And Then There Were SIX!

...as in six WIPs! I finished Diamond Delights 9 by DebBee's Designs over the weekend. While Dana, Wendy, and Melissa GTG'd at my house, I finished the "squiggles" and started beading. And kept beading, and beading, and then decided more bling was called for. What can I say, my inner crow must be heard!



Stitched on 18 ct mono canvas in ecru with gold metallic. The color scheme is my own based on Silk 'n Colors Burnt Toast. My squiggles are diamond shaped rather than circular as the pattern called for. I just thought diamond shapes were more in keeping with the spirit of the design. Beading and crystal embellishments all my own. I learned a LOT of new stitches and worked with fibers I never have before. Will likely frame this at some point. The colors are wonderful for my great room.

I also have an updated photo of Egypt Garden to share.



All four pyramids are now complete. The "cat shelves" are well underway. It will be a near thing to see if I can finish by the end of May for the Chatelaine WIP Slayer Contest. Even if I don't make it, I will certainly finish this year.

Finishing EG would get my WIP count to FIVE. That's only one short of my goal to have an on-going rotation of four WIPs. Could this be the year? Umm, probably not since I am going to start Stars for the New Millenium in October. LOL! But, I am getting there!

Egypt and Diamonds

Can't believe I'm actually posting for the third time in a week! Something must be wrong. Actually, it probably has something to do with procrastinating work.

I took a canvas work class with Debbie Rowley of DebBee's Designs last month. And, I don't think I shared my progress. This is her Diamond Delights 9 in a colorway of my choosing:




I enjoyed the class. Debbie is a lovely person - very knowledgeable and approachable. I am hoping if I just do a few diamonds each month, I will finish before I start the big canvas work project SAL in which I plan to participate beginning this fall. More details on that in another post. For March, I hope to finish the two diamonds that are only partially worked and also complete two additional diamonds. That's fairly ambitious as some of the diamonds take a long time to work. Most of them are worked with multiple needles and are techniques I've not encountered before. I'm definitely learning a lot.

So, I tried to make better photos of my Egypt Garden. I did finish pyramid #3 as planned last night. I even put yellow paper underneath the fabric when I snapped the photos. The fabric is a pale but bright yellow (Shortbread by Country Stitch) that looks like I imagine bright sunlight on the sand dunes would appear.






I hope to finish the last pyramid this month. Then, I'm in the home stretch. Finishing this WIP is a huge goal for this year! I'm hoping the Chatelaine WIP Slayer contest will help me get there.

New Obsession

And, this one is not my fault. It's Belinda's. After seeing her wonderful finish of Autumn Leaves designed by From Nancy's Needle (scroll down her blog page to see it), I *had* to stitch it. If all goes according to plan, you will see a HD of my rendition of the same design tomorrow. I just couldn't stay awake long enough to finish last night. LSU's dismal performance just sucked the energy out of me.

Autumn Leaves is my first real venture into counted canvas work. I'd wanted to try it for a while, and just never made the leap. I've really enjoyed this piece. It's a good first one. But, in typical Cheryl style, I find myself wanting the next canvas work project to be more challenging. So, today, I found myself signing up for this class to be taught at my LNS that specializes in needlepoint:



Isn't it fabulous? It's Diamond Delight 9 by DebBee's Designs. The LNS owner is going to help me change the colors to more autumn tones as the purple really isn't my style. However, I really love the different techniques and stitches. And, I'll be using a wide variety of fibers, some of which I've never used before. I should get the supplies to do the prestitching sometime next week. I'm super excited!!!

Thus, a new obsession is born. :-)