Wild or just messy?

I've just finished the first big swirl in the sky.  I'm not sure if it's wild and swirly, or just a bit messy.  I've decided to see how it looks in the morning!

Swirly sky

It's been slow going for a few days, but there is some progress to report now!  I was pretty happy to have completed all the edges, I just need to fill in the hole in the middle.

Tree finished

I got the tree finished today, and I think I'm happy with it overall, so just a bit of sky to do now!  I'm still hoping to finish on time but I really don't want to rush it and do a sloppy job.

More big black tree

My goal for today was to get the tree finished, but I didn't quite get there.  Just the edges and fiddly bits left to do though, so not too far off.  I think I've looked at it enough for one day, so I'll come back tomorrow and see what I think about where the stitches meet, because I don't think I got quite the curve I wanted to.  It started out well, but got away from me!

Big tree

The big black tree is coming along.  There are far more colours in it than I originally thought!

Church, sky and big black tree

Got lots worked out in class today.  Tracy rescued the church, we came up with a plan for the big black tree and the remaining sky.  I now have two weeks to get it all done...

Finished the land

Apart from the bits I think need unpicking!  I'm really not happy with the church, or the bricking under the big star.  Going to leave them for now though, and get started on the big swirls in the sky.

The church, some fields and village

I don't think I'm happy with the church. I like it better than the first attempt though. I'm going to leave it for now and see if it blends in a bit.

Half a village

I've been pressing on with the village today.  There are far more trees in it than I imagined!  The bottom right corner is filling in nicely now, I just need to keep going!!  

Half a village and a steeple

I made lots of progress on the village yesterday.  It made a nice change to be working on straight lies rather than the curvy sky, and it was easier than I thought it was going to be, the houses have an almost grid pattern.  Still some work to do on the village, then its back to swirly sky.  A lot of canvas still to cover and not much term left...

The last stars

The last four stars went in today.  I've been concentrating on the swirly sky so I've made no progress on the angular village, but I'm starting to feel like I'm getting somewhere.  I'm starting to think I might get this finished   by the end of term!

I got a bit carried away with the sky...

I'm hoping it's turned out OK and that Tracy doesn't make me pull it all out on Thursday! I still want to get the remaining stars in and have a go at the village before next class.  I'm very aware of how close the end of term is and how much canvas is still to cover.

Even more sky

After a hard morning of procrastination, I got down to some work on the sky this afternoon.  I was following the angles of the brushstrokes but some of the joins look a bit clunky to me.  I'm hoping I can blame van Gogh for that!!

A new star

A new star and a bit more sky.  Now as well as worrying about the colour of the sky I'm having to keep a close eye on the direction of the brush strokes.  I'm really looking forward to seeing the moon and star surrounded by sky. I am a bit concerned about the edge near the bottom, even though I've stitched to a straight line it looks indented where the fields/woods are.  

More sky

I have been concentrating on the sky today.  I built up the blue around the moon a bit more and then moved on to the bricking on the other side of the sky.  I stitched right up to the edge of a woolly star as a bit of an experiment to see how it looks. I think I will do the remaining stars next, and hopefully start pulling some of the separate elements together.  

Moon #3

So Tracy managed to pull me back from despair today, as I knew she would!  The main progress today was on the moon.  I pulled it out and started it again, and this one looks much better.  The bottom isn't as pointy as I would like, but a vast improvement, and I love how the blue of the sky is fading into the yellow glow of the moon

Mid-term panic

Well, we are half way through the term and I'm nowhere near to half way done!  I'm not happy with the moon, I've had a day of every thread knotting and my bricking has gone awry.  I've got a feeling I will be starting class tomorrow with a lot of unpicking, but I have faith that Tracy can get me back on the right track!!

Moon and sky

Today I've been working on the sky and the moon.  It doesn't look like I've covered much canvas considering the amount of time I spent on it!  Getting the colours right has been the usual headache, and no doubt they will all look completely different once I look at them at Tracy's.  Maybe I'm looking too closely?

