Weekend Progress Report: Sept. 23, 2012

I haven't been working on my serious stitching lately due to the upheaval in my private life.  My two BAPs have been neglected but

 I did finish Primitive Needle's Here Lies Thy Needle.  It was simple and straightforward stitching just perfect for my current state of mind.  A bit boring but I am pleased with the final product.  I plan to sew it up as a knitting project bag.  Now that it's done, I'll have to come up with something different for waiting rooms.  And I'll be back in waiting rooms pretty soon since I'll be driving my Mom to the hematologist this Friday and Bill to both the surgeon and gastroenteriologist the following Friday. And I thought my days of driving Mom's taxi were done when the kids left home!

I have worked on my Encrusted Crazy Quilt Square, finishing up one more section and starting another. The section I completed is embroidered with stylized rose bushes done in fern and chain stitch with cobweb rose blossoms.  And the section in progress is going to be, I think, a satin-stitched sunflower with a raised center filled with beads ... I tend to make things up as I go along.  One of the reasons I picked up the Crazy Quilt Square was because I wanted to practice my cobweb roses before putting the finishing touches on the Mystic Smalls' Stitcher's Pocket which will have three of

them in the center panel.  And, although I used some scraps of metallic ribbon for the roses on the square and I will be using silk ribbon on the pocket, the technique remained the same and I am comfortable that I know what I am doing now.  It's always nice to have a "sampler" piece on which to practice various stitches and techniques and the crazy quilt square serves that function beautifully.  Then there's the added bonus that I will be able to make something practical out of the square eventually ... I am leaning toward a handbag or project bag of some sort, something with a zippered closure anyway.  I have got an idea for embellishing the thin strip of black moire above the cobweb roses: I have two tiny five pointed star charms and I thought I'd use them to stitch a shooting star motif with the stars heading toward one another and with their tails curving in opposite directions.  I plan on leaving the tartan silk unembellished since it is the patch that established my color scheme for the entire block.  I may put just a few more buttons at the smaller edge but that would be all.  So that leaves only the yellow and gold print and the rose patches to embellish.  One more item from the WIPs sidebar close to a finish!

Today I am going to thread up the sewing machine and bind the edges of some linen for the two Town Square SAL ornaments for which I have pulled the threads.  I believe those will be my next projects for the next little while.  I don't feel like I have recovered my equilibrium just yet.  I am still so tired all the time and my seasonal allergies have kicked in with the usual sinus headaches.  All the rain we have had this last spring and summer have contributed to a really bad allergy season this year.  So simple and straightforward stitching will be the order of the day for a little while longer.  The BAPs will still be there next month.  Right now I want something relaxing rather than challenging.

Weekend Progress Report #47

Well, let's see, what did I actually accomplish

FROGGING, FROGGING, FROGGING last week's so called progress so I can restart the Workbasket's Quaker Santa and Quaker Sampler ... with nothing much to show for it.

Now that my Round Robin has been returned, I decided to finish the last panel and then put it away till next Fall. I'll decide them just how to finish it: probably as a lap robe or a wall hanging ... it's too large for a pillow finish and I don't want to go to the expense of professional framing for so large and essentially ephemeral a piece.

I put in another hour or so on my Encrusted Crazy Quilt Square, adding yellow gold glass beads to the area with the chain stitched "rope" over black moire, some more buttons to the focal point seam embellishment near the silk tartan, another bird and a cat button to the garden scene as well as some more grass. So here's one more photograph to give you an idea of the progress since yesterday. It's slow going since I can only work on a small area at a time but I am going to try to work on this for an hour each week ... the plan is to turn it into a very colorful summer handbag.

These Thanksgiving ornaments are lifted from the Cross Eyed Cricket Thanksgiving Circle leaflet: Indian with corn, the Pilgrim Woman with pies, the Pilgrim Man with fish, the Turkey. All of these were stitched on 36 ct Silkweaver linen in a color called Shadowlands in the recommended DMC. And all are finished as round ornaments using a 2 1/2" diameter padded cardboard form. The two pilgrims were backed with black silk moire and the Indian and turkey were backed with a fall leaf print. I used various trims: purchased braid for the Pilgrim woman, beads for the Pilgrim man and hand made twisted cording for the Indian and turkey. I've added them to the wrought iron tree I keep in my entryway. The Thanksgiving ornaments will remain up till I switch to Christmas ornaments in mid-December.

A Return to the Crazy Quilt Project

I have so many projects in progress that there is always one that gets pushed into the background, a poor neglected little step child. But every so often, I go in search of one of these abandoned projects.

