Anne Depauw finished

I finished one of my oldest UFOs this weekend.  I first got bogged down with all of the over one stitching in the verse, then again in the satin stitch rows at the bottom.  After Nicola announced her Scarlet Letter Year, I decided that I should stop making excuses and finish Anne before the end of the year.  So here she is:

My next Scarlet Letter is the Jennings Band Sampler.  It is similar to Anne but it does not have as many pattern rows.  I started it last night.  Hopefully I will finish in less than 22 years.

Cherries for Cherie finished

I finished a small crewel piece the other day.  Barbara Jackson of Tristan Brooks Designs taught this small piece for the Lake Michigan Sampler Guild.  I enjoyed stitching it, although it took a while to fill in the sheep with all those French knots.

Barbara finished hers as a small case that could be folded in half.  I am thinking about making mine into a small pouch instead.

Stitching Progress

I have continued to work on a small project and a large project every day.  I finished a small project that has been languishing in my sewing basket for a long time this week.  Finished actually means finishing the stitching and finishing the stitched pieces into a block shape that I can either make into an ornament or use as a pincushion.

 I have also made some progress on my Permin sampler in a week.  I have stitched more than a thread each day as you can see.

Monet ATC and other stitching

My Monet ATC is now on its way to its new owner.  I based it on his Parliament paintings and I think it conveys the general idea of his work.

I decided to take Gay Ann Rogers challenge to stitch at least 12 stitches a day on a project.  I picked a large project, the Museum Celle Sampler 1826 by Permin of Copenhagen, a small project, Frightfully Fun by the Trilogy, and I have been stitching one thread's worth of stitches on each per day.  I finished Frightfully Fun on Sunday.

I took a progress picture of the Museum Celle Sampler on Saturday, I will continue to document my progress week by week.

Three new Temari

I finished three Temari balls today.  They are for the EGA Correspondence Course.  I am actually done with them in time to send them in for evaluation.  In the back is Fourth of July, to the right is Quaker Ladies and in front is a bound star.

Name tag and trip to Scarlet Letter

I finished my name tag for the Lake Michigan Sampler Guild last night.  The threads are a combination of Olde Willow linen, Vicki Clayton silk, and Crescent Colors cotton floss.  I adapted a Guild Anniversary Pincushion design for the name tag.  Today, I went to the open house at The Scarlet Letter near Sullivan, Wisconsin.  It was a nice day for a drive despite all of the dire weather forecasts and I was able to admire samplers and hooked rugs and shop for as long as I wanted.  I came home with two sampler kits and a chart and copies of Amy Mitten's Autopsy of the Montenegrin Stitch and the new book about Sweet Bags by Jacqui Carey.  I also had an opportunity to admire the multicolored alpacas before I left.

Artists Trading Cards

I finished some ATCs today for exchanges.  First, Spring Flowers -- a little late for the April Stitching Fingers ATC Exchange based on Landscapes.  AT the beginning of April I had Japanese dwarf Iris, Hyacinths, Daffodils and Tulips blooming in my garden.  Stitched in soysilk on hand dyed fabric.

The second is Undersea Life for May.  This time I am not behind.  A small school of fish swim along with a sea urchin, some rocks, a shell and some sea weed.  Stitched in soy silk with found objects and agate beads.

Take a Stitch Tuesday 2 Week 1

I am a bit late with my TAST 2 Week 1 sample.  I tried to use Diamond Stitch on my evenweave sampler but I could not get the stitches to lay correctly on a grid.  After looking at some of the stitched samples on the web, I decided that a free embroidery piece was called for.  The sample is stitched in Crescent Colors floss on a piece of hand dyed fabric and includes French knots and bullion stitches in addition to Diamond Stitch.

First Temari Ball

When I was in second grade, my father went to Penn State for a year's sabbatical and we lived in an apartment in State College, PA.  While we were there, my mother made friends with two women from Japan.  One of them taught her how to make Temari balls.  I always wanted to learn how to make them myself and when Barbara Seuss started offering on-line classes, I signed up.  Yesterday, I finally finished my first Temari ball.  It is a Morning Glory design based on Barbara Seuss's beginner class.  The top and bottom look really good, the sides are a bit crooked but it is still beautiful and I don't think very many people will notice.

New needlepoint project

I stopped at a local needlepoint shop, Needle Pointe in Palatine, on Friday and bought a new needlepoint canvas. The idea of working on a Christmas piece appealed to me on one of the first warm days of summer. The canvas is shown on its own and with the threads I pulled.

Next Banner Sections

Here are the four sections of the banner on the right side, from top to bottom. Starting with Friends. Some of Perry’s friends are pictured here. At school, Perry and her friends have created their own holiday, “Cupcake Day”. This year she missed it to go to Boston with the Affirmation class, but although they are very hard to see in the photograph, there cupcake ribbon on her banner.




Interests. Perry loves entertainment. Some of her favorite music, books, movies and television shows are represented in this section of the banner along with her favorite places to shop and her favorite clothing designer, Betsy Johnson. Her life would not be complete without Starbucks, her cell phone and ice cream. The tv shows reflect her varied interests ranging from CSI and the Secret Life of an American Teenager to American Idol and Pimp my Ride.






