NatBloPoMo

I've watched as other bloggers participated in this blog-every-day-for-a-month event. I thought I might give it a shot this year. One of my annual goals for 2010 was to blog every other day ... and while there have been a few two or three day gaps, there have also been enough stretches of daily posts to keep my record above 50% of the time so far. Since I am not certain this is really doable, I am going to treat it as a trial run and not actually register on the website ... coward that I am. Consider it a case of getting into training for 2011.

I can already see thatI shall be relying heavily on "scheduled" posts and retrospective photo essays of stitching long since finished ... because, let's face it, stitching for an hour or two a day just doesn't generate enough raw material for 30 posts. I suspect this stitching and general musings blog will have a higher proportion of general musings this month, as well.

Assessing October Goals, Setting November Goals

OCTOBER GOALS: Not too bad, much more green [accomplished] than red [neglected].

SALS AND RRs

Linda's RR: Stitch and mail the last piece to Linda by 10/15. This was RECEIVED in the mail on Oct. 15 and I started stitching on Oct. 16. The finished piece was mailed on 10/18. Now I simply have to wait till my own piece comes home.

Town Square SAL: Val's Stuff Train Depot. DONE. 10/11/10.

Bride's Tree SAL: Catch up to October ornament. May: DONE. 10/1/10. June: DONE, 10/15/10. July: DONE, 10/20/10. August: DONE, 10/24/10. September: DONE 10/27/10. October: deferred to November goals.Rachel's Halloween SAL: Stitch a Halloween ornament from the JCS issue. Completed M Designs' Winifred Witch and began Plum Street Sampler's Halloween Greetings.

MONTHLY PROJECTS:Thanksgiving Ornaments: Stitch four ornaments from CEC Thanksgiving Circle to catch up to goal of one ornament a month. Deferred to November goals.

BAP: Finish Section 1 & 2 TW's Autumn Faerie. Deferred to November goals.

MEDIUM PROJECT: Resume work on The Sweetheart Tree's Holly and Hearts Sampler. Deferred to November goals.

SURFACE EMBROIDERY: Continue work on Encrusted Crazy Quilt Square, mastering the boullion stitch. The aim is to get in at least one hour a week. Deferred to November goals.

SEWING PROJECTS: Finish-finish ornaments to date ... DONE ... and stitch up two larger projects from the finishing basket. Afraid not.




NOVEMBER GOALS

SALS
Town Square SAL: Kit up and stitch The Clock Tower.
Bride's Tree SAL: Stitch October and November ornaments.

MONTHLY PROJECTS:
Thanksgiving Ornaments: Stitch four ornaments as needed to catch up to the goal of one a month.
UFO: Peacock biscornu.

FOCUS PROJECTS:
BAP: Finish TW's Autumn Faerie
Medium Project: Resume work on The Sweetheart Tree's Holly and Hearts Sampler.

SURFACE EMBROIDERY: Continue work on Encrusted Crazy Quilt Square, mastering the boullion stitch. The aim is to get in at least one hour a week.

SEWING PROJECTS:Finish-finish ornaments to date and stitch up two larger projects from the finishing basket.

Weekend Progress Report #43

Since Sunday was Halloween and my posting yesterday was devoted to Rachel's Halloween SAL, I am posting the weekend progress report on today ... so what if Monday is the beginning rather than the end of a stitching week [in my admittedly eccentric corner of the world, stitching weeks end on Sundays]!

I was so close to finishing the September Bride's Tree ornament that I just soldiered on till it was done. Then I kitted up the October ornament, which I will work on next week when I need a break from TW.

I also worked a bit more on Winifred Witch, M Designs entry in the JCS Halloween ornament issue. I had wanted to get this done in time to add to the Halloween Tree this year so I made this project my first choice for Rachel's Halloween SAL. I finished it up at 6:30 Halloween night and added it to the tree immediately after photographing it for yesterday's post about Rachel's SAL.

I spent less time on my BAP [TWs Autumn Faerie] than originally planned so I made less progress than I had hoped. But I will rectify that this next week ... I want to make a final push to finish this piece before Thanksgiving so that I can have it framed for Christmas gifting.

