Tuesday Stitchers import: CQJP progress end of July and early August

I am so glad that I got so much done in early July because I didn't get a lot of extra stitching time before the month ended.

I did get a chance to try Basque stitch, and enjoyed it:

I added a fly-stitch + bullion variant:

I must have done this bullion rose and herringbone combo because I don't see it mentioned in a previous post:

My very favorite, though is this lovely little chain-stitch serpentine line with French knot accents. The chainstitching is done with a lovely little DMC floss that I dyed myself! :) SO happy with the way that color set came out:

It's even prettier in real life. :)

I also managed to finish up my June bjp (which only got half-finished in June) and my Junly bjp. :) Yay!! ... except that I still need to turn under the excess fabric to finish up the medallions.

June

July

Okay... apparently I got more accomplished than I gave myself credit for. That seems to be a running theme in my head--what is it that I'm expecting from myself that I always feel like I 'haven't accomplished much'? I think I need a minor mental adjustment. :P

Plus, I managed to get a nicer picture of one the seams I showed previously. It's a multi-strand orange herringbone laced with purple:

As for the posting schedule, I have one more big dance weekend coming up this coming weekend, so I know I'm going to miss my Sunday timeslot. I'll get my post up as soon afterward as I can manage! :)

So now I have three TAST stitches to catch up on: oyster, Algerian eye, and cast-on. I should be able to incorporate oyster and cast-on without much problem, but I anticipate some problems incorporating Algerian eye. Most of the fabrics I used on this project are a bit fine and tightly woven, plus I interfaced a lot of them, so pulling open the eye of AE will be a little tricky to say the least! And the support fabric beneath the decorative fabrics is not one that I would want to have show through. ack. I'll figure something out. :)

Tuesday Stitchers import: bjp

Well, it's been a week of emotional rollercoasters, and I have a lot of stitching to accomplish before midnight tomorrow. I will very likely never get the hang of finishing ahead of schedule! Grandmother went back into the hospital with pneumonia early this week, but is now doing much better again. Yay!! She is very exhausted from all of the set-backs, and I am exhausted as well. Back in the beginning of the year, when I hadn't forseen any of these personal challenges to my time and emotions, I signed up for a couple of swaps to stitch alongside the CQJP, BJP, and TAST. WWIT???!! So a good chunk of my time this week went to stitching sane quilt blocks for swapping: A block of my own pattern based on my partner's color preferences:

A block of my own pattern in black and white fabrics:

And a set of 8 12-inch blocks in a scrappy around-the-world pattern.

Unfortunately, the first set of around-the-world blocks ended up the wrong size once they were all stitched together, so I had to spend yet another day and a half re-doing them to the right sizes. Rather than rip the seams and resew them, I started over from scratch:

Phew! Those blocks are done with and now I know better than to sign up for more! (I hope.) There are also the birthday ATCs and Postcards throughout the year that I can't duck out of. (Le Sigh!) I was way behind schedule on one of them, so I packaged it up and put it into the mail without remembering to get a photo of it first. bummer. This ATC (2.5 x 3.5 inches) is due May 6th, and another (that I haven't started yet) is due May 12.

I haven't started my French Knot or my Wheatear postcards for TAST yet-- they can wait. CQJP and BJP are higher priority. I did stitch my TAST for stem stitch, though, because I felt the need for some very brainless stitching after totally screwing up the first batch of around-the-world blocks:

Since I got such a strong start on my BJP earlier this month, I was able to finish them both. Yay!! Progress!

So now I have one extra BJP (the one that I made in January and used for February when I got behind schedule) in case I fall behind again. Hopefully that won't happen, though, as I much prefer the BJPs to reflect what is going on in my life in the month that it is made, and even if it's just a matter of color choice, the choices I make have a strong connection to my emotions and the events of my life. And then there is CQJP. I am SO far behind!!! I was a bit silly and let myself get all wrapped up in one very complicated and time-consuming seam rather than spreading the love around the entire wedge. It's a pretty little seam, though!

