March Blogger Question - Stitching

Do you have a favorite Irish or Celtic stitched piece?  If you don't, what about a piece that represents your heritage?

For some reason I haven't stitched something that is specifically Irish or Celtic looking. Not that I don't have a piece or two, or more, in my stash to work on of course. My mom's family, which is the side I know the most about, is Scots and Irish. Several, think more than 10, years ago I went to visit a friend in south FL for my birthday and made him take me around to the stitching stores we could find for part of my gift. I'm fascinated by Scottish samplers and when I saw this one I had to have it and the silk to make it. I finally finished it last year and it now hangs in our living room. I realized that I've never shown a picture of this piece after it was framed so what a perfect opportunity. Of course it's hard to get a good picture because of the glass but here goes.

Traditional Elegance II

I should probably go find out all the particulars, but I'm lazy and just don't feel like going to find it. I'm pretty sure that the chart is OOP. It's worked all in silk and the told filling at the bottom is a gold thread that was "fun" to work with. There are also small gold beads in that area. It may have taken me several years to finish this one, but it is worth it. I love this piece.

Or maybe a family tree style sampler?

I actually have been thinking about this more since I've been working on the anniversary piece for mom and dad. I'd like to do one tracing back the female side of my family, so me, mom, her mom, her mom....etc. I haven't seen anything that screams to me, but I'm sure I will find something eventually. Or if you have an idea I'd love to know about it!

I've been kinda busy

That's my excuse for not blogging lately. To prove it I have a few pictures to show what I've been doing.

First a finish that's been a long time coming.

It's called Traditional Elegance II and as far as I can tell it's no longer in print. It's done in all silks, Wildflowers and soie d'Alger and the gold is Japan thread with a few gold beads thrown in. I don't want to think about how long this took me to finish, but it's been a few years. I actually got everything but the Japan thread and beads in last year and have been slowly working on that part. 

There are three couples at church having babies. I decided to do a little knitting for them. I have one sweater done for one of them, and finished this for another that is due in June.

I love the detail on this one and the pattern is very simple. Plus it was raglan top down so no real seaming! Not to wait and find out if the baby is a girl or a boy so I can put buttons on it.

I also started a new hat for myself. I'm using yarn from my stash, so I feel good about that. Plus it's in fingering weight, so I might get to wear it in April at Stitches South if the weather is cool...and I finish it.

I took this picture the other night, I'm actually a little further along and switched to the larger needles and added stitches to make the poofy part that I love about this one. It looks very much like a Monet painting I think.

Finally I've been trying to work on my Sapphire Nelly. It seems I put in 10 rows and take out 5. Still it's getting a little larger, very slowly.

Plus there's been some actual going to work happening. Not to mention since my current contract ends at the end of the month I've been talking to headhunters and getting my resume out and even had an interview. I've also been reading. Thought I'd reread Emma and am taking my time with it so I can really enjoy it. It's been awhile since I've read it and am discovering some parts I didn't remember. I'm also doing some reading for church and some fun reading.

I think spring might even been here soon, so I've got to find the energy to get things ready to plant my tomatoes and peppers and the like soon. Need to get some herbs too. Maybe plant some oregano with my tomatoes. Yummy.

Until next time!

As much as I can right now

So, I've finished as much as I can on Traditional Elegance II. I am on hold until the Japan Thread arrives from Needlecraft Corner. (I completely forgot to link to Drema's site the last time I mentioned this, so here you go. If you stitch and you've never ordered from her, I highly recommend this shop. Everyone is always nice and helpful.) I know, you want to see some eye candy, so here you go...
I'm very happy with the way it looks now, so I can't wait to see what it looks like with the added sparkle.

I also worked on the Baby Surprise Jacket I'm making for one of my co-workers who's baby boy is due any day now. Didn't get a lot done on it, but at least I got a few more rows done.

Can't believe the weekend is over. Thursday is my next appointment with the rheumatologist. Hopefully this time we'll talk more about treatment protocols.

It's a big, BIG world

Well, actually this is about big stitching projects, but you get the idea. Since April is all about the LARGE projects I figured I wouldn't get much done. I'm notorious for starting large projects and then taking forever to finish them. It's nice to get some solid stitching time on them every once in awhile. So, after finishing Mr. Peacock's arbor, I decided to work on some other WIPs in my bag.

