Vacation stitching

I'm spending this week visiting friends in Chatham, MA.  We'll see if Blogger's timed entry system works.

In the interest of packing light (and not paying to check a suitcase), I'm not taking anything that needs a frame for stitching.   So, my first selection for travel stitching is the canvas for a Pischke Pocket tote bag.  It's done on 10-mesh canvas with Anchor tapestry yarn.  I can't wait.  I've been stitching on 18 and 13-meshes lately, so 10-mesh will go so quickly.  This is the canvas I selected for a shop model.

Other designs in the series include these:

Hearts and flowers cyberclass, Lesson 2 continued

I was so proud of myself for finishing all the basketweave shown here.  And then I remembered that Lesson 2 also includes doing the gold smyrna crosses around the outside AND the basketweave on both sides of that "ribbon".  I'll be tardy finishing that and starting Lesson 3, because I'm leaving tomorrow morning early (alarm at 4am) to go to Cape Cod for next week.  In an effort to only have a carry-on suitcase, I'm leaving my framed projects and laptop at home.  I've scheduled blog entries for next Wednesday and Saturday that I hope will "magically" appear in my absence.  I am taking my camera and will try to bring back some memorable photos to share.

Coral class, I completed

It always amazes me how long and how much fiber it takes to do the additional rows around a canvas just so the finisher won't make it the size of a cigar (no insult meant to the finisher).  Interminable!  But, I finally finished, and here it is:

Meredith asked if I had used beads.  The answer is no.  I prefer French knots.  It has the same effect, but I am better at doing French knots than I am chasing beads around the room. 

Calico Corners is currently having a sale.  I stopped by on Monday in search of fringe for a customer's pillow and discovered the perfect fabric and fringe for my two coral pillows.  They'll be finished with a 2" frame and wonderful coral fringe.

Now to work on the fan coral and send these beauties to the finisher.  With luck, that will be the end of October.

Coral class, I continued

Well, I stitched like crazy, but didn't finish.  I even cheated and took this to stitch on at the shop today. 

Could one of the reasons I haven't finished be because I keep rubbing my finger on the background stitch.  It's so smooth!!

Stylish ladies finish

After much dithering about how to finish/finish my 5 stylish ladies, I finally settled on inserting them into the Lee's Needle purse for which they were originally designed.  So I went from a tray to a leather purse to a nicely styled pre-finished purse.  Of course, if you look closely, you can see where I had to add 4 rows of basketweave on each side.  Thankfully that doesn't detract from the overall smashing look.  I'm quite pleased with myself and can't wait to carry it in two weeks when I visit Cape Cod.






I spent two days this week putting my overdyed impressions on sale and pruning my inventory of watercolors to put on sale (50% off), both from the Caron Collection.  I'm keeping about 60% of the watercolors selection, but decided to eliminate those color combinations that were less subtle in color transition.

This is a sampling of the watercolors selected for the sale basket.

And these are examples of the overdyed impressions placed on sale.

coral class, I

Several years ago I had Trubey design two small coral canvases for me to use in teaching two-session classes where the students could select which canvas they wanted to stitch.  My models were made into framed pillows out of a coral polished cotton with a rusty-coral fringe.  They were so gorgeous that someone came in and bought the finished products.  So, now to stitch replacements. 

I started by doing a stitch to outline the design area.  For this canvas, I selected the Long-armed cross stitch variation.  It should start from the top left of the canvas, ending the row two stitches early to allow for the downward row of the stitch.  Then move to the bottom, and then turning the canvas upside down, doing the last side.  I cheated in the interest of the blogging entry and did the left side from the top down (rather than from the bottom up to maintain the flow of the stitch).  It's easier to do the outline stitch first and then lay the threads of the stitch selected for the interior of the background.  (Rather than doing the background and trying to not pierce the threads of the background stitch while doing the border stitch.)

I'm tap-dancing verbally, because I cannot locate the name of the stitch I am using for the background.  I thought it was a variation of the Old Florentine, but I can't verify that.  Anyway, it's a quick and easy stitch to do and offers nice texture.  It's one row over 4 and one row over 2 in a flame-stitch motif. 

Some of the darkest areas of the coral are stitched in the smyrna cross.  It has been nice to have this to work on while watching the US Open Tennis matches.  I'm hoping to finish this during the next week so I can start on its companion.

Hearts and flowers cyberclass, Lesson 2 started

It's interesting that in this photograph the darker Scotch stitches look larger than the lighter.  They are the same size.

The large fyrewerks hearts look so wonderfully smooth--it's hard not to just sit touching them, rather than continuing with stitching.  I love savoring the textures in the canvases I stitch. 

There is a ton of basketweave to complete in this phase of the stitching.  I've tried to get a start on it, but must redouble my efforts.  I'll post a further progress report in a week or two.

Anniversary seashell tote--STITCHING COMPLETED!!

Oh, joy, oh, ecstasy!  Yes, indeed, it's almost ready to send to the finisher.  Just the minor problem of 9 missed stitches that I found when I scrutinized it under the lights at Needle Nicely.  But it will be mailed to the finisher this week.  Hooray!

And a closer look at one side of the design.