Working towards another finish

 

 

This is my project for the week.

 

I have no idea what the actual name of the kit is called, I know I bought it when I had just gotten back into stitching. It's been kicking around my house since 1999, maybe 2000 at the latest.  I thought it would be lovely to wrap one of the babies I thought I would have with my then-boyfriend in, but obviously we didn't have kids together. I finished the stitching years ago, but didn't know how to finish it without a sewing machine at first, and then it was a pretty intimidating project to attempt to finish. I am not good at tying knots, and the idea of tying the knots all around the aghan was distasteful. So, it got put away and forgotten about.

 

In the meantime, I did two afghans: Santa's Journey, from an old issue of the UK Cross Stitcher, and this cat afghan from the American Cross Stitcher. I had done a freebie tabletopper from Dutch Treat Designs that used nun-stitching to edge the finish as well and I liked it. It seemed like a more pleasing option to finish. So to find out you could edge an afghan!  But it's not a quick technique, so I still didn't use it.  I probably wouldn't have used it on the other two except they were fair entries.  So it stayed in the drawer.

 

When I found out I was pregnant, I remembered it was there, and what I wanted to do with it, so it came home, where it spent the summer by my couch . . . Do you see where I am going with this? 

 

Anyway, now that we may be starting to get closer to the end of our NICU stay, I really want to get this done to cover Lolo when he comes home. I started working on the edging a while ago, but I miscounted threads, so all that came out and I restarted it. So far it seems to be moving along. There are 24 block-lengths to do, I have 9 completed. I should have it done by mid week, then I will have this washed and ready to go when we need it. I am not planning on backing this one. I find putting the batting in makes it stiff, and I can't find a flannel I like, nor do I have time to put it on correctly. This project is far from perfect, but it's intended to be used. It was stitched with love and hope, so it needs to be useful.

 

I have found out that this is not one of the more commonly-known stitches, so I have included a diagram tutorial on how to do it. One of the tips I picked up through the year is to take the threads that are going to be pulled off the sides to do the stitch--it matches the afghan, you're using threads that would be thrown away, AND it costs nothing extra. I like the look of it. Just don't pull them from close to where you're stitching til you are done that side.

 

So that is all that is going on here. I hope everyone is having an enjoyable stitching week.

It seemed like a good idea in theory . . .

I am officially 2/3 finished with my kitten throw. I worked like a booger on it this weekend, even found a kindred stitching soul at my part time job, because I was working on it. A patron, really, who stitched a while ago, but had given it up because of her eyes. I told her she should go online and see all the new things available and be inspired.

And I was pretty pleased with myself because I managed to get my two kitties done this weekend, in spite of going dirt-track racing on Saturday night. The guy who built SO's drag car also races dirt track cars, and I've never seen that kind of racing, so we went out to watch. It was a nice night in Maryland, almost summery. And I had fun, other than when two people in front of me started having words because someone got hit on the track, and his fan didn't think it was right, and the other guy said he deserved it, so they had to start at each other. So stupid. Why face arrest and a night in the correctional facility for a driver who probably wouldn't care that you were in there? But it was fun, even though I am still coughing up dust, and my butt is still flat, and SO's friend did not win. Did not even win the consolation race. Did not even place in the consolation race. But then again, to go out on a track that looks slick as anything and drive around at a high rate of speed, drifting half the time, is well beyond my ability and frankly, the idea of driving fast around a circle makes me slightly nauseous. So I admire anyone who does it!

OHHH, plus, someone I knew in high school won his race. I didn't know him well enough to know he was into cars--he certainly was not in the group of guys who used to dragrace the backroads in their muscle cars, my brother amongst them--but I saw his name on the car. And I figured there could not possibly be that many people in the Western half of the state with that name; he doesn't have a common name. Now, I know full well Maryland is a decent-sized state and people move in and out all the time. But some of us do actually stay here our whole lives. My SO has always lived here, even I just moved away for college and came home. It does happen. And it was him, and he's actually a really terrific racer. I was proud. I'm always thrilled when someone from my hometown becomes known for something other than being on a reality show (Bachelor contestant who got booted out the first rose ceremony) or something illegal (we've had several of those people, it must be something in the water, thank God I bucked the trend), so it was good for me to see!

Anyway, about my afghan. I was sitting there last night, after work, playing with it. It's starting to shed threads off the side, and, from that store of useless knowledge I have accumulated for the past 32 years (because I think my destiny is to be on Jeopardy), I remembered that Stoney Creek magazine had a suggestion to use the fallen threads in order to do the nunstitch to finish your afghan. It seems like a good idea, right? Color matches, it's not wasteful of the threads, this isn't a large afghan, so it's not unreasonably wieldy to do this.

Well, I tried it. It's not so easy. And the threads don't go very far, not when you are nunstitching. It looks a little crappy right now. But, I'm trying to keep calm. A lot of times, things look crappy in the beginning, and fine at the end. And it's a lot of fabric which will end up relaxing during the stitching. And this is a safe, pretty way to finish it. It will be OK. I am confident of that.

Kitty afghan photos!