One of the boards I post on has a group devoted to UFOs. I consider Deer in the Woods a UFO since it got started and then has languished in my pile of other WIPs. I bought the pattern a couple of years ago when I went to AZ and we took a side trip to The Attic. (Lovely store that all stitchers should visit if in the area.) They had this completed and all the wall and I fell in love. I think the colors spoke to me, and probably the verse as well. So I bought the pattern and they mentioned that they had converted it to silk and gave me a copy of the conversion. So, here's what it looked like before Sampler Guild on Sunday...
Here's what it looked like after Wed. night when I put it away until next month...I'm very excited with how much I managed to get done. It's far from being finished, but that's about 1/2 a page, so maybe 1/8 done? I've decided I'll work on this each month for 3 days, and hopefully when I go to Sampler Guild. We'll see how far it progresses during the year.

Thursday is for a real UFO, and Traditional Elegance 2 fits that bill. Didn't think I'd get much done on it yesterday, but had some time during lunch to pull it out and then got home earlier then expected last night and was able to stitch a couple of hours. Thought you'd enjoy an updated picture.I had thought I'd work on the acorn in this band, but decided I was a bit tired for that. Still, that's quite a bit of progress. The end is actually in sight for this one, or at least I think it is.

Not much else going on. Teaching a crochet class tomorrow at my LYS, KnitWitz. Looking forward to that. It's a 2 part class, so should be fairly laid back. Otherwise, the weather is perfect today and life is not too bad.

A weekend report

What with being sick and the extremely hot weather, even for FL it's been extreme, I haven't done much posting. I have however, managed to accomplish some stitching and even some knitting. Luckily this month's theme was "Lazy Days of Summer" (a.k.a. work on anything you feel like working on!). That being said I saw it in my mind back 8 months ago as a free-for-all. Not sticking with any one project, you know, total abandonment. Surprisingly that hasn't happened. For some reason I've gotten into this habit of working on a different project each day. Thought I'd take you through my week and show you some updates along the way.

Monday is the day I've worked on my secret project. (No use trying to guess Heather, you'd never guess. No use trying to get me to tell you either, I'm not telling.) As a hint, it's a gift for a friend. Now, wonder which friend is getting something....and no, just because I won't tell H. doesn't mean it's for her. This project will start seeing less time when my Monday night class starts back the week after Labor Day. But I should still manage to get some time in to get it done on time.

Tuesday is still "ornament" day. Lately I've been working on the Quaker Reindeer from the 2006 Just Cross Stitch (JCS) ornament issue. As you can see, only 1 more leg to go, then put it's little bell on and I'm ready to finish this one. I have quite a pile going right now that needs actual finishing into an ornament. That's the part that I don't really like to do, not that I can't, just seems to be not as much fun to me. I will probably find a day soon and do some finishing though, since I have so many ornaments and at least 1 purse that needs to be sewn together and a couple others that just need the handles attached.

Wednesday and Friday I knit. I've gone between the Eliza Tank and the new Rowan sweater Lynton. Last week I had a bit of a problem with Eliza, realized I hadn't read the directions correctly and had to rip back quite a ways and restart. So, I'm back doing the straps and am much happier with it. Not sure why I didn't get a picture of it Saturday when I was taking pictures, but I did get one of what I've done so far on Lynton. As you can see, I'm working on the sleeves, both at the same time. I'm to the point of decreasing now, although in this picture I wasn't quite that far. I tried to get a picture of what it should look like, but that's not looking so good. So there's a better pictures. As you can see I'm doing mine in a green color, I think it's called Jute. The Cotton Jeans yarn is very lovely to work with. I think I've said this, but my goal is to be able to wear it at ASG in Louisville this year. Yes, that's in October, and yes I realize that. Hence why I work on it more then just on Wednesdays and Fridays. I've also been working on it when I'm sitting in bed trying to get sleepy. Working out well I think. I'm also planning on this being what I take with me during football trips this year. I'm hoping that the drive over and back will give me some time to knit, that's if I ride over with my friend Selena. We'll see how quickly the other parts come along.

Thursday I stitch again. Thursdays on Legacy UFO/WIP group is for...well UFO and WIP finishing. I've picked Traditional Elegance II to concentrate on. That's a picture of it with all the bands I've finished and the one I'm working on now. And a close up of the current band. The yellow flowers that are completely finished are honeysuckle. I love this very stylized band. I don't have any Japan thread in gold, so I'm going to have to order that to be able to finish. But I'll keep working on what I can without it.

