Brightneedle and a Spangler

Just a couple of things.  

Brightneedle Designs: Ezmeralda's House

 

I was pushing myself to finish Ezmeralda's House as I did much more than I originally planned but my interest in continuing with it dropped off.  I pretty much wasted a week of (non) stitching trying to push myself to finish, pushing myself to only work on Ez until done. 

Brightneedle Designs Ezmeralda's House

 It didn't work.  I spent a week not stitching because I just didn't want to work on it for more than 1 needle full of thread.  I would have gotten more done on something else had I only given up and moved to something else.  

Maybe I will finish Ez the next time I pick it up, whenever that may be.

HAED Storykeep: Spangler's Autumn

 

In the meantime, taking advantage of my sudden love of working on canvas which I really used to hate, I started a test Heaven and Earth Designs' pattern on congress cloth.

 I originally took out my Spangler Train of Dreams, a pattern I love as I love all of Spangler's little dragons.  I didn't get much progress, made a major mistake whose situation I worsened by trying to pick it out.  It was the too loosely woven 22 count hardanger which was causing that most recent problem.  That was also one of reasons for so little progress over so many years.   I cut apart the Train cloth.  So much for that for now.

I still loved the pattern.  I loved all the HAED's I have but there is no way they were going to be done on the cloth I thought I was going to use.  I needed something stiffer.  With encouragement from posters at the Heaven and Earth Designs Message Board at Yuku, I decided to try out a smaller HAED on a canvas.  In this case a 24 ct congress cloth I dug out of my deep stash.

HAED Spangler Storykeep Autumn

The progress doesn't look like much but it was a lot more progress in a few days time than my Train of Dreams on hardanger ever had over more time.  I still have to fine tune some stitching techniques on it but I am so loving the continental stitch, 2 ply on 24ct.

Congress cloth comes in a small selection of colors, some of them dark so I won't be limited to stark white.  It also comes in a 55 inch wide selvage so I won't be limited to small projects.  I can order congress cloth just like I did cloth. 

My short attention span may be ready to wander again now that I know the 'test' worked.  I am looking across the room to a Martina Weber stacked against the bookcase.  It has been too long since I have had a really deep immersion stitching session.

Another really old piece had a wake up!

Brightneedle: Ezmeralda's House

Another project started so long ago, probably not too long after the pattern came out.  Working from the top down, I got most of the bedroom done before I put it away.

This past week I finished the bedroom and started on everything below it.

When I first thought about this project I did not want to do this over 1 but I still wanted it to be small scale stitching and since it was Halloween I was leaning towards something funky: thus the tiny uneven cloth 44/48.  It has a beautiful dense hand to it.  I hope I have some more buried in the stash somewhere.

Joane Wallwin

More work on Wallwin.  Making my way across the second band.  

That third band area with the snake is going to be nasty.  The colors are alternating on all motifs there including that diagonal. There is no neat way to make the trip.  The colors will sometimes not alternate.  Also the thickness of the snakes waxes and wanes

Fortunately I am not a purist about sampler reproduction because I would not have made it past the first band where I miscounted, making the sampler wider than charted then adapted everything below.  The snake band colors will alternate as they end up alternating and I am not going to compare that with what is charted other than to marvel if I just happened to match. 


That's it until next week.  I don't know what projects will be inprogress then.  I am still poking through older wips.  I would like to finish all of Part 1 of Wallwin before I put her away.  I had planned on only doing the kitchen on Ez's House but I'm having enough fun to continue to the porch and her foyer so we'll see.

Filet Chilean Sunset

I forgot to post the adapted Filet color test.  This is the HDF Chilean Sunset finished. 

This is an amazing color.  It seriously changes color depending on the light and distance viewed. 

The picture is what it looks like from a few feet away.   From across the room it looks like a medium rose red.   Closer up it is more of a sunset firey orange - red.  I am not usually a fan of anything orange but this is an amazing color.

Stars for a Millenium

The Wagon (a Yuku board) is hosting a 2 year SAL on this counted canvas piece.  It is intense but it also moves pretty fast.  

One of the reasons it is moving along fast is that I make myself finish stitch steps in 1 stitching session.  I do that because I do not know if I am interpreting the instructions correctly so I strive for consistency. 

That diagonal blue woven step required so many clippings and redoings!  I also had to add additional thread plies because too much canvas was showing through.  It may be a little too thickly muddled now, but at least the canvas is covered.  

If I were starting this again I would start it on a darker canvas.  

Intense but fast, so far.  I don't want to burn myself out on it so still being in the mood for canvas I hope to pick up either Pieces of 8 for the final 4 blocks or taking on Lahaina again.  We shall see which one wins the mood.

Joane Wallwin

After 10 years of inactivity with very little, a week of work produces a couple of bands. 

I would love to finish Part 1 of the pattern before I put this back to sleep...for less than 10 years, I hope.

I forgot what count my Oyster cloth was: it is 36/40, very tightly woven.  I need to use a slightly sharp needle to get between the threads.  I try not to split the stitching threads while doing so but I don't always succeed.  The DMC can't tolerate much of that: it is shredding horribly even with short 15 - 18 inch strands.

It finally feels like Autumn.

The Summer weather continued up until a front blew through overnight.  Today was the first day that feels like Autumn to me: overnight is chilly, morning air is crisp, midday is warm, some trees are starting to show color.

With that comes a change of mood which affects my stitching focus.   I took out some pieces which have not seen progress for a year or more.  One will go back to sleep as it just did not hit 'the spot.'

HDF 'Woodland Path' Filet

 

I finished the small HDF thread test on the woodland pathlike color.  

The greens are more green in real life.




Wiehenburg: Quaker Welcome

Still in the mood to stitch with HDF, a mystery unlabeled spool,  I hauled out my WIP of this very long Quaker Welcome sampler.  I finished a motif, started another then put it down.   