I find it hard to believe that Christmas is less than two months away as we enjoy an Indian Summer with temps ranging as high as 75 ... of course, this happened after [or, more likely, because] I had the a/c units removed from the windows, packed away the summer clothes, pruned my fig tree and purchased a wool cloche hat and some shearling lined slippers. Leave it to me to provoke Mother Nature's sense of humor/perversity. Of course, temps dropped down to the 50s for Halloween ... so cold fingers prevented me from stitching outdoors for very long ... while I sat distributing candy to all the wee sma ghoulies and ghosties in the neighborhood.

Halloween SAL Triple Post

Rachel has organized a Halloween SAL during which all participants will stitch a Halloween project and post photos of their progress throughout the day. I have chosen to finish up a WIP, M Design's Winifred Witch and then, time permitting stitch up Plum Street Samplers' Halloween Greetings as my projects for the day.

And a photo of at bedtime, showing my progress on my next start, Fleur de Boo by Ink Circles. This is stitched on a 30ct loosely woven linen in a color called Midsummer Night using Belle Soie silks Black Crow and Lasagna. Obviously, I didn't get very much done but at least it's a start.

A photo of progress at 6:30pm: All the stitching is done and the piece is assembled, trimmed with home-made braid and a beaded hanger. The back is a simple black moire silk ... I figure this piece is elaborate enough without an ornate backing. I am very pleased with this ornament though it is a bit large. It was charted for 30ct linen and I stitched it on 32ct, so it was originally intended to be even larger

Here is my photo of Winifred Witch as I left it last night. I will be posting photos twice more today. The piece looks tantalizingly close to a finish but I fear there is at least two more hours of stitching to do before I begin the assembly. The sign still needs to be stitched, as does the over-one section in the eyes and the silver streak in the hair and all the back-stitching.

Getting Ready for Rachel's SAL & other Halloween tasks

Rachel is hosting a Halloween SAL ... all you need do is choose a Halloween or autumnal WIP or new project, work on it throughout Halloween, posting photos on your blog or photo album three times during the day. Of course, you need to let her know you are participating so she can set up links in one central place: her own blog.

Since Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, I have an embarassment of riches when it comes to charts to choose from. My current BAP, TW's Autumn Faerie, would qualify. Even my October entry for the Bride's Tree SAL would fall well within the parameters of this SAL. But I want something distinctly Halloween-ish so I am looking at either the Plum Street Sampler Halloween Greetings or Ink Circles Fleur de Boo from the recent JCS Halloween issue or two freebies, one from The Primitive Needle [love her stuff] and one from The Stitcherhood [your basic Jack-o-Lantern]. Of course, I also have another fifteen or so charts for Halloween, ranging from BAPs like Sleepy Hollow or medium projects like Something Wicked This Way Comes or Zucca or Black'd Skie. And then there is my UFO: Ghosts and Ghoulies Etui.

Although I spent some time today working on M Designs' Winifred Witch, also from the JCS Sept. 2010 issue ... I didn't quite finish it. Though it looks tantalizingly close to completion, that is misleading. What with cross-stitching the sign, adding the metallic silver streak in the hair, doing the over-one stitching in the eyes, all the back stitching and embellishing, it'll probably take me the better part of two hours to have it ready for assembly. Even so, I think finishing this ornament will be my first choice for the SAL ... right on through to assembly. I'd be glad to finish this in time to hang it on my Halloween Tree if only for an hour or two. If I still have time after that for more stitching, I'll move on to Plum Street Sampler's Halloween Greetings since it requires only DMC and my order of WDW, GAST and CC floss from Stitchery Row did not arrive, alas alack!

Okay, so I lied ...

... in my last post about dropping all ornament stitching for the time being and reverting to stitching on my BAP. But I was so close to finishing my September ornament for the Bride's Tree SAL that I just had to continue working on it till it was stitched and assembled. Progress is addictive. In any case, I'll have to stop work on the Bride's Tree SAL in a little while. I have just enough linen left to stitch the front of the October ornament but I'll need another piece [18x27] for the back of October and the fronts and backs of November and December. I'll be adapting the GOS Pinecone ornament that I stitched for Rachel last year to make it more Quaker-like for the October ornament and I have ordered Workbasket's Quaker Santa chart for the December ornament but I haven't even started looking for a Quaker angel chart for November yet. If any kind reader knows of one, I'd appreciate it if he/she would leave a link in the comments.

