Surprise !!! No I haven’t stitched this up real quick. I stitched it up last April. It was an easy project to take to my ANG meetings. I could not post it to the blog because it was a gift for my daughter and her DH and she reads my blog. Although I am not really into Halloween I did have fun getting this together. It was a kit with the pillow already made. Very easy finishing 
. I just had to get the pillow form. I mailed it to her late last week so it would be waiting for her when we returned from our quick trip to Arkansas. She and her DH are really into Halloween and she was thrilled with a new addition to their decorations.
I haven’t stitched, except for a bookmark on my trip to Arkansas, since I last posted. Getting things together for the Estate sale took days. The sale did go well. It was hard in some ways but necessary. I wasn’t out to make money so things were priced to sell. The sale was Saturday and Sunday morning I hopped a plane for Blytheville, AR to visit my late husbands mother. She is 95 and like a second mom to me. My daughter flew from Seattle and we met in Memphis.
I got back to Arizona Wednesday night…after being up for nearly 20 hours (due to an early flight and the time change) I was exhausted. Yesterday I just vegged and cried when the Yankee’s beat the Phillies. I am one of those who strongly dislike the Yankees. No team should be able to throw money around and “buy” a good team.
We are continueing to try and get this house in order. I do something everyday. Today it was the refrigerator……..ugh but it is done and I hope to get back to some regular stitching.
I finally picked up a needle today and made a little progress on Double Up. It was quite a process to create a new nest to stitch in…. I have been sitting at the end of a couch in the MH for 6 years and trying to get started in a new chair (recliner) with a different table arrangement took me a while. I felt like something was missing. I am sure I will adjust my nest over the next few weeks.
I did finally get the needle threaded and made a little progress on the “crabs” that go along with the “shrimp” previously stitched. It is a fun but time consuming stitch. Now that I have made the first step I am anxious to get back into my routine of having lots of stitching time. I just have to get through my Estate Sale ( selling a lot of my dads STUFF) this Saturday, making a quick trip to Arkansas (flying) leaving on Sunday, back on Wednesday and having a house full of furniture recarpeted upon my return……………..sooooooo maybe by Thanksgiving.
Hi ……I’m back but I havent picked up a needle in two weeks. Our travels south took 9 days. All went well until day 7 when the motrohome was pushed off the road at 55mph. Normally this isn’t a problem but there was NO shoulder on the two lane road in northern Arizona and there was a 6-8 inch drop off. My DH was very calm and got our rig back on the road but the gravity of falling off the road and climbing back up on the road caused a free standing oak cabinet to fall over and my stitching stand was right in front of the cabinet. Where it always traveled…..lots of crash and bang occured. I was able to put everything back. The only casuality was my stitching stand, made of wood it broke under the weight of the cabinet. It was exactly like the one shown in my photo. Several months before we left for our trip my DH found a stand just like mine for $5 at a swap……actually recognized what it was and bought it. I was able to replace the broken pieces and am going to be able to stitch real soon. Double Up was in the stand when it took the hit. By some miracle it was NOT damaged. I guess the good lord was watching over me. If it had been ripped I would have cried and gone on to another project. I don’t think I would have ever started it again.
On Friday we arrived in Sierra Vista and began the project of moving from the MH into our winter house….(my Dad’s, now mine) We found out that we were very good at putting 10lbs of ….. in a 5 lb bag. Having lived in the MH for 6 years I was amazed at how many nooks and cranies we had filled with “stuff”. By Sunday noon we had everything we intended to move from the MH to the house and we were both exhausted. Seems like our age is showing, body aching and ready to sleep for a week.
As you can see from the photo I now have a room of my own AKA a studio. I have all my needlework “stuff” in one place (you can only see some of it in the photo) but definately not organized. In fact the whole house needs to be organized. I am wandering around in 1800 square feet of house trying to remember which room I’m heading to and what and where IT is that I am looking for.
I hope to be back behind a needle by this weekend. More soon.
I have made it to the downhill side of Double Up. The sprats heads on both ends of the crescents and the waffle in the middle of the crescents are done with the wonderful silk overdye. The sprats heads went in pretty easy but the waffles were a little difficult. Getting the rythum was a challenge. I just couldn’t see the overall picture.
The last couple of days were spent on the woven band. I got the rythum for the bottom layer after I got the pebbly pearl plyed. It was the first time I had ever separated pebbly pearl. It is tightly twisted and I had to work to get two ply layed side by side. The top layer was Gloriana silk. Again with two plys to lay. I had to work with short thread lengths and it is still a challenge to keep it from thinning and shredding.
