Square dance progress and vacation

I was ambitious at the beginning of the month and I completed the first few lessons on Square Dance, an ANG Cyberworkshop taught by Orna Willis.  I love Orna's use of color and the ways that she finds to combine threads and stitches in her designs.  Square Dance is no exception, it is made up of small squares filled with detailed, layered stitches.  The photo shows my progress so far.  (The neon orange basting threads will be removed before the piece is finished.)

I also went on vacation, my first cruise, my first trip to the Caribbean, and my first trip with my sisters in law.  The islands were beautiful and it was wonderful to be away from the snow with nothing to worry about.  On the ship, everything is taken care of for you, on the islands, the weather was perfect.

Eight more starts

Winterology by The Trilogy

I continued to start a new cross stitch piece for fifteen days.  The rest of these projects are Little House Needleworks Curly Q Ewe, The Needle's Prayse The Spanish Sampler, Sam Sarah's Rise and Shine, The Examplarery The Hannah Norton Sampler, Winterology by the Trilogy, The Angel Sampler by Lavendar and Lace, Mary Jones 1801 by The Scarlet Letter and Deep Peace by Forget me nots in Stitches.  I have had some of these pieces for a long time and it was fun to get them out and see how they will come together into finished pieces.  I practiced patience basting all of the stitching areas in The Spanish Sampler and enjoyed all of the colors in Deep Peace.

 I also finished seven kissing pillow tops.  They will be made into small pillows and given to the children and loved ones of Military members who are deploying overseas.  This outreach project started with the Yellow Rose Chapter of the EGA in Houston, Texas.

A start a day and another finish

I have been starting a project a day since January 1.  Participating in this challenge has given me an opportunity to pull projects out of my stash that I have been saving for the right time or that are waiting for me to finish another large project.  January 1, I started the Ann Marsh Sewing Roll; January 2, I started Paradise Lost by Plum Street Samplers; January 3 I started I give my heart to thee by Ewe and Eye and Friends; January 4, I started Eve by La-D-Da; January 5, I started Plaid Heart by Shepherd's Bush; January 6, I started the Small English Band Sampler by Fibers to Dye For; and today I started Noah's Needle by Just Nan.  

I even finished stitching one of these designs, I give my heart to thee by Ewe and Eye and Friends.  I like their designs and have stitched a number of their small cross stitch pieces.  I have also stitched one of their painted canvases, a pig for my daughter.  This particular design was dated 1995.  I updated the date and personalized the initials to make it into a nice Valentine.

A New Year's finish and a start

 I spent this afternoon stitching and watching movies.  I finished this ornament while watching Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland in The Adventures of Robin Hood.  The movie is a lot of fun but the costumes are horrible, the styles are not as bad as the colors and fabrics.  The bright, brash technicolor highlights the use of colors that could only be achieved using modern chemical dyes (or digital retouching of the original print) and the lavish use of lame makes every scene sparkle.   The ornament is Angels Sent by Susan Greening Davis from the 2010 Just CrossStitch Christmas Ornament Issue.  I used the suggested Gentle Art color on a greenish linen and had to cut out darker sections for the lettering.

I also decided to participate in the 15 starts in 15 days challenge.  I am not making any commitments to finishing these projects in 2011 but I plan to have fun getting them out and starting them.  The first one is the Ann Marsh Sewing Roll Kit but Joanne Harvey for The Exemplarery.  I have had my kit for 4 or 5 years and I have just never gotten started.  I started it today and completed all of the basting, which you can't see, and started the tent stitch outlines of the lower part of the outside of the needle roll.  I was able to watch American Dreamz and most of Funny Lady while I worked on it.