Monday, September 20, 2010

Progress....

It has been almost a month since I posted, a month filled with activity...Mostly of the canning variety. Our garden just exploded this year, so I have been canning produce like a fiend. I have put up over 250 jars of assorted relishes, jams, pickles, and tomato sauce!



Our Garden 2010

The Tomato Hut


However, things are not without progress on the UFO front. I rose to my summer challenge and actually finished my Embroidery Group Challenge of doing the finishing on my Stitcher's Chair Necessaire. (On the morning of the September meeting.) And here is the photo to prove it:


I also went to the Gibson's Landing Fibre Arts Festival and took 3 courses. I am proud to say that I have returned home without any UFO's to show for this outing. Of course, two of the classes did not have actual projects. One class was on natural dying of wool, and we dyed 22 different colors of wool from one dyebath (madder root). The other class was beginner spinning, and I did come home with some hand-dyed rovings and a borrowed spinning wheel, which I have not had time to get back to. Do hand-dyed rovings qualify as a UFO??? I don't think so.

And now, last but not least, a completed project from my third class, which was an Embroidery Stitch Sampler Book taught by Betty McCaskey....ta dah! This was a really fun exercise. She would teach us a stitch and we would freehand embroider a design with each stitch. The pages are then blanket stitched together into a book.













 
I was determined not to have another UFO to add to my pile, and finished it within 2 weeks of getting home, in between canning tomatoes.

I have, however, started another quilting project. This one has a deadline. It is a quilt for my new granddaughter, Leota, who was born Sept 13. Some photos of the WIP:






I have to get this done by the baby shower in 2 weeks, so I don't think this will join the UFO pile. It is a really fun pattern. There is lots of decorative stitching and embellishment, though I changed the original colors from white and pastels to bright blue and neons.

Oh, and I also started knitting a baby hat. 




Another Class UFO?

I have just returned from Nanaimo, where I participated in the ANA Guild's Fall Festival. We stitched a fall-themed piece, a circle of 5 leaves. The workshop was in a round-robin format, with an hour and a half devoted to each leaf, which were all in different techniques.




This will, alas,  be a forced UFO, as I ran out of thread for 2 of the leaves. I have ordered a couple skeins from the Nordic Needle, along with a DVD on needlepainting, plus a kit of needlepainted pansies. I am not allowed to start this new treasure until I finish the Tanya Berlin Fox.  I repeat, NOT ALLOWED.

I also finished the baby hat for Leota!


And started a little baby sweater, see WIP photo below.



And purchased a kit for a sampler at the White Elephant Sale at the Guild Festival. It has been started by the previous owner, and was only $5.00. I think I will finish it, as I don't have any UFO's of my own to work on. Here is a link to the finished project. http://www.drawnthread.com/Chart%20Pages/randomthoughts.html. Here is a photo of the stitched piece so far.



The Texada Quilter's Guild is also going to start a Block of the Month Quilt, the Halloween Baltimore Album. One hand appliqued block a month. Should be do-able. Here is a link to the project in question. How can one resist? http://www.amidonquiltworks.com/baltimoreHalloween.php. The first block is an owl. Love it.