Friday Finish: How Great the Blessing

I can hear some of you thinking, “Didn’t she post about finishing that sampler a couple of months ago?”

Well, yes. I did.

But it wasn’t framed then.

Here you go.

Again, this is:

Design: How Great the Blessing (with a few minor changes)

Designer: Catherine Theron

Ground fabric: 36ct linen

Threads: silks, primarily from Hand-Dyed Fibers/Vikki Clayton

Stitches used: cross, smyrna, queen, oblong cross, chain, satin, slanted gobelin, tent, four-sided, leaf, lazy daisy, upright cross, long-arm cross, and cross over one. There may be one or two others, but that’s what I see right now.  :-)

Stitching timeframe: Started in a class April 2009, finished in February 2010.

The simple frame sets off the design. Nothing more was needed. Thanks to my LNS owner for great framing consultation, as usual!

Happy Dance: How Great the Blessing

Ok, now it's done. Here is my version of Catherine Theron's How Great the Blessing.

This is stitched on the 36ct linen supplied by Catherine as part of the kit, using Vikki Clayton's Hand-Dyed Fibers regular silk floss and a tiny bit of Rainbow Gallery's Splendor.

I made minimal changes to the design, primarily in the areas designated for personalization, but I also

• placed the birds and squirrels as I liked
• skipped the crown originally over the house (it just seemed odd!)
• left the queen stitch flowers in the large vase open, with just the outlines

All in all, I really like this piece. I think this one will actually get framed rather than finding a home in my closet. (Does anybody else do this?)

Is it done yet?

Here's where I stand on Catherine Theron's How Great the Blessing sampler. In the past week I've added the verse, and the numbers and personalization (with updated dates!) under the alphabet, along with four birds and another squirrel.

Is it done?

Early on in stitching this project, I deliberately didn't fill in the flowers in the large vase and left off the small berry bushes to the left of the large squirrel and the right of the bunny. Now I'm reconsidering.

The sampler doesn't have many blank spaces at the top, and the larger empty spaces by the bunny and squirrel seem to be screaming for something. Maybe those berry bushes would work after all.

What do you think?

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Erin update: Guess who had a birthday on Friday? Yes, already!

The best part about presents? The wrapping paper, of course!

My first decorated cake. Yes, that's supposed to be Elmo. I think I'll stick to stitching.

Erin's "personal" cake. Both cakes were applesauce cake, and they came out yummy.

The aftermath...

Somebody liked cake, but was clearly ready for bed!

Flowering vines in full bloom

With the realization that my Master Craftsman piece wasn't going to be done on time, I picked up How Great the Blessing again. As I mentioned in my last post about this piece, I decided to go with the lighter flowers, though thank you to all of those who commented for and against this decision. You all had great points!

I'm happy to say that I'm done with queen stitches on this piece (unless, of course, I decide to fill in the flowers in the big vase). Actually, I used to avoid queen stitches like the plague until I took a class with Eileen Bennett and learned her method, and now I don't mind them at all. Anybody want a post on this method?

Anyway, I've finished the queen stitch flowers on the side border vines, and added the satin stitch berries as well.

Not much more to finish on this project!

Choosing colors through image manipulation

Wow. Thanks to all of you who shared your stories in response to my post on color conversion problems! If you haven't read the comments, please do! I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one with occasional problems converting threads (though I'm secretly quite jealous of Jane who doesn't have to deal with this, being primarily a painted canvas stitcher).

So now I've got two different versions of my light-colored flower. Lesley commented that maybe the darker version might be too dark, depending on what's around it. I realized after that comment that I didn't really explain that this is used in the side borders, and that these flowers alternate with much darker flowers. It's difficult for me to visualize how this would really look, since I now have three different flowers on one side. This is a perfect time to take advantage of my image editing program!

Here's what the design would look like if I used the darker version of my light flower:

And the lighter version:

Originally, I thought I'd like the darker version better, but the magic of modern technology changed my mind! Lesley was right. I really like the lighter version. Anybody want to convince me otherwise?