As I get closer to actually finishing up with this SAL, I get more and more excited about it. I've decided exactly how I am going to display the ornaments and in which room I shall place the tree. I rather like this whole SAL idea. I enjoy looking at other stitcher's ornaments on the Bride's Tree SAL blog and have seen many clever finishing techniques that I fully intend to use in the future. As for next year, I shall concentrate on the Town Square SAL and hope that others who signed up will begin to post to the blog as well. I intend to turn all my pieces into a coverlet for a queen size bed.

I also spent some time today on M Designs' Winnifred Witch. I still have quite a bit to do and am not sure it will hang on this year's Halloween tree. All the hair and the sign and the rest of the over one on the face need to be stitched as well as the backstitching ... and then, of course, there is the finishing to do. Maybe I'll be able to get it done tomorrow in between all the usual chores and errands. I really want to start something new and fresh for Rachel's Halloween SAL ... what I choose to do for that depends, in large measure, on whether my order from Stitchery Row arrives tomorrow.

ISO A Quaker Angel Chart

If you have been reading along this year, especially in recent weeks ... you know I have been participating in the Bride's Tree SAL. I set out to stitch all twelve themes in the Quaker style, using the same 28ct Glasgow raw linen and Belle Soie silks and hemp cord hangers for each amd every ornament.

So far I have done pretty well finding existing charts: Jan-May and August and December were all readily available. I had to design my own charts for June and July but was able to find charts that I could adapt for September and October. The only piece missing now is a Quaker Angel for November. Before I go to the trouble of transforming one of the PS Blackwork angels into a Quaker angel, I thought I'd ask for help from my readers. If anyone knows of a chart that would suit my needs, please leave a comment below. It needn't be a free chart. I'll buy a chart if someone can point me in the direction of something I like. I have googled but just haven't the patience or time to wade through over fifteen pages of links ... I started to do so, but when I went through four pages without finding anything useful ... well, I figured an appeal to other stitchers might be a better way to search.

Weekend Progress Report # 42

Still working on catching up to my ornament goals this week:

Bride's Tree SAL: I am doing rather well. Since October 1st, I have stitched and assembled the ornaments for May through August, and am currently stitching September's Teapot, symbolizing Hospitality. As I have mentioned before, I am making a conscious effort to make all these ornaments a genuine "set". All are stitched on 28ct Raw Glasgow linen and finished as fringed pillows with hemp cord hangers. All are stitched in the same style using Quaker motifs and Belle Soie silks. I have a three foot tall faux Christmas tree that I will use to display these ornaments come Christmas time ... the only other thing I will use on this particular tree will be some cranberry strands made of wooden beads ... this will give me the rustic look I am going for in my dining room. I spent most of Saturday stitching on the August Bride's Tree SAL ornament, a rose done in the Quaker style in Belle Soie silks Tortoise Shell and Sister Scarlet. I never cease to be amazed at how close juxtaposition has an effect on color values: the green with black-brown undertones of the Tortoise Shell looks so much greener beside the Sister Scarlet than it did alone against the raw linen. It really does seem to have the look of dark rose leaves, now. It is one of my favorite shades of green for backgrounds and borders since the brown-black undertones give it a neutral value that tends to work with an almost endless range of colors. I definitely need to order some more as I am running quite low, down to my last 12 strand length when just a week or so ago I had one full and one partial card. I finished and assembled the Rose Sunday afternoon at which point I began the September Teapot. Here are some photos of my progress on this series. The front of the teapot ornament is done except for the border. I figure I'll work on the border and the back for the ornament Monday morning before work. That will leave only the October ornament to do and I'll be all caught up ... at least till November 1st rolls around next week.

