Illusions, Progress #4

Illusions is complete except for the extras that I am doing.  You can see on the left side that I have started filling in the open spaces with 4-way Continental.  It looks nice, but it is very slow going (1 strand of floss).  I have left 2 rows of blank canvas between the border & the inside, for now.  I can add it later if needed.  I have about half of the outlining done and ran out of thread.  I'll probably pick some up on Saturday. I don't think it shows up very well in the photo though.  I may add some jewels or beads.


Bargello Crackers 1 & 2

Crackers are not just for Christmas!
I have completed two Bargellos which are destined to become Crackers.

#1 is a Spring Cracker and #2 is a Christmas Cracker.
I used Silk & Ivory, Watercolours and FyreWerks.

These stitch up so fast!  Now, off they go to the finisher!



Illusions, Progress #3

As you can see, I have made a lot of progress on Illusions since last week.  I really want to get this finished! 

You can see that I completed the "cubes" that almost appear to be shooting out. There are 3 more cubes to do, but they use different stitches.  I'm hoping to at least get those done this week.  Then there are the Crescents in the corners and the 2 blank triangular areas that show top & bottom.  I also need to outline most of the areas.  That was supposed to be done first, but I just basted instead.  Then I will have to decide if I want to fill in the largest open areas and with what!

In case you didn't know, this piece is designed to be worked entirely in Pearl Cotton, but I added some metallics.

Illusions, Progress #2

Next up to get finished is Illusions by Ro Pace.  You last saw this piece in July of last year!  I was piloting this piece along with several other stitchers here in Las Vegas.  We managed to get one quarter finished before Ro was to teach it at Seminar2012.  Since then I have only worked on it a time or two.
This past week I completed the border, which goes pretty fast once you get in the rhythm.  Next I will be working the various sections.  I will work a particular section in each quarter before moving on to the next section.  I had already completed the center "cross" and the squares in its corners.
Yesterday I did the diamond shapes that are kind of the points of the center cross.  Now I see that the diamond I had done in the first quarter is located one thread off from the other 3.  Although that one is the correct one, I will change that one to match the others.  Rather take out one than 3!!!

2012 SOTM Finished!

FINALLY!!!!  The 2012 SOTM is finished.
I am very pleased with the background, which I designed myself, but I still don't care much for the heart.

Why did I bother?  I don't know...  I guess there is a flaw in my makeup that requires me to finish what I start.  Eventually.

What will I do with it?  No idea.  It'll go in the closet with the rest of my finished projects that I don't know what to do with! 

We are truly & thoroughly addicted!

2012 SOTM Background

This weekend I worked a lot on the background for SOTM 2012 during our Lord of the Rings marathon.  We watched all 3 of the "extended" DVDs and they are each really long.  So I got in lots of stitching time!
I darkened the detail photo so you could better see the pattern.

The Background is coming along nicely and I expect to finish it this week. 

Here's what the whole piece looks like now.

Bloomin' Bargello is Finished

Bloomin' Bargello is finished!  Yay, my first finish of 2013.
I like this one much better than the "New Bargello" which was the first one I stitched of this design.  Next I will do one that is an analagous color scheme.  But it may be awhile before I get started on that.