The First of Many:

I managed to truck through a semi abandoned unfinished project, heretofore referred to as a UFO, just last week.  It had sat dormant in my crafting chest for about two and a half years, but after taking some time off from writing, I decided to pick it up again.  The piece is called "Kaleidoscope", and it's by Tracy Horner, the creator of the Ink Circles blog/stitchery store.  Here is a link to a picture of the design, though it is not mine.  I have yet to photograph my actual finished piece.

I actually walked away from this project with more than when I started it.  I thought this would simply be an easy piece that would soothe my ADD tendencies.  The mandala was broken down into many smaller designs, of different colors, which would in theory, keep the experience of the piece fresh.  It did do that and more, but because I'm the type of stitcher that will leave in slight errors, it caused me an untold amount of headache.  I'd rather work around slight mistakes, and adjust as I go, rather than pull out four days of stitching.  I treated this piece no differently, and the left half went very easily.  Everything lined up just so, and when I was putting in the final portion of the bottom right, I realized that not all was well with the world.  The bottom arrow was pretty mangled.  Rather than pour through weeks of work, I just adjusted the areas around it, so that it appears to be only slightly warbled.  The detailing is a little off center, but all in all, for my first mandala, it's not bad at all.  So now I know that I can't adjust a mandala the same way that I can for most others.

"Kaleidoscope" was also my second substantial piece on linen.  Most of my previous pieces are on aida, though that's really only because I prefer evenly woven fabrics.  Linen sometimes has these fat strands here and there that really drive me crazy!  Now that I've discovered the wonders that are "Evenweave", I see myself stitching on a more varied palette of fabrics.

~@~

My current WIP (work in progress) is DMC's "Wild Ones: Animal Alphabet".  It's a long discontinued pattern that my husband and I literally scoured the planet to find.  I originally saw it over on one of LiveJournal's cross stitching communities.  The vibrant colors, and the non-traditional animals sealed the deal; it was love at first sight.  I immediately set out to buy the kit, but after several hours of research, I simply couldn't find it.

It was like the pattern didn't exist!  Some needlework sites still had it up, but they all said "Out of stock", or "Discontinued".  Finally, about six months later, I struck gold on Ebay, of all places.  My husband bought me a copy of the pattern, and even paid to have it shipped over from the UK.   I kitted it right away, and started it shortly thereafter.  I wanted to have it up in my son's room to cheer him up.  I plugged away like a maniac, not sleeping or eating.  I wanted to have it up on his wall by his first birthday.  Yeah, like that was going to happen!

Now, perhaps more realistically, I hope to have it finished before he goes off to college.  Maybe he'll hang it up in his dorm.  First, allow me to present to you the finished project.  It's about 17" x 13", which is a nice size.  I'm working it on my K's Creations large adjustable lap frame, and it's on a K's 24" scroll frame.

My progress up to December of 2008 is here.  I started up again around February 28, 2011, and everything past the x-ray fish is new.   You can see my progress, as of last night, here.  The image is blurry, and for that, I apologize.  My son tossed our digital camera into the toilet, and it hasn't worked since.  I'm hopeful that we'll have a new camera soon.

I bid you a good night.  I have to head to work--I moonlight as a jeweler.