Keyword: stash

This month's question is: " What stitchy blogs, groups, or flosstubes do you follow and why? " ​OK, The only stitch blogs I really follow (if getting digests each week or month is the same as following) are: ​Pin Tangle - because I used to participate in the TAST challenge (but no longer after creating a pile of shapers nearly six inches thick over 2.5 years) and because I really really like the art blog by Sharon B and the photography blog by her partner Jerry Everard (which lately covere…

The question for this month is: "What is your favorite stitch other than the standard cross stitch?" Well, I'm not sure I have a favorite stitch other than the cross stitch. In fact, I'm not even sure any more that the cross stitch is my "favorite" but... the stitch I use as often as the cross stitch is backstitch, although I'm pretty sure I'm not doing it correctly when I do blackwork. As for how-to, here is the best link I can provide for regular backstitching and here is how to do it (aka the…

First check-in for 2017 and not a very happy one, I fear. I tried to stitch on "Love Is..." an Xs and Os design, in mid-January after being given the "all clear" from my orthodpod and my occupational therapist that I could continue on doing my hand exercises on my own. But I failed miserably in being able to hold my q-snap frame for more than a few minutes at a time. Maybe it didn't help that the word I chose to stitch was chock full of French knots (which I hate, especially on linen) but then..…

Checking in here WAY late, but I forgot to check on the full moon date! Anyway, the final question for 2016 in WIPocalypse is: "Recap your accomplishments for the year! (Your finishes, your final before/after photos, etc)." So here goes. No photos ... My finishes in 2016 were scant becasue I was working toward finishing two massively BAP/WIPS. • One got finished: the "Tropical Seas" colorway of "Roll Your Own Mandalas", which was completed in August... • The other BAP didn't e…

I was not stitching much in these three weeks, and when I did get back in the “mood”, I got stopped in my tracks with a broken arm! I’m scheduled for surgery on October 25 and have follow-up on November 4 so I suspect I won’t be stitching much in the coming weeks either. This is as far as I had gotten on “Love Is…”: I have had to drop out of an ornament swap and clearly stitching on this sampler, “save at the Stitches” or any other stitchery is out of the question for a while. I can “t…

This month’s theme question is “What online stitching communities do you enjoy?” Well, I do belong to a number of online communities and some of them are stitching-related. I am still enrolled in the Cross Stitch Crazy forum, a closed group which is now more active in private Facebook group. I am active on the Facebook page, not in the Yuku forum any more. Having been a member of this group since the days when it was THE most active group on the late lamented iVillage, I feel that I kno…

I took the birth sampler in last week to be framed and it was ready on Saturday: Husband mailed it off to our niece on Monday and it should be there by now… I am having to force myself to work on this wedding sampler/belated gift. It is all in red on white and it is all backstitch. Each letter has to be started individually so as to not have loose ends showing through, which is using an awful lot of floss. What is more, it is just plain tedious counting. Still, I have finished a third…

Having completed the birth sampler 210920746822434353.weebly.com/my-stitchery-journal/wipocalypse-2016-september-16 and taken it off to the framer, it was time to get to work on the wedding sampler. I chose “Love Is” by X’s & Ohs (by Jo Gatenby). It is the passage from 1 Corinthians (13:4-8a) that I read at my niece’s wedding back in April (before I took a flying header off the podium and sprained my ankle!). I thought it would work in the variegated red DMC floss called for and chose 32 ct w…

The discussion topic for this WIPocalypse period is “Tell us a story about the journey you took through one of your completed pieces.’ Sadly, I can’t answer this as, for me at least, what I stitch doesn’t necessarily reflect a story about me or it’s stitching. It just is/was… It may have traveled with me (usually a needlepoint piece) but that is just in case I am left alone in a hotel room while husband is out on his conference duties and I need something to fill the time if I’ve run out of read…

