Half the Year!

Gone already!!

So far this year, I've completed: two Quaker Quarterly Exchanges and a graduation sampler. Still in progress are: a gift, Margaret's Monochrome Madness counted canvas, the class piece from last weekend, and Hannah Beeby. Still languishing are: a Curtis Boehringer Wildflower of America (it's been so long, I've forgotten which one is started!), a Drawn Thread Garden (I think it's Wildflower Garden, but again, it's been a while), and TW's "Carousel" (which piece I'd actually begun with the intention of entering it in last year's county fair!). And my fingers are aching to begin Mary Wigham and Beatrix Potter (both are Quaker pieces and I'm not sure of the history of the Potter piece, nor why it's called "Beatrix Potter").

I'm still waiting for the fabric for Mary, which I had my LNS order from Picture This Plus. And I have a piece of fabric at home that I could use for Beatrix, but it's 28 count and I'm not sure I want it that big. Decisions, decisions.

It's a holiday weekend here in the US, but I have to work tomorrow. On Saturday the BFFs and I are going to the facility formerly known as NAS Los Alamitos for the Independence Day celebration hosted there. Any stitching this weekend will be on projects at home.

Quaker Quarterly Exchange 18

One of these days I may learn the secrets to posting photos on Blogger how I want them posted. Following, in who knows what order, are pictures of my latest finish both in stitching and card-crafting. The card accompanies the stitched piece when I send it out, telling the recipient what fabric and fiber(s) I used in the piece, and I think it's one of my better efforts—I liked it so much I actually photographed it! It's just a stamped image on a light-colored scrapbooking paper, adhered to a grey card made from scrapbooking cardstock with a linen-like finish to it.

The stitched piece is on Lugana 32-count White, stitched with Needle Necessities "Ashes to Ashes" and a couple of DMC greys for the personalization (the recipient's initials in the darker shade and mine in the lighter one). The other photo shows the backing fabric for the pinkeep. I "made" the pins (which can't really be seen, unfortunately, in these photos) by purchasing two different styles (round and teardrop) of corsage pins and those long sewing pins with the yellow "flower" heads on them, then dipped the pinheads in flat-black model paint. The theme for this particular exchange was "charcoal," and I think I succeeded. (It looks like I might finally have the pics in the right order! Let's hope they stay that way.)

New Framing, New Finish & Framing

First is the last of the graduation samplers, for my younger great niece. It's Lynnyn Designs' "ConGRADulations" [sic], on White Lugana 25 with a combination of DMC solids and assorted overdyes. Sorry about the craptastic photo; I was having problems with reflections.

Second is With My Needle's "Quaker Samplings 1," on Mushroom Lugana 25 over 1 with a light chocolate DMC (38-something), finished in 2007, but just framed this year.

Another finish, for Legacy board's Quaker Quarterly Exchange, can't be shown yet, since I just mailed it this morning.

Update!

Three-day weekend! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NASA decided to keep Atlantis up another day or two after completing the Hubble service mission, hoping to land at the Cape instead of the more expensive Edwards AFB, so instead of getting to (finally!!) see an orbiter landing I headed down to Garden Grove for the Strawberry Festival Parade with the BFFs. I parked a little less than a couple of miles away and rode my bike (Orion) over there. Got a bit sunburned once the June Gloom In May burned off. The parade was dreadful, with really horrible gaps in it. Granted, it'll never be the Rose Parade, but this was beyond pathetic. Rode back to where I'd parked the van, loaded up the bike, scrawled a brief passage in my ride journal, then the BFFs and I had lunch at the unspectacular Hometown Buffet. After that, I headed over to the LNS for some drop-in stitching with BSF (best stitching friend) Melissa. After the store closed, Melissa, the store's owner, her chief clerk, and I had dinner at Mimi's.

I finally finished all the "sashing" stitches which divide the piece into 38 segments (we call 'em boxes), so now I just have to fill them all up with the various stitches and fibers.

I've also finished the stitching on the latest Quaker Quarterly Exchange piece, and have the finishing-finishing to do this weekend.

Latest Finish and Current Project

My most recent finish is the most recent Quaker Quarterly Exchange (number 17, although I haven't been participating that long). This was done on 32-count white Lugana with Weeks Dye Works "Peoria Purple."
And my current "away" or "travel" project, a counted canvas piece designed by Margaret Bendig, a teacher at my LNS.
Margaret's original name for this piece is "Patterns Galore," but this version, this class, is called "Margaret's Monochrome Madness," and each of the dozen or so of us have chosen different colorways based on the overdyed thread each of us chose. Mine is based on the colors and tones in Caron Collection's Waterlilies "Rye." Eventually I'll have a final count of just how many different fibers I will have used in this piece. There's also a companion piece based on the center motif. Each block contains at least one specialty stitch, and some contain combinations of specialty stitches. This is my progress after 3 class meetings, two afternoons spent on my own in the classroom at the shop, 2 of the monthly Saturday Open Stitch Class sessions, and quite a bit of time on the cruise in February.