Blackwork Quilt - finished!

Well, I had a few days in a row last week when I wasn't able to get any stitching done, so this did take longer than expected.

Here it is though, finally all finished and the pattern is for sale in my Etsy shop. I plan to do two or three more patterns with different quilt designs.

It is quite a lot of stitching, especially the background which took one and a half skeins of floss. I wish you could see it all in person, where the colors are more vibrant and the whole thing looks neater. Blackwork is just hard to photograph, I find.

DMC color project - half done!

This piece is now a little over the halfway point. 

I realized yesterday morning that it was Monday so my embroidery shop was closed. Thus I haven't gotten any more work done on the quilt piece and I'm about as far as I can go on the color piece without buying some more thread.

There's plenty of other work to start, but it annoys me. I really want to finish the quilt piece. I'll possibly get to the store today, and if not then definitely tomorrow. 

When it's relentlessly sunny I can't drive anywhere myself. The sun hurts my skin even if I'm only in it for a minute or two, let alone being stuck in a car with it shining down. If someone else is driving I can cover myself with a windshield reflector thing and be okay.

If I can't get thread today I'll be starting a new project. It has the outline of West Virginia and says "West Virginia is the Best Virginia." Which it is. One side of my family may have stayed in Virginia for 250 years, but that was a mistake on their part (and what do you expect of Jamestown survivor descendents, that guy had probably gone made after the cannibalism).

Blackwork Quilt Motif - WIP 04

Well, hello! Look at this piece with half the background stitched. That's a whole skein of green 935 on there. Now of course I'm out, so it will be at least tomorrow before I can start again. I will eventually outline the entire outside edge as well, just to neaten it up a bit.

At 4:30 the sky got so dark I couldn't use only natural light to stitch! We just had a massive storm, and it's still raining, so it might pick back up again. We're all excited about tomorrow, as the high temperature is *only* 87. 

This is me dying of heat exhaustion. This is me realizing that even my cold water felt a little warm at 9:30 am! This is me praying that some nice person in Scotland would like to adopt me.

I've got a few new patterns to start and I'm feeling rushed and overwhelmed, like I never accomplish anything. I've certainly been ignoring the housework in favor of embroidery. 26 craft projects completed and 90 books read isn't so bad for six months work, I guess, but it's hard to keep that in mind.

Speaking of books, how much do I recommend A Girl Named Zippy by Haven Kimmel? A million times! A billion times! It's about her life as a kid in a very small town (pop. 300) in Indiana, and she writes it from the perspective, and in the voice of, her kid self (up to about age nine, I think). It's SO good and I especially recommend the audio edition, which is read by the author.

DMC Color Project - 8/21 rows

Since I'm plenty sick of the blackwork quilt project, I thought you might be as well!

I've stitched three more rows on the color project, and that bottommost one is so gorgeous. Now that I play favorites between rows or runs of color...

If you don't know, I read quite a lot, a few books per week this year. So I want to recommend one of my recent reads: Bright-Sided: How Positive Thinking is Undermining America by Barbara Ehrenreich.

Don't worry, she's not talking about individual positive thinking. She's also not talking about finding joy in small things, which I'm quite good at (and without that talent I'm not sure I could cope). It's extremely worth reading and I highly recommend it.

Blackwork Quilt Motif - WIP 03

Well, the main part is done now!

I ended up using one less color than I'd planned, because it blended into the fabric too much when stitched. I think using the blue-purple shade again was a good idea anyway, as it further reduces busyness.

Typically, I've completely changed the way I'm doing the background. Instead of doing another fill pattern, I'm just using straight lines. I *think* what I'll do is have all the lines pointing to the center of the star (it will end up being a perfect square)

So the corner pieces will have diagonal lines slanting inward, the triangles on the top and bottom will have vertical lines, and the triangles on the side will have horizontal ones. Is that clear? Does it sound like a horrible idea? Have I gone mad with power?!

I sketched it out and it looked good, but haven't changed the proper pattern yet.

Blackwork Quilt Motif WIP 02

Here's some more progress on this. I love how quickly blackwork goes, compared to cross-stitch. Obviously it depends on the pattern and the level of detail, but I think it will always go more quickly anyway.

Once I have all the diamonds filled I'll go back to the DMC color project for a bit. Actually I tend to get a bit antsy when I'm not working on anything snarky or generally humorous, as though I'm betraying the name of my store and blog.

I'll be back to that soon enough, I'm sure.

Quilt project - WIP 01

Here's a look at my blackwork quilt motif project. I've actually gotten some more of the diamonds filled in and it's looking good. One of my original color choices had to be changed, but I think my plan now is even better.

When I get sick of it in the evenings I do a little work on the DMC color project and it's all working out well. 

Okay, that's ignoring the fact that I've felt especially unproductive lately, and I'm on a bit of a downer since the Euro Cup ended (and totally shattered all my hopes), but I'll get better soon.

I am quite excited for a book I pre-ordered to arrive. Normally, I am the stingiest, most miserable person on earth, and I buy all my books used or as remainders (I also rarely buy anything I haven't read). However, there is an exception, which are older comic books. Fantagraphics is publishing a Carl Barks library, and alternating between Scrooge and Donald comics, for some stupid reason. 

Anyway, the first of the Scrooge books comes out on the 4th and I can't wait! I pre-order because I want the publishers to know there's a demand and to keep up with the project. Fantagraphics is also the force behind the new complete Pogo project, which I'm equally excited about. Thanks, Fantagraphics, for making me so happy!