ReCap

It has occurred to me that my most recent BAP/UFO, The English Band Sampler, probably isn't all that familiar to all my readers.  Being that it is on scroll bars that I am reluctant to take apart constantly for photos and then reassemble, current readers are viewing only the most recent stitching.  I find it very difficult to believe that, until I picked it up again last week, I hadn't stitched on this piece since the Fall of 2012.  It seems only yesterday that I set it aside to do just one special project that was calling my name.

I thought it might be a good idea to delve back in my files for some old photos to piece together a sort of composite.  It is hardly a complete picture since I didn't save any photos of Bands 1 and 2.  Band 1 was a straightforward alphabet and Band 2 was floral band with stylized geranium motifs.  If you are really curious to see Bands 1 and 2 please click here .  The box below the alphabet is blank because I intend to stitch my own name and the finish date in that area ... and I clearly can't do that till I have a finish date in mind.

A somewhat out of focus photo of the Queen stitches of Band 3

Still somewhat out of focus close-up

Band 3 before the Queen stitches

Band 4: lots od satin stitches

Band 5 to date

And So It Continues

I am continuing work on The English Band Sampler.  I will admit that this band is not my favorite of the ones I have stitched so far.  It is much too fussy for my taste.  The various elements in the band seem to compete with one another rather than make a cohesive whole.  Indeed, the only motif in this band that even comes close to charming me is the Tudor Rose.  The pale mystery flower is just too pale and the star motif is way too busy.  While I don't want to rush through this band, making mistakes due to haste, I do look forward to Bands 5 and 6 which are much more to my liking.  

This is what it looked like when last seen.

Current Progress

Excuse the indoor photo - the temps are in the low 20s as an ice storm approaches.  Admittedly, I haven't made much progress for a weekend but, then, I have one of those colds.  You know the kind I mean: one's nose has turned into a massive, heavy and drippy spigot, one has developed bags under the eyes that drag down to one's chin, little puffs of air are expelled from one's ears whenever one sneezes or blows one's nose, one's sinuses throb, as do one's temples, especially the one over the right eye, and just to involve all parts of one's head, one's throat has been lined by sandpaper.  I am using such formal language in the feeble hope that I may distance myself from the whole experience.  It's not working.  I am going to crawl back into bed and curl up with a Kay Scarpetta novel and wait for my head to implode.

Tough Choices

It was terribly difficult to choose a winner of my little giveaway.  I enjoyed reading all the comments left on that post and was particularly touched by four of them.  So, my decision is based partly on my reactions to the comments [as noted in the giveaway "rules"] and partly on my more usual method using an on-line randomizer [to break the four way tie].

The winner is Calamity Jr who liked reading about my design process because she expects to see photos of stitching on a stitching blog but she found that delving into another aspect of our shared passion was an unexpected treat.  I will be arranging for a gift certificate to be sent her way ASAP.

I found it very interesting the way the choices broke down.  There were 17 comments, one of which was simply a congratulatory note rather than an entry.  

Of the remaining 16

3 voted for Santas on Parade

2 voted for The Designing Process

3 voted for All Hallow's Eve Stitchery

2 voted for Thanksgiving Stitchery

4 voted for Some Thoughts on Pricing Trends

1 voted for Totems and Talismans

1 couldn't choose between Totems and Talismans and All Hallow's Eve Stitchery

Now, while 16 people is hardly a representative sample of stitchers world wide or even of stitchers who read my blog, I am going to be reckless and draw a few conclusions from my little survey.  

1] with 8 1/2 votes for the various stitching collections, most people want to see photos of finished stitching

2] with 4 votes for pricing trends, many stitchers are concerned about increasing cost.  This post is several years old but it seems to resonate with stitchers as much today as it did when originally posted.

3] although the design post only got 2 votes, many of you mentioned it as a second runner up.  So I guess quite a few of us either design from scratch or re-design existing charts.  This doesn't surprise me: the textile arts draw a lot of creative people.