I will be putting this away until another time.

 

 HDF Chilean Sunset Filet

Then I started another HDF color test: Chilean Sunset.  

The colors were much better than I expected.  

This is using another filet lace pattern.

 JCS Ornament Sampler

I am often inspired and influenced by stitching on other blogs and on assorted stitching message boards. 

 All the talk about the 2012 Just Cross Stitch Christmas issue made me take out my JCS Christmas Ornament sampler.  

 I  have neither need nor desire for too many small stitched things.  I have no display cases and my book shelves are already overfull so I do not stitch things unless I can make them fit in a frame.

A long while ago I started this a piece of cloth a Montreal stitcher generously sent me.  The New Castle line of linens were just coming out.    She sent me a fat quarter of sand New Castle which I had not known existed.  I immediately started a sampler with ornaments from the 1997 JCS Christmas Ornament magazine.  

Since then I have included ornaments from other years.  I put them in as I can get them to fit.  My optimistic intent was to fill up this cloth then start another and another.   

Since this one has been about 8 or more years in the making to this point, you can appreciate how optimistic that thought is.  I have changed some colors, added beads, textural stitches as the whim hits.  The sand color does not show up in the above picture.

I am still waiting for my 2012 issue to get to my mailbox.

SANQ Joane Wallwin

SANQ article Part 1

Another reawakened interest from a topic on a message board.   I dove into my stash, grateful that at least some of it is still organized.  Out came the piece which confirmed that I am in for a change of focus on my stitching.

original Wallwin

 I hauled out Joane Wallwin which has not seen any work for at least 5 years or longer.  The uncertainty of not having all the threads called for is no longer going to hold me back.  The strangeness of working over 3 threads on tightly woven Oyster cloth is also not an issue anymore.  I don't know why these changed feelings happen but I am very glad for them.

SANQ Spring 2002 cover

The pattern as printed in SANQ over several issues, charted by Page Dorsey, Sampler Workes, is charted for Au Ver a Soie  silks: Soie de Paris and 100/3.  

The Soie de Paris's numbers are the same codes used for regular AVAS silks which I can match for color.  

The 100/3 silks are an issue.  I have no clue if these numbers are equivalent to any other line of thread or yarn.   I had some of them in my stash but not all.  

Designer's Model stitched Part 1

The designer used a 40/50 count uneven Oyster cloth.

I don't know how she tamed some of those threads!  

The tight twist of the 100/3 makes it too stiff to sit over 3 on my oyster cloth.  It arches up too high for my tastes. 

10 years of my progress

 I used DMC cotton floss instead, eyeballed to the 100/3 color or just chosen to correspond to my interpretation of the color name in the required  color family values.  In one case, the first band's "light salmon." I changed to a deeper one.  The original light color was not showing up on the cloth.  The DMC is still a little too thick for crisp blackwork lines but I do not have anything thinner.

 Blackbird Designs Christmas Garden

I loved it when I saw it.  I do not love it now.  Mostly enjoyed it but now not so much.  I still hope to finish it by the end of the year.

 I finally got a picture which is a truer representation of the cloth color.

 Tony Minieri's Stars for a New Millenium

New SAL, a 2 year project with The Wagon (a yuku board)  starting in October.  It scares yet excites me.  I have the pattern, the threads, the canvas and bars.  I just need to arrange them and wait for the start.   No picture yet: tune in next month.

Chances of finishing this year's chief WIPS:

 

Bicknell/Needlepoint Now: Pieces of Eight: Most likely.


Blackbird Designs Christmas Garden: Most likely but I will have to set aside days that I make myself work on this.



Perin Lahaina Breezes: Not likely.  I have to change the thread in the outer most border.  Satin stitching the 5 or 6 strands of DMC is just fuzzing up too much even with short strands.


Martina Egyptian Mandala: No way.


Lizzie Kate Winter Alphabet: Probably not.


Martina Japanese Panels: One more panel hopefully, but I would rather have more progress on Egypt.

More Summer Updates

Pieces of Eight

 I did not get work done on Pieces of Eight since my last post because I could not put down the Filet Bluework but I did take an updated picture of progress made in June.   

When I post the finish I hope to include notes about what colors I feel the magazine got wrong when ccompared to the photos and my own work.  Not all the colors listed in the directions need to be bought.  Based on my study of the photo of the original piece, it had  fewer colors with better distribution.  

I finally started making more of my own choices as I progressed.   I wished I'd made them sooner to better balance the colors.  I love it anyway.

Chatelaine: Egyptian Mandala

I am finally starting to feel like I am getting somewhere.  It is funny to me, that while I longed to be done with the inner block sections there was something reassuring about filling them in.  I have to pay more attention to the chart now.  

New territory to be stitched.  I am on to other shapes, other motifs. 

Filet Lace Bluework 

This piece did not take long as I could not stand to put it down.   The colors are still a little off but a little closer than the older picture.

I enjoyed working on this piece so much I dove into my stash of HDF spools then found another small pattern to start.

Filet Leafy Scrollwork 

A semi mystery thread.  It is HDF.  It is labeled.  It is a Single Stranded Regular silk.  The mystery is how I got it because I never ordered SSR a la cart.  I suspect it came in a bag of mystery spools from an old carrot option in the shopping menu.

I absolutely love the SSR.  I wonder if the new SSR is like this onld one.   The coverage on 36 ct is better than 1 ply from the 6 stranded. 

I also love this color.  It reminds me of leaves starting to change for fall or a forest path.   The color numbers listed on the mini  spool are: 5135/5271/3255/3221 which I think is a combination  of Kodiak Bear 5135/Jackalope 5271/Luteus Green 3255/Willow Withies 3221