Monday, February 25, 2013

Mystic Smalls Redux

Mystic Smalls Scissor Case
It's been a while since I pulled this class kit out of the rotation basket.  Manipulative A-type personality that I am, I have deliberately chosen the Scissor Case, one of the smaller projects within this series, to work on.  That way I can claim to have met at least one of my goals for this month with a minimum of effort.  I have managed a good start on it and will no doubt be able to finish it up in a day or two.  It is a real pleasure to use silk again and to indulge in some specialty stitches.  I have one small quibble, however: not all the silks included in the class kit are of equal quality.  The silks include Glorianna, Caron Waterlilies and Krenik Mori.  The Mori is thick and nubby which makes for great coverage of the linen but also causes problems by obscuring the linen threads making accurate counting/placement more difficult and frogging more likely.  I must have frogged the first satin stitched wave below the ship five times before I got it right and found my rhythm.  And, who knows, if I finish this scissor case, I may be able still to squeeze in the time for a Town Square ornament and a few simple sewing finishes before the 28th.

Midnight Moogies: Weekend Progress
And, because the cats are so persistent in demanding my attention, I have this progress to show on Midnight Moogies.  I managed to stitch a good five inch length of the checkerboard inner border - no mean feat since this is the area [on both sides of the piece] where I had to sew on additional pieces of Aida.  Hence, I have to stitch through three layers of cloth which does tend to get a little hard on these mildly arthritic fingers of mine.  Having gotten that much border done, I rewarded myself with the pleasure of stitching the center of the flower in all those bright yellows and golds.  And, before I leave the cats to yowl for the remainder of the month while I move on to other pieces, I'd especially like to thank those who have so kindly commented that they are not bored with the creatures.  I am not bored with the stitching of them but I do find it somewhat difficult to find something fresh and new to say about them with each progress photo I post.  Happily, I am close enough to a finish that I shouldn't need to post more than two or three more photos before I can cross this UFO>WIP off my list.

We didn't get the snow that the forecasters were threatening was in the offing.  But I spent a cozy weekend pretty well parked in my stitching chair, anyway.   Multiple cups of tea and a few roast pork sandwiches fueled my efforts, leaving me quite satisfied with the weekend stitching.

4 comments:

Vickie said...

Can't wait to see the scissor case all stitched up. I love that project.

Kay said...

I just love the bright colors on the Moogies!

Linda said...

Great new start. Oh how I'm still loving Moogies. Great prgress on that checkered border.

Linda

Anna van Schurman said...

When I first started blogging I was focusing on Maureen Appleton's Floral Afghan. It's my biggest project ever--I felt like I was always writing about it...and that was in the days before you could post pictures! If you only did five inches at a time your posts could not possibly be as boring as mine were in those days! I just love seeing the bright colors of this project every time!