Even though I stitched most of this last year, I've finally finished it. My first needlework finish of the year! It is Prairie Schooler's "Rain, Rain". I shared my progress on it recently, so it's nice to actually complete something I've been talking about. I plan on turning it into a pincushion--what's called a "mattress pincushion". I've not tried this before, but I think I can manage it. You can see an example in my photo--someone made one several years ago for me. She also chose a Prairie Schooler design. I'll likely put my initials on the back along with some small motif from the front of the design. I'm not sure if I'll stitch something on the strips or just use pins as embellishment. If you're curious you can see an excellent tutorial for finishing one of these here. Now I can update my Picturetrail album as I finally have my first finish to place in my 2011 album.
And here's my first start of the new year. It's another Prairie Schooler design from a chart called "Weather Wise". I love lighthouses, so this small project seemed perfect for a quick stitch. I'm going to finish it as a plain pincushion and have decided to stitch the other small design below it, the night/day house, as the backside.
I have been optimistically thinking I would have this "February" sampler finished by my birthday mid-ish February, but now I'm not so sure that will happen. Words go fast, but now I am working on the larger motifs in the middle. The strange shape in the lower left will soon be a house.
And much like with books, I'm never happy working on just one project at a time. I like to have several to choose from--a few small projects that go quickly and one or two larger ones that will take time and effort but when finished will be nice enough to frame. Drawn Thread is another favorite designer. I'm sure I've shared my "Toccatas" (you can see the first one I stitched in my 2007 needlework album). There are a series of four Toccata designs that I want to stitch eventually. I got hung up on one of the motifs as it calls for a thick gold thread called Japan thread which is very unwieldy and hard to work with, so the project was set aside and forgotten, but I need to either try and work through it or work around it and come back to it later.
The idea behind the Toccatas is that you show off your needlework ability by stitching a variety of sometimes difficult embroidery stitches. It's a little bad that I've given up early on, so I can't give in to defeat on this one. The projects above all call for plain cross stitch (comfort stitching?--like comfort reads), but also like books, this latter one calls for more challenging techniques. I've given up making any sort of needlework plans or setting goals, but perhaps I can finish this by the end of the year?