Christmas Ornaments 2022

 Yes I am WAY AHEAD but I want to make sure I have these in the bag.

Mardis Gras ornament from Needlepoint Now.  This was a great project with all the threads that took 2 days.

The ornament for my little neighbor next door who loves needlepoint.  I agonized over the hair and finally gave up and did outline stitch.  It's the tail that's the star of the piece anyway.

Heading back to the LOVE canvas!

Strawberry Hearts

I'm working on the BIG Strawberry Hearts canvas along with almost half the country it seems.  Here's my second heart - I skipped the first but will go back to it next week.   There was an issue brought up in the chat room about the amount of thread so I thought I would go ahead and do this heart just to see.  I had plenty of thread so it just be the path that the stitcher took.  I stitched in horizontal rows and had enough.

I'm still trying to catch up on my knitted blanket before the next yarn shipment so I haven't gotten very far on LOVE.  I'm almost done with L and I started the background because that needs to get done as I go along.  The O flowers are done in ribbon so that will be last.  Right now I'm waiting on more thread.

I'm taking the rest of the week off to sit in a hospital waiting room so I'll be stitching on little stuff.  The problem is what to take!

Knitting Update

Hi there,

I can't believe it's Friday already but here it is.  It's been a busy week and I have been all over the map.  I'm knitting a blanket and am on the bobble row.  It's a monthly kit club (naturally a monthly club) so I have this row and one more before the next kit arrives in the mail.  So far it hasn't been too bad- hopefully I will finish this before I head to the nursing home!

Here is heart #2.  I think I may slow down on these and save one or two for car trips.

And Emily in yet another small town dog show.  She looks bored or tired here- not sure which.  Definitely needs the groomer!

 Have a great weekend 

xoxo

My new Goldilocks Canvas

 Not too big...not too small

Time to Finish Up Some Little Ones

 Now that the second big project of 2021 is in the bag, I want to finish up some small projects.

Here are the first 2 finishes:

My last strawberry from Barbara's Needlepoint - these are so cute when they are finished

My first of 6 Melissa Shirley hearts- I'm thinking 3 ornaments and 3 mini pillows for Valentines Day

I also have the heart of the month club from Barbara's Needlepoint but thats only one big canvas with 9 hearts. It's not yet on stretcher bars but looks like fun!

Almost to the Finish Line

 Hi all,

I have finished all 6 Ladies and am now finishing up the last of the background beading.  This was a LONG Ruth Mystery Project but never fear I have more!

Here are  the last few photos

Lady #6 with her turban and fringe

This is Lady #3 but I had to wait until the very end to do the scarf.

This was a fun project even if it did take 4 years to complete.  It will get framed.

Next up to  finish will be the Zero Degrees North canvas #1 with the bears.

Have a great week

Linda

The Last Hat

 Hi all,

I'm going to try and finish the Ladies II in the next week assuming I get the gold Kreinik in the mail.  I "borrowed" it for another project and of course did not put it back.

Here's the photo of the last 2 ladies. The stitch guide called for twisted lazy daisy for the pick swirls next to the hat on the left girl but after much agony I went with bouillon stitches.  You can see the padding under the turban for girl #2 in this photo.

AND THE HAT!

I guess I will work on the background until the Kreinik arrives and then finish up.

All Done!

 I'm all done with the Tudors canvas and ready to move on to the Ladies!  I worked on the Tudors every day for about 2-3 hours and it took me about 10 weeks to finish.  I'm a TINY bit worried that I will not make it through all the projects I brought with me this summer!  Fortunately I only have one lady left.  

Knowing When to Quit

I managed to work on my Tudors project over the holiday.  Last night I was cruising and finished the Jessicas and decided to  move on to the Crescent stitches.  I stopped around 11:30 and checked my work this morning only to find that the crescent that I put in last night was the WRONG COLOR AROUND THE WRONG BEADS! 

