Fall Finish, the Rug, and a Beautiful Weekend!

Hooray! I finished up Harvest Blooms!

This one just makes me smile!

I thought I was doing well when I finished up the border with just enough rum raisin to complete it, until that is, I realized that I had another star to do.

I used blended DMC colors of purple and dark brown to do the star. I was very pleased how close it came to the rum raisin. It has a very nice effect.

I departed from the original design and added a star to the upper left and moved my initials to the bottom. I included the date on the lower right.

I am happy with this one! At some point I think I will make it into a pillow, but that will have to wait for now.

Also, I completed row 36 on the rug. I am still working on the "dark" section. I have just started row 37 here. This is my "wild" color row. I chose a faded red. It is hard to capture the colors. They look a little washed out here.

The Northeast, where I live has many problems, traffic, urban sprawl, etc., but during this time of the year it is simply glorious! The air is crisp. The sun is bright, and the colors are just spectacular!

This weekend we drove up to Rhinebeck, NY, about 80 miles north of here. We discovered when we got there that there was a Wool and Sheep festival going on at the fairgrounds. I was disappointed we had not gotten there earlier. By the time we got there, the crowds were enormous. Oh well, maybe next year! We did however go home with apples and a wonderful apple pie!

The trees were a couple of days past peak color, but still beautiful! This one was in front of a beautiful old house in Rhinebeck

Harvest Blooms and the Ever-expanding Rug!

I would like to thanks everyone who has taken the time to leave a comment or send me an email. I really appreciate it!

I am making steady progress on Harvest Blooms. I finished the border with not much to spare! I really worked to conserve the floss. The design calls for 1 strand on 36 count I believe. I am using 2 strands on 32 count. If you ever do this design, make sure you order more floss.

At first I thought the colors were a little odd, but now I am really enjoying their richness. I love how they all blend together. Rum raisin is such a good choice for the border. The brownish purple-ish color is unexpected, and perfect for autumn!

I should be finishing it up in the next few days, but I will be making a few changes. I do not want to put my initials at the top, so I will add another star to the upper left, and fit my initials in along the bottom somewhere.

Here is a picture of my progress so far. Furry is such a help! What would cross stitching be without cat hair!

I am also making very slow progress on the rug. I finished off row 35. The next three rows will be dark. I have just started row 36 here.

Harvest Blooms and the Rug

Still making slow progress on Harvest Blooms.



There is a great deal of detail with a lot of color changes to slow things down, but I think the end results will be worth it!

I like the design. I was wondering about making it into a pillow. That will not happen any time soon though because I am determined to finish up The RUG.

I just completed the 34th row on my braided rug. I am using light, medium, and dark color combinations, with the common color tan running throughout. Then, every third row, I throw in a "wild" color. I just finished up with the green as my wild color. I have just made the color change at the shoulder here. The 35th row will be the last medium color combination before I move on to the dark group.

I have miles to go on this yet!

Harvest Blooms and Braided Rug Updates

It seems that there is quite a bit more to Harvest Blooms than I first thought. There is quite a lot of detail.


I am a little disappointed in the coverage of Black Crow (Sampler Threads). I used it for the boot. It seemed a little sparse even with 2 strands. It was a bit tedious just stitching in black for ages and ages!

Now I am finishing up the flowers and bittersweet. They are fun. I like how they are turning out. The border will take some time though.

Otherwise, I have started working on my rug again. Progress on that just creeps along inch by inch. The slow part is in the preparation of the rolls. It measures about 4 feet 5 inches wide by 8 feet long. I wanted it to be about 8 by 12, but somehow it has not grown uniformly and I will have to adjust my expectations!

It was hard to get a picture of this, but this will give you an idea.



As you can see, it has completely taken over my dining room. I have it on the table and I can only work on half of it at a time. Then I have to re-position it to work on the ends and the other half.

It is getting heavy too!