Terra Rosa: Started working on storage jar

It seems to me like ages ago since I have worked on this project. It is called Terra Rosa and is an Elsa M. Parrish design.
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I have added the photo that came with the instructions so that you can have an idea of what it is supposed to look like when finished.
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Some of you may have noticed some differences between mine and the one in the photograph. It is because the drawn canvas I have received with the instructions and the threads has been drawn a bit differently on mine so I am playing with it to give it as close a shape as I possibly can to the one that is shown in the photograph unless I prefer the changes made, but I am limited to some extent with what I can do with it by the pen/pencil lines already there, so I am walking a very thin line here with this project :-)
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I suppose it must be rather difficult for someone to draw such design on canvas and I am not sure that I would want to tackle it myself, so I can easily understand that little errors can crop here and there, so I am very vigilant with my stitching, double checking, triple checking and making sure that I understand the whole thing before putting any stitches in new sections.
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I am also jumping from one section to the next whenever I arrive to a section that I feel needs to be done before the section I am working on. Overall though I do love that design a lot. Is it because I am crazy about native American culture? Yes, that is a big part of it, but I do love how Elsa replicated the lovely motifs on the different vases. This project is a slow go for me, but so well worth the time spent on it.
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You will see much more of this project in the days and weeks to come. Some of you may have also noticed that I am slowly returning to needlepoint pieces. I just need to do a bit of this and a bit of that indorder to make myself happy and not just work on a single technique. Each morning I look at my projects and decide which style of embroidery I feel like working on that day. I may work on the same project for several days and then move on to something else or just switch projects every morning. I go with what makes me happy that day.
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Pierrette =^..^=

Persian Fantasy: Area 9 - One corner stitched

After working a little bit on my brazilian project yesterday, I then switched to Persian Fantasy, a needlepoint project on which I have not worked on for a little while now. I have stitched one corner, area 9, which are variations of Japanese silk and metal embroidery filling patterns. I like the look of it but I did not enjoy stitching it at all and I still have 3 other corners to do. I guess there is always some parts in a project that we enjoy less than the rest and I have just reached it :-(

I took an overall picture for you so that you can get some idea of what has been done so far. This last filling really makes the corner stands out. It is a lovely design and I will get it done for sure :-)

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Pierrette =^..^=

Five Flower Samplers: Leaves & stems stitched

After putting Rapunzel, my blackwork project, aside, I went and look at my already started projects and felt like doing some brazilian embroidery so picked up my Five Flower Samplers, only to realize that I was still working on the leaves and stems. After complaining in my previous post that I was a bit fed up with all the greeneries, one has to stop and laugh at oneself. Anyway, I have just now finished all the leaves and all the stems, leaving the flowers, the border and the final touches. The photograph is not all that great but as soon as I start working on the flowers I will take some close-up photos and you will all be able to see better.
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Can't help myself from smiling and wondering if I can possibly pick up another project where I need to do more greeneries of some kind :-)
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Pierrette =^..^=

Rapunzel: More greeneries

Here is my latest photograph showing what has been stitched on Rapunzel. This is a project that has so much greeneries in it using different shades of green, most of them DMC threads but also some Floche ones, that it will go on forever. I know it won't, it just feels like it so I may decide to start working on the witch and the tower before moving on to any more greeneries.

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A side note here. My Windows into my Heart has been back to my framer for close to two weeks now in order to have two mats instead of the one and also both mats will be covered with fabric. I expect to soon receive a call from her telling us that it is ready for pick up. Looking forward to see how different it will look after this new treatment. Will post a new photo as soon as I get it back :-)

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Pierrette =^..^=

Windows into my Heart: Framed

A few days ago I got back Windows into my Heart from the framer. This is a Ruthmarie Hofmann cyberclass that I took a few years back which I have finally finished some months ago. I finally had it framed and it is now on one of ourwalls for us to enjoy :-)
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Since it has been a long time since my last post about this project, I have also added a photo of the stitched project before framing as a refresher.

Previous posts about Windows into my Heart here.

