A new blog entry--really!

Initially the blogging break was because I hadn't been stitching very much, and then it was because I kept putting it at the end of the day so by the time I finished all the other computer work I was too tired to be coherent. I even managed to get things ironed and decently(ish) photographed and just couldn't manage this last step. Then company arrived--lots of swimming and eating, no stitching or blogging.

So the excuses have been laid out, and it's on to the WIPs....

Like most of my life my stitching has had very little focus this month, by which I mean I've picked up a project, put in a small motif or a few rows, and then picked up another project. It's a feedback loop--because I'm easily distracted, I have a lot of projects going, and because I have a lot of projects going I'm easily distracted from what's currently nearly done by something else.

So, in the order in which the pictures appear in my directory....

"Book of Spells" from The Goode Huswife. I'm using Vintage Green Slate from Lakeside Linen, and the green is much deeper than what came out in the picture (if 40ct Havana from Weeks Dye Works

had arrived in the shop earlier I'd be using that instead). I tried fixing the color, but this was as close as I could get. I've recharted the verses for over 1 using my own lettering--I'm as close as I can get to the feel I wanted. It'll be nice to stitch with something other than black on this piece, but that would require a more purposeful approach to my stitching and based on 20+ years of doing this, that's not going to happen. At least I only started this project a couple of months ago--it'd be worse if I was only this far after a year (although typical).

I have a second pic in the upload folder, but I can't remember why....

Ah...it's less fuzzy, but even worse on color.

And next in the grab bag we have....

...the "HF" quaker reproduction from The Marking Sampler. I'm stitching on 45ct (I think, could be 48ct) possibly Vintage Sand Dune or Vintage Autumn Gold but definitely a Lakeside Linen with Belle Soie. I finally started adding the motifs at the bottom this month. I really like working on this sampler, and it's small enough to make a large pincushion instead of a framed piece. On the other hand framing it would mean my bit was done when I finally finish stitching it, so framing is in the lead right now. I would prefer to use soie surfine for the queen stitch motifs, but none of the colors Access Commodites imports will work. I either need a source outside the US or I have to go to plan B and use soie de paris, which isn't quite as fine. Of course, by the time I get to the queen stitches Gloriana and The Society of Soie Surfine will probably have three times the colors they have now. That's how I justify my flighty attention....

Oh good, another sampler:

I'm stitching "The Petite Mexican" from The Samplar Workes as charted on 48ct Vintage Light Examplar from Lakeside with soie de paris. I have a special place in my heart for Mexican and Spanish samplers, and this is also the first piece I started on 48ct. I'm VERY close to being done....

And now for something out of left field:

I love Pooh, both the Disney version here and what's known as Pooh classic. Stitching him, on the other hand, is not something I would do voluntarily; it's just not my style of cross-stitch. However, my niece picked this out at The Crafty Frog  in Kambah, ACT, just before they moved back to the states (so that makes it springish 2007). As we all know stitching becomes a chore and not a pleasure when the project isn't something you would pick out yourself, so getting this thing done while Celeste is still of Pooh age was quite an accomplishment. (It's the backstitching--I detest backstitching even more than french knots, although not as much as bullion knots). Now for the FINISHING finishing....

And last we have....

The return of "The Prospector's Surprise" from Just Libby Designs. Since last he appeared I have finished his boots and most of his vest--I just need to add the cording around the vest edge (which I've started since this picture was taken). The surprise will be me actually finishing this and moving on to one of the other 20 or so Libby things I have kitted up....

And that's all for today. Thanks for sticking with this. I hope to be a better blogger soon....