4] Finally, although I call my blog a stitching and general musings blog, the low interest in the Totems and Talismans entry [1 1/2 votes] indicates a general disinterest in any of my musings off the topic of stitching.  I don't stray from the topic of stitching too often but I will probably continue to do so every so often simply because it pleases me to write such posts.  The Totems and Talismans post was my favorite of the group listed above, followed closely by the The Designing Process, both of which got the lowest votes from you folks.

Continuing to Focus on The English Band Sampler

I seem to have fallen into the pattern of concentrating on a BAP with brief forays into smalls when I need a break from the larger project.  So the current BAP is The English Band Sampler from Sampler and Antique Needlework Quarterly issues 2012 Spring, Summer and Fall.  I am working on Band 4 right now from the Summer issue.  There are two more bands in the Fall issue.  Each floral motif is very very detailed: definitely not quick stitches, by any means.  When you consider that it took me two days to get the back stitching, specialty stitching and long stitching done on the blue star shaped flower ... admittedly only 3-4 hours of stitching ... I am not optimistic about finishing this band this month.

When last seen, it looked like this!

And now, it looks like this.

The English Band Sampler: Last Finish of 2013 or First of 2014?

I am not sure I will finish this before the end of the year.  I have this band to finish which means five more floral motifs, repeating those already pictures.  The next two bands are solidly stitched.  It is most definitely a change of pace from The Woodland Angel that was my main focus for the last half of 2013.  I didn't manage much stitching on Sunday ... only about a half an hour before I admitted that my incipient migraine was winning the battle with the two Excedrin Migraine tablets I had taken.

The English Band Sampler as last seen.

The English Band Sampler: current progress

So any progress made has been stitched in small snatches of time around the workday yesterday.  Forty minutes before work, thirty minutes during the lunch hour and a bit more once I got home.  I stitched a bit more on the blue star-shaped floral motif though I have the back stitching and straight stitching and Algerian eyes yet to do.  I finished the back stitching on the deep coral floral motif.  Not all that much, to be sure, but progress is progress.

Considering how much more there is to do I am not at all certain of a 2013 finish but I will try.

Assessing November Goals, Setting December Goals

I am still setting fairly conservative goals for myself.  And I am still managing to overlook one stated goal each month and to substitute something off-goal instead.  This month it was a second Town Square SAL ornament, The Honey Shop, displacing The Mystic Smalls.  I don't know why I do this, probably out of sheer contrariness and orneriness!

NOVEMBER GOALS: 

BAPS: Finish the stitching and the sewing assembly of Teresa Wentzler's The Woodland Angel Stocking.  If possible, start Piper's stocking.  Well, I did finish Liam's stocking and I have kitted up Piper's but have barely started it.

Class Project:  Resume work on Mystic Smalls.  Not this month.

Town Square SAL: Stitch The Framing Shop.  Assemble the Fiber Shop and the Framing Shop ornaments.  Finished stitching The Frame Shop and  The Honey Shop.  No assembly as yet.

WIPs: Resume work on the English Band Sampler.  Resumed work on this during the last two days of the month.

DECEMBER GOALS: This month, in a final push to get a few more finishes done in the calendar year 2013, I'll be working on pieces that are close to completion.

BAPs: Piper's Stocking.  Although this is nowhere close to completion, having only been started in the last few days, I do want to work on it steadily.  It is my hope to have this stocking done in time for Christmas 2014 and to be well on my way to completing Rocco's stocking as well.  Wouldn't it be grand to have Rocco's stocking done by Christmas 2014, too!

Class Project: The Mystic Stitching Accessories.  The goal is to have all these projects not only stitched but sewn and assembled this month.

Town Square SAL: Stitch Milady's Tea Shoppe.

WIP's: Continue work on The English Band Sampler

1000th Post: A small celebration and a giveaway

I began blogging on 8/24/07.  That means it's taken me a little over 6 years to reach this landmark 1,000th post.  Incidentally, I passed the 100,000th page view mark earlier this month which means I have been averaging 100 page views per post.  Of course, early on, the page views were in the very low numbers but lately they have been averaging between 120-130 per post.  I am something of a statistics junkie and I like to compete with myself.  So the growth of my blog has been one of my minor pleasures.  I know there are other far more popular stitching blogs with far more followers but I am content with what I have accomplished.

