Look what I got! times 2

I was just minding my own business, cleaning the house and doing laundry and DH came up with a package that came in the mail! Since I wasn't expecting anything, I looked to see who it was from--Jane in Chilly Hollow. Oh, I said, she is just returning the beads I had sent for possible use in an upcoming project, and off he went. Then, I opened the package, and sure enough there were some beads I had sent, but another tissue package as well. Hmmm, what is this? I carefully opened it and TADA! She sent the Kimberly Crum tool case to me!! Happy dancing all the way downstairs to brag and boast to DH!! Look, look, look what Jane sent me!! He stopped reading and appropriately ooohhhhd and aaaahhhd too! Thank you, Thank you, Jane! (I guess all that sniveling and whining I did had an effect! LOL) You are a sweetie! In case you missed seeing this on Jane's blog, you can see it here:
http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com/2010_01_18_archive.html

Before I started cleaning and dusting and laundering, I went to the framers and dropped off the Kimono. I am trying another framer and I must tell you when I walked in with the piece, the woman who does the needlework there was amazed. She loved the piece but was ecstatic about how straight and flat it is. She said she usually had to spend a great deal of time working on needlepoint pieces as they were distorted. I explained to her that I used a different frame called Evertites and gave us worker bees an added bonus by not having to work so hard to keep it straight. I will pick that up in a week. I also went to the other framer and picked up this piece:I am very pleased with how well it came out after the second attempt. It was not straight in the frame when they first did it, so I asked them to redo it. I know, I am very picky! It it now hanging in the bedroom. Yippee!

The end of the mystery!

I finished all the beading tonight and that concludes Mystery #12, Ecrusheen. I will lace this piece over the weekend but won't be taking it to the framer until after Christmas. Several of the stitches in this piece will be good resources for future projects.

What in the world?

is she doing now? LOL! This is the Kreinik cord, the #12 John James Beading needle and a size 11 bead. The eye of the needle is plenty big enough to thread the cord and both to glide through the bead. Thanks to Jane and Judy for this inspiration to post. Meanwhile, I am busy putting those little gold beads

all around the outside edge. I have two and a half sides done. I did a close up for you so you could see all four rows of beads! I know, it was nice of me......it is close to Christmas after all!

Round three

First, were the off white beads in the Modified Scotch, then the gold beads in the Modified Rhodes, and when I finished those tonight, I did the off white beads in the Bead Cup stitches. The final row of gold beads will go in the outside row of Modified Rhodes......getting there!
Jane asked if it was difficult to get the beads through the Kreinik cord and I responded in the comments ( in case you did not see) that no, it is very easy to use for beading and in fact, I think it is easier to thread the needle as the cord is wrapped so it seems to go in the needle easier.

Let the beading begin!

I started with off white beads and a single strand of Kreinik cord in the 205C and placed the beads in the Modified Scotch stitches in the center. Then using the same fiber, which I will do throughout the piece, I started placing gold beads but did not finish the entire diameter.

All the way around

Yes,, the last stitched row is in on Lesson four. Next up will be beads. I don't have the Toho beads called for in the pattern so I will make some substitutions and begin beading tomorrow!

Just a minute

Two things to post tonight. One requires a minute of your time, and the other is how I spent mine.
1. Taken from the ANG digest:

"Please support this wonderful program. Lots of us have military family members overseas, but many don't receive the support we give our own family members.

Pat

XEROX IS DOING SOMETHING COOL. If you go to this web site, _www.LetsSayThanks.com_ (http://www.letssaythanks.com/) you can pick out a thank you card and Xerox will print it and it will be sent to a soldier that is currently serving in Iraq. You can't pick out who gets it, but it will go to a member of the armed services.How AMAZING it would be if we could get everyone we know to send one!!! It is FREE and it only takes a second.Wouldn't it be wonderful if the soldiers received a bunch of these? Whether you are for or against the war, our soldiers over there need to know we are behind them.This takes just 10 seconds and it's a wonderful way to say thank you Please take the time and please take the time to pass it on for others to do. We can never say enough thank you's. Thanks for taking to time to support our military! Please tell all your friends too!"

P.S. I used to work for Xerox Corporation and I am very pleased to see that they do this.

