Keyword: stash

This month's question is: " What stitchy blogs, groups, or flosstubes do you follow and why? " ​OK, The only stitch blogs I really follow (if getting digests each week or month is the same as following) are: ​Pin Tangle - because I used to participate in the TAST challenge (but no longer after creating a pile of shapers nearly six inches thick over 2.5 years) and because I really really like the art blog by Sharon B and the photography blog by her partner Jerry Everard (which lately covere…

The question for this month is: "What is your favorite stitch other than the standard cross stitch?" Well, I'm not sure I have a favorite stitch other than the cross stitch. In fact, I'm not even sure any more that the cross stitch is my "favorite" but... the stitch I use as often as the cross stitch is backstitch, although I'm pretty sure I'm not doing it correctly when I do blackwork. As for how-to, here is the best link I can provide for regular backstitching and here is how to do it (aka the…

First check-in for 2017 and not a very happy one, I fear. I tried to stitch on "Love Is..." an Xs and Os design, in mid-January after being given the "all clear" from my orthodpod and my occupational therapist that I could continue on doing my hand exercises on my own. But I failed miserably in being able to hold my q-snap frame for more than a few minutes at a time. Maybe it didn't help that the word I chose to stitch was chock full of French knots (which I hate, especially on linen) but then..…

Checking in here WAY late, but I forgot to check on the full moon date! Anyway, the final question for 2016 in WIPocalypse is: "Recap your accomplishments for the year! (Your finishes, your final before/after photos, etc)." So here goes. No photos ... My finishes in 2016 were scant becasue I was working toward finishing two massively BAP/WIPS. • One got finished: the "Tropical Seas" colorway of "Roll Your Own Mandalas", which was completed in August... • The other BAP didn't e…

I was not stitching much in these three weeks, and when I did get back in the “mood”, I got stopped in my tracks with a broken arm! I’m scheduled for surgery on October 25 and have follow-up on November 4 so I suspect I won’t be stitching much in the coming weeks either. This is as far as I had gotten on “Love Is…”: I have had to drop out of an ornament swap and clearly stitching on this sampler, “save at the Stitches” or any other stitchery is out of the question for a while. I can “t…

This month’s theme question is “What online stitching communities do you enjoy?” Well, I do belong to a number of online communities and some of them are stitching-related. I am still enrolled in the Cross Stitch Crazy forum, a closed group which is now more active in private Facebook group. I am active on the Facebook page, not in the Yuku forum any more. Having been a member of this group since the days when it was THE most active group on the late lamented iVillage, I feel that I kno…

I took the birth sampler in last week to be framed and it was ready on Saturday: Husband mailed it off to our niece on Monday and it should be there by now… I am having to force myself to work on this wedding sampler/belated gift. It is all in red on white and it is all backstitch. Each letter has to be started individually so as to not have loose ends showing through, which is using an awful lot of floss. What is more, it is just plain tedious counting. Still, I have finished a third…

Having completed the birth sampler 210920746822434353.weebly.com/my-stitchery-journal/wipocalypse-2016-september-16 and taken it off to the framer, it was time to get to work on the wedding sampler. I chose “Love Is” by X’s & Ohs (by Jo Gatenby). It is the passage from 1 Corinthians (13:4-8a) that I read at my niece’s wedding back in April (before I took a flying header off the podium and sprained my ankle!). I thought it would work in the variegated red DMC floss called for and chose 32 ct w…

The discussion topic for this WIPocalypse period is “Tell us a story about the journey you took through one of your completed pieces.’ Sadly, I can’t answer this as, for me at least, what I stitch doesn’t necessarily reflect a story about me or it’s stitching. It just is/was… It may have traveled with me (usually a needlepoint piece) but that is just in case I am left alone in a hotel room while husband is out on his conference duties and I need something to fill the time if I’ve run out of read…

I set myself a goal to try to have the birth sampler ready to frame by the end of this week. So, once I finished all the cross stitch, I set right in to the backstitching and now have all the basic backstitch and French Knot bits done: All that remains is the personalization, which I will have to chart out before starting. Meanwhile, that wedding sampler (for the wedding last April!) I ordered needs to be kitted so I can start on that. It’s only one color so it ought to move along nicel…

