Sunday, June 4, 2017

Finishes and Starts - SAL

I have two finishes to share this time around! I've actually been doing quite a bit of needlework since the last Stitch Along post. I completed the little fox coin/card case and bestowed in on my daughter (who loves purple by the way).


Once all the gray canvas was covered the purple didn't look quite so overwhelming. I keep having to learn that lesson over and over again: don't judge a project's success until it's complete. They always go through an awkward or ugly stage in the middle of the process!

I also finished up the Cocker puppies on the dish towel.


That guy off in the corner was the first image I transferred. I didn't know at the time that I would want to include the rest of the litter on the towel. I think I did a pretty good job of tying them all together by carrying the little flowers and spikes of grass all across the width of the towel, if I do say so myself!


I don't think this little fella was completely stitched the last time you saw him.


This one was barely begun. The butterflies were images that didn't come out as dark and were therefore hard for me to see. We've had some lovely sunny days off late, which made it easier to see what was meant to be stitched. I did take some liberties with the decoration of the butterflies however.


I've started another needlepoint case for truly mindless stitching...


And if you are a regular reader you'll know I've been inspired to begin some sampler pieces in an effort to polish up my embroidery skills.  And, frankly, to give me a place to doodle with color and thread. There's been no further progress on the Virgin of Guadalupe since I last showed her...


But I've been playing with stitches I'm less familiar with and using some of the floss leftover from all the needlepoint case kits I've done.


I drew a few concentric circles, tracing around various cups and jar lids, to give me somewhere to lay my first stitches. Obviously not all of my stitches were directed by drawn lines! I believe this is my first-ever attempt at herringbone stitches (in orange). I tried another new stitch inside the turquoise circle but couldn't live with the results. Those are the needle holes you can probably see marring the surface of the muslin. I'll do my best to smooth them out before I try stitching in that area again.

Most of the other participants in this Stitch Along have specific projects they're working on for this Stitch Along. There's some awesome work being done; I encourage you to have a look by clicking on their names below. We'll have another check-in on 25 June.

14 comments:

  1. You certainly have been busy! I think we all go through a stage of doubting a project's success for one reason or another. I hope you are enjoying your embroidery projects!

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  2. I love that little fox, but those puppies are so cute! The butterflies are gorgeous too. Such delicate stitching :)

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  3. You have so many projects going, and so much variety! I love those cocker puppies! I'm a sucker for embroidered flour sack towels!

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  4. You've got so many projects going on. I love purple too. The coin case is lovely.

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  5. You're really powering along with the embroidery, lots done. Is the Virgin going to be mainly outline, like the puppies, or are you going to fill everything in and make it very colour dense?

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  6. You have been busy! I love the purple on the fox purse.

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  7. Well done. I love your little puppies design, though I would not want to use it for its purpose, in case they got spoilt.

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  8. As you know, I am an admirer of cross stitch/needlepoint/hand embroidery though not a practitioner. However, I mistakenly signed up for a free online course the other day, thinking it was for freehand machine embroidery but it was actually for hand embroidery. Perhaps it's a sign.

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  9. lots of variety there!

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  10. You´ve done a lot of nice work! Love the fox, he is so cute!!!!!

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  11. I love the puppies. You have been busy.

    I am also a lover of purple. The fox purse is great.

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  12. Everything is fabulous, as always, but I am SO impressed with the way you tied those puppies together!

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  13. Lots of pretty stitching going on at your place. Hope this week is as productive.

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  14. I love your sharing of your processing on the embroidery and learning curve...I too love doing it but have not done so in many years...you inspire me! love how the dish towel turned out...adorable!

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