Rotation Progress

Wednesday's rotation piece was the last of my Dragon Dreams charts: The Dragon of the Summer Sky.

Wednesday morning, I kitted it up with the suggested fibers.  The fabric I am using is one of the bargain purchases made at Chris' Collections retirement sale, a 28ct Jobelan Blue Wing instead of the 28ct Zweidart Luguna in slate that was suggested.  The colors are quite close.  Happily, I had all of the Kreinik already in stash. One of the advantages of having a fairly extensive fiber and fabric stash is that kitting up is accomplished without the long wait for mail-order bits and pieces.  I do like being able to start a piece while the mood is upon me.

Of course most of my pre-work stitching hour was taken up by measuring, cutting and binding the edge of the fabric and gathering all the necessary fibers and beads from stash.  The result: was that very little actual stitching was done.  But, I was able to stitch for a portion of my lunch break and for a few hours after dinner, with this result.  Since I made this the stitcher's choice piece for the weekend, I was able to get a really flying start with nearly 1/3rd of the design complete.

Thursday's rotation piece was the Victoria Smalls Class Project from my first Stitcher's Hideaway, the Mystic Smalls.  I didn't have much more than an hour to stitch on Thursday, so the progress is minimal.  Still, it felt good to pick up this 8 year old class project.  For some reason, this photo isn't uploading and I haven't the time to figure out why or to take another shot.  I'll try again this evening after work.

It's been a very long while since I last worked on this project.  I haven't taken a stitch in it since February of 2013.  So, it feels fresh and new again.  I intend to spend the next months reacquainting myself with old class projects and hope, by the end of 2015, to have whittled my sidebar list down to just three or four.

I'll be taking another class with Thea Dueck in October of 2015 and I want to finish up all my previous class pieces from Victoria Sampler so that I have something appropriate to share at show and tell.  That means I'll want to finish this set of smalls, the Sturbridge Box and accompanying smalls and a Christmas  sampler.  I also have an Autumn sampler from her farm series in stash that I'd like to stitch, time permitting.  I realize this is a rather ambitious plan but I will just do as much as I can and be content with whatever progress I make.

Friday's rotation was sewing finishing.  Again, not much time was spent on stitching, so all I managed was to work a bit more on a tote using Mehitabel's Redwork Sampler as it's focal piece.  I'll post a photo of the final finish next week.

And the weekend goal of finding a life beyond the stitching chair was met by
1] visiting my mother and bringing her my annual pre-Christmas gift of a potted mini-Christmas tree.
2] sorting out some books to donate to the local public library's swap room. I'll probably ask my husband to bring them on down on his way to the Historical Society on Wednesday

As noted above, Saturday and Sunday was stitcher's choice and I worked on The Dragon of the Summer Sky.

Monday's rotation piece was The English Band Sampler: I think I am going to have to frog some of the interior of this flower.  Things aren't quite lining up.  So it's two steps forward and one step backward.

This has been a very long post, so I think I'll save Tuesday's progress photo till I've made a bit more progress.  Look for it tomorrow.  Meanwhile, don't forget to check out the sampler charts giveaway in the previous post if you haven't already done so..

Progress Photos

I have had a few more than two dozen sewing and assembly finishes sitting on the ironing board for quite sometime.  Most are ornaments but there are a fair number of pieces that need to be finished as totes and pillows.  I finally got a start on them, but only a start.  Here's the photo: one more of the La-D-Da cardinal Christmas ornaments and a half-finished project bag.  I still need to make the pockets in the lining and then sew it and handles to the bag.  For some reason I don't seem to have much enthusiasm for sewing and finishing just now.  I need to psyche myself up so that I can get into one of my finishing frenzies and get this all done.

I also finished the Indy 2006 Town Square series' The Silversmith Shop.  It calls for a Charland charm to be sewn on the door: a sterling silver sign with a Revere bowl.  But I think it looks complete without it.  Besides, since I used a higher count fabric than originally charted in order to make it fit in with my Ornament project, I suspect the charm would be disproportionately large for the door.  Now, it gets added to the ever growing finish & assembly pile.

I also got a lot done on Dragon Dreams' Dragon of the Winter Moon, as can be seen in this photo.  I do still have the moon to stitch and the beading in the mountain range to do but I am nearly there.  It has been my primary focus for the past few days and will be until I finish it.

