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.

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.

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.

Section 2, 3 and 4......I stitched section 2 with a diagonal row of eyelet stitches, not my favorite. I found that if I use a trolley needle to stretch the center hole the stitch works better.  Section 3 is a diagonal cashmere stitch and section 4 is squares and triangles.  Tomorrow I will work on sections 5, 6 and 7 hopefully.

Tangerine Twist has begun.......I am stitching Tangerine Twist by Kathy Rees of Needle Delights.  Ok, so this is a name you see me write over and over and that is because she is one of my favorite designers and I love her designs.

 

Tangerine Twist is stitched on 12 X 12 canvas using 11 Caron Watercolours and 2 Kreinik Braids.  The Watercolours are Buttercup, Burnt Toast, African Sunset, Pomegranate, Creamsicle, Peach Clobber, Saffron, Tangerine, Bittersweet, Ethiopia and African Violet. This photo shows the Watercolours sorted with Twitchetts.

 

Twitchetts, what are those?  I found them on Terry Dryden's website, here is a link to a stitching must have  http://www.terrydryden.com/-accessories/.  The Twitchetts have a large hole for the entire skein of thread, a small hole for the leftover piece of thread and a medium hole for threading onto a binder ring.  These are absolutely a must have for any stitcher.

 

 

 

I began stitching the center of the design, I always start in the center unless the design does not allow for this.  Tangerine Twist is cut into 4 identical quadrants, you get the design for 1 quadrant and then you rotate it to fill in the other 3 quadrants.  I stitched the first part of each quadrant as a reference point.  The design can be drawn on the canvas for ease of stitching, each section has a number and you stitch them in order.  I however don't draw the sections on the canvas, right or wrong, I just don't do it.

 

 

 

This is the center of the design and the complete section 1.

 

 

A close up of the Amadeus stitches.  I've used Amadeus stitches in other pieces that I have designed but this is the first time I have encountered them in one of Kathy's designs.  When I stitch a Rhodes stitch I usually start in the left lower corner however this design calls for them to start just left of the center.  You always have to read the instructions and look at the diagram to ensure you start where the design indicates.

 Next up is section two, a long diagonal strip.