Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Crazy #18 - Beginner Whitework Ornament

Of course I'm not doing it in white.  It's got a good start on it, though!

Back and Forth

Little bits of this and that this week.  Bits of tree and sidewalk, and even some windows.

Monday, January 30, 2012

A Few More Blues

The second area here is a combination of  two silks from The Silk Mill.  I just couldn't find a single color I was satisfied with against the black.

Crazy #17 - Stacked Pumpkins

A bit of the top done and not much more.  On the other hand, it'd been languishing in my stash for a couple of years and will be pulled out now for sure into the rotation eventually.

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Crazy #16 - Candy Cane Snow

I'm not sure which is worse: stitching something prefinished or stitching and then finishing.  This start came with everything prefinished, including a pillow.  At least I'll be completely done when I'm done stitching.

Adding in the Flourishes

The extra filling in the middle, with the thicker thread, is coming along pretty well.  I'm thinking three to four more stitching sessions, and I'm done.  It'll strike one of last year's starts off the list.

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Over the Hafway Mark

Done with the twelfth and on to the thirteenth.

Crazy #15 - Blues in the Night

This is the beginning of a petite project from the Embroiderers' Guild of America.  It's a fairly complex needlepoint piece, and, of course, I'm not doing it in any of the original colors or threads.

Friday, January 27, 2012

TAST Week 3 - Feather Stitch

Some of the samples in Sharon's post for the feather stitch reminded me of the grape vines surrounding this city.  So, I made some!  Feather stitch and French knots.

Crazy #14- Tu Es Unique

This has been sitting in my stash since my last trip to France.  Time to get it started, especially since it's a pretty small design!

Difference in Speed

It looks like part six is going much faster than the second half of part five.  I'm thinking I should probably work more on five and less on six at this point....

Thursday, January 26, 2012

All The Way Across

I managed to get all the way across the width of the sampler.  Now to go back and fill in the bottoms of the swags.

Crazy #13- Mystery Brocante

I had meant to start this piece earlier.  It was a stitchalong offered by European Cross Stitch, but they didn't send the threads until the second shipment of the stitchalong due to backorders.... and it didn't arrive at all.  The mail ate it.  So I ordered a second set of threads and asked them to mail me the pattern piece I'd never gotten, and then Turkish Air decided that mail delivery to Chisinau wasn't going to happen.  This sneaked in on one of their infrequent small shipments toward the middle of January and I finally got to start stitching.  I like the colors with the fabric I picked, but I need to finish another large project before this one goes into the rotation.

Six Squares Done

Another set of squares looks done.  This means I'm at least 2/3 of the way down the fabric and on the slide toward the finish.  I'm beginning to be at the point of wanting this to be -done-, so don't be surprised if I make a big push for just that in the next few weeks.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Line After Line

Row after row of DMC 817.  At least it's pretty easy to do.

Crazy #12 - Tulip Welcome

So many of these pieces are boring at the start - a bit of outer border or background.  I think it makes it easier to take them back up later when some of the boring stuff is done.

Green or Black Thumb

We finally got some flowers for inside the house.  They're orchids, and we made the investment because one of the wives of Andreas' local employees grows them - so the orchid will have a good home when we leave.  This one is from the local Metro and is beautiful.  It wasn't -that- expensive, either, for an orchid.  Now to see if I can make it bloom a couple more times before I give it away.  

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Just the Blues

More shades of light blue this time.  Just about done with the sky.  It's done now on the left now.

White and Green

Just a bit more on the leaves done this time.

Crazy #11 - Earth Dragon

I have only a tiny bit of a pretty huge dragon done.  This is his beak.  On the other hand, it's farther along than it was before I started it!

Monday, January 23, 2012

Needing Variety

I'm happy I'm going to get some variety in this soon.  There's a tree to the right that is beginning to get stitched.  It'll be good to have more than the peach and the windows!

Last Cracker

Finally, my last Christmas cracker was delivered on the one day we got mail two weeks ago.  It wasn't the sender's fault that it took so long, but Turkish Air's.  Isn't it beautifully stuffed with stuff?  I can't wait to use it!

Crazy Start #10 Asian Palm

This is an old kit I had bought on clearance.  Looks like it's finally going to be stitched.

Speared

Although I'm not done with all the middle filling, I'm getting closer to having this done.  The middle has another layer in a thicker thread to add.  Once that's done, there's the rest of the left and then outlining the whole thing.  It's getting so close to being done!  Did you know that the fleur-de-lis is based on the shape of the head of an ancient weapon?

