Monday, August 27, 2012

Summer Travels and Classes Part 2

After I returned from my friend's wedding in New York and after Memorial Day, the Turkey Class started.  The "Turkey" is Tallulah Turkey from Sew Much Fun!

http://cindysneedleart.com/babyanimals.html

The Turkey is on the bottom right.  I took this class from Laurie Walden at Chandail over a 12 week period.  I had to furiously stitch to try to keep up with my classmates, to no avail most of the time.  All, except one of the ladies who took the class, do not work outside of the home, and they attend class for 4+ hours with Laurie each week!  I was determined however!  I spent every free minute stitching this bird.  Tallulah came with 3 pieces that make up the head, two wings, three sides to the breast, and two sides to the tail feathers.  Laurie changed all of the stitches, and her choices will make this piece even more lovely.  This piece is still in progress- Sew Much Fun yet Sew Much Work!  I think I would really like to do the Christmas version of this Turkey, and I definitely would take another class from Laurie again if I liked the canvas.  I think she did a great job with the stitch selection.  Posted below of multiple progress pictures that I took over the course of the last 3 months.












THEN..... My husband and I took our first REAL vacation to New York City!!  We visited all of the sights- Rockefeller Center, Central Park, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Times Square, Bryant Park, etc and then went to my cousin's wedding on Long Island.  It was a perfect four days, but I was glad to be back home to my puppy and my own bed!  

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Summer Classes and Travels Part 1

This summer has been FULL of stitching classes and travel.  The first class I want to tell you about was the Tony class I took at the end of May.  This was my first Canvas Enhancement class with Tony, and I could not believe how wonderful my classroom experience was.  The class started on Friday and ended on Sunday.  On Friday, about 20 of us showed up at the YWCA in not so desirable part of town, but we were all pleasantly surprised that the classroom space was so large and all the facilities were excellent.  There were about 4-5 large round tables set up to accommodate about 6 of us each, lots of plugs, and lots of natural and overhead light.  All of us had our stitch guides, threads, and canvases waiting for us.  You could definitely feel the electricity and the excitement in the room to get started!  Once Tony started talking, it was radio silence. He showed each person's canvas one at a time and talked about the challenges and the positives of every canvas.  This is a picture of the one I chose.


One thing that was unique about this class is that everyone was able to choose the canvas they wanted. They could pick something from their stashes or buy something from any shop.

Lunch was excellent- sandwiches and a delicious cole slaw made with ramen noodles.  Saturday and Sunday were spent in much of the same way- concentrating extra hard on difficult stitches, enjoying the time spent with great friends, and soaking up as much Tony wisdom as possible.

This is a picture of all of the threads after I "organized" them- meaning throwing them into a different bag!



These are pictures of my progress over 3 days!  




After Tony's class, I was on a plane the next week to NYC- really Brooklyn- for my friend's wedding!  She was such a beautiful bride and everyone had a great time!  


Saturday, August 11, 2012

Grandma's birthday gift

This past Friday was my Friday off from work.  My work schedule is a 9/80, which means that I work 9 days every two weeks and over those 9 days at least 80+ hours.  I love my Fridays off because I am able to do things without taking vacation time and do things that I would not normally be able to do.  One thing that I am not normally able to do is take stitching classes during the day.  My Grandma's birthday is coming up this week (91!!) and when I saw this canvas, I knew I had to do it for her.  I had pretty much reached a standstill on this canvas once I got to the puppy's head.  I was not sure which colors would go where and when to stop the Romanian stitch, so I took a class from Carolyn Baird on Friday morning and then again this morning.  I have moved past the impasse! Finishing victory is in sight!

This week, I have been in a mad stitching frenzy trying to finish this up- but not so mad that I am not enjoying myself!

This is where I was in July.....



This is where I was a few days ago.....


Friday....



Today.....I think the Olympics have really helped my stitching progress in the past few weeks.  I love watching all of the athletes in top form accomplishing amazing things in their sports.  




Back to stitching!!! 

Friday, August 10, 2012

MIA- for too long

The last time I posted,  I was working on St. Francis and about to go to Tony's class at the end of May. It is so hard to believe that the summer is almost over.  I am sorry for my absence, and I am pledging to be a more regular blogger from here on out.  I think I got overwhelmed this summer between working and spending every waking moment not working either traveling, planning to travel, or stitching furiously.

I have had so many stitching changes, it will take a few blog posts to get through them, but I am excited to write each post and re-live each moment.

First, I will start with the finishes!!

May I present..... St. Francis!!!  I am very glad he is finished.  He is a Patty Paints canvas that was really kind of plain, so he wound up in the sale room.  But I love it!  and I have to thank Emily, who used to own Chandail, and Gayle, who teaches at Chaparral on Thursday, for the great stitch selections.  They really brighten up the canvas, and the best part is that I had never done two of them before. The two new stitches are Serendipity for the robe and Staggered Mosaic for the sky.  Both are from Stitches to Go.  The animals were the hardest part, especially the orange cat.  He was very difficult to do anything creative to because he had so many stripes, but he is stitched, and it's not coming out!



My next finish is my sister's Alabama angel!  It is so fitting that I am posting this today because she just moved into her dorm today to start her first semester at school.  I miss her already, and it is really hard being without her.  One advantage of today's world is that she is always only a cell phone call or email or text away.  I am looking forward to seeing her soon.  I took Stephanie's suggestion, from www.stephsstitching.blogspot.com and used Weeks Dye Works thread to get the highlighted look into the angel's hair.  I used Swiss Chocolate because my sister's hair is highlighted to be very light.  



My next finishes are a result of a class... until next time!