Into Canada

Jasmine enjoyed the sunshine in Coumbia Falls, MT

We made it across the border with no incidents...not that we expected any, but you never know.  We are actually in Okotos on the Sheep River.  It is really nice, operated by the Lions Club.

It is so beautiful here.  The fields are bright yellow.  I learned later that it is rapeseed (canola).  We are going into Calgary to check it out and to a visit a cousin who lives here.

I finished Lilca Time, the Laura J. Perin project.  Although it has some flaws I am pretty happy with it.  After seeing the photo I did a little work on the leaves and added some more lilac color to the center lilac.  Looks a little better I think.  I still think the center leaves need work.

Here is  close up of the corner detail.  The Ribbon Floss is so beautiful.

I also finished Blue Heron by Imaginating.  Will frame this when I get back to Blanco and hang it in the guest bathroom.

My wonderful husband took me all the way out of Calgary about 40 minutes to visit "Traditional Stitches".  OMG!  What a wonderful shop.  The lovely lady, Janice, was so helpful and amazing, she has her work hanging all around and it is just exquisite.  I got lots of goodies!  (I will post them later when we are on the boring part of our trip headed back through Texas) I have never been a person who does samplers, but I gotta tell ya her work is amazing and gave me a new appreciation for them...I may even do one.  With the US dollar so strong here I was able to pick up a few things at a good price.

We had a fantastic visit with my Calgary Cousin Kati.  Had dinner at a wonderful place called The Keg.  Terrific food and lovely atmosphere.

Today we will be exploring Okotos and visiting again with Cousin Kati here at the campground this evening.

I will start a new needlepoint project when we leave here head back to the States.  I am looking forward to getting it set up and ready.

That is it for today...

Thanks so much for visiting and sharing our trip.

More Montana

We are in Columbie Falls, MT just outside of Glacier Park and near  Flathead lake.  It is very "Piney".   Lots of forest.  We met up with some dear friends for a few days so not much stitching happening.  More sight seeing, eating and visiting than anything else.

Spent the day in Big Fork and on Flathead lake.  Really, really beautiful.  This is the view from our friends house.  Can you imagine!  The lake is as blue as the sky.  Amazing.

This is on the way back to the RV park from Big Fork.

Now that we are stationary for a few days, here is the progress on the Laura J. Perin, Lilac Time Needlepoint that I work on while we drive.  Will get back to it when we leave here later in the week.
I hope to finish on the way to Canada.  Just have to finish the final border and then the large lilac in the center.  Should not take too long.

Still working on the Blue Heron project.  I will post it once it is finished which should be in the next day or two.

Thanks for visiting.

Made it to Montana

Tonight we are in Garryowen, Montana.  It is the "home" of the Custer Museum which sits on the site of Sitting Bull's camp site.  Interesting.

Garry Owen is the name of an Irish song that was supposedly the "theme song" of the 7th Calvalry.  There is really no town, just the museum and the RV park where we are staying.  Kind of funny, we looked for it on the wrong side of the highway.......hit a dead end and had to unhook the car to get the RV turned around.  It was kinda funny to me.....not so much to my traveling companion.   Also kind of funny to me is that this RV park is on a dirt road................kind of dusty, but it is really nice.  On the top of hill overlooking a nice valley.  All is well as we are settled and enjoying the incredible view.

We are due a storm (small storm) tonight and it is really nice watching it come in as the sun sets.


Stitching Progress:

Made good progress on Lilac Time, the Laura J. Perin piece I do while we are driving.  I am enjoying it a lot.   I really like the fibers that are used. #5 DMC us nice to work with and I  like the metallic ribbon that is used.  It is alot of fun even if it is alot of counting.

Last night I worked on Wicked is as Wicked Does by Waxing Moon.  I got the witch's hat done which was my goal for last night.

We are off to the Butte area tomorrow.  It will be a long travel day so we will be up and out early.

Thanks so much for visiting.  

Rocky Mountain State

We are now in Colorado Springs for a couple of nights.  We plan to do some sight seeing and, of course, find a needle shop or two for a visit.    The trip has been wonderfully uneventful.  Once we got out of Texas the weather cooled off a little bit.  I am hope for some cool nights so we can sit out... speaking of which......

