Carol Harper's most read articles

(funny, I usually like backstitch in blackwork but the light oclor of that gray is driving me nuts) another completion of a small piece... It's lesson 11 in the "Color Through the Ages" twinchies by Janet Perry, and uses DMC 310, 3706, 5282 and E677. I THOUGHT I was electing a silver metallic but when I started stitching with E677, it turned into a pale pale gold. Since ripping out DMC metallic is a PITA, I decided to leave it even though it isn't really Art Deco in feel any more.

WIPocalypse - March 27, 2013 This month's WIPocalyspe themes are : Designer – Chatelaine, Style – Springtime, Colors – Green and Yellow. Well, I don't have any Chatelaine pieces in progress although I do believe I have one chart in my stash... Springtime (which has yet to arrive here) is almost the theme for my BJP March butterfly ... and I have dabbled in yellow (that butterfly again) and green (my Encrusted Crazy Quilt block)! In addition to the above pieces completed or in progress,…

My version of cloud filling, stitch #78 for Take a Stitch Tuesday (TAST) , in two shades of purple #5 perle cotton:

Except for completing the eye-candy challenge for TAST and printing out the new charts for Janet Perry's Stash Buster and Mittens & Mini-Socks series, all I did this week was stitch on "Birds of a Feather". Progress is slow but it is progress (two colors complete in the birds in the center and on to the third color, and all central motifs are now placed and at least have a little stitching in them!):

I continued on with "Birds of a Feather" and actually got started on the metallic threads! Maybe you can see some of the bling in the right-hand and top borders? I suppose I could have continued but my conscience was bothering me --- so many pieces sitting there, unstitched! So on Friday... First, I tackled Take a Stitch Tuesday week 38, Drizzle Stitch. Keep in mind I HATE threading needles and I'm not a fan of "knots" so this one was hard for me to do but here are five "Drizzles" in a…

This week's "report" is more of an unraveling than a wrap-up... Thanks to house guests on Tuesday/Wednesday (one can't just run off to one's stitching place when there are people to entertain, and since these people were welcome guests, I was even less inclined to desert them) and a funeral on Friday/Saturday (husband's younger - by four years - brother, of complkcations from Stage IV porstate cancer), stitching time was somewhat constrained. Add to that, we got home fro the funeral and on Sund…

And have a few completions to show for it! First, the Take a Stitch Tuesday for week 37, which was the "pistil" or long tack knot stitch. I'm sure there are uses for it besides being the pistils of flowers but I wasn't think very imaginatively yesterday so here are my pistil stitch in a stem-stitched flower with couched stem and leaves: Having spent the morning kitting up the Janet Perry Stash Buster and Mittens & Mini-Socks for September, I decided to work on one o…

I pretty much spent this past week working on the Michael Powell "Home Sampler" although I did take a day off to do Color Through the Ages, another day off to do TAST and last night off to go see New York Polyphony in concert at the university (if you like medieval music and male a capella quartets, this is a MUST SEE!). Anyway, here is where "Home" stands at this minute:

Buttonhole Eyelet Flower... NOT something I will come back to willingly. I just don't do stitches where my hands feel like they are ten times too large for the needle adn the stitches come out all wonky like this: Besides, I can't think of a single use I would put it to... I'm beginning to think that freehand embroidery is NOT my medium.

Here is my version of inverted feather stitch... Two rows in a variegated perle (#5) on linen...

In addition to keeping on schedule with my bead journal project, I also managed to keep on schedule with my Crazy Quilt Journal Project 2014 block: The focus fabric is the 2014 Hoffman Challenge fabric, which I intend to us in each block this year, along with a lot of solids and maybe even a few of the coordinating Hoffman prints. This is a departure for me in colors (I'm not usually a pastel person) and style (not that much into florals either) but I think trying to to make this wor…

This month's question is "How do you get yourself out of a stitching drought?" and I really wish I had an answer! ​I have been in a stitching drought since October 2016 --- initially becsaue of a broken wrist (that was roughly 4 months stitchery-free during healing and therapy) and then because my hand wasn't strong enough to hold my Q-snaps for any extended period of time without cramping or shaking. I think I am better now but... getting the motivation to pick up those two WIPS/wannabee UF…

I put in a total of 2032 stitches in on "Birds of a Feather" this weekend and only have two more DMC colors to go before I have to start on metallics, speciality stitches and beads! So it was a good weekend!

Two finishes for the Janet Perry Mittens & Mini-Socks bargello class... Autumn Trees, completed October 10, 2012, using all variegated threads (except for the tree trunk): Threads used - DMC 3031 for trunks; DMC 4126 for cuff; for tree leaves, DMC 51, 61, and 4075 4130; WDW Kudzu (2200), Cornbread (2222), Marigold (2225), Carrot (2226), and Fiesta (4131); San Man Threads Autumn Leaves (049) and Hot Stuff (058); and GAST Bittersweet, Forest Glade, Fudge Ripple, and Pumpkin Patch (440…

In the past week, there have been a few "completions"! The first, and biggest, is "Kimono - Revisited" which is now ready for the framers! The second was the weekly TAST - the open base needlewover picot stitch. The third was the Hillcroft House "name shield" for my husband's birthday, also ready for the framer. And finally, there was my block for the color palette challenge - crazy quilt journal page challenge - bead journal project challenge for November! The grid was a…

This week's stitches were the Buttonholed Cable Chain and the Alternating Buttonholed Cable Chain Stitches. Once I got into the swing of things, I found the Buttonholed Cable Chain easy to do, and I can see this as a seam treatment on a crazy quilt, simply because it looks a lot like crochet or tatting (which I cannot do!)! But I had issues with the alternating stitch --- so I tried it twice. Still had issues. The top buttonholes courses simply weren't working, perhaps because I ha…

Catching up on "smalls"! Take a Stitch Tuesday, Week 34 , was the "Linked Double Chain". I did it as both a straight line and a meander, using perle cotton: Color Through The Ages, Lesson 6, was "Colors of the Amish" and took the form of a log cabin quilt block: Yeah, I know --- it doesn't look a lot like a log cabin to me either --- I tried to stick to the colors the Amish around here wear --- purples and blue, and sadly, in my stash, they aren't different en…

Well, I promised that I would work on Michael Powell's "Home Sampler" and I did. Not having touched it since November 30, when it looked like this: I think I made some good progress over the weekend, despite a spate of Christmas shopping with husband: I doubt it will be done by the end of the year but soon after...

It's called "Sweden" and there were two color palette possiblities. Since I'm burned out on blue, at least for now, I went with a green version: The threads used were DMC blanc as background, DMC 498 as the red "Accent" and various shades of light greens (DMC 369, 504, 523, 772, 955, 3813, and 3817; GAST Willow; and Stranded by the Sea 102 - Mermaid's Whisper and 212 - Reindeer Wrasse). Still a TAST to do for 2012 and I do want to get back to that Michael Powell Home Sampler but the ho…

This week's stitch is the buttonhole wheel cup. I tried it twice with two strands of GAST and the second step kept distorting the buttonhole wheel and the buttonhole stitch didn't "stand up" but rather formed a web inside the rim (see the picture on the left) so I switched to perle which managed to hold it's shape better: The perle cotton "cup" is done with three rows of weaving and it looks sort of like an empty barnacle shell at an angle: