Boink & Ringing in the New Year FRAMED

This week I picked up two pieces from the framer: BOINK and Ringing in the New Year.


Ringing in the New Year was Karen Anthony's design for the ANG Cyberchapter January meeting. I am really glad we decided to go with a simple dark red frame and no mat. I will be giving this to my Mom for Xmas this year.






Boink is the Book of Ink Circles mystery piece that I completed last year. I am really pleased with the framing, I was not sure they could get the mat to fit as perfectly as they did.

BOINK FINISHED

Happy Dance! The Book of Ink Circles is finished. I ran out of the Waterlilies I was using for the outer border, but my LNS in Reno had one more skein of that dye lot. Whew! So, we got back to Vegas Mon. night and I finished it off yesterday. I am very pleased with the result. I decided to do the border around the two center crosses in an off white instead of the aqua I used in the rest of the piece and I like the way that turned out. This was a fun piece to stitch!

Boink Sections 5 & 20

Last night I finished the last two squares on my Book of Ink Circles piece. Happy Dance! Now I can get busy filling in the borders.
Square 5 is in the middle at the top of the crosses. Square 20 is in the middle below the crosses. I redesigned Square 5 to try to get it to look less like a bird. It still looks like a bird, but more stylized. And I added my name. I may go back & put some brown around the name to make it stand out more. I decided to put in a little bit of the aqua in these squares and I think that was the right decision.
On to the borders!

Boink Sections 2-6-12&21

Wow! This weekend I completed 4 more squares of my Book of Ink Circles. They go pretty quick once you figure out what to do!
I redid Square 2 (just below upper left corner square). I didn't care for the design in that square - it always looked like owls to me. So I designed a new square based on one of Ink Circles free designs "September Celtic Knot". I stitched it in an overdye then added a dark brown square "behind" it and in the center which helped to perk it up a bit.
Square 6 is just below the upper right corner square. In this one I used my overdye, plus lots of shades of brown. It kind of looks like a treble clef I think, but it is OK.
Square 12 is just above the lower left corner square. I used the same colors as in #6.
Square 21 is just above the lower right corner square. This one gave me a lot of trouble as it is so different from all the others. It is very "square" and I didn't realize till I was actually stitching it that the numbers "2009" appear in it although they aren't very obvious. That's OK as that is the year it will be finished. Again I used the overdye and shades of brown, but I used fewer colors and left more blank canvas than intended by the designer.
Two more squares to go and then I can fill in the borders, or not. I haven't really decided yet.

Progress Reports

I have made quite a bit of progress on Jean Hilton's "Whisper", a 2002 design. It is coming along quite nicely. I have had a number of counting problems and had to frog multiple times! Part of the problem was the poor light on the cruise, and part of the problem was lack of attention! This pattern is not for the faint of heart! The instructions are not as detailed as they might be and so you have to study & decide how to proceed. After working one of each main stitch pattern, I decided to work all of the Rhodes stitches first, but leave the Mistake stitches till last. Then I worked all of the Waffles, then the Pinwheels (aren't they fun? I love to work these). Then I went back and put in the metallic cross stitches over the Waffles and outlining the Rhodes. Only then did I go back and put in all the Mistake stitches.



Progress on BOINK is moving along too. I finished ALL of the outlining (Happy Dance!). I also did all of the tiniest squares, using Threadworx overdyed floss #10341 for all of them. Next I will stitch the 2 bottom corner squares, trying to make them go with the top corners.

Boink Square 3

Yesterday I completed the 3rd square on my Boink piece. I am pleased with the resut. At first I thought I'd be able to use Square 1 to set my color key, but once I started Square 3 I realized that wasn't going to work. There would have been way too much metallic. So, using the color palette I have selected, I'll have to arrange the colors as required by each square. I will set up a spreadsheet to keep track!

I also have decided I don't like the 2nd square, the little one, and will take it out and redo it. I used all overdyed thread for it and there is just no definition.

Boink Square Two

Last night I got my Boink out and finished Square Two. It is all in one color of overdyed floss, although I did manipulate it some. Now I will work on getting more of the border outlines done as I do not plan to stitch the rest of the squares in order.

I'm also working some everyday on Ro Pace's pilot class piece, I'll post a pic when I complete a section.

Today a friend and I went to the LNS and I purchased some threads and the two (!) Mirabilia charts, Maidens of the Seasons. I may never get the time to stitch them, but they're really pretty!

BOINK SQUARE ONE

I went to a retreat yesterday and got a good start on Square One. I finished it this afternoon and really like it. It is hard to tell from the picture, but some of the aqua is FyreWerks SoftSheen & looks really cool.

BOINK CORNER KNOT

I also wanted to add a Boink note: Here is the chart for my corner knot, in case anyone else would like to use it.

BOINK

This is a brand new Blog and I am a brand new Blogger! To begin with I will be documenting my progress, and sometimes lack thereof, of my latest needlepoint project: Book of Ink Circles. I should mention that this design is a cross stitch design, but I am doing it in needlepoint. You can see it at www.inkcircles.com.

I began last week when I painted the canvas using a variation of a technique published by Gay Ann Rogers. I used a sea sponge and acrylic paints.

First I marked the perimeter of the design area, and the center, on the canvas with a Sharpee fine point marker. Then I fastened my canvas to stretcher bars, nice & tight. I put the "right side" on top as I didn't want to risk getting paint on my stretcher bars. This way I only need to paint the area I will be stitching. I mixed my paint to just a little darker than the desired color. I added water till it was about the consistency of thin syrup or cream, maybe a little thinner. Then I wet and wrung out my sponge (a small one I got at Aaron Bros. for about $5). I gingerly dipped the sponge in the paint and *wiped* it across the canvas (if you daub, you may just get spots) and generally smeared it around. If you get a thick spot or a too dark spot, just wipe it with the clean side of the sponge and it'll clear it right up. It is easy to do swirls, almost solid, corners, whatever. I found that, as a non-painter, the small sponge is much easier to control than a brush.

I am thrilled with the results! It is exactly what I wanted and so easy! There are no ripples in the canvas - I think putting it on the frame first is the key! Of course, my paint wasn't real watery either, so that might make a difference too. If you decide to try it, be sure to experiment first on scrap canvas so you can find out what the right consistency is for the paint and check the color. I will always do this, every time I paint a canvas. And I'm sure I'll do this again!!!!

Next I decided I didn't like the Cat design at the corners of the pattern, so I worked up a knot pattern that would coordinate with the ones at the centers of each side.

Finally, time to start stitching. I have completed part of one side and am pleased with the results: