Tag-Archive for ◊ deep blue sea ◊

Author: Measi

• Sunday, November 04th, 2012

I seriously didn’t mean to go so long without updating my own progress. Looking back, I don’t think I’ve done it since July… ouch. Most of the delay is just truly due to the pregnancy chaos, but it also doesn’t help that my MacBook battery decided in the middle of the summer to start splitting itself apart (literally – the casing just started to split). I haven’t gotten around to getting a new battery (and likely won’t any time soon, with more important things to budget now), so Erich’s desktop is my home access to the internet, and it’s been a while since I had to share a computer!

So for now, I’m going to update on the pieces I can recall that have had progress since the end of July. My updates go all the way back to the Stitching Olympics, which now seem like they were years ago! I managed to work on 13 projects in August, each for a time of 2-10 hours, depending on whether I worked them at home or on my commutes.

One piece, Book of Ink Circles, sadly spent its entire time being counted and recounted, only to discover that I have some major stitching errors all over the place. I’m going to have to start over on it (ugh). So no photo updates on that one. Picture a blank canvas.

I managed one finish during the Stitching Olympics. My Mirabilia Round Robin from 2011 is now DONE! I finished her up by adding Enchanted Mermaid to the bottom center square. I intentionally flipped her profile so I now have four faces in either direction (most of the queens, and other profile Miras, seem to face toward the right, interestingly enough). Now I just need to press her and get her framed!

Mirabilia Round Robin – started February 2011 on a Silkweaver 28 ct green solo (pre-takeover). Stitched by fabulous women in the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and UK. Completed August 17, 2012.

I also put some time into my Floral Bellpull from Teresa Wentzler. Not a lot – I’m confetti stitching at the moment, so it’s a slow process and I need to take breaks fairly often. This is the one TW that I’d like to complete this year. Once my ornaments are done for exchanges, I’m going to focus on this for a while. After this square, I only have one more to do… so it’s still feasible that I could get it done by the end of December.

Photo as of August 10, 2012.

Quaker Compass was a new start for me in July. I picked up the pattern at Celebrations of Needlework in May, falling in love with the model – but I felt it needed just a little more color. I’m stitching this in a lavender to green to purple Threadworx overdye, and I’ll do the alphabet letters in a solid green that matches the darkest green in the variegated floss. I’m stitching this on 36 ct Sterling from Picture This Plus. The photo is my progress as of August 10th.

I continue to be fascinated by Rosewood Manor pieces. I’m firmly in the camp that the photos on the front of the charts by this designer never, ever seem to draw my interest. But oh my gosh, the models. When you actually see these pieces completed and done on the wall, they are astonishing. Really truly. Both years at Celebrations in Nashua, I could have spent hours in the Rosewood booth. Not only are these pieces incredibly intricate, but so many of them are flipping huge – just the type of projects I tend to adore (which is a reason why I seem to never get stuff done!)

My other pretty big progress photo from the Stitching Olympics is of Pocketful of Peppermint by Blue Ribbon Designs. This piece was taught in the first class I ever took at Stitcher’s Hideaway back in October 2010, but I didn’t manage to get the actual piece started until the beginning of this year. I have one more column of squares to stitch, and then filling everything in will take virtually no time at all. I’m expecting to have this done by the end of the year – it’ll probably be my travel piece when I head to my mom’s for Thanksgiving, and it’s also a piece that – once I get the rest of the frames done (since some are in specialty stitches), I’ll be able to stitch during my train commutes.

Photo as of August 31, 2012

The rest of my photos are of progress post-Stitching Olympics. I worked on some of these pieces in August, but didn’t take timely photos… so they’re just up to date as of this past week.

Deep Blue Sea by Chatelaine continues to progress slowly but surely. I’m almost done with part two – I’m adding the red starfish (stitched over one), convinced that I truly am into self-torture by deciding to stitch this piece on dark fabric… and now with stuff over one. But it is coming along. I brought this with me to Stitcher’s Hideaway at the end of October and spent a good chunk of day one doing red stars. I obviously am not anywhere near “on time” with the releases of the mystery, since part eleven was just released on the 1st… but I honestly never expected to be. At this point, I’m hoping to have part two done by the end of the year, and I’ll be happy with that. Over one stitching is probably one of the things I struggle with the most. I do use a magnifier, but it’s just one of those things that I’m incredibly slow at.

