Sinister Craftiness

Japanese Octagon Box by Châtelaine Designs
Meadow Mist Belfast linen (32 count)
Stitched with Gloriana, NPI, Waterlilies, RG and Kreinik metallic braids

After a year and a half, it’s done!  I’ve been fretting over the finishing process all summer, but when I settled down and started, it all went very smoothly.  I was able to do the scissor fob in an evening, the scissor case the following morning, and the box took about a day and a half to complete.

Looking back through the project notes, total real stitching time (minus procrastination time) added up to about five months.  I would stitch on it for about six weeks, take a long (really long!) break, and when I felt like working on it again I’d stitch for another six weeks, followed by another long break.

Both the stitching charts and finishing instructions are detailed and easy to follow.  It was so exciting to see the pieces come together and look just like the photos.  This is the largest finish I’ve done (perhaps ever may do) and it’s been a real confidence builder for working on smaller etuis, scissor cases, and other finishing projects.  I think my future finishes will improve from the things I learned while stitching and assembling the JOB.

It’s difficult to choose a favorite part of this project.  The design is gorgeous, the finish unique and stunning.  This is definitely an attention-getter!  The materials were lovely; I especially enjoyed the variegated silk used on the little border boxes.  The beads are all so pretty and add so much to the design; I keep repeating myself to say that the photos don’t do justice to how much these pieces sparkle and glitter.  You’ll have to make your own and see it for yourself!

A long overdue peek at the ort jar, where one can find the soft pastels from Shepherd’s Bush and The Drawn Thread, cheery brights from Just Nan, creamy white silk from Victoria Sampler and rich silks and metallics from Châtelaine Designs.

Speaking of Châtelaine, all the Japanese Octagon Box pieces are stitched!  Here’s the box lid piece.

Now I need to finish the box … deep breaths … I can do this, I think …

I’ve also started Morning Glory by The Drawn Thread.  The silks are so pretty, and all the backstitched vines will keep me busy for some time.

This is what the morning glories look like in my yard:  definitely not tidy little blue Jessica stitches.

After one of the darkest, coldest Junes on record, we are finally starting to see a little sunshine, and we’ve even had a couple of days above 70°F.  No sweltering summer days here, at least not yet!

The eight panels are done!  I think a small happy dance is in order.  Once I really got going, a panel could be stitched in just a couple of days, depending on how much stitching time I had on a particular day.

This is the last you’ll see of the box progress for a while.  I’ll show off the box, scissor case, and scissor fob once everything is finished.  Right now the scissor fob is about half done.

I’m excited to be so close to done!  Meanwhile, I gave in to temptation and signed up for the gorgeous Peacock Garden Mandala.  This Mandala Garden is a “mystery” project, which means that the chart parts are given out in monthly installments … but if you’d like to take a peek at the entire design, check out the Châtelaine bulletin board preview post.

The Peacock Garden started in January and its chart will be distributed through the associated Yahoo Group during 2010.  It will probably be a month before I can buy the kit, which should give me enough time to stitch up the final JOB pieces and finish them as a hopefully-not-too-lopsided octagonal box.

Welcome 2010!  Did anybody else spend some part of their New Year’s Eve at The Silver Needle’s sale?  The biggest discount was offered at 4:00 am my time.  Not my preferred shopping hour, but the resulting stash enhancement will be well worth the sleep deprivation.

Better late than never, here’s my 2009 finish gallery:

This is more of a sample collage; for a complete finish list see my new 2009 Finishes page.

For 2010 I’d like to work on a Hardanger project or two, and I’d like to stitch (or at least begin stitching) a couple of larger Victoria Sampler and Theresa Wentzler patterns.  We’ll see if all the usual smalls get in the way of these lofty plans, though — I’m always so sure I can finish a needleroll, stocking or biscornu in a day or two, but two days stretches into a week, and one small leads to another, so before I know it, the larger project is in the corner, gathering dust.

Speaking of which, I’m not much for resolutions, but I do want to finish this project this year:

Remember the Japanese Octagon Box?  I stitched up two panels over the holidays!  Now that it looks like it’s over half done (but not really half done, as the scissor case and box top & bottom aren’t stitched yet, but we won’t think about that) I feel more confident about completing the stitching.  The finishing instructions still look pretty intimidating, though.  One step at a time …

amidst irises
begins the mountain ascent
continued on four

My eyes needed a break from stitching over one, and the JOB’s second panel was just the thing:

This panel stitched up quickly:  I finished the borders and landscape panel over Easter weekend, and stitched the lower panel and did the beading Monday morning in between chores and playing games with Thing Two.  Not too bad!

