Albemarle Framed

A few months ago, I finished this blackwork piece called Albemarle. My husband finished framing it tonight and took this picture. He picks out all the mat colors and makes the frames himself for all my projects now. Unfortunately, he's been traveling a lot and the garage has been too cold to work in, so this is the first he's finished in a bit. During the weekends he's home before we go to France, he'll hopefully get a few more done. Anyway, doesn't it look great?

Slow But Visible Progress on Victorian Garden

I'm -almost- done with Part 1's cross stitch. Just two more colors on the bottom point, and then the backstitching and special stitches. As I use Q-Snaps, I'm not going to do any beading until the end. I still like the looks of this ... and I really like it more on this fabric.

Rose Getting Bigger

Still plugging away on this, but as you can see, I have one of the roses almost completely done. The colors seem to mesh with the rose directly above it better than the other two, but I think it'll all come together. Now to get cracking on stitching! At least this is a project I can take places, like the orthodontist's waiting room.

It's Getting Longer

The strap is now 25.5 inches long. I've not been able to stitch as much as I usually do this month due to some complications in my life, including company or going out every weekend, a traveling husband, and a son who's made a really really stupid decision. Oh, and my obligations to the groups I volunteer for. So this has been languishing a bit along with my other projects. I got a bit more stitched on the strap and the lining, but this is one project that just won't travel, so it never gets taken with. Maybe next week ... this week has become as busy as every other lately.

Medieval Town Mandala Part Five Begun

I finally started Part 5! It's a rather large part, having a huge area in each corner. It's all turquoises and golds, so it's going to look really pretty, though. I'm just happy to finally be on another part. Sure there are seven more after this, but it's better than eight!

Mini and Midi Again

Slowly but surely that mini mandala is getting done. Lots of backstitching on it lately, and I'm really just about done on the middle. Got all the cross stitching completed. Rhodes and more Rhodes to go, though, then the beads. I think it looks pretty, but it doesn't look like the picture in Gift of Stitching. That one didn't have a model stitched for it and there really wasn't an explanation as to whether things were Rhodes or Algerian eye stitches. It also had a really bad way of showing the backstitches. Who knows if, in the end, I'm making it the way Martina designed it? On the Midi, I got the ball and plant in the upper basket done and am now working on the basket itself. Once that basket's done, there are the balls on the tops of the columns and then a whole line of plants in pots at the bottom. At least it's not those arches!

On to the Second Gold Leaf

As my husband commented on my last posting regarding the goldwork, gold is not normally my favorite metal. I'm far more partial to silver and bronze, and will, eventually, do goldwork in both those colors. For now, I'm enjoying learning the technique and I think the gold looks good for the two things I'm working or have worked on. This week I got the lattice done on the second leaf and will hopefully complete it in the coming week. I still like how it's coming together, even though some of the lines on this second leaf aren't quite parallel.

Ribbons and Roses Layering

This week I started layering the batting and backing for the purse. I have about a third of the purse's lining stitched on. It's all hand stitching because of the beads. As of this picture, the strap was 23.5 inches. Getting there still...

Medieval and Roses

The round robin is coming along - one of the roses is nearly complete. I think it'll look good with the others when it's done. Now to get it done in the next couple of weeks ... On the Medieval Mandala, I got the insides of the fences backstitched this week and two of the four outlined in black. Since this picture was taken on Thursday, I completed Part 4 (yay!) and started Part 5. Part 5's going to take a while - the four corners of the area are all filled in with a lot of blue and gold. It'll be pretty, though. I'm just really happy to be done with Part 4.

Midi and Mini Chatelaines

The mini is still coming along. As you can see, I've been doing a lot of Rhodes stitches and backstitching on it. Pretty much half the backstitching is done, and there are fewer than that Rhodes stitches to do. Once both of those are done, I'm going to take a day and do the beading on it. Then it'll be done. On the Midi, you can see that I've managed to start another color than the arches! I'm so happy to finally have those done. Since they are the biggest part of Part 2, maybe I will have it done in the next couple of months. I am soooo slow at these things. Maybe one day I'll have more time.

Goldwork Leaf Done

I completed Part A of the Silk and Metal GCC this last week. I think it looks pretty good. Now to do the other leaf that swoops downward next to it the same way. I still like the way goldwork goes fairly quickly. It's also good my husband has figured out how to make a temporary stand for me. I use two of his quick release clamps and clamp it to the table. Works really well.

The Photography and Stitching Hazard

My husband was, as usual, taking my pictures on Thursday night when what happened? A cat jumped on his nice white sheet. If you see black hairs on my stitching, this is the culprit. Her name is Missy and she and her brother Tux are our foster kitties for the next couple of years. Very sweet, if pushy, cats.

My First Kissing Pillow Stitched

This is the kissing pillow I stitched this last week. It took about an hour and a half, and so makes a good little break project. I'm going to wait to make it into a pillow until I have a few more, either stitched by me or sent to me, and then make them all at once. This counts as number six on my ten project challenge, but I'm only going to count one of these instead of one each week.