The weather here in Montana has cooled off. It was 3o this morning when I went for my daily walk. It warmed up to 51 with a breeze…… definately time to head south. Tomorrow we will pull in the slides and begin our travels to Sierra Vista, AZ. We are planning a couple of days at the north rim of the Grand Canyon and maybe a couple of days in Verde Valley. It will be a week or so before I check in again.
All 96 “shrimp” are finished. I decided that it was necessary to complete the first layer and then do the second layer. The count is different and trying to change my mind from one count to another in the same area was difficult. Anyone doing this piece must have the first layer done and counted against each other before beginning the second layer. The first layer is done in perle and the holes are fairly easy to see. The second layer is two ply of overdyed silk. It must be layed and finding the proper holes is sometimes a challenge…..it is VERY easy to miscount.
The weather is cooling off here in Montana. The high today has been 61…. Soon we will pull in the slides and head this motorhome south where the weather is warmer. I am hoping to keep stitching until we depart so that I will be on the downhill side of this project.
A day and a half of hours of stitching and I have completed 24 triangle jessicas, done in pairs. I got on a roll with the stitch sequence and really enojoyed the process.
In the close up you can see my next challenge……those little crescents (which we nicknamed shrimp in class). These are done twice. The first layer is perle and the secong layer is two strands of overdyed silk. You can see both layers in the photo. These are the ones that I completed in class. Counting the actual number of shrimp is daunting…48 X 2 = 96 !! I will tackle them tomorrow or should I say I will start tackleing them tomorrow.
You might also note that I completed that small overdyed border on the outer edge of the lacy area.
Although this is a challenging project I am enoying it very much and look forward to making some progress every day.
Progress…progress…progress and having fun. I have covered the padding stitches in only one day. Traveling again needed some thought.
Now I am on to the small border outside the lacy area. This will be easy as it is a slanted satin stitch in a wonderful overdyed silk.
I am not doing the project in the order suggested, I think I am putting off the double crescents which are in the triangle area and a whole border of jessicas. Have to be in the right mood and have plenty of time to keep stitching once the rythum has been established.
I have been cropping my photos so you can see the area I have been working on. Next posting will show the whole project.
I am finally seeing progress on this wonderful project. Double Up is providing many challenges. The area outside the small border is a very lacy looking combination of stitches. There was no clue in the instructions as to how one should travel from motif to motif. This is an area I wish more teachers would address. Often the stitch sequence is given but no directions as to the correct way to travel. Keeping the pull of th thread in mind I figured out a way to travel and then kept consistent. My thinking is that if threads do peak through from the back they should do so in the same pattern.
Now I am on to the next layer where all those turquoise perle stitches (which are padding) will be covered.
Double Up is proving to be a very tedious project.
After completing the background outside the crescents I moved on the the inside of the small (4 thread) border. It has taken me a week.
The background outside the crescents proved to be a lesson in compensation…not my favorite when it involves circular areas. The reverse mosaic was not difficult. It was done in silk, 2 ply which needed to be layed. It seemed to take forever.
The area inside the small border…….oh my. Done in two ply of slippery thread with three layers ! Some designers cause me to wonder if they have as much trouble finding the proper holes or do they just let the pilot stitchers produce their projects. I did the first layer (a simple cross stitch over 4) with two ply then went to a single ply for the second layer (an upright cross on top of the cross stitch over 4) so that I could find the holes for the third layer (a waffle on top of both the cross and upright cross over four). All this to cover 4 threads !
I feel like I have been stitching forever and have very little to show for my time. Now I will go the next area adjacent to the small border. It looks like a lacy stitch that should look like progress when I complete it.
We traveled safely and are now parked on the high bank of the Clark Fork River in Superior, MT. It is so peaceful and beautiful. I am planning on lots of stitching.
Prior to leaving Graham, WA I was able to press on with Double Up. I completed all the crescents ( which we decided in class looked liked little shrimp). The second layer is done in Gloriana Overdyed silk #100. It is a wonderful color combination. It was a little challenging due to the fact that I used 3 ply and had to lay each stitch.
The next stitch was the diagonal satin stitches inside the crescents. This was a very easy stitch BUT I found two ply of Soie Goblins was a real challenge to lay smoothly. It is a shiny, slippery thread.
The background inside of the crescents was suppose to be Four Way Continental done with #12 perle. I found that it was too heavy for the area. In class it was discussed that #16 would be a better choice. What I did was rows of continental, changing direction each row and doing every other stitch. The thread was nearly the color of the canvas and I like the look of just barely there.
Next I am on to the background outside the crescents…….more soon
