Mad Miters

The other piece I finished last week is a bargello piece in a technique I call Mad Miters. This is such a fun project and one which I hope to teach as an online class next year. This particular piece is "wilder" than most that I do, with more colors including an overdye. I will do some "calmer" samples as well. In the meantime, you can enjoy other Mad Miters that are included in my Slide Show.

Here is another older Mad Miters I did with Brazilian Embroidery roses in each center. It turned out really pretty and I still like it even though it is 20 years old!

BOINK FINISHED

Happy Dance! The Book of Ink Circles is finished. I ran out of the Waterlilies I was using for the outer border, but my LNS in Reno had one more skein of that dye lot. Whew! So, we got back to Vegas Mon. night and I finished it off yesterday. I am very pleased with the result. I decided to do the border around the two center crosses in an off white instead of the aqua I used in the rest of the piece and I like the way that turned out. This was a fun piece to stitch!

Going to Reno again!

I don't have anything to show you today, but thought I would check in! We are off to Reno again tonight for a long weekend. I am looking forward to stitching & lunching with my Reno friends tomorrow and shopping at Stitch In Time.

Saturday we are going to a fancy Black & White Ball in Carson City. That should be fun!

By the middle of next week, when we return to Las Vegas, I should have a couple of finishes to show you! I'm almost done with the Ink Circles piece, and a new bargello as well. I am taking some cross stitch with me so maybe I'll have something to show there too.

New Website

www.threadmedley.com is up and running and deserving of a thorough investigation. Jan has designed a wonderful place to study and learn about needlepoint, particularly her methods of research and design. She is expert at adapting designs to needlepoint. She discusses her research and how she goes about adapting a design from, for instance, a Moroccan rug or tile to needlepoint. She is a wizard at choosing and designing stitches to make these designs her own. There will also be designs offered for purchase.

Do check out this website, as well as Jan's blog, http://threadmedley.wordpress.com.

Double Up Progress Report #1

I have been working on Ro Pace's piece, Double Up, which we did as a Pilot Class a few weeks ago. It is a challenging piece, but it is going to be a stunner. I have completed one of the outer triangles and most of the center. It is slow going for me since I decided to do it on Congress Cloth. The photo isn't very good, I'll try to do better next time!

Boink Sections 5 & 20

Last night I finished the last two squares on my Book of Ink Circles piece. Happy Dance! Now I can get busy filling in the borders.
Square 5 is in the middle at the top of the crosses. Square 20 is in the middle below the crosses. I redesigned Square 5 to try to get it to look less like a bird. It still looks like a bird, but more stylized. And I added my name. I may go back & put some brown around the name to make it stand out more. I decided to put in a little bit of the aqua in these squares and I think that was the right decision.
On to the borders!

Boink Sections 2-6-12&21

Wow! This weekend I completed 4 more squares of my Book of Ink Circles. They go pretty quick once you figure out what to do!
I redid Square 2 (just below upper left corner square). I didn't care for the design in that square - it always looked like owls to me. So I designed a new square based on one of Ink Circles free designs "September Celtic Knot". I stitched it in an overdye then added a dark brown square "behind" it and in the center which helped to perk it up a bit.
Square 6 is just below the upper right corner square. In this one I used my overdye, plus lots of shades of brown. It kind of looks like a treble clef I think, but it is OK.
Square 12 is just above the lower left corner square. I used the same colors as in #6.
Square 21 is just above the lower right corner square. This one gave me a lot of trouble as it is so different from all the others. It is very "square" and I didn't realize till I was actually stitching it that the numbers "2009" appear in it although they aren't very obvious. That's OK as that is the year it will be finished. Again I used the overdye and shades of brown, but I used fewer colors and left more blank canvas than intended by the designer.
Two more squares to go and then I can fill in the borders, or not. I haven't really decided yet.

Boink Sections 3 & 18

I haven't worked on my Book of Ink Circles for awhile, but now that I've finished a couple of other things I've returned to it. I just completed two more squares, #3 & #18. These are the ones in the middle of the top & the bottom. I decided to do them just in shades of the brown, no overdyes. They are very similar patterns and I'm glad I used the same colors for both of them. I also went back to Squares 10 & 11 (the "crosses" in the middle) and added some off white to make the designs stand out a little more. I think it helped.

SOTM Colors

I have been asked to share my colors for Minieri’s Stitch of the Month Kimono 2009 so here they are:

Needle Necessities overdyed floss 166
FyreWerks (Soft Sheen) FT53 & FT46
Neon Rays Plus NP10
Kreinik 027, 4003, 5555

I am substituting floss for the silk. These are the families, I don't
know which ones I'll end up using. You might want to pick the most appropriate.
DMC Floss 523, 3052, 3051, 3774, 950, 3064, 3772, 632, 712

The canvas is brown.

Dingo Hunting Kangaroo

I don't see the title in the picture, but I love the piece. I finally finished my Orana Originals aboriginal design. I purchased the pattern in Australia a year or so ago. It is a cross stitch pattern, which I stitched in needlepoint on 18-count Leventine Blue canvas. I used Watercolors for the background. The pattern is mostly in Kreinik metallics except where I couldn't get the right color, so there is also some floss. It is all Tent except for the white streak across the center which is done in Smyrna Crosses. I'll take it up to Reno with me this summer for my favorite framer to take care of.

SOTM Section 3

The April stitch of the ANG Stitch of the Month is out and I got mine stitched last night. It is a pretty stitch which makes a very strong cable pattern. I used DMC Floss #3064, 3 strands. I kept track: I took me about 2 hours to stitch this section.

Ghost of Christmas Past

I don't have anything new to post today, so I wlll give you another blast from the past. These are a few of the Christmas things I did back in my previous life. Except one: The Western Santa is fairly recent. He was an ornament I did for the Reno ANG Christmas project a few years ago.

The rest were all done in the 70s. Some of the Christmas Cards and the Reindeer were done on perforated paper, before anyone knew about it! I saw an article about it in a magazine and promptly ordered some. In those days it only came in the buff color, but I discovered it could be painted and that worked really well. I did a lot with it back in the mid 70s.

The wall hanging with the 3 little girls was an ambitious project and turned out really cute. My mother still proudly displays it every year! It is beginning to look a bit rumpled, but she still loves it.