Zipping along on Arcadia

Thanks to "Itching to Stitch" for the comment on my last post - it gave me the title for this one! Arcadia is moving along nicely, due to alternating rain and humid heat outside and nice cool A/C inside!

Arcadia - more progress!

Here's what it looked like when I picked it up yesterday morning. While these areas have lots of layering, they're not that difficult. I'm always curious to see what the end pattern looks like in a section, so I have a hard time putting it down!

I did finish the last four outside sections yesterday, but didn't take a pic. I hope to share one after work today.

Arcadia borders complete

Here is Arcadia as I left it last night (ok, very early this morning!). I made quite a bit of progress on it today, and will take another picture in the morning.

May recap & June goals

It's a new month! Here what I accomplished relative to my goals for May:

• Complete GAR mystery window 1 - DONE!
• Complete the background on the goldwork heart - DONE!
• Start GAR mystery window 2 - Started and finished!
• I probably won't get to start the next Jim Wurth installment that comes out the week of the 15th, but we'll see. - Nope. I didn't get the kit until yesterday!

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For June, I'd like to:

• Complete Jim Wurth's Arcadia (started yesterday)
• Start and finish GAR mystery window 3.
• Get the tree done on Picnic Hampered! (started at seminar)
• Work on Examplar IV
• Work on Goldwork Heart II

My stretch goal is to finish Picnic Hampered!

Another new start!

Ok, for those of you keeping track, this is the fourth piece I've started in May. First, the blackberries on gauze as an EGA chapter project, then the two seminar pieces, and now the new Jim Wurth piece! As I mentioned before, I have to keep up with this series, because I don't want 12 more unstitched yet-kitted pieces in my stash. So, when Arcadia arrived in today's mail, I took it with me to our Thursday stitch night at my LNS.If this reminds you of Monrovia, a previous piece in this series, you're pretty observant! It was actually designed as a companion. Jim had intended to release it later in the series, but health issues forced him to take a bit of a break, so he released this one earlier than intended rather than design a new one right now. He's also slowing the pace of the series down to one every three months instead of every other month. Which is just fine with me! We need our designers healthy so they can keep tempting us with great pieces. Best of luck to Jim! The slower pace also might help me finish a few other pieces besides these beautiful ornaments.

Anyway, tonight I mounted the canvas and started the outline. I didn't get very far, but here's a picture. You can also see the new "big head" tacks my LNS is carrying. Supposedly these are used somehow in quilting (not being a quilter, I don't know - can anyone share how they're used?), but the LNS owner was raving about them for stretching canvas. I have to admit, they seem much more sturdy than the other tacks she carries. Hopefully they'll keep the canvas tight.

Recreating a 17th Century-style jacket

You may have noticed a new blog in my list of favorites. The Embroiderers' Story is a blog from Plimoth Plantation, documenting the museum's work on a 17th century-style embroidered jacket. It's not a strict recreation, though. They're taking the cut of one jacket in the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum, with the embroidery of another.

The most exciting part of this project is that they're looking for help from the stitching community. If you can take the time to visit Plymouth, Massachusetts (and can afford to stay locally) during one of their stitching weekends, you can help! The curator says that you don't have to be an expert embroiderer. They're sending out a sample kit to those who would like to volunteer. You stitch the sample and send it back in. They look at what stitches are done well, but also for tension, so they can match tension in adjacent areas. If you're really good in one stitch, they can put you to work just doing that one stitch! For more details, see this post.

Speaking of stitches, that's one of the best things on this blog. The museum is working with Tricia Wilson-Nguyen of Thistle Threads to put together the sample kits and write up instructions for individual stitches and instructions for areas of the jacket. Some of the most recent blog postings are providing links to PDFs of the various stitches used. As a matter of fact, the day after I posted about trellis stitch, this blog provided detailed instructions for it!

So, while I won't be able to stitch on this fantastic project, I'm going to enjoy following its progress. The fantastic stitch instructions are a bonus!

Enjoy!