So, I thought I would celebrate by having one of those companies that prints and binds blog entries into an actual book make one of my blog for me.  Basically, this blog is a better version of my old hand-written stitching journals since I can now incorporate photos in the entries.  So it would be logical to have it available in book form as well ... just to page through whenever I want a trip down memory lane without tying up a shared computer for hours.  It would also serve as a nice back-up.

As to the giveaway, I thought I'd spread a little stitching joy around by offering a $25 gift certificate to www.123stitch.com to one of my readers.  Just post your answer to the following question in the comments section:

Which of my own personal favorites would you select as best post of the lot?  Why?

1.  Dec. 20, 21, 24, 27, 2011: Santas on Parade, Santas on Parade the Ornaments, Santas on Parade: the Sue Hillis Collection, Santas on Parade Fini.  I consider this one post in four parts since it covers just one topic.

2.  Nov. 13, 2010:  The Design Process

3.  Oct. 6, 2012: All Hallow's Eve Stitchery

4.  Nov. 3, 2012: Thanksgiving Stitching

5.  Apr. 9, 2010: Some Thoughts on Pricing Trends in Stitching
6.  Jul. 7, 2011:  Totems and Talismans


Please note that the second part of the question, "Why?" will be used to select the winner of the gift certificate.   I'll pick a winner on Dec. 6 which will give folks a week to enter.

The English Band Sampler

Another November goal accomplished and just under the wire: The English Band Sampler has been rescued from the UFO basket.  It's been a very long time since this was in the rotation; so long, I had almost forgotten how much fun it was.  It is a bit out of my comfort zone.  I tend to prefer muted colors.  But somehow I don't really mind the brightness and the outrageous contrasts of this piece.  I think all the specialty stitches and the antique sampler motifs are what's really keeping my interest.  They provide just enough challenge to keep me on my toes.

I was working on this band the last time I had it in hand.

And this is the progress made today.

TW's Woodland Angel Stocking Is Done

It is 2:30pm on Thanksgiving Day and the embellishing and beading are done.  Setting the royal plum beads was a bit fussy.  In order to center them in gold gridwork, I had to come up and go down through the exact center of existing cross stitches.  That slowed me down just a bit.  However, I am absolutely loving the final product.

I am not sure whether I am happy or sad.  This piece has been my leisure time companion since early July.  I shall miss it.  On the other hand, I will really enjoy assembling it with a lovely backing and lining and then sending it off to my grandson.  In any case, here is a photo of the finished but as yet to be assembled stocking.  Thank you, Teresa Wentzler, for countless hours of wonderful stitching!

As to the melancholy, I can always cure that by adding another Teresa Wentzler piece into the rotation.  I am not sure whether it will be a dragon [Futurecaster] or the minstrel that I'll be using for Rocco's stocking.  It might be fun to stitch Rocco's and Piper's stockings simultaneously and aim for a November 2014 finish on both.

Back to the Stocking

I am back to working on Liam's stocking, doing the embellishment with #4 braid.  Normally, I stitch beads last but it didn't take me very long to realize that doing the braid first and the beads last in the knot work border just wasn't going to work.  You see, the holes for the anchoring stitches for the beads are smack dab in the middle of the arms of the diamond shapes stitched in the gold braid.  Sure, I could have fiddled around until I got my needle in the right place ... which is precisely what I did do with the area already stitched in gold braid ... but it was much easier to stitch around the beads for the remainder of the border.  Also, this avoided the danger of splitting the gold braid while I attempt to work under it.  So, here's a photo of what I have managed today.  I really enjoy beading.  The slow rhythm of attaching beads is something I find very soothing.   After the beading, stitching the braid was a snap.

 I feel rather sorry for the current plugged-in, over-stimulated generation: so few of them will ever experience the serenity and stillness of hand crafts.

The second photo is of the stocking as a whole.  My next task will be to stitch the embellishments on the angel's robes and then it will just be a matter of sewing on a backing and a lining and perhaps some corded trim around the opening.

I have really enjoyed this piece and am looking forward to sending it to my grandson this Christmas.  But when I do I shall have to send a photo of the chart I will be using for Piper's stocking so she doesn't feel overlooked.