Heaven: A Weekend of Stitching

Well, my annual stitching vacation is over. :(  Two of my long time stitching friends were here for four wonderful days. We've gone way past just being stitching friends, but that's how it all started over fifteen years ago. We all live in different states now, but we try to get together once or twice a year to catch up and STITCH!

My dear husband escaped to visit his brother for the weekend so it was just the three of us and my two spoiled rotten pugs. Let's just say that Lester and Otis got more attention than they deserve. So it was a SES fest...stitch, eat, and sleep. I, of course, worked only on The Cranberry Sampler.

Laura and Vicky aren't quite as anal retentive as I am so they worked on several pieces. Laura's were all gorgeous samplers. Vicky's projects ranged from needlepoint ornaments to a "Quilted Garden" by Blue Ribbon Designs.

The putti ('the little nekkid men' as a friend of mine calls them) are intentionally left undecorated on the right. A lot of this band was left to the stitcher's discretion. I tried to follow the stitched model as closely as possible because I don't really have much imagination.

The clothed ones on the left are done in detached buttonhole which I enjoy once I get in a rhythm.

The center floral motif was also stitcher's choice of stitches and colors. I used satin stitch, Montenegrin, trellis, and Roman stitches. It was quite an experiment.

The current band is huge and will probably take quite a while, but it is the last one in color. I am anxious to get to the whitework sections so hopefully, there won't be a lot of frogging for the next little while!

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I Love a Challenge But This is Ridiculous!

Recently, one of the Facebook stitching groups that I follow started a once a month WIP stitch-in for those pieces that you really can't seem to get going on again. Most of the folks in this group have waaaaaaay more UFOs than I do.  That's not saying a lot since I generally work on only one project at a time until it's finished. However, occasionally I start a piece that is so involved or difficult or frustrating that I have to put it down to ensure that I don't pull all my hair out. "Margret Gatis" by Scarlet Letter is one of those pieces.

Make no mistake, I love the sampler. I love the various stitches and the colors. I use the sewing motion and work in hand rather than on a frame which, over time, has led me to stitch by feel to a large degree. I can just tell when I've picked up one or three threads instead of the usual two threads.  But stitching over three threads is tedious, time consuming and hurts my brain. You have to actually count threads and the vertical thread concept* is useless as a counting mechanism. Even more confounding is the fact that some bands on MG are stitched over two threads and some bands are over three threads! It makes the chart confusing and I have to constantly remind myself that each square covers three threads. And don't even get me started on satin stitches motifs with angles and turns over three threads!

Anyway, I chose MG as my WIP for this monthly exercise in futility. Thank heavens, it's only one day for whatever time period one can handle! I worked on some satin stitch motifs for a few hours then had to pack it up. The frogs were starting to scare Lester and Otis!

And now I'm back to the challenging, but stunningly beautiful, Cranberry Sampler. Although I'm in random stitching hell right now on this one too. The directions are pretty skimpy and leave a lot of the stitch and color choices to your imagination. I tend to follow the model stitcher's choices with a few exceptions. And there's nothing like a mountain of double running stitch to make you skip that last cup of coffee. You can't afford twitchy fingers when trying to keep a smooth and straight line going.

* as explained by Carol Leather, needlework designer and teacher

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Another Year, Another Big Start!

Well, the big Christmas rush is over and I'm still working on ornaments! But only because I like to have a few done before I start the Panic later in the year. Actually, it's kind of fun once the pressure is off, but you're still in the mood. And I'm working on hardanger ones, so I don't have to worry about color changes.

I stitched this Charland Design from my stash for my husband for Christmas. Of course, the frame wasn't done in time, but it's hanging on the wall now.  It's a little frou-frou, but hey, it's sweet!

But I started my first project of 2012 right before Christmas just in case I had some time to stitch (what a joke) while visiting my family. Since we got back I've really enjoyed working on "The Cranberry Sampler" by Needle's Prayse. 

  

I've made more progress, but haven't take a picture today. There's a huge whitework section at the bottom that I can't wait to stitch! In the meantime, I'm meticulously working on a diagonal montenegrin band! Talk about the need to focus...

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A Gift of Love

I don't know about you, but one of the best parts about stitching for someone is picking a design that you know they will love. My sister has the same feeling when she's shopping for a gift...and she's a serious shopper!  And it's so much fun to go through my stash and dig out something that I know is perfect and I can't wait to stitch it. So it definitely helps when my tastes are similar to the person I'm stitching for. Such is the case with this piece. "Richmond Band Sampler", by Darlene O'Steen of The Needle's Prayse, has been on my list for over a decade...almost two! And this year I decided to stitch it for my friend, Laura's, birthday.

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