Some progress made this week on the birth sampler, mainly on the single-stranded cross stitching of the grass and waterr, despite one night of stitching foregone in favor of binge watching the last series of "Lewis"! Only three more pairs of animals to stitch (one is started) before the backstitching. Man, do I ever dread that! This coming weekend is going to be a real test of my mojo since there is quilt guild tonight and the Friends of the Library book sale and the Volunteer Firefighter…

What a week! Here I was, stitching away on the birth sampler for a great-nephew who was supposed to be born next week. Naturally, he must have heard I have deadline issues because he was born on August 30! And I am nowhere near finished. Oh well, at least I have all the data needed to finish the sampler when the overall stitchery is finished! Here is where I stand so far - only three more rows of the sea to do in the single-strand cross stitching and a flag on the flag pole and the I can move…

Well, I didn’t get as much stitching done this past week as I had hoped. A big kerfuffle about someone hacking my Apple Store account took all of Friday on the phone and back and forth to Federal Express. And Wednesday night was filled with tornado warnings, tornado watches, sever thunderstorm warnings and heavy downpours. Both event tended to put me off my stitching “stride”, as it were. But I did get some stitching done and the full cross-stitching right-hand-side of the birth sampler is ne…

The WIPocalypse topic for discussion this month is “Have you ever read any fictional books that involve embroidery? If so, give us some recommendations…” Yes, I have although I hate to say that most needlework-related fiction uses knitting - and a few years ago, quilting - as a theme more than traditional embroidery. In fact there is even a sewing circle-themed mystery series… But I digress. There are three needlework authors in my “library” and I have read many of the books listed here.…

Since I completed the last of the “Roll Your Own” mandalas, it was possible for me to get a start on something new (I simply am not ready to get back to “Save the Stitches” yet) so I pulled the Bothy Threads “All Creatures” Birth sampler kit from my project bag and got started. Only got the two zebras done in three nights: This may take longer than I wish! Of course, it didn’t help that three of the colors might just as well have been “white on white”! Even on AIDA, that’s hard to see…

I have finished something! Woo Hoo! I couldn't wait until my usual check-in to celebrate! Here is "Return", completed: And here is the complete series, ready to frame (man will that cost a fortune --- the stitched portion of the fabric is a little more than a half yard! This started out as an online SAL, organized and moderated by Tracey Horner of InkCircles There are 9 Roll Your Own mandalas. I decided I would do them all on one piece of fabric ("Iris Garden" by Silkweaver, 32…

The end is in sight! I finished color 11 and am a little more than halfway through color twelve (the last color) in “Return”, the last of the nine mandalas in “Roll Your Own”! The only open areas are now the top two and the top motif on the left (the bottom motif on the left is partly finished.) which appear to be the very palest blue. The floss color is almost exactly the same color as the fabric background! I didn’t make my start of the year goal to finish in time to enter in the count…

As I said last week, I haven’t been stitching much of late. I partly blame the heat — my room isn’t as cool as much as the rest of the house and it’s been darned uncomfortable holding that yard+ of heavy fabric to stitch on. Also, my stitching mojo is pretty week — has been for a year — and any interruption (a trip to Michigan to see a historic home on Wednesday, guests for dinner and the evening on Saturday - although we did watch a great movie “Spotlight”) tends to put me further off my stitch…

It was WIPocalypse on Tuesday and I didn’t even realize it! AAACK! The topic for discussion was two-part: “If you are participating in the Olympic Challenge, tell us about your plans – which type of challenge you’ve selected, the pieces you’ll be stitching on, etc. If you are not participating in the challenge, tell us how this year’s stitching is going for you so far, and if you’re meeting your stitching goals so far for the year.” What is the Olympic Challenge? I wasn't sure so I had…

It’s hot here in NW Ohio. VERY hot. And all the rain seems to be bypassing us. I suppose I should be grateful since most of that rain comes equipped with high winds and hail but, still, the humidity should at least spawn a thunderstorm or two, don’t you think? It’s been too darned hot to stitch, especially on “Roll Your Own” with all that spare fabric, so I really didn’t get in a lot of stitching this past week. I’m only about halfway through color #9 (of 12) in “Return”: I did get the c…

