Monday, November 26, 2012

Tulip Time, 2013 - Poster Entry


Here is my entry in this year's Tulip Time poster competition. Sadly, it was not accepted into the Top 20. It is 18" x 22" and was done in graphite pencil. I plan to pick it up, do a little more work to it then frame it and perhaps hang it up at work.

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Cross stitch is back!

 
About three weeks ago I posted about getting back into cross stitch. I started with a pattern of a compass that I found in an old magazine. The pattern was sampled from the book "Stitch Graffiti". I edited the compass, adding in a spiral also found in the book and a sailboat of my own creation. I thought the design would be the perfect front panel for this Monk's Bag tutorial from The Purl Bee.
  
Last week I went to our local fabric store looking for the perfect materials. I needed three or four. One for the lining, one for the front and back panels, one for the outside of the handles and one for the lining of the handles. I ended up choosing three. I loved this green material for the lining and the front and back panels because it was the same color as the green spiral in the cross stitch design and it's print reminded me of a compass (win-win). I liked the blue material for the handles because it looks like water (sailing) and I like something dark for handles because they get tend to get dirty. I also used the blue for the small inside pocket. The lining of the handles is a red batik print with sailboats on it. I thought this was perfect since it matched the red of the sailboat on the cross stitch panel and our sailboat CRUSH has a red stripe too.
 
I am pleased with how the bag turned out. There are things I would change or do different with the handles if I made it again, but I think it's a nice sturdy bag and I hope to use it from time to time. Doing some cross stitch again was fun too. Too bad that I need reading glasses for it now.

Friday, November 2, 2012

The Sky Scarf, October, 2012


We've reached the end of October. Only two more months on the Sky Scarf. There was a lot more grey this month; even some of the darker grey. Not that there hasn't been any blue sky, just lots of clouds. The temperatures have dropped into the mid 40s, but we did have a couple of days in the 70s. We kept the sailboat (CRUSH) in the water for the month, but didn't do any sailing. I'm looking forward to being done with this project. It hasn't lasted as long as the sweater for my husband, but there isn't any way to work ahead. You just know it's going to take a year. Monthly updates on Ravelry seems be to showing less and less knitters keeping up with their scarves. I'm pleased I've stuck with it. As you can see from this photo, the scarf is really, really long now. I'm contemplating sewing it up into a cowl of sorts instead of keeping it as a flat scarf, but I'm not sure how I would do that. I'm not a big scarf person and this one is wool. Yes! I'm one of those people who hate wearing wool and yes, it's itches. :) On to November. I even have a special yarn planned to use for my birthday. Stay tuned.