Kangaroo, Progress #3

I have been working on the cross stitch Kangaroo once in awhile. You can't tell by the picture, but most of the green is rayon floss. I don't like working with the rayon floss, so I don't work on this very often! But I do keep plugging away at it. It has been quite a long time since I last posted about this (a year?) but I thought you might be interested to see that I occasionally do something besides Bargello LOL.

Seasons, Progress #3

The second block(s) of Seasons are complete. One on either side of the center block & they are identical. Now that they are finished, I quite like them! During the stitching I was afraid they were too light, but they came out OK. They are all in Watercolours plus the copper #12 Kreinik (color 027). The center is 034 Bouquet & 189 Gengersnap. Surrounding that are 241 Shenandoah, 169 Moss and 224 Tiramisu. The outer sections are 065 Emerald, 194 South Pacific, with the Gingersnap and Moss again in the corners. Next will be the two blocks above & below the center and they are also identical. They use the same colors as the second ones, but in a different arrangement and with some different stitches.

Queen Anne's Lace, Framed

Queen Anne's Lace, which I finished in June, has finally been framed and is hanging on my dining room wall. I am very pleased with our choices for the mat and frame - the colors match the piece very well and set it off without overwhelming it.

Vegas Nights

Thanks to all of you who commented on the orientation of Vegas Nights. The bottom picture won, but I still like the top one. I have decided to present both, as well as the 2 possible vertical positions, which is an idea I hadn't thought of! Your comments are all really interesting and I'm so glad I asked. Thank you all.

Vegas Nights, finished

Vegas Nights is finished. I quite like it! I think it "says" Vegas with it's sparklies & hard edges. Since it is already finished, I think I will be able to publish it with a couple of other things by the end of October.

Now, here's a question for you all: Which way is up? The top picture is the way I thought it should be, but now I'm not so sure. What do you think?

Stitch of the Month 2010, October

I finally finished the Stitch of the Month for October. I'm quite pleased with this piece. It looks very pretty & delicate. October's section is the outside diamond border. I used Waterlilies #130 and the Kreinik Ombre #1200. Now I'm wondering what November will bring!

I am also trying out my husband's "big" camera and wow! what a difference. I guess I'll be using that camera now for all my needlework pictures.

Mediterranean Tile, Progress #6

Mediterranean Tile is coming right along. The base canvas (explanation follows) is finished. Today I tried out my husband's camera & I can't decide about it. The color is definitely more true though. Be sure to check Jan's progress as well. Jan has done the beading, but I have decided to wait till the whole thing is done & do all the beading at once.

The rest of this piece, see pic below, is an overlay. This process is one of Ro Pace's techniques. The base canvas and the overlay are stitched on separate pieces of canvas. Then the overlay will be cut out and become a "mat" for the base piece.

I have elected not to do the overlay as an overlay though. I want to see if I can make it work just as an extension to the base canvas design. Jan will be doing the overlay, so it will be interesting to compare as we go along and then see how the finished pieces differ.

A New Freebie

Surprise! I have finally figured out, successfully, how to add another Free Design to my website. It is a Small Bargello Alphabet that is suitable for signing your Bargello stitcheries. Please go to my website & click on the design for a free .pdf download: http://www.lizartneedlepoint.com/
It is underneath the mouse design.

Mystery Retreat Project Progress #9

I worked on the Mystery Retreat Project yesterday, almost all day. I spent quite a lot of time trying to decide how I want to arrange the colors. The pattern has darker shades than I want, plus the green & lavendar are scattered all around the section. There are 9 distinct areas in this section and I have decided to concentrate the colors in each section. So that, some will be all green & ecru, some will be all Lavendar & ecru and only a couple will have all 3 colors. And I am mostly using the lightest or next to lightest shades.

Soooo, I have now totally finished the 2 lower left sections. The upper right section is almost finished, I'll probably do that one next week. I hope that this will go faster now that I have made some decisions about it!

Vegas Nights, Progress #3

I have been working on Vegas Nights again. I had a problem finding appropriate threads for awhile, it is really hard to find "light red" that is NOT pink! Anyhow.... I am nearly finished with the shiny parts! So far I have used Fyre Werks (black & silver), Neon Rays Plus (red), YLI Silk Ribbon (lightest shade, sort of a salmon) and all the rest of the reds are Neon Rays. There are just a few more rows of Neon Rays to go in and the rest will mostly be Silk & Ivory, as is the black border.

When I photographed it this morning, I was surprised at how much is done! Now I am inspired to finish it!

Mediterranean Tile, Progress #5

Mediterranean Tile is progressing nicely. Last week I completed the Crescents & Jessicas around the Petals. These stitches were done in Kreinik ribbon and #8 perle cotton. Next up is another row of braided stitch which will complete the center portion of the design.

Be sure to check out Jan's progress too!

Mystery Retreat Project Progress #8

The last 2 Sundays I have worked on the last section (the bottom section) of the Mystery Retreat Project. This section was designed by Linda Reinmiller. I am adjusting the colors slightly to make it more muted. To begin with, I had to rip out most of one of the "strings", which I had stitched at the class. I had made a counting error. I made lots of counting errors while stitching these 5 "strings"! I think the part of my brain that counts has been on vacation!! Anyway, yesterday I finally finished all the strings & they are correct, I think LOL. They are important to be correct as so much of the remaining motifs count from the strings. I got the first batch of multi-layered stars (8 of them)completed last night. The other motifs that are there were done in class. I'm hoping to finish this piece by Halloween!