Stitching.....

 

Updates....

The Seasons changed rather abruptly in this part of the World, Dear Readers, bringing a shocking taste of Winter the day after Halloween. This following after weeks of warmer than usual temperatures and virtually no hint of frost. Fortunately, the offending white stuff melted rapidly, but it left that keen awareness of Impending Winter!

It definitely hastened the falling of the remaining leaves....

and turned my focus to cozy indoor pursuits!

Like stitching mini carpets...

You can see from the first photo that I have

 nearly completed the Baktiari carpet!

All it requires is the last couple of rows 

of edge stitching and binding and then the fringe.

I have been working on it all year,

 but had to "stitch less" while my

 sore arm was mending last spring.

And since it is so nearly finished, 

I have launched a couple of new projects to take it's place!

This is the very beginning of a quite Ambitious project...

This is another kit by Phyllis Stafford,

 who also designed the Baktiari carpet kit.

It is also stitched on 40 count silk gauze

 and the finished size will be 8x10 inches.

I expect this to take me a long time to complete, 

and I will warn you now that I am 

re-designing the central portion of the kit.

I just feel that the "central medallion" 

needs to be much more prominent.

And because this is one of those "tiny stitches" kits,

I also started a larger, easier on the eyes carpet kit.

I thought it interesting how similar the start was for both carpets!

This is another of Janet Granger's kits, a wool carpet...

It is unusual in that it is square and will be 9x9 inches when done.

It is described as a William Morris era style and the colors are quite bright.

As you can see, I've made good progress already!

(Sorry the photo is dark.... it's been a cloudy day...)

 

So that is my Stitching Update, Dear Readers...

Two new engrossing petit-point carpets

means Hours of cozy stitching 

Are in the Forecast!

The Annual Trek...

 

Gifts, Rugs and Rain....

I Took a trip, Dear Readers, to visit my folks in the Southwest, a Long Long Long way from home. It takes two days to get there so the first night I stop in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and the next morning I take the little plane (8 passengers) down to the southwest corner of the state. The above picture is coming into Albuquerque over the Manzano Mountains. I dodged rainstorms wherever I went. There was a large "Tropical Storm" headed for my part of New England on the morning I left, but it stayed just far enough off shore that my flight was not cancelled. It was pouring in Atlanta when I changed planes, but the flights were not delayed. The morning flight from Albuquerque to Silver City re-routed around large thunderstorms, but we were on time for landing in the dry desert. They have not had a good Monsoon Season this year in this region. But it rained hard on my second evening at my Mom's!

Here you can see the water pouring off her porch roof!

And it rained again at my Dad's way up in the hills. 

They have had more rain where he lives, 

probably due to the higher elevation and the steep hills.

Silver City is at something over 6000 ft. elevation

 and my Dad's place is probably another thousand over that.

(Sorry I don't have the exact elevations!)

They are in "high mountain desert" conditions and

 last spring there was a wildfire just north of my Dad's home.

Here's a picture of my Mom, (aged 92!) and her dog Daisy.

I bring small petit-point kits with me when I travel out there

 because they fit neatly into my bag.

On last year's trip I had started the stocking you see above,

 and this year I completed it!

This year I spent quite a while going through

 old family Photos with my Mom,

 trying to identify and label them.

She had an old suitcase full of them!

I found quite a few Treasures, including some "missing" artwork

 that had been done by my Great Great Aunt and her husband.

 My Grandma had showed it to me when I was a teenager,

 and I hadn't seen it since.

Mostly very fine pen and ink drawings!

 

My Dad's partner gave me a bunch of little woven "mug rugs"

she and her weaving group made.

They are the perfect size for dollhouse rugs!

I love the texture of this ribbon rug!

This one has lovely colors and is a very fine weave....

Here's the reverse side.... I am not sure which I like best!

And these two are a pair. They have subtle differences.

And here you can see the reverse side of each.

All of them are approximately 4 x 5 inches excluding the fringes.

Of course, the visit was over far too soon, 

and the long trip home, done all in one day 

because the flights leave Silver City early, 

followed a familiar theme.

 

 

The flight from Albuquerque was re-routed to avoid

 storms in the upper plains on the way to Chicago...

but arrived on time anyway. 

And my homeward leg landed late in New England

 in the middle of pouring rain

 from yet another "Tropical Storm" 

that had set it's sights on New England!

Two former Hurricanes in two weeks?!?

 

 I was very glad to get home to my familiar little worlds.