I set myself a goal to try to have the birth sampler ready to frame by the end of this week. So, once I finished all the cross stitch, I set right in to the backstitching and now have all the basic backstitch and French Knot bits done: All that remains is the personalization, which I will have to chart out before starting. Meanwhile, that wedding sampler (for the wedding last April!) I ordered needs to be kitted so I can start on that. It’s only one color so it ought to move along nicel…

Some progress made this week on the birth sampler, mainly on the single-stranded cross stitching of the grass and waterr, despite one night of stitching foregone in favor of binge watching the last series of "Lewis"! Only three more pairs of animals to stitch (one is started) before the backstitching. Man, do I ever dread that! This coming weekend is going to be a real test of my mojo since there is quilt guild tonight and the Friends of the Library book sale and the Volunteer Firefighter…

What a week! Here I was, stitching away on the birth sampler for a great-nephew who was supposed to be born next week. Naturally, he must have heard I have deadline issues because he was born on August 30! And I am nowhere near finished. Oh well, at least I have all the data needed to finish the sampler when the overall stitchery is finished! Here is where I stand so far - only three more rows of the sea to do in the single-strand cross stitching and a flag on the flag pole and the I can move…

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 WIPocalypse topic for discussion this month is “Have you ever read any fictional books that involve embroidery? If so, give us some recommendations…” Yes, I have although I hate to say that most needlework-related fiction uses knitting - and a few years ago, quilting - as a theme more than traditional embroidery. In fact there is even a sewing circle-themed mystery series… But I digress. There are three needlework authors in my “library” and I have read many of the books listed here.…

Since I completed the last of the “Roll Your Own” mandalas, it was possible for me to get a start on something new (I simply am not ready to get back to “Save the Stitches” yet) so I pulled the Bothy Threads “All Creatures” Birth sampler kit from my project bag and got started. Only got the two zebras done in three nights: This may take longer than I wish! Of course, it didn’t help that three of the colors might just as well have been “white on white”! Even on AIDA, that’s hard to see…

I have finished something! Woo Hoo! I couldn't wait until my usual check-in to celebrate! Here is "Return", completed: And here is the complete series, ready to frame (man will that cost a fortune --- the stitched portion of the fabric is a little more than a half yard! This started out as an online SAL, organized and moderated by Tracey Horner of InkCircles There are 9 Roll Your Own mandalas. I decided I would do them all on one piece of fabric ("Iris Garden" by Silkweaver, 32…

The end is in sight! I finished color 11 and am a little more than halfway through color twelve (the last color) in “Return”, the last of the nine mandalas in “Roll Your Own”! The only open areas are now the top two and the top motif on the left (the bottom motif on the left is partly finished.) which appear to be the very palest blue. The floss color is almost exactly the same color as the fabric background! I didn’t make my start of the year goal to finish in time to enter in the count…

As I said last week, I haven’t been stitching much of late. I partly blame the heat — my room isn’t as cool as much as the rest of the house and it’s been darned uncomfortable holding that yard+ of heavy fabric to stitch on. Also, my stitching mojo is pretty week — has been for a year — and any interruption (a trip to Michigan to see a historic home on Wednesday, guests for dinner and the evening on Saturday - although we did watch a great movie “Spotlight”) tends to put me further off my stitch…

It was WIPocalypse on Tuesday and I didn’t even realize it! AAACK! The topic for discussion was two-part: “If you are participating in the Olympic Challenge, tell us about your plans – which type of challenge you’ve selected, the pieces you’ll be stitching on, etc. If you are not participating in the challenge, tell us how this year’s stitching is going for you so far, and if you’re meeting your stitching goals so far for the year.” What is the Olympic Challenge? I wasn't sure so I had…

It’s hot here in NW Ohio. VERY hot. And all the rain seems to be bypassing us. I suppose I should be grateful since most of that rain comes equipped with high winds and hail but, still, the humidity should at least spawn a thunderstorm or two, don’t you think? It’s been too darned hot to stitch, especially on “Roll Your Own” with all that spare fabric, so I really didn’t get in a lot of stitching this past week. I’m only about halfway through color #9 (of 12) in “Return”: I did get the c…

