Haha! 30 minutes to go!

Okay, so I'm cutting it really close to the wire here for February's CQJP, but I've run out of time, and I'm reasonably satisfied. Of course, if time were no boundary, I could keep working on each of these wedges indefinitely! ..but time is a boundary, so I'm calling it good:


It neighbors my January wedge:



And once I add the BJP mandalas, they will look something like this:




I am going to wait until the end of the year to add any of the bead mandalas because the weight and stiffness of the mandalas would make the remainder of the embroidery much more difficult. Once I get all 12 wedges embroidered and all 12 mandalas created, then I will decide which mandala goes on which wedge. In other words, I reserve the option to not put January's mandala on January's wedge!

Tahlia: TAST wk 8, CQJP Feb

**SO** far behind schedule! I am counting on today, tomorrow, and Tuesday to catch up a bit and make some real progress with my CQJP wedge for February.


TAST wk 8: chain stitch : twisted chain with varying angles, open chain, magic chain (with two colors threaded in one needle), chain stitch to create shapes

I think I picked an unfortunate postcard for this particular stitch, as the stitch itself is subtle enough that it was tricky to find ways to keep the stitch from just disappearing against the energetic prints! ... also, this postcard would benefit from a variety of stitches instead of just one stitch. I think I will use this realization as a guideline for my future TAST studies, and try to keep prints to a minimum when I am trying to explore the possibilities of a single stitch, and use an excess of prints only when I am giving myself full permission to embellish heavily with whatever stitch seems appropriate in the moment!



CQJP block looks completely unimpressive at the moment!! My time has been sucked up by performance rehearsals. Last night was the performance for which we were putting in extra time, and it went really well! Everyone stayed upright, and glitches were minimal! :) ... but the result is that I don't have much thread on my CQJP block yet!



What I did get finished, though, is this lovely little embroidered interpretation of the valentine bouquet that my husband got for me this year! This pic shows how I turn the embroidered patch into a free-standing applique with finished edges that is easy to slip-stitch in place on my quilt block. I am REALLY liking this technique for appliques and expect that I will use it very often in the future!



So my CQJP so far looks like this. The rose applique is just basted on for now in the space I think that it might occupy, although the embroidery on the block might change the placement of the applique, once I get that done.
There is also a little growth to my January block from the last time I posted about it. Not a whole lot of change, but a little here and there.
I do hope I can catch up again!!!
At least I can say that I am not yet getting tired of this project, and I am very glad for that! Long-term energy investment in a single project is not something that I excel at!



I would like to say that I managed to find time to create a February BJP, but I didn't. This is the BJP that I made in January that I then misplaced, so I had to make a second BJP for January! ack. ... so this is my spare BJP which will fill in for whichever month doesn't get an official one of its own. ... hopefully that won't turn out to be February, because I have some nice heart-shaped beads that I would like to use for February's mandala! .. but it's nice to have a back-up plan!
So, for now this is my progress, meager as it is, at least it's still forward momentum. . I hope to be able to put up an update in the next couple of days to show that I actually did get something accomplished in February! the month's not over yet, and I need every single minute that I can get!

Hugs all!


The picture of the bouquet from which I sketched my embroidery.

Tuesday Stitchers import: Tast wk 8-chain stitch, CQJP

**SO** far behind schedule! I am counting on today, tomorrow, and Tuesday to catch up a bit and make some real progress with my CQJP wedge for February.


TAST wk 8: chain stitch : twisted chain with varying angles, open chain, magic chain (with two colors threaded in one needle), chain stitch to create shapes

I think I picked an unfortunate postcard for this particular stitch, as the stitch itself is subtle enough that it was tricky to find ways to keep the stitch from just disappearing against the energetic prints! ... also, this postcard would benefit from a variety of stitches instead of just one stitch. I think I will use this realization as a guideline for my future TAST studies, and try to keep prints to a minimum when I am trying to explore the possibilities of a single stitch, and use an excess of prints only when I am giving myself full permission to embellish heavily with whatever stitch seems appropriate in the moment!



CQJP block looks completely unimpressive at the moment!! My time has been sucked up by performance rehearsals. Last night was the performance for which we were putting in extra time, and it went really well! Everyone stayed upright, and glitches were minimal! :) ... but the result is that I don't have much thread on my CQJP block yet!



What I did get finished, though, is this lovely little embroidered interpretation of the valentine bouquet that my husband got for me this year! This pic shows how I turn the embroidered patch into a free-standing applique with finished edges that is easy to slip-stitch in place on my quilt block. I am REALLY liking this technique for appliques and expect that I will use it very often in the future!



So my CQJP so far looks like this. The rose applique is just basted on for now in the space I think that it might occupy, although the embroidery on the block might change the placement of the applique, once I get that done.
There is also a little growth to my January block from the last time I posted about it. Not a whole lot of change, but a little here and there.
I do hope I can catch up again!!!
At least I can say that I am not yet getting tired of this project, and I am very glad for that! Long-term energy investment in a single project is not something that I excel at!