Halloween and Thanksgiving ornaments: I am still working on a few Halloween ornaments for this year's tree: M Design's Winifred Witch is my current WIP. There are two more kitted up and "in the pipeline". I have also asked my husband to order the kit for Monsterbubbles Day of the Dead as a Christmas gift ... now that's one ornament I really want to stitch ... but it will have to be for next year's tree. I just love the over-the-top, wildly creative Monsterbubbles signature style. And their use of unusual materials really calls to my aging hippie soul ... I am always using found objects in my own textile art. I also love playing with color and I enjoy the serendipitious moments that occur so often when stitching. For instance, this past week I have been working on two distinct projects that have led me to the planning of a third ... all because of an observation about color. When laying out my projects for this week's stitching bag, I couldn't help but notice that the 32 ct Aurora linen I am using for M Design's Winifred Witch and the Belle Soie silk Foo Foo Flamingo I used for my Quaker Fish ornament would combine to make the perfect tone-on-tone project ... perhaps a pin pillow or an ort jar cover. However, the silk looks so much paler against the raw linen shade used in the ornament that, had I not laid out all the materials on a table in close proximity to one another, I'd never have noticed how vibrant the silk could look against a more color-saturated background.

But even though I haven't met all my ornaments stitching goals, I am going to revert to my BAP, TW's Autumn Faerie for the remainder of October with this one exception: on Sunday, October 31st, I'll be participating in Rachel's Halloween SAL by stitching on whatever Halloween ornament is still a WIP and posting three times on my blog that day with photos of my progress.

A visit to Blacksheep's blog earlier this week had me salivating over the mere thought of gingerbread ... a pity photos can't be transformed into edible reality with the click of a mouse. I think that's something Bill Gates ought to get working on immediately. Failing the ability to attain instant gratification by computer magic, I dug out my favorite recipe for genuine New England style gingerbread and made it this morning ... I am also saving blacksheep's recipe for future baking adventures. One can never have too many gingerbread recipes.

Here's the one I use most often [from June Platt's New England Cookbook, c1971]

Raisin Gingerbread Preheat oven to 350F

2/3 c sugar

2/3c dark molasses

2/3c boiling water

2 Tbs butter

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 c raisins, washed and dried

1/2 c chopped walnuts or pecans

1 egg, well beaten

1 &1/2c sifted flour

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ginger

1/4 tsp cloves

1c heavy cream lightly beaten

Mix tgether sugar, molasses and boiling water. While the mixture is still hot stit in the butter and baking soda. Let cool slightly. Add raisins, nuts and beaten egg. Sift together flour & spice and stir into molasses mixture. Pour batter into a well-buttered 9" square pan and bake in pre-heated oven 35-40 minutes, until it tests done in the center. Serve hot or cold with beaten cream.

I tend to double the spices or add chopped crystallized ginger because I like a very spicy cake. I also use lemon custard sauce instead of beaten cream, just because I like the combination of spice/sweet & lemon.

I had intended to spend the better part of Friday cooking and baking ... but that didn't happen ... so Saturday became a cooking day and Sunday, a baking day. I made a pan of Chicken Parmigiana and a pan of Eggplant Parmigiana, both with fresh mozzarella, on Saturday. This ought to take care of dinner through Tuesday nght. Since I work till 9:00pm on Mondays and Tuesdays and my husband's daily commute gets him home at 8:30pm, having something ready to re-heat quickly and conveniently is a priority. I picked up some Lemon Curd and some fresh lemons while shopping Saturday so I could embellish my gingerbread ... the lemon curd being a back-up since my home-made custard sauces tend to be rather hit-and-miss.

TGIF

Friday is my day off ... Sunday is a day off as well but since I am often involved in "command" performances at the parish where I work, it seldom feels like a day off! And although today I will be seeing one of the many medical specialists one gets to visit on a regular basis once one reaches a certain age, I still intend to have a marvelous time: stitching, mucking about with fall garden chores and maybe even doing a little cooking and baking. Housecleaning is entirely optional and will be included only if I have the time and energy ... rather unlikely, considering all my other plans.

