Monday, January 3, 2011

Crazy Challenge, Weekend 1

Click now for JiffNotes

This is going to have to be a quick post, because tomorrow, I have...dun dun DUNNNN....

JURY DUTY.

Ugh. I had so convinced myself that since I was on standby, I wouldn't have to do it, but I am going to have to. So think of me tomorrow, as my blog auto-posts my TUSAL, having to be somewhere a full two hours before I'm normally called upon to produce anything approaching rational thought.

Anyway. This past weekend was the first in January, so it marked my first start (of five, one for each weekend). I started Sapphire Star by Laura J. Perin Designs. Here's my progress:
(click to enbiggen...and sparklify!)
You'll see plenty of orts from this piece at the top of my jar tomorrow!

This is really my first canvas piece. I've done a couple small needlepoint-esque things, but those have been on congress cloth. Canvas is a LOT stiffer. I think I even started to get a slight blister on my finger from the extra force required to pull the needle through the canvas. It was very cool to see the star emerge, and also to work with lots of fibers I've never tried before, like Fyre Works (a cool metallic ribbon, with which I had to use a laying tool) and HiLights (a rayon thread wrapped with a metallic...shiny!) Now, however, the instructions demand that I complete all the "lead lines" (it's meant to look like an arts and crafts style stained glass window) before stitching any of the pattern sections. So it'll be a while before I do anything else "fun", but it's been satisfying so far to see the lines progress.

Also, this sucker's BIG!

Special thanks to the hubby who assembled the frame for me and didn't laugh as I pounded in the tacks with a meat tenderizer! (Why yes, I am wayyyy too lazy to go downstairs to the garage for anything so pedestrian as a hammer when there is a perfectly acceptable substitute (i.e., "engineering equivalent") on the same floor as me!)

JiffNotes
My WIPs go to eleven.

5 comments:

Jackie's Stitches said...

Love your "engineering equivalent"! It's a sign of your brilliance. I'm not a needlepointer but that sure looks good. Happy New Year!

Blu said...

Wow! That's gorgeous. Very sparkly too.

Anonymous said...

I started this piece last year, and put it to one side to do some commitment stitching then never got back into it - I really must finish this one off once the Crazy January Challenge period has finished! You're making me inspired to pick it back up again. Hope you continue to enjoy it, the specialty stitches really are fun :D

Delusional Knitter said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Delusional Knitter said...

You should tell people that you know exactly what you are doing, don't they know hammers are dirty, filthy, tools that may damage and violate the pristine condition of your canvas??

This is why you reverted to the meat tenderizer, its a clean, food safe item, you knew it wouldn't do any damage to the canvas, right? You were just thinking ahead.

Old Geek-outs