More Temari

This was the other temari I started at seminar. We had to make the balls from scratch before stitching. I really like the colors on this one and will be finishing it soon. The design is called maritime stars. It's a combination of kikus

and swirl stitches. I did three panels of swirl stitches at my face to face meeting on Monday, so you can tell they go fast.

I Get a Kiku Out of You

So my first class was temari, and here is proof of what I did on the second day. The star shapes are called kikus, or chrysanthemums, in Japanese. With the experience of the day before, it was pretty easy to do. Each of the star faces of this ball will be different.

This is the beginning of the second face. As you can see, it has a different color from the other one. That's not the only difference - you'll have to see it as it progresses.

And here is the book my teacher Barbara Suess wrote about temari. I bought it at the merchandise day and she was kind enough to autograph it. Her instructions are really clear and easily followed - and she has a new group correspondence course for temari from EGA.

Flowing Heart

This was the second of my two day classes at EGA seminar. It's Heart of Gold by Meredith Willett. It's basic English goldwork with some other metallic threads, and I loved the design outside of it being pink from the time I first saw it. Two students in the class were prescient enough to ask for color changes before the seminar; I was not one of them and ended up with the original. I still like it! So I got some of it done and I really like the look so far. I'll be making some changes as I go - like putting a dragonfly in the middle. This too will go into my rotation soon - as soon as I finish a couple of things.

Berries for Me!

This was my Wednesday class at Seminar. It's called Berries for You! and is a design by Barbara Jackson. I got fairly far in class and she kept telling me I was doing well. Since she told some others it might be a good idea to do some frogging, I guess I really was doing well. The design is pretty and we're using Heathway and Gumnuts yarns on it. This should be a fairly quick finish when it gets into my rotation. I'm looking forward to working more on it.

I Finished Something!

So this week at Seminar, I finished something. Sure, it was almost done when I got there, but between the busy-ness and the new projects, it's amazing I did. See Anda? I told you I'd get it done. I certainly prefer the blue on bottom to the gold that was recommended. There were no new stitches in this last band, just a repeat of several from above. I think it looks pretty good and my husband has decided we're keeping it instead of giving it away.

On the Way Home

Still no picture today, but that will change tomorrow evening. I finished with the Seminar this afternoon and drove five hours to get halfway home. My class, Heart of Gold by Meredith Willett, was wonderful. I learned some and got quite a bit of the project done. I'm going home knowing that I'll finish all three projects from this seminar. Not a bad feeling. After Tuesday, the city returned to normal. Louisville is pretty obviously depressed as a downtown, but there are a few bright spots. It was a safe city to walk in, even if it rained on both my walks today. Overall, the seminar itself was very good. The town - well ... could be better. Next year is Pittsburgh. My husband wants me to go, and I know some about Pittsburgh already - my in-laws live close to there. I'm still deciding. So, pictures tomorrow after I get home.

Almost Three of Four

I'm almost done with the third corner now - it's going slowly at the moment because of all the other stuff (like seminar and sending my youngest to college) I've been doing this past couple of weeks. Things sink back down to normal after Saturday, so I'll have things progressing more then. Today at Seminar I did a crewel piece with Barbara Jackson. It felt good being told my stitches were so good, since I'm pretty much self taught. This will definitely be something I'll finish, and actually finish pretty quickly. Like the temari, it's about half done.

Apology for Yesterday

I'm sorry there was no post yesterday. It's the first day I've missed in a long time! I can only beg off lack of time from spending a long time with a phone problem at seminar. I had a wonderful time yesterday in my temari class and am going to have two very presentable balls by the time I finish them! What more can be asked than learning a new skill and doing well at it?

Part 11 Done

I finished the last of the four squares for this part about a week ago, well enough early to get part twelve today, on time. I haven't started stitching it yet because I'm at Seminar. I'm taking a temari class and have my first ball all done. The marking has always been the sticking point for me on this, and now I know how to do it. Relatives, expect them for Christmas presents. While I was in class this morning, there were still a lot of streets closed downtown and getting in the way of my husband doing the tourist thing. Lots of people on bikes in a race of some kind, he said. Still disappointed in Louisville.

Glacial Progress

Still on the top border of the eighth band, but almost done with it. Not this week, but next, I hope to finish the border. Lots of deadlines before seminar have come up, and I've been working and working on them. Got some stuff done, at least.

Landed in Louisville this evening, and the last thing I needed after a twelve hour car trip was to spend another hour in Louisville trying to get to my hotel. Half of downtown was blocked off and the whole thing was bisected for an Ironman competition. So far, because of that and that there were NO restaurants open for dinner bcause of said competition, my impression of Louisville is less than stellar. Perhaps it will improve when the Ironman competition moves out of town, but you know ... we're to be adhering to a regular schedule on Labor Day tomorrow. Lots and lots of restaurants and shops with notices that they're closed tomorrow in the window. I feel so welcomed. Not.