When I reported in last week, we were in Louisville, KY, at the National Hermerocalis Society National Convention and the hotel room was less than salubrious re stitchery. Not a comfortable sitting situation and the lighting was atrocious. I was thankful that I had my needlepoint traveling kit with me as it was way easier to see the weave than cross-stitch would have been. Still, I had to bring out my magnifying glass to check sometimes to see if, indeed, that was a stitch that needed to be put…

Sitting here in a hotel room in Louisville, KY, where even the bathroom light are less than 20W, there is only one flat surface in the room to put my laptop (a tint round table with legs in all the wrong places, and a large “leather” chair with no wheel that is too high of the table!), and no free breakfasts (so I’m drinking the in-room swill that passes for coffee). Oh, and it has a HUGE balcony (overlooking a parking lot and an airport runway) with NO FURNITURE on it! Needless to say, this blo…

After making my WIPocalypse report for June, 2016, I decided to “force” myself to put in at least two hours every night until this report was due. And I was successful, completing color #5 (of 12) and a little more than 50% of color #6 by last night: If I could keep up this pace, and it we weren’t traveling for the last weekend of June, I possibly could get “Roll Your Own” ready for framing and entry in the 2016 county fair. But I doubt my resolve, I really don’t want to make any mistakes…

This full moon, we are asked: “Do you find yourself more productive with stitching in summer or winter?” And I have to answer that there is probably no difference. I stitch at night for the most part, with my daylight-quality lamp, so longer days in summer don’t really make a difference amor the shorter days of winter. I stitch indoors so temperature is not an issue. There are different demands on my time and impacts on my mojo with each season: I really can’t stitch effectively when I’m sufferi…

Color # 2 is complete and color #3 is 25% done on “Return”! Progress is slow but sure - counting all these partial patterns is always an issue with me, and I always seem to miss one out and only find it one or two colors on. It's been too darned hot to stitch, especially for early June. I dread what July and August will be bringing if this continues... Meanwhile, I so have a case of start-itis — even though I don’t have a pattern picked out that appeals to me. Maybe it’s not so mu…

I really didn’t feel like stitching this week but I forced myself to put in roughly two hours per night for three nights and got almost all of color #1 (of 12) into “Return”. It’s a very dark blue so it may be hard to see against the black outline, but there’s only one small line in a motif in the upper right corner to go (and a missed black stitch in the same corner ) and then I’ll be ready to move on with color #2! Quilt Guild tonight and husband’s garden is on a tour on Saturday so…

Outline complete! I didn’t make it by the end of May like I had hoped, but it was all down to a massive frog that crept in while I wasn’t looking (the entire left side had to be redone due to a miscount!) which lost me a day. Still, now “Return” is ready for it’s color! And here is the final layout: Now, if only I can keep up the progress on this.

Two more nights of stitching after the WIPocalypse check-in and here is where the outline for “Return” is now. One page of six (top left corner) complete and parts of pages 2 and 3 (top center and right). A lot of Ripping (I always seem to miscount somewhere along the way) but not too much, so long as I don’t push the stitching to the last two strands from a six-strand-length (that is when my eyes start to rebel and I miss holes, etc.). I still don’t expect to make the deadline for regi…

WIPocalypse 2016 - May 21 This month’s WIPoclypse discussion topic is “What were you stitching this time last year and have you finished it?” Well, last year at this time, I had three projects “in progress”: the “Roll Your Own” Mandala series (the “Jan” mandala”), the “Save Your Stitches” blackwork sampler (I was at block 13), and a crazy quilt block for my Crazy Quilt/Bead Journal project combination . The one I was actually stitching on the WIPOcalypse report day for 2015 was …none of…

Strange as it may seem, even with four days totally messed up by colonoscopy prep and procedure (my tummy was not happy with either - I know, too much information), I did manage to finish “Rematch”! Here is what ”Roll Your Own” looks like now with only one mandala left! Only one more doctor’s appointment (on the 31st) and some hassle with insurance over my sprained ankle (you don’t want to know what I think of insurance companies right now) so I should be able to make some decent pr…