Victorian Garden Getting There

I think I can get Part 1 done this week. As you see, I made some progress there and put a second color on Part 2. I still really like the look of this, at least, and am definitely not getting bored.

Victorian Garden Coming Along

I'm almost done with the center medallion, finally, and since some of the colors were same in Part 2 and I had extra in my needle after finishing off the colors in Part 1, I started it. That's what the line going off from the medallion is. Hopefully, I'll be able to get the center part done next week. This weekend, though, I'll be going off to visit a friend. Who knows how much stitching I'll actually do? On the other hand, I'll be able to when I get back! New pictures will be taken tonight as I'll be leaving tomorrow afternoon.

Silk and Metal Stitching Started

I finally started stitching this last week. It's going well so far. This picture shows the start on Part A. I finished Part A yesterday and now have one complete leaf on it. I'm really glad I did the other piece of goldwork first, though. There are some things not explained very well in the instructions and having that little bit of experience has helped me. Now to get it farther along before July when it has to be turned in.

Quarter Done on Roses

I've made some significant progress on my roses at the bottom. Both top leaves are done now, and two of the three roses are started. I should have it done by the end of March for sure. Since this one came so late, I have the feeling the last two will also. I still think it's a neat idea.

Kissing Pillows

These cute little pillows were designed by Geraldine Trappey of the Yellow Rose Chapter of the Embroiderers' Guild of America to give to children of servicepeople about to be deployed. The design is only available to chapters of EGA and the American Needlepoint Guild to do as outreach projects. I didn't stitch these two, but I finished them! They are the first two pillows in the Outreach Program of Cyberstitchers. Our Outreach chairman stitched them and she did a wonderful job. I am committing myself to stitching one a week. The smaller one, that I messed up the cutting on, is already on its way to a service member's family. He deployed yesterday, but they're hoping to get it to him to kiss and return before he gets all the way overseas. If you're in EGA or ANG, contact the Yellow Rose Chapter EGA to ask how your chapter can get involved!

Ribbons and Roses

The strap is up to 23.5 inches and after this picture was taken, I cut the purse into its shape and added the batting. Next is to sew it to its lining. It's beginning to actually look like a purse. At the rate things are going, I should have the strap and purse itself done at the same time. Not sure if that's going to be before I get to France, though. Oh well ... I think I'm going to have a nearly full suitcase of projects anyway.

Medieval and Mini

Well, I got the black square backstitching done on the Medieval Mandala and got to start the brown backstitching in the fences. I -might- finish that backstitching this week, depending on what comes up in my real life, which has been surprising me a lot lately. That's the reason I didn't get around to even think about finishing the Mini. On the other hand, I've started doing the backstitching and specialty stitches on it, and they're going quickly. After I took this picture, I managed to get a quarter of the Rhodes stitches around the inner water area done and two Algerian eyes done in the corners by the gold. I still plan on working on this to finish it as soon as I can. I have too many other things I need to start, and this is waaay too small a project to have taken over three months on.

Completed Arches

Finally, the arches are done! I can do some other things on this now - I'm so happy! New colors! It's been a week of trying to get back on track. I managed to do something on every one of my works in progress. So, I am still on Part 2 of 6 of this design, but at least I'm done with one very large piece of Part 2.

Victorian Garden

This is two weeks' worth of pictures. I didn't get around to posting last week's picture of this last week, so I included it with this week. It's one of the few things you can see actual progress on. I'm getting back into my stitching routine, so hopefully things will get more done in the next few days. I loved all the lighter colors on this, but I'm a bit dubious about these darker ones. To me, they just dull the piece ... but I'll see when I'm farther along.

A Little Progress

As stated in an earlier post, I was so wrapped up in finishing that piece of needlepoint and having a life that I didn't get much else stitchingwise done. I did manage to do a little more on both of these. The black border is almost done on the MTM and I've just got one small bit of arch to do before I can finally move on to doing something else on the Midi. This week I should have progress on everything by Saturday or Friday night, whenever my husband takes the pictures.

It's DONE!

Yup, after months of work and a lot of looking at it in despair, it's done. I'll be mailing it off tomorrow to the ANG for their auction. I'm just really happy to have it finished. It even counts toward my ten project challenge, too. Five down, five to go.

Auction Piece, Almost Done

Sometimes you get sick of a piece before you finish it. I've been feeling that way about this piece for a while now - it's not anything near what I would normally pick for myself to do and not even the subject matter interested me. So I made a big push to finish it last week and didn't -quite- do it. I should finish it tonight, if everything goes as planned. I hope. It's due to be mailed by March first. That's the latest it can be out of my hair. I've neglected a lot of other stuff over the past five days to work on this and also have had a lot of extra family stuff happening, so I haven't stitched on other projects as much as I wanted to, which just makes me grumpier. I NEED to finish this tonight ... wish me luck.

