Weekly Round-Up: Rotation Stitching Photos

With The English Band Sampler in the finish column, these are the remaining projects

Liam's Crib Blanket: This piece was finished on January 11.  Having spent the weekend in the poorly lit rooms of a circa 1830 inn, I was unable to work on any cross stitch projects in the evening after dinner and was glad I had brought the blanket along.  I had intended to crochet on the trip back and forth to Cold Spring since I am no longer able to stitch in a moving car.  The pattern for the blanket is so repetitive that strong light is not an issue.  I can pretty much stitch this pattern on auto-pilot; all that's required is muscle memory.  I admit this is not the greatest photo, but it is terrible out doors: a mix of freezing rain, icy pellets and sleet.  Indoor lighting in a townhouse with windows only at front and back makes for awful photographs.  As you can tell my indoor light has a very yellowish cast.  The blanket is blue and off-white.  The crochet pattern is a variation on hounds tooth, both in the body and the border, with a chain stitched ruffle to finish it off.  

Dragon Dreams' The Dragon of the Summer Sky:  Stitching on this both Monday and Wednesday made for a nice little burst of progress.  I am done with the detested rayon stitching.  Stitching with the remaining DMC cotton, Kreinik metallic and the Caron Waterlilies silk will be an ecstatic experience by comparison.  I know I have done a lot of complaining about stitching with rayon but even I will admit that it does add interest to the piece.  There are some purists in the stitching world that insist a piece be stitched in one and only one fiber, either all cotton, or all silk, or all bamboo, or whatever.  But I do like the effect of mixing fibers in a project.  I believe it gives it texture and pleases the eye.

Cross My Heart's Mint Tea Towel: I let this lapse in favor of the Prairie Schooler Year Round for January..

Victoria Sampler's Mystic Smalls Tuffet: I didn't get back to this at all this past week.

A little non-rotation stitching:  I realized the month was half gone and that I hadn't started my Prairie Schooler Year Round for the month of January [one of my annual goals].  I found myself some 40 count linen in a nice neutral color, Summer Khaki, and began January's piece.  Instead of the recommended DMC, I am using Belle Soie silks, Oatmeal Scone for the half moon and Cake for the star.  And I am stitching with one strand over two threads.  These small rounds are meant to be stitched on black linen but I prefer to avoid the eyestrain that stitching on black causes.  The point is to enjoy one's stitching rather than to endure it.  In any case, I have been enduring quite enough what with the above-mentioned rayon.  I simply refuse to endure any further trials and tribulations.

Looking to the weekend:  Since the Dragon is now my "closest to a finish" large piece, it will be the weekend choice project.  Although, I'll have to work a mini-retreat for First Confession on Saturday, I'll be off on Monday for Martin Luther King Day.  I'll have more stitching time to drag the dragon closer to the finish line.