The Peacock's Feather

A Shamrock for Luck

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!  This is a little March pinkeep I stitched years ago from one of the Prairie Schooler "Prairie Year" charts.  I still need to finish stitching most of the rest of the months.  Life has been hectic lately, so I've not even gotten in any stitching time on the weekend, but I do hope that changes soon!

Finally a Few Updates

I was holding off posting here until I had finished my Prairie Schooler "February Sampler", but as I am still working on it, I thought I had better just share  my progress before January slips away entirely.  I still want to try and finish this before next month, and I am getting close.  I only need to finish filling in the snow/white under the houses and add a bit of backstitching.  Almost done!

All that white fill in was getting tedious, so I pulled out my poor "Mystery Sampler" by Blackbird Designs.  It has been untouched for months and months.  I wasn't looking forward to those eyelet stitches for the grapes, but I need to just knuckle down and do them.  I don't like how  my eyelets look, but I think once they are done they'll be okay.  There was no explanation on the chart about how the eyelets are to be done or how many plies of floss, so I have been using two--not sure that is right, but the smyrnas called for two plies, so I decided to keep it all uniform.  I'm ready to move on to section three, so I am stitching away on this one now. 

And after seeing Susan's gorgeous finish, I was thinking Hillside Sampling's "Strawberry Fields" might be my 2012 project.  My long term project that is.  I accomplished very little last year and hope to do better this year.  We'll see, so it's best not to make too many plans or assume I'll whip this design out quickly, since I expect it will take me months to finish.

Here's  my little start.  It looks like a challenging project, so I hope I can stick it out and do it on my own!

Almost There...

I'm hoping to finish this before the end of the week!  I've only a few more motifs to add and then on to the white fill in.  It will be a perfect mindless task for when I am watching movies.  And then it'll be time to pull out another project to focus on.  I certainly have plenty to choose from, but something small would be nice--instant gratification of I can finish early in 2012 and get going in the new year.  I hope I'll be able to stitch more then and complete more projects as I only finished a paltry few this year!

Almost Finished: February!

I seem to be posting all of about once monthly here, so now that it is December I guess I need to share a little progress!  I am almost finished with my PS "February" sampler.  I've actually stitched a tiny bit more but I am too lazy to take a proper photo.  Maybe this weekend I can share another update (Shocking!  Two posts in one month?).  I'm not looking forward to all the filling in of white, but it'll be the last bit I need to do.

And a little close up of the bottom.  Doesn't the little brown guy look a little bit like a frog?  I need to fill in his eyes and mouth and then he'll look more like the ground hog he is!  He'll be holding a flag by the way.

Ooh, and look what I recently started: another Prairie Schooler design--"The Tortoise and the Hare".  When I get tired of filling in white stitches for snow I can come back to some lovely green letters and motifs and think of warmer days.  It has officially snowed (a plowable snow) where I live.  We didn't get much but it was enough to cause problems and as someone who walks and takes the bus to work I had to deal with lots of un-shoveled sidewalks this morning.  I'm hoping for a little warmth and sunshine this week to help melt it away.  Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Finally Back to Stitching!

If only summer could be as nice as the last few days have been!  It has finally been nice enough for me to want to pick up my stitching again that I managed to get most of the middle section finished and add a few motifs to the bottom area.  I'm dreading filling in the bottom with white, but I am so happy to be near the end I think maybe I won't mind so much.

Here's a close up of the middle.  I will also need to do a little backstitching, but nothing too extensive.  This would have been perfect to work on in the heat since it is a snowy scene--I hate to think cold weather is only around the corner, but I plan on enjoying the nice, cool fall weather as much as possible.

On the spur of the moment I decided I wanted to start something new and happened to pick up this sampler which I had kitted up ages ago.  It is from a Better Homes and Garden Christmas book.  I'm using Antique White linen and overdyed floss.  

I'm not sure if I am just in a stitching mood or if I like the feel of my materials and the type of designs I'll be stitching, but I think this is going to be a very enjoyable design to work on.  The verse is from a German Christmas carol that was translated into English.  I've seen this one finished by other stitchers and think it's a very elegant design.  I'm hoping I can finish it by Christmas!

Chart Lust

 

Isn't this nice?  I want it, of course.  No matter that I have yet to finish any of the other Hawk Run designs, but maybe this will give me inspiration to pull out one of my UFOs to work on it while thinking about buying this one?

My mom recently visited my sister in Virginia where there is a wonderful little needlework store.  I gave her a list of charts I would be interested in having if they had any on hand.  She brought back two Prairie Schooler designs that I'd been eyeing--"Tortoise and the Hare" and "September", which I look forward to stitching at some point.  Now that the weather has cooled off somewhat (still warm and sticky, but much improved) I hope to get back to stitching very soon--I'm getting itchy fingers!