Now I've just got to rip out the darker version (Ugh. Frogging queen stitches.) and restitch it, as well as fill in the remaining flowers. Right now, the two on the right actually only have the outlines done.

Dealing with deadlines

It seems that lately I've been working against a couple of deadlines. My stitching time (to say nothing of blogging time) has disappeared as I've been trying to bake, decorate, buy, wrap, and write cards in preparation for Christmas. I'm happy to say that the baking, cards, and buying are done, though I still have to finish some decorating and wrapping over the next few days!

When it comes to stitching, though, I try not to set deadlines. Occasionally I'll have one for finishing a correspondence course, but I haven't even been trying to meet those this year! I have a standing policy when stitching for gifts: if I'm making something for Mom for Christmas, there's nothing that says it has to be this Christmas. I'll give it to her for the Christmas after it gets finished. Of course, this doesn't work too well for wedding gifts, but it does work for birthdays and holidays.

I'm curious. Who else does this? Do you set deadlines for your stitching, or are you of the "it gets done when it gets done" mindset?

However, I do have a stitching deadline looming now. This one has nothing to do with Christmas. Rather it has everything to do with one week later. Recall that I've already added '2009' on my How Great the Blessing from Catherine Theron. See the arrow in the picture. I really don't want to pull it out, so I'm trying to finish by the end of the month. Fortunately, I've made decent progress since I last posted about this piece, and I'm on vacation for the rest of the year. I'm really hoping to make it!

WIP: How Great the Blessing (by Catherine Theron)

Today's featured WIP is How Great the Blessing, designed by Catherine Theron.

Technique/Materials: Various sampler stitches (cross, queen, smyrna cross, four-sided stitch, long-arm cross, etc.) on 36ct linen using silks from Vikki Clayton.

Background: Blessing was started in April 2009 in a class with Catherine sponsored by my local EGA chapter (Rochester, NY). It has seen fairly active progress since.

I'm always amazed during classes when stitchers can bring their own materials. For this class, Catherine only supplied the ground fabric (a choice of 32ct and 36ct) and a list of the threads needed. Some stitchers purchased DMC floss, some used the original Soie d'Alger from Au ver a Soie, some brought Needlepoint Inc silk floss, and I picked up silk from Vikki. Even though we were all using "the same colors", the resultant pieces are varying widely, especially as a few of us are getting more stitched.

Why it's not done: Not enough hours in the day. Since this piece hasn't been set aside like so many others, there's no interesting reason!

What's left to do:  Finish the leaves, flowers, and berries on the borders. Complete the alphabet and the line of personalization below it. Add a verse flanked by vases (above the house). When that's all done, I might go back and fill in the flowers on the central vine and put in little plants in the empty areas on the left and right of the central vase, but right now I think I like the bottom of the sampler as it is.

Ok, you win

Thanks to those of you who voted on my three projects.  Three out of the six commenters chose that I should try to finish Cinders by Marion Scoular.

So, here we go.  I'm doing a bit of a rotation, in which I can work on up to three projects each night.  I'll start with one length of thread on Cinders.  Here's where she stands now.  As some of you pointed out, there really isn't that much left to do on this piece.

After that length of thread, I'll stitch one segment---one section of a circle or one area of background---on Genny Morrow's Wheels of Color.

If I still have some stitching time after these, I'll work on How Great the Blessing from Catherine Theron.  I really want to finish this piece this year, since I've already stitched the date! 

My exception to this rotation will be the Thursday evening "open stitch" nights at my LNS.  For these, I'll just bring the sampler, simply for the ease of carrying only one (smaller) project.


If I get closer to the end of the year and the sampler is lagging behind, I may put the other two aside for a bit again, but I'll cross that bridge if and when I need to do so!

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Erin update:  We had a visit to the orthopedist, one month post-cast.  The right hip is still in great shape, and the left is still out.  She'll continue with the brace, since she's tolerating it well.  We don't go back again for four months.  Her next surgery will happen when she's 18-24 months old, which means we have at least 9 more months of squishy baby!  Speaking of which, somebody's trying to get my attention through the baby monitor...

