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.

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.

 

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.