From UFO pile to WIP - Cleopatra's Cat

I'm making progress on one project from that big UFO pile: a correspondence course from the Embroiderer's Guild of America (EGA)  http://www.egausa.org/.  This one is a needlepoint sampler called Cleopatra's Cat.  The color photo attracted me with its vivid blues and gold.  Was a bit disappointed when I bought the threads, and they were more in the slate blue, almost wedgewood, family.  Sigh.  It isn't the first time a picture hasn't accurately captured the colors.

I started the project in summer 2010, outlining about half the areas with smyrna crosses, and then it sat until last week.  Now, I am "counting-challenged", and I know it.  In the past, I would make mistakes, then work around them, to results that might be less than satisfactory.  Bet you've never done that!.  Now, I'll spend more time evaluating the mistake, and am more likely to correct it.  Doesn't necessarily take more time than working around an error.  Live and learn.

Back to this cat.  I was outlining the head, and it didn't meet correctly.  I spent an hour or two looking for the mistake.  Even had a friend look during a stitch group meeting yesterday.  She couldn't find it either.  I undid most of the head, and the left shoulder.  Today I redid them, and it met correctly.  Hooray!

Oh, back to counting:  rather than doing the full smyrna crosses, I did the X's around an area, and then did a second pass to add the +'s.  The back may not be as neat, and it probably uses a bit more thread, but it's much easier and quicker to undo when I make a mistake.

Notice the tail?  After discovering the error on the head, I decided to start the filling stitches so I could see progress.  Each region is a different pattern.  Most are composite stitches using two or more threads.  Some go quickly, and some take a while.

We're expecting more snow, so I hope to make more progress in the next few days. 

UFO pictures

OK, I'm not a super photographer.  That said, here are pictures of the projects I'm including in the UFO challenge for 2011.  Will I get them all done?  Not a chance.  Can I finish a dozen?  Maybe.

Here's a list, in no particular order

1    Liz Turner Diehl, Miniature Persian Rug (Jewel Tone version)

2    Amaryllis Artwords/Denise Harrington Pratt - A Treasure for Linda

3    The Apple Tree from Threaded Treasures/Joann Pfeifer Montgomery

4    XOctagon #7, Terry Gifford/Kick Back & Stitch

5    Textile Heritage Collection, Ancient Thistle bookmark

6    Little House Needleworks, Scripture series, Faith

7    Just Nan, Keep a Little Secret

8    Mill Hill, Holiday Series 1, Winter Wonderland

9    Mill Hill, Holiday Series X, Noel Angel

10    Calico Crossroads, Star Spangled Scissor Finder

11    Victoria Sampler, Christmas Humbug -- started for her contest

12    Just Nan, Black Magic

13    Faberge Egg, Teal Egg with Purple and Gold Crest;  have series of 12, about 3-4 completed

14    Xs and Ohs, Gospel Acronyms, F.R.O.G - Fully Relying on God

15    Mill Hill, Charmed Mitten, Angel Heart

16    Textile Heritage Collection, Damask Rose bookmark

17    Stitch Your Heart Out (SYHO series), Rosewood Manor, My Two Ducks - that alphabet!

18    Plum Pudding Needleart, Christmas Sampler in Red - done ON Lakeside Linen Renaissance Red  w/Belle Soie Icing

19    DebBee's Designs, Glitz and Glamour, Sapphire

20    The Drawn Thread, Give PEACE a Chance

21    Sampler & Antique Needlework Quartely, Album (Lauren Sauer?)

22    Lavender and Lace, Santa (exact title??)

23    Designs for Learning, Linda Barry, Elizabethan Treasures

24    Sekas, Watercolour Ornaments I

25    DebBee's Designs, Books of the Bible

26    The Queen Stitch, Blackberry Tuffet and Fob

27    Teresa Wentzler, Noah's Ark Sampler (no picture yet - not sure where the project is)

28    Erica Michaels - Stitcher's Surprise (no picture yet)
29    EGA - GCC - Cleopatra's Cat (no picture yet)

30    Dawn Lewis Bands of Silk and Gold

31    Threads Through Time - Mermaid Sampler (on silk gauze)

 

 So what's in your stash? What would encourage you to finish it, pass it along, or declare it an experiment that didn't work? 

Breadcrumbs along the Journey

Are you a stitcher/embroiderer?  Many of the other stitchers I know fall into two main categories:  those who work on one project at a time, and those who work on several.  Those of us in the second category often accumulate a large stack of "UFOs".  That's "UnFinished Objects" in stitching jargon.

One of the shops I buy from is having a UFO challenge this year.    The details didn't come out until Saturday, Jan 1, 2011.  Completion of each UFO earns a chance at a gift certificate.  I've been thinking about it since she first mentioned it.  Wasn't sure I wanted to know just how many unfinished items I have.  More than can be done in one year, and then there are all the projects just waiting to be started.

But it would be nice to get some of those partly done projects finished.  One benefit would be to "release" the threads back to "inventory" -- so I can find them when I want them.  Another would be to be able to give the ones that were intended as gifts. 

Along the way, there may be a few that I decide I'll never finish.  And that's OK.  One way or another I'll get them off my mind.

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I've thought about a stitching blog off and on.  About two years ago I started keeping a stitching journal.  Just simple -- dates and what I worked on.  It's been fun.  It's a way to measure progress, or to say "has it really been that long since I picked up that project?"

Yesterday I pulled out many of my UFOs and took pictures.  Today I created this blog.  Now how do I put photos in here?