Honeydew it to me one more time...

More honeydew, but I've come to see this color as wrapping up an area and saying time ot move on. I'm getting there on this, slowly, sure, but getting there. Maybe I can have this part done by Christmas.

Matching Up

I started part three and it seems to be matching up with what I did of part two, so I'm a bit less uncertain now. I'll complete part three before finishing off part two. The colors seem to be blending well with the fabric still.

Not Quite There

I actually finished this thick band after the picture was taken. I feel a bit bogged down on this project and it's not really exciting me at the moment. I think it's just because I'm tired of that band. Maybe when I do the next, things will perk up.

Can't Cock This Up

Yep, the latest round robin I'm working on is roosters! It's not too big to do one rooster, at least, and it's coming along fairly quickly. I'll have this one out the door by the middle of next week. It's on Aida, but at least the cloth is soft and easier to work with than some. Having it as one big piece helps, too. For some reason, I have a hard time working on small cuts of Aida.

Bluer than Blue

Guess which color I was working on this week? It's coming along pretty well, I think. Looks like I'll have the top half of this corner done soon and will be able to get the bottom half done. I still really enjoy working on this every time I do.

Pottering Along

I managed to get all the pots done on the first arch and start those on the second this week. All that's still needed in the first one is the gold curlicues. Making progress, for sure.

Drawn Thread

I've made some progress on this. It's just wrapping, and to me that's not really stitching. All those white canvas threads need to get covered. Fewer showing this week than last. I should probably just sit down and do it one day and get it done.

Dazzling Stairsteps

It looks like the next few things I'm doing on this piece are scotch and cashmere stitch rectangles. So far, I have most of the scotch stitches done on one side. When I work on it, it goes pretty quickly, and I like the colors.

Purple Circles

I finished all the Jessicas in this band this week. Looking at the next band ... that one's a huge amount of Jessicas. Before I get to it, though, there's another row of starfles (the middle band in the picture). I'll be starting them this week.

Another Week, Another Round Robin

Well, I finished this one early this week but waited until today to post it. Had to because my husband was away and I had to get a picture. At least this Aida was softer than the last few, and it was a quick and easy stitch.

Uncertainty

I'm still not sure I've counted right for the corners. There's really nothing to register them against and the backstitching is weirdly counted because of the single thread on the outline bit. Part three really doesn't help. It doesn't have any part of part two to register against on the chart. I may go ahead and do all of part three, then hope part four has tiny bits of both to place part two correctly. It's not like I'm keeping up with the chart, anyway. I still like the look of it on this fabric a lot and this is the first problem of this kind I've had with any of this designer's charts.

Slight Progress

I managed to stitch some on this at Seminar. It's going slow because it's not really in my rotation, but I'll get it done. I like it.

The Blues

This piece suffered, too, when I was at Seminar. I worked on it again last week, though, and you can see there are more blues on it now. It's gotten a bit more done since last week, and I hope to get to it once more before my husband takes pictures on Saturday. He's gone until late Friday night on a business trip, so I have more stitching time. I still like the look of this a lot. It's one piece I haven't gotten tired of working on - after a year and a half.

Frogging and Progress

This week I had to frog all the gold braid inside the arch. It was off by one stitch too low. Fixed that and added some green, including on the second arch. It's coming along, and I should have the first arch done in the beginning of October.

Flagging a Bit

This got put aside a bit when I went to Seminar, but I've made some progress. I worked on it last night, too, so it's farther along than this. The flag is definitely beginning to take form, and the stitching is relatively easy with large blocks of color. I'll be working on it more once I catch the round robins up - I need to finish it in time for Timothy to frame it by April. Anyway, it's a nice project that's not giving me any problems so far.

Another Round Robin

Another one that's just -not- to my taste. At least it should go quickly and I will have it out by the end of the week. Maybe I can begin catching up on these round robins. Right now, I have two more in queue after this. None in the mail this week. Anyway, I've never even heard of this set of cartoon characters or whatever they are. The colors are certainly bright, though.

Dense Blackwork

Looking at this picture, I realize how very dense this particular band is. There's just so much that nearly everwhere is covered. No where for the eye to rest. Haven't gotten to work on it since I went to seminar; I'll probably be able to today. Perhaps I'll learn not to tackle so many big projects at the same time.

Eric the Half a Bee

This is my other class from the ANG Seminar - Flight of Passion from Meredith Willett. I'm one of those people who like to complete one thing before going off and doing something else. With seminar classes, that's impossible and resulted in Eric the halfabee. He's my first ever piece of turkeywork, though! I think I'm going to finish the flower before going back to him.

Huswif Finished

I added the beads around the edge today, so I can call this -officially- finished. I think the beads look good for this. It counts toward my project challenge and now I am done, done, done with that designer.

Seashell Done

The picture on the bottom shows this seashell last Friday night. The one on top is last night. I'll be mailing it out today. It's another one on my sealife round robin, for Nicola in Australia. She wants to have all these motifs stitched on separate pieces of fabric and then make them into pillows for a charity. It was another piece on Aida, and my fingers paid for it! Since Aida is so stiff, I tend to use the stab stick method of stitching, which means I slow down and I end up sticking my fingers often. Even with a blunt tapestry needle, it hurts! This piece also counts toward my project challenge.

Post Modern

Eventually, my teacher at Seminar promised me, this will be a three dimensional suncatcher. Honest. In the meantime, it looks like a post modern piece of something. I'm hoping to finish it this week, since it's not really stitching, but wrapping all these threads. Easy and mindless. Stay tuned. By the way, this was the Introduction to Contemporary Drawn Thread taught by Catherine Jordan.