When I reported in last week, we were in Louisville, KY, at the National Hermerocalis Society National Convention and the hotel room was less than salubrious re stitchery. Not a comfortable sitting situation and the lighting was atrocious. I was thankful that I had my needlepoint traveling kit with me as it was way easier to see the weave than cross-stitch would have been. Still, I had to bring out my magnifying glass to check sometimes to see if, indeed, that was a stitch that needed to be put…

Sitting here in a hotel room in Louisville, KY, where even the bathroom light are less than 20W, there is only one flat surface in the room to put my laptop (a tint round table with legs in all the wrong places, and a large “leather” chair with no wheel that is too high of the table!), and no free breakfasts (so I’m drinking the in-room swill that passes for coffee). Oh, and it has a HUGE balcony (overlooking a parking lot and an airport runway) with NO FURNITURE on it! Needless to say, this blo…

After making my WIPocalypse report for June, 2016, I decided to “force” myself to put in at least two hours every night until this report was due. And I was successful, completing color #5 (of 12) and a little more than 50% of color #6 by last night: If I could keep up this pace, and it we weren’t traveling for the last weekend of June, I possibly could get “Roll Your Own” ready for framing and entry in the 2016 county fair. But I doubt my resolve, I really don’t want to make any mistakes…

This full moon, we are asked: “Do you find yourself more productive with stitching in summer or winter?” And I have to answer that there is probably no difference. I stitch at night for the most part, with my daylight-quality lamp, so longer days in summer don’t really make a difference amor the shorter days of winter. I stitch indoors so temperature is not an issue. There are different demands on my time and impacts on my mojo with each season: I really can’t stitch effectively when I’m sufferi…

Color # 2 is complete and color #3 is 25% done on “Return”! Progress is slow but sure - counting all these partial patterns is always an issue with me, and I always seem to miss one out and only find it one or two colors on. It's been too darned hot to stitch, especially for early June. I dread what July and August will be bringing if this continues... Meanwhile, I so have a case of start-itis — even though I don’t have a pattern picked out that appeals to me. Maybe it’s not so mu…

I really didn’t feel like stitching this week but I forced myself to put in roughly two hours per night for three nights and got almost all of color #1 (of 12) into “Return”. It’s a very dark blue so it may be hard to see against the black outline, but there’s only one small line in a motif in the upper right corner to go (and a missed black stitch in the same corner ) and then I’ll be ready to move on with color #2! Quilt Guild tonight and husband’s garden is on a tour on Saturday so…

Outline complete! I didn’t make it by the end of May like I had hoped, but it was all down to a massive frog that crept in while I wasn’t looking (the entire left side had to be redone due to a miscount!) which lost me a day. Still, now “Return” is ready for it’s color! And here is the final layout: Now, if only I can keep up the progress on this.

Two more nights of stitching after the WIPocalypse check-in and here is where the outline for “Return” is now. One page of six (top left corner) complete and parts of pages 2 and 3 (top center and right). A lot of Ripping (I always seem to miscount somewhere along the way) but not too much, so long as I don’t push the stitching to the last two strands from a six-strand-length (that is when my eyes start to rebel and I miss holes, etc.). I still don’t expect to make the deadline for regi…

WIPocalypse 2016 - May 21 This month’s WIPoclypse discussion topic is “What were you stitching this time last year and have you finished it?” Well, last year at this time, I had three projects “in progress”: the “Roll Your Own” Mandala series (the “Jan” mandala”), the “Save Your Stitches” blackwork sampler (I was at block 13), and a crazy quilt block for my Crazy Quilt/Bead Journal project combination . The one I was actually stitching on the WIPOcalypse report day for 2015 was …none of…

Strange as it may seem, even with four days totally messed up by colonoscopy prep and procedure (my tummy was not happy with either - I know, too much information), I did manage to finish “Rematch”! Here is what ”Roll Your Own” looks like now with only one mandala left! Only one more doctor’s appointment (on the 31st) and some hassle with insurance over my sprained ankle (you don’t want to know what I think of insurance companies right now) so I should be able to make some decent pr…

By gosh, I stitched. Every night this last week! I can hardly believe it! And I managed to complete the fourth through the seventh fill colors “Rematch” and get nearly half of the eighth one done as well! This meant a lot of binge watching (a season of “Hawaii 5-O”, a season of “Blue Bloods”, a season of “Major Crimes”, a season of “Rizzoli & Isles”, and two movies - “The Hardy Girls” on Turner Classic Movies and “The Monument Men” on Sundance! - to say nothing of catching up with “Elementa…

