Desert Diamonds and other progress

I finally finished this class. I actually finished it back on the 13th of December, but I didn't get around to posting it on the blog. So here it is now.

In the evening sun.

Trying to be clever and get the stitches to show up - not sure it worked, but I still like the photo.

Before it was finished, showing the difference between having the background and not having it.

I also had a new year start (or two). I chose Echoes of Elizabeth by Gay Ann Rogers as it's been sitting in my stash calling to me for a while. And since I was doing that I also pulled out Heart of Elizabeth as the two go together. I don't have and aren't interested in the Portrait of Elizabeth, so I think these two are all I'll do of the Elizabeth pieces.

Echoes of Elizabeth

Heart of Elizabeth

I'm thinking I might finish the border on Echoes and then finish up the heart before returning to Echoes.

There has also been more progress on Hot Air Balloons by Audlem Mill too. I'm hoping to have this finished before long, and then I'll work on the third old WIP I pulled out before choosing another group of three.

And I started on the next (and last) round robin which should probably be the first thing I concentrate on stitching.

Last of all, here's my finished by others, but not me yet, round robin :) I have a plan for the corners and borders, and then I guess I'll fill in any gaps that look obvious. But I could still change my mind on what I want to do.

Blackwork Cats

I have finished Blackwork Cats by Tanja Berlin.

Of course that also means I started a new piece - Lambkin Hill by Sakoran:

I also found a photo of another couple of RR's I did that I haven't shown you. The first I used pieces from both Just Nan and Dragon Dreams samplers. The second was a mixture of charts I found in my stash.

And my daughters first piece - she started this at the age of 4 and it's taken her 7 years to do. Right on track I think :)

A finish and a couple of starts

And the finish isn't even that big - it's another piece of Round Robin. My lines are from Patricia Ann Designs' Woodland Walk.

The starts:

One is an online class from Tanja Berlin - Blackwork Cats. I'm still on the first step. The rest of the class is on lesson 2....

The other is a workshop from my local guild chapter. Palais by Margaret Bendig.

I've also got a bunch of stuff for Christmas exchanges planned to do. Whether that happens or not remains to be seen.

Here's something I picked up at the guild auction - a WIP of Carole Lake's Silken Symmetry:

(I'm not counting it in my WIPs yet though as I don't consider it my WIP until I've stitched on it)

Finally, a piece of artwork that I don't think I've shown off before. I picked this up at a local gift shop one Christmas, and used my Christmas money to buy it. It's not obvious in the photo but it's layered and sort of 3D and really cool.

Two more Round Robin pieces finished

Here are two more Round Robin pieces I've finished since the last post.

This one is from Joan Elliott - a figure from her 12 Days of Christmas piece.

This one is from a Jane Greenoff book. I had to alter it slightly to make it flatter as the original was for a corner.

Irresistible Iridescents

Last weekend I had a class with Nancy Cucci called Irresistible Iridescents. It was really fun. I didn't get too far, although I did make some good progress (the outlines were all stitched as pre-work, so don't think I did all that in two days).

Look at all those beads!!!

I also finished another RR piece:

On a Roll

Some finishes for your enjoyment :)

First up, two Round Robin finishes:

These patterns were taken from a couple of samplers that were in my stash - Tranquillity Sampler by Hermanson Hardanger, and Medley by Heirloom Embroideries.

If you look really carefully you can see where I put my initials in

This is Blackwork Cats by CherryTree Designs, but done over one instead of two so I've altered the blackwork patterns inside so they didn't look as crowded.

Snowman Mug Mat - this was a meeting project for our EGA chapter:

Finally - Fleur de Lis by Laura J Perin:

This one decided it was going to take the scenic route to get to me, so I almost didn't get it, but it finally arrived, and I decided I was going to stitch it before it decided to go walkabouts again.

Hoop Box Finish

Well, I guess since it's now been around a month since I finished my hoop box I should post about it. This was a project through my local EGA chapter on fifth Saturdays. The dragonfly was a design by Zoe in the UK when she was teaching us how to do stumpwork.

And I finished a panel on the first rotation of a round robin that I'm doing.

Almost forgot - I did these earrings for my friend:

I also made a second beaded Holiday Bauble Pendant (but didn't take a picture - just look at the last one and correct the mistake) for our local EGA Christmas party, which thankfully found a new home. I say thankfully, because we donate the ornaments to the guild who then sells tickets (to raise money for the scholarship fund) that you can use to vote for your favourite ornament. Once the votes are counted up the ornaments are then won by one of the voters for that ornament. So by someone winning my ornament, that means that someone voted for it :)

I won an ornament this way too, but I packed it safely away from the cats before without taking a photo of it (they pretty much killed the Christmas tree this year - and it wasn't even living to start with). So we'll just pause a minute while I go find it and take a photo...

I also received this beautiful ornament in our gift exchange at our local ANG Christmas party.

In going to get those ornaments out to take photos I decided that perhaps I should take photos of all the ornaments that have been given to me over the years and post them and see if I can get names attached to them all. So below are the ornaments with the names I know or think I know - if I have doubt there will be a question mark by the name. If you recognise any of them as being your work could you please let me know - thanks :)

Mum

Sally (UK)

Sally (UK)

Marion (Amsterdam)

Terry (US)

?Zoe (UK)?

?Paula (UK)?

?Fiona (UK)? - or at least I sent to Fiona in the same exchange - I remember that because I stitched TW's beginner whitework ornament as well.

??

??

??

Terry (US)

??

??

??

Just to round off the post - our two gorgeous cats :)