Finally, Photos

First, my current purse project: Primitive Needle's Thy Needle.  I bought this as a chart with fabric included partial kit and started working on it assuming the proper fabric was kitted.  Not so: it was supposed to be 40ct WDW Tin Roof and it is 28 ct WDW Tin Roof.  So the stitched piece will be made up as a case for my knitting needles rather than as a pin cushion for embroidery needles.  Otherwise, I was able to finish kitting it up from my stash of overdyes with just a few substitutions.  I'll be spending part of my morning in a doctor's waiting room, so I should get a bit more done on this today.

 This is Sue Donnelly's Merry Mystic 2007 Christmas ornament, stitched on silver perforated paper with Kreinik metallic braid and backed with adhesive felt.  Sue generously gave this little kit in the swag bags at the 2007 Stitcher's Hideaway.  She included two other designs reminiscent of the shaped glass ornaments everyone had on their trees in the 1950s.  I bought a couple of sheets of silver paper and will be stitching the other designs as well.  It'll be a good way to use up some of those partial spools of Kreinik Very Fine Braid left over from all my Dragon Dreams projects.

 I rarely stitch on Aida since I find the stuff very coarse.  But the 14ct Aida included in this kit was surprisingly soft and had a very nice hand, making work on this project unexpectedly pleasant.  The blank space in the lower right corner is meant for a small pocket.  I hope to work on the sewing finish for this piece sometime this week.  The kit directions call for a very fussy pillow finish with ruffles and eyelet lace but I plan to do something a little more tailored with blue and white pillow ticking and white piping.  It is meant for my grandson, Liam, after all, who is into things that go Vroom and Bang.  Though I am told he also enjoys Clink as coins go into the silver train bank I gave him last year.  Somehow, I don't see him appreciating ruffles and lace.    I may do another version on linen in pink with ribbons and lace and other frou-frou for Piper who is into all things girly!

And now for the star of this post:  Primitive Needle's Black'd Skie is done.  Started as part of my 2011 Crazy January Challenge, I had to carry it over into 2012 with two other challenge pieces [Teresa Wentzler's Tracery Dragons, finished earlier this year and Alessandra Adelaide's Zucca, the only remaining 2011 Challenge yet to be stitched].  Black'd Skie had special meaning for me this year: I dedicated this memorial sampler to my father who died 25 years ago on May 27th and would have been 85 years old this July 21. My goal was to finish the piece by July 21, a goal missed by just one day ... due to a power failure.  I finished the piece on July 22.  I personalized the tomb in block 2 with the year of my Dad's death and with his initials, V and A, superimposed on one another.  I found finishing this piece rather bittersweet since I recalled my Dad with every stitch.  The design itself was delightfully quirky and the colors were a joy to the eye and the Pure Palette silks a pleasure in the hand.

The last photo is a close-up of Blocks 5 and 6 since I was unable to post progress photos as I worked on them this past week.  I did make a few small changes in both blocks.  In Block 5, I made a mistake in spacing the bottom line of the text and had to add a motif or two to balance things a bit.  And in Block 6, I replaced the date "1727" with my own signature and finish date.  My next BAP will be SANQ's English Band Sampler.  I am almost finished with Part I and have Part II in my stitching bag.  I figure I may just manage to finish them up before Part III is published in the Fall 2012 issue of SANQ.  And, of course, I usually start my Christmas gift stitching in July and this year will be no different.  I am finally going to start Teresa Wentzler's Woodland Angel Christmas Stocking for Liam and I'd like to get started on Dimensions' Woodland Maiden to adapt for Piper's stocking as well.  Ideally, I'll finish both in time for 2012 but a more realistic goal may be 2013.  These projects should keep me pretty busy for the remainder of the year but I do hope to work on a few of the pieces from my Class Project Challenge List as well.  This will be a year with relatively few finishes but since most of them will have been BAPs, I can hardly quibble!