No sitting out tonight as it is really windy and dusty.

I gave both the dogs Benadryl for the climb since both have had problems with altitude changes in the past.  They both did well, no head shaking or whining....until it got close to dinner time of course and they are not good at time changes!

Now to the important stuff.


I gave the Canadian Flag project the college try.  I just could not get the hang of counting it correctly so it is shelved for the trip.  I think, perhaps, I need to mark the lines on the pattern so I can count correctly.  I will do the project, but not this trip.  It was a litte more work that I want to do while I am traveling.


Here is my progress so far:

Lilac Time, Laura J. Perin Needlepoint

The photo is not great, but it is kind of overcast at the moment.  Now, you would not think that those lattice portions on the four sides would not be that hard.  As usual, I nearly wore the thread out getting it right and there is one part that is off just a little.  I am leaving it!  I have to remind myself constantly to count THREADS not HOLES.

Wicked is as Wicked Does, Waxing Moon Designs

This is a new start since I got frustrated with the Canadian Flag piece.  It is on 32 county Linen in Copper Penny.  I really like the fabric and hope this turns out well.  I will probably move it to a Qsnap (the one the flag was on) to finish it.

I am still trying to figure out why comments are not showing up on the blog and I cannot find a way to answer them.  Please do not think you are being ignored.  I can read them, I simply cannot answer them.

That is it for today.  Thank you so much for visiting.  I appreciate all your kind words and hope you are not too bored!

Beginning our Travels and Beginning a Project

We are in San Angelo, Texas for tonight.  There is some kind of update to our RV that needs to be done and the place to do it is here.  They open at 7am so we will be up early.


I have mostly brought straight DMC projects of various sizes and subjects.  I also have prepared a couple of needlepoint projects to do while we are driving along.

Lilac Time,  Laura J. Perin Needlepoint

I got a fair start on this one today.

These are the projects I will work on during the trip.  I will post progress as it happens; this is where these are at the present time.  That way you do not have to go backwards on the blog.

Knot Garden, Chatelaine
  I would really like to finish the DMC potion of this project during this trip.  We will see.

Books Reading Books, Heaven and Earth Designs
  I would like to get a couple of pages (or perhaps just one) done during the trip.

Blue Heron, Imaginating
  I should be able to finish this if I really give it some attention.  There is very little back stitching (Hurray) and it is not a full coverage piece.

Great Blue Heron, Crossed Wing Collection
  I am not sure why I included this one.  I have barely started it.  This project is also not full coverage so who knows, maybe it will go quickly.

Starburst Flag of Canada, Cherry Lane Designs
Am doing this for my cousin we are headed to visit in Calgary, Canada.  I hope it goes quickly.  I am a little nervous about it since it is specialty stitches and I am afraid I am not going to be able to count it accurately.  I will give it a whirl, but I already feel overwhelmed by it and I have only put in a few grid lines.

Mini Mandala 05, Chatelaine
  I threw this one in at the last minute because I decided I could not go a month without doing a Chatelaine.  Am I loosing it or what.

Also taking along my Americana small projects and my Halloween small projects.  Why?  Because I have completely lost my mind!

I am sure I am being overly ambitious.  If I only took one or two projects perhaps I could actually have finishes!  Not sure why I feel compelled to take so many.

Tomorrow we are headed to Amarillo.  It always takes at least 2 days to get out of Texas ya know.  I should have some great progress on the Needlepoint project, and who knows what I will work on this evening.

Thank you for visiting.

Oh, There is some magic thing about comments and being able to contact me.  I messed with the settings (Google + and whatever else I ran across) so hopefully all will be well.  I do enjoy your comments (well, most of them anyway) so feel free and I will attempt to respond to them all.

Finally in Texas

Another couple of uneventful traveling days.  The weather is fantastic.  

