Walk the Wild River, #3 - Apology

Well, I thought I had set up a post for June 10 and it back-posted to May 10!  So, my post of Walk the Wild River, Progress #3, is there, you just have to scroll down to May 10 to see it!  For some mysterious reason, Blogger won't let me change it.  Sorry....  My bad.

Mad Miters for LV

I will be teaching Mad Miters as a workshop for the local ANG Chapter.  Most of the class will be making a glasses case, so I thought I should stitch up a Mad Miters glasses case!
I've got a good start on it as you can see.  I used an Overture Rainbow Tweed overdye that I had in stash & then pulled Silk & Ivory and Neon Rays in some of the colors from the Overture Rainbow Tweed.
I don't recommend the Overture Rainbow Tweed for Bargello.  It is a 4-strand thread but it stitcks together when you try to separate it.  I only need 2 strands for the Bargello.  It is not a very strong thread once it is stranded, so I don't know how well it will wear for a glasses case!  Oh well, we learn by doing!  It is a pretty thread though!
Since this will be a glasses case, I only put the border at the top.  Normally, I put a border all the way around a Mad Miters to stop it.
NOTE:  I have apparently lost my mind.  I am not using Overture, it is Rainbow Tweed! 

Marta Mask, Progress #5

Last weekend I went to a stitching retreat and I took the Marta Mask by Leigh Designs along to finally work on it again.  The week before, I experimented with stitchs & beads for the "cap" on the top of her head.
I decided to Basketweave the whole cap & then over-stitch it with a metallic in a very bright, shiny silver.  I used a 4-way Continental over 2.  It took forever and it isn't as "in your face" as I had hoped.  I am almost finished with the beads over the eyes (that's what the black thread is about).  So far, all of the beads are a silver lined clear, but they look bright silver.
I think I'll have to stitch over the black above the beads, if I can, with a gray to match the face. 
Then I will put it away again for a bit while I figure out what to do for the next section, which will be the "feathers" with the squiggly lines in them.  They won't be squiggly lines for sure, as they need to have diamond shapes to somewhat mimic the cap.  I have several stitches in mind that I want to try.

Sedona Sunrise FINISHED

Finally, Sedona Sunrise by Laura Perin is finished!  Actually, it was finished a couple of weeks ago but DH had the camera with him on a trip.  So, now I'm catching up!

I really like the way Laura is using the light coverage.  The border then is heavier & so the central part recedes.  Very nice.

Next I will do Laura's Indian Summer, using a lot of the same threads.  They will then be framed & can hang together.


NEW PATTERNS

I know it has been a long time since I posted.  I have been very busy getting 4 new patterns up on my website!  The following patterns are now available, please go to my website www.lizartneedlepoint.com on the page "Bargello 2 & Needlepoint" and check them out!

 

Bargello Crackers: 4 designs for Bargello Crackers includes finishing instructions. Very quick to stitch up and pretty easy to finish. No sewing machine required!

Bargello Hearts:  A new Bargello pattern - a heart!  I couldn't find a Bargello heart that was what I wanted (I only found 2) so I made my own.  Includes ideas & charts for several ways to use this pretty pattern.

Scottsdale:  You may remember when I was stitching this.  This design was inspired by a trip to Scottsdale several years ago.  The added beads are fun but not required.







Bitter Springs:  You'll remember this too!  This design is in the May 2013 issue of ANG's magazine, Needle Pointers.  For non-ANG members, this design is also available on my website.

 

 

 

There's also a new free design.  Check it out on the Free Design page of my website.  Just click on the fishy and wait a bit.  You'll get a .pdf file which you can save or print.

Walk the Wild River, Progress #3

Sections 5, 6, 7, 8

I thought I was caught up with Walk the Wild River, but Linda has posted another lesson!  Well, at least I'm only one week behind. 
Each section always turns out to be more time consuming than I think it will be.  Partly because I have had problems following the directions:  My problem, the directions are great, especially if you actually read them LOL.
I love the section with the "god's eyes", I think they turned our really neat.  The section to the right of it isn't quite finished.  The last step isn't working for me & I'm going to have to figure out something else to do instead.

Sections 10, 11, 13

These are the other 3 sections that are complete.  Sections 7 & 13 are similar and Sections 6 & 10 are similar. 

I think I spend as much time selecting threads & colors as I do stitching!

Below is what the whole thing looks like now.



Walk the Wild River to date.

Illusions FINISHED

Illusions by Ro Pace is finished at last.  Because my colors are dark & there's a lot of contrast between threads & canvas, I decided to fill in lots of the open canvas with 4-way Continental using one strand of floss. 

I also added some tiny Crescents around the Double Fans which really helped to eliminate the large blank areas. That section was also "off" on my piece, due to a counting error, and so I added an extra row of the braid, which hardly shows cause the outlining long stitch nearly covers it.

Finally, I added a row of Outline Stitch, with one strand of floss, all the way around to square off the inner edge of the border. 

Ta Da!  Finished!