedule on stitching something, at least. Anyway, it's coming together nicely, don't you think? It's only available through the Marquoir group on Yahoo.de.

Still Stitching on May

I'm sooo behind on my commitment to make an ornament a month. I thought this'd be a quick stitch, but it's been taking quite a while. At least it's pretty. This is May's ornament, though, and it's the end of July...

Dazzling Box

I finished this needlepoint (Dazzle is its name) earlier this year. My husband finished finishing it this week. Didn't he do a great job? He made the box from scratch. It's even got inserts in the corners for better structure. I think it's wonderful, especially since he did the mounting too.

Part Four Finished

I got all of Part Four's specialty stitches done. Now I need to do gold scrolling underneath the plaques. They're pretty much all outline, so it should go quickly. After that, the girl in the middle. It's finally beginning to come together.

Part Three Happy Dance

I finally finished part three's cross stitches! Now to go back in and fill the corners of part two in and then the specialty stitches. It just feels good to make a milestone on this piece - it's been taking me forever.

Bringing It Down

I got a dark red stripe done and some medium brown on the other edge. Downward progress is definitely being made; it's just slow because the piece is so large. My current goal on this is to put in one strand of floss per day, and I'm pretty good at getting that done.

English Flowering

this week I got the majority of the bottom half of the flower done. There's a lot of green for leaves and such to put on this band, but the big central motif is done but for darning and backstitching. I definitely need to have it done by the end of August, though.

Foursquare Patterns

I got the ninth of twenty parts on the fifteenth and managed to do most of its four squares. The piece is coming together pretty well, don't you think? Now to finish up the last square before the end of the month.

Silvering the Background

I got more on the background done this week. It's not all that much to do, since the design is so big. Maybe next week I'll have it done and can go on and start the borders.

First Stitches Taken

Here's the beginning of Bibendum. I'm going to stitch the word first so I can center in the figure better. Not much yet, is it?

Tantalizingly Close

I'm -so- close to the end of part three's cross stitches I can taste it. I'll definitely have them done next week. Yes, the picture's sideways. My husband took it that way and I didn't bother to rotate it. I do like the way it's coming together on this fabric. It stands out so well.

Naked Crazy Quilt Block

I'm in the beginning of a few crazy quilt round robins - the first one is a sampler round robin where people do seam treatments with different stitches picked per month. Since that requires a lot of long seams, I made this block for it. I think it came out pretty well. Now to pop it in the mail on Monday and see what the others do with it over the next several months.

What I'm Doing with my Anchor Floss

A few months back, I won a prize from New Stitches in their monthly giveaways. It was a bag full of all the new variegated Anchor flosses and perles. I didn't know what to do with them at the time, but I needed to do ornaments, so... I visited My Aunt's Attic and printed off this chart to make an ornament out of. I decided on the bright summery color variegated because it's summer. I think it's turning out pretty neat.

Special Stitches Started

I started the specialty stitches this week. Lots and lots of algerian eyelets. They look good when done, but one thread in fifteen holes for each stitch, so it takes a while. When I finish them, though, part four will be done. Part five's a scroll on each side, mainly in gold metallic, and pretty quick.

Getting Close

Another blue done and some more of the lighter gold. It's so close to being done that I hope to have part five done by the end of the month.

Browns and Reds

I'm going to be using a LOT of browns and some reds and whites going forward for quite a while. This week, I got some of the light red done and some of the darker browns on the dress done. It's progress.

What Else I Did in Kosovo

I made a shawl! Since I was supposed to be learning how to watch TV (evidently I don't pay enough attention), I made a very easy double crochet shawl out of a really soft yarn. Just a couple of days ago, I added the fringe. It's another finish for July, which makes two. I'm happy after June's total lack of completions. Now I have to wait until October or so to use it.

Flower's Core

This week I worked on band seven's flower core. It had algerian eye stitches and satin stitches and brick stitches. Because of all these, it's taken more time than just regular cross stitches. I've started the outer part of the flower now too. This is the last huge band in the piece, so hopefully it'll be done soon.

Winged

Now on to the background. I used Frosty Rays for the wings, since the Fyre Works the stitch guide asked for weren't in the kit. I have since received said Fyre Works and the Kreinik braid that was missing. The shop mailed them to me with my last shipment. They didn't realize it wasn't in the kit. I'm not frogging the substitutions out, but it's a nice gesture.