Now I just need to get the rest of the wedge done between now and tomorrow night! Yipes! :)

Tuesday Stitchers import: TAST wk 12- barbed chain, CQJP, BJP

Grandma bounced back from hip surgery in two days. I didn't get much stitching done because I had strep throat. Hmm. Maybe there's a life lesson or two to be found in there somewhere!

At any rate, I didn't get a lot done, and I do have valid reasons (the busy convention weekend, strep throat, visiting my grandmother and my family). Now I am asking myself whether I am: 1- hiding behind excuses instead of doing my Work, 2- being unrealistically diminishing about the work that I do accomplish, 3- unaware of my deepest priorities (like spending quality time with friends and family) and, because of that lack of awareness, thinking that I have more time to do my (e.g. stitching) work than I really have... or some combination of the above or some unspecified addition to the list.

For the sake of my sanity, I'm going to run with the working assumption that the best description is option 2: I'm being too hard on myself. I'm actually doing quite a bit of work, and it is good work, but it doesn't measure up to the imagined goal I set for myself, so I don't realize right away what I HAVE accomplished because I am too focused upon what I have NOT accomplished. :P

What I have NOT accomplished this month:
I have not yet started stitching on my CQJP wedge.
I have not yet started the current TAST challenge (wk 16: French Knot)
or the previous TAST challenge (wk 15: Stem Stitch)
I have not added to TAST wk 11 (whipped wheel) which at least got started (barely).

Okay! That's enough whining!!

What I HAVE accomplished is so much better to talk about!

I made a BJP for February! yay! yes, it's April now, and yes, I had a BJP for February, but it wasn't the one that I WANTED to have for February, it was my spare January BJP that I misplaced (so I had to create a second January BJP). Ever since, I've felt determined to make a real February BJP, one featuring heart-shaped beads. :)


I also got a good start on my April BJP, and am confident that I will be able to finish it before the end of the month. It features a charm with a labyrinth pattern to represent the explorations of imagination and fiction (the science fiction writers' convention) and also the joys of gardening (by connection with the idea of hedge mazes). I had been thinking of the colors of the tulips that arose in my garden this month (orange-reds against the green foliage), but the beads I chose were closer to turquoise than green, so it's ended up with more of a southwestern feel: turquoise and agate, Tucson Arizona where we used to visit my husband's father.


I did some work on TAST 14: Satin stitch


And I added significantly to TAST 12: Barbed Chain. I had a lot of ideas of experimental variations that I wanted to try, and some of them turned out pretty nifty! Although the magic chain variation did not turn out the way that I had hoped it would, it's still kinda interesting.


And while I did not start stitching on my CQJP wedge yet (It requires a level of focus and thoughtfulness that hasn't been available to me at the busy convention or while my head was blurred with fever or while my family needed my attention), I did get some busywork stitching done on my CQJP prototype! This little peacocky tail fan is the prototype that I stitched up as a concept test before investing all my time and materials in the larger silk version. Since it is made entirely of printed fabrics, I decided to let the fabrics take primary focus and use my CQ stitching in a supporting roll by controlling the color spectrum of the threads that I would use. As much trouble as they are, somehow metallic threads seemed the best choice-- they would stand out against any of the prints, yet still read as "neutrals", plus they would add a nice shimmer and textural interest. I've chosen gold threads against the greens, and copper threads against the purples.

Tuesday Stitchers import: BJP, CQJP march

Well, it's been a busy month, with a lot of time spent away from home and away from my stitching. I do carry my CQJP along with me, but most of the time I am out of the house, I find myself in boisterous and chaotic environments that don't allow the meditative calm or stretches of attention that I find conducive to stitching.. at least the level of calm that I need for my CQJP anyway!

Despite the distractions, I did get a reasonable amount of work done on my CQJP:

(The semi-transparent gray mask is my attempt to obscure the blocks from past and future months and clarify where March begins and ends.)
The wedge shape makes photography challenging, so here are a couple of detail shots as well:




And the BJP, which I find can only be worked on at home, got done too!! And I even got a picture of it before I misplaced it this time! Ha!



