This time last week I was in Nanci Cucci’s Hearts Gone Wild class in Milwaukee. That seems like a long time ago. The class was a delight. Nancy put a dark chocolate pink foil wrapped heart in with our threads. She is the best…chocolate rules. The class was two days and all too soon it was over and I was at the Closing Banquet. The food this year was wonderful at both banquets.
Then It was time to repack…always fun to get everything in my suitcases. My DH thought my suitcases weighed more when I got home. I reminded him that dirty clothes weigh more than clean clothes 
Yesterday I finally picked up a needle and worked on Double Up. I cleaned up the spaghetti and tackled the center waffle stitches. I put it in and took it out several times. Two hours later I finally had the count right. In working the second layer it was difficult to see the holes as they already had a border stitch in them.
Then I proceeded to finish all the crescents first layer and begin the second layer. The name of the piece is called Double Up because many of the Hilton stitches are layered up. It will be a challenging piece and I am looking forward to many days in the coming weeks to make great progress.
We will be heading to Montana this weekend. My next post will come from Superior, MT on the bank of the Clark Fork River.
After another ten hours of sleep I am almost back to normal. Last Monday was the final day of Double Up. Here is what I accomplished….. not much (Most of what you see was pre-work)
I did clean up all the spaghetti. I am now ready to get serious on this project. I want to tackle it while class is still fresh in my mind as the charts will be a little bit of a challenge.
Monday night I boarded a bus with 26 other women and headed to the North Shore needlepoint shop in Illinois. It was a limo bus….seating all around. It made for a fun opportunity to visit with many of the women on the bus. The drive was about an hour and a half. They had snacks ( cheese, fruit, crackers, cookies and drinks) for us and 10 trunk shows. We did not get back to the hotel until 11pm but it was a fun trip.
Tuesday and Wednesday were free days. No Classes. I volunteered in the book store and the opportunity basket areas on Tuesday. My hours were during class time so I mostly sat and stitched on some bookmarks that I carry with me. I needed some simple stitching after three days of class. I design the bookmarks as I stitch so no charts to follow. Tuesday was the Silent Auction and Live Auction. I placed a few bids at the silent auction and wound up getting a TISH painted cnavas…a southwest design. Remember I don’t usually do painted canvases but I am finding more designs that I really like. This could be dangerous. The Live Auction is fun to observe.
Wednesday I played. I walked several blocks down to the Milwaukee River and spent some time on the river walk. I shopped at the Boston Store, which was having a big sale. Then I spent quite a bit of time in the exhibit. I made lots of notes regarding the projects that will be offered at seminar in Columbus, OH next year. Expo night was Wednesday and I managed to find some fun things I had to have. My biggest bargin was a bag of floss for $5.00. Upon getting home I counted 177 skeins. ANG was having a stash clearing sale and along with threads were canvases for $2, $5 and $10. I passed up the canvases but you could hardly get near the table the first half hour.
To be continued…..
I can’t believe that 2009 seminar is now a memory. I arrived at midnight Friday night and was fortunate enough to get the shuttle, get checked into the Hilton and be in bed and turn off the light by 1:30am. Saturday morning came all too soon and I was in my first class at 8:30am.
Double Up with Ro Pace was my first 3 day class. The project is one that will challenge my skills in more ways than one. The project is entitled Double Up because there are a lot of Hilton-type stitches that are layered up (doubled) one on top of another. The colorway is turquoise and peach. Very pleasing to the eye. The charts are the biggest challenge. They are not the clearest due to the way the software numbers the stitches. I have gotten spoiled by charts that are a dream to work with. (Photo is Ro’s finished project)
I learned a very valuable lesson on day one. I was working on congress cloth and having a very hard time with two strands of silk attempting to do a waffle stitch in the center. My thread kept fraying big time. I took stitches out tried another pair of threads with the same results. I was beginning to wonder if I had gotten a bad skein of silk. I asked Ro what the problem might be. She gave me a new skein and I told her I would try the stitch that night. In discussing this problem with my roommate Saturday night we determined that it wasn’t the silk it was the size of needle that I was using. The 24 seemed the right size for congress cloth but when I switched to a 22 it made all the difference in the world. I needed to open the hole wider in order to have the thread pass through without fraying. My thinking that a 22 was too big was incorrect. I have yet to attend a class or workshop without learning something very valuable and sometimes very basic. I returned the extra skein of silk in class on Sunday.