Travel. Perry loves to travel. The patches represent some of the places that she has been including Florida, Arizona, New Orleans, San Francisco, Las Vegas, and Boston.










Animals. This area includes animals that we have (two dogs, two cats), animals that have lived at our house (a rabbit), a pig (Perry collects pigs and was born in the Year of the Pig), and a lizard (the pet she wants but that I would not let her have). I found patches of a blond shar pei and a black lab to represent our two mixed breed dogs, but could not find a black and calico cat. Instead I settled for two cats that are shaped like ours.

Banner details

Here are more detailed pictures of the individual sections of the banner with descriptions. I am starting in the upper right and proceeding clockwise around the banner. The first three are in this post, the next four will be in tomorrow's post.

Family. This section includes pictures of Perry and different family members along with charms that spell out the word "love" and jewelry from different family members. The coral and gold pin is very old and came from my Great Grandmother, Grammy Baugh. the piece of Zuni inlay and the cat pin belonged to Perry's Grandmother Berman. The Celtic tree and the silver and citrine piece are mine. The ceramic mask was made by one of my father's friends.

Church. North Shore Unitarian Church is represented by the sanctuary windows, two pictures of Perry’s Affirmation Class (one at the beginning of the year and one in Boston), and a picture of Perry delivering the clothing she collected during her service project. The word "faith" spelled out in charms and some pieces of jewelry that belonged to her affirmation mentor finish out this section.

Sports. Perry is quite the athlete. She tried gymnastics and ice skating before discovering karate. She was a cheerleader for several years and has played soccer since she was 5. She also plays basketball. This year, she ran cross country for her middle school. The tiger is her middle school mascot.

Banner finished and presented

I have neglected this blog for a couple of months. It has been lost in the normal, and sometimes unusual events associated with a family of active teenagers and adults who work and travel. I have not been neglecting my needlework. I recently completed a banner for my daughter, Perry.

The 8th graders, and a few older 7th graders who like my daughter slip through the system, participate in a coming of age program at our church. The young people are paired with an adult mentor for the year, participate in a number of activities, complete a service project, and go on a trip to Boston. In the spring, they are honored by the men and women as well as their families and have a chance to speak in Church on Sunday morning.

The girl's receive a banner or gift of some kind from their mothers and mentors. I have made or helped make banners for other girls and over the years Perry has told me what she liked and did not like. Here is her banner:

The basic design on the banner is a stylized chalice, the symbol of Unitarian Universalism. The chalice is surrounded by 7 areas containing things that are important to Perry: family, our church, sports, pets and animals, travel, popular culture, and friends. I designed the quilt using EQ6 software. It is machine pieced, hand and machine appliqued, and machine quilted. The pictures were printed using an ink jet printer on satin and sheer fabric. The beading and embroidery were done by hand. I bought some of the beads for her banner; others came from old pieces of jewelry. The tin letters that form her name were purchased on a trip to New Orleans in 2004. I will post more about the individual areas over the next couple of days.

Arrowhead Stitch

Here is a sample of my experiments with arrowhead stitch. Looking through my needlework books, I found that there are a number of stitches that are called arrowhead stitch. In this sampler, I have stuck with just those that had no other name. There are several variations of stitch size and orientation here as well as two distinct kinds of arrowhead stitches. One is used as a linear decorative band, the other is a stand alone embellishment that is described as a decoration in fine tailored garments. The samples are stitched using Crescent Colors cotton floss in three colors and Mill Hill beads on an even weave linen.

I also finished my inchies and am ready to send them off to swap. I used Ultrasuede scraps for the backing and sewed it on using nylon filament thread. They are exactly 1" on each side and look very small.

Elements inchies

I have been looking at stitching blogs and web sites over the past few days which has inspired me to do some more creative stitching of my own. (It could also be the monotony of rows of monochromatic satin stitch motifs at the bottom of Anne Depauw that is motivating me to be creative.) This evening, I sat down and made a set of inchies that represent the four elements: Earth, Air, Fire and Water.

All four are stitched in Crescent Colors cotton floss on 28 count linen using Algerian Eyelet variations. They will be included in the Cyberstitchers Inchie exchange.

Even though I have not been able to keep up with Sharon B's Take it Further Challenge this year, I love looking at her blog and admiring her energy and creativity. The idea of a stitchalong to experiment with different stitches started on her blog at the beginning of the summer, it is Take a Stitch Tuesday working at your own pace. I started with the first sitch, Algerian eyelet, and experimented with different variations of stitch alignment, color and size in this set of inchies.

Glad Tidings

I have been stitching again and finished Glad Tidings this weekend. The pattern is from Sampler and Antique Needlework Quarterly. It is stitched in silk on lambswool linen. I like the colors and the flam stitched bottom band. It will be a nice addition to my holiday decorations once I get it finished or framed.