Spring weather and gardening has been on my mind a lot this month, despite the miserable cold wet windy weather we've been having (or maybe because of it?). I spent several hours of my precious at-home time getting vegetable starts potted up in containers so that I'll be able to look forward to fresh peas and lettuce and green beans as the weather gets warmer. :) Yum! ... and spending all that time out in the yard (soaking up that much-important Vitamin D producing sunlight!) inspired much of my stitching and color choice this month.

I have a slightly longer essay on the topic on my blog.
Personally, I'm just grateful that I got this much done on my block this month! .. I do still want to add an embroidered applique, like the valentine bouquet and the intruder cat from previous months, but that didn't get done before midnight tonight, so I'll have to find time to squeeze it in next month instead (I hope!)

End of another month already?

Where in the world has March gone to? Was it washed away by the rain? blown away by the wind?? I only just got accustomed to the idea that February was over, and now March is gone too?? Who authorized that?!

March was full of many distractions for me. There was travel, and dance events, and travel for dance events. There was miserable drenching rain and billowing winds, and there was alluring sunshine. The sunshine was particularly devious: it made me want to attempt a garden. Doh! As a result of the weather, I ended up with several plant starts that needed repotting, so now I have five slivers, dirt underneath my fingernails, quite a few containers of potted vegetable starts outside in the yard, and several flats of five-year-old seeds taking over my dining room table that decided to germinate much to my shock and awe. (The seeds decided to germinate, not the table. ...though a germinating table would definitely hold a higher shock and awe factor than some sprouting seeds, even five-year-old seeds.) Yay! The beginning of a vegetable garden for the first time in YEARS! woot! My mouth is already watering with the thought of fresh peas and lettuce and green beans this season! I hope that my plants grow and thrive and produce produce! .. it would probably be more likely if I quit nibbling on the poor things long enough for them to get established. Heh. For the past two weeks I've been making a morning round of my container garden, peeking in at all the little plants and encouraging them to grow (Pep-talks help, right?)
And each morning I pull off one or two leaves from any plants that look big enough to spare them. :) Yum! spinach leaves and lettuce for breakfast! ... except that the plants are so small that I only get about three to five leaves total before I decide that I'd better not take any more or risk killing the poor things before they get a start in life.
(Patience is not my best virtue.)

All of which means that I ended up doing less stitching than I had anticipated over the course of the month. The travel and the dance events were very unfriendly to stitching, so instead, I took my tatting shuttles along with me and I made some tatted trims. You'll spot a couple of them on this month's block. The others will most likely find their way onto future blocks.


(The semi-transparent gray mask is my attempt to obscure the blocks from past and future months and clarify where March begins and ends.)
The wedge shape makes photography challenging, so here are a couple of detail shots as well:




I also managed to create my BJP mandala for March! woot!

Gardening and spring flowers definitely influenced my stitching this month in all of my work. The crocuses, grape hyacinths, and daffodils have come up in my yard to greet the spring weather (all three crocuses, two daffodils, and five-hundred-thousand-ish hyacinths that survived the floody-wet winters, anyway.) It's the color combo of spring greenery, daffodil yellow, and hyacinth purple/blue that determined my color selection for this month's BJP. :)




I didn't get much done on my TAST postcards, even with this past week designated as "catch-up week"-- so little, in fact, that there's really not much to show for Whipped Wheel and Barred Chain... I'll have to chip away at them as I can, and show them when there's something to show. CQJP and BJP take priority, and I'm really quite delighted to have accomplished as much as I did on both of those!

Tuesday Stitchers import: CQJP feb

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:


The size and shape of this "block" sure makes photographing a challenge!

Here's a pic of January and February with the BJP medallions set onto the wedges for the photograph:

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.

BJP January

My BJP mandala for January!

Tuesday Stitchers import: BJP january

My BJP mandala for January!

Tuesday Stitchers import: Tast wk 4 and CQJP progress

I did not think about today being our last group reveal for the month! I was thinking that I had another three days of stitching before the month is over, and I feel like I still need it! Considering my late start, the stray cat, the snow, and the power outage, I got quite a lot accomplished and am feeling pretty well about my progress overall so far. I am not ahead of schedule by any means, but I guess I'm not too far behind schedule either.
My BJP has wandered, so I will need to add a supplemental post for that once I locate it again.
One disadvantage to my wedge-shaped blocks is that they are difficult to photograph. :P Small price to pay, though, as I am loving this project so far!