Today, it was the Crazy Quilt On-line Class Project's turn. Here is a photo of it when last seen. The second photo is a close-up of the area I worked on today. The two photos are oriented differently: the close-up shows the top third of the first photo. Admittedly, there is not much discernible progress, but this is very labor intensive stitching: lots of work in small areas. I added more stitches and beads to the seam embellishment between the white on white cotton and the black silk moire. I added some buttons and beads to the seam with the silk tartan plaid and I began the embroidered embellishment of the white on white cotton triangle. And I am nowhere near done with this tiny section yet. There'll be more flowers and grasses, another cardinal button and a ladybug button added to the garden scene. And there will be more buttons and beads mounded at the edge of the tartan silk. This project isn't called an encrusted crazy quilt square for nothing.

Next, I will have to work on mastering the bouillion stitch ... I read somewhere that the smaller eyes of darning or beading needles lend themselves to this stitch, making it easier to "pull" it through. I am determined to master this stitch since it does make such beautiful flowers, especially roses ... and I'd like to use the technique on this square before I am through.

Encrusted Crazy Quilt Block Week 2

This has become an obsession. I can't seem to put it down and am making noticeable progress each day, at least, to my own eyes. Today, I attached the second velvet cord with half cross stitch in a metallic ribbon and added some more green silk to another seam embellishment. I have been brainstorming how to make a diamond trellis embellishment on the long red narrow edge, perhaps using the carved white mother of pearl buttons that look like carnival masks as motifs within the openings or threading a stem stitched vine with French knot berries or beaded flowers on the trellis. Tomorrow I get to download another class and I am very much looking forward to the next lesson.

The more I work on this block the more I brainstorm about other applications for this technique. I am already envisioning a tea cozy made up of four panels of encrusted crazy quilting using as it's main fabric the lovely rather Jacobean looking print salvaged from the slipcovers for a long-gone couch [those slipcovers were darned expensive and there is enough fabric there to make curtains for the sewing-room-to-be as well as literally dozens of tea cozies]. I am already mentally combing through my stash of quilting cottons for fabrics that pick up the colors in the upholstery weight cotton though I think I would have better luck with my wools, partly because of color considerations but also because of weight considerations. When this block is done I plan to use it to make a tote-like purse with button and loop closure and I plan on converting the band sampler I am using to play with the embroidery techniques as the strap or straps [either one long over the shoulder strap or two small hand straps]. I doubt I'd ever have the patience to make a full sized quilt in this technique but I can definitely see it used for handbags, tea cozies, vests, headbands and other wearable art. Maybe, if I am very ambitious, a small lap-robe type quilt. I definitely want to work up a few of those broad headbands that are so fashionable now as Christmas gifts for my daughter and nieces.

Weekend Progress Report #22

Well, the list is pretty much back to goal projects. My brief bout of startitis seems to have run its course.

Linda Stouch's RR: Tina's piece with a heart theme is probably lost forever as the stitcher who will remain nameless has been dropped from the RR ... one piece "lost in the mail" - possible, two pieces "lost in the mail" - improbable, failure to respond to e-mails and phone calls by organizer - damning. I am now waiting to receive Jane's piece [May 15th rotation - and held back while the nameless stitcher situation was resolved] and Dolores' piece [June 15 rotation] all within a week. This will call for some turbo stitching ... but luckily Dolores' piece is a PS and well within my comfort zone. I'll have to check the list to see what Jane's theme is ... and then go stash diving for an appropriate chart.

Sharon B's Embellished Crazy Quilt On-line Class.

This has been my primary focus this weekend. I have read and re-read Week 2's class and begun work on the seam embellishing: using the herringbone stitch, plaited algerian cross stitch, plain cross stitch, fern stitch, ermine fill stitch, chain stitch and french knots. I even made up a band sampler on which to practice some of the embroidery embellishments I wish to try over the next few days: the boullion stitch with it's many variations, some of the herringbone variations, trellis stitches that produce a diamond pane pattern and knotted stitches that produce figure 8 effects, as well as a few spider web roses. The first photo shows the block with the band sampler laid out behind it. The velvet cord that is laid across the top will be stitched down with the red 1/4" metallic ribbon in a spiralling half cross stitch. I have used silks, overdyed cottons, pearl cottons, metallic ribbons and braids as well as metallic floss. You can see close-ups of a few of these seams in the second photo. And I have pulled out all of my various stitch dictionaries in order to expand my repertoire and add variety and interest to the stitched embellishments. As I do all this, I envision where all the beads and buttons will go, experimenting with stacked button or button/bead combinations ... rather like playing with building blocks ... and have come up with a few combinations that I know will find their way into the final design. The third photo shows my favorite button combinations and the planned placement. Of course, I haven't stitched them down yet since they'd get in the way as I continue working with the embroidery embellishments. This project is very liberating since I can try out some rather over-the-top techniques and just play with different fibers and textures ... though I never attended kindergarten, I think I now know how a kindergartener must feel upon encountering a blank sheet of paper and pots and pots of fingerpaint. I haven't yet joined in the forum discussion with other participants nor have I posted any WIP photos, though I shall have to do that soon ... I have resisted looking at the work of the others till after my own project has taken a definitive shape of its own, for better or worse. One of the things I have enjoyed doing was working snakes of chain stitch over two adjacent pieces in layers: starting with a 1/4" wide metallic ribbon, moving onto a a #5 metallic braid and finishing up with a fine perle silk ... with the links of the chain getting progressively smaller as I use finer fibers. In a later stage, I'll add beads of various sizes so that that particular part of the block will look like a jewelry tray upon which a jumble of necklaces has been carelessly tossed.

