Hapsburg lace

First off, I apologize for the lack of editing. I'm using my phone to write this post.

I worked on my first canvas piece this last week! It's a piece that my EGA chapter is doing together and I've only ever done just cross stitch. So this one had a bunch of smyrnas, eyelets, scalloped stitching, etc. I really enjoyed it. I had been very intimidated because I was using new stitches with a thread I had never used before and on a medium I had never used before. I'm now a convert. It's amazing what you can make. I am looking forward to seeing how this turns out. It will be a bunch of different patterns using two weights of thread to give it some dimension. I didn't want to put it down at all. If you look closely, you can see that my eyelets are not open enough in the first pattern, in the second pattern you can see that I learned from my mistakes and they are nice and open. I think my mistake the first time around is that I didn't tighten the threads enough.

This next week I will be working more on my first born's birth sampler.

Whew, what a week!

I didn't get much in the way of stitching done. I worked on my haunted house instead of those bibs. That fabric is so incredibly difficult to stitch on. It's dark blue and shimmery. The only way I can really do much on it is to work on it mid afternoon when the natural light is best in my house and to have the computer screen on behind it so that I can see the holes. This is definitely a long term project. It's a 9 part chart and I'm almost done with part two and started outlining the parts in part three. It'll be hard to put this down for a few weeks. It's a lot of fun with the challenge.

It was a hard week to get any stitching done. We've been fighting a flea infestation in our house despite flea baths every 2 days and treating our dogs with topical flea control. We ended up losing and so we had to nuke them with a couple flea foggers. There are still a few stragglers that we have found but those ones have been coming in from the outside. Fleas are terrible and when you're on bed rest for a pregnancy and your husband recently had major thoracic surgery, it's easy for them to gain the upper hand. We have a family of stray cats living under our house and so we know that they are causing the problem so we are working on trapping them and having them taken to the shelter. That was a hard decision because we know that they will most likely be euthanized but when you can't sleep in your own bedroom because the flea problem is so extreme, you stop caring so much.

Back to my needlework progress.

This is where I ended on the halloween house mystery SAL by Alessandra Adelaide from last year. As you can see in the photo, this fabric is very dark and sparkly. I'm trying to decide if I want to continue filling in the windows or if I want them blank so that the fabric shines through more. The great thing about the sparkly fabric is that there is a sheen that shines through the stitches.

This week I will be starting on Hapsburg Lace. This is my first ever project on canvas that is needlepoint embroidery and not cross stitch. I'm a member of the Embroiderers Guild of America (EGA) because I wanted to expand my skills and learn surface embroidery and working on other mediums. I have to admit, I am incredibly overwhelmed and out of my element. I might not rejoin next year, and instead join something that I'm more comfortable with. But I'll make that decision after working on this project. I'm already considering turning it into a decorative pillow to put on my bed. 

The photo didn't come out very well, and to to that I apologize. It's on "french blue" canvas, 18 count I think, and I'm using black DMC pearl cotton thread. It calls for two weights which will lend to some nice dimension. I have to add some more thumb tacks to keep the canvas nice and tight.

Just wanted to add another photo of my puppies all snuggled up last night while I was working on the Halloween piece. I wanted to get a photo to show the struggle of having two stitching buddies as I sit down to stitch and they both try to lay in your lap where your piece usually sits but for once they chose to snuggle under a blanket instead (flea free thank goodness!)

Week one done!

So I did the first week! I got so much done on the birth sampler. It's been helpful to have a schedule for my rotation. As you can see in the photo, I completed the top right side, finished back stitching the giraffe, finished a frog, and I'm working on what will be a corner of different shades of green.

I started making these bibs when my nephew was born (4 years ago!) And I was planning on giving them to his mom. That obviously never happened (sorry, Lisa!) and now that I'm pregnant again and there's a good chance this baby will be brought home with us, I figure I need to get the bibs done. Once I finish the pig, I'll throw them in the washer and get them laundered for him.

I'm also going to work on the Alessandra Adelaide's mystery SAL from last year. It's going to be a fairly large piece and the fabric was a little challenging when I started it. So I am hoping that I have advanced enough to be able to stitch on it.

I was going to be working on the Hapsburg Lace canvas piece that my EGA chapter is doing. I finally remembered to pick up my canvas from my mom's house where I left it when we were living with her. But now I can't find the chart anywhere! I even made my husband look with me but I can not find it anywhere. Very frustrating. I'm going to have to see if I can borrow my mom's copy or if I can get a replacement chart.

First post!

So I am on bed rest and decided to start organizing my craft drawers. I have those three drawer sets on wheels that you can buy at Target for cheap. I managed to get my stuff organized into 2 drawers for needlework, a drawer for sewing, and a drawer for miscellaneous crafts. Then I decided to go through my drawers for needlework and see what has been worked on and what hasn't. I have a lot of projects that I want to do. A lot. A. LOT. Not as much as most people but when you're as slow as I am and have as little room as I do for undone projects, it's a lot. I decided that I'm going to complete all my WIPs (Works in Progress) by the end of next year. I decided to set up a spread sheet. Currently, I have it scheduled to the end of the year. When I hit November, I'll re-evaluate where I am and if I can actually move some of my future projects into the rotation. My problem has always been that I get bored so I'm going to try mixing it up by doing one project a week. Here's my schedule so far.

Every week, I will write in this blog with a beginning/end for each project to see my progress to keep myself going. 

This week, I will be working on my son's birth sampler. It's currently about 50-60% done. My son Matthew was still born July 3, 2014 and I bought this as a way to have something concrete for him. I'm currently expecting again and so I want to finish this by the time this baby makes an appearance, which will be December/January. Wish me luck and I'll check in again on the 15th for my next piece!