Thank You Nita

I participated in the My Stitching Place exchange on the Friendly Stitchers yahoo group. This is what Nita sent me - hand dyned fabric and thread and beads and the most beautiful ornament.

She managed to pick my favorite color palette. Thank you Nita!

Rounded Off

I finished the border this week. Now the fun part starts.

A Little Sky

This week's stitching was all at the top, and next week's will be too. It's time to expand the sky some.

The Third Way

Since I finished the top line last week, I decided to start the third part this. You can barely see it on the small picture; there's not much of it. The second line with the swooshes is coming along pretty well; I'm almost a third of the way done with it.

All Lacy-ed Up

I completed part two of Tam's Christmas Mystery and will start part three when I get around to it again in my stitchalong rotation. I like the way it looks, but all those Algerian eyelets were a pain!

Another Band Done

Yes, I finished the ladder band bottom part this week. Now on to the last two bands.

It's a Frame Up

On Monday, my husband got his (correct) mat order from American Frame. He'd been waiting to put some things together because the original mats he got from them were the wrong size. So, when it came in and he opened it, he immediately framed two things - Stars and Spring Mystery.

He did an excellent job on both, I think! Tam, the Spring Mystery designer, liked it so much she put it up on her gallery. They're both beautiful.

More Than Thirty

I've done more than 30 rows of this so far. It's going slow, of course, like everything else, but it's not going to be an all red middle forever, I promise.

Still Circling Around

Well, this is the most tedious part of the ornament, from experience. I'm 2/3 of the way done with the outer rim, at least.

Crossed Out

A minor milestone in this piece - I've finished all the cross stitches for part six. Next is adding the special stitches then plowing into part seven, which, at least, is started, if barely.

A Lighter Flounce

This week, I added near-white to the flounce and lengthened the skirt a bit.

One Jelly Bellied

All right, so this week I remembered what frustrated me so much with this - the instructions are scattered. Instead of having the instructions for each jellyfish all in consecutive pages, they're scattered and interspersed with each other. I'm not sure of the reason for that, but having six pages scattered across a table to refer to just bugs me.

Other than that, I -did- complete the first jellyfish! I didn't do the trailing stitch because I didn't find the instructions, and instead did an outline stitch. I think it looks pretty good anyway. On to the next.

Closing In

Lots of work on the southeast side and the southwestern small point this week. I should be done with this in the next few weeks, it looks like.

Window Dressing

This week, the windows got more treatment. Just stitching away on the second one down...

Top Line Done

I hit a very minor milestone this week - the top line of the bag's done. Now I'll be working on the third line and the first of the rectangles that make up the sides of the bag. Progress!

Falling Snow

Part two of Tam's Christmas Mystery got started this week. As you can see, it's a bunch of Algerian eyelets and backstitching. Tedious, but the effect is very nice and lacy. I'm already so far behind on this, but I'd rather keep the rotation on the SAL's and get progress on them all.

Two Down, Two to Go

Real progress this week! I finished the second egg. Two more to go, and I started on the third even. I'd better get cracking.

Eighth Part Done

I'm officially on the right month again for See the Stars. I finished the eighth part last week. Lots of stitching for each piece on this! I like the way it looks, though.

There's a Red Theme Here

I did more red this week, of course. Almost all of this bookmark is one shade of it or another. I'm over 30 rows in now, though, and making some progress.

A Third Dodecagon

This week, I started my third dodecagon ornament - Mojave. It's different from the other two I've done already - the smyrnas around the side are two colored instead of one.

Up on the Roof

All I've got to cross stitch on this part now is some of the rooftops. Finally, it's getting there! I've also stitched more on the right as I've had extra thread, so it should take minimally less time, at least.

Chenille Blanket

When I was traveling back and forth to Virginia a lot this summer, I crocheted this lap blanket for my husband. I didn't get around to finishing it with fringe until a couple of days ago, though. So now it's -really- finished. He picked out the color and yarn, and it's going to be put in his car for driving in the winter in the cold while the heater heats up.

Second Heart

I finished the second part of Herz Rot-Weiss yesterday, and already have the third part to do. I like these colors with the pattern; to me, it looks old and like stained glass.

Lots of One Color

This week's stitching was all in DMC 3046. It was in two different areas of the skirt and flounce, and it added some pretty big blocks to the piece.

Curves and Squares

It strikes me that this is an odd justaposition: the curves of the mandala being given to us in very strict squares. Anyway, I got done with two more parts of the chart and went on to work on the heart piece. I'll be coming back to this as it comes up in my stitchalong rotation.

Jellyfish!

This is a project called "Jelly Bellies" by Caela Conn Tyler. It was to be taught at the EGA seminar this year, but didn't make. I saw the finished piece at last year's seminar and thought it'd be a good and fun piece to do. I liked it. I didn't sign up for it at seminar, though, because it didn't fit in my schedule. So... San Bernadino chapter of ANG was doing this as a pilot class, and I ghosted. This was last spring. I started it, and ran into some trouble with the directions. I put it aside, but just now added it back into my rotation. My first working on this piece since then went swimmingly well. I felt none of the frustration I'd felt earlier.

