A Busy Week

So, it's been a busy, busy week for me.  So busy that I neglected to post a pic of my latest finish.  After finishing American Pride for our anniversary, I went back to my Janet Carsels (by The Scarlet Letter).  I really have a thing for Scottish samplers.  I love the illuminated alphabets and the fact that they usually are full of bold reds and greens is also an attractive feature for me. 

I'm trying to get ready for the Counted Wishes online needlework show in September.  So I was making laying tools since I was really low on inventory.   So I decided to post this pic of all my new ones in a needlepoint group on Facebook.   Let's just say that not only do I need to make some more, I need to order more supplies.  What a great problem to have! 

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American Pride

Yes, I'm still stitching, but my life is so boring...and I like it that way... that I rarely have anything interesting to post about.  I don't stitch several pieces in rotation and I hate to show the same thing every other day with a few more stitches done. 

I've done some smalls that I can't show you for the usual reasons.  Some people actually look at my blog and I don't want to give any secrets away.

However, now that my anniversary (32 years!!) has passed, I can show you what I stitch for my husband. "American Pride" by Aury TM Designs.  I stitched it on 32 count twilight blue with DMC.  It's been so long since I stitch with two strands of floss that I had forgotten how tedious railroading is.  Now I remember why I like to stitch on 36 and 40 count most of the time. 

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Who Knew I'd Still Be Struggling With the Alphabet at My Age

I think Spring is finally here.  The pine pollen has come and gone so we can open up the house and enjoy a few days of bearable humidity.  I might even take my stitching out to the screened porch for a little stress relief.

I finally got to the motif part of Janet Carsels.  I had to make a couple of color adjustments because the chosen colors just didn't look right.  It could be that the DMC to AVS conversion wasn't accurate or more likely, the colors/dye lots themselves have changed.  That seems to happen a lot.  I had three different dye lots for one of the colors I switched to and the best match was the oldest one.  So even when there's a printed conversion, it's probably best to confirm it whenever possible.  Fortunately, I have a fairly large stash of AVS that makes that possible.  One of the perks of having owned a couple of needlework shops in the past. :)

These illuminated alphabets take a lot more focus, and therefore, time than you might think.  Especially when they aren't necessarily symmetrical.  A little froggie told me that.

 

This is probably a good point at which to switch back to Le Jardin de Plaisir, but who knows?  Stay tuned.

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One Color At a Time

It's the beginning of 'The Season' so things are getting a little hectic around here.  Any of you who live in a vacation or resort area know what I mean.  Even though the weather is still a little spotty, folks seem determined to go to the beach.  I drove into town on Monday and noticed the difference immediately.  Traffic is way up.  Then I went to the grocery and wanted to pull my hair out!  Way too many people already. 

As usual, I didn't get any stitching done while visiting my mom this weekend.  But I'm learning.  I only took one project with me instead of my entire stitching bag.  So after four days of stitching celibacy and a stressful Monday, I was ready to park myself on the couch with my stitching. 

It's been a couple of weeks since I showed you any progress on the two pieces in my so-called rotation.  The plan was to work on each piece for a week and then switch, but I'm am somehow compelled to keep working until I come to, what I consider, a good stopping point.  Now give me some credit because normally that 'good stopping point' is when the project is done.  In this case, I finished the red portion of Le Jardin de Plaisir, so I decided it was time to switch projects. (Just to be contrary, I did a couple of tiny motifs in the black before I packed it away.)

I just love the center arrangement of flowers, even without the black parts done.Janet Carsels continues to be a fun stitch with a variety of alphabet styles and only a few colors involved.

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Frog Fest

I'm not even going to apologize for taking the month off.  Just accept it.  I'm an inconsistent blogger. 

I have found some time to stitch even though I lost about 4 days while visiting my mom.  Things were just too chaotic.  Between creating, photographing and listing over thirty new items to my Etsy shop, I managed to make significant progress on Le Jardin de PLaisir and Janet Carsels. 

Hard to believe that any one of these little sections could be more trouble than another since they're all basically the same, just in a different orientation.  But I stitched one of them three times!  I frogged the first time, but didn't go back far enough. Geez, how dumb.  So I had to rip it out a second time.   But, as they say, the third time's the charm.

JC has also presented some difficulties on what should have been a simple vine.  The flat part of the vine is eight stitches and the angled parts are nine stitches.  How hard is that to remember?  Well, apparently, I'm easily distracted.  Of course, it is NCAA basketball tourney time and I tend to get emotionally involved.  But I can't watch without doing something.  So, stitch and frog it is.

I love stitching reproductions because of the stories behind them.  Even if I just make them up, they feel real to me.  This is the first one I've done where the personalization is at the top of the sampler.  I didn't even notice until I started stitching what I thought would be the alphabet.  And I said to myself, "Hey Self, that's not an 'A'."  Maybe Janet had a little ego thing going on.  Maybe she was worried one of her sisters (and I don't even know if she had any) would steal it and try to take credit for stitching it.  But it's an interesting change to the norm. 

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The Counted Wishes Cross Stitch Festival - Spring 2014 is now OPEN!!

A long winter of stitching has probably used up your stash. Well then we have just what you need to lay in a supply of great projects, and the fabric and accessories to go with them.

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Going to the Dark Side

Well, I'm going to give it another shot.  I'm going to try to work on two projects at once, in some sort of rotation.  Whether my brain can handle it or not remains to be seen.

I started Le Jardin de Plaisir for a Long Dog Sampler SAL.  But I ordered several Scarlet Letter charts about a month ago and the silks just arrived this week.  So I'm torn!  Not really.  After a couple of hours of LJdP, it has become abundantly clear that I will need something a little less geometric for some balance.

So I've chosen Janet Carsels from The Scarlet Letter. 

I also have some more Sweetheart Tree needlerolls kitted up and ready to go, should a stitching emergency arise.

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