Carol Harper's articles with the keyword: wips

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…

It's bee super hot here--- we finally hit 90 (327 days since the last 90-or-above temperatures) but the worst of it was the humidity. Heat effect made it feel like triple digits! Shades of Saudi Arabia! Perfect weather to stay indoors and stitch. And I did just that (sort of --- other projects also took up some time)! My stitching mojo is back! Not at full force, but back nonetheless. I got in work on two projects this past week: the crazy Quilt/Bead Journal Project block and the "Roll Yo…

After completing my June block for the crazy Quilt Journal and Bead Journal Projects, I went to my stash to get out the new muslin I had ordered for foundation piecing... and discovered that it wasn't muslin! It was a quality fabric with a pattern, however faint, and I wasn't about to cut it up for foundations, no matter how desperate I was to get back on track! So I decided to pull out "Roll Your Own" again, and work on the outline for "Jan". Despite a few bouts of frogging due to tangled threa…

I was lazy this week, or I was trying to overcome throwing my lower back out while loading the dishwasher - take your pick! But I only stitched one night, on my June Crazy Quilt Journal/Bead Journal piece. I got in three seam treatments, one with beads (an alternating beaded chain stitch): Still have hopes to catch up, but so far, ambition not matching hopes.

This month's topic is: Reality or Fantasy. Which do you prefer to stitch? Figures or Abstract? Well, I'm not exactly sure. I do a lot of stuff that clearly is what it purports to be but isn't exactly realistic, if you know what I mean. Lots of primitives (a la Prairie Schooler) and lots of "sketches" (al la Michael Powell), in other words. I also do a lot of samplers: traditional alphabet samplers aren't my favorites but I really like Quakers. And then there is blackwork, which really isn't…

I would have posted this on time for a change, but I had an eye appointment adn he dilated my eys which meant I couldn't focus well enough to read what I was typing! So, rather than burden you with ten times my normal typo count, I delayed until today when I could see again! A pretty productive week, if I do say so myself. In addition to assembling two blocks for the Crazy Quilt Journal/Bead Journal Project: I stitched and completed the blocks for April: and May (which was started…

I did it! I actually stitched this week. Partly because of International Hermit and Stitch Weekend, but also because I unpacked my traveling gear and decided to keep out that traveling needlepoint for at least this week and get in some work on that leopard spot border. Here it is after last night - a lot of the terra cotta red background in on the left border: And a close-up of the upper left border: Wouldn't you know, as I was stitching down this side, I found t…

So far, no topic has been posted for this month so I will proceed to my progress, such as it was(NOT)... A pretty sad month to report on as I was ill for most of it and I can't focus on stitchery when coughing and with a nasty headache and fever. In fact, I only worked on one piece since the last WIPocalypse. At quilt guild in April, a friend loaned me a copy of the pattern her EGA group in Naples, FL is using for their charity giving and I told her I' do a couple for her to send along w…

We had our first thunderstorm of teh season this morning, early, which woke me up in time to get to the public radio telephone volunteer on time (I had mis-set my alarm clock after a power outage earlier in the week) . And other signs of spring are crocuses in bloom: I managed to keep to my plan of 2 days per project in rotation. The first two days this week were spent in planning out and assembling the basic block for my April Crazy Quilt Journal and Bead Journal Project entries:…

The question for this month is: "Which specialty stitches do you love doing on projects? Which do you dread?" Well, isn't hard to answer which I dread --- it's French Knots! It's not that I can't do them but I do have issues with how regular they look and so, when possible, I substitute beads! As for which I love? Well, that's another thing altogether. I'm not a big fan of most specialty stitches. I willingly do backstitch (after all, I like blackwork), but I grumble if there are more tha…

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...

After the conclusion of International Hermit and Stitch Weekend, where I accomplished very little, I got back into the stitching groove Monday night and finished my March Crazy Quilt Journal Project/Bead Journal Project block: March came in like a lion with another snowstorm with significant accumulation (the top left) but, in mid month a sudden thaw occurred where all the snow disappeared and green shoots were found in teh garden (lower right. Unfortunately, the thaw was short-lived as s…

I had all sorts of plans for this weekend but they were disrupted when my routine was highjacked by a dinner engagement with husband's daylily friends from Columbus. That meant a 2 hour drive to, and another 2 hour drive from --- we haven't driven that far for dinner since we lived in car-centric Northern California! And it pretty much wiped out Sunday evening! So all I managed ot stitch this weekend was a part of Block 12 in "Save the Stitches" - five of seven fill patterns, but without colo…

The whole week conspired to keep me away from stitchery. Following my "Well Woman" exam on Tuesday last (where I found I had a mild tendency towards dementia! AAACK!), there was the appointment with our new accountant on Wednesday (where we finalized taxes) and a quilt guild meeting on Thursday night (which ran unusually long), there was a mammogram on Friday at an obscenely early hour (no results yet which is probably good news). And then the taxes reared their ugly head again! Yesterday, w…

In this week, my plan was to get some of the filling stitches into "Save the Stitches" and I did manage that - all of Block 10 is now complete: And I started the outline for the first of the three "Spawn" in the Roll Your Own" mandalas. Marcia is centered directly under "Reloaded: (I decided to start with "Marcia" because 'she" was the largest of the three "Spawn"). The outline is now a little more than half done: I also planned out the March Crazy Quilt Journal/Bead Journal block…

Well, finally stitching again, and it seems that one of the primary causes of my losing my stitching mojo (the lack of stitching time availalble on our cruise to the South Pacific, not the nasty cold I caught coming home) is still in my mind. Notice the color scheme of Tropical Seas which seems to carry throughout this week's completions! "Bride", the third mandala in the Roll Your Own series designed by Tracey Horner, is now complete! I stitched it in the Tropical Seas color pale…

While week 7 was yet another week with no stitching. I did make it to quilt guild and found out why I will NEVER EVER submit one of my quilts (assuming I ever complete one) for judging! There may be no "quilt police" but there sure are rules and rules and MORE rules!, most of which I NEVER come close to following! But otherwise, it's tax season, we are changing accountants, and I was buried in receipts and the like. I got the package to the accountant on Tuesday , the 17th (although there was a…

This week has been spent tidying up from the holidays (although the Christmas decorations are still up and I don't know WHEN I'll be motivated to work on those!). However, since my WIPocalypse report on the 5th, I have stitched some more on my Crazy Quilt Journal Project 2015 block (some chain stitch to tack down the felt flourish applique - murder on needles as the flourish is self-adhesive and the glue seems to love my sharps): and completed another color on "Bride" in the RYO mandala s…