Leaves & Raspberries

Quite a bit of progress has been made on my Fantasy Remembered lately! All of the wired leaves are done, but these won't be added to the main piece until everything else is finished.

The past few nights, I've been working more french knots on raspberries. Most of the berries are stitched on a separate piece of fabric and then individually attached to the main piece so they have dimension.





Here's the entire piece so far:

The To-Be-Finished List

Here's the preliminary list of pieces I want to finish in my challenge. Clicking on the name will show what the finished piece is supposed to look like (or the painted canvas for the kimono), and I'll try to add pictures of the current state of each in the next day or two.

1. Fantasy Remembered - stumpwork EGA GCC by Luan Callery (due in September)
   
2. Luck of the Irish - goldwork EGA GCC by Michele Roberts (due in September)
3. Tassels Kimono - hand-painted canvas from Sophia Designs
   
4. Blackberries - silk gauze design by Gitta's Charted Petit Point
   
5. Be You to Others Sampler (a.k.a. The Ninja Squirrel Sampler) - cross stitch design by Hillside Samplings
   
6. Scottlee - counted canvas design by Jean Hilton
7. Winds of Color - line drawn canvas design by Elsa Parrish
8. Examplar IV - historical-style sampler by Catherine Theron
9. Redwork Mystery Sampler by Gay Ann Rogers (if I get all the parts before finishing this challenge)
10. Rose's Pyramid - stumpwork pyramid box by Marsha Papay Gomola

(Unfortunately, I couldn't find a picture of Scottlee or Winds of Color on the web!)

I have a lot of work in front of me - but I've deliberately chosen a wide range of techniques, so I won't get bored with any one piece!

Now, I may stitch a bit before going back to Harry Potter...

(Edited to correct the date on this post - I started it on Thursday, but didn't actually post until Saturday. Blogger is weird that way!)

The WIP-loss Challenge!

In the spirit of the 50 (or 25, or 10) project challenge from HasturTorres, I'm challenging myself to "lose" some WIPs. Now, this does not mean I'll hide them somewhere and not be able to find them. Just like losing weight the old-fashioned way, this takes willpower, dedication, and a good buddy system! I'm hoping this blog will work as the buddy system. Hopefully the readers of this blog will keep me honest in pursuing my goal!

If you're a person who only stitches (or knits, or crochets, or quilts, etc.) one item at a time or keeps her (or his) pile of WIPs (Works In Progress) down to a manageable few, congratulations! This challenge is NOT for you! I aspire to be more like you!

If, however, you feel weighted down by your ever-increasing pile of WIPs, as I do, this challenge is for YOU! Please feel free to adapt my challenge to your goals.

So, what's the challenge? Simple: Finish 10, start 1! At least, that's my current challenge. I probably have a backlog of 30 (or more) started projects (WIPs & UFOs). Most of these are LARGE projects. After I finish these, I may start the challenge again with the goal of finishing 5 before starting another.

Here are the "rules" I'm setting for myself:

1. Have fun!
   
2. The "to be finished" list can be changed over the course of the challenge, depending on which projects are calling to me over time.
   
3. The term finished means the completion of stitching. It does not mean the completed item must be framed or otherwise made into a useful item. (If that was the case, I would have close to 100 WIPs, based on the number of items sitting unframed in my closet and cedar chest.) If your textile medium of choice is not stitching, you'll have to decide what finished means to you.
   
4. While selling, giving away, or trashing unwanted UFOs may reduce the total pile, they don't count toward the total finished. (In the parallel to weight loss, this is like liposuction - effective, but less satisfying!)
   
5. Exceptions are allowed, if declared up-front. My exception is keeping up with the Jim Wurth series. These pieces don't count for starting or finishing.
6. Gift stitching for a special occasion doesn't count. I can foresee one of these - making a Christmas ornament for my cousin's new baby. (I did stitch one for his first child, after all. This is only fair!)

That's all I can think of for now. If you can make any other suggestions or want to join me in buddy system support, please leave a comment! I'll come up with my initial "to be finished" list in the next week or two.

Yet another start, and a challenge!

Last month, I finished the Goldwork Heart II during our goldwork group meeting. Our group meets again tomorrow, and I have yet another goldwork GCC due in a few months, so I'm going to start it! Luck of the Irish is another Michele Roberts design, offered as a group correspondence course through EGA. Tonight I'll be mounting this on the working frame.

When I decided to do this, I came to the realization that this is the eighth project I've started since early May, and I've only finished one of these (Jim Wurth's Arcadia) and one other project (Goldwork Heart II). The others are:

• Blackberries on silk gauze
• Examplar IV from Catherine Theron
• Picnic Hampered! from Kathy Fenchel
• Fantasy Remembered GCC by Luan Callery
• The Ninja Squirrel Sampler (a.k.a. Be You to Others) from Hillside Samplings
• Tuscan Spring HP canvas by Sharon G
• and now, this goldwork shamrock!

And that's not counting all the other WIPs/UFOs in the works!

I need to finish a few things! Stay tuned for the challenge I'm posing for myself to answer this need. It's not the same as "The Wagon" challenge, but it's similar!

Sharon G. class, Day Two

As I mentioned, in the second day of class, we all started stitching on our canvases. (If you're just tuning in, I'm doing Sharon's Tuscan Spring.)

I spent most of my time working the first lavender bush (yes, those are lavender bushes in the foreground!) with knots. Sharon calls them "sloppy french knots", but I prefer Carole Lake's description of "sloppy wrapped knots", since a true french knot only has 1 or two wraps, depending on whose definition you use! These sloppy knots have anywhere from 2 to 8 wraps. Most of mine had 3-5 wraps on them. I used a variety of solid and overdyed lavender threads, blending various combinations of two strands in the needle.

When I got tired of making knots, I moved on to the foreground hillside. I used a stitch that's a combination of burden stitch and double brick stitch. Essentially, a double brick stitch (over two threads) is used to couch a length of thread along the row. I used one strand of overdyed floss in green and brown. After I got a few rows in, I decided this thread has too much green in it, so it looks like I'm overlaying a green screen on top of the painted canvas. I'm going to rip this part out and replace it with another color. Sharon suggested Gloriana's Pecan.

It was getting late when I discovered I was wasting my time on the hillside, so I just started the cream-colored tent stitches around the windows of the house.

Sharon also reviewed the Mindy canvas with me. It made me feel a little less clueless when she really had to think about the canvas before sitting down with me! She provided a number of great ideas, and I wrote them all down for the eventual stitching of this canvas.

Sharon G class!

Wow! Day 1 of the Sharon G. class in canvas embellishment is over. I learned soooo much, and am completely wiped out! As one of my comrades said at lunchtime, "I can't listen fast enough!" And the weird part is, not one of us put a single stitch into our canvases - we just talked through all of them.

Tomorrow, we'll start to stitch, and ask questions as we go along. I'm planning to bring the Mindy canvas I spoke of a few weeks ago, because I'm still fairly clueless on what to do with it.

Sharon, if you're reading this, thanks for a completely wonderful, exhausting day! It was fun to try to keep up with you!