Photo progress as of October 28, 2012. Stitched on 28 ct Phantom by Picture This Plus.

It’ll be a slow and steady project, but I’ll have all of the charts, and Deep Blue Sea will get done when it gets done. With the kiddo on the way, I’m estimating… 2015 at this point? Maybe? Needless to say, I won’t be joining the next Mystery, but that’s okay, since I can’t exactly afford another one (or another project) at this point.

Witches Wheel by Glendon Place is also crawling along a little. It was stalled only when I somehow lost ALL of the black bobbins I’d stored with the piece – or I’d have quite a bit more done. I hate it when I get broken out of the zone on a piece for something as silly as missing bobbins. I think I’ll blame my cats! In any case, the star at the top is the top of this piece, with the exception of a large circle two stitches above it that rings the entire design. I’ll add that once I’m done with everything in the center, to make sure I don’t screw up the count. My fabric always seems to photograph very yellow – but it truly is just a perfectly pumpkin orange wherever you see the yellow in the fabric.

Progress photo as of September 5, 2012. Stitched on 32 ct Solar from Picture This Plus (per design specs)

Witchy Washy is the other piece I brought with me to Stitcher’s Hideaway this year – and I spent part of the second day adding the basket. I’m just about done with it, but had to break to get the aforementioned ornaments done. I’m probably about 65% done with the piece. This is another that will likely commute with me in the upcoming months. I hope to get it done sometime in January.

Progress as of November 4, 2012. Stitched on 28 ct Manhattan Mist from Silkweaver (pre-takeover)

The final photo to share is the ornament I did for the 10th anniversary Stitcher’s Hideaway exchange at the retreat. Every retreat, there’s some sort of a handmade exchange. Back in March, it was a scissor fob. For two other Hideaways, it was a Christmas ornament. This October’s retreat was a “Spooky Retreat,” so everything was Halloween themed. I decided to stitch one of the cute designs from last year’s big green Halloween book from Just Cross Stitch. This design is by Blue Ribbon Designs. I stitched it on an unlabeled scrap of neutral linen I had in my stash… it’s either 28 or 30 count. The front is shown here. I labeled it on the back with “2012 Spooky Retreat, Mystic, CT.” I completed this the night before the exchange – on October 25th. :)

I undoubtedly missed some updates from back in August… and I’ll try to pick those up at the end of the month. For now, I’m working on three ornaments for three holiday exchanges. Two are Teresa Wentzler ornaments. I’ve just about completed the stitching on one, and the other will get started tomorrow night. The other exchange is for one of the Facebook groups I’m part of, and the ornament is stitched – I just need to put it together. I’m planning on getting all three ornaments done at the same time. At this rate, hopefully that will be next Sunday.

Since they’re for exchanges, I obviously won’t be able to share them until they’re received. My goal is to get all three sent off just before Thanksgiving, which would make them perfectly timed for my November Wipocalypse update.

It’s been a wacky few months of stitching – but as you can see, I have been busy and making some good progress, despite the challenge of the morning sickness, tons of doctor appointments, and the resulting wacky work schedule.

Happy stitching everyone!

More personal updates in an update later this week. :)

Deep Blue Sea update…

Author: Measi

• Thursday, May 03rd, 2012

Deep Blue Sea had a bit of an adventure last month. I’d hoped to finish part one completely, but before I could get those other waves done, I had a catastrophe.

Or properly spelled, a CAT-astrophe. Notably of the “claiming by cat pee” variety. One of the cats did a drive-by on my stitching bag, which I’d stupidly put on the floor, and decided to give it a rinse. It was partially my fault. It’s springtime, and the windows are open for the first time this season, and it tends to make a couple of our cats a bit… antsy, particularly Hoodsie, who was abused when he was a neighborhood cat to the point that we’ve had to put him on medication for anxiety. He goes on a short-term marking tear in the spring as he smells all of the new scents from outdoors, and I’m figuring it was probably him.