Some More Finishes

This has been a great month for finishing.  Not counting the totes on this post, I have managed to add 17 items to the sewing finishes sidebar just this month.  Admittedly, all of them must be labelled smalls: most are ornaments which aren't major deals when it comes to finishing.  But it is some consolation for not having a cross-stitch finish yet this far into the year.  With any sort of luck, I'll manage one or two of those within the next few weeks as well.  Midnight Moogies is fairly close to a finish.  The Mystic Smalls are moving along as well.  And the Berry Patch Rabbit is a smallish piece as well.  So, I have some hopes for listing some cross stitch finishes soon

I did finish up a few totes:

Jennifer Aiken-Smith [Dragon Dreams] Dragon of Compassion as a very girly tote for my very girly 3 year old granddaughter.  I figure since I think this finish disgustingly over-the-top fussy, Piper will find it adequate.

Papillion's Peacocks as a gift tote to be put aside till needed.  I am thinking I could use it for my Mom's birthday in April or for her Mother's Day gifts in May.

I also assembled the two Kogin Christmas Tree ornaments and made the cording to trim them and made and stuffed a small pin pillow.  All I need to do is slip stitch it closed and stitch on the twisted cord trim.  So, I should be able to add another three finishes to the sidebar tomorrow.

That brings the total for the month up to 19, with three more finishes looming on the horizon.  This pretty much clears my dining room table of all the accumulated small or uncomplicated sewing finishes of cross stitch pieces for the time being.  I do have several more cross stitch pieces awaiting tote finiishes and I have a few simple crafting sewing finishes left to complete as well.  But once those are done, I intend to work on the more complex cross stitch project sewing finishes that I have on hand and start to winnow those down at the rate of three a month.  I have nine pillows, one tea cozy and two pedestal style pincushions in my to-do basket.  It would be so nice to be able to catch up with all my finishing but that never seems to happen.  But, in this year of stitching mostly large projects [BAP WIPs and class projects], most of which will require framing rather than sewing and assembly, maybe there is some hope of coming close.  I won't be accumulating projects requiring sewing finiishes at the usual rate and will be able to deal with the back log.

Some More Sewing and Assmebly Finishes

Since the darling children in my religious education program seem to have passed on the rather nasty stomach bug that's going around, I had an unanticipated day off yesterday.  And I spent some of it working on additional ornament finishes.  I seem to have accumulated quite a lot of cross stitched ornaments that required "some assembly."  So, here are some photos of yesterday's progress.

I stitched together and stuffed two more small pillow Christmas ornaments but have yet to slip-stitch them closed and add a hanger.  One is an Elizabethan design [a very old freebie that I finally stitched last Fall] and the other is a Japanese Kogin design, a bonus chart in the class kit of Phyllis Mauer's Japanese Kogin Tea Cozy from the old C.A.T.S. festival.  I also stitched a Kogin Christmas Tree from that same chart pack but haven't yet gotten around to the finish-finish.

And I started work on a gift tote I will use for my 3 year old granddaughter's Easter package.  Now my dear little girl is totally into girly frou-frou and pink.  As many of  my readers know, I detest pink and prefer the minimalist approach in most things.  Less is more is a truism I live by.  So it is an act of grandmotherly love to turn Jennifer Aiken Smith's Dragon of Compassion into a tote for my Piper.  I have been playing with possible trim placements for the front of the tote and have come up with this arrangement.  I think it is well over the top which means Piper will probably think it just makes the cut.  I will finish up the tote tomorrow.  Not only is Friday my day-off but we are expecting snow later on today with an accumulation of five inches or so by tomorrow morning.  I'll also spend part of Friday working on some flat ornament finishing which I tend to do assembly line style.  I have about 8-10 ornaments that need this treatment.  Maybe by the end of the weekend, I'll have another finishing post.

Rotation Stitching Progress:  Sadly, I neglected my Wednesday assignment, the Mystic Smalls Needlebook, in favor of reading for a while and napping for a while longer.  Stitching while ill is never a good plan for me and generally results in more un-stitching than stitching.

Some Sewing and Assembly Finishes

As my vacation winds down to a close and I realize I haven't done any sewing finishes. though I had ample opportunity ... I figured I'd better get cracking.

