No Excuses

Well I have been gone for five months again.  Life has been going on and it has not been crazy busy.  I just have not been blogging.  We have had some fun events like a wedding at the Four Seasons in Palm Beach and we just returned from a family vacation in Islamorada which is in the Florida Keys.  I have a couple of more summer trips planned for summer with a wedding in New York and the EGA National Seminar in Louisville which is sneaking up on me. 

Let's get to the fun stuff that a stitching blog is all about.  I may not have been blogging but I have been stitching this summer.  I finished a couple of old but beautiful projects.  The first project is the completed Funky Rose by Terri Dryden.  This project is from an ANG National Seminar a couple of years ago.  I believe it might have been in Columbus.  I am not sure how I am going to have this finished so right now it is hanging in a closet. 

 Below is my completed Mayan Lighting by Dianne Herrmann.  This was a pilot class but I did not get this project done in a very timely basis.  I think I want this finished in a shinny black box but right now it is hanging on the same hanger with Funky Rose.

 

 

 

The Prague ornament was bought last year at the EGA Seminar.  This is a hand painted ornament by Silver Needle.  The picture does not do this ornament any justice.  It is all done in Planet Earth silk, Accentuate, and Kreinik Metallic threads.  I have bought Dupioni Silk in royal blue for finishing the back. 

The New York Taxi Cab is by Princess and Me.  I had fun stitching this ornament.  The hub caps are great!  The yellow is a Jessica stitch and the inside is a cross stitch in silver Kreinik ribbon.  The windows are ribbon floss in Opal and  I am very happy with the look.  The finishing for this one is bright yellow Dupioni Silk. 

My poor Flamingo project is in need of an iron.  This is a Teresa Layman project that was created for the EGA Seminar in Naples a couple of years ago.  It is stitched with thousands of French and colonial knots.  I find these projects very relaxing and I usually have one of Teresa's projects going.  I am still working on kitting my next project from Teresa. 

To make sure you don't think I am an overachiever, here are some of my works in process.  Above is a Margaret Kinsey Rozashi project.  We were lucky enough to have Margaret at our guild back in June teaching these stitches and sharing this project with us.  I do some crazy small work but I find this work is hard on my eyes.  I will finish this project but I am not sure this is a stitch type that I will do a lot of in the future. 

Above is another Princess and Me ornament.  This was my project last week in the Florida Keys.  I have most of the bottom part of the house done.  I am thinking about the background on this project and I would welcome any suggestions.  The stitch guide says to use basket weave in DMC 550 - dark purple.  The picture that came with the canvas looks like she used Kreinik in the background.  I have the DMC and purple Kreinik or I could use the DMC floss and a purple Accentuate.  What I don't want to do is basket weave in the background.  This project already has a lot of basket weave and it takes a while to do a background in basket weave.  Any suggestions on other stitches that would look good with this lovely little house.  I would also be happy to use any combination of threads to achieve a nice background look.  I have been flipping though my books but the right thing has not hit me yet. 

I am getting ready for a fun weekend and hopefully we will have warm weather.  Tonight is a fund raiser for a local park and this weekend a friend from Singapore is in town and maybe a Cubs game.  My final picture is what I view when I am at my outside nest.  They middle flowers are about on their last leg but they have given me many hours of prettiness over the summer. 

Hope you have a wonderful weekend and endless hours of stitching.