I would like to say that I managed to find time to create a February BJP, but I didn't. This is the BJP that I made in January that I then misplaced, so I had to make a second BJP for January! ack. ... so this is my spare BJP which will fill in for whichever month doesn't get an official one of its own. ... hopefully that won't turn out to be February, because I have some nice heart-shaped beads that I would like to use for February's mandala! .. but it's nice to have a back-up plan!
So, for now this is my progress, meager as it is, at least it's still forward momentum. . I hope to be able to put up an update in the next couple of days to show that I actually did get something accomplished in February! the month's not over yet, and I need every single minute that I can get!

Hugs all!


The picture of the bouquet from which I sketched my embroidery.

Tuesday Stitchers import: TAST wk 6- chevron, 7-detatched chain

I seem to have recovered from my sluggish progress last week! I added stitching to my Chevron sampler (TAST wk 6), and got a nice bit of work done on my Detached Chain sampler (TAST wk 7).

Week 6 TAST: Chevron


Week 7 TAST: Detached Chain


I've decided to start using a lot of metallic threads on my TAST samplers so that I can (hopefully) make friends with the darn stuff! .. or if not friends, at least tolerated acquaintances. I like the shine that it adds to a piece, but I really dislike the tendency it has to shred and to tangle and to abrade the fabric. Stitching with it for TAST is helping me to understand it a little better- but some of the stitches are definitely easier than others!

I didn't get much work done on my CQJP or BJP yet this month, but there is still time (I hope!) to get it done before the end of the month.

If you are interested, you can check my blog for glimpses of some of the other work I've accomplished this week.
another-hobby.blogspot

Busy couple of weeks!

It's been a busy couple of weeks! Unexpected house guests, out-of-house obligations, generalized chaos. It was difficult to find time to stitch, but somehow I managed at least a little: less than I'd hoped for, but more than I'd realized!

Week 5 TAST: Herringbone


Week 6 TAST: Chevron


Week 7 TAST: Detached Chain


I might get a little more work done on the Detached Chain before the next stitch comes out, but that seems unlikely, considering the rest of my weekend schedule!

I've decided that I'm going to make it my mission to make friends with metallic threads. :P Not my favorite yet, but I am learning how to make the relationship somewhat less than abusive. :)

There was a postcard and an ATC to create for a birthday swap:



and a re-creation vintage dress (UFO) that I finally got half-sewn together:


The front of the dress has gathered details at the shoulder, bust, and waist. I put top-stitching thread in my needle to stitch parallel lines with a long stitch length to pull the gathers, and then instead of pin-basting (which always seems to let the gathers shift and get messed up), I thread-basted with herringbone stitch. It worked like a dream and was much quicker to work than I would have expected!



Sharon Boggon's Studio Journal class started at the beginning of the month, and I've been struggling to balance my schedule to allow enough time to work on that, too! One of the first week's suggested exercises was artistic frottage (also known as "brass rubbing"), and I spent some time experimenting with textures around my house:



Then Valentine's Day came along, and my husband sent flowers!


I took a lot of pictures of it with the intention to add a floral motif to this month's CQJP block.
With all of the other demands on my schedule this past two weeks, I've hardly even begun to stitch on February's CQJP block! Ack! .. and I will need to make the BJP mandala soon too. I did get a lot done, so why am I so fixated on what I DIDN'T get accomplished?

Tuesday Stitchers import: TAST wk 6- chevron

Life really got in the way this week! I am in two dance performances this weekend and had many extra rehearsal hours that bit into stitching time, plus we had unexpected house guests on Friday night, so the extra hours on Wednesday and Thursday (my normal stitching days) were used up shifting my piles around, vacuuming, etc to make room for visitors. :P
Want to see what I did accomplish this week? It's not much!


Yep, ONE LINE of chevron stitch! How's that for a sense of accomplishment! ARGH!!!!! Ah well, next week I will have some catching up to do!

Tuesday Stitchers import: TAST wk 5- herringbone

I like this stitch a lot, and I use it often both decoratively and for garment (etc) construction purposes. It works great, for example, as a catch stitch for clipped and turned seam allowances on an applique shape:


It seems like I didn't get very much done this week! Argh! Nonetheless, I managed to play around a bit with Herringbone for the TAST challenge:


In keeping with the tradition I've set myself for this TAST challenge, I have worked on a postcard-sized patchwork ground, and have limited myself to variations of the stitch itself rather than explorations of how the stitch could be used in combination with other stitches. It's ever so frustrating sometimes to know how a couple of carefully placed french knots could make a wonderful combination and still to refrain from using them! .. but it is causing me to be a little more clever and explorative with the basic stitch instead. I can use stitch combinations on my CQ, after all!