The Welcome Banquet was Saturday night. It was well attended. I had the best piece of beef that I have EVER had. I have no idea what the cut was. It was cooked just perfect….a little pink in the middle. The amazing thing was that I cut it with a dinner knife and it melted in my mouth. The only disappointment was no chocolate for dessert. In Wisconsin you get cheesecake.
To be continued…..
I am so excited……..this time tomorrow I will be on the plane to Milwaukee. It has been such a busy week that I have not finished my ANG STOM for August. There is a baseball game tonite but I think I am too tired to stitch. I do hope I can sleep and not spend the night mentally packing my suitcase. Can’t get my suitcase out until in the morning. No spare bedroom in a motorhome.
Since the internet is so expensive at the hotel I will not post again until after I get home September 5th. I plan to take pictures and bore you with details when I get back.
2 days and counting……. I still haven’t finished the August STOM. Since arriving in Washington we have been way toooooo busy with routine doctor’s appointment and family and friends. My stitching has suffered. I am so close to getting STOM caught up…….
If I had room, my suitcase would be would be out and I would be organizing my packing. In a motorhome there is no room for a suitcase to sit out. I have lists and will pack and fly on Friday. My computer is NOT going…no free internet. I will try to post a couple of times if there is a public computer for use.
THIS IS WHAT I HAVE BEEN UP TO: It was exciting……
No I’m not stitching but I jumped out of a perfectly good airplane at 10,000 feet on Sunday morning to help my daughter celebrate her 40th birthday. Here we are dressed and looking like we know what we are doing. It was an experience we won’t forget soon. It was scary leaving the plane…..but the rest was AWESOME. I can’t believe I really did it.
It has been 10 days since I updated you on my STOM Kimono. I have been traveling part of the time, attending an RV Rally, and in general being lazy.
After 5 weeks on the Oregon coast we have gone inland…but not to far. Anyone familiar with the Northwest knows it is like two different worlds on the west side of the mountains and on the east side of the mountains. We are inland but still on the west side of the mountains where the weather is wonderful. The highs at the coast were high 60’s ….today we had sun and 82.
Regarding the July section (lower, green) I am finding that traveling from one section to another is a challenge. I want the pattern to look correct as the eye travels. The first jump looks OK but I am still looking at how to count the second jump.
The August section (orange on the left) is a fun stitch to do. The challenge again is a jump to a very small tirangle. This stitch pattern is fairly large so I am looking for the small triangle to be nothing but compensation, not my favorite thing. I don’t mind compensation at the edges of a large area but these small areas where there isn’t one complete stitch is another thing.
I have completed June (upper left corner). I used french knots in place of the suggested tent stitches. The result is a “bead” look. Doing french knots with Krienik was a learning experience.
I am partially done with July. I am trying to decide about the crossover. Do I do another compensation row or do I start the pattern anew? Do I need to count the rows of the center band and pick up the pattern exactly?
I am beginning to have doubts about my colorway but I will keep going and see what the final result looks like. Of couse the colors shown arn’t exactly true…….I am using a simple point and shoot camera
I finished my Double Up pre-work yesterday. In addition to the required pre-work. I added a basting stitch around the perimeter and on the diagonals. This was suggested by one of the pilot stitchers.
Now I will return to my ANG Stitch of the Month Kimono. I am three months behind…June, July and August. I plan to be all caught up in time to go to seminar.
It is very tempting to start something new, but I am being good….. for now.
Today we pulled in the slides (all 4) and headed north on Hwy 101 about 55 miles to a Thousand Trails Campground at Pacific City, OR. Here is a look at “the big mother” we live in. And yes, I do drive it (but not in city traffic). The coast is still cool with temps in the mid 60’s with lots of clouds. Haven’t seen much of the sun but I am not complaining. I get more than enough sun when we are in Arizona.
I am on the downhill side of my pre-work. I am already looking forward to starting something new. This pre-work has been challenging. Counting on 22ct congress cloth is not easy for these old eyes. My next post should show the pre-work all done.
After two days of sunshine on the Oregon coast the fog has returned. I am not complaining. It has been soooo hot inland that we really appreciate the cool.
I have moved forward with my seminar pre-work. I have found that working right to left and turning the canvas so that I am always working on the bottom has made keeping my braid stitch uniform all around. All the braid stitch is done in perle cotton either #12 or #16. Read: no laying. I’m on a roll now and the stitching is moving along much faster.
