Illuminated House Blessing Progress

Here is what I have done so far on Illuminated House Blessing.

Helen is right about this one! It is deceptive! It looks simple but the amount of detail is incredible, with a lot of backstitching.

I started in the center and worked my way up to the top.

In the upper left-hand corner, there is some sort of ferocious little beastie!

... and in the right-hand corner, there are some inter-twined serpents!

I need to finish backstitching the serpent area, and then I guess I will go on to the illuminated initial.

This is not going to be a quick stitch!

Illuminated House Blessing

I have a new start to report!
I have decided on Illuminated House Blessing by Patricia Andrle.
I love her designs. I have several of them waiting to do in my stash!

I made a small start on it.I am using DMC with some Kreinik blending filament on Antique White Permin/Wichelt.

Before I started it I was trying to think of a way to change some of the colors.

There are a lot of pastels, light greens, and lavenders. I would have prefered to see some more vivid colors, blues, and a touch of red. I couldn't work out how to introduce those colors without changing everything, so I left the colors as they were designed.

I have actually gotten a bit further along since I took the picture. I think this will be a slow stitch because there is just a ton of back stitching! Almost every area needs to be back stitched.

Braided Rug Update

Well, the rug is coming along, slowly, but coming! (I get lots of help from Furrytail)!

I really need to have it finished by the fall.

I have just completed the 32nd row. I still haven't figured out exactly how many rows there will be. There is a lot of variation in the wool strips, making it hard to get an accurate measurement until I get a little closer to the end.

It needs to be about 7-1/2 feet by 12 feet, a really odd size. I will need to figure out the total number of rows before too long because I want to end it with a dark border.

I wanted a traditional look, but with contemporary colors. I chose camel for the predominant color which runs all the way through it.

I have the rows grouped together as light, medium and dark. I started out with 2 rows to a group, but have made the change to 3 rows now.

Also, every third row, or at least once within the color group, I add a bright color. I have light blue, red, green, teal, yellow and light green so far. I was very nervous about this at first. It is truly a leap of faith when you are adding these bright colors because it looks somewhat shocking at the time. When the following row is added however, it all seems to blend well.

The rug no longer fits on the dining room table. It hangs over the edges a little. I have placed old tablecloths underneath it to make it easier to slide it around. I don't know how much longer I will be able to do that. At some point the weight of it will pull it off the table as I am working on the other side. Then, I guess I will have to put it on the floor to work on it. I am not looking forward to that!

Furrytail has claimed it as his!

Road Trip - The Red Thread

In spite of the high price of gas, the "Road Trip" has been completed!

I cannot believe I have 6 of these little boxes now! Time is just flying by this year!

I sewed on just a few of the little snaps and buttons on the border to see what they would look like. I'm not sure they improve the design or not.

I like the snaps in the various designs. It is perfect in "Road Trip" to designate a round-about or exit, but I'm not sure about them in the border.

I'd like to get ahead on this one because I would like to use it as a holiday decoration. To do that, it would have to be framed. At the rate I am going, I will finish the last box by December!

The next one is "Picnic".

In the Forest is Finished!

Hop Hop Hop!

I finally finished this one!

In the Forest is a design by La-D-Da. I stitched the rabbits on 35 count R & R Reproductions "Blackbird", using all DMC threads.

The only substitution I made was Ecru for White in the rabbit tails. It just seemed more natural looking than the bright white.

Another one that is going to be difficult to frame! I spent the weekend looking at yard sales for a frame, but no luck.

It is really quite amazing! In spite of collecting frames for the last 25 years, I never seem to be able to find the right frame in my attic!

I have also been working on the 6th box of The Red Thread. Hopefully I will have that done soon.

I am trying to decide my next project, that is besides the elephant in the dining room, my braided rug project!

Happy Birthday Sampler

Lately I have just been overwhelmed by all sorts of annoying distractions and nonsense, so my stitching progress has been slow.

I did however, manage to get a picture of "Happy Birthday" framed.

I actually finished this last year. I did it for my mother-in-law who celebrated her eightieth birthday last July.

The design is by Blackbird Designs. I used Sampler Threads from the Gentle Arts and stitched it on 32 ct hand-dyed linen.

Originally, I did not plan to frame it because my mother-in-law has said many times that she did not have any more wall space to hang anything.

I decided to turn it into a scroll to be presented and untied.

I searched for quite a while until I found a piece of calico that exactly matched the color of the thistles. I finished it with the calico folded over the front to show the color, and made ties that wrapped it in a bow. I only wish I had a picture of that. I thought I had taken one, but I cannot seem to find it.

Anyway, when I gave it to her, she decided she would rather have it in a frame.

Here is a picture of it framed.

I like the way it turned out! I think the frame is just right for it!

Some New Stash!

I picked up some new goodies!



The new edition of the DMC Threads Color Card is out!

I haven't picked one up in a few years, so I figured it was about time. The new one is larger. It includes all the new colors as well as the color variations floss, and the new satin floss (formerly rayon floss). One thing that disappointed me, was that the new card does not include samples of the actual floss like my old card. I was thinking of selling the old card, but now I think I will hold on to it.

My other goodie is "Matter's Choice" from Carriage House Samplings. It is not the best picture here. This one has been on my list for some time. I love the monochromatic designs.


Aside from that, I am making very slow progress in coming to grips with the problem of framing The Chase. What a pain! Ah but that is a subject to be blogged a bit later!