The problem in a household of multiple cats, however, is that it’s a bit difficult to pinpoint who did it. In addition to Hoodsie, there’s Colley – who’s now fast approaching age thirteen and getting a bit senile. I don’t want to punish the wrong cat, but it was very tempting to go on a tear around the house when it happened. So rather than do any punishing (which isn’t exactly going to work with a cat anyway), I just worked as quickly as I could to save the things that were hit.

Thankfully I caught it almost immediately, ran it up to the sink and with some careful handwashing of the area hit (plus another washing later, just to make sure), I’ve managed to remove ALL of the smell. The fabric is overdyed, so there’s a slight change to that area’s color due to my spot washing, but it still works fine with everything else on the fabric (it simply turned darker blue). The good thing is that it was several inches away from any completed parts, so I was able to wash the fabric without having to go near what I’ve already stitched.

So crisis averted. Barely.

I’m going to be taking a break from Deep Blue Sea for a couple months. I feel like I’ve been so fixated on getting part one done, and it’s bogging me down when I really do want (and need) to get some work done on the glut of other WIPs and UFOs I wanted to push forward this year. I think I need some time away from it to take a breather and stop stressing about keeping up with all of the parts, which was never going to happen anyway. I need some objectivity on it. Working on some other projects will be just the break I need.

Category: Stitching, WIP Progress Tags: deep blue sea | 8 Comments

Back from Stitcher’s Hideaway / WIPocalypse check-in

Author: Measi

• Monday, March 05th, 2012

Apparently the posts I thought I had saved to publish while I was away not only didn’t publish, but I somehow didn’t save them. Boo. So much for the blogging every day this month thing. (Ah well.)

Good news: my laptop is fixed! Apparently it was the video card. The good news was that said video card was part of a lawsuit Apple had against the manufacturer, so I got the $500 part replaced for free. :) The MacBook – it lives again!

I had a lovely time at Stitcher’s Hideaway this weekend. The winter retreat is organized as an alumni retreat – basically to get together and stitch for two days. No classes, no specified project. Just bring your own stuff and stitch. Some people were stitching previous class projects, but most of the attendees brought a project (or two, or ten) to work on as we chatted, laughed, vented, and ate way, way too much food. It was great to see familiar faces. This was my fourth Stitcher’s Hideaway, so there are a lot of familiar faces now. Some of the women I’m friends with on Facebook, and that’s definitely helped make it easier to jump in and be active. Surprisingly, my social anxiety didn’t kick in much this weekend, although I was absolutely exhausted and hermitish on Sunday when I got home!

While alumni of previous Stitcher’s Hideaway retreats get first dibs for the winter retreat, any space left after January 1st is opened on a space-available basis to whomever is interested, so we had a few newbies among the group. I sat with three of them for the weekend – Janice, Marie, and Lynn, all from Connecticut, for the weekend, and we had a great time. I hope to see them either at another retreat or possibly at a casual stitchy get-together in the future.

My scissor fob for the exchange was finished JUST in time for the exchange (hooray! Finish #2 of the year!) I was frantically finishing it in my hotel room on Thursday night. I’m pleased how it came out, although somehow the fabric still is a little wonky after putting it together. If you think you’ve seen this pattern recently, you’re probably right. I grabbed it from the most recent issue of Just Cross Stitch – it’s the fob that’s part of a sewing box set. I’m hoping to do the entire set for myself later. The cord is storebought from JoAnns. The tassel is simply the ends of the cord, pulled apart into a fray. In return, I received a cute crocheted frog-shaped fob that matches the froggy drink coasters I received at October’s retreat. The body of the frog fob is a sleeve for the scissor shears. I took pictures of it and all of the insanity stash from the retreat and put them on my Flickr Account. Warning – don’t go if you are on a tight budget! I think at least three of my purchases were brand new from Nashville Market releases. Between my purchases and the generous gift bags received by everyone at the retreat, I have definitely had a wonderful weekend of stash enhancement. :) I also won a gift subscription to The Gift of Stitching, which is great – my subscription runs out later this year, so I’ll be happy to jump on for another year.