Stash Enhancement:

I received an e-mail about the shipping date of the back-ordered Silk Mori for the May Thanksgiving ornament and have had offers of help with finding the right dye-lot of GAST Maple Syrup [for April's Thanksgiving ornament] floss from 123stitchers. I still need to find a source for the silk serica, though.

I pulled out and kitted up Shepherd's Bush's Be A Witch, ordering threads as needed as well as the two Homespun Elegance bee buttons I needed for HIH's Wee Bee.

SAL & Crazy Quilt Week One Class Progress

Town Square SAL: Monsterbubble's Jail. I put in a few hours on this each of the past three days ... even made it my "travel" piece by switching to a larger stitching bag capable of accomodating the doodler lap frame. As you can see, I still need to fill in the central arch and the taller tower with WDW Dolphin and then I have to back-stitch the outlines of the granite blocks in WDW Charcoal. I'd like to work on this till it's finished since I have received all the luscious Crescent Colors for the next piece in this series that I intend to stitch: the Town Square Saloon [designed by Crescent Colors, of course] ... and am itching to work on something a touch more colorful than all this grey. By the way, the piece is not really crooked, I must have loaded the scrolls slightly off kilter to give it that sadly askew look.

As for my Online Class, Encrusted Crazy Quilt Block: I have completed the Week 1 assignment which was piecing the block. I used a red tartan Duponi silk, a black watered silk moire, a black cotton, an ivory cotton with a very faint tone-on-tone floral pattern, a red cotton with a bleeding color effect and two different yellow-gold cotton prints. The yellow gold and red cottons pick up colors in the tartan though that may be difficult to see given the quality of my photography. In the first photo, it looks more like Modern Art because of the bold colors and the sharp edged shapes. In the second photo, I have laid out and cut [but not yet sewn] the lace and cording embellishments. I have used a variety of laces, including a heavy weight, white, wide grape and leaf lace, two much lighter, narrower, white cotton machine-crocheted laces and one tan lace that has a hand crocheted look as well as some black velvet cording. The next step is to tack down all the laces prepatory to the surface embroidery embellishment of the seams. As the block is embellished and "encrusted" it will take on more of a Victorian crazy quilt look. The Week 2 lesson has been down-loaded and I have begun studying it ... now the fun begins. There are so many surface embroidery stitches to be explored as a means of embellishing the block. I am going to work up a band sampler using the sew and flip crazy quilt technique so I can experiment with some of the stitches on real seams before working on my block. I'll be photographing the whole process for future posts.

Weekend Progress Report #21

I had intended to work mainly on my sadly neglected focus projects this past week, but I found myself finishing up a few of the smaller pieces worked on in the early part of the month, instead. Earlier this month, what little time I had for stitching went to the less complicated projects in my various SALs and the one RR in which I am participating. My professional life is pretty high pressured for the first half of May and I avoid anything complicated in all other areas of my life at such times ... makes for less waste, less disappointment and less stress. But this past week, has seen an almost calm mood descend upon the office ... my secretary Susan and I have caught up with all progress reports, parish registers, and final accounting for the 2009-10 school year, with the exception of the Saturday morning classes which don't end till June 12 ... I have kept abreast of assigning students to classes for 2010-11 as the registrations roll in. With luck, we will be able to devote the whole of June to learning and implementing a new data entry system that will allow us to go paperless in 2010-11 ... sending everything from calendars to welcome back letters/class assignment confirmations to targeted class information by e-mail. I'll need to do the ordering for the next school year and a few other tasks but for the most part I think I can revert to 40 hour work weeks and take a deep breath or two. The main advantage to all this is that I no longer need to neglect my husband, my home, my garden and my stitching [not necessarily in that order] in order to remain sane.

THE MONTHLY PROJECTS: Thanksgiving Ornaments.