This month’s topic for discussion is “What do you listen to while stitching?” For me, it’s always the television on. I stitch in my bedroom where there is an HD television hooked up to a DVR and the satellite as well as local on-antenna channels so I have a wealth of choices. I might “listen” to something I DVR-ed or it might be “live” — it all depends. Can I concentrate on stitching while “listening” to NCIS or do I need to concentrate on the program? Can I enjoy a classic movie while stitching…

Well, as you can see from my title, I didn’t blog for the last three weeks! Oops! But I have reasons! Maybe not GOOD reason, but reasons nonetheless! Mainly, I didn’t stitch. At least not until last night. And I didn’t stitch because a) my mojo was missing and b) life got in the way. The week of April 7, we were preparing for out-of-country visitors, who arrived April 6 and stayed through April 10. Needless to say, it was difficult to do any stitching while entertaining our Saudi frien…

I’ll merge these two topics this week because there’s no point in making a weekly wrap-up different from the WIPocalypse wrap-up. I really haven’t stitched enough this week to make it worth the extra blog space! Anyway, the topic for this WIPocalypse is: “Do you use hoops, stretcher bars, lap stands or Q snap frames and why?” My answer to this isn’t all that straightforward, and somewhat lengthy . I use both hoops, Q-snaps and in hand pretty much equally. I do NOT use stretcher bars or…

I did stitch this week! Honest! Saturday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday…four days of roughly 2 hours each. Although you might be hard pressed to see any progress… What has happened is I finished the outline for “Rematch” in the roll Your Own Mandala series. Well, mostly finished, because as I started with the color filling, I did discover a few places where I missed out a few black stitches and had to go back and fill them in. So where I stand right now is one color finished and a second rou…

I did manage to put in two days of stitching (and ripping, sadly) on “Rematch”, the eighth of the nine mandalas in the Roll Your Own set. The outline on this one is really giving me fits but it is almost done and the color would move along much faster (I live in hope!). Here is how the mandala looks today: and how the entire series looks so far: Quilt guild tonight which will mess with stitching. But the taxes are done and hated in to the accountant, the laundry is caught up and…

As I said in last week’s update, we had been in Florida for a three-week “holiday” and my stitching was pretty much limited to my traveling piece, “Palm Tree Elegance”, a needlepoint of a pal in a pot which I had hopes for for my oak-tree inspired bathroom. Not sure it will work now (not real fond of that leopard-spot border) but, being who I am, I WILL finish it! In the last week, in between visits to the University of Florida Natural History Museum/Butterfly Rainforest exhibit (where a Bl…

Not a whole lot to report today, given that I already showed major progress in the WIPocalypse post yesterday. But… I did finish the first color in the inner border! It was blended (two different yarns) and I hate blended stitching (can’t use the loop start, for example so there are all those ends to weave in; and inevitably, the two strands of yarn are different lengths so I feel I’m wasting yarn when I have to cut off that extra length…)but I managed to get through it. Sorry the picture is…

I know - I'm late. I forgot that Monday was the full moon. The topic for this full moon was” If you have any of your pieces on display in your home which attracts the most plaudits?” Well, at present there are only two pieces “on display” (if you don’t count needlepoint pillows, that is): one is in the half-bath and never seems to be noticed while the other is in the “breakfast” part of the kitchen and, I think, has been noticed once, not exactly attracting plaudits but. It is a piece call…

Between Week Five and AFTER the 11th, I didn’t stitch at all. We are in Florida right now, in the middle of our second week of a three-week stay, and I have managed to get in some stitching on the porch when it is warm enough to sit outside (it’s darned cold for Florida, even in the winter!) and enough sun to be able to see the holes in my needlework fabric (I forgot my magnifier! AAACK!). Since we are traveling, I am working on my traveling needlepoint, “Palm Tree Elegance”, a kit by Dimensi…

Given that I only stitched one night on “Rematch”, I didn’t do too badly in terms of progress on the outline. I really only have one page to go before I start on the color fill… I will probably switch to my traveling pieces in the next few weeks though…The fact that I can only brig myself for stitch occasionally on this means that I am tiring of the piece and need a break. There is one small Aida piece in my traveling bag (“Biltmore”) and my needlepoint “Palm Tree Elegance”. Maybe some c…