I didn’t get as much done as I’d hoped, but really – when do I ever? I always misjudge how long it actually takes me to stitch things. Still, I made some nice progress on a couple of pieces. I brought four pieces to work on – Deep Blue Sea, Witchy Washy, my Mirabilia RR, and Four Seasons of Mystic. I threw a few stitches into the Mira and Witchy Washy, but nothing worth nothing into either.

I stitched most of the time on Deep Blue Sea, and finished a good chunk of the Rhodes Stitches in the center (all of the very light blue clusters) and balanced the light aqua cross stitches on the top, bottom, and two sides. I misread the chart and did the rhodes stitches in two strands instead of one. I like the coverage of the two strands, so I’m planning on doing the darker Rhodes squares in the same way, rather than frog everything. I’m planning on working on DBS again tomorrow, and hopefully I’ll have part one done soon. It’s just really, really slow. *sigh* I know I shouldn’t feel pressured with time on this one, but knowing that I’m two parts “behind” on the releases is frustrating me a bit. I know this isn’t a race, yet my brain won’t knock off being idiotic.

The other project I worked on was Jeannette Douglas’ Four Seasons of Mystic, which was the teaching piece for the October retreat. It’s not published yet – I’d expect it will show up in stores probably sometime later this year or early next. It’s a fun sampler full of different specialty stitches and different fibers. The satin stitches of the border are done in wool. Everything else so far is in various blends of silks with a small amount of metallics. I added a couple rows and swore a lot about my french knots, which I despise (I’m no happier with Colonial knots). I’ll likely be taking the blue knots out to redo, although I haven’t decided how I’ll approach it yet. The strand in progress is a basket that’s cross stitched over one. I adore this piece. There are just so many things to do that I can’t be bored. The stitches are intricate, so the bands go slowly. That purple band just above the word “Spring,” for example, are woven bars done with one strand over 3×3 threads. I needed to use my magnifier for them. Someone asked before on my blog, and I’m not sure if I ever answered – but the reason the bottom two rows are done is because I’d never done Jessica stitches before, and I wanted to get them done in the class back in October while I had Jeannette there teaching. So the trees and the Jessica on top of Jessica stars were done months ago. I finished the woven bars, Spring band, and the partial green floral band below it on Saturday afternoon.

It was a great time. I’m still a bit tired from it all, but it was a much needed break. Now I have through Wednesday off at home, so I’ll be splitting my time between some projects and some putterings.

Category: Exchanges & Robins, Finishes, Stitching, WIP Progress Tags: chatelaine, deep blue sea, four seasons of mystic, jeannette douglas, scissor fob, stashing, stitcher's hideaway, wipocalypse | 13 Comments

My February WIPocalypse Update…

Author: Measi

• Wednesday, February 08th, 2012

Hi to everyone popping on for WIPocalypse browsing! If you read me often, the first half of this post is likely stuff you’ve seen before.

It’s been a good month since my last update. I gave up on Crazy January (and don’t plan on ever attempting it again). I returned instead to a few pieces – some of my new starts for this year, some WIPs, and one traveling pattern (which is my first finish of the year!)

All of these photos “pop” if you select them so you can see larger sizes if you choose.

Here’s my first finish of the year. This is a traveling pattern by Lizzie*Kate that’s now en route to the next person in the Stitcherhood. I pulled random colors for this. The original called-for colors are much, much softer. Blame it on watching the Winter X Games, perhaps – but I wanted to stitch BRIGHT. I’m planning on finishing this into an ornament for my tree, dated with the year and the stitcherhood on the back. I’ll make the backing out of the same fabric and whip-stitch it together, just as I do for most of my ornaments.

