More stitch along progress

My month in Rhode Island is over, but I am happy to report that I made a good deal of progress on my Janet Brandt stitch along project. I think up to six people have already finished. You can see their interpretations here. Since I only stitch on this project when I am in Rhode Island, I am going slower. I began in February and didn't finish much, just a few hearts and flowers. Now I am proud to say that I am between 1/2 and 2/3s through with the work and am still having fun. It is doing its job in getting my creative juices flowing too!

Since I will be moving to smaller digs in Colorado this month to save money and get out of a lease, I am going to set up a smaller project there--probably the Inspirations project I mentioned last time. I'm not going to have much time to stitch so a small contained project is what I will need there.

In the meantime, I am quite happy with my progress on what I am calling the tree of life and love.

 

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Oh boy!

Look what came in the mail today! It is the wool for a stumpwork project I want to do from Inspirations. The last time I worked with wool I was in grammar school. I worked a little kit that said "I Love You" and used all sorts of different stitches and colors. I learned most of the basic stitches doing the kit--satin, French knots, chain, back stitch, and stem stitch. I got a lot of heat from friends who saw it who thought that I shouldn't stitch something that said "I love you" for myself, but who cares. It got me hooked on embroidery. My mother made it into a pillow for me and I had it for decades. But eventually, it got holes and wore out. I wish I still had a picture of it.

This project will be fun. It is small, the colors are so pretty. In addition to using wool for the first time in 35 years, I will also be doing a piece of free-standing stump-work for the first time ever. I can't wait to dive into it over the summer. Since it is intended as a gift, I won't show it all. Any tips people may have for making sure that the BACK of a piece of stumpwork is as coverd as the front would be greatly appreciated! I've only done pieces where one side matters so far.

 

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A slow start

Little projects are what have been keeping me going lately. I'm using them to experiment and get my creative juices flowing after such a dry year. One thing that I had to do was to finish the baptismal bibs that I had promised to do over the summer. I stitched them a little at a time, but decided that I HAD to finish them before I left for Thanksgivingand pushed to finish all six. Since the only "rule" was to stitch the water blue, I had a lot of fun with them.

But the best thing was that the day after I returned to Denver in January, I ran into the coordinator at church. She loved what I had done and got me six more bibs before I left again for a Florida vacation. I thought I might have time to do a little stitching on the plane, but we wound up having a rainy cold vacation and a death in the family that left me happy to have something to keep my hands busy. I stitched all six new bibs in one week.

 

These were especially fun because I decided to experiment with new stitches. I tried Hungarian braided chain stitch and cable chain stitch. I especially like cable chain stitch for the crosses. I also tried a tacked filling stitch for the fish. I've wanted to try that since I saw a painting at the Worcester Art Museum that portrayed fish scales in cross hatches. I like how it turned out, but would like to experiment more.

It is nice to have a little project that can be completed in an hour or two to experience to with and which you know will be appreciated by the recipient!

 

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