Nearing the Finish Line

I've used four of my six skeins of Blue Spruce and have started on the fifth.  I have stitched a little over 2/3 of the design.  This design is addictive.  I am compelled to stitch just one more element and than one more and so on.  With all the handling, the rather stiff Monaco has softened up enough so that I am no longer injuring my forefinger with each stab of the needle.  But the whole experience reminds me why I prefer linen.  Unfortunately, I have two more pieces of Monaco in stash which my frugal soul will insist on using up.  A quick pre-wash will remove most of the sizing and, one hopes, most of the problem.

I need to attend to some chores but if I have time to stitch tonight, I'll concentrate on the corner motifs and the roses.  

UFO/WIP Progress Report

For 2016, I have merged my class project and UFO/WIP into one master list.  The class pieces dropped off my radar last year and I want to avoid that this year.  For now, I'll track progress weekly, on Sunday evenings.

1. Lori Birmingham's Pansy Garden Nantucket Style Basket (2005 CATS project)
2. Catherine Jordan's Pretty Picot Edges (2006 CATS project)
3.  Karen Bovard's Filet Lace (2006 CATS project)
4. Peyote stitch bracelet (Willow Tree, Boothbay Harbor , Maine)
5. 2007 Stitcher's Hideaway at Mystic Victoria Sampler projects: a stitchers pocket, biscornu, needlebook and fob
6. 2009 Stitcher's Hideaway at Mystic Brightneedle's Ghoulies and Ghosts Etui and accessories.
7. 2010 Stitcher's Hideaway at Sturbridge.  Victoria Sampler's Sturbridge Box and accessories.
8. 2012 Stitcher's Hideaway Martha Washington Sampler.
9. 2013 Stitcher's Hideaway Victoria Sampler's Christmas Sampler
10.  2014 Stitcher's Hideaway Brightneedle Kindred Spirits Sewing Journal.
11. The Jacobean Elegance afghan - with 15 more squares to be stitched.
12. Making Waves needlepoint project - with more than 3/4s of the bargello rows and more than 2/3s of the eyelet area to be stitched.
13. My own design, Fertile Circles needle book, the back panel needs finishing.
14. My own design, Beach Find Pansies, to be completed and incorporated into an embellished crazy quilt square
15. Whispered by the Wind Scherzo.  Started 1-13-16.  MADE SUBSTANTIAL PROGRESS.  
16. Another needlepoint project, Rice Pudding, using many variations of the rice stitch.
17. Yet another needlepoint project, an Owl, again a project using lots of specialty stitches.
18. Piper's Christmas stocking  adapted from a Dimensions kit.
19. HAED's The Tangle Fairy, barely started
20. Morning Glory The Sheltering Tree.  JUST NEED TO FINISH THE OVER ONE LETTERING.

Scherzo

This Whispered by the Wind piece is my newest start.  I've had the chart for several years, one of those someday projects.  Now that I am retired, someday is finally here.  I am using the recommended WDW Blue Spruce.  I have 6 skeins in the same dye lot.  Both chart and floss were gifts from a Secret Sister exchange.  Instead of the recommended 28 count antique white linen, I am using 28 count white Monaco.  It's been a long time since I have used this 100% cotton fabric.  I'd forgotten how sturdy and stiff it can be, slowing down the stitching experience.  Using a size 26 needle instead of my usual size 28 helps.

First Finishes of 2016

I have finished the mystery sampler.  I had to eliminate some of the charted cartouches to adapt the chart to the size of my linen.   I switched the animals about somewhat, choosing my favorites: peacock, dog parakeets, owl, robin, rabbit and squirrel, stitched in soft and bright pastels,  I filled in the empty spaces with motifs stitched in the same Blue Lagoon I used for the cartouches.  It was necessary to tinker with the motif as well, turning the roses on their side, changing the squat loving cup into a slender chalice and adding a bunch of grapes.  I wish I could provide more of a provenance for this design.  I seem to recall downloading it from one of the French free sites ... it definitely seems to be in that style.  In any case the final result is very different from the original chart.

The next finish is from Donna of By the Bay. .  I used WDW 30 count Periwinkle linen and Belle Soie silks, mainly Indigo with Boysenberry ans Lilac.  The simple words Slow Down looked pretty naked on the linen so I added a border of my own design, accenting it with some beads in the same shade as the deepest tone in the Boysenberry.  The corner treatment is a simple Rhpdes rectangle
.

And there's this one day wonder from Samplers and Such: Bitty Baskets ABC Sampler, a sampler designed to be finished as a pin keep but which I will finish as a jar top.  I used Aurora 32 count linen and Caron Waterlilies Tahiti for a subtle tone on tone [in part] effect which looks much better in reality than in this photograph.  In real life, the pale melon in the floss doesn't fade quite so badly into the background linen.