Silk and Metal GCC Start

Even though I've had this for almost six months, I hadn't been able to start it because I wanted to finish the other goldwork first. Well, as you know, I finished it week before last and so it's time for this! I've got the fabric marked and onto stretcher bars, but haven't done anything else with it yet. Today or tomorrow, I'll actually start stitching. I'm looking forward to it.

Rose Round Robin Started

You can see where I decided to place my two roses now. They'll be more horizontal and underline the rest of the piece. Since this picture was taken, I've started on the roses themselves and not just the leaves. I really like this idea ... then, I've liked all the ideas for these round robins. Each one is so unique and will be treasured when it's done.

Ribbons and More Roses

Well, I'm officially halfway done on the strap now and I did manage to get the beads and finish the feather stitches on the ribbons (thank you Deanna!). Now comes the construction. I've started stitching around the edges - decided I didn't want to use a machine with all the beading, so I'm doing it by hand. As of today, I'm about halfway done with that. It's coming along, at least ... slowly I make progress, but I do get things done!

Mini Mandala

Probably next week I'm just going to sit down and finish this. It's getting on my nerves that it's taken so long. I've got almost all the cross stitching done and have a lot of the Rhodes stitches done. There's a lot of backstitching in the middles of the quadrants for fountains that I need to do, and the gates, but I think I can finish it off in one day if I don't work on anything else. That'll be a goal for next week... and another project crossed off my list.

Medieval and Midi

On one, not as much progress as I had hoped - on the other, light at the end of the arch. I'm still backstitching on the fourth part of the Medieval Town Mandala. I hadn't realized there was a black line at the bottom of the flowers all the way around. It's almost done now - though I just started it in this picture. On the Midi Mystery, I have three out of four curves of the arches done! Maybe I can get to something new this week. I actually finished two out of three colors on the fourth curve on Sunday, so... there's hope. I'm sooo sick of them.

Auction Piece ...

I now have four of the six rectangles around the center completely done, and since this picture, have finished the vegetable cart with the exception of the red outline and the white background - which I'm working on. Hopefully, I'll have this done in time! Only 17 more days to get it done.

And Another Finish!

This was the piece I started in a workshop at my face to face chapter of EGA (Pocono Mountain) at the end of October. I finished it on Wednesday, but it too had to wait until my husband got home to take a picture. I thought I was going to get it framed and give it away as a Christmas present next year, but both my husband and daughter want it kept in the house, so I'm overruled. With this, I discovered how hard it is to make a round circle on needlepoint canvas. I also really changed the inner design and added all the gold. I think the gold makes it look more luxe and better - the ecru just wasn't showing up for me. This also makes my fourth finish of my Ten Project Challenge. I'm kind of surprised that I've already gotten four done, but I'm not complaining.

January Heart Finished!

I managed to finish this on Sunday - it was halfway done and I just decided it was time to finish. Looks pretty good. I'm going to finish it into an ornament and give it to Muriel, who gave me the needlecase I showed off a couple of weeks ago. This makes three finishes on my Ten Project Challenge. The picture didn't get taken until today because my husband was off in a foreign country for the week.

Ribbons, Roses, and Progress

I managed to get some done on both parts this week. The strap is now nineteen inches long and I have less than half a length of feather stitch to do. Unfortunately, I ran out of the beads for the feather stitch and will be getting more in this week. Deanna, the designer, is mailing them to me today. It's not like there are other parts I can work on! I'm almost halfway done with the strap, at least.

Rose Round Robin

This is the fourth round robin piece of six to work on. As you can see, she chose roses. I got it on Saturday. Muriel either didn't get it on time or took a long time doing it. Anyway, I decided on a pattern last night, and it's rather big for one of these, but I started stitching it at the bottom of the other roses. It's a horizontal design of two roses that are red. Called Roses for Emilie. Anyway, I hope I get it done in a timely manner. I'm going to shoot for the middle of March.

Big Chatelaines

I'm still not done with part one of the Victorian Garden, but I'm still in love with the colors. It looks so much better in person! Hopefully I'll at least finish part one before part three's released. On the Midi, I've mad significant progress. The light green on the left arch is done, which means the left arch itself is done. Now to finish the right arch. There's just a lot of stitching on these arches and a lot of counting because of the way they're laid out. On the Medieval Town Mandala, I've started backstitching part four and it's going relatively quickly. Depending on how the backstitching inside the fences go, I could be done with it this week. I really need to minimize the number of projects I work on... so many projects and not enough time. I'll be getting some truly quiet time this afternoon as I'll be alone in the house with only the cats, the dog and the guinea pig. Maybe I'll be able to make some progress.

The Small Pieces

Both these pictures were taken on Friday, so they don't show current progress. I worked on both today, adding some to the edges on the mini mandala and completely finishing the January Heart. You won't see a picture of the completed stitching until next weekend, though, as my husband and his camera are both in France. That makes three complete projects for the 10 Project Challenge on the Wagon. I'm getting there! Today, I taped the pattern for the Silk and Metal GCC from Kay Stanis on my kitchen window and the silk on top of it to trace tomorrow. It's my new start - another piece of goldwork!