As promised, Evening in the Park update!

Took over a week of stitching after dinner, but here's my latest picture update on Chatelaine's Evening in the Park.

Part 8 includes all four wall corners. Gates go in the openings, and the winter bare trees and lampposts sit around the outside of the walled areas. EP is now 2/3rds done! The fabric is a 32ct opalescent called Blue Mystery, from Silkweaver. Just the right touch for a rainy evening in old London maybe? I keep expecting 101 dalmatians sneaking around the corners!

Weekend stitching on next Kitty Kalendar cat

Over last weekend I was able to squeeze a quick stitch on the July Kitty Kalendar cat from Val's Stuff. Plain old gray jobelan and Weeks with a few color adjustments due to stitching from stash. Another reason I miss my LNS that closed.

I am ready for summer after stitching this!


Now I am working on Chatelaine's Evening in the Park again. Happy Stitching!

Rose Garden Sampler SAL progress

My last couple of weeks, I have been working slowly on the WDC Designs Rose Garden Sampler SAL, and now can say it's over 20% done. The entire top row of this 24 page design is complete. Stitching with DMC on 25ct white lugana, one over one.



I have so many large pieces going or just about to start, I am giving each one some attention, rotating thru them as I go, and mixing in some small designs to give myself a break. Next up is from the Kitty Kalendar series, and later this month, back to a neglected Chatelaine, Holland Landscapes.

April's Tiny Biscornu

Over the weekend I stitched up another tiny biscornu from Tor Rhuann, the Daisy Garden. The fabric was a scrap of 28ct linen called watercress, thread from leftover kit floss. (always frugal with thread around here!) On the back I added little flowers of my own, inspired by the lazy daisy stitches on the front, and used french knots in the flower centers as contrast. You can see by the needle that this is really tiny, about an inch square!

This completes Belinda's Getting Squared Away series. I now have four tiny biscornu to wear on a chain! I will be going in search of more tiny patterns (16 stitches square or so) in my stash and on the web.

Now I'm going to spend a little time stitching on my Rose Garden Sampler at least until it's time to go down to the DMV and renew my driver's license....just like me to wait until the last day (my birthday!) to get it done! If it's not stitching (or reading) I just put it off. Going out to dinner with my hubby and daughter tonight, then stitching the evening away!

Castles in the Air progress report

Hi all! So far, so good this year on keeping on my rotation! For the last week of March I was working on Papillon's Castles in the Air, adding part 14 along the bottom edge, which consists of two sides of a large blackwork gate covered with flowers. Anyone else stitching this might notice my little boo boo on the top of the gates. The fleur de lis motifs along the top should have all been in gold metallic, but I did not realize that until I had already done them in black, so I just did the larger post top ones in gold and left the smaller ones black. Se la vie...if you know what I mean!

Here is a close up of one side of the gate. The other is a mirror image.

Here is the entire piece so far....

Today I am going to finish up my monthly tiny biscornu and get out my next big project to work on. That is if I don't get caught by my latest new book by Jean Auel! We've waiting a long time for the last book in her series!

March Progress, April Goals

March Recap

WiPs...
~Class project-Tree of Life Journal, Catherine Jordan Completed front panel!
~Hummingbird Mandala, Chatelaine...finish beading on center motif Done!
~Castles in the Air, Pt.14 Done!
~Rose Garden Sampler SAL...finish Pt.1 corner motif New Starts...
~Daffodils Tiny Biscornu Done!
~Micro 02, Chatelaine Done!
~Kitty Kalendar-June Done!
~By the Light of the Moon, Primitive Needle honor piece Done!
April Goals
WiPs...
~Rose Garden Sampler SAL...finish Pt.1 corner motif Pt.1 Done!
~Evening in the Park, pt.8 Working...
~Hummingbird Mandala, pt.2
New Starts...
~Daisy Garden Tiny Biscornu Done!
~Kitty Kalendar-July Done!
~Little House Fruit Series-Apples
~Winter Watergarden Mandala (yes, I am certifiable!)