I asked Ms. Tyler if I could blog this piece, since it was a pilot, and she said yes, so here it is! I'm hoping to work more on it today and will continue it in my rotation until it's done. I really like the look of it, and thank Ms. Tyler for her design work and her permission.

So far, I've put down gauze for waves and some Angelina fiber for the first jellyfish, then stitched over the Angelina. The base layer of the first jellyfish is done and now I need to add more on top.

Still in the Middle

Most of this week's stitching was in the middle of the compass, getting it fleshed out. The center circle is done, and I'm almost done with the east and west points.

Glazing a Window

No work on the door this week, just the upper window. Because of the way the colors are in blocks, I'm making a lot of progress across - more than it would seem by going vertically. In the next couple of weeks, I'll be able to skip over several columns because they'll be done already.

Last of this Round

Last week, I received Cathy's block in the mail for the Whatever Goes round robin. Her theme was champagne elegance, and I added some stuff in the various blank spots left. This top picture is after my work. Since I used colors close to her fabric colors, it might be hard to see.

This lower picture was taken before I did anything, so you can compare.

Another Artist Started

This looks exactly like Sargent so far because it is. It's going to start being different soon, though. This one's called Cassatt and is from the same series from Kick Back and Stitch. I made significant progress on this when I went to the ballgame on Sunday.

Nearly Egged

The second egg is soooo close to being done, and I've started the third line too. What with everything that went on this summer, I've not met my goal of getting this part done by fall, but at least I've made significant progress.

All Laddered Up

The ladder's done on band ten, and all I have to do to complete this section is the bottom border, which I've already started. After that, there are only two more bands to go. Good thing, too. I'm running out of fabric.

Return to the Stars

See the Stars came back around in my stitchalong rotation this week. There's a lot of stitching in this part, but I hope to have it done fairly soon, as there's no backstitching. Lots left to do on this project, as it's to continue for another year and a half.

Redlining

Stitching this has been easy lately. It's mostly been one color all the way across - red. I'll be coming out of it soon, but in the meantime, I'm making pretty good progress.

Light Skirt

More progress on the skirt this week. Light colors, this time.

It Looks Dark

You have to zoom in on this picture to see the progress on the second line, as it's rather dark. On the other hand, it's pretty easy to see I'm almost done with the top line. I'll finish it next time I work on this.

It's a Snowflake

I completed the first part of Tam's Mystery, which she's named "As the Snow Falls" and it's the verry middle. Looks like a snowflake to me. I'll start on the second part after I finish part eight of See the Stars and my next installment of Kaleidoscope Mandala. My hope is to have it done for Christmas.

Bye Bye Maryland

Well, it doesn't look like Maryland anymore, but I'm making some pretty good progress. I do a needleful of floss a day on it. It's all just cross stitch and is getting pretty speedy because I'm about to enter pretty much an all red zone, all the same color.

Whatever Goes Around...

This is Lori's block from the Whatever Goes round robin. It has one more person after me, so I couldn't fill in all the rest of the areas. The top picture is of it before I worked on it.

This picture of the whole block after my work.

And here is a detail shot of what I did. I added some ladybugs and a large flower. I also added a piece of the lace I bought in Bulgaria and a nice trim I found in my stash. I hope she likes it.

One Heart Done

I got the first part of my heart stitchalong done. There are a -lot- of hearts in it, though, and I've got to rotate through all the other stitchalongs before getting to part two. I do like the way the colors look, though.

Over Halfway

This hadn't been going very quickly lately, but it seems to have picked up again. It's obvious I'm over halfway now and the major long horizontal lines are behind me.

Fireside Stitchery

If you look at Monday's post, you'll see that I ran out of a couple of threads while working on Sargent. The kit was from Fireside Stitchery, and I did not contact them about the problem. I was away, it was a travel project, I picked up some extra while out at a couple of shops. So imagine my surprise when I got an email yesterday from Maria DeSimone, the owner of Fireside Stitchery. She apologized for the thread shortage and wrote nicely about this blog. She also offered me a discount on my next purchase to help with the problem of having had to buy more thread.

I have ordered several times from Fireside Stitchery and found them very helpful, but I didn't imagine this! Thank you, Maria.

Cycling Off

Yup, another finish this week! I completed Bibendum. My husband's really happy with how he looks, and already has started the framing process. He's got the board to lace it on and order its mats. That makes me feel good.

Yet Another Stitchalong

This is the fourth of four stitchalongs I've started with Marquoir. It's called "As the Snow Falls" and is by Tam of Tam's Creations. We're to stitch a segment every week. I am, of course, already behind. She suggested white on blue for snow, but me being me, I changed it. I'm using a light lemon variegated from Hand Dyed Fibers and a Silkweavers solo. I think it looks pretty good.

Another Workshop Done

I've been working more on the workshop and decided to finish it too this week (see a theme here?). I've been feeling like I needed to make more progress, so I've been finishing up my smaller things. I always feel a need to get things done with the coming of autumn.

Anyway, I learned something from this project - that I could manipulate rice stitches in different ways; they don't have to all be square and one or two colors. I like the way this turned out, too. I'll be starting on workshop three some time soon.