Four Sided Continental

I'm working with slippery rayon again; this time it's with four sided continental stitch. It's going really slowly and doesn't look like I'm even making much of an impression because it's only one strand. Anyway, it's taking a looot longer than the string art it's falling down from. Of course, not much on anything's going to be done this week. I leave for Louisville and the EGA seminar early in the morning. I'll be blogging from there and show some new things, but my old stuff will languish some.

Band Eight

Since this is due a week from Monday, I've been working on it almost exclusively lately - a hard thing for me to do! I finished the seventh band and then managed to do all of the eighth this week. The pattern called for gold where the blue is, but there's no gold anywhere else except the bottom, so I'm sticking with blue. Just started the ninth band, which shouldn't take too long. Maybe I can get it done today before I leave for seminar in the early morning tomorrow.

Glittery Green

I'm once again working with this Treasure Braid color that reminds me of dayglo green. I'm not particularly thrilled with how it looked up top at the basket, but maybe it will be more tempered by other colors in the lady's dress. This is my last portion of the piece. Once I'm done putting her in, it gets beaded and then framed. Yay, so close! But I won't get any done for a couple weeks, I think.

Over Halfway There

Two full sides done on the specialty stitches and only two more to go, both of which partially done. This part would be done now except for the interstitial work on the crazy quilt blocks and now the push on the English Sampler. Well, that and being in the car for long car trips. I've had a busy couple of weeks. It'll get there.

More Flag

This week's work was mainly on the flag. It's coming along pretty well but will be slowing down next week because I'll be at EGA seminar and stitching other projects.

Another Round Robin Out the Door

I spent all of yesterday evening doing my work on Kerry's block. I'd gotten it late due to the post office taking nearly a month, so it's already late for its mailing. This round robin requires us to use a certain stitch for a seam treatment every month. This month was herringbone, with an optional lazy daisy. I did one of each. The seam on the left is the herringbone and the one on the right is the lazy daisy. I hope she likes it.

Up to H

Well, you can see I'm through the middle of H now. It's getting there, though, and I'll be doing more work on it this week. It's still going to be a fairly quick (for me) stitch.

Going Out in the Morning

I finished up my work on Ann K's block for the my favorite things round robin. I must say that the huuuuuuge light green solid piece intimidated me, so I didn't do it. I just never, ever have pieces that large on my blocks and I prefer smaller ones. Anyway, I did the next biggest block, the light blue, and covered it with flowers and bugs. Then I did the seam next to it in a kind of different way. Decided I should put something traditional on it, so I beaded the seam in the bottom left corner with golden bugle and seed beads. You can see a better detail of the weird seam and flower block below.

Ladders Done

The ladders on each side are done now; I'm not sure if they're supposed to be vines or leaves or what. There are leaves in mosaic stitch coming in off them. I started them yesterday and really wasn't pleased with the look. I might go ahead and frog that then just cross stitch them. Will decide later this morning.

Starting the Huge Center Medallion

This medallion in the center is really, really big. I started it this week with a little bit of string art. I need to move faster on this because it's so close to finishing, but other things have higher priority. I'll get to it. Anyway, so far this medallion's gone okay. Only one counting mistake that I caught early. Wish me luck!

Mattie Update

The other night someone asked me why I hadn't posted more about Mattie the Kosovo wonderdog. So I got my husband to take some pictures of her yesterday. She's grown. At four months, she's forty pounds. She's also developed the taste for and the ability to get cookies off the dining room table. Today, she tried for chicken quesadilla. She was -not- successful. Anyway, she's a really happy and enthusiastic puppy and she's growing cute again with the mange clearing up.

Here she is with her sister, the full grown basset Emma. It gives you kind of a perspective on her size.

The Blob Revealed

Finally that bit in the middle that looked like a crab to me is beginning to look like something more in keeping with the sampler. A leaf! I see a leaf! The four parts for this section are all in the bottom half of the sampler for some reason. I should get it done in plenty of time.

Flower Power

I decided to do something different with a seam treatment this time - I'm making a flower pot with vines growing up the seams. They'll get flowers and such on them. So far, the pot and vines are made in this picture. I'm almost done with what I'm going to do before mailing.

Twelve Sides

So Poirot has twelve sides now, even if four of them are really short. That whitish line is all smyrna crosses. I'll be doing string art in the middle next and see how it goes.

Light Colors

This week's progress is a bit harder to see because the colors I mainly used were light. You can see some against the flagpole and farther to the left on the skirt.

Twining Some Tendrils

Got some more work done on band seven this week. I used medium green because I thought it stood out more. It's coming along and work will accelerate this week once I've finished part eleven of Totales Mysterie.

Starfle Me

More slick thread to work with, and more string art. I got both sets of starfles done this week. Not sure what I do next. I just -hope- it's not more of the Edmar. That stuff's hard to work with. I'm going to have to do some repair work when I'm done with this. My puppy Mattie dragged it off my desk and managed to break a couple of threads on the crescents on the band above. She's getting into everything, and she's tall enough that nothing's safe.

Three To Go

Three more letters to go, so five done. Nothing spectacular to talk about, just progress this week.

