2010 Weekend Progress Report #3

I can't believe I am two days late for my third weekend progress report of 2010 and that I have so little stitching progress to actually report. The bulk of my stitching time has been spent sorting through and creating an inventory of my mother's stash, deciding what to keep and what to give away. And then creating the blog posts announcing the giveaways, complete with photos and detailed descriptions. I have devoted my usual morning before work stitching time to this task and I have also devoted most of my evening stitching time to it as well. The stuff has taken over my living room as well as the dining room. To complicate matters, the stash was sent over to my home before I had time to take down all my Christmas decorations. The result is that I don't really have a livable home until I manage to eliminate all this clutter. Otherwise, I would never have given up my precious stitching time to such a chore!

Also, I know that observant people will notice that the date on my recent Lace Trim and Ribbon post doesn't reflect reality. Instead of making up new posts as I completely catalog and photograph new types of lace, I have simply been going in to the old post and adding pictures and lists as I complete them.

In any case, here are photos of my current rotation of three WIPs and, if truth be told, the photos depict yesterday's lunchtime stitching and this morning's before-work-ease-into-the-day stitching as well.

The Focus Project for January: T. Wentzler's Autumn Faerie. I managed to complete the inner circular border and started on the ecru [barely visible] diagonal stripe fill of the corners between the circular and square borders. This is the easy part of a Teresa Wentzler piece. And as long as I haven't finished the Mom's stash giveaway project ... which apparently is going to be a month long project ... I will be sticking to the easy border stitching. While my concentration is so divided, I just don't want to risk errors in the more complex main design. Frogging a TW piece with all the blended threads, the half, quarter and three-quarter stitches is just not something I could face right now.

Handblessings Autumn Lace Bookmark: finished one of the sides and started on the other. This is my travel project and I got this last bit done yesterday at lunchtime. I hope to finish the lacy border at lunchtime today. The linen is a 32ct Silkweaver, Autumn Sunrise, and the variegated cotton floss is Firebrand from a small dye house called Dragon Floss. I received the floss in an exchange and I must say I am loving it. The photo doesn't do the colors justice [though clicking to enlarge does give you a better idea]. They are clear, bright pastels ... very vibrant ... and the gradation is very suble. The overall effect is as intricate as I could possibly wish for ... accenting the delicacy of the Handblessing design. I'll be using DMC 3771 to stitch the center leaf motif repeats ... I figure the the solid pastel orange will brighten the whole piece. This is the second Handblessing bookmark I have stitched and I am enjoying it as thoroughly as the first. I highly recommend this designer to anyone who enjoys doing "smalls" but still wants a bit of a challenge ... or at least, something that requires an intermediate skill level.

The January Bride's Tree SAL ornament: a house symbolizing protection and shelter. I have chosen to stitch Workbasket's Christmas House from 2007 JCS ornament issue. I substituted Belle Soie silks for the suggested Crescent Colors overdyed cottons and I used a 32 ct Silkweaver linen. I have finished the front though I did simplify both color scheme and some of the design elements to make the piece less busy ... and a touch more primitive-looking. I need to stitch the word protection on the back as well as a monogram and date. The final ornament is going to be a bit larger than the ornaments I usually make [about 3 1/2 inches square] but I plan to make the whole set to that scale ... I think it will have more dramatic impact that way. To be honest, this represents the only actual weekend progress in this whole post. I worked on this steadily Sunday afternoon and MLK Day afternoon.

As you can see, the stitching progress this past week has been pitiful ...