Monday, April 29, 2013

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!

Friday, April 26, 2013

Sedona Sunrise Progress #3

I haven't shown you a progress photo of Sedona Sunrise in awhile!  I do work on it from time to time.  Now I'm working on the background & it is slow going.  This is what I work on when I don't want to think too much LOL. 
Once the background is complete, there's just the corners and borders and that should go quickly.

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Puzzle Piece Progress #2

Last night I finished the Bargello section of my Puzzle Piece (not a purse).  This is an ongoing project through CyberPointers.
The beads were my inspiration. I bought them about a year ago in San Diego when I was looking for beads for a different project. I didn't use them and they have been waiting in the wings! I like that they kind of look like cabachons, but they're beads.
I used a Watercolours overdye for my color base and several different threads, picking up the colors in the beads.. 

I'm really pleased with the way this turned out.

Sunday, April 21, 2013

FMTM Block #5



This week I've been working on FMTM again.  I completed Block #5 last night.  Whew.  Each block takes longer than you would tfhink!
Block #5 is all block stitch variations. I had to really work on the color arrangement because I wanted this block to be similar to Block #3 (upper left).  Detail below.


As you can see, I only have one block left to do and then the dreaded sashing & borders!

Friday, April 12, 2013

Walk the Wild River, Progress #2

Sections 2 & 3
Section 15
Lesson 2 of Walk the Wild River includes Sections 2, 3 & 15.  Sections 2 & 15 are similar.  While they were not difficult to stitch, they did take quite a while as they are layered.  I even did the beads!  Normally I would wait to add beads when all stitching is complete, but I have decided that for this piece I will finish each section as I go.  I didn't have enough of the copper beads for both sections, so for Section 15 I used some teal Magnificas that I had in stash.  These two sections are really pretty.

Section 3 is an unusual stitch and I have apparently lost the abilitity to count!!  Yes, I know there are a lot of mistakes.  Maybe I will pull it out sometime later and redo it.  But, in the meantime, I have the colors set and the section more or less complete to match up with what comes next.

Here is what the whole thing looks like now:



 


Saturday, April 6, 2013

Puzzle Piece

I am doing Jean Hilton's Puzzle Purse with the ANG Cyberpointers group.  I did not want to do a purse, so redesigned the outlines and I finally got them all stitched.  The pattern calls for #8 Pearl for the outside square and #5 Pearl for all the rest.  I found the #5 to be much too heavy and did all of it in the #8.
I think the Bargello comes next.  That will go in the large diamond and I'm thinking about setting some stones in there first.  I have a bunch of turquoise/aqua stones I have been collecting, so will see if any of them will work here.

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Walk the Wild River





OMG I finally get to take this class!
Linda Reinmiller's "Walk the Wild River".
When Linda first talked about this class on her blog, I wrote her immediately to find out where she would be teaching it.  Well, it was at last year's seminar and I couldn't make that.  But then Cyberpointers announced WWR would be taught as an online workshop!  Hip hip hooray!  I signed right up.

The workshop started mid March.  I chose a different color palette than Linda's, mine is on Antique Blue canvas (the darkest of the blue canvases) and my threads are more muted colors. 

This last weekend I finally completed all of the prework, as well as the first lesson, which was Sections 1 and 16.  The 2 sections are far apart but use some of the same thread and have a similar look.  The prework took quite a long time to do, but I am really glad I went ahead and finished it.  After a couple of ripping sessions due to miscounting, I knew it was going to be really important to have all those borders completed and correct!  Here is what it looks like today.

Section 1
Section 16
 


Monday, April 1, 2013

Feeling Better

Just a quick note to let you know that, while I am still coughing, I am feeling much better and have been stitching a lot.  Please check back tomorrow when I will show you the latest wonderful project!

I'm also still working on secret projects that I hope to be able to show you by the end of April.