taking longer

I was waiting to post again till I finished my Mosaic page from the Jeannette Douglas: "My Stitching Album". Silly me, thinking I would finish when I thought I would. And that mosaic stitch is time consuming. Well, I will put up photos of that page soon because I WILL finish it SOON! I just realized it's been a while since I've posted.

Other than that I've been working on organizing my cross stitching fibers using Annie's Keepers which I got at Acorns & Threads. It is a wonderful system and I just love how neat it all looks now. In conjunction with this, I've been creating a list on my iPhone of fibers to help me inventory what I have. I've found that I re-buy a lot. I was disappointed that there were no (free) apps specific for this. I suppose I should bite the bullet and pay for it, but I've found a list app that is working well so far. At some point I hope to do the same with charts (even more frustrating when I re-buy those).

knit and crochet beginnings

Here is a sampling of my beginning works in knitting and crocheting. I don't actually have photos of much since I've given a lot of it away.

I picked up a kit of chunky yarn and needles from a craft store and proceeded to let the project cure for a few years before I decided to disregard the pattern and make this hat. A friend helped me with the "ah-ha" moment where I finally figured out how to knit so I gave this as thanks.

This is one of my first crochet projects. A friend picked up a kit for a lap-ghan and we proceeded to modify the pattern and make out own blankets. Mine did stop at lap-ghan size, while hers got larger. It was a lot of fun and a lot of movies.

Here is a close up of the stitching. I've also modified this further by adding more corners and found that it pleats itself. Unfortunately, I no longer have that piece so no photo. I may have to make it again since it was so cool.

This is my current knitting project: a shawl out of the book Folk Shawls by Cheryl Oberle. It's the Simple Garter Stitch Prairie Shawl. The camera does not capture the true color, but it's close. I'm about half-way through.

I got the yarn at Yarn for All Seasons in Newport, OR. The yarn is "The Heathers 220" by Cascade Yarns - 100% Merino Wool. I just love the feel of it! I'm hoping to have it finished by winter when I'd want to wear it.

fairs and friends

This past weekend was great! Saturday was a marathon of stitching from open stitch at Acorns and Threads in the morning to stitching at the county fair with friends in the evening. I got a chance to work on two projects.

I put in some more stitches into my Chatelaine project: "Alhambra Garden". I just started it a week ago, before the heat wave. I have a long road ahead but I am really excited about this project.

I also worked on the the sidewalk for Little Leaf Designs: "Garden Welcome". I'm really happy with how it turned out.

This is another. I finished it on my trip to NJ in June. I was visiting my hometown and gardens definitely hold a special place for me since my mom had a wonderful flower garden.

Little Leaf Designs: "Tend Your Garden"

I changed the poem to something that suits me better. It reflects my little flower garden that is a collection of containers on my balcony.

This is a close-up of the work on the leaves, which was a lot of fun. I love how the colors worked out. The little flowers in the border were supposed to be white, but I love to add color.