As I said, Friday's I knit. Saturday I either knit or stitch. Kind of depends on what I feel like doing. This week I did a bit of both. Worked on Eliza, Lynton and stitched on something, but don't remember what.

Sunday I've been devoting to working on my Halloween Fairy. She's coming along very nicely. This picture was taken on Saturday, so it doesn't show what I did yesterday. I'll have to take another picture. I've actually finished the bottom part of that wing and gotten the "eyes" done on the top portion. She looks very striking on the pumpkin fabric.

Well, that's all I have to show today. I'm still taking it kind of easy this week. The weather has gotten a little cooler, and we did get a little rain which has helped some. I know there are a lot of people who have been dealing with flooding and also fires. I've been worried that if we don't get some good soaking rains, we might end up with fires around here. That can be very scary. We had to evacuate a few years ago because of a fire in our area. Hopefully the weather will even out and everyone will stay safe.

A Week between posts...how disgraceful!

Not only has it been a week, but now I'm going to post without putting any pictures up either. I'm just a terrible blogger. But I have a halfway decent excuse...I've been sick. So sick that I even went to the doctor and got real antibiotics. So, please forgive me for not posting.

I have been somewhat busy while I've been sick though, so expect to see some pretties as soon as I can get the camera and take some pictures. Halloween Fairy is coming along very nicely. She has a face and beginning to even have a wing. Last Thursday night I worked again on Traditional Elegance II. More outlining/blackwork was accomplished. I've also been working on my "surprise" item. It's a very soothing piece to work on and is working up fairly quickly. Well, quicker then I thought it would. Tonight was "ornament Tuesday", so I worked on the Quaker Reindeer again and have only one leg more to do. Should finish next week, if I work on it.

Knitting wise I've been working away on my Eliza Tank. I've got about 5 more inches of the shoulder straps to do, then I can see about putting it together. I've also been working on the sleeves to my Rowan sweater. That's about all the knitting I've done lately.

Some of you might remember I told you about my dad having a procedure done last Thursday. It went very well and the doctor was very pleased. Just have to go back in another week for a check-up, then try and get with is heart doctor to decide what to do about his medication, since that's what they think has caused all the bleeding problems. But for now, things are going well. Thanks for all the good thoughts and prayers.

Just a picture and some words

For those who were wondering if I actually made progress on my Thursday Night Focus WIP/UFO, I give you and updated picture. This is what I managed to accomplish last Thursday night. Not bad if I do say so myself. Lots of Blackwork in this section. Can't really do backstitch, since the Trebizond is so thick. It was fun to pull this out and work on it. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to get some more done.
Speaking of tomorrow, my father is having another endoscopy, so if you would send some good thoughts and prayers his way. They want to repair some more of the tiny holes in his upper GI they've found that have caused the problem with his blood levels. Hopefully this will straighten everything out.

I did manage to get some great stitching time this weekend, just no pictures. I'll get those and maybe post really quickly tomorrow. Tonight is a "knitting" night for me. I'm headed to the doctor's office since my allergies have started affecting my voice and throat so badly. I may take the new project with me...but more on that later. Off to relax and hope I don't have to answer the phone too often.

Themes

Haven't had a chance to talk about this month's stitching theme. It's fairly easy... "Lazy Days of Summer", which means just work on whatever you want this month. That being said, I've tried to take advantage of the free stitching. I've worked on Halloween Fairy, ornaments, Deer in the Woods, a little something I can't talk about, and a couple of other things that don't come readily to mind.

On Legacy Embroiderers Guild board on ezBoard I try to keep up with the WIP/UFO thread hosted by the lovely CathyC. She's trying to get us back on track and has reminded us that some of us committed to stitching on a UFO on Thursday evenings and one weekend a month. So, in that light I decided to pull something out that I've had for a very long time, Traditional Elegance II.
That's what it looked like before I worked on it last night and watched "Talladega Nights". I haven't taken a picture yet, but I will and will post it this weekend. (BTW, if you don't know anything about NASCAR, I don't think TN would be all that funny.)

I hope to be able to attend at least some of the sampler guild meeting tomorrow. If so, I'll be working on Deer in the Woods. (I've designated that my "guild" piece.) I almost have a full flower in the border complete. When I do, I'll take a picture and post it. I also worked on that Tues. when I met my friend and stitched with her. We had a very nice time. Hopefully we can make a real habit of it, at least twice a month.

The heat continues, so I'm all for trying to stay as cool as possible. Hope everyone else is too.