I obviously need to quit while I'm ahead.  The first photo is before I put in the vines (last Thursday)

Now they're done - this was Monday

The vines are done and starting the black.  I was so happy to finish the black that I jumped right in on the  Jessicas.  This next photo is from last night - I remember thinking...I'll just finish the Jessicas...

Here's where I needed to just go to bed.  When I did the first Crescent stitch I had the white thread going around the white Jessicas when it was supposed to go around the gold Jessicas.  Oh well- it was great practice!

Almost there - I've already dragged out the small projects that I'm going to finish next.

Starting the Vines

I've FINALLY finished the background for this section and placed all the sequins so now on to couching the vines!  It's a big weekend here so I may not get back to this until next Tuesday.  I'm looking forward to a FINISH!!

 

Ready to Tack and Move On!

Once I'm happy with the placement,  I will tack the necklace loosely in place with floss so it doesn't shift and then do the "real" tacking with the beading thread.  

Then on to the final kit!

Next Step

The next step is filling out the fleur de lis patterns with crescents.  Then there will be beads and gold french knots in the empty spots.  The green background took almost the whole skein of burmilana and I'm still finding stitches here and there that I missed (I have 2 strands left).

 Looking forward to the pearl necklace that lays on top of all this.

 

Weekend Progress on Royal Pain

 Finishing up Kit 4

I appliqued the peyote jewel onto the canvas.  The padding underneath is measured to the canvas but it's a little smaller than the jewel so there's a pucker. I'm going to leave it for now. (Possibly forever)

On to Kit #5- another 5 section piece like the green up above only easier.  It looks much better in real life. It will be a great foundation for the pearl necklace.

Hopefully I can finish this up by early July.  Then I have a few SMALL things to work on!

On the home stretch of Kit 4

The last thing to do here is stitch the background for the peyote jewel

 

Here it is!  The next few days will be spent doing packed chain in the swirls and then on to Kit 5

 

Peyote Beading

I learned yet another technique in Kit 4 and it wasn't needlepoint- it was Peyote beading.  I think I watched at least 10 hours of You Tube videos and it's almost a shame that I probably won't use this knowledge in the future, because I am NOT going down the rabbit hole of beading!

Here's the photo progression

Laying out the beads and stringing the first 2 rows with a stop bead

Writing out the pattern in words- yes this was challenging, but critical

Then hours of work and constant re-watching of You Tube

ALL FINISHED AND CAN RETURN TO NEEDLEPOINT

Where it will go on the canvas after padding underneath 

 

Moving on to Kit 4

 Yesterday I finished the earrings on Kit 3 and decided to start right in on Kit 4.  It's just 2 sections- the peach triangle and the lower red section.  The peach section will go pretty fast because that's more Jessicas (which I just practiced on the earrings) and it's a lull before the red section.

The broach is Peyote beading which I have never done, but I have now watched 10 videos on You Tube so I am confident that I can try it without too much trepidation.  Then those curly things are packed chain stitch which yes I can do!

Here's the closeup- we are entering the land of Jessicas here

I have found that leaving your project out greatly enhances the time working on it!

Closing in on Completing Kit #3

I've now finished the left stripe and am working on the white ruffle - the edge is detached buttonhole using the same thread as I used outlining the green squares in the big section.

 Here's a close up - I love the stripe- it went so fast after the big section!

I am going to try and finish this section this weekend and then move on to Kit#4

Continuing On With the Tudor Project

 Here are the latest photos from Kit 3.  I am hoping that this section of Kit 3 is the most intense because it sure was complicated!  There were 4 steps which didn't scare me at first because of course it's an Amy project and I've been there before.

This is steps one and two and the beginning of step 3

Here's a photo of steps 1-3 completed - it finally looks like something

The last photo is step 4 with the green sections outlined in back stitch.

Moving on to the section on the left today - when this kit is done I am halfway!

Royal Pain in the Tudors Kit #2 Complete

Here's what I've done so far.  Today we pack the car for North Carolina!

Kit #3 is already there.  See you up there!

 

Happy 4th

Not only does Barbara Riley do awesome finishing, she takes better photos than I do!