Chatelaine Micro 02

It's been busy this month, but I did manage to start and finish Chatelaine's Micro 02 mini mandala over the course of the last week or so. Each of this series (there will be 4 in all) have two different colorways. The fabric is a Silkweaver Solo, 32ct and sort of a lavender/green color. The threads and embellishments are as called for. I used the center over 1 section from one colorway, and the rest from the second, mainly because I LOVE the Gloriana Tropical Seas color and wanted to use it as much as possible! It is used on the center, the flower eyelets and the border woven stitches and corner eyelets.

Next up is Castles in the Air, from Papillon....starting on the blackwork fence!

Progress on a class project

Last fall I attended the last of the Stitching Jubilee (formerly CATS) events. I took one class from a favorite teacher, Catherine Jordan of Catherine's Designs. This is the front panel of the Tree of Life Journal cover. Most of it is done in surface stitches, or crewel embroidery, the rest is counted work. It is about 3x4 inches. The fabric is a fine 40ct linen, ideal for crewel.

Below you can see the back panel I have yet to tackle. The edges will be hemmed and the cover will go over the little blank book. This was an adventure back to my stitching roots, as crewel was the first embroidery style I learned as a child. In fact my mom has several little birds I did in high school that I have recovered to re-frame properly. I really enjoy doing the variety of stitches in a more relaxed format, tho' counted work will always be my favorite.

Off to a new start, my reward for the progress!

Val's Stuff Kitty Kalendar again...

First off, I'm watching CNN's coverage of the Japanese earthquake disaster, and my thoughts and prayers are going out to everyone there, including those around the entire Pacific Rim who are feeling the effects of an 8.9 earthquake off Japan, and the resulting tsunami. Over 50 aftershocks in excess of 5 have come thru from the USGS in my email inbox. It's just stunning.

Our own little troubles pale in comparison.

I finished my June Kitty last night and wanted to post a pic. This one is very colorful and makes me smile. May it do the same for anyone visiting.

Tiny Daffy Biscornu!

Last night I sat down to watch tv, and by bedtime this tiny biscornu was done!
Stitched on a scrap of 28ct pearl linen, with leftover threads from another project. Design is a freebie from Tor Rhuann Designs.

My third tiny biscornu made into a necklace....it is small enough to fit in the blossom of a daffodil flower!

I have daffys and jonquils blooming already in early March! This little daffodil biscornu fits right in don't you think? Happy Spring!

In honor of Lisa Roswell...

Not everyone may have heard about the death of Lisa Roswell of the Primitive Needle in the flooding in Ohio last Monday, the 28th of February. I have only a few of her patterns, but joined in a Facebook SAL in her honor over the just past weekend to show support to her family, friends and fans at this time. I stitched a small Halloween piece called By the Light of the Moon, which is a freebie and can be found here. Stitching from stash, I took some liberties with the threads, which are all Weeks. The fabric is 25ct, stitched over 1. The border is stitched with Weeks Trick or Treat. Lisa was very fond of Halloween themes. May she rest in peace.

Chatelaine's Hummingbird Mandala

Martina called this her sparkliest mandala ever, and I believe the correct name is Sparkling Elegance, but everyone just calls it the Hummingbird Mandala. Anything with birds catches my eye (why else do I own every chart by Crossed Wing?) and the hummers on this one are stitched over one to boot, so how could I resist? At any rate, it was released last August and it took me a while to decide on fabric, so I just got started on it last week, in the center as usual.

This is my floss toss (minus DMC, about 2 dozen colors) on the blue 28ct opalescent I chose. You can see it has tons of Delica beads, and plenty of crystals too!

I spent about a week and a half getting the stitching and beads this far....

The four flowers at 12, 3, 6, and 9 o'clock are different in color, and the four hummers visiting them are all different too. I will get to those when this comes back around in my rotation in a couple of months. It's hard to tell, but there are a ton of beads on it already! Here is a close up that proves my point!

I think it's time for another biscornu this weekend, just to rest the eyes!