And we're done.......................The last border is stitched and just in time for the Shining Needle Society's Mystery Class designed by Kathy Rees.   Here is the finished project, Two Cottages.

 

Starting the border.........................With the grass and sky finished it was time to start the border.  The first border is a Gobelin stitch over 2 threads.  The next border are arrows pointing sideways, I'm sure there is a name for this stitch but I don't know what it is.  The finish line is drawing close on this project.

The Mystery Class begins on April 1, I can't wait.  I will take a photo of the all the threads that will be used for the design and show those and the design layout.  However since it is a Mystery Class I do not know what the design looks like so it will be a surprise for all of us.

And then there was grass......................I finished the sidewalk, stitched the grass and added the sky.  the design is really taking shape now.  Next is a slanted Gobelin border over 2 threads.

Two Cottages and a tree......................I stitched the right hand cottage and completed the left hand cottage.  Moving right along with the sidewalk between the two cottages.  Next will be the grass and sky,

 

One Cottage and a Tree......................I began stitching the tree since it is in the center and the instructions say to start with the tree. 

 

 

Next I had to choose which cottage to begin with so I choose the left cottage.  I need to add the shutters, window and hedge to finish this cottage.

 

 

This photo shows the progress so far.

 

 

More stitching tomorrow, maybe start the right hand cottage.

The new project is...........Two Cottages designed by Nancy Buhl of From Nancy's Needle.  Nancy has a whole series to Two's, meaning two of something, barns, houses etc.  I've looked at the series for the past 3 years but had not purchased one of the designs until now.

Nancy sells the design or all the pieces to make a kit.  The Two's can be purchased with the threads needed to stitch the design or whole skeins.  I found Two Cottages on EBAY as a kit with just the threads needed to stitch the design.  It is amazing how little thread it takes to actually stitch this design. The threads all came labeled and in individual bags.

 

The design is 4" X 8" when finished so it should stitch up quickly.  I have not done a design like this, usually they are geometric or quilt designs.  This should be fun.  The very first counted needlepoint design I stitched was one of Nancy's designs, Summer Sunburst. I bought the design on EBAY and then made my first trip to Needle Nook of La Jolla to purchase the threads needed for the design.  I had previously been to small needlework shops so I had no idea what a treat I was in store for.  I went into the thread gallery and it is floor to ceiling threads of all types and kinds.  I was recently in the shop and spent $275.00 on threads for three designs, a kid in a candy store for sure.

 

 

And we're done........Mint is finished.  After stitching all the Milanese I finished the boxes and stitched a striped framing border. 

I used the Watercolour from the main design along with the overdyed Threadworx Vineyard silk.

 

I have an idea for the next project, something different.  I found a design on EBAY that came with all the threads to stitch the design and bought it.  Next post will show the new project.

Time to Rotate....................I rotated the canvas and finished all the Milanese stitches.  Using stranded silk or cotton floss slows down my stitching as I have to lay all the stitches otherwise the finished piece will not look as good.

 

This photo shows the color of the Watercolours thread better and also you can see the single tent stitches in the center.  Tomorrow I plan to stitch more of the boxes and then the framing border.  Almost done and then on to the next project.

On to the Milanese.........The Milanese stitches are in Waterlilies and Rainbow Gallery Spendor which both have to be laid.  I use a trolley needle and a wooden laying tool depending on how much room I have to work.  Once I finish this side I will rotate the canvas and stitch the Milanese and boxes on the opposite side.

 

The outer border is a square with tent stitches in the middle.  Once the design is complete I will stitched a framing border for the mat.

The re-landscape is finished......It only took 3 days to go from patchy grass to neat crushed stone.  Below are the before and after photos.

The beginning of Mint..........I've stitched the very center of the design and working on a border of Rice stitches.  The center is an interesting combination of stitches surrounded by two rows of Gobelin stitches.  A border of Rice stitches surrounds the complete center section.  I really love Rice stitches because they are interesting and give any piece texture and can be stitched in a single color or several colors for different effects.

Houston we have a problem....................Unfortunately I made my classic mistake of being 1 thread off.  If I ever make a mistake it is being 1 thread off.  I found that Section 3 was 1 thread off after being half way through Section 4.  So I fudged Section 4 to makeup the problem and I don't think anyone would notice.  I was not going to confess my miscounting however it happened again on Section 5, the red stripe is 1 thread off so it makes the pale yellow background not come out right.  I had already stitched Sections 6 and 7 before doing 5.  In order to be satisfied with this project I have to rip out all of Sections 5, 4 and 3.  So I have not wrapped my head around doing this so I am putting this project aside and moving on to a new project.  When my frame of mind is better and I have embraced ripping so much out I will continue on.

The next project is Color Delights - Mint by Kathy Rees of Needle Delights Originals.  I have stitched 13 or 14 Color Delights so far as well as several Double Delights.  What I like about the Color Delights is the finished design is 4" X 4", has interesting colors, is quick to stitch and Kathy chooses interesting threads that I would not select myself.  Kathy has opened my eyes and mind to using different threads and seeing the different textures and how light plays off the stitches.  Did I mention that Kathy is a genius when it comes to creating interesting designs and keeping the stitcher engaged.

