I Made it!! NaBloPoMo completed.

This post marks the last post of the month and I have posted at least once a day for the entire month of February. It got a little scary on the 22, but I got the idea to show you some of my finished projects in need of finishing and that filled in the days (probably could have done an entire month on this topic)!

Thanks for hanging in here with me, I am not sure I will be able to keep up with daily posting, despite my good start, but I will try to post more frequently than I had before. The ability to schedule posts in advance really helps with this sometimes (as long as you have a topic).

Early Works by Me

These are some of my first projects. My mom or I would buy kits and I would work them up. The one on the left came with a thick plastic frame that divided each cactus. So, the ones near the top would be sitting on a ledge not floating in the air like they seem to now. But once again, I did not know the proper way to frame, so there was tape and acid filled cardboard with this. I took it out of the frame and hope to reframe it one day.  The daisies on the right are a kit also, and it was originally in a round embroidery hoop. I took it out to dust it off. Both needed cleaning of some sort and I took these out of their frames so long ago, I don’t know how I cleaned them. You may be able to zoom and see the printing on the bottom of the daisy to see it was printed in 1982. These are the few examples I have of crewel or uncounted/stamped embroidery that I have. Not long after this I discovered counted cross stitch and the rest is history.

An Bargello Easter Egg

This was a freebie from Rainbow Gallery called Porcelain Egg that my ANG Chapter in North Carolina did, I think in 2000 or 2001. I pulled this one out of the box and may try and finish it for Easter. I am thinking of making an oval ornament out of it, but could be tricky! If you want to see a color picture of it (as if mine was not enough) it is the last one on Rainbow Gallery’s free patterns for needlepoint page.

Some EGA Projects

I believe this was a design in my NeedleArts Magazine and I am not sure the year but I know it was done while I lived in Raleigh, NC (it was a chapter project), and since I think it was one I was supposed to teach, that would mean is was in the magazine sometime between 2004 and 2007. Does that help any? If I ever finish finish this I will try to provide more specifics – or maybe a commenter will let us know?

I know this next one is an EGA Petite Project called Coral Knot Sampler.  I did this in 1998 or 1999 as one of my first EGA projects. The Cedar Valley Chapter (Cedar Rapids, IA)  had a New Kid on the Block day and this was one of the projects.

My Soul Is Fed By Needle and Thread

I believe this is a chart from The Flower Thread Company but I am not 100% sure and it is no longer on the website if that is where I got it. But I just love it. I may make it into an ornament to hang in my studio, or maybe a pin cushion? Any suggestions?

My Parents 40th Wedding Anniversary (1986) Project

Here is a project I made in 1986 for my parent’s 40^th wedding anniversary. It had been framed, but at the time I did not know all the correct ways to frame stuff and so over the years there had been some yellowing and I had left the masking tape on the edges. So when my dad passed away (9 years after my mother) I took it out of the frame. Not sure what I will do with it exactly, but I felt it should be saved from the tape and the cardboard and here it is.

In Need of Finish Finishing or How I Store Stuff

I thought I would dedicate this week to my projects that have been stitched, but not finish finished. So, today I thought I’d show you the smaller of my two boxes of finished items that need to be finish finished. I bought some flat archival boxes and archival tissue paper a few years back when we moved to Colorado because I wanted these items to travel relatively safely. I placed tissue paper inside the box, much like you would a gift box, and then separated each stitched item with tissue paper. I bought the kind of tissue that is to be used for textiles. It worked out fine and is a nice way to store them until I get around to making them into something. I may never do that, the fun is always in the stitching and there is only so much wall space!