I seem to be choosing my projects to use up the odd scraps of linen I have on hand.  I guess it's a sort of New Year's sweep and clean up effort.  This latest finish is from Homespun Elegance:
Country Spirits Birds and Bees,   .  I used my Belle Soie silks instead of the recommended DMC.  They are Beanstalk, Chocolate, Cinnamon Stick, Lasagna, Old Crow and Scarecrow.  I still have an extensive stash of partial cards of Belle Soie and am using them for all my small to medium projects: waste not, want not.




All I need to finish this last piece are two Olde Brass bee charms but that will have to wait till I have the time to put together an order.  I need some scroll rods, the proper linens for Sleepy Hollow and the Workbasket Quaker animals.  I'll need a quiet moment to sit down and make up a complete list of my needs for the next few months.

Summing Up 2015

I am way behind with my usual year-in-review posts for some reason.  Perhaps the very poor performance noted in the Annual Goals review was demoralizing but I shall soldier on and take a clear-eyed look at a stitching review.  It wasn't exactly a banner year.

BAPs:  Total 1.  SANQ The English Band Sampler

Medium to Large Sized Projects:  Total 2 Large and 7 Medium.  Dragon Dreams' Dragon of the Summer Sky, Workbasket Quaker Owl, Workbasket Quaker Bat. Sue Donnelly's Best Ships sampler,  Prairie Schooler Primitive Americana: Elephant, Donkey, Sweet Land of Liberty Sampler, Uncle Sam, and Lady Liberty, CEC The Swimming Instructor, Plum Street Sampler Be True,  La-D-Da Something Wicked, Counted Illuminations The Goblin Market

Smalls:  Total: 26.  M Designs Name Tree: Sean.  Sue Donnelly's Making Waves at Sturbridge scissor fob. Ginny Thompson's Sampler ornament.   Cross My Heart Mint Tea Towel.  Morning Glory Needleworks Buttoned Heart pin cushion. Mill Hill Daffodil Easter Egg.   Cross Eyed Cricket's Ice Cream Carrot.  Victoria Sampler's Mystic Smalls: Scissor Fob.  PS Year Round: December, October, September,July, June, May, April, March, February and January.  PS Queen Bee,   PS promo Stars and Stripes.  Town Square series The Acededarium,  The Creamery and Sandie's Sweet Shop.  J. Douglas Halloween Acorn House,  Stitcher's Hideaway 2-13 Christmas Ornament.  Jeanette Douglas' Christmas Tree Ornament.  

• C
• 
  

Needlepomt: Total: 0

Crochet: Total: 1.  Liam's Crib Blanket

Sewing Finishes.  Total: 6.  Sue Donnelly's 2015 Making Waves souvenir scissor fob..  Morning Glory buttoned heart pincushion.  By the Bay's Acorn ornament.  Town Square series ornaments: The Pet Store, The Quilt Shop and The Silversmith.  Town Square series ornaments: The Fishmonger's Shop, the Gourmet Shop, Flocking to Knit.  Prairie Schooler Santa ornament.

This was probably my least productive year in decades.  I'll chalk it up to health issues and hope for a better 2016.

Assessing 2015 Goals

For 2015, a 50-50 s[lit.

• 01. My Own Crazy Challenge: work on unfinished class pieces from 2005-date.  I have whittled the list down  by one class ... not exavtlu stellar progress.
• 02. Complete two BAPs: Stitch stockings for Piper and Rocco.  I got involved in other BAPs and didn't get to these.
• 03. Stitch a few more Spring/Easter ornaments for the tree as well as a half dozen more Town Square ornaments. DONE.
• 04. Stitch one ornament a month from the Prairie Schooler Year Round leaflet  DONE.
• 05. Continue to work on UFOs and WIPs list going into 2015  DONE,
• 06. Limit stash purchases to fabric, fiber and tools needed to complete charts on hand.  Pretty close.  I bought just twp Mill Hill beaded Easter Egg kits [see Goal 3].  Otherwise, I only bought tools and fiber and floss.
• 07. Continue to blog regularly, aiming for every other day.  Between poor vision during slow healing from cataract surgery and adjustment to the very different schedule since retirement, this didn't happen.
• 08. Make an effort to catch up on sewing and frame 2 or 3 pieces professionally. Not so much.
• 09. Inventory and declutter existing stash.  DONE.
• 10. Change EGA membershIp  I let this lapse instead.  I'll ask for a renewal as an anniversary gift in January.

Setting goals for 2016

• 01. My Own Crazy Challenge: work on unfinished class pieces from 2005-date.
• 02. Complete two BAPs: Stitch stockings for Piper and Rocco.
• 03. Stitch a half dozen Celtic/St. Patrick's Day ornaments for the tree.
• 04. Continue to work on UFOs and WIPs list going into 2016
• 05. Limit stash purchases to fabric, fiber and tools needed to complete charts on hand.
• 06. Continue to blog regularly, aiming for every other day..
• 07. Make an effort to catch up on sewing and frame 2 or 3 pieces professionally.
• 08. Change EGA membersh

Marking Time

I still haven't decided on my next new BAP start and have been marking time with a few smaller projects while I consider my options.

