I’ve been making slow progress on this project and I love it. For needlepoint I only have 2 projects going and both were started at the PSR Seminar in 10/2021 in Las Vegas, NV. It’s my newest craft and I’m really making an effort to not start anything new until these are finished. I also inherited quite a few WIPs but I’m not counting those. Someone said if I do a block a day I’ll be finished in however many blocks there are. Unfortunately, one block on average takes me several hours to finish so while it sounds nice it’s not doable given all the things I try to do in a day.
I heard from my framer yesterday that my pieces were done so I ran over and picked them up.
Here is Mama’s Bukid – finished in March, 2020 right at the start of Covid. Thank goodness for this blog because if I relied on memory I would have thought I finished this a long time ago. And while it has been 2 years and for some that is a long time ago, my thoughts were more like 2018 not 2020. Anyway, I gave this to my mom that fall for her birthday unframed. My thought was that she would have it framed. But I know my mom would cheap out on a frame so I took it back in 2021 with the intention of framing it. I didn’t get to that task until last month. I chose a really good quality plexiglass because with real glass it would be really heavy. We didn’t want it to be heavy. And by really good, it is supposed to prevent 80% of UV rays from getting to the piece. There is museum quality glass (plexi?) that would prevent 100% but that would cause the price to skyrocket and while I think my piece is awesome, I don’t think it’s that awesome. 🙂
Mama’s Bukid – Framed
I’m sorry for the picture quality but the reflection of the light cannot be helped at this point. You’ll find better pictures on it’s personal page when it was not framed. Anyway, this is a finish and for that I’m thrilled. Can I count it as a finish for 2022 even though I counted it in 2020 as well? I will because I’m the boss of my blog. 🙂
I do plan to put a label on the back. While I’ve been very good at putting labels on my quilts, I’ve not labeled any of my cross stitch pieces and I’m planning to be better on that end going forward.
Inherited Piece – Save the stitches 2022
The picture really is bad here and I apologize. I was gifted on 2 occasions a number of UFOs from recently deceased crafters needlepoint projects. This one, while not complete, was practically finished. And without the pattern I could not do more unless I did more research. And with my own projects who has the time for that? I decided it was good enough and had it framed. I plan to give this to my mom who is bemoaning all her empty wall spaces that I am happy to fill. I will also put a label on the back with the stitcher’s name.
Pattern: East Meets West Kimono ~ Designer: Margaret Bendig
This is my first needlepoint project. I attended my first needlepoint workshop Halloween weekend 2021 in Las Vegas with Margaret Bendig. I was told she would be an excellent teacher for my first project ever. And she was wonderful. She explained everything and came around checking on all of us students and made sure me and the other newbie in the class were understanding what we were supposed to be doing. The problem, I found, (and it’s a totally me issue), that my lines above are off. Reading needlepoint is a little different than reading cross stitch. It’s hard to explain. I’ll have to try to one day but suffice it to say I read the pattern wrong and my lines are all off above. So, I’m working my way from left to right to make sure those from left to right are correct. Then I’ll work my way down. Each of those blocks correspond to a number on the pattern and the blocks from left to right do not go in numerical order. So I have to figure out what number it is and then go to the appropriate page in the pattern (there’s over 30 pages) to determine what I’m doing. So far, I’ve been working on things that we learned in class.
In class, the instructor can’t go through everything. She started us off, and then went over the blocks that were different than “normal” stuff. So Margaret went over techniques that may be new for the average class attendee. Since it was all new, my brain exploded and I just kept going on what I knew. Also my lines were off and I didn’t want to jump to a different block and potentially put the stitches in the wrong place. During class I kept going with what I was doing. I tried to pay attention but I’m sure I didn’t catch nearly enough to get me started. Margaret was so nice and friendly. She told me to get in touch with her if I have any questions. Which really pleases me since I am positive I will need help.
I went to a cross stitch retreat last fall and was invited to a workshop with Needlepoint designer and instructor Margaret Bendig.
Here’s what I’ve done.
Marasol – block one – finishedMarasol – Block 2 – in progress
I’m just getting into needlepoint and this is my 2nd project. I’ll show the other one on a different post. That one is not done either. I’m loving how this is coming out and I’m learning a lot. As with all the crafts I enjoy doing, there just isn’t enough time. So I just do what I can every day.
I’m still quilting but I just forget to post them. And my weekly lists and to do’s and monthly goals – gone to the wayside. I’m just doing what’s next on each project when I get to them.
