Carol Harper's most read articles

The weekend was dominated by a BBQ at our house for 12 of husband's high school classmates and their others. The purpose was to inaugurate the planning for the class's 55th year-since-graduation reunion. My assignment was to acquire the meats and condiments (that took most of Friday, further complicated because the grocery store and parking lot were JAMMED with tractor pull contestants all shopping for their beer and camping supplies; in case you aren't aware - and odds are, you weren't, as I ce…

Well, I didn’t get as much stitching done this past week as I had hoped. A big kerfuffle about someone hacking my Apple Store account took all of Friday on the phone and back and forth to Federal Express. And Wednesday night was filled with tornado warnings, tornado watches, sever thunderstorm warnings and heavy downpours. Both event tended to put me off my stitching “stride”, as it were. But I did get some stitching done and the full cross-stitching right-hand-side of the birth sampler is ne…

The question for the month is: “How do you get yourself out of a stitching drought?” Good question. Since I was in such a drought for nearly two years because fo try aftermath of a broken left wrist, I’m not really a good source for a solution. I managed to “force” myself into a finish back in April and even that didn’t have a permanent effect. I tried to use the second stitch-a-day challenge with new pieces and it seemed to be working until… ~~~~~ July 16 (I missed a day because of…

A day late --- I totally forgot! Ooops! Not a good way to "stay connected", is it? Anyway, not a lot to report since my WIPocalypse check-in. I did try stitching on Biltmore Sunday abd ended up frogging two hours worth of stitching because of a massive miscount. SO I'm back to where I was at the end of June! AAARGH! I decided to bit the bullet and stitch on my bead journal piece ---even though it isn't turning out like I had in my head. I have the bird stitched now --- just the background…

What with holiday prep, the 18th challenge for the Compendium of Curiosities 3 Challenge , and the fleeting nature of my stitching mojo, I didn't get much stitching in this weekend, although I did at least get my November Bead Journal Project piece started. Here's Snowy, the Owl, with a leaf theme: He's roughly 1/3 complete and it should be able to get him done before Christmas is I plug away at him. Then it will be on to the Christmasy Owl and the year will be complete!

This month's topic for discussion is "How do you overcome that feeling that you’re in a rut with a particular project?" I'm afraid I have no answer for this one. At present, I am in a rut with two big projects: • "Roll Your Own Mandalas", of which there are 9, and I had planned to do all nine on one piece of fabric; I am stalled at #3, "Bride"! • "Save the Stitches" blackwork sampler, where I have the entire piece outlined but have more than half of the filling stitches to do It…

A completion, and ALMOST on schedule, finally! The July Crazy Quilt/Bead Journal Project block was finished on August 1! Because it is July, it HAD to commemorate July 4, even though we didn't go to a fireworks display or parade this year. However, we could see fireworks from our house --- some farmer apparently got permission set off a really good aerial show! So... the batik stars, the (VERY PALE) white-on-white stripes and the scattered star-shaped buttons are meant to be a patriotic…

I had great hopes for this weekend, but they were derailed by two wonderful movies on Saturday and horrendous heat/humidity all weekend. However, I did finally complete my June Crazy Quilt/Bead Journal Project for July. It’s supposed to be a representation of our three week road trip to Florida, Atlanta, North Carolina and West Virginia, visiting friends and indulging in daylily gardens. Silver charms represent each stat along a navy blue-and-white whipped chainstitch highway. Crystals mark the…

After finishing that butterfly clip on Monday evening, I didn't stitch a single stitch. We have house guests, and tonight is preview night at public television for "Indian Summers", so I doubt I will get around to stitching anything at all until the weekend... which will lead up to WIPocalypse September. I'll post again then... Meanwhile, happy autumn to all in the Northern Hemisphere!