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My finishing pile is slowly diminishing, but there are a bit more finishing to be done before I am completely caught up with my stitched projects.
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Pierrette =^..^=

Rapunzel: Some greeneries on top of tree

Continuing on Rapunzel, a Marion Scoular project, I have now stitched three different patterns (all selected by Marion herself) for the tree foliage, also using different shades of green.
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Just like The Princess and the Pea, which is another Marion project, I am truly enjoying myself with this one.
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Been watching Le Tour de France for a couple of weeks now and that has kept me busy than usual as I don't watch that much TV, usually only a couple of hours per day. Sunday we will be in Paris with the man who will have won the Tour. I bet it will be Alberto Contador from Astana. This man is just flying, a bit like Lance Armstrong when he was much younger. Talking about Armstrong, I think he is doing pretty good for a man his age having been out of it for over three years and recovering from a recent injury.
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Still time to do a bit more stitching today, so better get on with it :-)
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Pierrette =^..^=

Look what I have just received from Mary Corbet

I had a lovely surprise today when I picked up my mail and opened a small envelope full of goodies coming from Mary Corbet.

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At this point you may be wondering why I got so lucky and the reason is that I always stop by Mary's blog to find out what she has been cooking for us for the day and on one of these cyber trips I saw that Mary was celebrating Needle'n Thread 3rd anniversary (the name of her blog) and having a give away in celebration, so I decided that I might as well try and see if I could possibly get lucky this time around, so entered my name and to my great surprise I won. I say this because I rarely win and that has been a trend throughout my life. Things may now be changing :-)

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A BIG THANK YOU to you Mary. I am very happy with my goodies and I have no doubt that I will find a good use for all of them. You have just made my day :-)

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Pierrette =^..^=

Kaleidoscope Coasters: Brenda Day, designer

A while back, I had started a series of 4 different bargello coasters, all designed by Brenda Day. These projects and more can be found in her book called "Bargello: A fresh approach to florentine embroidery". I was thinking today that with all the different projects that I am currently working on these days that it may very well take a while before I get to the other two coasters and I really do not want to wait that long before having the pleasure to use them on a daily basis, so I looked at Brenda's finishing instructions and finished them both this afternoon.

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The plastic coasters used are called "Fabric Flair Craft Coasters" and they are very well constructed so I am not concerned at all about using them daily. I will just need to wipe them clean after usage and the way that they are made I can't see how any spills over the top of those coasters could possibly be able to affect the stitching inside and stain it.

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Just went downstairs a minute ago with both of them in hand and asked my husband which one of the two he wanted for himself and as I thought he picked the one on the right :-)

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Pierrette =^..^=

Flag Tag (A Name Tag), Gay Ann Rogers, Designer

Another finishing that I have done yesterday is the one designed by Gay Ann Rogers. Here are previous posts, one and two, showing the work in progress.

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Gay Ann had some real easy finishing instructions here, just use a running stitch to sew the two pieces together. How difficult is that? I never had it so easy in all my life (big grin).

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I now need to bring it with me when I go to Office Supplies and find a plastic name tag holder the right size and just slide my stitch name tag inside and mission accomplished.

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Now, why am I stitching so many name tags, as I have quite a few others waiting for me in the wings, when I don't really need any? I don't go to seminars and things like that. I suppose that we just never know now, do we? They may come handy when I get old enough that on some days I can't even remember my own name. All I have to do then is grab one of those and put it on myself and that should do the trick, that is, if I remember where I have put them :-)

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Pierrette =^..^=

She Stoops to Conquer: Anne Stradal, designer

I have just completed another finishing with She Stoops to Conquer designed by Anne Stradal of ABS Designs. In the past I used to either finish any completed stitched project right away myself or send it to my framer for finishing depending on the kind of finishing I wanted, but lately I seemed to have been too busy stitching and neglected the finishing aspect of my projects. Yesterday I finished 4 of them and I have already posted two of them and kept this one for today and the fourth one for a bit later. I might say that I had a productive day :-)

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If you want to have a look at the different ABS Designs' projects that I have stitched so far, just click here.

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This is the second time that I have done such finishing, the first one being Tara. A different view of Tara here.

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I decided not to add any cordings at all on this one as it seemed to me that less was more with this project. A cording around the stitched project would have been too much because of the double border and around the fabric it would have been more distracting than anything else.

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All I have to do now is to find her a special place on one of my walls and enjoy :-)

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Pierrette =^..^=