I finished up the Jeanette Douglas Halloween Acorn House: truly a small at just 2 inches square.  Surprisingly it took three days stitching time [about 6 hours] to finish.  What slowed things down was working the over one fence, cat and owl on 36ct. Silkweaver linen.  I am not sure whether I will finish it as an ornament or as a scissor fob yet.  I make that decision when I sit down to sew.

The next piece is a French style sampler that I am working on a 14 inch square of 28ct Blue Wing Jobelan.  I have used Belle Soie Blue Lagoon for the alphabet and the plan is to use it for all the cartouches, as well.  I'll use soft pastel silks for all the animals and flowers that fill the cartouches.    My linen isn't quite large enough for the whole chart so I'll be eliminating and rearranging motifs to suit my needs.

Weekly WIP Status Report

I started the week with 10 projects on the WIP list, added three, finished three and ended back at 10.

• The Jacobean Elegance afghan - with 15 more squares to be stitched.
• Making Waves needlepoint project - with more than 3/4s of the bargello rows and more than 2/3s of the eyelet area to be stitched.
• My own design, Fertile Circles needle book, the back panel needs finishing.
• My own design, Beach Find Pansies, to be completed and incorporated into an embellished crazy quilt square

• The Victoria Sampler Mystic Smalls class project - I need to stitch the needle book and the biscornu
• Another needlepoint project, Rice Pudding, using many variations of the rice stitch.
• Yet another needlepoint project, an Owl, again a project using lots of specialty stitches.
• Piper's Christmas stocking  adapted from a Dimensions kit.
• HAED's The Tangle Fairy, barely started
• The Goblin Market:  FINISHED!

• Morning Glory The Sheltering Tree.  JUST NEED TO FINISH THE OVER ONE LETTERING.

• Jeanette Douglas Christmas Tree Ornament.  FINISHED.
• Jeanette Douglas Halloween Acorn House. FINISHED.
• S. Donnelly Stitchers' Hideaway Ornament.  FINISHED.

A BAP and Two One Day Wonders

I finished The Goblin Market and here it is in all its glory.  The spider web took forever or so it seemed.  I added a little Krenik 032 blending filament to the web  to make it shimmer as webs do in nature.   This piece was a lot of fun to stitch with all it's cheerful colors and its multitude of motifs.  The variety within the piece itself kept ,my interest.  The eagle-eyed observer will note a few counting errors but they didn't really detract from the overall design.  So I am satisfied.  The next project from the WIP list that I'll be tackling: The Mystic Smalls.

While rooting about in my stash for the next new big project, I came across three small charts: Jeanette Douglas' A Christmas Tree Ornament, Sue Donnelly's Souvenir Stitcher's Hideaway Ornament and Jeanette Douglas' The Halloween Acorn House.  I also found a few scraps of mystery linen on which to stitch them..

I paired this antique rose linen with the Jeanette Douglas chart, adjusting the color way to pale and non-traditional tints including Belle Soie's Creme de Menthe, Fern Frond, Beanstalk, Lily Pad and Cabbage Patch for the tree and GAST Pink Azalea for the tent stitched vertical strips in the background.  I am very pleased with the result, so much more subtle than the usual bright Christmas reds and greens.

The second one day wonder was this souvenir Tree Ornament from The Stitcher's Hideaway Retreat in 2013.  Better late than never.  It's pretty straigh forward stitched on raw linen in Dinky Dyes silks.

The final small resulting from my search is this little Halloween Acorn House.  I'll be using as many of the suggested WDW, GAST and Crescent Colors as I have on hand, making appropriate substitutions when necessary.  I have WDW Trick or Treat, GAST Straw Bonnet, Crescent Colors Blackbird and Hickory Sticks.  That leaves me needing replacements for CC Colonial Copper, Just Rust, Plymouth Rock and Tufted Yellow.  As soon as I have posted  this blog entry, I'll search online to see what those shades are and then I'll pull equivalents from my GAST or WDW stash, both of which are mych moe extensive than my CC stash.  Since this a two sided piece, it'll probably take three days to stitch.

And I still haven't selected my next new large project start!  Nothing is really pulling at me at the  moment.  That's probably a goof reason to stick to the WI[P list

And Startitis Strikes Again

It seems that every time I get close to finishing a large project [in this case, The Goblin Market],  I feel th need to start a new small.

So, I pulled this Morning Glory Designs complimentary chart, Friendship is a Sheltering Tree, from my stash and kitted it up using 36 ct raw linen and most of the recommended WDW flosses: Blue Spruce, Chesapeake, Curry, Frosted Teal and Ivy.  I lacked Camellia [Light Dusty Rose] and Romance [Dusty Rose] for which I will substitute some similar GAST cotton over dyed floss when I reach that point.  At present, I am enjoying a stint of over one stitching using the two blues to create a shadow effect.  The full title sentiment will take up the bottom third of the design and the pink flowers will complete the arch of the two trees.

It is a simple yet pleasing design with a motto that is not overly sentimental.  It'll work up nicely as a gift bag to hold a Christmas gift for one of my fr.ends