Wednesday

I have a serious question about parks in the desert.    Why is it that shade is so hard to come by.  When I lived in the desert I knew that shade was a premium.  It amazes me that every park we stay in has the West sun shining on the passenger side of the coach which is the area where you want to sit out in the evening.  It baffles me.  If you are in the RV park business i would think you would be more cognizant of what your customers needed.   However on the other hand if you are here in the winter, which is snowbird season, perhaps you like that sun in the evening.  Not my thing.   In addition, the WIFI service is not available, so you are getting this update a day late, Marj.  Sorry about that.  The park is Little Vineyard in Demming, AZ.  It is not one of my favorites.

I had a heck of a day with Autumn Leaves.  Holy cow I must have stitched, pulled out an re-stitched the zig zag three times.  It was so frustrating.  I have figured out that when I cross stitch I count blocks….open spaces…when I needlepoint I need to count threads.  I got so frustrated I had a cocktail right after lunch!  ha

Jasmine is enjoying the view from the front dash!

I am working on Mini Mandala IIB in the evenings  I had wanted to get more done, but that is just not happening for some reason.  

I am looking forward to finishing this third in the series of three.  Ready to frame them and hang them together.  

Thursday

We made it to Texas and are in Fort Stockton for the night.  We will be in Blanco tomorrow in time for the weekend.  

The weather is still great, warming up as Texas heads into summer.

I managed to finish the last portion of Autumn Leaves today.  It was not too bad and I am glad to have it finished.  I still have some of the extra metallic and detail to complete which should be no problem (she says confidently).  What I will do with it, who knows.  Perhaps I will frame it.  I have another Laura J. Perin project called Lilacs that looks like a companion piece to the Autumn leaves.  I will be doing that one during our next trip.

I will be posting from Blanco for a few months.  Hoping not to have another major flood this year!

Thanks for visiting.

Heading East at Last

Since our first park did not have internet access, these are the first two days of our travels.

Day One

It has been a heck of a day.  

We were less than two miles from the house and all the dashboard electronics went haywire.  Telling us we had no gas, no turn signals, no other things that we are supposed to have.  

So, we went straight to Santa Maria to the RV repair and spend a couple of hours there.  Finally they figured out they just had to reboot the computer.   All worked fine and we headed out.

We got about 5 miles to the highway and the repair shop called saying we left a dog there!  WHAAAT.  Sure enough, little Jazz left the coach while I was prepping to leave so we had to go back to get her.  What a dufus.  She was pretty contrite for a couple of minutes.  The manager said she had wandered into the shop area (thank goodness she didn’t just wander out of the area) and, although he said she would not come to him, he got her to follow him into his office where she whined and barked until we got back to pick her up.  What a ninny.  I, of course,  was having a spell.  I could not believe it.  I am SO careful when we are traveling.  Whew.

Finally we were on the road for sure only about 3 hours later than expected.  Tonight we are in Mojave.  We did not take the route through the LA area this time.  Although the roads are smaller and windier, it is a lot less stressful than going through the LA area for three hours of traffic.  Especially with the late start we got. 

This is a very nice park with lots of trees and that lovely desert breeze blowing.  It is fantastic.   We got in too late to get the WIFI code so this post will be done tomorrow.  

I got some work done on my needlepoint project Autumn Leaves by Laura J. Perin.  It is one of her on-line classes that I started last year during our trip.  Since I usually only do needlepoint while we are traveling the projects go a little slower than my others.  I am looking forward to finishing this by the time we get to Texas.  Here it is so far.

  

And this will be our first trip with our new recliner seating.  We replaced the couch that made into a bed with the two recliners and are anxious to use it.  Of course, based on this photo it does not look like we will get much chance!  

Day Two

An nice, uneventful day of traveling.  The weather is fantastic.  Warm and dry.  Every time we make this trip I remember how much I love the desert.  Weird I know.

I worked on Autumn Leaves today.  I had a real hard time.  You would think that it is simple but those zig zag parts in the upper right corner made me crazy and I ripped them out a couple of times.  Good thing I ordered some additional thread!  