Floral Bellpull continues to progress well. I finished all of the cross-stitches in the Morning Glory square and started on the backstitching. That leaves me with two full squares to go before it’s done. My goal this month is to get the border for the next square stitched up so I can start filling it in during Stitcher’s Hideaway next month. This is the big focus Teresa Wentzler piece for me this year – and I’m confident I can get it done. With the glut of TW projects in my WIP/UFO pile, I won’t be starting any more anytime soon. My plan is to start weeding them out one at a time, one year at a time. If I manage to get more done, great… but I really want to get these done and on my walls!

Cowboy Cats is one of the pieces I began for Crazy January. It’s not on any timetable, and since I’m in those starting doldrums, I haven’t quite gotten a rhythm going on it yet. It’s a good commuting piece, but I had it in my bag during a seriously insane portion of last month and just didn’t move it along as I hoped. I made most of my progress on this during one evening when all of the Amtrak and MBTA trains were tied up going out of Boston last month. Three hours of hanging out on a train provides a LOT of stitching opportunity!

Deep Blue Sea continues to progress. This is probably the best color-accurate photo I’ve managed to get of the fabric. I’m still not done with part one, but I’m getting there. I managed to take this on a few commutes in and out of Boston to push it along, and I also focused on it during a stitch-in at Bush Mountain on Superbowl Sunday. I did soooo many eyelets on Sunday that I needed to take a serious break from it and work on light fabric for a while. I’d really like to get all of part one done by the end of the month. It’s definitely possible, although I’ve set it aside for now – I’ll come back to it later once I’ve progressed some of my pre-2012 WIPs! I will admit, it’s getting much easier to stitch as time goes on and I have more reference points to line things up. I did add a little “this way up” arrow to the center of the piece (which will obviously be removed at the end).

I think what I’m surprised about as this center mandala develops is just how BIG the thing is. I’m used to seeing gorgeous centers for all of the Chatelaine designs on other stitchers’ blogs, but photo size doesn’t quite give a good sense of size reference. For some reason, my brain was interpreting the photos I’ve seen as only 4 inches across or so. But no… from the top to the bottom yellow lines is just about the same length as my hand from tips of fingers to the heel of the hand. It fills up a significant chunk of space on my 11″ Q-snaps!

Last but not least, I played a bit with Inn at Fox Run Mill today while hanging out in the jury duty pool. The top border is now at its full width. I report to jury duty again tomorrow, so I’m going to fill in the acorns that are missing, the small leaves that are missing, and then carry down from there if time permits.

It’s definitely been a productive month! And next month promises to be even better, thanks to the three-night retreat (and week of vacation!) I have coming up.

Happy stitching everyone!

Category: SALs/Challenges, WIP Progress Tags: chatelaine, cowboy cats, deep blue sea, dimensions, floral bellpull, fox run mill, little house needleworks, lizzie*kate, stitcherhood, teresa wentzler, traveling pattern, wipocalypse | 21 Comments

Deep breath after a long week

Author: Measi

• Sunday, January 15th, 2012

For some reason, life has been absolutely non-stop since about mid-November. I’m thankful I haven’t had any five-day work weeks since Christmas week because honestly, I desperately need the longer weekends right now purely for recovery.

This week was no different in the insanity, although it took a different twist. Erich’s job was transferred to a new hospital as of this past Monday, so both of our commute schedules have changed again. In his case, it’s much, MUCH better. He’s gone from a 1 hour and 20 minute drive to Dorchester, MA to approximately 20 minutes over to Fall River, MA – much, much more tolerable.

In my case, it’s a mixed bag. Technically it’s a bit of a shorter commute for me, but unlike with driving, I now have a very firm schedule as to when I need to leave the house because I’m back on the commuter train. For me it’s about 90 minutes each way to and from Boston. The train is much easier than driving, and once I get used to the train schedule, I’ll be back stitching on my commutes. This week, though, was a bit painful with the adjustment. Hopefully my brain will make the switch soon.