By gosh, I stitched. Every night this last week! I can hardly believe it! And I managed to complete the fourth through the seventh fill colors “Rematch” and get nearly half of the eighth one done as well! This meant a lot of binge watching (a season of “Hawaii 5-O”, a season of “Blue Bloods”, a season of “Major Crimes”, a season of “Rizzoli & Isles”, and two movies - “The Hardy Girls” on Turner Classic Movies and “The Monument Men” on Sundance! - to say nothing of catching up with “Elementa…

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…

Well, as you can see from my title, I didn’t blog for the last three weeks! Oops! But I have reasons! Maybe not GOOD reason, but reasons nonetheless! Mainly, I didn’t stitch. At least not until last night. And I didn’t stitch because a) my mojo was missing and b) life got in the way. The week of April 7, we were preparing for out-of-country visitors, who arrived April 6 and stayed through April 10. Needless to say, it was difficult to do any stitching while entertaining our Saudi frien…

I’ll merge these two topics this week because there’s no point in making a weekly wrap-up different from the WIPocalypse wrap-up. I really haven’t stitched enough this week to make it worth the extra blog space! Anyway, the topic for this WIPocalypse is: “Do you use hoops, stretcher bars, lap stands or Q snap frames and why?” My answer to this isn’t all that straightforward, and somewhat lengthy . I use both hoops, Q-snaps and in hand pretty much equally. I do NOT use stretcher bars or…

I did stitch this week! Honest! Saturday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday…four days of roughly 2 hours each. Although you might be hard pressed to see any progress… What has happened is I finished the outline for “Rematch” in the roll Your Own Mandala series. Well, mostly finished, because as I started with the color filling, I did discover a few places where I missed out a few black stitches and had to go back and fill them in. So where I stand right now is one color finished and a second rou…

I did manage to put in two days of stitching (and ripping, sadly) on “Rematch”, the eighth of the nine mandalas in the Roll Your Own set. The outline on this one is really giving me fits but it is almost done and the color would move along much faster (I live in hope!). Here is how the mandala looks today: and how the entire series looks so far: Quilt guild tonight which will mess with stitching. But the taxes are done and hated in to the accountant, the laundry is caught up and…

As I said in last week’s update, we had been in Florida for a three-week “holiday” and my stitching was pretty much limited to my traveling piece, “Palm Tree Elegance”, a needlepoint of a pal in a pot which I had hopes for for my oak-tree inspired bathroom. Not sure it will work now (not real fond of that leopard-spot border) but, being who I am, I WILL finish it! In the last week, in between visits to the University of Florida Natural History Museum/Butterfly Rainforest exhibit (where a Bl…

Not a whole lot to report today, given that I already showed major progress in the WIPocalypse post yesterday. But… I did finish the first color in the inner border! It was blended (two different yarns) and I hate blended stitching (can’t use the loop start, for example so there are all those ends to weave in; and inevitably, the two strands of yarn are different lengths so I feel I’m wasting yarn when I have to cut off that extra length…)but I managed to get through it. Sorry the picture is…

I know - I'm late. I forgot that Monday was the full moon. The topic for this full moon was” If you have any of your pieces on display in your home which attracts the most plaudits?” Well, at present there are only two pieces “on display” (if you don’t count needlepoint pillows, that is): one is in the half-bath and never seems to be noticed while the other is in the “breakfast” part of the kitchen and, I think, has been noticed once, not exactly attracting plaudits but. It is a piece call…

Between Week Five and AFTER the 11th, I didn’t stitch at all. We are in Florida right now, in the middle of our second week of a three-week stay, and I have managed to get in some stitching on the porch when it is warm enough to sit outside (it’s darned cold for Florida, even in the winter!) and enough sun to be able to see the holes in my needlework fabric (I forgot my magnifier! AAACK!). Since we are traveling, I am working on my traveling needlepoint, “Palm Tree Elegance”, a kit by Dimensi…