Those who have been checking in on my main blog (another-hobby) know that my life was disrupted by the intrusions of a stray cat. He was so very skinny that I couldn't put him back outside in the snow to freeze to death, so for now he is in my bathroom making himself comfortable. He cannot have range of the house yet because I have a pet rabbit, and his health is my higher priority- so the stray cat is in quarantine for now while he gets nursed back into better health and non-contagion.
I decided to commemorate the stray cat by adding an applique patch to this month's wedge:

I used a rubber stamp and a "Stazon" ink pad to put a cat image on a scrap of the sea-green silk that I used for piecing my wedges. Then I used a strand of silk reclaimed from an old sweater and newly dyed to the color I wanted to outline the image and add furry details. I used DMC floss for his eye color and DMC metallic (doubled over through the needle) to make his whiskers. Then I traced an oval around him and used buttonhole stitch (tailor's knotted variety) to turn the edges under to create a nice applique. I trimmed excess allowances after the buttonholing was complete, and blind-stitched the patch to my block using the same thread I'd used for the buttonholing. That took a surprising amount of time, but I am happy that I did it-- I think he turned out pretty cool, and I learned a lot in the process that I am sure to use again!

I used this month's TAST stitches to embellish the block further, but did not want to limit myself to just using one month's worth of TAST stitches because I felt that it would create a discord over the course of the project if each month only featured that month's TAST stitches, so you will also find bullions and chain and tatting and other stitches and techniques in the embellishment of this block.


(You'll probably need to click on the picture for a larger version in order to see any of the detail, and maybe even use the <"ctrl"> <+> command to zoom in.)

The bottom two patches of color are going to remain without embellishment for now-- the peacock's body is going to overlap them, so any stitching that I do there will mostly be covered up. I will wait until I am close to assembly to add final details in that area, when I am certain how much will be seen around the edges of the body.

That still leaves a lot of undeveloped space on this block-- I confess I was depending upon the final three days of the month do finish up the stitching-- I wasn't thinking about today being our final group reveal of the month! I will probably need to add a supplemental post on the last day of the month. Hopefully I will get the rest of the stitching done!-- I do not do much pre-planning to my stitchwork; it develops itself as I go, much like doodling, so I am not entirely sure what more will/ needs to be done on this block.

Feedback is welcome! suggestions and critiques are also welcome from all viewers. :)

The whole wedge looks like this:



I plan to add some more stitching to the purple rays at the top of the wedge, at the minimum. I will also be leaving space for the addition of my BJP mandala to be added just above the heart. I will probably wait until the end of the year before adding the mandalas for a couple of reasons: 1- the weight of the beads would be very cumbersome as I continue to stitch the wedges, and 2- I might decide to place the mandalas onto different blocks based on aesthetic reasons rather than keeping each month's mandala with that month's wedge.

Surprisingly, I did get my TAST homework for the week done as well!

The postcard size makes it very transportable, and the sampler mentality makes it easy for me to stitch upon under chaotic circumstances that would be unfavorable for my peacock.

CQJP planning progress

Well, I've spent a little time fleshing out my ideas for my CQJP challenge. I really like the idea of creating a CQ peacock, and I've been using my colored pencils to see what kinds of color patterns I might want to use. Here's one that I particularly like so far:

It will be different, of course, when interpreted in cloth, but it gives me an idea of where I might start.

There are giant white circles in each fan wedge for a reason: I am thinking of creating circular beaded motifs to applique on. I made up one sample motif to see how long it might take me (on average) so that I could decide whether or not to also sign up (officially) for the BJP this year. ... but my conscience is warning me that it might be too much of a commitment to tackle BJP as well as CQJP and TAST and SharonB's journal class and everything else that I need to do throughout the year, so if I can keep my impulse under control, then I will just be an UNofficial BJP participant so that I have one element that I can drop without guilt if my schedule gets too crazy.

Today's challenge: tidy my sewing room enough to enjoy working in it and be able to find all the fabrics and components that I might need/want to use!