Ahh, weekend before a short work week. I'm off this coming Thursday and Friday! Yippee. And I get to do a couple more weeks like that in September and October as well. I have been with my company almost 25 years, so I get a LOT of vacation. And I tend to 'hoard' it over the summer with all the annual deadlines that I have. So the fall is 'burn those days. Burn, baby, burn'. LOL
Hopefully I'll be able to get quite a bit done on my current machine piecing project, and also my hand work.
This week was good for that, too.
"Millennium" is my current needlework. I got about two hours in this week. Adding lower robes to the left hand angel. St. Michael is looking taller LOL. (See this post for a look at where I started this rotation.)
And the lace shawl is ready to start Round 27. I took the time this week to run a lifeline through the center of the second main motif since it was a round with minimal patterning. A "lifeline" is just what it sounds like; you take a sturdy, smooth thread (I often use perle cotton) and thread it through each and every stitch on the needle, being careful to NOT run through the stitch markers. Then when you knit the next round or row, you drop the carried extra yarn off and it sits there, running through the center of every stitch. Now if you have some kind of catastrophe, the work can only unravel down to the life line.
Can you see the white lines right at my thumbnail and up just under the needle cable? Those are the lifelines. When I temporary block the lace and take a photo on a white background, those extra threads just disappear, so you probably haven't noticed them before. And when I get another one in (probably between the top of motif two and the bottom of motif three), I'll just pull out the lower one. Smooth, strong thread will just slip right out of the knitting and leave no trace of itself behind. It's kind of like basting; if you do it right, you'll never know it was there.
I also finished the hand work on the binding on my mini quilt for the swap and got it mailed off. Glad that deadline is off my plate! (ETA: Had to mail it priority two day to get it there in time. Procrastination = cost)
Now I need to tidy up from that project and remember where I stashed the applique for the Honeybee block. We are finally back to it! Or at least I will be after church.
Linking up with the rest of the SSS crew over at Kathy's blog.
Hopefully I'll be able to get quite a bit done on my current machine piecing project, and also my hand work.
This week was good for that, too.
"Millennium" is my current needlework. I got about two hours in this week. Adding lower robes to the left hand angel. St. Michael is looking taller LOL. (See this post for a look at where I started this rotation.)
And the lace shawl is ready to start Round 27. I took the time this week to run a lifeline through the center of the second main motif since it was a round with minimal patterning. A "lifeline" is just what it sounds like; you take a sturdy, smooth thread (I often use perle cotton) and thread it through each and every stitch on the needle, being careful to NOT run through the stitch markers. Then when you knit the next round or row, you drop the carried extra yarn off and it sits there, running through the center of every stitch. Now if you have some kind of catastrophe, the work can only unravel down to the life line.
I also finished the hand work on the binding on my mini quilt for the swap and got it mailed off. Glad that deadline is off my plate! (ETA: Had to mail it priority two day to get it there in time. Procrastination = cost)
Now I need to tidy up from that project and remember where I stashed the applique for the Honeybee block. We are finally back to it! Or at least I will be after church.
Linking up with the rest of the SSS crew over at Kathy's blog.
Your embroidery looks awesome!
ReplyDeleteThank you. This one is slow going due to a ton of confetti (here a stitch, there a stitch) and blended threads. But there's not nearly as much going on in this bottom half as there was in the top part! There's no over one (except the verse at the bottom) and the shading is somewhat less complex. And this project has no deadline, so I'm not stressed about it.
DeleteI love the cross-stitch and the lacy shawl. I have used dental floss as a life-line. I find it too comes out easily.
ReplyDeleteI have heard dental floss recommended for life lines before; it sounds like a great idea. I tend to have only waxed floss on hand, which probably isn't a good idea to use with the knitting (though it would make your lace smell like mint LOL), and I have 'tag ends' of perle cotton all the time from my needlework. I'll need to get some unwaxed floss to try.
DeleteYour embroidery looks amazing! :-)
ReplyDeleteThank you. Teresa Wentzler is an amazing designer - I love her pieces, crazy blended threads and all!
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