Anyway, I have decided that counting in needlepoint and counting in cross stitch is distinctly different.  It has to be.  I had all sorts of trouble and finally ended up just adjusting the pattern to fit what I put in the third time!  Crazy.  I also did not even attempt to do french knots with Krenik metallic braid.  Seemed like a better idea to do little crosses.  I am still hoping to get this finished by the time we hit Blanco, but I am having a few doubts now.  I am having a little trouble with the bottom right corner zig zags but perhaps a fresh look tomorrow will get that section finished up at least.  Then I can work on adding more of the gold braid and perhaps tackle the middle section.  

We landed in Tonopah (you should hear the GPS try to pronounce it).  A really nice park and all is well.   We are all fine and looking forward to a good night of sleep.

  

Thanks for visiting.

Needlepoint News

Autumn Leaves Laura J. Perin Cyber Class

I received the first "lesson" and got a little work done.  I have found that counting for needlepoint is different than counting for cross stitch.  I think the deal is that you have to count the threads, not the holes.  I am not quite sure, but I know I have had to pull out several areas and redo them when they did not work out properly.  It is very interesting working with the metallic ribbon (the gold part of the border portion).  I have never worked with it before.  It is surprising easy, but it does fray quite a bit.

Grace Dimensions Kit

It is interesting.  I am having the same counting problem.  Since this was a pretty inexpensive kit (compared to most kits....it came from Amazon), I am using it for practice.  Hopefully it will help me with the other needlepoint project.

Those pinkish stitches were fun to do.  They are called Teardrop Jessica stitches.  Surprisingly easy once I got the hang of them.   This thread in the kit is all what appears to be a 6 strand DMC type cotton so there is a certain comfort level.  There is a little metallic threads for finishing but that shoes not be a problem.  I am hoping I will get better as I am not sure I am happy with the continental stitch (I think that is what the half crosses are called).  I am beginning to completely understand the use of a laying tool.

I got these started because I want to do them while we are traveling in a couple of weeks so there will not be any progress until December or so.

Thanks for visiting.

Needlepoint: A New Needle Adventure

I have been so happy with all the specialty stitches I have learned this year thanks to Chatelaine designs and all the wonderful facebook posts that I have been drawn to branch out.   I just enthralled with the stitches I have learned so far and am always looking for  a place to use them.  I have not been called to do any hardanger I think because I cannot bear the throught of cutting holes in something I spend hours stitching!  I am a big chicken I suppose.

I have done a few needlepoint kits in the past that were basically just half crosses; tent, continental and basketweave.  I got a little bored with them frankly.

After a visit to a shop, I have been looking again at Needlepoint sites and have realized a couple of things.......

There are incredibly beautiful pieces out there that are far beyond the typical 'half cross" technique that I have done before.  There seem to be thousands of variations on the tent and continental stitches.

Needlepoint canvases can be VERY expensive.....as can the fibers used.  But oh my are they beautiful!  There seems to be a huge difference in the hand painted canvases versus the canvases I have dealt with in kits I have purchased and worked in the past.

Many Needlepoint canvases do not come with "instructions".  There are "stitching guides" available in some cases, but they, too, are expensive.  For the most part, it seems that needlepoint stitchers pick their own fibers and stitches and create really amazing things.

So I have gone a little crazy trying to find out where to learn some of these wonderful stitches and found a Cyber class offered by Laura J. Perin (a needlepoint designer).  I am thrilled to be a part of it and will be posting my progress.  It is called Autumn Leaves.

I was luck enough to get the last kit available.
Just what I need is another project!

Today, Monday, November 2, 2015 the "kit" came in from Laura J. Perin.  I am so excited about starting on this new adventure that I am over the moon!  So, I put the binding on the mono canvas and looked through all the instructions....I have to decide how I am going to mount the fabric on either 11" stretcher bars that I have or a scroll rod.

I choose the teal option for this project.  The fibers are just beautiful.  This will be a first for me.

I use seam binding that I get from thrift stores to bind the edges of the mono canvas.  The canvas is very stiff so this makes the edges softer and I do not like using masking tape for some reason.  Hopefuly this will work

I have not yet found any other participants in this class but I am sure some will emerge as time goes by.

For those who follow me, I think I am going to tag these posts as needlepoint so you do not have to suffer though them if you are not interested.

Thanks for visiting and stay tuned for the "progress".