My latest WIP is the Kitten throw from a recent issue of US Cross Stitcher. I posed it with some photos from my tabby cat collection. I wuvs de tabbies!

Finished another square on my afghan

I put the last stitches into Square 9 on my Hummingbird Trellis afghan this morning. It's taken me so long to get this far.

I don't think I realized when I bought the supplies for this project, just what sort of a commitment it was going to be. I can do this. It's just going to take a long time, but I need to focus on it, or it will NEVER get finished. But now I can choose the next square, I think I want one that does not have a lot of backstitching on it, so I don't know if I want square 8 or square 4.

I started the angel from the newest issue of Cross Stitcher yesterday sitting in the parking lot while Mom was in the store. I realize I bought the wrong count of fabric, 32 vs 28, but it shouldn't make a huge difference in the finished project. I am looking forward to working on that one, because this angel is SOOO beautiful. I ordered the braid I needed Saturday night, along with the beads. I tried to get the braid last week at my LNS, but their display is confusing and I couldn't find it. So now I have everything, either on the way or in my hot little hands.

But I think I am finally at the point where I am ready to not buy stash, other than the necessities, for a while. Payday was Friday and usually, I am at the store, or shopping online, and I didn't have the urge this week. I have so many things that I need to do, need to finish, that I don't want to add to it. Not to mention, that, since I started working at night too, I had a strange sense of calm about being paid. I realized I don't have to panic about how I'll get through to next paycheck. I'll be OK. The longest I will have to wait for pay is 14 days now and I can get through.

worked on the afghan last night

I am starting that afghan SAL this week, so I decided to take some time last night and work on my Hummingbird Trellis afghan. I think I made some good progress. I am working on the trellis structure in square 9, and got the rest of it outlined in half stitches, with some of it being filled in. I am sure this is not proper protocol, but I just wanted to get it finished. And it shouldn't hurt the look to do it that way because I only did the bottom leg, so when I do the fill work, it will get crossed in and have the tension be the same, or at least the same as it's gonna be on an afghan. I even got a little bit of the greenery under the trellis started. Anything to stitch other than white. i think I am going to move to the square above it next. I think.

Oh, on other good news, someone at 123 stitch had posted a finish of a black cat leading a band of singing pumpkins last week. It was darling, but we could not find the designer. It was out of an old issue of Cross Stitch--one of the myriad of magazines that came out when I wasn't "into" stitching, dang it. So I have been trolling E-bay for it. I didn't find the design at first, but did find the postcard it's based on. I didn't purchase the post card, because it was going for like, $40, which is a lot of money. But I found the magazine in a lot on Tuesday, so scooped it up. It came last night. And it doesn't look superhard. So I was thinking, as I so often do, that it might look kinda cool to stitch the design, buy the postcard and frame them under each other. I mean, it would not be SOOO far-fetched to have up, since we do collect black cats. i don't know, will have to think on this.

Excellent progress made on afghan

I was very good last night. When I got home from work, I put their leashes on the twins and took them for a walk, their first together in the three weeks we've had Robbie-do. I felt like I was driving a team of horses, only stronger. And they are so funny looking, walking together, because Robbie is compact and neat-looking, while my beautiful Chance, well you can tell she has lived a luxurious life. We walked about a mile, and I'm sure we looked funny, me in my sweater, skirt, and ballet flats walking these two mis-matched little dogs. Anyway, when we got back, I of course got out of that sweater and skirt--it was humid yesterday--and sat down to stitch. I got that backstitching fixed, and started on the square I wanted to work on. I think I made excellent progress.

I think this is made easier by the fact that, after M'deer, I am not afraid of the complexity of design anymore. This is really not that hard, and not that much confetti stitching. And definitely not that much backstitching. I am on Square 9, which is the trellis with a bird nest. These are a piece of cake after the deer. But I don't think I will be taking this to CATS. It's too big, it's not easy to haul it around, and, to be honest, I am afraid people will think that I am a heathen for not keeping it in a pillowcase. So I will take something else.

I will try to post a picture tonight.

Day 4 of Hummingbird Trellis

OK, I am in the groove now. I am 2/3 done with Square 5. I realize what is freaking me out about this project. I was thinking about it this morning on the way to work.

Whenever I would drive to Kentucky to go back to school, there would always come a point right before I got on 68 headed west, where I would freak out. I could see the mountains ahead, and I knew it was gonna be a long trip til I pulled into the drive in Lexington. And it was scary, cause I was never sure what was going to happen to me between now and then. It was like that was the deciding point, would I make the commitment to go back to Kentucky and continue my education, move forward, and push myself, or turn around, throw in the towel and go back home. And I always went forward, because I am not a quitter! And that is how I feel about this project. I am at my 68. and I will NOT jump off

That said, don't know how much I will be getting done this weekend. I am going to Virginia Beach to take Aunt Susan's stuff to her. Chancey and I are going. It's good for Chancey to experience other cats and she's good company for me.

Working on Hummingbird Trellis

I pulled it out last night to work on it. So far so good. I am a little worried about how Square 1 will work out because I had to frog it, but the one that I am working on, Square 5, looks good so far.