It's Almost Done

My husband went a little crazy with the Huswif pictures this week. I think he thinks it's done. I still need to add edging to it, though. All the sewings complete, and you can see here how it's put together. I'll be putting the beads I bought at Seminar on it probably tomorrow, after I finish the seashell for the round robin. Then it'll be done. I couldn't do as the instructions said for edging because there wasn't enough silk of any color left to make cording.

So Why Did I Start Yet Another Project?

For this one, I confess, it was my husband. The piece is called "Dazzle" and I got it through ghosting at the San Diego ANG 21st annual stitch in. It came in the mail. I asked him to make the stretcher bars. Two days later, he asked why I hadn't started it. It's started now. With luck, it'll be quick because it's only about six inches square, perhaps seven. I like its looks so far.

And the Wheel on the Row Goes Round and Round

I should have these Jessicas done this week! They're coming along pretty well, just have to count. None of my regular pieces, with the exception of the current round robin, got worked on while I was in Baltimore, so this one languished a bit. Hopefully, it won't for very long.

Florentine Fantasy Framed

I finished my version of Lorretta Spears' Florentine Fantasy last fall or winter. It took this long to frame it because my daughter, who picked the colors and is the recipient of it, had to paint the frame. I think she did a good job. My husband put this together before we left for the ANG seminar last Tuesday.

Honeydew Means Progress...

I managed to do quite a bit of background work on the garden this week. More honeydew Watercolors. I'm beginning to look on this as a way of really measuring progress, since it's the main color that everything else lays on.

Leaves and Vines

I started part two of the Tuscany. The leaves are lazy daisy stitch, and the vines are all double running stitch. There was a little trick to getting the placement right, since the edges of part one are that one thread out instead of two. I had to do some frogging the first time because of that. At least I caught it before I did all four. I would have, as my daughter would put it, committed seppuku. No need for that now!

No Dessert for Me

It's slowly getting done. For some reason, this band is tedious to me. Possibly because I had to frog quite a bit a couple of weeks ago. I do like the way it looks, though. Since this picture was taken, all the left half of the band is done and the right half started on.

Yet Another Round Robin

This is my latest round robin start. It's the sealife one that I did the seahorse for a few weeks ago. I decided to do a shell this time. It should be fairly quick, at least.

Getting the Gold Down

This week, I stitched all the gold corner bits and did the tops of the swirls on the second corner. This side might not be going any faster in actuality, but it feels faster, and that's a good thing. I am off to Baltimore today to take a couple of classes at the ANG seminar. More projects to blog! Because of that, I'll be writing the blogs early and then posting them daily. I'll just be a -bit- busy there. My husband's dragging me to an O's game, for example.

Pottery Prevails

The pots are back! They are in the upper arches, and I worked on four this week. They don't look bad, but this is obviously surrealistic at this point...

Flag Lady

Still getting more of the flag done. I like the way it's turning out. At this rate, I might have to buy some drawing tickets myself.

First Jessicas

This piece has a lot of Jessica stitches, and I just started the first set. Jessicas take up a lot of time and a lot of floss, but they look pretty. I know many people have problems with Jessicas; I haven't had any, thankfully!

Another Finish

I don't knit well and I have very little patience for it, so this picture is of my one scarf that took nearly a year to do. It's a gift for one of my husband's coworkers. I don't think I'll be knitting again for a while, even though this came out pretty well. It counts toward my project challenge, though!

Huswif Horrors

Those of you who have been reading my blog for the last two months know that I've been really disappointed with Carol Tinson of Heirloom Embroideries because of her Mystery Huswif. She provided all the materials and the directions, supposedly over a period from February to June. Not one of the scheduled mailing dates was met. The last one, June's, was mailed in the middle of July. She didn't even bother to inform us that there would be a delay on any of it. In fact, she didn't answer email or forum questions for over two months during this.

So, I opened my last packet this week, the one for the lining. On the outside, folded into a little 3x4 inch rectangle, it looked fine. When I unfolded it, the blotched piece you see in the top picture is what I got. The second picture is color skewed for better contrast. I tried folding the fabric in the manner suggested to see if i could hide the spots, but I couldn't. The fabric is a total loss. Make your own judgment on whether she's worth buying from. I was fooled once, but I will not be again. I will never buy from Carol Tinson again. Also, in her directions for putting cording around the edges of the huswif when it's finished, she says to use three meters of floss. Problem is, there isn't enough of any of the colors left to have three meters. She provided us with only five meter skeins.

This third picture is the piece of fabric I pulled from my quilting stash to substitute. It's cotton, so it won't be as glitzy, but I like it. I did the marbling on it several years ago, so all the pattern is mine.

And here is the huswif all cut out and ready to stitch to the lining. All the beads are on now.

Gardening

Plugging along on this - the part takes a long time. It's looking really pretty, though, even if I did go back to stitching with Honeydew this week. From what other stitchers said, this part alone was over forty hours to stitch. I can believe it, even though I have no clue how others keep track of their stitching time. Every time I see this, though, I smile at how pretty it is.

Part One Done!

I managed to get part one done before the end of part two's month! No beads, of course, since I don't want to crush them. I've started on part two now, and the colors have changed completely. Looks good, though. Of course, I'm going to be behind again in another week.

Tiramisu Back to Front

Last week, my husband accidentally took the picture of Tiramisu from the back. Here it is with this week's front picture. I've slacked some on the reversible blackwork, since I'm no longer under pressure to turn this in for evaluation, but it's still looking pretty good on the back. About halfway done, now, with band four after some serious frogging from having one flower one stitch off...

Medieval Mandala Progress

I got more on this done, adding some gold and blue. I think it's coming along fairly nicely. Now, if only I could limit myself to a couple of things to stitch on at a time, I'd end up completing them much faster...

This I like, though, because it's giving me no problems and looks really, really nice.