I have been on summer break since close of business on Thursday, July 25. I spent the first few days catching up on housework and garden clean-up. Some nasty animal, probably a very large black feral cat that wanders through the neighborhood. has wreaked havoc on my squash plants ... stomping the foliage into a comfy little bed for himself. While I am a firm believer in compassionate trap. neuter and release projects, I would like to kick this particular critter to the far side of the moon even though I have a sneaking admiration for his survival skills. I have been looking forward to patty pan squash all summer and have been counting the blossoms in anticipation of a decent harvest. And now my squash is squashed. Muttering nasty imprecations under my breath hasn't quite vented my spleen.
But on to happier topics:
Once I caught up with the chores that accumulated due to heat waves or nearly incessant rain, both of which pretty much squelched my motivation, I did manage to return to something resembling my normal amount of stitching. Here are some photos of what I have done recently.
First, I prepped some old jeans by cutting strips with an eye to braiding the strips into a rug sometime in the future. I've managed to tear all the jeans I had accumulated [some 30 or so pairs] into 2" wide strips and now have two balls, one about the size of a soccer ball and one slightly smaller and each weighing a ton. My next step is to separate the lighter blues from the darker blues and sew them into much longer strips. Then, I'll be ready to thread the strips into my braiding hardware. I figure the actual braiding can be a fall or winter project. I am quite curious to see just how much rug I will actually get out of this much denim. A cyber friend advised me to save the side seams of the jeans for coiling into coasters. An excellent idea, but alas one shared with me only in time to salvage the seams of the last ten or so pairs. I also saved a couple of back pockets with seam allowance to turn into a small shoulder purse after seeing a photo of one on the 123stitch message board.
And after that, I moved on to salvaging some old slip covers into usable lengths of fabric ... this is part of my ongoing declutterring project, the fruit of cleaning out the linen closet. I no longer have the couch for which these slipcover were made but the fabric was way too good to just toss. The fabric on the backs and sides were in near mint condition and can be used for pillows, quilting, or cross stitch finishing..
I imagine I'll end up making some of the fabric into yo-yos. One of my someday projects is a yo-yo bed cover for our queen size bed. And the fabric that showed some degree of wear can be cut into 2" strips and added to the material for my braided denim rug.
The blue fabric can be used as a single strip braided with two strips of the lighter blue denim and the ivory with the dark blue in the print as a single strip braided with two strips of the dark blue denim. As you can see in this photo, I was able to salvage quite a bit of the slipcovers for use in the braided rug. The upholstery fabric is just a little lighter in weight than the denim but not so much that it will fail to work well with it.
And finally, I pulled out some cross stitch pieces that haven't seen the light of day in a very long time and have managed a wee bit of stitching on each:
The Cross Stitch Shop: when last seen looked like the first photo. Now I have stitched a bit more of the second story as seen in the second photo. As charted, this ornament included the year 2006 in the sign but I left it out for obvious reasons. I haven't decided what I will do about the windows as yet.
I will wait till I have finished the rest of the building before deciding whether I will leave the exposed linen or stitch half crosses in a pale blue or stitch as charted with full crosses in white. I will probably go with half crosses in pale blue since I think that gives a more glass-like look..
The
Woodland Angel Christmas Stocking: when last seen it looked like the first photo. After literally hours of rather intensive stitching, it now looks like the second photo. I know this does not seem like very impressive progress but the snow and shadows are stitched with 17 different shades, most of which involve blended needles.
And, of course, typical of Teresa Wentzler's very painterly style, the placement of each point of color calls for a lot of confetti stitching and meticulous counting. The end result is well worth the effort but the process can be time consuming. Happily, the whole project will not be this involved, only the snow and the wings seem to be so very labor intensive. Once I move onto the trees and the robes of the angel, things will move at a quicker pace.
The only pieces from my pre-slump rotation that I haven't managed to revive are
The English Band Sampler and the
Mystic Seaport Stitching Accessories but I really want to concentrate a bit more on
The Woodland Angel and the
Town Square series at the moment. The other two pieces will have to wait a while longer.
And because I wanted the immediate gratification of a small finish, I pulled Prairie Schooler's
BOO! out of my to do binder. But since I am stitching from stash, I changed things up a bit. Instead of using an orange linen in 32ct, I am using a 30ct linen called
Over the Hill Purple. And I am stitching the ghost and the moon in Belle Soie Oatmeal Scone, the pumpkin in Belle Soie Lasagna, and using Belle Soie Old Crow for the lettering, outline and accents. I've thrown in a few more colors: a light brown for the pumpkin stem and a pale orange for the eyes and mouth of the ghost. The piece of linen is large enough that I can probably fit another four or five Halloween ornaments on it before cutting it up and finishing the ornaments. My black wrought iron ornament tree is already inadequate to the task of displaying the ornament I already have so I think I shall have to buy one of those large "spooky" trees that Michael's and A.C. Moore sell in October.
Ever since I first saw the Monsterbubbles'
Day of the Dead Skull, I knew I would stitch it. Of course, it is meant to be stitched on window screening. I rarely keep such exotic stash in my stitching center, so I chose to stitch it on the same Over the Hill purple 30ct. linen as the above ornament. I used most of the called for GAST fibers, changing only the Raven for Royal Purple for the eye and nose sockets and the gaps in the teeth. I figured the deeper purple on the medium purple linen was even better than black for indicating shadowy holes.
I do apologize for the poor quality of the last three photos: it is very overcast outdoors.
I have a Sisterhood pumpkin ornament, also called
BOO!, that will work well on the purple linen and will be my next easy project when the larger more complex pieces get to me. I find I really need to intersperse some easy and small pieces in among the more challenging stuff or I burn out.
I have a feeling that my stitching throughout the rest of the month of August will be an in between sort of activity, i.e.: a bit of a quick break in between other chores. I have all sorts of projects to fill my month long break: cleaning out the large walk-in closet in the master bedroom, clearing up the two sliding door closets in the spare bedroom, emptying and preparing a dresser and a drop-leaf secretary for refinishing, sanding and repainting the back door and door frame, putting up the bird feeder, cleaning the vinyl siding at the back of the house and in the entry area. I also need to get prices and an appointment to have the driveway blacktopped again once the weather cools but before October 31st when we can no longer park on the street in my village. It seems silly to start calling for it now but the contractors who do this sort of work really don't like to do such small jobs as my townhouse driveway but they will fit me in if they have a larger job in the general neighborhood. So long range planning is a must! I also need to have my vinyl siding in the front power washed. Well, I very much doubt I'll get it all done but I'll do my best to make a serious dent in it all.