It seems right to feature a holiday finish during the first snow of the year. The big flakes are actually sticking to the ground tonight, bringing an early winter. The dogs are really excited -- they love to go wrestle in the snow.

TIF progress and winter stitching

I made some progress on my January project for the Take it Further Challenge today. I have started stitching and have outlined the Spirit Bear and started on the fluid flow lines. I am not using the suggested color scheme because my father would not be able to distinguish the selected blues and greens since he is color blind. I have chosen instead to use colors from the American Southwest where he lives. I am using very simple outline stitches -- stem and split stitch. I have not decided whether I will leave the inside of the bear blank or fill it with stitching. I do plan to add some turquoise and coral beads and the top and some ribbon to tie the bundle of gifts to the bear when I am done.

I also worked on a very simple and quick cross stitch piece today. It is Winter Snows Me, a Secret Needle Night design from The Silver Needle. The different fibers are fun and sometimes it is nice to work on something that can be completed in a couple of hours. While I worked, I watched old movies -- Alice Doesn't Live Here Any More and The Apartment. I love to pick out movies at random from the collection at the public library -- I don't feel like I have to like them or to watch them all because they are free as long as I remember to return or renew them.

Getting ready for the holidays

We have our Christmas tree up. We put up all of the "nice" ornaments, the collection of Hallmark ornaments that the kids have picked out each year, the hand me down ornaments from our parents, and all of the needlework ornaments. In the picture you can see some cross stitch ornaments, some ornaments made with plastic beads, a flying pig, a wooden rocking horse, a carved cat, a glass basketball, and an oldfashioned radio that can be tuned to a North Pole station. The rest of our ornament collection is equally eclectic.

I gave up on the large shoe box of kid-made ornaments. Some of them were made by my children and some of them were made by me and my brother when we were little. With an 8 ft high tree (with a chunk taken out of the back when my husband forgot it was on top of the van and drove into the garage anyway) there just wasn't enough room for styrofoam balls with colored pins stuck in them, pieces of cardboard with macaroni glued on them, or colored foam core creations. They will have to stay in the box and wait and see if we get a larger tree next year.

As it is, about half of our ornaments are hand made. They reflect memories of the people and places they came from as well as my children's passions as they grow up. Each year we have each of them pick out their own ornament to purchase. We have gone from Thomas the Tank Engine, to the Incredible Hulk, to a snowboarding polar bear with my son. Now he thinks he is too old and cool to pick an ornament. My daughter's choices have included a multicolored bird, an American Girl doll, three dalmation puppies, and this year a basketball.

I have been stitching and finished Scary Scraps. My son reminds me that it is Christmas now, not Halloween but it is not too early to start getting ready for next year. Mosey n' Me's story about Scary Scraps is that he was too poor for white linen so he is wrapped in scraps. Considering that his scraps are made up of needle necessities floss and Rainbow Gallery metallics as well as DMC, I don't think that he is really that poor. He was fun to stitch on 28 count over two threads. The different segments of pattern and color were bite sized segments that were easy to work on in the evening and I can't look at him without smiling.

More stitching than finishing

I have been doing some stitching during the past couple of weeks but not very much finishing so this weekend, I picked up materials for some small and quick projects for gifts. I have been knitting hats using patterns from Handknit Holidays by Melanie Falick. So far I have finished two "Elf" Hats using one skein of Mountain Colors 3 ply wool in Alpine. The smaller hat will fit a child. The larger hat fits my son who refused to be photographed in it. I am going to make some more "Elf" Hats out of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Bulky in Mixed Berries and then try out the bobble edged Santa hat using Lorna's Laces worsted in Red Rover for the hat and Misti Alpaca's Chunky Baby Alpaca for the trim.

I have been stitching from my stash and have been working on a Mosey 'n Me Pattern called Scary Scraps -- the Mummy. Scraps is stitched on a piece of bright pink linen in anchor floss, needle necessities, and Rainbow Gallery threads. The individual sections of pattern are relaxing to work on and I think that he will be a very fun Halloween decoration when he is done. I also have all the Prairie Moon Halloween ornaments and stand ups to stitch -- if I get them done and finished, I could have a lot of Halloween decorations next year. I tried to concentrate on finishing Christmas decorations last year instead of stitching new ones and have a lot more things to put out. You can see some of my stand ups on the flickr feed on the side of the Blog.

I have also been knitting my second pair of socks. Not much to show so far but I am making progress. These are knit using the first color from the Art Walk Sock Club. I like how the painted colors are coming out in the stitch pattern on the sock so far. I am using the Bartholomew's Tantalizing Socks pattern from Cat Bordhi's book.

Creative Embroidery piece

I finished my first piece for Susan Sorrell's Creative Embroidery - Organic Design class. The class is offered through Joggles. Her style of embroidery is very interesting -- much freer than anything that I have done before. This piece is supposed to be a Zen embroidery piece -- an abstract design using different stitches and threads. I used a variety of silks, appleton wools, cotton threads, and some DMC linen in various threads on a piece of hand dyed quilting cotton. Quite a departure from the rest of the charted cross stitch that I have done this month.