Framed

I finally got some things framed:

Twister, finished 2012, this piece will hang in our entryway along with other black/white/red things.

Mystery Retreat, Las Vegas, 2009, this huge project has been finished for 5 years!.  I had it stuck on my wall with tacks in Vegas, but now it is finally properly framed.  I actually use this piece as a stitch sampler and refer to it often!

My version of Jean Hilton's Puzzle Purse, my "Puzzle Piece".  The Puzzle Purse was a Cyberpointers' SAL in 2013.  I did not want a purse, so reworked the design area into a square.  It was quite a challenge, which was Jean Hilton's intention!  I'm pleased to have it framed now.

Twister is Finished

At long last, Twister is finished!!!  I wish I had noted the start date, but it was at least 2 years, maybe more.  Of course, I didn't work on it all the time. 
I had to make an adjustment on the final square, the very last section!  It was to be the exact same pattern as one next to it in the adjoining square.  I didn't want that so I just used an alternating Scotch to complete the square.
It will be quite a while before this gets framed as it is destined for the Reno house, where my other "red" pieces are.  It is easier to move unframed!

Twister, Progress #19

Here is the next to last Progress photo for Twister!  I worked on it during the week this time as I am determined to finish it by the end of February.   Last Sunday I decided to do all the outlining for the final gray sections.  I was about half finished with that when I noticed that things were not lining up quite right, and it was getting worse with each section.  So, I stopped & studied & found I had miscounted on the very first sectioin I basted!  so, it all came out and I started over!  Thank goodness I baste!  Otherwise, I would have had to take out all the stitching.  Argh!!

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So this is my progress to date. I will work on it this afternoon & evening! I expect to finish the gray and the basting for the last red sections today. Maybe I'll even get a start on stitching the reds.  DH is out of town for a few days, with dog, so I have extra stitching time!

Twister, Progress #18

The next time you see this Twister, it will be finished!  I have been working on it most Sundays, although I missed several Sundays over the holidays.  This quadrant seems to be going very slowly, but I think it just seems that way because I want it to be finished!  First I wanted it done by the end of 2011, then I thought by the end of January, now I'll be pleased if it is finished by the end of February!  Life does get in the way sometimes.

Here's what the whole thing looks like now:
It is beginning to look kinda cool!

Twister Progress #17

Oh Boy!  The third quadrant of Twister is finished!  Only one more quadrant and it will be over.  I will not be able to finish it by the end of the year as I had hoped, but it shouldn't be much after that! 

Twister is really a fun project, but HUGE.  If I were to do it again (bite your tongue Liz!) I would change the colors, probably add some metallic & overdyes. 

To any of you that are planning to stitch Twister, I recommend basting in the outlines of the areas first.  I did not draw anything on the canvas except the vertical & horizontal center lines & I wish I had basted those instead.  Here is what the whole thing looks like now:

Twister Progress #16

The third quadrant of Twister is moving right along.  I completed the rest of the gray area and got 2 small sections of the red finished this past Sunday!  Two more Sunday's and I should have this quadrant done & will be on the home stretch.

Twister Progress #15

Finally, a full Sunday of Twister!  Now that all the basting is done, this quadrant should go quickly.  Not quickly enough though!  I figure 3-4 more Sundays to finish this quadrant!  Then there's a whole other quadrant to do!  I don't think I'll be able to finish by the end of the year.  Rats!
Anyway, I completed 3 gray sections last Sunday.  I messed up the middle section & had to rip out a bunch:  I had accidentally picked up the wrong color & it took awhile to notice.  I was NOT a happy camper!  It got all fixed, but I had to stay up "late" to finish the 3rd section. 

Here's what the whole thing looks like now:

Twister Progress #14

The third quadrant of Twister is now 1/2 done!  Actually it's a little more than half cause the center square won't repeat.  This is going faster now it seems.  Maybe I have a better feel for it or something.  I still hope to finish it by the end of the year, but that might be wishful thinking!