Floating windows and door

(Note:  I actually started this blog post last Monday, and somehow never actually finished posting it.)

It was great. I was actually starting to post again on a regular basis, multiple times in a week. And that's how long it lasted. One. Week.

I really do plan to get back to posting frequently. Unfortunately, I timed my increase in productivity poorly. It just so happened that my favorite author, Diana Gabaldon, released the seventh main novel (as opposed to shorter sideline novels) in her Outlander series on September 22. My copy of An Echo in the Bone (which I preordered when I was in the hospital in January!) showed up last Monday.  Usually, I do most of my "reading" via audiobook, which has the distinct advantage in allowing me to stitch at the same time.  Echo is not yet available in audio, so it has definitely made a dent in my stitching time.  I'm on page 404 today.  Almost halfway through.  Give me another week and I'll be back to stitching and blogging more. 

The little bit of stitching I have accomplished in the past week has been on my Blessing sampler.  Here we have floating windows and a floating door above a brick walkway:

Despite the minimal time I've devoted to stitching this past week, this is actually working up fairly quickly.  Yes, it's over one thread of the linen, but fortunately it's just tent stitch, not full crosses.

(Update: I finished my book yesterday.  Let the blogging and stitching resume at whatever passes for a "normal" pace now.)

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Erin update:  Erin is doing fairly well out of the cast.  She's pretty wobbly from the waist down.  She has to wear her brace most of the time, so she doesn't have much time each day to rebuild muscle tone.  She's just starting to roll over again.

The brace is okay...

But free time is more fun!

Flowers and berries and bees, oh my!

Catherine Theron's How Great the Blessing sampler continues to be the focus of my stitchy attention.  As you can see, I've added the bees (cross stitch and double-running), a few berries (satin stitch), the outer area of several flowers (queen stitch), and the grout of a brick walk for a house (tent stitch over one).  Only in stitching can you add grout before the bricks!

All of the flowers are "supposed" to be filled in like the one on the left, but I really like them just with the outside areas done.  I can't really pull out the central areas of the bottom left flower due to the fabric distortion caused by the queen stitches, though.  Right now I'm going to proceed with filling in the flowers off of the vines on each side, but leave the center plant as it is. 

There's also supposed to be some small vines in freehand surface embroidery in the empty areas next to the squirrel and the bunny, but I think I like the space there for now.  We'll see how this looks as I get more of the sampler done.  I can always add them later.

I really do want to finish this sampler this year (after all, I've already added the year), but I've got an itch to do some canvas work.  I'm going to pull out Carolyn Mitchell's My Way, which I started last year before my pregnancy eliminated my ability to work on large canvases mounted on stretcher bars!

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Erin update:  CAST-OFF COUNTDOWN:  6 days to go!

Decent progress

Wow!  It's been a bit over a week since I last posted, but I've been making good progress on my Blessing sampler.  Erin's been cooperating by going to sleep around 8PM each night, so I've had time to stitch! 

I finished the grass and the vases, then added the strawberries, the squirrel and bunny, the center plant, and one queen-stitched flower.  There are 14 more of these flowers (5 on the center plant, and 5 on each side), and they'll take some time. 

A few pieces in my stash are calling to me to start them, but I already have too many started, and really need to finish a few (ok, at least two) before starting anything else, hence the concentration on this piece.

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Erin update:  We have a date for cast removal!  Cast-off day is Monday, September 21.  Two weeks to go.  Erin is getting very impatient with the cast.  She's now seven months old, and wants to GO!  She's constantly getting frustrated that she can't reach something or she'll try to throw herself backward when she's sitting on someone's lap.  It's like she knows she should be able to move more, but can't quite figure out why she can't.

Here's a picture from a couple of weeks ago.  Somebody had given us this really pretty dress, and it was just hanging in her closet waiting for a special occasion.  I finally decided that any day could be a special occasion, or the dress wouldn't be worn at all!  When DH first saw this dress, he commented that it looked like she was wearing a tablecloth (though since then he's decided it's really cute on her). 