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Crazy #9 - Let's Get Fancy Biscornu

This is my crazy start number nine.  Since it's also for an exchange, you'll see it for at least a couple of weeks more.

Nearly Twelve

It looks so nicely squared up in this picture.  Halfway done, too!

TAST Week #2 - Buttonhole Millipede

It looks like a millipede to me, at least.  The center is a row of chain stitches, with outward facing buttonhole stitches lining it.

Saturday, January 21, 2012

All Covered Up

I finished my cover.  Still don't have anything to put in it, but it's done!  The Stitch'n''Zip kit had plenty of floss, but I still wish they'd do something  about the extra canvas on the back side.

Temari's Done

This is the temari-in-progress I showed you last week.  It's done now!

Crazy Start #8 - Sweet Flowers

This is a huge stitchalong sampler from a designer in Argentina.  She's starting the stitchalong from the bottom up, something Sticklounge does often, too.  It's just about my least favorite place to begin.  I decided to change up the colors, using hand dyed linen and Florimell silks.

Friday, January 20, 2012

Crazy # 7 Patriotic Angel

Bits of blue on black don't look very interesting at the moment, but they're going to have bits of the Declaration of Independence backstitched across them later.  For now, it's a crazy start and will get into my rotation eventually.

In the Doldrums

I know I'm making a lot of progress on this every week.  I just don't feel like it.  The piece has only the three bottom squares that already have stitching in them to be finished.  I need to push on.

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Work Around

I told you about the one stitch over problem in a previous post.  Here's my workaround: I've stitched the top part of the Chinese character so I can make sure something's in the right place.  Now I can just ad the reds in around it.  There's not going to be a real difference in looks if they're a stitch off.

Blue and More Blue

I am back to feeling like all I'm doing is sky on this.  It -should- end in a few more lines, as the sky is almost done.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Crazy #6 - Renoir

This is one of a series of octagons I previously purchased from Fireside Stitchery.  I finally got around to starting it as part of my Crazy January.  The full outline is done, so you can see that when I get back to this, it'll be a fairly quick and easy stitch.

Founded

I have the foundation of the central building done in the bottom now, and some backstitching on the side.  Another part is definitely taking shape.

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Crazy #5- European Fountain

This was a small kit I bought while in France a few years ago.  I pulled it out and stitched it in a few days for the Crazy January Challenge.  It was great to get one done!

Getting Things DONE

Just after the beginning of the year, I looked at the stuff in my stitch closet and saw a huge pile of things that were stitched but not finished.  I decided it was time to buckle down and get things done.  This is the first I picked - Jubilation.  It's now an ornament.

Monday, January 16, 2012

Back to Leaves

Time to get working on the leaves again.  I ended up frogging some on the left due to a counting error, and added a spine to the right leaf.

Crazy Start #3

I started my Take a Stitch Tuesday sampler on the third.  The first stitch was fly stitches, so I made these little square fly stitch motifs.  Each Tuesday Sharon Boggon adds a new stitch to experiment with.  It's informal, so there's always an opportunity to jump in!

Lauguishing

I feel like I'm going so slowly on this project!  I know that when I took it back up, I hadn't even started the door, and I've done at least three inches across since then.  It's still really dragging to me.

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Crazy January #2

I am subscribed to a Faberge egg series from The Needle House in Houston.  It started in November, and, because of the mail situation, this is the only one I've received so far.  The stitch guide and materials seem very complete.  I hope to finish this one before the end of the year.

Lunch at Bier Platz

I ordered steak (costita) and ended up with a pork steak at this place.  It didn't say "du porc"!  Anyway, the atmosphere in this place is very Octoberfest.  It's even underground and is two huge wooden halls.  Of course, they have a lot of beer.  When we were there in mid-afternoon, 90% of the customers were just there for beer.

Down the Spearpoint

I have three of five parts at least partially filled on this piece.  I say partially because I need to go back through with floche and add in another motif in the big part.

Baby Boom

There is currently a baby boom at the embassy, both among the locals and the Americans.  Threee American spouses are pregnant, out of perhaps twenty-five.  Within the past six months, I know of three babies born among the local staff.  The latest was born last Wednesday, in Andreas' section.  I made this afghan for her.

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Dinner at Mykonos

Mykonos is the Greek restaurant in the mall.  It's not great, but it's not bad, and it's not really overpriced.  As usual, I started with soup and Andreas started with Greek salad.  We had some taziki and our main courses, too.  This was a dinner out with several others.  They went bowling; we went to see Christmas lights!