2. The next pattern row is worked with a single strand of the Kreinik #4 205C in the Modified Rhodes Stitch all the way around the outside. As you can see, I got two sides done and over half of the third side! Talk about a fast stitch! I will finish this stitch tomorrow and move on. This piece is almost finished!

Lesson 4, Step 5

Yes, the Crossed Rice Stitch is done all the way around! Woohoo! Notice how this squares the piece back up. It is a very lacy effect from a distance and up close you can see all the crossed stitches. By the way, Jane asked how I intend to hang this piece and it will be on point so that the angles are pronounced. Next row starts Wednesday night!

Lesson Four, Step Five

Today I finished all of the Slanted Gobelin in Step Four. I then started the Crossed Rice stitch called for in Step Five. This is worked in a single strand of Marlitt, and I completed this corner today.

Moving on

I finished all of the Spring Stitches.....thanks for the link to Carol's website to see her diagrams, btw....and so all four sides of Spring Stitches are in. Next up, you can see I did one side of more Slanted Gobelins in the Kreinik braid. There are three steps to finish this piece.....so close!
I have been using the camera alone to get the shots and some days, I have better light coming from the right direction than others! LOL.....I can't scan this piece, as I work inside the Evertites, not on top. Laying the piece on the scanner with white behind does not give me a great quality photograph, but I have finally figured out a good way to get you good color, I think.

Second side

Tonight I continued on to the second side and worked it in the DMC perle cotton. In the last post I described how and what I did and did not tell you the name of the stitch. Jane in Chilly Hollow picked up on that and mentioned in the comments that it is the Spring Stitch, and in case you don't read the comments, my apologies for not telling you! The number of steps in this stitch is time consuming, but I feel I am making good progress getting around the square.

An inch or so

The next step is worked entirely in DMC #12 perle cotton. First, a cross stitch over 12 threads, and then a cross stitch over two threads at the top and bottom of the large cross stitch. Last horizontal Gobelins are worked on top of those! Phew! This is what I finished so far, and there are all three other sides to go!

Another band

Tonight I added another row of the slanted Gobelin in the single strand of Kreinik all the way around the four sides. I am only showing you one section so you get a better close up! Enjoy!

Getting back to business

Thanksgiving is over and the company is gone. As the dust settled evenly over the furniture, I managed to do a load of laundry and put away some of the things we had toted out. The shopping is pretty much done and everything we bought is wrapped already.....so I stitched. I finished the Bead Cup stitch all the way around the perimeter using a single strand of Marlitt. I hope to have this done before Christmas!

Yes, there will be beads

Jane picked up on the Bead Cup stitch from last night's post and yes, Jane, there will be beads. In fact more than a few. While I am busy doing the stitch around the other corners, I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving and I will be back Sunday!

Lesson Four Step one

First I finished the last corner from Lesson Three. Then using one strand of Marlitt, I started the Bead cup stitch. I will work this around all four corners of the design.

Step three

Moving on, I did a row of single strand Kreinik Gobelins and followed that with a border stitch design in a single strand of Floche. Last I did another row of Kreinik braid and have enclosed the diamond shape again. I finished three of these and I am working on the fourth one.

Moving on

Last night's picture was crap so you get to see a lot more this time. I am still on Lesson Three. This is step two and three. I first did Flat Base Sprat's heads on each side using one strand of Marlitt over 30 threads. They are very shiny! Then I did slanted Gobelins around each of those. DH likes how this keeps switching from diamonds to squares and so do I! I looked ahead and tomorrow I will be adding more Floche again.

Lesson Three Step One

Lesson Three, step one is done. I finished the mirror image by completing the very inside rows with one strand of Marlitt. I then filled in the center band with a single strand of Floche and did an upright cross stitch all the way around. You are not going crazy, I have been messing with the color so this does appear very black and white--which it is not. I wanted to see if I got clearer detail.

Closer

I finished all the sides with the Kreinik braid and then did the two rows of Floche as well. Next up is going to be the two last rows of Marlitt to have the mirror image completed. Jane asked what was next. This is step one of Lesson 3. There is a step two and a Lesson 4! Stay tuned!