First, my plans for stitching: I want to make the final push to catch up with the Bride's Tree SAL and, time permitting, finish stitching my current Halloween ornament WIP, Winifred Witch from M Designs. I'll post photos on Saturday or Sunday, as my progress warrants.

Second, my plans for the garden chores: purchase concrete sealer and white paint suitable for giving a fresh look to the tired old raw concrete retaining wall in the back yard. Before I start applying the sealer though, I'll have to rake and sweep and then wet down the backyard to eliminate as much of the airborne dust as possible ... I really want the finished back wall to look clean, smooth and fresh, rather than textured with paint-embedded debris. I hope to finish cleaning and sealing the wall today. Perhaps by Sunday, I'll be able to give it a first coat of white paint. I figure it'll probably take two or three coats of paint. Next weekend's project will be finishing the painting. After that, I want to construct a mini-rockery at the foot of the wall ... I have all this stone that used to mark off my vegetable garden [from those long-gone stay-at-home Mom days] and more that was "excavated" when we had the Belgian block patio installed. I have plenty of soil left from that same excavation, and I use the term soil very loosely ... this dirt came from an area of the yard that was once a pitiful excuse for an 12'x8' lawn ... it may best be described as depleted dust. But I figure if I enrich it with lots of the fallen leaves that are already beginning to mold and a fair amount of manure, I should have a rockery suitable for spring planting with plenty of sedum, hen & chicks and a few suitable flowering plants. Next fall, I should be able to introduce some interesting bulbs like snow drops, snow stars and wild hyacinths for early spring color. I plan to spend this winter reading up about rock gardens and suitable plants ... particularly relating to these conditions: filtered sunlight, sheltered location, fairly enriched soil. There's also the back door and doorstep to clean and repaint, and the screen from the screen door to bring to the hardware store for repair, and all the fallen tree limbs to gather and stack for kindling [though I don't yet have the outdoor fireplace I long for] ... so much to do ... so little time.

And if the weather turns uncooperative, there's always the cooking and baking: I have plans to make a couple of trays of eggplant and chicken parmigiana to take me through the next week ... a busy one professionally, with lots of late night classes and meetings ... since I know I'll be too tired to cook and I just can't afford to keep doing take-out ... calorically as well as financially. And as the weather cools, I have been longing for some apple crisp or some bread pudding with vanilla or cinnamon ice cream or perhaps some serious New England style gingerbread, with a lemony custard sauce.

July down, August started, September & October to go ...

... I am talking about the Bride's Tree SAL ornaments, of course. I had fallen way behind. At the beginning of this month only January through April had been completely stitched and assembled. Since then I have stitched the back for May, both sides of June and July and assembled them and have started on August which ought to be a relatively quick stitch. The July ornament is, of course, the Fish, representing Christ's Blessings. Unable to find a fish charted in the Quaker style, I designed one of my own. I stitched it in Belle Soie silks Foo Foo Flamingo, Old Black Crow and Fern Frond. The August ornament is a Rose, representing Affection. I am using a Workbasket complimentary chart, Quaker Flower, and am stitching it in Belle Soie silks Tortoise Shell and Sister Scarlet. With luck, I shall have the August ornament done by Friday leaving me free to work on the September and October ornaments over the weekend. I may just catch up entirely by the end of the month. I have a teapot chart from which I will appropriate the outline only which I will then decorate with a large Quaker motif from the Workbasket Quaker Sampler. I haven't a clue as yet about how I shall stitch October's Pine Cone. The only chart I have that even remotely resembles the Quaker style is in an old Gift of Stitching issue. I am still looking for a better option.

Once I catch up with the Bride's Tree SAL, I shall be free to concentrate on my Halloween and Thanksgiving ornament goals. I have one Halloween ornament WIP and two more ornaments nearly kitted up ... just waiting for a few overdyed flosses I ordered from Stitchery Row. I'd like to have at least one of these done in time to add it to this year's Halloween Tree. I am four ornaments behind in my Thanksgiving ornament goal but I'll worry about that in November. I currently have 8 Thanksgiving ornaments, stitched either this year or last year. A decent enough showing, although four more would make it an even dozen ... ever so much better!