 

 The Baktiari carpet is getting close to finished!

So I took my Annual Trek, Dear Readers, 

traveling a Long way from home.

But seeing my Family is such a Gift... 

and while the challenges of Travel don't get easier,

I Treasure the Time I had with my folks, 

and perhaps I also brought them the Gift of a little rain!

 

 

Little Progress....

 

Trims, Blossoms & Borders....

Well, Dear Readers, I really have not got a lot to show you this week, but I have been chipping away at the usual myriad projects. The Gypsy Wagon bed chamber doors, for instance, needed the trims for the door on the side facing the main compartment. I dug around and found the piece of trim I had already stained quite a while ago (years!) just waiting to be cut, fitted and glued in place! You can see above, that the side pieces need to have their undersides cut away where they fit over the hinges (oh, look at all those glorious hinges!) so they can glue securely to the wall surface. It does not matter that this covers the screws on one side... if the doors ever need to be removed (why would that ever happen?) they can be unscrewed from the other side instead.

It did not take very long to carve away the undersides for the hinges. 

It took only slightly longer to fit the sections for the arched top.

I know my sections are not even or "properly" mitered....

It is easier for me to just measure cut and trim....

(and who but me is going to notice this uneven spacing?)

 

The doors still need their "air holes" drilled... 

but I left that for another day while the glue was drying.

As for the Rhododendron Blossom assembly line...

I am still not getting it very organized!

I have made quite a few "clusters", 

and even more blossoms...

 

I am making the blossoms in batches of ten. 

It seems an ideal amount for a cluster

 (I counted when the bush was blooming!)

And I have made seventeen "batches" so far.... 

and started the eighteenth!

 

Here the stamen clusters are glued and the blossoms cut and shaped.

Next they get painted and assembled.

 

But I have only glued together ten batches into "clusters".

And I am way, way behind on making the leaves. 

I really think I need to make a batch of leaves for every cluster.

This is totally different from the process of making the lilacs!

I need to get the leaf making and attaching figured out!

But still, seventeen blossom clusters is not too bad

 for a couple of months occasional work! 

And I know it has been ages, Dear Readers,

 since I showed you any progress on the petit-point carpet...

 

Here you can see I have made quite a bit of progress stitching the outer borders. 

(I think you have to look back to February to see the last update!)

 

It is very slow going!

But you can see, Dear Readers,

 there is a Little Progress

 in some of my many projects!

Not To Mention the Chapel....

 

 

No, I Have Not Forgotten the Chapel....

Well, Dear Readers, this Project Review becomes almost Embarrassing when we open the doors to the Chapel. I don't know how Father Alban can stand the accumulated mess of parts and unfinished projects that clutter his Chapel! I know this entire Tower of the Castle has been on "hold" for what seems like forever while I try to "quickly finish" the other tower, and the Great Hall. I am sure I had a reason for this at some long time past.... but I cannot remember it now! I was in the middle of painting the murals on the ceiling and the remaining wall, and I think I wanted to get the Great Hall finished first....

And at the moment the lights are not even hooked up,

 due to the exterior painting that was being done

 a couple of summers ago!

So I cannot even shed more light on this chaos!

Perhaps that is just as well...

Finding the thread of my inspiration

 is proving more challenging than I had thought!

And while I dither, Dear Readers,

I hope you will not mind one more tiny update on the carpet stitching...

It is so soothing to just follow the pattern and add stitch after stitch...

And suddenly the central portion is complete!

Oh, my!

And the outer borders are taking shape too.

And soon, I am sure I will pick up the threads of my other projects,

 and figure out the next steps

 on one project or another.

But, No! I have not Forgotten the Chapel!

Stitching...

 

Progress...

I Imagine you will understand, Dear Readers, when I tell you that while I was working on the Christmas Card drawing (for weeks and weeks!) I had to not allow myself to do any petit-point stitching. This is because once I begin to stitch, I find it very difficult to stop... and I needed to devote all my spare time to the drawing. So the Baktiari carpet languished while I devoted my attentions to drawing. Well, last weekend I finally had a few moments when I could pick up the stitching again! Above you can see where I had left it early in December. The central portion is nearly finished and the border is well under way.

It was not difficult to get back into the pattern.

Sorry for the darkish pictures... 

it is still so dark here in the evenings!

But that is beginning to change noticeably as we move into February.

Once again, I am in the stitching mode... 

and aim to make great progress over the next few weeks!

But that is all I got done, Dear Readers,

just a little more stitching progress!