You made my day award & Kaleidoscope: Started section M

Thank you so much Jeanne and Elisabeth for both awarding me "You make my day award". I must say that you also made my day when you gave me this award :-)

The Rules:Give the award to 10 people whose blogs bring you happiness and inspiration and make you feel happy about blogland. Let them know by posting a comment on their blog so they can pass it on. Beware you may get the award several times.

I will start with a few blogs and will add more in the days to come.

1. Jeanne's blog called Just String blog which I like to visit on a regular basis. Jeanne is working on a gorgeous CyberStitchers' project called "To the Acorns", something that is on my list of to do projects. The colors that she is choosing for that project are just wonderful.
2. Elisabeth Braun's blog called Sew-in-Love . Elisabeth has been doing wonderful projects as well. We definitely have a lot of the same taste in projects, so it is always fun to check out her blog to see what she has been working on.
3. Terry's blog called Through-the-Hoop Terry and I have been very good friends for a few years now and she has been a very positive on me. Terry has been doing a lot of free-style embroidery and I have been the happy beneficiary of gorgeous projects like a couple of English cottages that I absolutely adore.
4. Elisabeth Zolomy's blog called BoskeZ and Colors . Elisabeth is very also very talented. She does beautiful free-style embroidery and is also a very good painter. I just love her garden and I can imagine how pleasant it must be to be stitching or painting there.
5. Laura's blog called Two-Handed Stitcher . Laura has so many wonderful projects that if given the opportunity I would just love to stitch. I find this site a wonderful place for daydreaming. There are lots of beautiful Christmas projects, lovely old houses, geometrics, etc. and the stitching is wonderful.
6. Meg's blog called Committed Stitcher. Meg is an EGA CyberStitchers like I am and I love visiting her blog and see what she is up to. Meg is a very prolific stitcher and her work is very varied and includes goldwork, blackwork, needlepoint, crazy quilting, etc.
7. Pat's blog called Needle Art Nut. Pat is another very prolific stitcher and we can see some wonderful projects that she has made during the years. One project that I especially like is a Loretta Young project that we have both done called Bargello Symphony.
8. Judith's blog called Judith's Material Musings is full of beautiful projects, mostly crazy quilting ones with gorgeous thread and silk embroideries. Crazy quilting is something that I have tried in the past, but never thought I was very good at, but the love of it remains and it is wonderful to be able to live vicariously through this blog.
9. Jo in New Zealand has also a wonderful blog where I could spend lots of time looking at her wonderful embroidery. Jo Does crazy quilting, something that I just love to look at especially when it is as well done as it is on that blog. Lots of inspiration there. I may just decide to give CQ another go :-)
10. And finally the last one but not the least is a wonderful blog called Hand Embroidery Group Projects I like the idea of a collective group projects where you can see the creativity of its members. We can see on this blog wonderful and inspiring projects and stitching, a good place to spend time to relax and recharge.

I could have gone on and on as there are so many blogs around. These are some of the ones I love to visit and recharge myself.

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Kaleidoscope: Section M

After a long period of inaction on this lovely piece, I decided to take it out again and do a bit more on it.

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I know that there is a large number of stitchers who have started it and there is also a large number who have put it aside. If everybody else is like me, it would be for a couple of reasons, one being that there is so much counting on this piece that if anybody is challenged in that department, they might as well pass on this project and the other reason being the continuous repetition of sections.

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Like I have just finished one of the 8 M sections and I know that I have 7 more to do just like this one and four of them are the reverse image of it, so will need to scan the instructions, reverse them and print.

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When I started working on it, I wanted to make my life a bit easier by stitching the outline (see on the left side of Kaleidoscope). Wrong! I was told that since this M section is all basketweave, I cannot mix the continental method for the outline and then do the inside with basketweave, so left it there for the moment and will have to under when I get to that one. My idea was that it would be so much easier for me to stitch the inside once the outline was done. Much less risk of mistakes then. Still thinking and wondering how I could make my life easier for the 7 other M sections that I still have to do. If you read this and have some idea, please let me know :-)

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I still have to stitch the flower stems in stem stitch, but I want to wait until I have done the 8 sections and then do them all together.

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After that there are many other sections with repeats, so it does go on and on.

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Why am I continuing stitching on it, one might wonder. It is because I think that this pattern is just so beautiful and I hate to give up on some project.

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Pierrette =^..^=

Kaleidoscope: Central section

This is the central section of Kaleidoscope. This is a very slow project, at least for me, as it requires lots of counting, so no distractions permitted, and also the use of your laying tool as each thread needs to be carefully positioned.

It is a beautiful design. I remember about 15 years or so, having seen it at my local needlepoint shop and finding it quite pretty, but I was only starting at the time and felt that this was not the project for me and I was right. I needed easier and less involved projects at the time.

Another thing about this project is the fact that it is very repetitive. You have to do the same pattern over and over again as you can see looking at the photo. I generally prefer to stitch different things as I go along, so this one will require much more discipline from me. I am a person who hates routine, so ...........................

Anyway, I do not regret my decision to have purchased it. I will just have to do it while also working on several other pieces so that it breaks the monotony a bit of repeating the same pattern over and over.

It may be a little while before I am in a position to post another photo as I want to finish my "Princess and the Pea" and have it framed as soon as I possibly can.

I also have a hardanger project that I have started quite some time ago, which I need to put the few necessary hours to finish and of course, let's not forget that Halloween project, not yet decided, that I would like to start :-)

Pierrette =^..^=

Kaleidoscope: Second photo - Sections A, B, C & D

A little more has been done on Kaleidoscope. Sections A, B, C & D completed on this photo.

I love the colors that will be part of this project. Something else that I enjoy is using my laying tool. To me it means "slow pace" and I just get in that relaxed mood, knowing that it is going to be a long slow trip to somewhere wonderful (another little adventure) Big grin here
Pierrette =^..^=

Kaleidoscope: First photo - Sections A & B

Kaleidoscope is an adaptation of a Sue Lentz design, then adapted by Anthony Minieri for Needle Necessities. This design is, in essence, a four-way geometric that becomes and eight-way geometric.

In this design, I will be using Congress Cloth and Needle Necessities Floss Overdyed threads. There are two options in stitching this pattern. I can either control the variegation of the overdyed floss or stitch randomly. I have decided on the second option as to me it will make the piece more interesting.

This is a photo of the very center of the piece (sections A and B).

This is a complex design so I will be stitching on it when I am not tired :-)

Pierrette =^..^=