FROM THE ROAD

I am writing to you without having a finished piece to share or even a work in progress to discuss. I have totally taken time off to travel with my family through the Midwest of our country. I am always up for a road trip and with GPS technology leading the way we are well on our way to visit Wyoming, South Dakota, Iowa and Nebraska. Basically we drove North and turned right. I am having a great time, but truly miss reading my favorite blogs. Currently I am borrowing DD's laptop or I'd not even be doing this. DD comes prepared.

Naturally, the first unscheduled stop was at Ewe Count in Cheyenne, WY. A quaint shop located in a charming house situated near our charted route through Wyoming. They were selling signed copies of Suzy Murphy's latest book Small Stitches and I had to have one, after all it's signed. Ewe Count is a shop that gives you the feeling that the stitchers of Cheyenne thank their lucky stars they have; a real variety of knitting, cross stitch, painted canvas and kits, lots of threads and beads. I bought this handy little needle magnet thingy that I'd not seen previously and am looking forward to using it.
I admit that even though I did bring my stitching, I haven't taken a stitch but that won't deter me from stopping at a shop and making a "vacation purchase" just as a remembrance of our travels, mind you. Here I am with Mary in front of her lovely shop, Village Needleworks in Omaha, NE. A very charming shop with lovely staff and customers. Yes, we met Bonnie who was in the shop picking up her finished needlepoint and leaving others for finishing. We had such a nice chat with everyone there and came away very pleased we went off course to stop by. While there we managed a mini spree just picking up a few essentials, and I can't wait to get home and check it all out!

We've viewed the not to be missed sights of South Dakota including the begging burros of Custer Park, located in, you guessed it, Custer, SD. A friend told us to go prepared with carrots and apples. I wasn't thinking my friend meant a commercial restaurant size bag of fresh carrots but and 25lb-er was in the back of the car nonetheless. These precious burros are so gentle, even though they have large teeth they're not aggressive....unless you don't get your carrot out fast enough. Look how cute, you practically have to lock the doors lest you find an extra traveler in the back seat.

Next stop, the Badlands. You cannot help but be affected by the beauty and strangeness of this intriguing place. It goes on for miles and you come away understanding why it is considered sacred ground to some Native American tribes. Even though very dry, it conjured up visions of what the bottom of an ocean might look like. The colors so glorious and remarkable against the Dakota blue skies. This peaceful and amazing place will be forever in my memory.

Next time I write I will probably be home. Meanwhile, thank you for visiting, am ever very anxious to get back on track with my stitching life. See you soon.

Pink Orchid - Part II

Darn, the colors aren't true. I've tried two separate cameras, w/wo flash, under true light and sun light. The box comes out looking too red and the stitching color is off too, sorry. Anyway, thank you all for your comments on Pink Orchid. I'm always happy to hear from you.

This small piece went fast and if it hadn't been for all the stripping of the floss, I think I would have set a personal record for quick finishes. I think of bargello as being the op-art of needlepoint. It can be wavy or jagged or perpendicular, the sky's the limit really. It's made a resurgence in recent years, not that it ever went away, and it seems it's once again getting the attention it deserves. Personally I enjoy a bargello project every so often to offset the complexities of many of the other projects I seem to gravitate to.

But not all bargello works up so quickly nor can it all be stitched without constantly watching the pattern/chart. Emperor's Garden is such a piece. It's a unique piece using all traditional materials. I had to really keep my concentration intact on this one. By traditional I mean stranded wool and 13 ct canvas. I'm not an expert so I don't really know why 13 ct is known as bargello canvas. Calling Janet Perry and other bargello aficionados to address this topic.

As promised, here is Toni's other colorway turning her Pink Orchid into Purple Passion Flower? I think it's also quite beautiful and is another example of how a color change and, in this case, changing the finished size can create a very different look. I love her green leaf beads against the dark purple. I think shades of blues and yellows would be wonderful color choices too.

It's amazing what you can do with needle and thread and a chart, isn't it? Keeping in mind that I stitched the smallest size I used less than one skein of Threadworx Overdye, and that was using all 6 strands. Same for all the floss, less than one skein per color except for the medium pink where I used nearly two. Always having a variety of colored blank canvas on hand in my stash and the beads were part of mixed bag purchased at Hobby Lobby, I was able to keep the project cost down to just a few dollars. Except for the finishing. Yes, the finishing or framing, always gets pricey. No exception here, the box was $108. Well at least I had it in my stash and it now has a purpose and soon will have a new home.

Well thank you kindly for visiting here today, I hope you had fun working along with me on this one. Up next, tackling one of my favorite WIP's, Marnie's Renaissance. Or I could continue with the Red Kerchief, let's see now, where did I put Cyn's article on project rotation? Or I could always check out needleartnut's blog, Pat seems to have rotation down to a science.

BBB is back!

Happy Dance! I picked BumbleBeeBracelet up today. The sparkles don't show in the photo but I did use all Kreinik braid for the entire bumbler. Then Perle Coton for the background.

This is a Melissa Shirley design and there are many others to chose from. The bracelet itself has a metal cuff inside and is finished off with black leather.
It also came with the box, which is great since I stitched this for a gift.

The bracelet stitched up in no time and now that I've done this one, I think the next one I'll embellish more with beads and other fun sparklies.

This was not on my stitching queue for this year, and it has set me back a little in terms of keeping me on track with my planned projects. In fact it's one of several irresistibles that have unexpectedly managed to wheedle their way into my shopping bag. What's a stitcher to do? I don't have an answer, do you?