The No Photo Posts

Again. My apologies for the lack of photos. But I'm currently lacking the ability to edit photos on my laptop. If it was just my computer, I'd fix that. But it isn't. So I don't.

But I wanted to give a quick shout out to Anna Goiser of Talliaferro who came and talked to the Washington DC Chapter of EGA yesterday. Anna's charming and funny and she led us through her process of how she creates her crewel pieces. From inspiration through many trips to the copy store to created design. 

 

You can see Anna's work here:  Talliaferro. 


She's amazingly talented. I look forward every year to seeing what new pieces she enters in the Woodlawn Needlework Show.



Oh look. I snuck a photo in here!


I've got tons to update on here, but little time to do it. In my sampler news, it took me way longer than it should have, but I've finally joined two pieces of linen together and proved that I can stitch over the join line. Pretty nifty! 


So watch this space. More soon.

Baseball Purists

The baseball purists are recommending that I change the color of the gray doorways to Monster Green on my Fenway canvas.

This is going to cause some rethinking on my part. I can still start this canvas on Thursday because the red and whites I have won't get changed. But I may have to do some fiddling with the greens. 

Speaking of which, it takes 38 gallons of green paint to repaint the Monster at Fenway. Which is done on average every two years. 

The wall itself has only been green since 1947. The initials of the former owners, the Yawkeys, are written in Morse code on the wall. If you know where to look. 

I could go on, but I am capable of self-editing my Red Sox mania.

LOL

I finally started my outlines yesterday for the April stitching on my Kimono. Discovered a new place to stitch at my house. Normally I would try to go stitch outside on the deck for a bit, but it was too windy. And because I was making Hungarian Goulash with Noodle and Cabbage, I didn't want to stray too far from the kitchen as things occasionally need stirring. So I dragged a chair into the kitchen and set up by the doors to the deck. Same light as stitching on the deck. A lot less wind! Cleared off the butcher block cart to put my stuff on and made a Tangerine soda for myself. My big hope for this part is that the outline for the top and bottom line up - eventually. It would suck if they didn't.  


I also started a new carry-along project - an ornament kit that I bought in New Orleans. It's the cathedral at night with a glitzy, shiny purple, yellow, and green background. Very nice that they detail that they've put 10% more than you need in the kit. Very not nice that didn't tell that there wasn't enough to basketweave. Fortunately, Lori at the Waste Knot was very helpful and she was right on identifying the thread so I could purchase more. 


I've got some good stuff lined up in the near future - coming up  this weekend is the Leaf Collage class with Terry Dryden. WooHoo! You can see this piece here - http://www.terrydryden.com/leaf-collage/. (stupid blogger is giving me a hard time making a link again. annoying.)


Do I need another big canvas project? Nope. But I love the colors on this one. 


After that, I've got a Guild retreat weekend coming up. I've been considering what to bring. Last year I took O, Canada and my American Rose piece to this retreat. Neither one is finished. O, Canada is closer. I guess I should go resurrect it from the flaming heap of UFOs. I could bring the Rose again. Which I also brought to Ocean City in January. I can look at this project for a couple of hours then all that red color just starts to fry my brain. Anyway, it's just fun considering what to bring!

 

A New Project

Trust me, I know what you're thinking. I need a new project like I need another hole in my head. I am well aware of the number of WIPs and UFOs I have. I don't need reminding. 

But I've had this canvas since autumn 2010 and now is the time to stitch it! In fact, I will start this canvas on April 12th. 

No. It's not a canvas of the Titantic. It's a canvas of Fenway Park. 

 I found this at The World in Stitches in Littleton, Massachusetts. There's no name on the canvas. The shop did have a lovely stand-up model of it. I've altered the canvas slightly since doing this scan by eliminating three windows. A bit of Liquitex red paint and now I can create the brick pattern that I want. It is a stylized portrayal of the park, I do realize that. I've toyed with the idea of changing those gray colored doorways. Which should be Green Monster green when closed. The top should still be green when open. There's absolutely no white around them really. But I'm leaning towards leaving them as they are. 

So Happy 100th Birthday to Fenway Park - one of my favorite places on this planet we call Earth. 

Back to Regular Posting

Spring is well past sprung here. Cherry blossoms came and went with amazing speed. Though there are some late bloomers out there still showing their petals. Red buds, dogwood, tulip magnolias, bradford pears - have all done their thing. Now we're on to the azaleas. I've got a combination wardrobe going now as I never know if it's a pants day or a capri day. But I do know that I should take our winter coats to the dry cleaners. That kind of cold is over.

I have finished my March stitching on the Kimono. Plus I've got the first section of the April stitching done, too. 

I can't tell you how happy this project is making me. I can stare at this one for a long time. Here's a close-up of the March sections.

Look closely at the bottom section on the right, I've spent a bit of time second guessing that one. That overdye is bit grayed out. Doesn't pop. But after consideration I've decided to leave it in. And I'm going to plan carefully for the colors that will be next to it. 

I used all my colors when I finished section 19. So depending on how many colors I use in a section, I guesstimate that I can stitch around 20 sections before starting again with all the colors to choose from. We've got 130 sections on this piece so most colors will be used 6-7 times. (That's right. I can't help but do the math. That's just how I roll.)

And because spring has sprung, it must be the start of the baseball season!

On Tuesday we had tix to the Nats vs. Red Sox exhibition game at Nationals Park. We saw a terrific game. And at home, hubby has hooked us up with a WDTV device and we can watch the games on the big screen with MLB.TV. I am happily back at baseball stitching season and soon I will show you a new project picked just for this occasion.

I've Been Bad

No updates. No photos. No news. 

I'm here out of guilt. 

Because today I was going to post about my Stitching for Autism kit that I ordered at the end of February and received in March. Because it's National Autism Awareness Day. 

Sigh. 

I'm so bad. 

You'll have to forgive. 

We've got company staying with us this week. We've been time traveling to the 1980s. Pre-children. Sometimes pre-marriage. Pretty funny stuff.

And we've got tickets to the Red Sox vs. Nationals exhibition game tomorrow so who knows if I'll get a chance to post here tomorrow. 

I've been diligently trying to finish my March stitching on my Kimono. Only two areas to go. I made a slight mistake on section 24 and had to rip most of it out. Been stitching to Season 1 of Bones and sometimes I get a little sidetracked. And distracted. The show is nothing like the books, at least not what I remember of the early ones. But it's still enjoyable. 


Otherwise I've done a little bit of stitching on my Garden Gate Quaker. I'm getting ready to make a big push on this one and start stitching some more words. Everything is graphed out and ready to go. 

And I received my finishing kit today for my Amy Mitten class. This is some serious stuff. I wish I was further along on that stitching, but wishing doesn't fill holes with silk thread.