Speaking of Thing Two, now that his Owl and the Pussycat picture is done, he’s turned his taskmaster eye towards the JOB.  Octagons are the “in” shape on Sesame Street this season, and Thing Two is thrilled with the idea of having an octagon in the house, but of course I’m stitching it too slowly for his taste.  He’s not a fan of stitching rotations, either;  while he likes the Just Nan tins well enough, everything else is greeted with, “When are you going to stitch the octagon box?”

I completed the stitching for panel #1 Friday afternoon, then realized I didn’t have any Nymo for the beads.  D’oh!  After finishing up April’s wallpaper and its descriptive text (phew!), I headed over to BeadWorld where the always friendly and patient staff helped me choose the correct size of Nymo and beading needles for the Delica beads.  And with that, here we are:

I have got to learn how to take better pictures.

The beads look dull, but in truth they are so sparkly.  In particular the white beads, which can hardly be seen on the diagonal edges of the lower panel, didn’t impress me while I was stitching them.  But once it was done I stepped back to take a look and kid you not, they look like diamonds.  The Swarovski crystals are opalescent and half-iridescent — a lot of adjectives to pack into such tiny crystals — and just gorgeous.

The overall photo (click to see a larger version) gives a slightly better look at all the sparklies.  Another favorite part of this project thus far are the borders of Rhodes stitches; the variegated silks make these so beautiful.

On to panel #2!

Last weekend was a good one for stitching, but it’s been difficult to find time this week to blog about it. I started a small doily (or coaster?) from Burda Hardanger E344:

As you can see, it’s small and simple, and features one of my favorite motifs, the edelweiss.  I’m stitching it with #5 and #8 white perle cotton on 25 count Lugana.   I chose this pattern because I wanted to learn how to make a lacy edge border.  I haven’t started the border yet; I’m still reading through the instructions.

Meanwhile the JOB is coming along great!  All eight panel borders are stitched (correctly this time) and panel #1 is well underway.  The lower part of the panel is complete except for beadwork, and the upper area is about half done.  I’ll post pictures when the first panel is complete or at the end of March, whichever comes first.

Several older Châtelaine Designs charts, formerly only available as online classes, are now being reprinted and sold, either through embroidery shops or directly from Martina Weber.  I was very excited to be able to purchase both the Stitching Leporello and Japanese Octagon Box charts.  After taking so long to finish The Owl and the Pussycat, I’ve been wary of starting larger projects.  However, the charts are divided into monthly sections (as per the original class) so I’ve set a goal to complete one section each month.

It took a while to collect all the supplies for the Japanese Octagon Box (hereafter referred to as JOB), but it’s been fun.  I met the very helpful and friendly ladies at nearby BeadWorld, who were happy to help this clueless bead newbie find all the right Delica beads on the long list, and are eager to see the finished product (I warned them they will be waiting a long time!).  The box will be stitched on 32 count Belfast linen.  After debating the merits of various linen colors (too grey?  too green?  too boring?), I  chose Meadow Mist.  I loved this color when it was the selection for the Just Nan Sizzle tin, and have been looking for an excuse to use it again.  It’s a pale blue with a bit of white here and there, just lovely and perfect for representing the background of sky.

Here’s how it looks so far:

The JOB had an inauspicious beginning:  after completing panel #4 (the center panel), the bases for panels #1-3, and nearly finishing panel #3, I discovered that the base of panel #3 was off by half a stitch … which meant half of panel #3 had to be “reverse stitched”, as well as the bases for panels #1 and #2.  I was able to salvage some of the NPI silk (black) but the Gloriana silk (blue) went all to pieces, which was heartbreaking.   I hope I won’t have to buy more skeins as my local shop may be out of the original dye lot I bought, but that will depend on how much more of the Gloriana is required.

When I’m done with the first section of the chart, there will be eight panels, with the first panel’s design complete.  Even with the initial setback, these panels are going quicker than I originally thought they would; now that I’m done setting up the blog, I can focus more on stitching.  It will be interesting to see if I’m able to stick to my goal; it would be nice to get more done each month but I won’t count on that happening.