I have been trying to finish pieces and I have two completed pieces to share.  The first is a small bargello box.  This was the September meeting topic for the Lake Michigan Sampler Guild.  I started the piece in the meeting and finished it Sunday evening at home.  I had a choice of colors but picked purple so I could give it to my daughter.

The second finish is Eve by Lori Markovic of La-D-Da.  I used Needlepoint Silk on a piece of 40 count linen.  The colors are beautiful on the green background.  I love samplers with Adam and Eve on them or depictions of the Garden of Eden.  This Eve and Eden remind me of C.S. Lewis's descriptions of Venus in his book Perelandra rather than a Biblical description of Eden.

Menagerie Parts 5 and 6

I have finished the next two parts of the 2012 Cyberpointers Mystery Project.  It is called Menagerie and is based on a series of instructions and design suggestions from Karen Anthony.  Block 5 is a group of Box Stitches stitched in two colors of Medici wool.  A white rayon is used for the small dividing bands between the sections.  The stitches in this block look very delicate.

Block 6 is a group of Diagonal Stitches.  I used a variety of threads in different color patterns and textures including cotton, silk and wool, rayon, and nylon to make up the different sections.  These threads and pattern stitches look bolder than the ones in Block 5.

TAST Week 6: Chevron Stitch

I continued my TAST sampler and free embroidery experiments this week with the Chevron Stitch.

Cyberpointers Menagerie

The year long project for 2012 at Cyberpointers this year is a sampler project called Menagerie.  I started mine this weekend and stitched the first two blocks.  I have a bag full of red, white and blue fibers that will provide a perfect assortment of threads and textures for this project in a limited color scheme.  I also had a piece of 18 count tan canvas that was large enough for a 12 x 18 sampler which will allow for twenty four 3 x 3 squares.  The first two squares are shown here.  They are Hilton stitches and Rhodes variations.

Take a Stitch Tuesday Week 3: Feather Stitch

 I layered feather stitch in different threads, thread weights and colors for my free embroidery piece this week.  The rock at the bottom is an overdyed linen thread.  The stems are soy silk and perle cotton, the flowers in french knots and detached chain stitch are in soy silk.

The even weave variations on Feather Stitch show differences in stitch length, stitch width and stitch orientation.  Feather stitch is combined with french knots, detached chain, and buttonhole stitch.  Colors are combined to create different effects.

The final picture is a picture of the stitch sampler so far.  There are five rectangular blocks:  arrowhead stitch, backstitch, fly stitch, buttonhole stitch and feather stitch.  The first two were stitched before this round of TAST started.

Large projects

 I like working detailed projects on high count even weave and have a collection of started projects, large and small.  This photo shows one quarter of the design, stitched with gloriana silk.  The color is beautiful, the piece is intricate and detailed and it looks beautiful.  I love the colors and I love the design.  It is fun to stitch on for a while and then becomes boring -- it may be the only large monochromatic piece I will ever stitch.

My other large project is just the opposite, it is a large needlepoint rug on 13 count canvas.  The colors are vibrant and full of life.  It was someone else's UFO and was brought into an ANG meeting and offered to anyone who wanted it.  I have been working on large count, straight forward needlepoint this year so I brought it home.  I am working my way through the flowers one color at a time and am almost done with the pink ones.  It is possible that if you calculated the total stitches in the two pieces that they are the same, the only difference is one of scale.  Working on both pieces is a relaxing, almost meditative activity and finishing each flower and each medallion gives me a sense of accomplishment.

Fall color and some stitching progress

I have been stitching and have made some more progress on my sampler.  I realized that I did not have enough thread to finish the sampler and ordered more.  That way I can start mixing the dye lots early in the piece.  It is fun to see the patterns emerge as I stitch.  I also like the effect of the back stitch areas.

Yesterday, I went to an estate sale for a woman who had been part of several of the needlework guilds in the area.  I bought a few things including the Plimoth Plantation Sweete Bag and the accompanying Accesories.  This piece is from The Examplarery and is an adaptation from a sampler that is in the collections at Plimoth Plantation.  I started on the scissors sheath.  It looks like it will be fairly quick to stitch and fun to finish.  I love the attention to detail in the design, the order of the colors are different on the sides of the scissor sheath and there are different designs for the front and back of the sweete bag.

The weather has continued to be nice so I took advantage of it and went to one of the nearby forest preserves this afternoon.  I took my camera instead of the dogs and took some pictures of the changing leaves and the end of season seed pods.