Fenway

Yeah! Got my Fenway canvas back from the finisher yesterday. She went with her instincts and used this wonderful old-fashioned red ticking fabric. I love it.

Now I can make a third flag for the 2013 championship. Smiles all around here!

In the Nation

Much happiness in Red Sox Nation!

Wonderful to watch the boys win in Fenway.

I almost finished my canvas last night. Just a bit of sky to go. But I may rework my stars on the flag. 'Cause I can.

Yes. I admit to watching nearly every Red Sox game - maybe 145 out of 162 games? And now comes the deep darkness know as the off-season...

But first - time for some celebration!

Blue Skies, Nothing But Blue Skies

I don't remember the last time we looked at my Fenway canvas. I know I took some photos in July, but apparently I didn't post them. LOL

See, I was having a problem and even though there are non-problematic areas of the canvas I could have been working on, I don't work like that. I had to put this away so it could simmer on a backburner in my brain. 

Here's where I was when I put it away:

 My problem was the sky. I didn't like what I was doing. Here it is up close:

 This week this canvas reappeared in my stitching bag. On Tuesday night, I stitched the left hand column of bricks beside the flag. Most of the time I was working on this, I was thinking about that sky. 

And on Wednesday I frogged the sky. And tried something else. And frogged that. And tried a variation of the last stitch. And frogged that. And tried something else. And frogged that. And tried a variation of the last stitch. And frogged that. Then unbelievably I tried something else and it, too, was frogged. At this point, I reached a decision. The problem wasn't necessarily the stitches, but the thread. So out with Vineyard Silk and I tried two versions with Splendor silk. 

I told my troubles to a friend on Wednesday night. And on Thursday at stitching she tossed a handful of Finca #12 perle at me saying she didn't think any of the colors would be right. 

Well, I didn't have my canvas with me, having put the troublesome thing back in its pillowcase and leaving it at home. But I thought one ball of Finca might be close to the right color. And I took it home to experiment. 

Thursday night after dinner I sat down one more time to stitch on the sky. And knowing when I am beat, I decided to just try basketweaving. 

Lo, it works!

 And I rewarded myself by starting to stitch the second flag. All I wanted was for this sky to disappear. And now it does.

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.