Mystery Class Lesson Two.........................Curios is continuing with Lesson two.  Area 7 is almost square and has a very interesting border in two colors.  The center is Watercolours and Rainbow Gallery Silk Lame.

 

Area 8 is square and the border is Princess Perle and Very Petite Velvet.  The center design is Watercolours with accents of Rainbow Gallery Neon Rays.  The background is stitched with stranded silk, Splendor by Rainbow Gallery.

 

This photo shows the total progress to date.

Almost finished................I finished the third quadrant and well on my way to finishing the fourth and final quadrant.  If all goes to plan tomorrow I can finish the design.

Kathy has posted the second lesson of the Mystery Class - Curios which is only available through the Shining Needle Society.  I downloaded and printed the patterns for lesson two and it looks like we are going to have some stitching fun.  Since I am so close to finishing Cobalt I will finish it before starting lesson two.  Be sure to check back over the next few days to see the progress on Curios as I post new photos of lesson two.

Here is Cobalt.......................Designed by Kathy Rees of Needle Delight Originals.  This is one of Kathy's designs that can be stitched four times to create a square for a pillow.

 

I started in the center in order to determine the placement of the lower quadrant of the design.  Unless a design specifies otherwise I always start in the center.  Just how I feel comfortable with stitching the design.

 

One of the stitches that I have previously been afraid of is the long arm cross.  This stitch is not difficult once you understand how to stitch it and the result is a really nice braid.  The second band below is a long arm cross.  The photo on the right is from the Mystery Class - Curios and shows the long arm cross in green, it may be easier to see than in the blue.

Mystery Class - Area 6.............Area 6 is now finished and that's the end of the first lesson.  The center of the design is stitched with Vineyard Silk and Very Petite Velvet.  The contrast of threads looks really good in person, gives nice texture.  Well that's all for this month, I have to wait to May 1st for Lesson 2.

 

The new project is Color Study:  Hide N Seek by Laura J. Perin.  I received this pattern for Christmas 2014 so it's about time to stitch it.  I am drawn to earthtones and also bright colors, not so much the cooler color palettes.

 

Hide N Seek is stitched with a variety of Cotton Floss, Perle Cotton and 1 Caron Watercolour.  I spent my stitching time today cutting a piece of canvas, taping the edges, marking the center and mounting it on a frame.  Next I wound the floss on cardboard bobbins to prepare for stitching.  I always prepare the threads before starting a project.  The Watercolour and Perle Cotton skeins were cut and threaded onto Twitchetts then put on a binder ring.  This just helps organize the threads and keeps them from becoming a mess.

Area 4, 5 and 6..................I finished Area 4, the center thread does not contrast very much with the one on either side.  The overdyed color is subtle so it doesn't really stand out.  Some of the other colorways show more contrast.

 

Area 5 is a disappointment, the border is stitched with Perle cotton and Vineyard Silk however they are almost the same color so you can't tell they are different threads.  The center of the design is Waterlilies Silk and again the color is almost the same as the border.  Other colorways show a real contrast between the border and center.  Once the design is finished I will probably go and rip out the center design and replace it with something else in a contrasting color.

 

 

I began Area 6 today and is a border of Rhodes stitches in Gloriana Princess Perle Silk.  Princess Perle is a challenge to work with as it is very springy and at times seems alive.  Once you cut into the skein look out because it is all over the place.  I had a tangled mess to unravel and then cut into 1 yard lengths.  The color variation in the thread is very subtle so you really don't notice the color change.

 

If all goes to plan I will finish Area 6 tomorrow and then wait until May 1st for the next lesson and patterns.  The waiting is going to be difficult.  In the mean time I will start a new project, the question is what.  I'll get out all the kitted designs and see what inspires me or I may create my own design.  Tune in on Thursday to see what I've selected.

Mystery Class - First Lesson.........................The long awaited moment has arrived and the first lesson of the mystery class is available.  There are 35 areas in the design and each one has a different pattern.  The first photo shows my progress so far.

 

This is Area 1 which is stitched with a Watercolours borders that includes Very Petite Velvet crosses in the center of the boxes.  The center design is stitched in Vineyard silks, which of by the way are a joy to stitch with.

 

Area 2 has an interesting border of long arm crosses that when stitched looks like a woven braid, it is in Watercolours.  The center design is Vineyard Silk and Frosty Rays.

 

Area 3 is only a striped border so far, it is stitched in Vineyard Silks.  The center section is included in another lesson.  Kathy did indicate that the main design in this area is a Walneto stitch.

 

This photo is Area 4 which is still in progress.  The border is stitched in Watercolours and the lattice background is stitched with Petite Sparkle Rays.  The center section is stitched in Vineyard Silks and Watercolours.

 

  Lesson 1 includes Areas 5 and 6 also which I will work on and should be finished by Wednesday.

 

Curios Mystery Class has begun.........It's April 1st and the first lesson for the Shining Needles Society Mystery Class is now available.  I thought I would show the 25 threads that are used in the project.

 

This photo shows all the threads, Caron Watercolours, Vineyard Silk, Gloriana Silks, Waterlilies, Perle Cotton, and an assortment of Rainbow Gallery threads.

 

 

 

This photo shows Petite Very Velvet, Silk Lame Braid, Frosty Rays, Neon Rays, Petite Sparkle Rays, Spendors and Sparkling Neon Rays.  A total of 10 different Rainbow Gallery threads.

 

 

Here are 2 Perle Cottons, 1 Gloriana Silk Princess Perle, 1 Gloriana Duchess Silk and 1 Waterlilies.

These are the Caron Watercolours, Prickly Pear, Turmeric, Seaweed, Willow and Chardonnay.

 

Now are the Vineyard Silks.

 

This shot shows all the skeins opened and sorted on Twitchetts.  Twitchetts are the best for any stitching project.  It is so easy to sort, separate and handle your threads.  Can you tell I love them.  You can find Twitchetts on Terry's Dryden's website, try them and you will be hooked.  Tomorrow I will show the start of the design for this month.

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.

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.

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.