Last Band Started!

A very little bit of the last band is now done. It's a big band, though - larger than any of the others, so I expect it'll take a while to complete. On the other hand, it means this is definitely almost done. I have no idea what my husband is going to do with it when it's finished, though.

Added to the Rotation

I talked about Bibendum (known here as the Michelin Man) as my next project, so I thought I'd post a picture of the kit. I bought it in France last year, and it's got red aida as the fabric. I'm changing that to a hand dyed orphan I bought last winter from Picture This Plus. So it's started, and it's going to be a boring stitch, but should be quick. It'll look good in my husband's office - either the home one or the work one. Why Bibendum? My husband invented a new way to make one of the main components of tires. Michelin is one of the biggest consumers of this new process... and besides, he's cute!

One More Finish

Yay! I actually finished something. My daughter's decided she wants this, even though it's definitely not her proto-goth colors. Anyway ... it's in my husband's framing pile. The directions were all right, but one of the symbols of the border was way hard to read, since the chart was obviously hand written. It's almost twenty years old, though, so that's its excuse.

Edging It Out

Got some more done on the last garden, especially along the border. I'm at the point where I will be very, very happy when I'm done with this part. It feels like it's been dragging.

All Vined

Well, I got the vines done on this band and only have to put the bell-shaped flowers on the bottom. It's coming along all right and it feels good to be working on it again after the hiatus. The colors coordinate pretty well, and I'm happy with what I've chosen as materials.

Cross Stitches Done

Yay! I got the cross stitches done on Part 4. I'll be starting on the specialty stitches this week. There are a lot of them! Maybe I'll get them done and be able to move on to Part 5.

Starting the Border

This picture was taken last Friday; since then, I've completed the stitching. Yay! My daughter saw it and decided she wants to keep it, so now my husband has something else to frame in his pile. Of course, he is still off on a business trip, so he hasn't put it in his pile yet... I've decided to put Bibendum into the rotation. I specifically bought him for my husband, and it shouldn't take that long to do.

Tired of Blue and Gold

Well, it's getting closer and at the rate I'm currently stitching, part five's cross stitches will be done by the end of the month. There aren't that many specialty stitches - just a lot of Rhodes squares all in the same color. I'll be glad to finish this part and start working on something different with it. It's beginning to feel stale to me.

Top's Done

Yay! I finished the top half of the Lady! She's got a lot of beading to do up there, but all the cross stitching is done. Now on to the skirt and bottom, which I've started working on since this picture was taken. It seems all my projects are reaching milestones this month - finally. Makes me feel like I'm finally making some progress on stuff.

Second Frogs Framed

Before I left for Kosovo, I made a second frog trio for my niece. My husband finished framing it this weekend. He did something different with the mat, and I think it came out really well. He painted a white mat with a bunch of squiggles in the colors of the frogs. I hope Jackie likes it when she gets it.

On to the Seventh

I got band six done last week and started band seven when I went to the sampler meeting last week. Band seven is a bit of a mess chart-wise. It's that there's writing all over it, so it's hard to count. I think I've got a good start on it now, though. There are only nine bands, and seven is the largest of the remainder. I should have this done before it's due date in August. At least, I hope so.

Dragonfly Tail

I made a lot of progress on this while waiting for Mattie at the freight office at JFK last week, getting the dragonfly tail done (neat process - bullion stitches under the satin stitches to make them poofy) and outlining the wings. Unfortunately for me, I seem to be missing two more threads that were supposedly included. I didn't fill in the wings because what I had was too light in color, so I'm looking through my stash for something better. Should start them this week.

Pay It Forward - Free Stuff

I posted about these on Vikki Clayton's forums, but someone wanted pictures. I really didn't want to have to scan them in just for that, so I did and put them here for others too. First asked, first given. I'll even plump for postage in the States and, depending on what you want, to other places. Just email me if you want something.

Edited 7/7 to add: New Stitches and Tiny Tim are taken.

Eight of Twenty Done

I finished up the eight set of four squares yesterday. The pattern's definitely emerging, but I have no clue what that claw-looking piece in the middle's going to be. Round nine doesn't come out until the fifteenth, so I'm actually all caught up early for once.