February in July

After a little hiatus I'm back to working on Prairie Schooler's "February".  When winter was dragging on I set it aside as the sight of snow was just too much for me.  But now that it is July and hot and humid and I am wilting, I'm only too happy to think of snow again!  I have actually stitched a bit more on this since I took the photo, but I wanted to share  my work as I had a photo ready.  I also have a new project, which I just started but I want to put in a few stitches before I share it here.  Soon!

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend, and those celebrating the Fourth have a safe holiday.  I have a long weekend with a few extra days off from work, so I plan on reading, stitching and watching a movie or two.  I think I'll stay in the air conditioning however.  It's a little too hot for my tastes!

A Prairie Schooler Bee Skep

I've finished my second mattress-style pincushion and am very pleased with it.  I made a few changes to how I do the finishing thanks to the very helpful suggestions I received and think this turned out much nicer than my first attempt.  I used an iron on interfacing on the front and back and thin quilt batting--several layers worth--for the inside.  It has a much smoother look to it and feels much more subtantial.

Rather than using pins on the sides I decided to stitch a few bees on the side and flowers on top and bottom.

Here's a close up of the flower.  I kept the sides pretty narrow.

Bee skeps are one of my very favorite motifs!

There is a bee just like this one on the back of the design.  I also stitched my initials and the year over one thread on the lower left and right corners.

I started this several years ago and now I wonder why it ever took me so long to finish!

And a Little More Progress

I thought it was time to check back in and share my "February" progress.  I'm getting there, though I had actually hoped to finish this in February.  Now I am trying for the first day of spring.  As that is only two weeks away, it may be wishful thinking, but I'll keep working away on it.  I think I am ready to work on something a little more colorful, but I don't want this one to turn into a UFO.

I'm just about ready to begin the finishing on this little bee skep.  It is another Prairie Schooler design.  I just need to stitch my name or initial and the date, which I think will go on the back side.  I'd like to stitch over one, so we'll see how it goes.  I think I can manage this one before March 21.

And then there is my poor "Mystery Sampler" which I have completely stalled on.  I don't think I have picked this one up once this year, so I am hoping to pull it out and start working on it again.  There's quite a lot of filling in on this section and I'm just not motivated with that house! If I can just start adding stitches, I think I can fall back into the rhythm of working on it once again.

I though you might like to see the books I received for my birthday, which I just recently celebrated. 

The top book is Rebecca Stott's Samplers, which is a survey of the history of samplers from the 17th through 19th centuries both in Britain and America.  "This book, written by one of Britain's leading experts on the subject, and illustrated with superb photographs of a great range of samplers from Britain and the USA, provides an ideal introduction to these amazing embroideries, for collectors, and those interested in social history and the history of art."  Connecticut Needlework: Women, Art, and Family, 1740-1840 by Susan P. Schoelwer is another lavishly illustrated book with selections of needlework from the Connecticut Historical Society.  There are seventy examples of needlework.  With each plate is a detailed description of the piece along with its history.  I'd forgotten how much I love these sorts of books.  It's been a while since I've bought myself anything so nice.  A good friend gave these to me.  I need to get back into the habit of reading these sorts of books--I miss them.

The bottom book is not one I had come across before and was a lovely surprise.  Collect Raindrops by Nikki McClure is a book of the four seasons.  At first when I flipped through I thought it was illustrated with woodblock prints, but these are actually intricate paper cuts.  In her introduction, artist Nikki McClure writes:

"I make my pictures by cutting away at black paper with a knife.  The paper becomes lacelike and everything becomes connected.  What remains is a paper-cut, just black and white.  Color and texture are added later.  My words are letter-pressed or cut out by hand."

As the book is on the bottom of the pile (due only to its size), I'm not doing much justice to it.  You can see her work here.  I might just have to go back to collecting art books!

One from the UFO Bin!

I mentioned that I was ready for a new small project... I ended up choosing a design that was stitched but not finished--Prairie Schooler's "A Prairie Year II"--August.  I had this idea, oh, about five years ago that I would stitch each monthly design and finish each a different way.  I made it January through March and then sort of fizzled.  I did finish July and here is August.  I have a few more partially stitched, so I thought it would be fun to work on these again.  And now that I have my first mattress pincushion under my belt, here I am working on number two!

Many thanks for the comments on my last two posts--particularly the finishing help from a few days ago.  Lessons learned--I love polyfill, but it is a little too lumpy.  And interacing may be a helpful thing, though I didn't have a problem with fraying.

This time around I am going to use interfacing, and try good old quilt batting for a smoother look.  I am also not going to use pins for embellishment, but I will stitch some design or words on the edges.  I've been very much in a stitching mood, so I might even finish this on the upcoming weekend.  Then I can move on to another month!