Ornamental Finish

I completed the ornament I talked about starting yesterday. It didn't take more than a couple of hours to do - a really quick stitch. My husband claims I like tone on tone stuff too much. I think he says that because it's hard to photograph. I think it came out really well and will finish it up into a small pillow ornament some time this weekend. Since the ornament pattern was a freebie and it was stitched from stash, this counts as my twentieth finish on my project challenge. Only five more to go!

Kosovar Textiles

When my daughter went to get the mail this evening, there was a package from my best friend in Kosovo. These were enclosed. I knew he'd gone to a local bazaar in Pristina, but he told me he'd bought jewelry - not textiles! He had an Albanian speaker with him, so I'll have to question him tomorrow about these things. The crochet is absolutely exquisite. It's very well done with a fine cotton thread - just over tatting weight. I love it. My husband got a closer view of an individual motif so you can see the workmanship.

This weaving was also in the package - actually two of them, identical. The red lozenge pattern is very typical of most of Eastern Europe and is supposed to be a fertility symbol. I don't think my friend knew that part. The piece is made of wool, woven on a tapestry loom, and measures about a foot square.

There was also a business card enclosed for a glass artist in Pristina. Since my friend didn't enclose a personal note, I don't know why it was in there - if he purchased the textiles from there, or if he thought I'd like the fused glass work (I'm a big fan of fused glass.). The website has a lot of neat stuff on it, especially the glass Kosovar flags. A fitting metaphor, I think.

Ornamental Start

This is a really small ornament pattern from Follow the Leader. I got it free in something I had sent away for. Just started and changed colors, of course. The floss is Needle Necessities and the fabric is one I dyed this summer. Shouldn't take me very long to make, and it will probably be my last ornament on the Christmas blitz. Time to get back to other commitments!

Water Stitch on the Home

I used the water stitch in two colors of Soie Cristale for the latest completely filled area. I'd hoped it would give more diagonal movement than it did. There seems to be a stronger vertical line than I thought there would be. It doesn't look bad, it just doesn't look like I'd hoped. There are only four more areas to fill, though, and I've started one of them. It's woven Milanese stitch on the diagonal done with two strands of Splendor and one of Gloriana silken perle. I think it's giving the effect I want - random flowers and less ripe grain in a field. I should either have this area done or close to done by the end of the week.

Star Filled Dazzle

Two whole sets of stars done now! It's really almost done. The smaller stars were harder to do than the larger ones, but they both came out well. I've found I really need to use my laying tool on this to get all the long stitches to lay smoothly. It's good practice.

Catlike Progress

I thought I'd have this done this week, but as you can see, it's not. Since I can't mail it out until after Christmas due to the group's rules, I decided to get more work done on some other stuff instead. This isn't as bad as the chickens, but it's still not something I'm absolutely enthused about. At least it's mostly full stitches and somewhat blocky, so it's not like I'm changing colors every other stitch.

Latest Crazy Quilt Ornament - Done

This is the piece I was disappointed with last week. I just kept embellishing and it ended up looking okay. Not spectacular, but nothing to be ashamed of, either. The front is a lot more laden than the back, but then - it should be. There's a pucker in the seam where I put it together on the lower left - I'll be fixing that before I put it on the tree. The lesson I learned was not to judge things too harshly before they're done. Now to apply it! This also counts as the nineteenth project on my twenty-five project challenge, since I did it completely from my stash.