First, I backed and beaded the last three of my Sue Donnelly Merry Mystic ornaments.  While looking through stash for something else entirely, I found some black adhesive backed felt that worked quite nicely.  And I have a huge selection of leftover Mill Hill beads, so making the hangers was a breeze.  I have tucked them away with some Christmas presents I bought at various craft galleries.  Let's just hope I remember to untuck them at Christmas time.  I have been known to forget a cache of presents for several years.  The plan is to use these little cuties as package trim.

 I also spent some time finishing up a tote for knitting projects, complete with a lining with pockets for long skinny needles and a section for an upright skein of wool.  The design comes from the 2010 JCS Halloween ornament issue: Plum Street Sampler's Halloween Greetings.  What with all the sheep, it seemed more appropriate for a knitting tote than a Halloween ornament so I stitched it on a 28ct instead of the recommended 36ct linen.  This tote was made from sample swatches of various upholstery materials and lined with fabric cut from an old flannel bed sheet.

  I finished this tote with a flat bottom using this excellent tutorial.  To give the bottom a little added stability, I covered a heavy piece of cardboard, cut to shape, with some more of the soft flannel.  I am rather proud of this little tote and will enjoy taking it to the knitting circle when it starts up again in October. It now organizes my meager stash of knitting materials.  But I expect, as I learn more and practice more, the stash will outgrow this modest beginning.

When I first began stitching this Papillion Creations' Peacock design, my intention was to finish it as a biscornu but I really didn't feel like stitching a complementary bottom in order to have a final finish ... too labor intensive.  So, instead, I chose to make this tall, skinny throw pillow.  I had all the green fabrics and trim in my stash.  The lace with ribbon ruffle actually came from my mother's craft stash.  She used to make and dress dolls before her eyesight became an issue.  Now she crochets.

I also had the Just Nan hand-painted peacock charm in my stash ... purchased for no better reason than that I thought it was pretty and I knew I would use it someday.   I stitched it to a yo-yo made from the darker green fabric and then used that to conceal the whip-stitching that closed the opening at the top once the pillow was stuffed.






There are a few more projects on the dining room table in various stages of completion. I hope to get to them tomorrow.

The Victoria Sampler Holly and Hearts Christmas ornament.  The boards are cut and padded.  I only need to lace the backing fabric and the stitched fabric to the boards and assemble them.  Heart shaped ornaments are always a bit fussy and I tend to put off such finishes whenever I can.

Another "finally" project was prepping the boards for a flat ornament promised to a reader who won one of my blog giveaways from 2011.  It was supposed to be mailed in March 2012 but is still in process: stitched  since last February but laid aside and the victim of out of sight, out of mind syndrome.  It will be  assembled and mailed sometime later this week.  This is another of the Halloween ornaments from the JCS 2010 issue: Ink Circles' Full Moon.  I stitched it for myself on the recommended neutral fabric and when I had occasion to stitch it again, I chose a deep purple linen as a more appropriate night sky background.  I'll show a photo once it is assembled.

The candle mat from Prairie Grove Peddler has a summer-y theme: lighthouses that remind me of vacationing on the coast of Maine.  So it seemed appropriate to put it together in August.  I have put together all the layers.  All I need to do is sew on the double fold bias tape edging.  I just wasn't ready to take the ecru thread out of the machine and re-thread with red.  Again a photo will follow once I have done the final finishing touch of adding the binding.

And the reason I wanted to leave the ecru thread in place: I constructed the patterns and started the sewing on Better Homes & Garden's Tooth Fairy Pillow which will ultimately find its way into the hands of my grandson, who just celebrated his fifth birthday.  He loves trains so I thought this pillow ticking fabric reminiscent of the striped overalls of old-time train engineers  would be appropriately masculine.  Of course, I will have to re-do this project in pinks and ruffles and lace and ribbons in just a few years for my granddaughter who is totally girly.  I am already gagging at the thought! How I managed to have a granddaughter who is mad about Disney princesses, pink ruffled dresses and all things ultra-feminine is beyond me.  I can't even blame my daughter-in-law who is as staunchly unfrilly as any good outdoorsy environmentalist should be.  I blame my daughter-in-law's mother whose hopes for a doll baby of a little girl were met one generation late.

All in all, a productive day at the sewing machine.  Hey, at this rate, I'll get enough practice on the new machine that I may be able to discard the manual when figuring out how to load a bobbin or thread the machine when changing thread color.  I've managed to deal with the basics well enough but I'll still be wanting to take a course or two to learn how to use all the more complex features.  Maybe in September.