Needles, Old and New

     Today is Hari-Kuyo, the festival of broken needles. It's a lovely Japanese tradition that honors the lowly needle for its service in our art. There's a lovely description of the 400-year-old tradition on Stitchstress Stumbles's blog and pictures on Kikuko's Website. If you want to have your own ceremony, get a slab of tofu, offer up a prayer, meditate, or do whatever you want to offer reverence for our most important tool, then stick your broken or about-to-be-retired needles in it. Of course, the question remains, what do you do with the tofu full of broken needles?

     I recently had one of those annoying mishaps with a needle wherein the eye splits, you don't realize it, and you keep wondering why the needle won't stay threaded. There's one for the tofu. This meant, though, that I could open a new package of needles! But what kind? Most of what I do requires a size 24 tapestry needle. Simple, right? Ha! Not so fast. Each brand of needle has its own, unique "feel." Some people swear by Piecemakers, while others say Bohin is unsurpassed. I prefer a petite size, which I've only found from John James. Why the petite? Because I can get it into some pretty tight spots and use that thread down to the last inch if I want to. And I do! Don't ask me why, but I don't like to see long orts. Silly, I know.

     My stitching continues on Miss Zombie USA. I'm nearly done! Her lovely skintones are what I'm working on, her face, shoulders, and arms. Last night at my stitching group, I realized that I didn't have the right shade of pink for her rosy cheeks. Who knew a zombie would have rosy cheeks? Perhaps she applied blusher for the pageant. Fortunately, one of my friends had a pink that would do. I'll post a picture as soon as she's done, which I hope will be later this week. Another friend thinks she may have just the right frame for this beauty. I hope so.

     Kthxbai.

New Year, New Resolve

Hey, I'm back! Did you miss me? Don't answer that.

I've actually been doing some stitching of late, making a little progress. I also pulled out all my UFOs to see just what needed doing to finish some of them. I found two that needed very little work to finish up.

First up is Miss Zombie USA. You may recall that my daughter gave me a kit with a book of small zombie-themed projects, a couple of pieces of Aida cloth, and some cotton floss. I started in on Miss Zombie with all good intentions of just whipping it out in no time. Sadly, I set it down and forgot about it. Earlier this month, in response to a challenge, I pulled it out and decided to spend at least two and a half hours working on it every week. Here's where I am:

Contrary to my normal mode of stitching, I started this one in the center and worked down. Weird. As you can see, I just have to add this beauty's head and arms to complete her portrait. I think I can manage it in a few more sessions. Then the really hard decision must be made. How do I finish this? Any ideas? She screams out for a fancy tabletop frame, but I'm just not sure.

The other piece that requires very little work to finish is a pretty little ornament designed by Michael Boren. I took this class a couple of years ago. It's embarrassing how little is left to do, but most of it involves adding beads. Remedial Stitcher does not like adding beads! But this is really not that bad, so I think I can manage it. I also need to finish adding the sparkly thread to the right vertical border.

It's a pretty piece and deserves to be finished! I might even go so far as to finish it as an ornament, a very simple ornament.

I've also worked more on Stars for a New Millennium recently. I finished up block number 4, Marlon Brando and am now working on block number 5, Eva Marie Saint. Right now, I'm not enjoying stitching this segment. Every stitch is apparently a couched stitch, and each thread must be couched before you lay the next. Not my favorite type of stitch! Here's where she sits.

I'm still loving the colors of this piece, and the multilayered effects are beautiful. But I do find myself cursing Tony Minieri at times when in the middle of a particularly intricate part. (No offense intended to Mr. Mineiri, of course.)

Last, I received a pretty stitched piece in the mail the other day. What a surprise! It came from a former customer who now lives in Utah and who used to stitch models for me. Nicole stitches beautifully, and the backs of her pieces are as much admired as the fronts. Hahahaha. The fronts of course are stunning. Here's what I got. I have to find out from Nicole what the piece is. It may have been a model I asked her to stitch before closing the store (sadly I can't remember exactly what it was), or it may be something else entirely.

Kthxbai.

Painfully Slow but Painstakingly Done

Let's not dwell on how long it's been since I last posted. Suffice to say, it's been far too long, but my life has been nothing if not tumultuous of late. I have made some progress on a couple of fronts.

What have I been focusing on most of late? From Molehill to Mountain has taken over the position of primacy. Since my ANG chapter is working on this as a bimonthly yearlong project, I've been attempting to keep abreast of what we're doing in class. Right now, I'm a month behind in getting something stitched for each segment. Here's where I am:

The sequence of group stitching is right to left, Blocks 1–3 in the book. Block 1, as you may recall, caused me no end of difficulty and negative-stitching experience. I think I've got my problem taken care of and should be able to proceed without additional frogging. I stitched the small green-and-yellow checkerboard in the upper right quadrant on Sunday after one or two false starts (to take a break from so much tone-on-tone stitching). I've been spending the most time on Block 2 in the center. If I can get through the last medium purple tone-on-tone triangles, the final three diamond shapes will be simple. I'm really loving the way this part looks, with the bit of metallic on top of the overdye. The tone-on-tone part is taking a while because my eyes have to be fresh to see it, even with my wonderful new Ikea clip-on light.

I'm trying to get enough stitched in these top three blocks so that I can make a decision on the border and sashing. There are three options provided in the book, all very different, with different color emphases. The choice depends on how I'm using my colors. So as you can see, I really need to stitch more on Block 3, which I will as soon as I finish Block 2. I think I've got enough of Block 1 completed to make the border/sashing choice.

If you're interested in doing this project and would like the benefit of a class, Scarlet Thread's extended the registration period for their FMTM cyberclass through tomorrow.

Before setting everything else aside to focus on FMTM, I had made a bit more progress on Flyways. I really need to get back to this because I'm very close to finishing it.

All that's required is finishing the top two diamond-shaped motifs (crescents only), then the triangular-shaped pieces to square the design off, finishing with the border. How hard can it be? Don't answer that question!

The last project I'm going to show you is more to shame myself into getting back to it. Can you guess what it is? I don't think I need to identify it.

All I have to do to finish the third square are seven triangular-shaped segments. Really, not that hard. We'll be having another group stitching session in January, so I should really try to finish this square up before then.

Kthxbai.