Xanadu by Jim Wurth, FINISHED

Xanadu is finished!  Hurray!  It turned out pretty, although it is really shiny.  I don't know how I will decide to finish it, frame or box or what.  No hurry there.  For now it goes in the "finished" pile. 

This small piece (5" square) was difficult to stitch for 2 reasons:  One, I used different threads than called for and some were hard to handle.  Two, the instructions were from an old issue of Needle Pointers and were less than stellar. 

But now it is done & I will go on to something else.  I think I'll concentrate on finishing up a small cross stitch to give my Mom for her birthday in May.  Will post about it eventually.

Xanadu by Jim Wurth, Progress #2

I haven't worked on it very often, but I have made some progress on Xanadu.  The directions are not great, so it is slow going trying to figure out how to do things.  I don't know if I did some of the stitches correctly, but they are at least consistent!  Next is to fill in the corners, which are mostly big Chilly Hollow stitches.  It is a pretty piece.

Xanadu by Jim Wurth

 Hello again!  Happy New Year, almost!  We are still in Reno, but I have a little time today so wanted to begin catching up.

The ANG Chapter in Las Vegas is doing Jim Wurth's Xanadu as a group project and I have just started it.  This pattern appeared in NeedlePointers, July 2009 issue.

I chose my colors starting with Frosty Rays Y357 and #8 & #12 Kreinik Braid #4005.  I added Neon Rays N92, Neon Rays Plus NP92, FyreWerks FT33 and #12 & #8 DMC Perle Cotton #3033.  I should have had Petite Frosty Rays, but the color I wanted didn't come in Petite.  The Petite would have been easier to use on the 18-count canvas (Eggshell), but I like the way it looks as is.  DH said he'd never seen me work so hard to pull a thread through the canvas!

I have a good start and it is looking really pretty.  This pattern is fun to stitch & goes fairly quickly.  It is not too big, finished size is about 5" square.  I think it will make a really pretty box top.  It is waaaaay sparkly in person!

The Group

Here they are. The new pictures are hung along with the one that was already there. Left to right: Keiko by Jim Wurth, Mystery in a Corner by Gay Ann Rogers, Suzy Q by Ro Pace. They are all in similar colors and go well together. And they all go well with my bedspread and 2 cats, see below.

Suzy Q and Keiko, Framed

Suzy Q (below on the right) & Keiko are now framed and waiting to be hung over the bed. I would have gotten that done, but the wire is in the wrong place on one & I can't unscrew the screw to fix it! Have to wait till DH can do it! Anyway, they turned out pretty nice. We decided to just leave some canvas showing around Suzy Q instead of a mat and used just a simple metal frame. Keiko looks nice with the dark green mat and the frame has a bit of texture. Once they are hung, I'll try to get a pic of the grouping.

Keiko by Jim Wurth, Finished

Keiko is Finished! Sorry the scan isn't too good, the beads hold it up off the glass & it comes out a little blurry. This is still not my favorite piece, but it looks better than it did. I still think it is too busy. If I were to do it again, I'd use fewer colors, maybe just one, and either make the beads more muted or replace them with Smyrnas. I will have it framed & it will hang in my Master Bedroom as the colors fit there.

Keiko by Jim Wurth, Progress #2

I worked on Keiko one afternoon and evening and accomplished quite a bit. It has lots of fun stitches, but I fear it is awfully busy! Once the diamond is complete, there is a sort of lacy "background" around it and I'm already thinking of how to make that calm the thing down.

Keiko by Jim Wurth, Progress #1

I made some progress on Keiko this past week. Now that I have the areas outlined, it goes much faster. I'll try to work on it a little each week & post my progress. Sorry the pic is kind of blurry, I don't know why. I scan stuff all the time & it usually comes out fine! Oh well, computer gremlins at work again....

Keiko by Jim Wurth

"Keiko" by Jim Wurth for the Rainbow Gallery is my next "just for fun" project.
I purchased this as a kit from Scarlet Thread online. When it arrived I decided to change the purple threads to browns, and I changed the overdye also. I'm just not a Purple Person! By the way, Scarlet Threads was great to deal with!
I should have something stitched to show you in a few days.