 

Mint uses 1 Caron Watercolours, 1 Caron Waterlillies, 1 Threadworx overdyed Silk, 2 cotton flosses and 1 Rainbow Gallery Splendor.  As I wrote this I just realized this is the first Color Delight that I am going to stitch that does not have a metallic or sparkle element to it.  My phone just does not capture some colors very well.  The threads appear washed out but they really aren't and the colors are very nice.

Progress on the third quadrant........Today I came home and talked to the landscape contractor and found that the crushed stone will be delivered tomorrow between 10 am and 2 pm.  The front yard will be finished either Friday night or Saturday morning.  Demo started on Wednesday, the yard leveled and decomposed granite put down today.  Not bad for a yard re-landscape, 3 days start to finish.  I will post pictures of the front before and after in case anyone is interested.

So after talking to the contractor I was able to stitch Section 3 and most of Section 4 before going to Weight Watchers to weigh in.  Still at goal but need to ensure I don't go over goal again.

The canvas is rotated again.......I have finished Section 1 on the third side and just finished Section 2.  My progress has been slow the past couple of days as we are in the middle of a front yard re-landscape. 

In October 2007 we re-landscaped our front yard, new driveway, sidewalks, raised planter beds, concrete mow strip, sprinkler system, tropical plants and thick beautiful sod.  After a couple of months our yard never looked more beautiful.  Fast forward to 2015 and the fourth year of drought and our approved water usage was cut again.  Our sod could not survive on the reduced water so we made the difficult decision to stop watering it and let it die. 

The sod died however weeds sprouted up and made a patchy lawn.  We thought maybe this winter we would have enough water to keep the front lawn intact but that didn't happen so we had the lawn removed and will replace it with crushed stone.  Because of the time to deal with the contractor I have not been able to stitch as much as I would have liked so I don't really have anything to show at this time.

Hopefully tomorrow I can show my progress on the third side.  Oh on another note my Mystery Class kit arrived today.  Beautiful Vineyard silks, Watercolours and a whole variety of Rainbow Gallery threads.  I will post more about the Mystery Class when it begins and will show all the great threads.

Quadrant 2 is finished.......I spent some time this weekend and finished Sections 8, 9, 10 and 11.  Time to rotate the canvas again for the third side.

 

I got an email from Kathy that my Mystery Class kit has been shipped, can't wait to see all the different threads that will be used.

Quadrant 2 update.............Sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 12 are finished, Sections 10 and 11 are started.  I decided to kinda work backwards this time stitching Section 12 then 11 then 10 then 9 then 8.  I want to see if the placement is easier than if I stitch them in numerical order.  The jury is still out so we will see.  Not much else to talk about on this update.

The canvas is rotated.........I rotated the canvas to start on the second quadrant and was able to finish Sections 1, 2 and 3.  Moving right along, hopefully the progress will be swift and we will be on to a new project.

This photo shows Sections 1, 2 and 3 completed and the next photo is of all the progress so far.

 

After Tangerine Twist is finished the Mystery Class should be just about to start so I will have two projects going at the same time.

The first quadrant is finished.......Comments so far?  Feel free to leave comments to let me know if this is boring or interesting or if you have questions.  Any and all comments are welcome, I can see that people are accessing the blog but don't know what you think. 

The first photo shows all of section 8 finished.

This photo shows an interesting stitch for Section 9.  There are two colors and it almost looks like the blue/purple color, African Violet, is laid over the magenta color.  The magenta color is a portion of African Sunset, you cut out the orangey tone.

 

Section 10 is also an interesting stitch and uses the orangey tones of African Sunset.  I really like the effect of this stitch.

 

This photo shows section 11 and 12 finished and really what the whole quadrant looks like.  There are places in the design that call for beads but I made a decision to not use beads and place stitches there instead.  Unless you look at the pattern you would never know where the beads belong.  One area that will require some thought is the Amadeus stitches, I need to fill in the empty area beneath those stitches. 

 

What's next, glad you asked.  I need to rotate the canvas and complete Section 1 on the next side.  I know all the excitement is gone now that you can see the whole quadrant but it will look different once the other sides are stitched.

 

I belong to the Shining Needle Society and have enrolled in Kathy Rees' mystery class that begins in April.  This class will last 5 months and we will receive instructions as we go but no photo of the finished piece, it's a mystery.  The snippets of the design Kathy has shared so far are interesting and I will of course document my progress on this blog.  I have not done a mystery class so this will be new and interesting for me.  The design was offered in many different color ways and I choose one called Prickly Pear which has lots of pale greens and rust.  The design uses quiet a few different threads so this is going to be fun.  More about the mystery class later.

 

 

Section 8 is finished.......This section has several designs going on.  First is the blue/purple stitch, then the  taupe zig zag followed by a multicolor zig zag and ending with orange tent stitches.   The blue/purple stitch and the multicolor zig zag are stitched with the same thread, the first part happened to all be the same color.  The taupe zig zag is Burnt Toast which is really a beautiful variegated thread.  As always my camera does not fully capture the true colors of the threads.

This photo is a close-up of a portion of section 8.

This photo just shows the progress of this quadrant.

Section 5, 6 and 7 is done........The chart shows section 4 then 6 and 7 with section 5 on another page so I stitched section 7 then 6 then 5.  Not sure if that is the correct order but it works.  Next will be section 8 which has several rows in that section.