Third Corner Progress

The third corner is coming along pretty well and is about halfway done. These corners go much more quickly than the gardens of part three did. I've decided to get rid of the lazy daisy stitches and do back stitches instead on the vines. The lazy daisies just aren't standing up very well. That'll be done once I have all the cross stitch done on this part.

Still Bordering

I'm still working on the top border of the eighth band. The soysilk is still shredding in single plies, so I'm having to take it really carefully. On the other hand, it's over halfway done.

Spring Flowers

I've completed my first motif for Ann K's favorite things block. She wanted flowers, so I gave her flowers in three different styles and added a few insects for good measure. I'll be doing a seam next.

Algerian Rhodes

I'm feeling happy about the progrss I made this week. One full corner (the top left) is done and half the Algerian eyelets are done on a second. I feel like I'm making real progress toward the next step on this.

Bringing It Down

This week I added more red to the flag, bringing the overall flag farther down. It's a biiiig flag, though, so there are several more red and white patches to go. I also outlined one of the major folds of her skirt, bringing it down almost to the end of the pole. Really beginning to make visible progress on this.

Another Gift

This afghan is going off to Kosovo. One of the embassy's locally hired staff is having a baby this month (at least, his wife is). He helped tremendously in getting Mattie back here to the States, and I wanted to do something to thank him. According to my information, the baby's supposed to be a girl. Afghan is made out of Bernat Satin and it's soooo soft. Worked up fairly quickly for being a dense all double crochet. I hope they like this. This also makes my third finish for the 25 project challenge.

Up to F

This is going fairly quickly and I should be able to finish it by the end of September at latest. I'm already on F, which is about a quarter done. The colors of the floss I'm using go really well with the other colors on the piece.

Darning the Leaves

See Anda? I got even more done! I did the darning stitches in the big leaves and started the satin stitches in the small ones. Those satin stitches were supposed to be cream colored, but I wanted them to look like real leaves, so I used light green. It's coming along pretty well, and I have more stitched than this picture shows.

Spiraling Corners

I did more string art this week - spirals in the two top corners. They took up a lot of thread but were fairly easy to do. The hardest part was working with the rayon threads. They're from Edmar and are meant for Brazilian embroidery. All I know is that they tangle often and coil around themselves, making these string art bits with them extra difficult. They look pretty, at least. I don't think I'd use them for a project of my design, though. I'd be more likely to use a silk perle or something similar.

Header Half Way

I'm over half done with the header now. Those letters are wide, so they take up a lot of floss. Easy stitching, though. There are only three colors of floss for the whole design.

A New Block

The CQ Embellishing group on yahoo is having a round robin. The theme is "my favorite things". The steampunk block I posted a couple of weeks ago is part of that round robin. I received Ann K.'s block a week ago and have started working on it. She has a LOT of favorite things, so it's pretty easy to put something on her block. What I've started on the light blue area is a small flower garden. The stems are stitched now, with whipped chain stitch. I've crocheted three small flowers for it and will be adding a button or two and some ribbon flowers for the rest. Then I'll work on a couple of seams.

Two Down, Two to Go

Two of the corners are now done and I've made a good dent on the third. These go pretty quickly, even though there are three different colors of blue in each. I'll be happy when I can go beyond this central square.

Band 8 Started

I finished band seven this week and started band eight. Only four more bands to go. Eight is a large one, and I tried something different for the top part - I took apart the plies of one of the colors of perle thread. It's very fragile to work with, so I wouldn't recommend it. It doesn't pill - it just pulls apart unexpectedly.

Halfway There

I finished up my tenth installment last week and am now officially halfway done with this leafy sampler. Some of the motifs are completely done; some are partial; and I'm sure there are some surprises left. For example, I have no clue what's going to be going on in the corners. Maybe the next installment will have one.

... Is Half Done

I'm about halfway done with part five and even got a bit of part six done this week. I might even have part five done by the end of August.

Rhodes to Nowhere

Rhodes stitches take a lot of time and floss to do, but they're lovely. I completed the Rhodes stitches on one corner and started a second this week; this is going a lot faster than all those cross stitches! I haven't started on the Algerian eye stitches yet, but will soon.

Second Square of the Set

I was working on the second of my four squares when this was taken nearly a week ago. It's coming along pretty well and the motifs are able to be seen pretty well. Still only available at the Marquoir group on the German Yahoo site, and they still do everything in non-English.

Needlepoint Ornament

I decided to go ahead and start my June ornament. It's Poirot by Jim Wurth, part of is dodecagon series. The first step is an outline completely in smyrna cross. I'm almost halfway done with that part. It's not that big, so I shouldn't take too long to complete it, right?

Leaving It Go

I wasn't going to post this today, but Anda asked about it last night, so I am. Just for her. See Anda? I made progress! It'll be done by September 8th, I promise. For the rest of you, that's the date it needs to be sent to the evaluator. There are two more bands after the one I'm working on, and this one's the largest. It'll be worked on more often now that the due date's only a month away.