PS Harvest Time Turkey [April]: can't do much more on this piece for the moment ... I need to match up some Maple Syrup floss. I have put out a plea on the 123 message board, offerring to trade two full skeins for one full or partial skein with the right color way ... more chocolate brown than grey brown ... and hope to have a match soon. The stitchers on the 123 board have come through for me before and I am hoping they will do so again. This was pictured in a recent post so I am not adding another phot here.

Kreinik Cornucopia [May]: have also hit a dead end on this piece while I wait for some back-ordered silk mori and search for a source for silk serica. I really like the tone on tone look given by the Antique Parchment silk mori on this Silkweaver 40ct Mississippi Mud linen. This may very well turn out to be my favorite in the Thanksgiving series. The Kreinik silks stitch up very nicely indeed and I am quite pleased with the depth of the colors. The use of cross stitches, half cross stitches and satin stitches adds to the texture of the piece. Since this is stitched on 40ct, I couldn't use i strand of each color for the blended areas. Instead, I am using one color for the / leg and the second color for the \ leg where a blend is called for.

PS Pumpkins [June] : I started this when I hit dead ends on the previous two ornaments, using a scrap piece of 28 ct country cream linen and Belle Soie Silks in Enchanted Forest, Fern Frond, Pumpkin Carriage and Mango. It is a relatively quick stitch and should give me the immediate gratification of a finish in the first week of June. I am very fond of Prairie Schooler charts and treasure any of the little complimentary design cards they offer. I have a very small collection but I begin to understand the appeal of the trading cards [baseball, football, etc.] my sons collected when they were younger.

THE OFF GOAL PROJECTS
I signed up for an on-line class run by Sharon of the Pin Tangle blog. The project will be an encrusted/embellished crazy quilt block. I have printed off Week 1 [of 6] and have set up a binder. It makes for very interesting reading. But the real joy has been in stash diving for all the various materials required. Of course, I have gathered far more than I will actually be able to use ... keeping my options open as the class progresses ... the toughest part was settling on a color way for the base fabrics. I don't have a lot of velvets, satins and metallics in my stash. I prefer cotton or wool for most of my quilting and sewing. I do, on the other hand, have loads of embellisments: crocheted laces of all types, beads, buttons, cording, charms, ribbons and just about every type of embroidery fiber known to woman. Choosing a color way wasn't tough because I had so many choices but rather because I had so few on the appropriate fabrics: a bit of black moire silk and some red tartan plaid silk tafetta. I am supplementing these with a few quilting cottons from Moda in reds and yellows picked up from the tartan plaid since I have accepted the implicit challenge embedded in Week 1 of the class: work with what you have ... historically, it is the whole raison d'etre for the crazy quilt. I'll be using a lot of white crocheted lace to soften and tame all that black and I can use my stash of cording and floss to introduce complementary colors into the block. I'll be looking at a lot of mossy and silvery greens, so far as that goes ... I am planning on arranging my pieces so that the block ultimately looks like a very stylized partially opened rose bud ... I can get behind that concept with a good deal of enthusiasm, actually. The first picture shows the fabrics I have selected, the second shows the trims, and the third shows some buttons in mother of pearl and vintage celluloid that might work as embellishments. Obviously I won't be using everything I have pulled from my stash but I wanted to have a lot of options once I started playing with the design.

Cupcake Pin Cushion: I used a floral wreath motif fromBH&G 2001 Cross Stitch Motifs for this piece, though I ignored the accompanying color chart, substituting my own Belle Soi Silks and GAST Overdyed Cotton. It's another project stitched almost entirely from stash: scrap bit of DMC linen, lined with a scrap of muslin, filled with ground walnut shells [lizard litter - a gift from my animal loving daughter], stitched with fibers already on hand. The only item purchased was the silicone cupcake cup. Next time I do this I am going to start with a smaller circle of fabric since I am not entirely happy with this finish. Well enough for a first attempt but plenty of room for improvement. It looks entirely too lumpy around the edges for my taste.

Heart in Hand's Wee Bee: I decided to use Belle Soie Wheatgrass to work all the satin stitches. So all that I need to do now is order the Homespun Elegance Bee buttons. I think I'll use two: one to the left and above the bee skep and another in the upper right above the flower. The Homespun Elegance buttons are somewhat expensive and I did think about replacing them with some JABCo buttons. Upon reflection, I don't believe the rather colorful and contemporary looking JABCo buttons would suit the sophisticated spareness of the piece. So the economical element of stitching from stash [scrap linen and fibers from existing stash] goes right out the window but I will be happier with the final product. What do you think for the final finish: a flat fold, a cube or a pillow?