Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Beauty out of Chaos



Hi everyone,

Here is my workspace for the firecracker.  It's actually my daughter's desk but since she's not here.....

I love being able to leave my MESS out over night and shut the door!  I also love watching a big project come to life and a big bag of thread slowly turn into a beautiful piece of needlepoint.

Here's the top of the firecracker



my progress on the sides...see the edge?  Yeah!





and the hole for the music box key...it plays the Star Spangled Banner




and the key fits!



Have a great stitching week,

Linda

Saturday, July 13, 2013

A Star is Born

Hi everyone,

I have been diligently working on my David McCaskill firecracker and may get it finished this time!  I've re-learned the stitches so there is really no point in hanging it back in the closet for another 3 or 4 years!

Here is my progress on the last small star on the body of the firecracker.

There are 3 layers - David loves the layered look

The first and second layers
The first pass is the grid.  Then you cover the grid diagonally one way and then diagonally the other way

The finished star






Then I tackled the top.  Now, the top involves glueing and cutting the canvas...not my favorite thing to do.

First you stitch around what will be the hole for the wick of the firecracker.  And then you glue the back.  So far so good




Then after a good night's sleep you cut out the center threads...see, they're gone now and I'm still breathing




Then you stitch around the hole TWICE...so glad that's over!  I get to do it again on the body of the firecracker for the stem of the music box...stay tuned



By next time I should at least have the top finished.

Have a great weekend!

Linda

Thursday, July 4, 2013

4th of July Past, Present and Future



Happy Fourth!

Here are Lady Liberty and Uncle Sam from my past!

I have a firecracker to go with them - it's on my UFO list....the stripes were bigger than I thought...maybe I'll work on one today



Here's the padded bunting



and the top...not started yet




and my July Angel...haven't started that yet either






and ....I have Ruth's little firecrackers on the way!

Enjoy the fireworks,

Linda