Cabin Fever Or Wating For Spring update

Boy is this piece turning out great!  Steve...this post is for you!

Cabin Fever or Waiting For Spring

The main stitching is now completed as well as the outline.

It's now time to 'play'

There's still lots of detailing to do before the actual cutting starts.

Stay tuned!!

Cabin Fever Or Waiting For Spring update

I am making good progress on my current piece.

I put a coffee mug on the table so you can better tell the size of it.

Of course, it looks like a bunch of little squares at this point....

Really, it IS a bunch fo little squares at this point !!  But I'll keep posting pictures so you can follow my progress.

Hardanger - Cabin Fever Or Waiting For Spring

Hi everyone! OK...it doesn't look like much yet but here are a couple pictures of my new project.

Not much to show yet and I think it is a little difficult to imagine at the moment but I'm working on it!
As I look at the last picture, I realize that you cannot tell the size.  Next time, I'll put something in the photo so you can see.  For now, I'll just say that it will be about 2 feet wide. So...stay tuned!

FINISH - Hardanger - I See Red

'I See Red' is now finished. It is exactly what I wanted...bright, bold, loud and unconventional.

I used lots of different stitches, and yet, there is actually a rhyme and a reason.

The two varigated threads are #8 by Threadworx.  The red threads are also #8 pearl cotton and #25 Coton a Border in two different shades of red.  Yes, we can get Coton a Border over here!  It is wonderful to work with and I recommend it to anyone if you can find it.

Needless to say, I had a lot of fun working on this piece.  It's sort of like 'crazy hardanger'.  Not something you see every day or even think about.  Hardanger is usually so geometric and has a repetitive, exact plan.  But it doesn't have to be, as I found out.  So, now it's on to my next project which is NOT hardanger.  Stay tuned!

Hardanger - I See Red update

Here is the progress on my current piece which I call 'I See Red'.

It is really really red...exactly what I wanted.  It seems to bring something bright and bold into the winter days.

I am having all sorts of fun trying out new stitches.

When  a couple don't turn out perfectly and I can't correct them, it just adds to the piece.

There's so much going on and so much detail.  

This really seems to be the perfect project for these dark cold months.

Munich New Years Eve

Happy New Year! I hope that the coming year proves healthy, creative and happy for everyone. I tried to capture New Years Eve from the 11th floor in Munich for you but I think it is pretty impossible to do so. Here are a few images though that may give you an idea.....

At 10pm, families from the neighboring building gather in the hof.  The kids have sparklers and stand at a distance as a few of the men shoot off fireworks.

I am pretty sure that the kids are young and therefore this private firework display earlier in the evening.  I suppose the parents hope that the kids will be asleep when the noise really starts.  This year though I think the noise at midnight would have waken even the soundest of sleepers.

You can see that the fireworks explode right between buildings.  The balcony decorated with blue Christmas lights is the 11th floor.  Yes, we are eye-level with alot of the explosions....and ear-level I might add.

Off our balcony, we have quite the display from the neighboring 6floor building.  Their fun goes on for an hour at least, not only with firecrackers and fireworks but music as well.

I just cannot capture the entire view with my camera.  Well before midnight, all over the city clear to the horizon, the fireworks can bee seen and heard.  The whole area explodes with lights and noise.  Most of the lights in this image are fireworks.  After about a half an hour though, only the red ones could be seen as the smoke was so thick.

Even through the smoke, the closer ones were vivid.

I could watch for an hour....my neck doesn't get sore from having to look up.  It was an awesome celebration this year in Munich!

Hardanger - I See Red

I started this piece on November 7th. It's fun and bright. I see it as a crazy winter kind of piece.

Most of the stitching is completed although not in the upper left corner, as you can probably tell.

As you know, after the stitching comes the cutting.  Then the wrapping.  There's just one part that has been cut and wrapped at this point....the upper right corner.  I had to order more thread so I did a little cutting and wrapping there while I waited.  I have lots of things to try out with the wrapping as I discovered lots of new things in the three 'Anna Special Hardanger' magazines that I finally tracked down over here.   If you do hardanger, you definitely need to get at least one of these magazines.  In my opinion, with these magazines, you never need another reference guide nor will you ever need to get any more patterns or patterns for ideas.  There's enough stuff in these magazines to last a life-time of hardangering.  ha ha  Is that a word??!!

Yei Interpretation Finished

I'm back! And I am pleased to post pictures of Yei Interpretation, the finish.  I never lost interest in this piece.  In fact, I enjoyed every single stitch.

If you looked at some of the Yei rugs and pictures, you will see right away that my yeis are in line with traditional depictions and yet, also my very own interpretation.

The long green with yellow dividers between each yei represent corn as does their ceremonial staffs.  The small beaded symbols in the middle of the dividers are each out of Indian lore.

Although the colors may not be typical of the wonderful traditional Indian woven rugs, my color schemes add a modern and bright aspect to my interpretation.

Each yei has a necklace complete with actual rocks and minerals.  The necklaces are free-flowing meaning they aren't tacked down so the piece has movement.

The staffs are also adorned with stones.  These are all uniform in type whereas the necklace stones are made to match the color of the clothing and headband.

This pictures is kind of goofy but it goes to show how large the piece is.  It makes a very nice table runner although I don't know if that's what it actually is.  The edging is finished so that it can lay without worry of unraveling or anything but I can also see that this piece would do nicely in a frame as well.

This piece didn't take as long as I thought so I have a new project to take me through the new year.   Of course, I'll be sharing it with you as it progresses.

Yei Interpretation - first pictures of border

After much deliberation, I selected the border from my first sketches for this piece.  It is simple and yet relates well to the stitching.

I'm not quite sure how I will do the corners yet.  And, as always, the cutting and wrapping will be done later.

I may also do an edging around the whole thing so that I can cut it out.  What do you think of that idea?
It probably isn't going to be something that I actually want to lay down but I don't necessarily want to have it be a 'must' to hang.