The End of the Madness, Part 1!

Buckle up, me beauties, because there be a bevy of March Madness to wrap up!

*ahem*

Sorry, I have no idea why I started talking like a pirate for a moment. It won't happen...um, at least for the rest of this post. Probably.

Anyway! Before a glorious Easter and some lovely orchids invaded the blog, we were in the throes of March Madness, where an inanimate object dictates my stitching for the month. Winding up to the final week, the SCOD decided to go on a run of unusual techniques. First up was some Teneriffe Lace.

This was a class I took many moons ago. So close to finishing! This one went in a pile that I might work on once I get back to a rotation.

Next up was a Kumihimo necklace that is almost finished!

In fact, when I got it out to work on it, I realized that all I needed to do was tie it off and attach the hardware...which I had even remembered to put with the necklace! Could it be?? An actual finish during March Madness?? For the first time ever???!???

Um...no. I could not find my E6000 glue. :( So, I decided to work on another Kumihimo braid that I started when I was helping some friends learn. I got the pattern from this site (careful, it's addicting!)

This design uses...a few more bobbins than the beaded necklace! Here's what the braid looks like:

R2-D2 is a needle minder that I used as a weight to start the braid. The alternative would have been to try and keep tension on the braid with a couple fingers while also holding on to the kumihimo disk in the same hand. So since I don't own fancy kumihimo weights, R2-D2 was...my only hope. (See what I did there? Eh??)

March 22nd brought me some hardanger to work on.

I had already done the preparation work for a motif, so I was able to finish it that night!

Those are eight little woven wheels, one around each wrapped bar. This was a teaching piece by Linda Driskell. The sad thing is, I remember her finished sampler having a beautiful top and bottom, but it must have been charted separately, because it's not part of my class kit! I can't even find a picture of it to try to recreate it (although I went down some very pleasant rabbit holes on Google trying to find one!)

After this trio, we went back to some "normal" cross stitch, with Autumn Queen by Mirabilia.

This caused many exciting trips up and down the stairs where I tried to find my longer Q-Snaps. Aerobic crafting. Excellent.

The next day, I drew a project out of the Sparkly Compote of Decree that I actually finished last year! I looked at Michael and said, "Wow! Who knows what happens when I draw a project that I already finished?" His reply was, "No one knows what happens when you draw a project you've finished." Smart aleck. I figured that meant I needed to start a new project, but then I remembered that the Easter blog hop was coming up and I needed to be all responsible and stitch on something for that. If you were here last week, you saw what it was...Just Nan's Strawberry Bunny.

I think I'll save the final week for another post. Until then, fair weather (we could all use it!) and flying needles be with you!