Twister Progress #13

Got back to Twister Sunday this week!  Accomplished quite a bit, 3 sections of the gray and 4 sections of the red are done now.  Next week I'm going to have to do a bunch more basting.  I'm finding that on a non-basting Sunday, I can get 3-4 sections done in a day.  Not bad!!!  I'm still hoping to complete this by the end of the year, but that might be wishful thinking!  Here's what it looks like so far:



Twister Progress #12

I worked on Twister all day last Sunday and completed 4 sections in Quadrant 3.  I was surprised at that much progress as the outside sections are th biggest.  How long it takes though depends a lot on the stitch.  The outside red section took about 4 hours, well I did stop in there for lunch!  The outside gray section only took about 2 hours.  No!  I did NOT take a 2 hour lunch!

I won't get anything done on Twister for a couple of weeks now.  We are going to Reno and I won't be taking it along. 

Twister Progress #11

Twister is half done!  I worked on it last Sunday and completed the second quadrant.  Then I took it off the frame and put it back on all nicely stretched & straight again.  It had loosened up quite a bit during the however-many-years it's been since I started it!  It is nice to have it nice & taut again!
I started basting in the sections of the 3rd quadrant so I'll be able to stitch like crazy next Sunday!
The photo is the right way up (if there is a right way).  I've been showing it too you sideways before.

Twister Progress #10

Back to Twister Sundays!  I worked on Twister all day Sunday and made a lot of progress.  I finished all of the gray and did two red segments.  So there are 5 red segments left to complete this quadrant. 
Wow, I'd sure like to finish this piece by the end of the year, but that might not be possible since we have several "travel" weekends planned and Twister is just too big to haul around!

This is what it looks like so far:

Twister Progress #9

I worked on Twister yesterday.  I missed one Sunday, but now this quadrant is a little more than half done.  I will miss next Sunday too, but at least I am making slow progress. 
One of the things I have tried to do is make the direction of the stitch patterns in each section make it look like it is turning to the center.  I don't think I'm getting that.  It is harder to do than I thought it would be!

Twister, Progress #8

Wow, I really got a lot done on Twister yesterday!  But I just couldn't quite finish up that center square before going to bed!  It really feels good to accomplish so much!

I won't get to work on it next week because our Retreat is Sunday.  But I'll be back at it the following week.

Twister, Progress #7

OK, I've worked on Twister a couple of times.  I'm trying to keep ahead of myself by doing a few outlines each time.  It is just tooooo boring to do them all at once!  But it sure does help with the compensating stitches.  The 2-tone gray section was slow going as I kept having to switch threads.  Odd that the one next to it looks 2-tone also and it is just due to stitch direction!

Twister, Progress #6

I worked on Twister 2 Sundays & this is all I've accomplished!  The outlining takes forever!  I had planned to do all of the outlining before starting to stitch this quarter, but after a day of it I changed my mind!  Too boring and you don't feel like you're accomplishing anything!  So this last weekend, I outlined 3 more sections & stitched two.  Now I feel like I'm "on a roll"!!

Twister, Progress #5

Sunday I finished the first Quadrant of Twister.  Whew!  I have decided that for the next quadrant, I will outline all of the areas first.  That takes quite a bit of time but once the outlines are in, the little sections stitch up much more quickly.  I'm sure it will take the same amount of time all together, but it seems faster!  I outline with just 1 strand of floss in the color of that section.  Then I can just stitch right over the outline.

Twister, Progress #4

Back to work on Twister, my Sunday Project!  I have worked on it the last 2 Sundays and completed all the gray sections, one red section & the next 3 sections are outlined.  I might be able to complete this quadrant next week.  I'm thinking that if I can really work on it just about every Sunday, I might, maybe, be able to finish it this year! 

Twister, Progress #3

I did not work on Twister for 2 weeks, but yesterday I completed 4 sections.  The "twist" in this quadrant is now more apparent.  I won't be able to work on this again until sometime in January due to travel & holiday festivities!  It is too big to pack!

Twister, Progress #2

Here is my progress on Twister to date. At this rate it will take years to finish! Oh well, at least I'm working on it! I've started the reverse swirl, notice the little gray patch under the dark red square, so the next update should show more changes. This section that I'm working on will end up being a square and there are 4 squares to the whole piece!