Chinese Garden - Part 3 finished

Part 3 went more quickly than expected, though having a long weekend definitely helped.  And neglecting the yard work, it was sort of rainy so it didn't take much convincing on my part.  The first picture again is just the cross stitches completed.  I used quarter stitches in the tree on the left instead of 3/4 ones which left it a bit airy, maybe too airy.  How do you decide when the pattern means 1/4 vs 3/4 stitches?

The next picture is with the decorative stitching done, it took me about a day and a half.  Didn't track my time, I usually don't.  I did forget to take a picture just the decorative stitching done, so ignore the bit of back stitching you see.  I love the stitches under the roof line and decided to use two plies of the pale green that crosses the dark gray jessica like stitch.  I wanted a little more pop.  I also came across my first skein of badly dyed thread (Silk n Color), the candy cane effect, fortunately the color is very pale anyway so the effect is barely noticeable but I could see how a skein would be unusable if it were a vibrant color.  I may try to order another skein of the right stuff as my LNS is about an hour away.

Lastly is the completed moon gate to the north, now on to the east gate which highlights the Great Wall.

 

Leonore, I had to look up Fatal Frame, as I never played it.  As it is a console game I'll probably never get to either, I'm one of those PC players.  I can see why you might have a different feeling for moon gates though after reading about it.  Fortunately there are lots of other mandalas to stitch. :-D

St. Pete Update...

still working on St. Pete....    getting closer to the beading.....    working on the border and still have one corner to finish....    here's an update of my work so far......

 

I've been looking at all your new pictures and they are just beautiful....    so many talented, fine stitchers.....

 

hugs,   Claire

Meari's Japanese Garden Update

I'm almost finished with the third corner ornament:

 

 

More WIP photos can be seen HERE.

Stitched by Meari

Greek Mandala May update

I've not managed nearly as much this month as I would have liked.  Hopefully June will be better. 

  This is number 5 out of 8 goddesses of wisdom finished. 

 

Now I actually think Martina's sorted all the "wise" needed for this design, but I wouldn't mind if someone could introduce me to the goddess who protects us from frogs....?

Art Nouveau Sampler

Last week, I caved to the screaming and started Art Nouveau Sampler.  Here's a week's progress.

Chinese Garden - Part 2 finished

Hello all,  Part 2 went quickly and I'm very happy with how it turned out.  I found the gold beads in the corners a little large and left them on the diagonal while trying to work open the jessicas there so the bead would slide in.  I'm tempted to go back and pull out the beads and replace them with a french knot or something, I think a dark center would contrast nicely.  Overall I think the border is very pretty I could see using it to band a hand towel.  Those of you who have stitched this what did you end up doing for the third (smallest) petals in the corners.  The pattern called for a color not on the materials list and I didn't have anything in my stash between the cream I ended up using and the next yellow petals.  I think the three colors look fine but aren't what was written.

Part 2 before beads and after:

As for the first part I did rip out the doorway and try a dense rhodes, a satin stitch, a different black thread and a few other things. Of course I was trying to avoid frogging the gold back-stitching through it all.  I did go with the dense rhodes and am pretty happy with the effect.  Thank you again for your feed back.

Part 3 is under way with the north moon gate.  I love moon gates in real life and these four vignettes were definitely part of what drew me to this piece.  I'm looking forward to stitching them.  Can't wait to see what the rest of you are accomplishing.  Especially the Zen Moss Garden, that might be on the list for next!

Moss Garden

An update of my Japanese Moss Garden/Zen Garden mandala.
Thank you for your lovely comments on my previous posts.

Secret Victorian Garden

I forgot to post my Secret Victorian Garden progress when I finished its last round in the rotation.  I think it will come up again before the end of this month, but I will wait until June to post any progress from that round.  Until then, here's where I left off:

Lots more backstitching/blackwork on this corner before it's finished, it is my least favorite stitch, but the effect is worth pushing through my dislike.

Another St, Pete Progress Update....

another 100 hours stitched (497.25 hours).....   getting closer to the end now.....    there is just one corner and the border to go....    and, of course, then there are the beads!!   thot you'd like to see how it looks....

 

hope the next picture I post will be the finished project....

 

hugs,  Claire

Flower Panels Progress

This is where this month's work on Cattleya has left me.  I didn't get as much as I wanted done but I am happy with the progress nonetheless.  

See you all next time!