This past week, Erin's started to wrinkle her nose at times.  It's pretty funny.  Here she is (in a different pink gingham dress) when trying Cheerios for the first time yesterday.

Don't worry. Other pictures showed that maybe Cheerios were ok after all.  :-)

Slowly growing grass...

...on my sampler.  (Not the stuff outside - it's been a pretty wet summer and it's growing fast!)

This week I've been filling in the grassy area at the bottom of Blessing.  I'm leaving the areas to be filled in as strawberries empty.  In the last post, you'll see that I started the strawberries on the right side, but I wasn't happy with how the stitch was covering, so I took them out.  I also thought that particular stitch (upright cross) would be more easily worked if I didn't have to count it quite so carefully.  By doing the grass around each berry, now I just need to fill in the blank spaces.  It seems I'm continually trying to take the easy route these days!  Works for me - at least I'm stitching.

Sampler progress

No, not that sampler, the other one. Since Hannah Thornbush wasn't cooperating with me, I decided to pick up the How Great the Blessing sampler from my recent class with Catherine Theron. I've made some decent progress on it in the last week or so, getting in a little over an hour each night after Erin falls asleep.

The picture on the right is where my Blessing stood after the weekend class. Here's what I've been able to accomplish since then:

Wow! Looking at the older picture makes me realize just how much I've accomplished: the trees up top, the vines at the bottom and the sides (with lots of leaves on one of them), the blue parts of the vases, and an "A". Oh - and the personalization. Yes, I've dated it. I'm hoping that will keep me motivated to finish it this year! :-)

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Erin update: As of last Thursday, Erin is on cast #3. This was the scheduled cast change to allow for growth, and she did really well, now that we've figured out what medicines work for her in combination with the anesthesia.

I took a couple of pictures of cast #2 for posterity. In case any of you were wondering about it, here's one. Note the heart cut out of the tummy area. It helps with breathing and digestion, not to mention occasional belly pokes!
One week earlier, Erin came home from Grandma's in a great new outfit. Thanks, Aunt Sharon! It may just be due to Erin's cheering that the Yankees swept the Red Sox starting that day!

Wonderful class with Catherine Theron

You may recall that I took Catherine Theron's Examplar IV in 2007, and finally finished it this year. A couple of months ago, I posted about Catherine coming to town to teach her How Great the Blessing sampler. That class was this weekend, and while I wasn't able to attend for both full days, I enjoyed and appreciated the time I was able to be there!

Back in 2007, I described Catherine's teaching style:

She handled it wonderfully, going over a stitch or two and giving us lots of time to practice and add it to our sampler.

The same was true of this weekend, but it was even more relaxed, since this sampler was originally designed to be taught in a single day. We decided to make it more approachable to those less experienced in sampler stitches by having a two-day class. I'm very glad we did! It was a fun, relaxing class, with enough challenge for more experienced stitchers, but still do-able by everyone. The picture shows my (minimal) progress.

As the education chair of my EGA chapter, I was responsible for making all of the arrangements for the class. With everything that's gone on this year, I'm very grateful to a few ladies in my chapter for contributing some of their time to make this class a success. Thank you to Sharon and Rosemary for taking extensive notes for our "ghost" students, and a very big thank you to Annlouise and Nancy for hosting and entertaining Catherine and picking up the essentials for lunch. (And a big kiss to DH for taking such good care of Erin while I played this weekend!)

And, of course, thank you to Catherine for a fantastic class!

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Erin update: Erin made it through the recasting without needing to be put under anesthesia. They just used Tylenol since she was only undergoing a little bit of manipulation. Immediately afterward she seemed quite sore, but a bit of codeine helped. She came home Thursday afternoon, and has been her cheerful self since, with minimal soreness. Right now she's sitting on my lap, with her hand halfway down her throat. I think she's hungry! :-) Gotta go!