Wednesday was my birthday. Erich and I went out to dinner after work and had a relaxing night. I took Thursday off – I had a scheduled dentist appointment, and decided I’d just take the entire day so I could have some “me” time – I got my nails done and went milling about Thistle Needleworks over in Glastonbury, Connecticut for a couple hours. I didn’t buy much, but did pick up a couple of the colors I still needed for Deep Blue Sea. That evening, Erich and I gathered with friends for a laid-back dinner at one of the centralized hangouts we like to go to.

Yesterday morning I went to my monthly stitchy gathering at the Warwick Public Library – the Rhode Island stitchers gather there every month on the second Saturday morning. It was a quiet month – only four of us this time.

And then last night was the Patriots game – I was relieved they won. Hopefully that will quiet down the Tebow mania for a while!

+++++++++++++

I’ve been doing well on stitching this weekend – I’ve become a bit burnt out on new starts, so I’m putting my Crazy January on pause. My current projects are just screaming a bit too loudly for attention! I’ve been focusing on Deep Blue Sea so far this weekend, correcting my miscounts from my January 1st progress and pushing forward on the next two colors. Once that’s done (hopefully this afternoon), I’ll be picking up Floral Bellpull, since it’s the Wentzler I want to complete this year above all others.

Remember that WIPocalypse signups end tonight at midnight my time – so if you’re reading and waffling, jump in and join us!

Category: Birthdays/Anniversaries, Celebrations & Holidays, Erich, Family & Friends, Life, Work, and all the Rest, Stitching, WIP Progress Tags: chatelaine, crazy january, deep blue sea, floral bellpull, teresa wentzler, wipocalypse | 11 Comments

WIPocalypse Update #1

Author: Measi

• Monday, January 09th, 2012

I can’t tell you how amazed, fascinated, and excited I am that so many people are stopping by to check in stitching progress. I admit to being a bit like a little kid, stealing peeks at the check-in entry to see how large the number of posts is now – and my goodness, this is happening on my blog!

Blown away. Absolutely blown away.

I can’t wait until this weekend when I’ll have the time to sit back with a cuppa and read what everyone’s been doing. :)

I’ve been immersing myself in new starts via Crazy January, which may seem a bit counter productive when I have all of my WIPs that need work… BUT… there is a reason for this madness. The first is that a lot of my pre-existing projects are a bit tricky to stitch on my commute, and I wanted to have some easier (and smaller) pieces to stitch during my 90 minute train rides. The other is that I just needed to throw some diversity into my WIPs because I have an over-abundance of Wentzlers to work on, and while I love them… I also need a break from them from time to time!

I’m a couple days behind due to some work hours last week, but I’ve still managed to get some nice starts underway… (all of these photos pop larger if you click them) They’re not quite in the order I originally planned due to some misplaced projects, but now I’m back on track… I think. :)

Day One – Chatelaine Mystery XV – Deep Blue Sea. I’m stitching this on 28 ct Phantom by Picture This Plus. Looking forward to some more in-depth time with this over the upcoming holiday weekend. It’s my first Chatelaine, and I’m both nervous and really excited to dive into the insanity of gorgeousness of Chatelaine designs. (thankfully my husband bought himself a new computer, so I could justify the expense on this!) It’s definitely the largest and most complex project I’ve ever started.

Day Two – Why I Love New England by the Sampler Needlework. I’m stitching this on 32 ct white linen. I’ve put a little more time into it since this photo. It’s stitching quickly so far. It’s a large piece but is primarily whole crosses, so it should stitch up pretty quickly. This is one of those pieces I’ve put on my to-start list for YEARS, and just never had gotten around to. It was time to just jump in and get it underway. I’ve never seen another copy of it stitched, other than the sample in the store in Plymouth, Mass where I bought it.

Day Three – TAST (aka Take a Stitch Tuesday) is a year-long weekly specialty stitch project being hosted by PinTangle. I’ll be adding one stitch per week throughout this year onto a practice sampler. I wanted to have at least one thing that was an “educational” piece where I could just do some freestyle doodling, and this project was perfect. This is last week’s stitch. This week’s stitch has now been posted, and I’ll be focusing on the buttonhole stitch this week.

