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.

Weekend Progress Report: January 8, 2012

I was quite happy with my progress on my Crazy Class Project Challenge, The Sweetheart Tree's Holly & Hearts Sampler ... until, that is, I realized I'd have to frog a healthy portion of two rows because of an error that throws off the symmetry by two lousy threads. I was congratulating myself for selecting the right piece to start my challenge because I had been zipping along quite nicely. In fact, I thought this was a much easier stitch than I had remembered it being. What can I say? Pride goeth before a fall. The first photo shows the progress unvisited by the frog. I decided to go with the alphabet after all, after looking at various alphabets for a monogram. Every style I liked, and thought suited the overall look of the sampler, couldn't be made to fit the space. Then came the lattice work row. I stitched it at least four times in the long stitch as directed but then when it came down to do the tacking stitches, the bottom row of tacks didn't line up properly. I finally gave up and cheated by doing a series of diamond pane stitches and tacking down the intersections. Same look, less aggravation. The next few rows of backstitching and herringbone stitches were easy enough. But then I made a rookie mistake in the next tracery row, missing one lousy little backstitch, throwing the symmetry off by two linen threads. The result: I'll have to frog nearly all the right side of the tracery, the right Rhodes heart and beading and the backstitching immediately below to line things up properly. Even so, I am expecting a finish before next Sunday. Since I am making equally gratifying progress on Workbasket's Quaker Sampler from my 2010-2011 WIP List, I may have two finishes within the week. And in my mad little two steps forward, one step backward world ... that will earn me one new start! I think it will have to be one of the heart ornaments I want to add to my January-February Tree, celebrating my wedding anniversary and Valentine's Day.