A field and a practice moon

I've been working on the field/forest/hedges/whatever it is to the left of the town.  As usual, I'm not sure about the colours or the straight stitches.  I sometimes think I can look too closely so it might look better tomorrow with fresh eyes.

Also, I've been trying out the moon.  This is the second attempt (the first ended in a giant knot and I took the scissors to it).  I lost the shape a bit on one side but I think it will work out once I get the colours right.  

The first piece of sky

For the first time in ages I seem to have made some progress rather than unpicking more than I stitch!  Still not happy with the stars though.

The first stars

I've spent a lot of time today on the first patch of sky, then even more time pulling it out again because I wasn't happy with the colours.  I got two stars in but I'm not sure about the colours in them either!

Making progress

I'm pretty happy with the progress I made today.  I could be a bit tidier when I'm working, I think, but I'm starting to get a feel for blending the threads.

Another hill

Not sure if I've got enough yellowy flecks in the hill to the left. Going to leave it for a bit and look at it again later.

Unpicking and doing it again

There doesn't seem to have been much progess but i unpicked quite a bit and restitched to make the top of the hill a bit less flat.

First stitches in...

After a week of practice I got the first proper stitches in today. Got some unpicking to do already, but it's a start!

An artichoke in Japan

Over the summer my artichoke went on it's travels and now it's in Japan.  Details are on Tracy's blog here.  I'm pretty excited about that!

Back to school!

It was the first day yesterday, so most of the day was taken up transferring the design to the canvas, framing it up and choosing thread colours. I've started practicing a few stitches. It's good to be starting something new!

Finished!!!

I spent a few hours with Tracy today putting the finishing touches to the artichoke.

And here is the finished article!  It's been hard work, but worth it I think.  

Off the frame!

This morning was taken up with tidying up edges and filling gaps so I got it off the frame after lunch.  So it's still not quite finished, but not far to go now.

Almost done!

Still plenty of tidying up to do though.  I'm not happy with the scraggy edges on the last few leaves, there is a hole in the leaf on the right, and I think where the black leaf meets the green leaf needs softening a bit. But I'm really pleased to have got to this stage, and I'm even happy with some parts of it!

One side complete.

Just two more leaves to go now!

A leaf I'm happy with.

Well, almost happy, the outside curve isn't quite right, but other than that I'm happy with it.  Only three leaves left now, and a week to do them in.

Only four leaves left.

The biggest remaining leaf and fiddly bit are done now.  I had my usual crisis of confidence while stitching the right half of the leaf, for some reason that was far harder than the left side, which seemed much easier and smoother.  I'm happy to have finally joined the stem to the main part of the artichoke, it's been floating around on it's own for a while now!

Only five leaves and a fiddly bit left!

I finished the last big leaf yesterday,and I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.  So only one medium leaf, four small ones and a fiddly bit to go!  And less than two weeks left to do it in.

I need more hours in the day...

How many times can I say I haven't made as much progress as I would have liked before it doesn't mean anything any more? I wanted to have the big leaf on the right finished before my definitely last stitch day with Tracy tomorrow.

After some unpicking...

The top right leaf has been giving me some problems.  It's taken a few attempts to get the angle looking about right.  I'm still not sure if it's right but I've started so I'm going to finish!  I want to get this leaf finished and the next one down at least started before Thursday.

My threads

This really isn't the help I need...

Progress today

I got some work done today, but not a massive amount.  I'm not sure if I've got the colour quite right, I think the brown might be bit too dark, so I think I'm going to leave it for today and try again tomorrow!

Silk shading

More than half through the term and it still looked like there was more than half still to stitch...

Made some progress since then, and I think I might be starting to get to grips with the technique, so now its looking like this:

Still a long way to go though, and I only have one stitch day with Tracy left!!!

Finished Crewelwork