The fourth in what looks like a long series of short and boring, repetitive weekly updates on my stitchery. I spent one stitchery night preparing the mess made two weeks ago when I had to forge a whole lot of stitches due to a count count miscount. The repair required the removal of a whole skein’s worth of additional stitches but now the back if fine and the outline is back on track. So, to date, four of 6 pages of outline complete and more than half of a fifth:

This will be my fifth year participating in WIPocalypse; I find it useful in keeping me on point, as it were. There are a lot of activities, ranging from the mundane (household chores, for example) to the creative (I’ve taken a major interest in paper crafting add mixed media in the last year), often interrupted by the odd road trip (I don’t stitch well without magnification and decent light, none of which seem to be available where we spend out “holiday” times, and my Ott floor light is a littl…

After all that progress last week, I backslid this week. There was quilt guild on Thursday night and another computer glitch (and long telephone conference with Apple Care: upgrades to the operating system aren’t agreeing with my laptop, for some reason) on Monday and just general mailaise the rest of the week… In all, I stitched only one day and made little progress: just a thin strip of outlines along the tops of page four of the pattern… It's been snowing but, luckily, we seem to be eith…

Got a little sidetracked this week, and ended up spending an entire stitching session ripping out a massive mistake in the lower right corner (I really have issues with multiple pages sometimes, matching up pages with each other, and in this case, I was a whole ten stitches off! AAACL!). Anyway, I did manage to complete the top half of the outline, all of page 6 and a part of page five (until the ripping started…) in “Rematch” of the “Roll Your Own Mandala” series: Quilt guild meets tonig…

I pushed myself but I did it --- got back into the groove and stitched every night on the outline for "Rematch", the eights in the series of mandalas in the "Roll Your Own" series by Tracy Horner. And I have finished on page (of six) in the pattern and nearly finished two more! Since I am opting out of doing Crazy Quilt Journal Project and Bead Journal Project for this year, there we no other stitchery pieces competing for my time so I'm feeling pretty good about the completion time for "…

A completion to celebrate the end of 2015! Well, part of one, anyway! I finished "Revenge": and here is how the "Roll Your Own" Mandalas look today: Other than that, Christmas day at brother-in-law's and then again on Sunday (for the other two in-law families who were in town for the day), lunch with the widow of one of husband's dear friends, and an eye-appointment on New Year's Eve (which is why I'm late with this check-in) took up my week. Not a great year for stitching (see…

The final WIPocalypse post of the year has the theme "Recap your accomplishments for the year! " This will be easy because this is one of the least productive stitchery years I have had in ages. Travel, a series of nasty respiratory infections and just general malaise pretty much dominated... At the end of 2014, I set the following goal: "I hope to make 2015 a year of catching up and maybe even re-organizing my crafting space (which is currently a hot mess!). So my stitching goals are to f…

Only two stitching days since reporting in for International Hermit and Stitch Weekend, but I am on the last color *number 12!) for “Revenge”! So it’s looking good for having this part of “Roll Your Own” completed in 2015. Only two more mandalas to go! Now the question is, in 2016, do I try to finish “Roll Your Own” or do I switch back to “Save the Stitches” and try to make some progress on that one. I do know for certain I will not be joining either the Crazy Quilt Journaling Proje…

This week was pretty much dominated by gatherings (meet the new coach, quilt guild holiday brunch, University President's holiday reception, lunch with my two best friends) and decorating the tree. No pictures for the gatherings but here is the tree, before and after ornaments: Our first ever purpose-build artificial tree (we've made do the past decade with a tree meant for outside decor). The only stitching I did was on my Crazy Quilt/Bead Journal block. I finally finishe…

I decided this week to try to get my December Crazy Quilt/Bead Journal block finished. I was slowed down by holiday prep and gatherings but I did manage to get all (or most of --- I haven't decided yet) the seam treatments done. Here it is, hooped and ready for beads and buttons:

While I kitted up my December Crazy Quilt/Bead Journal Project block, I didn't actually do any stitching on it. I did, however, finish a few fill colors on "Revenge", the seventh of the "Roll Your Own Mandalas". I now have a small amount (maybe 25%) of color nine (of twelve) stitched... What else was accomplished? Well, Thanksgiving dinner as at brother-in-laws. I was sou-chef to husbands chef as he made four pumpkin pies and two casseroles of oyster dressing to contribute to the meal…