Day Four – Cowboy Cats by Dimensions, stitched on 14 ct Aida (provided in the kit). I don’t generally stitch from Dimensions kits anymore – I’m not a fan of how their chart keys are designed and find them a bit difficult to follow, plus I like to go stash hunting in the store and kit things out myself… BUT… I’ve had this kit in my stash for ages and still think it’s cute. It’s a good, easy piece for the train. What you’re seeing here is a bandana and the ruff of the center cat.

Day Five – Nantucket Sampler by Medeiros Needlecraft. I’m stitching this on 36 ct Legacy from Picture This Plus using Sullivans floss. Not much to see so far (as I’ve just been stitching sky), but I’ll have a gorgeous rigged sailboat on there soon. Nantucket’s not that far from me – only a 20 minute drive followed by a 90-minute fast ferry, and I like seaside scenes, particularly of places local to me. I liked this one so much I bought it twice… so my spare is going into the WIPocalypse stash box.

Day Six – The Inn at Fox Run Mill by Little House Needleworks, stitched on 36 count Shale from Picture This Plus with Sullivans floss. No particular reason why I’m stitching this one first… I adore Little House projects, but only have a few in my stash so far. I did a blind draw for the next one I’d stitch. This stitched up incredibly fast – I did all of this during the last half of the Steelers-Broncos game last night (had to see who will be playing my Patriots on Saturday!)

Day Seven – Pocketful of Peppermint by Blue Ribbon Designs, stitched on 36 count Legacy from Picture This Plus. In October 2010, I had the pleasure of having Belinda of Blue Ribbon Designs teach this piece as a class for Stitcher’s Hideaway (before she released it as a public design). We worked on a complementing ornament in the class, and now I’m hoping to get the full sampler completed for the holidays this coming year.

So that’s my progress so far this year. Once Crazy January is over, I’m going to put some focus work onto the first Wentzler I really want to push towards a finish… Floral Bellpull.

Happy stitching everyone!

Category: SALs/Challenges, Stitching, WIP Progress Tags: blue ribbon designs, chatelaine, cowboy cats, crazy january, deep blue sea, dimensions, fox run mill, little house needleworks, medeiros needlecraft, nantucket sampler, pocketful of peppermint, sampler needlework, tast, why i love new england, wipocalypse | 34 Comments

Crazy January Days 1 and 2

Author: Measi

• Tuesday, January 03rd, 2012

Before I get to my stitching… thank you to all who sent kind words to me on my end of year blog post. I really do appreciate it. I’m hoping 2012 will be much better. *crossing fingers*

My first two days of Crazy January are now complete, and I have two projects underway:

Deep Blue Sea (Mystery XV) by Chatelaine
stitched on 28 ct. Phantom by Picture This Plus
Started: January 1, 2012

I know the blue is blending in right now – it won’t once I get the colors surrounding it done. Of course, I already have frogging to do because I fail to count to four. But at this point, it won’t be too bad.

I’m using conversions to Vicky Clayton silks as opposed to the called-for Glorianas and Dinky Dyes.

I’ll be doing some more work on this over the weekend, but I need to get it on bars. The fabric is just too heavy for me to work in a q-snap in hand. It’s actually giving me sore forearms. So I need to find my lap frame supports and get this on my scroll frame.

Today I spent the afternoon at my friend Tricia’s house stitching with her and Amanda, one of her friends via work, and I finally got a long-time-screaming start underway:

Why I Love New England by The Sampler Needlework
Stitched on 32 ct white linen (unknown brand)
Started: January 2, 2012

So it’s been a productive couple of days. But yes – I need to get my bars out. Heavy fabric = sore arms for me!

Tomorrow I start TAST, which should be a fun little learning project for me – it’s a freeform sampler of specialty stitches, once per week. I’m planning on using various remainder threads, so the color combination might be a bit epic – but it will be a fun doodle piece to relax with once per week.

Back to work tomorrow… so off to bed. Happy stitching all!

Category: SALs/Challenges, Stitching, WIP Progress Tags: chatelaine, crazy january, deep blue sea, sampler needlework, why i love new england | 14 Comments

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