Anything Goes Band Sampler

I took a class at the June 1 meeting of my EGA chapter -- Constellation, in MD, for anyone who may be interested. I've never done this kind of needlepoint before (although some of the stitches are familiar), and I've already gone off the rails, in terms of following the pattern, but hey, what can you do? The original project was a yardstick sleeve, but I'm decided mine's going to be the top band of a totebag.... My base fabric is 18ct khaki canvas.



Criss-cross Hungarian stitch in Caron Collection Watercolors 'Nefertiti #008'

I've done the border piece and started on the next section:



Border = bundled faggot stitch in #5 DMC Perle cotton #676 and #420 and Band #2 = Milanese stitch in #5 DMC Perle cotton #4045 and #4210

Oi. I really need to update this more often. I have been stitching, but my time has been severely limited this semester -- two upper level history classes and a studio art class make for a very busy Heather.

So...what have I been doing? Well -- I've been stitching a couple of different things; here are a few finishes (since July of 2008, which is the last time I updated this blog.)

The Tardis:

I used a modified filet crochet pattern (found here, by meredee) and stitched with DMC 825 and DMC glow-in-the-dark floss on 14ct. black aida. (I have plans to do meredee's Adipose Baby and Dalek as well, using more glow-in-the-dark floss and some metallics)

Shakespeare (wedding gift)

This quote is from Love's Labours Lost by William Shakespeare; its a modified bookmark - I pushed some of the words closer together, and changed the Shakespeare attribution to the bride and groom's names. Stitched with DMC linen floss on 28ct. linen -- I both love and hate the linen floss: it looks fantastic, but shreds like crazy!

SHEEP!

Lanarte kit on 28ct. linen; I ran out of *two* colors, and broke *three* needles -- a record for me, especially since this is only 6x6!

My seemingly-eternal WIPs are pillowcases:

Mary Englebreit "Good Night" (1.5 down, .5 to go!)


Fern and Butterfly (1.25 down, .75 to go!)

July Stitch Pink Giveaway

This month's Stitch Pink giveaway is pretty sweet....

Grar.

As much as I love doing my geeky con (and yes, despite any bitching I may do, I do love it), I hate that everything else comes to a halt during the weeks leading up to it -- I did finish the little purple ducks, and I finished some scissor fobs for the charity auction (all of them sold but one), and I stitched a teeny-tiny bit at the Stitch and Bitch, but all in all, I feel like I haven't done *anything* for weeks.

I'm used to cross stitching at least a half-hour a day, if not more, and if I'm ever going to progress beyond chaining and single crochet, I need to get back into the swing of things; I need to make time for crafting.

I did work on a *secret project* for a bit last night; I'm about 50 stitches and a bunch of back stitching away from finishing it, and then I need to figure out how to frame it -- I'm thinking something rustic, since the design is a primitive-rustic style. Hmm...maybe a handmade willow or grapevine frame? Must ponder this more....

i can has teh pretteh?

Hee. My skein of Nonconformist yarn came in the mail today, and it's *so* pretty.... I have photos of it up in my Ravelry stash (http://www.ravelry.com/people/gblvr/stash/non-conformist), but the photos really don't do it justice -- the colors are so vibrant and varied, and it's v.v. soft.

YAY for stash enhancement!

Geeky Stitching Things

Needling More Than the Feminist Consciousness -- I'm sad to have missed this, but the picture at the top of the article is amazing....

Exhibit info at the Museum of Art and Design: Pricked: Extreme Embroidery

And, last but not least: Prince Caspian's shirt!

Oops, I did it again!

Took the monsters out for late lunch/early dinner, and stopped at Jo-Ann for embroidery floss for a project (75 skeins! OMG! And that's not all of it, since they didn't have three of the colors I need!), and lo, the novelty yarns were on sale for Memorial Day!

I know what you're thinking -- did she buy some, or was she virtuous?

The answer is yes, yes I did. But I was good, and only bought two different ones. Of course I bought 5 balls of *each*, but hey, who's counting?

(I'm not very good at resisting temptation. Sadly.)

Yarn

Going out for the day with A. is dangerous -- I either come home with a lot of yarn, or I send yarn home with her, or I do both. When I don't come home with yarn, it's with interesting art, or silk -- either made up as scarves and wraps, or lengths for sewing. Bad for my budget!

On Saturday, A. and I had wanted to go to the Kimono Show at the Japan Information and Culture Center, but it's only open M-F, so we went to Ornament as Art: Avant-Garde Jewelry (scroll down) at the Renwick, then over to Barracks Row for yarn at Stitch DC and dinner at the Belga Cafe. Yum.

After a quick stop in Dupont Circle so A. could buy v. expensive but completely adorable shoes (and where I valiantly resisted the call of these lovelies), we went home, where I spent a ridiculous amount of time surfing around the Ravelry site, and on LJ reading fic.

Sunday was spent being a bum, which means I have a ton of laundry to do today. Le sigh.

Well....

Looks like I'm going to start using this after all, since I don't want my other blog to show up over at Ravelry....