This month's Topic: Which designer has inspired you to stitch the greatest number of designs and why do you think that is? This is a hard one since I "collect" a lot of designers but don't really stitch a lot of them. For example, I have ALL of the little black cats from Calico Crossroads but haven't stitched a one (choices are harder when there are so many!). I do have a few Michael Powell designs stitched - maybe two or three are framed and have won ribbons in our county fair (and I o…

This was the weekend for staying in and stitching. Football on television, snow on Sunday --- what better excuses, right? But for some reason, I had trouble motivating and didn't stitch every day, so my progress is miniscule. I worked at color #5 (of 12) on "Revenge", the seventh of the "Roll Your Own Mandalas". It is almost done --- I'd estimate a little less than 50% complete:

Another mixed week... a football game with our arch-rival Tuesday night (which we lost, AGAIN, sixth year in a row! And we have - had? - the best quarterback in the country and one of the ten best receivers as well! Well, we did. QB threw two interceptions and fumbled once; receiver caught only three passes for a total of only 32 yards...). If it hadn't been for the other receiver (two phenomenal one-handed passes in the end zone for touchdowns), the score would have been even more lopsided tha…

I can't believe it but I actually stitched this week and I'm making some progress on "Revenge"! I am on color three of twelve: I also have a completion to report: my Crazy Quilt /Bead Journal Project block for November. LOts of leaves, falling and otherwise, seem to be what is characterizing this warmer-than-usual, but windy, November. Also, it seems to be darker this month, mainly due to longer nights, but also to overcast skies. So my block is darker than the rest of the quilt blocks ha…

That pesky cold is back again, along with a sprained lower back… Yesterday morning was husband’s high school class monthly breakfast so we had to get up early to get there. And then there was last night — a night football game, kick-off at 8PM. It was televised so each 15 minute quarter lasted an hour (we finally gave up and left at 11 PM, end of the third quarter, when our team was leading 48 - 17). It was warm for November (70 at kickoff) and the President’s Suite was crowded with people…

What a difference two days makes in stitching. despite a new bout of ripping out (upper left corner this time), I FINISHED the outline for "Revenge" late last night! I even managed to put in a few more stitches on the outline for "Rematch" (I had some black stands left and didn't want to mess with them tangling in my project bag): Here is what "Roll Your Own" looks like as of October 28, 2015: Now, on to color! YAY!

This month's topic is "Are there any fibers or materials used in stitching that you’re nervous to try?" I'd have to say "not really". I think I've tried most of the fibers out there and while I don't LIKE to use some of them (metallics, rayons, even linens), I can use any of them if pressed. I have to admit my favorite is silk, but I can't really afford silk in quantity so I tend to stick with my old stand-by DMC six-stranded cotton. Last month, My goals were (not necessarily in the order lis…

Since last week, there was a Cross Stitch Crazy "Stitchathon" and the International Hermit and Stitch Weekend, so I did get in some stitching. At this point in time, I am on page five (of six) of "Revenge"... and the outline is nearly 3/4 complete! I can actually see the light at the end of the tunnel, and I sure hope it isn't the train coming in the other direction!

I plugged away at "Revenge" in Roll Your Own. And when I say plugged, I really mean fogged. That lower left corner was ripped out three times due to silly one-off miscounts. But I finally got the third page done and the outline is now half complete!

Last Thursday was taken up by quilt guild and the this past weekend was pretty much taken up with paper crafting classes in Michigan, but I did take my travel bag with me and stitched a little on "Palm Tree Elegance" on Friday evening, which was last touched in June when we were in Atlanta!The leopard spot border now has it's second color half done! Then, Monday and Tuesday were taken up by catching up on sleep, visiting the dentist, the optometrist, the grocery store and the gas station…

Well, I managed to “force” myself to try to live up to the goals I posted in the latest WIPocalypse: I stitched! Every night! Not sure it was really enjoyable, but I did get a good bit accomplished, despite a lot of competition from various events in out lives. First of all, over the weekend, I planned out, gridded, and assembled the blocks for October, November and December in the Crazy Quilt/Bead Journal Project for 2015: That took the whole weekend working…