Chinese Garden, part 1 finished

So I just squeaked under wire to finish part one in a month and am very happy with the results.  I did add the smaller beads but not the larger ones that might snag the threads while sititching.  So here are a few pictures for you to peruse.  The first shows all the cross stitch done, then all the decorative stitches and finally the beads.  I decided to turn the beads for the sides though the corners messed with that plan a little.  I also changed the color of about four of them, a little less gold, a little more red.  I'm not happy with the black rhodes stitch in the center of the portal and am thinking about pulling it out.  Maybe a vertical satin stitch?  Any thoughts?  Love to hear some other ideas.

I did start part two and it should go faster, getting me under my one part a month schedule.  Yes, I'm a little obsessive about my jessicas and weave them under so they are uniform with no starting point.  Thanks for noticing!  My husband asked how long each one took, so I tracked it.  Assuming no serious tangles I average 4 minutes per jessica and there are 40 total.  So, not counting cutting threads, weaving tails and threading the needle that's 160 min or 2:40 just to stitch all those little yellow circles.  I might almost wish he hadn't asked! LOL
I'll post again when part two is done.

Sorry the pictures are a little blurry, I've been using my phone to track my progress, it keeps me motivated when I can check to see the last time I stitched.

Cheers, E

Japanese Garden- Angie

I decided to work on Japanese Garden for my free week in my rotation this month. I'm so close to finishing the stitching.  I have the crane and one bridge/ flower set to go.  I'm so excited and pleased with myself. It isn't perfect but that's okay.

Here is my progress last week-

<a href="http://patchworkstitches.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/dscn3129.jpg"><img src="http://patchworkstitches.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/dscn3129.jpg?w=300" alt="DSCN3129" width="300" height="225" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-1012" /></a>

You'll have to wait for a picture of the entire piece until it is finished.

This week is the normal week for JG in my rotation. I will probably not get it entirely finished. Depending on how close I am, I may work on it next week instead of Cirque.

Angie

Desert Landscapes Mandala Part 3

It took several weeks, but I have finally completed Part 3 of Desert Landscapes - all those boxes and all those feathers, oh my! The octagon border was fun, anytime I can do a lot of Rhodes, I am a happy stitcher :) I changed one of the colors in the border for black metallic, and then, as I am using a conversion to HDF silks, a couple of the colors are nearly indistinguishable when stitched, so I think the border is a bit darker than intended; but when I get the reds, golds, and buffs in, I think it will offset nicely. Here it is completed, with a 12" ruler shown for scale:

This is on 28ct Desert Shy from Silkweaver - lugana, I think. It's very subtle, but it is sky blue & tan. Here are a few detail shots of the border w/beads and such:

The first feather before I added the straight stitches...

I have put this away again for the time being - time to move on to some other WIPS. Dragonfly Tile will be the next Chatelaine that I work on, I expect to get that out in the next couple of weeks, and hopefully get it DONE :)

Happy Stitching!

Karen

Japanese Garden - Final Side

I just got my Chatelaine out to work on it for the next few weeks. This week is my open week, which I plan to spent on JG. Next week is it's regular spot in my rotation. I'm so excited as I'm on the final side! Can't wait to start adding the beads.

Angie



28ct Mississippi Blue Cashel

Progress on St. Pete...

just wanted to add my progress on White Nights in St. Petersburg.....    picked it up last week and have worked 45 hours on it since then.....    now I'm up to 344 hours.....    since I haven't worked on it for 4 years, it's fun again and I'm hoping to finish it off this time.....

 

Happy stitching!!      Claire



Intro

Hi everybody! My name is Anne Herdman and I live in Chattanooga, TN.  It's me, the hubs, our whippet dog Charlie, and two grumpy cats :-)  I've been stitching for around 17 years (since late teens), and I've done all kinds of projects, big and small. To date, my most complicated finish has been Teresa Wentzler's Peacock Tapestry. That was also my first ever stitch, as I was too naive to know how difficult that would even be!!

 I've been lurking in the background, drooling over these beautiful Châtelaine designs for a few months now, and I'm proud to report (thanks to the encouragement of Joyce!) that I've finally jumped in head-first with Victorian Garden, and I'm loving it! I'm using all of the recommended fabric and silks from ECS. First time ever to use linen or silk - not sure of why I was so intimidated, using these materials is just divine!

Here's my progress so far: