May I present....

Lady Carolyn's fan is done! I finished the background on the far left paddle and then got busy adding all the beads in the Pavilion stitches. The final touch was to poke a hole in the canvas and then bind around it with an eight spoke eyelet before adding the tassel. The tassel is made first by doing the twisted cord and then wrapping the fiber around a board. You cut it in half and the wrap it over the end of the cord and I put a small band of metal to hold it tight.

And then after taking the picture, the battery died in the camera! LOL, so instead of a picture I will tell you that I have three of Amy Bunger's DVD's in my possession--Barely There, The Ins & Outs of Needleweaving, and A Closet Full of Stitches! That and a bottle of perfume that I like was a very nice package from DH!

Happy Birthday to me!

Today is my birthday! Yippee!
That means I did not have to cook dinner, or clean up the kitchen! Double Yippee!
That means we went out to dinner with friends. Yippee!
Flowers and cards and presents! Woohoo!
Pictures tomorrow of the stitchy goodies, I promise....but now it is late and I am
off to get some nap time in!

All the flowers and leaves

I finished all the flowers in the right paddle! I did the four petal daisies and then filled in all of those and the forget me nots with the yellow French knots. I then added silk ribbon leaves all around. I started doing the last background and then decided I also wanted to show you how the beads are gong to look on the blades! There are a few on the left one. They are stitched in the squares that the Pavilion pattern makes.

Two more boxes

I finished filling in the lower right diagonal darning pattern. As a reminder, the white is Pearl Cotton and the silver is Kreinik. I then did the heart darning pattern under the beaded box to your left. We did a lot more stitching and a lot less laughing tonight! We were all still talking a lot, but more focused on progress too!

In this heat

We all need a fan, so I went back to work on Lady Carolyn's fan! I finished the last blade's Pavilions stitches and got to work on the Forget me nots. I am using the Mediterranean in Waterlilies again. I still need to fill in the centers, the little white flowers and the leaves before I start adding the beads to this project. But....the end is in sight!

Petal One

I worked on the Oriental Poppies for a while. I started by putting in the darkest red rows of long and short stitch on the back petal of the top poppy. I then added the next lighter color and am working my way down to the base of the petal. I added the third color and also added in the darkest lines at the very top as well.

More Pavillions

I did all the Pavilions stitches around the perimeter of the final blade to create the oval for the last batch of flowers.  A lot of these had to be compensated to fit, but it is worth the look.  You can see that there are few more of these to fill in, but not many.

Another blade

I finished the background on the second blade from the right, so that completes that blade.  I used the pearl cotton and did the same Waffle stitch in the area as the other two center ones.  I then resumed using six strands of cotton floss to create the Pavilion stitches on the last blade on the right. 

Strange Looking Picture

I finished putting in all the Gloriana Silk Ribbon loops with about 4 inches of ribbon left.  I think Terry might have less packed posies but I like these.  I then put in French knots with two strands of Splendor, but not in all of the flowers.  I laid down the needle, unclamped the frame and held it up for DH to admire and lavish praise.  "It is really nice but a strange looking picture".  I started laughing and gently reminded him that this was going to be finished into a box and was one of my Christmas presents from him!  I am still laughing on this one!  I promise to start the finishing on this box this weekend.  I have the frame and Terry included a DVD with instructions--how cool is that?

Tuesday stitching

Tonight at stitching group I worked on the Nancy Cucci piece.  I started by doing the first pass on the box on the bottom row, second in from the right.  First, the DMC pearl cotton is darned in and then the Kreinik #8 went in.  There is more on this pattern, but I skipped up to the center beaded boxes and started putting in the beads in the third box from the left, alternating pearl beads with crystal ones.  this box is about half done.  Pretty good progress for all the laughing we did tonight.  We somehow got started talking about weddings and bridesmaids dresses we had worn and it was downhill from there!  LOL

Getting rolling

Next, we needed to trace the design.  Here I have taped it to my light box.

 I marked the center of the canvas and traced the design with my Pigma pen......(This picture shows you the pretty green background color if you enlarge it by clicking on it.)

And, now we are outlining the top poppy petals.  This is to pad the edges of the petal for the upcoming long and short stitches.

How about a new project?

I signed up for Oriental poppies through Cyber Pointers with the design by Pat Van Cleve. Below is the colored photo of the project. Even though the project is worked on a green fabric, the picture comes out real dark.

I taped the edges of the fabric as I am stapling this to my Evertites and since it is 25 count Lugana, I don't want it to ravel so I use painter's tape.
Below is a picture of all the fibers I have pulled to stitch this design. I would also like to thank Pat Van Cleve for allowing me to blog stitch this piece. I have chosen all Splendor colors and one overdyed Waterliles.
P.S. the boxes: I did not finish the Monet's Pond box yet as there has been a lot going on. I spent quit a bit of time trying to find the fabric and supplies to do the black box. I did get the material and the box today, but did not get a chance to even start, so please be patient .....I will get to it!

Maybe half?

I continued working with the River silk ribbon to make loop flowers after I finished the left leaf. I also changed the flowers on top of the leaf to be a little smaller than the ones going toward the center. I wanted them to appear more like buds. I will also be adding yellow french knot centers. I hope to finish this by the weekend so I can make two boxes--this one and the Black and Gold design.

