Back to My Way

To scratch my itch for canvaswork, I've again picked up My Way, which was started almost a year ago.  To recap, the class with Carolyn Mitchell was in November 2008, but the borders were done as prework to the class.  Each stitcher picked her own colors to fill in this six-block pattern.  I chose mulberry and turquoise, with a "neutral" family of bluish-gray.  I was unsuccessful in finding all of the colors I needed in the threads called out in the instructions, so I'm winging it in some cases.

This week, I've been working on Block G.  How do we have block G if there are only six blocks?  Well, that was part of making the design "my way" for each stitcher.  We have seven blocks to choose from.

I'm not at all sold on keeping the center hearts as the lightest turquoise, mostly because it doesn't really pop.  This shade is too close to the blue-gray of the border.  I may replace this with a medium shade if it doesn't work with the rest of the design, but for now I'll leave it.

Here's the whole thing so far.  I'm deliberately leaving each block only partially done so I can make changes if the whole design doesn't balance.

Up next:  the corner of this block.  Stay tuned!

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Erin update:  CAST-OFF COUNTDOWN:  1 day, 3 hours.
Of course, she finally slept well last night.  Rather than waking every 3-4 hours like she has ever since being casted, she slept straight through from 11PM to 6:30AM.  Figures.  And now we're going to disrupt that by taking the cast off!

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!

Yes, I'm here

You know you've been slacking on your blog posting when your (non-stitching) boss tells you she's tired of seeing the same picture every time she checks your blog.

Sigh.

I haven't been posting much because I haven't been stitching much. By the time I sat down to Hannah Thornbush (maybe for 1/2 hour every other night), I was so tired I'd quickly start making mistakes. Add that to the carpal tunnel flaring up again when I work "in hand", making it painful to finish my first temari (which would work up really quickly if I didn't hurt after only 5 minutes), and you get nothing much that's blog-worthy.

Except, of course, for Erin, who's now 6 months old. She wore her fancy dress for her "official" 6 month pictures.