After all that progress last week, I backslid this week. There was quilt guild on Thursday night and another computer glitch (and long telephone conference with Apple Care: upgrades to the operating system aren’t agreeing with my laptop, for some reason) on Monday and just general mailaise the rest of the week… In all, I stitched only one day and made little progress: just a thin strip of outlines along the tops of page four of the pattern… It's been snowing but, luckily, we seem to be eith…

Since last Wednesday, we drove --- a LOT! And did a lot of sightseeing as well. On Thursday, after the film and cyclorama at the visitor's center, we had a two-hour guided driving tour of the Gettysburg National Military Park. On Friday, we went blueberry picking at Frog Eye Farm (Charlie picked six pounds and when we got home, we froze six quarts!). Saturday was a LONG drive home through Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio, fighting our car's version of Siri all the wa…

This month’s topic for discussion is “What do you listen to while stitching?” For me, it’s always the television on. I stitch in my bedroom where there is an HD television hooked up to a DVR and the satellite as well as local on-antenna channels so I have a wealth of choices. I might “listen” to something I DVR-ed or it might be “live” — it all depends. Can I concentrate on stitching while “listening” to NCIS or do I need to concentrate on the program? Can I enjoy a classic movie while stitching…

This will be a short post as there really isn't much to show. "Marcia" is complete! Next up, "Jan"! And Block 12 of "Save thd Stitches is complete (and there is a start on Block 13: I will continue to plug away at both, but it is April now, and I have to come up with a block for the month for the Crazy Quilt Journal/Bead Journal Projects...

Another lazy week, this time because I was waiting for some charms to arrive in the mail! They finally came so I could plan out the “road Trip” part of the block, commemorating our three weeks traveling from Ohio to Florida and back through North Carolina and West Virginia. The charms represent each of our four destination states and the road is represented by a woven chain stitch in navy and white. Swarovsky crystals around the charms for Georgia (Atlanta) and North Carolina (Shelby) represent…

Another completion! The August Crazy Quilt/Bead Journal block: It's not really very imaginative, but as I said, August is always a problem for me as nothing much ever seems to happen to me in August (that I want to journal about in beads, at least!). And it means I'm caught up with Crazy Quilt Journal/Bead Journal Project for this year! Woo Hoo. I also stitched on the fifth motif ("Jan") from the "Roll Your Own Mandala" series and seven (out of 12) colors are now filled in (finally got…

I plugged away at "Revenge" in Roll Your Own. And when I say plugged, I really mean fogged. That lower left corner was ripped out three times due to silly one-off miscounts. But I finally got the third page done and the outline is now half complete!

This week was pretty much dominated by gatherings (meet the new coach, quilt guild holiday brunch, University President's holiday reception, lunch with my two best friends) and decorating the tree. No pictures for the gatherings but here is the tree, before and after ornaments: Our first ever purpose-build artificial tree (we've made do the past decade with a tree meant for outside decor). The only stitching I did was on my Crazy Quilt/Bead Journal block. I finally finishe…

The discussion topic for this month was: "What new stitches or techniques did you learn this year?" I usually learn new stitches when a) doing samplers (basically self-teaching using diagrams and the occasional online video), b) doing enhanced needlepoint. (that's what I call it, not sure it that is a real name for it), or doing free embroidery challenges/classes like TAST (Take a Stitch Tuesday). I did my last TAST sampler back in 2014 and while I often applied some of these free embroi…

August's topic for discussion is: "Have you participated in any of the mystery SALs on Facebook (or other social media)? What do you think makes a successful mystery SAL?" ​I am participating in four mystery SALs at present, all of which are supported by facebook groups: "52 weeks of Blackwork" by Peppermint Purple, which has weekly installments throughout the year "A Year of SALs" by Stitchonomy. There are five separate SALs (three now complete), with installments released at 2 day…

July's topic for discussion is: "What new charts or designers are catching your eye this year?" Given that is my first year back stitching after a long hiatus, a LOT of new (to me) designers have popped up on my radar. Just scrolling through the downloads on my iPad, I find: Online downloads from designers new to me, including: Frau Rosa Stikt!! where I have purchased two patterns: "Strandhauser" and "Durch Das Jahr Mit Frau Rosa" (in German)* Long Dog Samplers were I copped a freeb…