The leaves and the flower

I finished filling in the Reverse Mosaic with one of the other yellow Splendors as the center is covered by the flowers in the garden, and I ran out of the pale yellow. I then used the 7 mm River Silks and started the leaves on each end and did the tips for placement. I need to finish shaping the leaves, but I really had to put in a few loops of the Gloriana Monet's Pond ribbon to see what they are going to look like.

Some darning, some beading

I finished the middle section on the right in another pattern by laying the Kreinik from side to side and then using Perle Cotton to couch it down in a pattern. Then I beaded the inner boxes from the left, number one with Magnifica, and number two with long iridescent bugle beads.

Ready for finishing

I finished the S patterns to fill the opening of the circle. Due to the material and pattern, this piece has movement to it. The depth created by the fibers down to the black which barely shows up causes it to move as you go by it. I will pick up the supplies and hope to finish it this weekend.

So close

I decided to go ahead and finish this piece as several of you really like it. I worked on the last
S strip tonight but did not quite finish it. I still have three more passes to complete the pattern and will finish it tomorrow night!

Picking up where I left off

I picked up on Monet's Garden by Terry Dryden tonight and continued working on the reverse Mosaic stitches for the cover of the box. The entire top is to be covered with three strands of Splendor stitches. However, it is looking like I might run out of the color so I am now working around the area that is going to be covered with silk ribbon in a bit. I will fill in the remaining with one of the other yellows that are in the kit. The entire area is to be covered in yellow before I add the ribbon to make it glide through the canvas easier.
This is my regular Thursday stitching project however I did not stitch at all last night. One of our regular stitching group needed help sorting her stash. She is downsizing big time and moving into a retirement home due to issues with Alzheimer's disease. This was not as you can imagine a cheery evening but we made the best of it. She is getting rid of a lot of her books and all of the other "must haves" in her stash. We will help her disperse her treasures over the next few weeks and then make sure she has cash for some new interests. I encourage you all to think about what you will do with your stash and make sure your friends and family are aware of your wishes. A long time ago the group all committed to helping each other when the time came and even though it is difficult to do, we all want to make sure these treasures go to new friends and good homes.

A different perspective & a giveaway!

I did another pass of black across the top left and then I filled in the last three rows of the largest S tonight. I cut a six inch circle (or sort of-I tried) so you can see the actual design area. This piece is going to be set in a box top so that the movement and depth are visible sitting on a table. Don't you love the new needle minders? The top left one is the one from Madonna and the gold Bada Bling is from Jane! So much fun!

Check out the giveaway: http://threadgatherer.blogspot.com/2010/07/its-giveaway-time.html

Stitches in Sterling update

The top right box is done in alternating rows of the Kreinik and Perle Cotton, and then the L shape next to it above the box as well. Once I complete the box below these two, I will start beading the center design as I should be past catching my threads on the beads when working down.

One more paddle

Tonight I finished all the Forget Me Nots in the left most paddle. These are worked in four strands of Waterlilies Mediterrean. The yellow French Knots are worked with two strands of Splendor and then the leaves are done is YLI ribbon stitches and lazy daisy. I then turned it on the side to work the rows for the pulled pattern in the background. I then moved over and started the background in the fourth paddle from the left but only got a little of it done. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and there is someone waiting for this pattern! Hurry, Pat, Hurry!

No, it is not a mask

It really isn't a face mask but it is the underside of my jaw. What with all the noise, bangs, booms, and swooshes I heard tonight, I am surprised there is that much of it! This is all done with six strands of the darkest grey and will be for all of the rest of my jaw and neckline. Kind of boring I know, but that is what I really look like. So I hope you all had burgers or hotdogs or watermelon or what ever you do to celebrate. See ya next week!

Gift of Love progress

I finished all the off white on the right ribbon tail. The blue is in on the left tail. These are both being worked in basketweave with a single strand of Marlitt. I then moved up to the top left corner and worked on the background doing the Double Cross with two strands of the Waterlilies.

Oh, Wow!

Madonna of the Front Range Stitcher ( on my blog roll on the right) did a celebration for her first comment left after her 20,000th visitor and it was me! I was amazed! I did not (like everyone else I found out) have any idea she was doing something like this! She sent me a note and let me know she was mailing me a surprise! And, look what I got in the mail today: Studios magazine-I have never seen this, but am drooling--June McKnight's Christmas Stitches, a painted canvas--yes!--of a darling winter cube complete with all the threads!, a bookmark magnet--how cute is that?!, a coaster that says Smart Women crave Good Company, and last, but not least, a Kelmscott Needle Minder with my initial on it! What a fabulous prize(s) and all because I love to see what everyone is doing and add comments to the blogs! Thank you, Madonna! Thank you, thank you!! I am in awe!

I was so excited but I did manage to settle down and do some stitching too. I finished the bottom band of Monet's Garden by finishing the Linen Fold Variation center section using the Splendor yellows. I then started the top of the box doing a Reverse Mosaic with more of the yellow Splendor--it is that little section on the top oval!

What a great day! Stitchers and bloggers are wonderful!!