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.