Illuminated House Blessing is Finished!

I had a lot of trouble with the lower border. I made a counting mistake early on, on the left side. I did finally find it, but correcting it would have meant taking out several rows and undoing the left border, so I decided to work with it.

This strategy was going ok until I reached the lower right-hand corner, when it all caught up to me. I had to improvise, which meant a good bit of frogging until I got it to work!

I signed it, washed, and dried it. Now I just have to find a frame for it.



I was going to start a new project, but the timing isn't right. I have to go back to The Red Thread again. Another little box is due! August is Ocean Voyage. It is a small design and should work up quickly.

Illuminated House Blessing Coming Along

It's been a little hectic around here lately with 2 sick cats, and today, a broken water heater, but I have managed to make some progress.

I can never seem to get a good picture of this one. It seems too flooded with light. The colors are a bit bolder than they appear.

Hopefully I can finish this up soon, although I know the bottom border will take a while! I am not sure how I will finish this one, whether I willl use a mat or not to frame it.

I am already thinking about the next project. There is an autumnal design I would like to do. Somehow I can never manage to time seasonal things right! I do need to make some Christmas ornaments. Perhaps I can sneak a little one in before going on to the next project.

And. . . oh yes! There is always the rug that is calling me to finish it!

Just not enough hours in the day!

Back to Illuminated House Blessing ...

I took a quick picture of my progress yesterday. I have made a bit more progress since, but it is a slow go with all the back-stitching!

The verse is:

St Francis and
St Benedicht
Bless This House
from wicked wight.
Keep it from all evil
Spiretes, Fairies, wezles,
Bats, and, Ferrytes.

Oh my! I sure don't want those things about! I have enough trouble with the cats!
I guess I better finish it up soon!

Illuminated House Blessing -1st Line

I have finished the first line of Illuminated House Blessing.

When I was considering this design originally, I wanted to change the colors a bit (less green and lavender, more vivid shades). The reason I didn't was because the colors are so intricately woven together! It is hard to see from the picture, but the shades make it seem three dimensional.

Even as I am stitching it, I don't know what it will look like until I have finished the section. Then it looks different again when it is back-stitched! Even the blue scrolls at the top of the first line take on a lot of depth with the two shades of blue.

I was wondering what this design would look like in silk, or with the hand-dyed cotton floss. Actually, the colors chosen, create a similar effect.

I will be leaving this for a while. I need to stitch another box on The Red Thread to keep up.

Also, I have made a lot of progress on framing The Chase. I will post the pictures just as soon as I get them out of the camera

Illuminated House Blessing Coming Along

I finished the large initial on Illuminated House Blessing.

The top of the S is some sort of long-neck bird, and the bottom has a little green-faced guy sticking out his tongue!

Hard to see here, but I have used blending filament around the initial. I wish it was a little brighter.

Then, the entire thing was outlined using a back-stitch.

Next I will be moving to the right, finishing up the first line, and some scrolls that are over the first line.

This looks as if it will be a bit less complex, so maybe I can make some quick progress.

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.