Fair Maiden Is Now Truly Finished

Yesterday I taught the last of the four sessions on the needle purse. Well ... I thought I was going to teach about putting it together, but it didn't work out that way. Since I was teaching the finishing, I thought it was high time I put mine together. Here it is closed; I used ribbon instead of twisted wool for the close ties. I like how it came out.

And here is the inside. I also made it so the rings are removable. For me, that makes the piece more functional.

Done Being Crewel

I finished the stitching on Fair Maiden! Now all I need to do is get batting and make the project case out of it. It was a rather quick stitch when done, and I think it'll go over well when I teach it. I like the colors I chose for mine, too.

Fairly Close

The larger piece is done and now I'm working on the smaller, inside piece. It's coming along really quickly, so I should be able to finish it in time and then put it together before the first class.

Little Yellow One

I finished off the berries and added the yellow flower this past week - it's coming along, but I need to get it done in the next two weeks. The closed fly stitches made cute little petals, though I think the satin stitches on my berries look somewhat ragged.

Flowers!

I finished up the bottom flowers on the outer panel and started one on the inner panel, then began the berries. It's coming along pretty well and goes quickly when I work on it ... which will be a lot more now that I'm home.

Experiencing a Flowering

I now have almost all of the large areas done on the front. Yay! I like how it's coming along and will spend a day or so on it next week to hopefully finish the front.

Second Flower Done

I got the second flower done on this before we headed out for the trip, and the third one started. The leaves on it were pretty easy closed fly stitches, and I think they came out pretty well. There's not enough contrast in the raspberry colors for the flower, though. I picked them out of my stash. It looks good, but not as punched up as it should. The bud on the right hand side's started; it just needs its leaves.

Poofy Center

I did a lot of French knots in the middle of this and it made the flower just pop. I took it to my chapter meeting last night, and the ladies remarked on how curly the knots in the center were. It's coming along and will be going to Europe with me.

Petal Progress

Four out of five petals done, at least the outsides. I think they're coming out pretty well. Since the picture on Friday, I completed the last petal and did the French knots in the center. I think I did about a hundred or so. They look all nice and fuzzy and like the center of a flower, though. I wasn't sure about doing the satin stitches over the split stitches, but it turned out okay. The hardest part is alternating colors on two of the petals. Was difficult not to get the two strands tangled up with each other. I ended up using two needles. It seemed to work better.

Maidenly Progress

Somehow I missed getting a picture taken of this one week. As you can see, I've got the spiny leaves done and have started on the central flower. It was a pain to split stitch, but it's coming along nicely now. The satin stitch overlay looks pretty good to me. I will be working on this on Sunday in order to do some catching up.

Shading some Leaves

I got a bit more done on this, doing stem stitch on the long leaves. They're two toned, for shading. As usual, this goes quickly when I have time to work on it. I'm hoping to have more time than usual to work on it this week and move it forward quite a bit.

What You Can Do Waiting at an Airport

Yes, what progress I made this week was made at an airport, in the international arrivals waiting room. More stems are done- all the darkest color of green on the outside piece. Some of the lighter green was started, too. I hope to get it done in the next couple of days, but I've really not gotten much stitching done this week.

Stem Stitches

All the lighter colored stem stitches are done on the big panel, and I used the extra to start the small panel. I'm feeling some pressure to work more on this, since it would be nice to show people what they're signing up for at the April meeting. I don't think it's going to happen, though.

Starting To Be Crewel

I got the pieces onto their backing this week and started the stem stitches. As usual with crewel, it goes pretty quickly once it's started. I think it will look good when done.