Some Project Updates

Although I've been a little (ha) remiss about posting to the blog, I have been working on various projects and generally making slow but steady progress. As always, I divide projects into "Miras" and "Non-Miras", since there's usually about a 50-50 mix of WIPs.

First up, Scarlet Ribands by Long Dog Sampler:

I'm nearly finished the fourth page of the design - just a little more to go on that.


And Broadway by Silver Lining:

I finally got the center page completed - that was quite a lot of work! Fortunately all the other pages of the design have less stitching so it should go quite a bit faster now. Lots of confetti stitching, but to be fair, you just don't get the same effect without it.

And you knew it was coming: I started the Celtic Ladies series!

The lady in question is Celtic Spring, and she's off to a good start.

Making much of time

I wanted to work on an easier piece as sort of a "palette cleanser" this week, so I pulled Scarlet Ribands out.

I have to say, working with one color definately simplifies things, doesn't it?  It's a large pattern though so it's going to take a fair amount of time....I'm only about 2/3 done of page 3 of 12 pages...ack!   I think this will end up being a two-year + project.

Anyway.  I wanted to work on something simpler this week because I'm pulling Sleeping Beauty back out and I'm going to push to get her finished.  Yay!

Cat and Mouse

Yay for quick service!  

I ordered my extra floss from HDF last Sunday and had them on Thursday.   Not surprisingly, it's a different dye lot than those I already have but since I ordered them six months apart it's to be expected.   They look identical to me but I will still blend them when I stitch, because it tends to be more obvious if there is any kind of color difference then.

Despite my feelings that after stitched, there's not a huge visual difference between silks and regular DMC....the silks certainly do feel fantastic.  

And of course, working on Scarlet Ribands all this week.  I didn't quite get the second page finished, but I'm working on the partial motifs that overlap from page 2 to page 3.  The partials at the bottom of the page are complete.

I thought I might get bored working on a piece that only has one floss color, but I actually like the simplicity of it.  At this stage, it's not quite as spectacular as some of the other pieces that I'm working on (like Broadway, which is coming up in rotation next) but it's really interesting in a subtle kind of way.

The details are just really great.  For example, there's this little cat and moust detail, although the cat isn't quite finished as it overlaps to another page.   I do just enough on the overlap section that I won't have any problem picking up where I was working previously when I get to the next page.   Other than the historic appeal of red work, there's just a lot going on. 

One page down....

....eleven more to go.   This is page one completed.  The pattern pages are printed with a shaded overlap to each page, which is really nice since I prefer work on one page at a time.   It's easy to see where the overlaps are. 

I thought last time that I worked on Scarlet Ribands that I hadn't ordered enough silks to complete the project, and I definately think that's the case.  I finished the first complete page of the pattern, which used three full skeins of silk (Hand Dyed Fibers' 1147 OMG Red).  

In theory then, it should take me about 36 skeins to finish all twelve pages of the design.   I didn't have nearly that many, so I ordered the balance of the threads this morning with two extra skeins.   I hope there's no problems with the color lots being too different since it's been a couple months since I ordered the first batch.   If there's a difference, I'll just have to do some blending - not a big deal.

This is the first project that I've ever tried to do in all silk floss as opposed to DMC with some silk highlights (usually Waterlilies).  I like working with the silks - there's a great feel to them.  I'm not sure that I think there's a huge difference in appearance from DMC though other than the silks have slight color variations in them.   Because this design is one color on one background, I thought that it would be nice to try a different floss for it, and I am pleased with how it looks so far.   And of course - there's always that factor that I *know* it's done in silks and not cotton that is nice.  (Sort of the opposite of when there's a mistake that no one else sees,but you do and it drives you nuts because the piece is framed and it's a little late to do anything about it).

HDF's are definately quite affordable for silk floss.   Perhaps in the future, I might use HDF in a Mirabilia by doing the dress in silks and the rest in DMC.  It would be interesting to see the contrast of silks and the cotton flosses in a piece like that.

Scarlet Ribands

I was away for a couple of days for the holiday but I got some work on Scarlet Ribands before I left.  I'm nearly finished the first page;  only eleven more to go LOL   I am going to have to do a reorder on the silk I'm using since I clearly did not order enough.   It's taken me about three skeins to do the one page, so if most of the pages run about that much, I'll need 36 skeins to finish the project.  That puts me at fourteen skeins short of what I ordered....argh!  

That'll teach me to try to do higher math to estimate how much floss I need for a project LOL

Restless this week

I've been all over the place with my needlework this week - just feeling very restless and unfocused.  I get like that sometimes. 

After finishing Mermaid of Atlantis last week, I did some work on Midsummer Night's Fairy, since I'm really close to getting her done.   I've got almost all of the regular stitching done except for a few scattered leaves here and there.  I still need to do the backstitching and the beading, but having just spent a couple days of beading on MoA, I actually want a little break from it.  I also need to get another set of 17 inch Q snaps or my scroll frame to so I can bead her.  So Middy - nearly done - is put away for just now, and I'll get back to her very soon.

In the efforts to address some of the older works-in-progress, I picked up Meeting on the Turret Stairs again. 

I've been working on Meeting for a little over a year now - it's slow going because it's solid confetti stitching.  Sometimes my patience for working on the confetti stitching is there, and other times it's just not.  LOL  Well apparently this is one of those "off" weeks to the point where I was questioning why I was torturing myself with it - that I'm really NOT under any obligation to finish the piece if I really wasn't enjoying the work.   So for the sake of my sanity, I decided to just pack up Meeting for now and I'll get back to it when my patience is a little better.

Well, you know that doesn't mean I totally put away my stitching for the week, right?   With a solid finish and one on the edge of being finished, I decided I needed something different and a new start (that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it).

Althought I'm not completely a sampler kind of girl, I am interested in different kinds of historic needlework.   Redwork has always been of interest to me - story goes (don't quote me on this - it's just what I've put together from snippets of info) that redwork pieces were used to teach young stitchers how to do specific motifs and that one color of thread was used because that was the least expensive way to do it.

This floral urn is a redwork piece that I did years ago (it's actually in the Land of Unfinised Projects pile).  I think it will fit into the lid of a Sudberry box that I have in the stash, so I may use it for that.   It's done in DMC floss on 28 count evenweave (lugana maybe?).  Date-wise, it's probably from the late 90's.   It's a nice piece but not a lot going on.

I stumbled across Long Dog Samplers a while ago, and if you like redwork or similar designs - they are very intricate and detailed.  And huge LOL.

So I picked out Scarlet Ribands as a project.  Since it's just the one color of floss, I spent some time mulling over if I wanted to stick to the usual DMC or Anchor cotton floss, or if I wanted to maybe try something different like a silk floss.   After a couple of recommendations and some shopping around, I settled on using a 100% silk floss from Hand Dyed Fibers in 1147 OMG Red.  It is comparable to DMC 816 in color, so it's a nice, dark red.  

So this is what I started this week.  This is the upper left hand corner of the design.  I'm working on 36 count antique white Edinborough linen.  The camera doesn't pick it up, but the silk has a lovely sheen to it and is really nice to work with from a stitching perspective. 

Unfortunately I seem to have completely underestimated how much floss it will take me to do the project.  Once I finish the first page of the design, I'll have a better idea of how much floss I'll need for the overall piece and can reorder.  I originally got 20 skeins but the small corner that I've completed took over a full skein, and I suspect I'll need another 10 or 15. 

I think this will be a really fun piece to do  - the only issue is that all the red may get a little monotonous.  But that's why I rotate around projects, right?