The best laid plans and all that. I posted for WIPocalypse and had plans to stitch for three straight nights on "Roll Your Own". Well, on Monday, I started and ended up ripping out a lot of stitches, fudging a few more and fighting knots and tangles on the back of my fabric. It ot so frustrating that I only stitched three strands before giving up, and that frustration lasted for the next two nights. Not a lot accomplished (although I am into the third page of six, the first two pages were only p…

Harvest Moon, Super Moon, Blood Moon, Total eclipse of the Moon! And all celebrating the death of my pizza stone (the stone cracked from side to side, to paraphrase the Scottish Play!) and my birthday! What an event. And now it's time to report in for WIPocalypse, where the topic of the moon is "Where do you buy most of your stitching supplies?" Sadly, online, when I do buy, as we have no local needlework shop and the big box stores aren't very good about keeping what stock they do have u…

After finishing that butterfly clip on Monday evening, I didn't stitch a single stitch. We have house guests, and tonight is preview night at public television for "Indian Summers", so I doubt I will get around to stitching anything at all until the weekend... which will lead up to WIPocalypse September. I'll post again then... Meanwhile, happy autumn to all in the Northern Hemisphere!

I actually managed to squeeze a little stitching in around university awards events this weekend... and finish up the pieces of an ornament meant for a Christmas swap. Here are the pieces I stitched this weekend: and a closeup of the beading on the pieces I stitched during the week: I tried to get a photo of the beaded butterfly body but it is so out-of-focus (my camera isn't meant for utra-closeups) that my computer wouldn't load it!. Anyway, here are all the pieces of th…

I changed my stitching plans this past weekend after finishing my September 2015 Crazy Quilt/Bead Journal block: It was meant to be autumnal, with all those purple flowers but then it occurred to me that Wisteria aren't autumn flowers so I added a few curlicues and turned them into grapes! I then changed course, abandoning "Roll Your Own" temporarily (I hope), and started work on a swap for Christmas. In my card swap group on Facebook, we are supposed to include a "small handmade f…

Well, I was right --- three days of husband's high school reunion followed by an overnight house guest from his working past and the entire weekend was shot as far as stitchery was concerned. I ate too much, slept too little and have a roaring sinus headache as a result! I did squeeze in a few stitches early in the week on the placement outline for "Return" (shown here on the right): and last night on "Revenge" but that's about it. Here's how far I got on the outline for "Revenge":…

Having completed (this past weekend) the "Spawn" segment of "Roll Your Own", a set of 9 mandalas designed by Tracey Horner of InkCircles, I put in some time starting borders of two of the last three mandalas... a partial right side of "Revenge" on the left and the top of "Rematch" on the right (which will be the center eventually) "Return" has yet to be started: I was simply positioning the motifs so they would line up with the top row *and* be the same distances apart as all the…

Topic: Pick one of the WIP pieces you’ve stitched on this month, and tell us about your stitching journey with the piece. Well, I have two BAPs that have been ongoing since 2013! The first (which I did NOT stitch on this month) is "Save the Stitches", a blackwork sampler design by Elizabeth Almond. I started this back in early February, 2014 and it is now nearly half completed It was last touched in early April, 2015: The other, which I did stitch on this month, was the series of…

Put in one evening of stitching after International Hermit and Stitch Weekend pt 2, and got one more color done in "Cindy": Nothing else to report on except late autumn weather in August. Weird! This was one of the wettest summers on record, and one of the coolest, I suspect (only two days at 90 or over, and low 50-degree nights are pretty unusual too!). Bad weather for vegetable gardening, but the daylilies loved it!

It's IHSW pt. 2! joysze.blogspot.com/2015/08/august-ihsw-pt-2-et-al.html As per my promise last weekend in IHSW, pt 1, I concentrated on placemats for my quilt guild. I pieced another placemat top, sandwiched and envelope-turned all three. All that remains to be done is to whip-stitch closed one side on each and quilt: and "Cindy" the third "Spawn" of the Roll Your Own mandalas. I finished "Cindy's" outline and completed 2 of the 12 colors of filling stitches: IHSW is good for…

IHSW was posted early this month as part 1 (I assume there will be a part 2 coming on the assigned date of August 21-23, 2015. At any rates, I was stitching this weekend so here is what I accomplished... A completion! "Jan" the second of the "Spawn of Roll Your Own", a series of mandalas designed by Tracy Horner, is now finished: It was started back in the first week of April, 2015, and shouldn't have taken THIS long but other events intervened (nasty sinus infection, road trip t…

Another completion! The August Crazy Quilt/Bead Journal block: It's not really very imaginative, but as I said, August is always a problem for me as nothing much ever seems to happen to me in August (that I want to journal about in beads, at least!). And it means I'm caught up with Crazy Quilt Journal/Bead Journal Project for this year! Woo Hoo. I also stitched on the fifth motif ("Jan") from the "Roll Your Own Mandala" series and seven (out of 12) colors are now filled in (finally got…

A completion, and ALMOST on schedule, finally! The July Crazy Quilt/Bead Journal Project block was finished on August 1! Because it is July, it HAD to commemorate July 4, even though we didn't go to a fireworks display or parade this year. However, we could see fireworks from our house --- some farmer apparently got permission set off a really good aerial show! So... the batik stars, the (VERY PALE) white-on-white stripes and the scattered star-shaped buttons are meant to be a patriotic…

It's bee super hot here--- we finally hit 90 (327 days since the last 90-or-above temperatures) but the worst of it was the humidity. Heat effect made it feel like triple digits! Shades of Saudi Arabia! Perfect weather to stay indoors and stitch. And I did just that (sort of --- other projects also took up some time)! My stitching mojo is back! Not at full force, but back nonetheless. I got in work on two projects this past week: the crazy Quilt/Bead Journal Project block and the "Roll Yo…

After completing my June block for the crazy Quilt Journal and Bead Journal Projects, I went to my stash to get out the new muslin I had ordered for foundation piecing... and discovered that it wasn't muslin! It was a quality fabric with a pattern, however faint, and I wasn't about to cut it up for foundations, no matter how desperate I was to get back on track! So I decided to pull out "Roll Your Own" again, and work on the outline for "Jan". Despite a few bouts of frogging due to tangled threa…

I was lazy this week, or I was trying to overcome throwing my lower back out while loading the dishwasher - take your pick! But I only stitched one night, on my June Crazy Quilt Journal/Bead Journal piece. I got in three seam treatments, one with beads (an alternating beaded chain stitch): Still have hopes to catch up, but so far, ambition not matching hopes.

This month's topic is: Reality or Fantasy. Which do you prefer to stitch? Figures or Abstract? Well, I'm not exactly sure. I do a lot of stuff that clearly is what it purports to be but isn't exactly realistic, if you know what I mean. Lots of primitives (a la Prairie Schooler) and lots of "sketches" (al la Michael Powell), in other words. I also do a lot of samplers: traditional alphabet samplers aren't my favorites but I really like Quakers. And then there is blackwork, which really isn't…

I would have posted this on time for a change, but I had an eye appointment adn he dilated my eys which meant I couldn't focus well enough to read what I was typing! So, rather than burden you with ten times my normal typo count, I delayed until today when I could see again! A pretty productive week, if I do say so myself. In addition to assembling two blocks for the Crazy Quilt Journal/Bead Journal Project: I stitched and completed the blocks for April: and May (which was started…

I did it! I actually stitched this week. Partly because of International Hermit and Stitch Weekend, but also because I unpacked my traveling gear and decided to keep out that traveling needlepoint for at least this week and get in some work on that leopard spot border. Here it is after last night - a lot of the terra cotta red background in on the left border: And a close-up of the upper left border: Wouldn't you know, as I was stitching down this side, I found t…

So far, no topic has been posted for this month so I will proceed to my progress, such as it was(NOT)... A pretty sad month to report on as I was ill for most of it and I can't focus on stitchery when coughing and with a nasty headache and fever. In fact, I only worked on one piece since the last WIPocalypse. At quilt guild in April, a friend loaned me a copy of the pattern her EGA group in Naples, FL is using for their charity giving and I told her I' do a couple for her to send along w…

I'm late this week because. after two days lost to stitching (VERY early rising for the phone banks at the local public radio on Thursday and Friday plus Quilt Guild meeting on Thursday night), my lifestyle (HA! As if I had a lifestyle) caught up with me, or more likely, my husband's bout with a nasty cold did, because on Saturday, I felt lousy, and as the week progressed, it got worse and worse: nasty cough, sinus headache that morphed into a whole face pain, and slight fever (Sound familiar ?…