I finished a block today.
This is the penultimate block. And it is finished.
Look at how nicely the sparklies show up in the green and gold borders.
I started this in 2009, as I’ve said before. Looks real good for a completion early in 2017.
Who wants to see a pic of the back?
This is the penultimate block, and it’s the craziest so far. Insanely, stupidly difficult. As designers go, Tracy Horner is a freaking sadist, and I love her charts so hard. Yes, I know what that says about me. Go on, judge me. But get a look at this, first:
Every tiny stitch HAS to be right.
The greens and golds in the frame (only) are one strand of DMC cotton floss + one strand of DMC Light Effects — and this is why I tell every stitcher I know to STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM DMC LIGHT EFFECTS. Go with Kreinik, for the love of your own sanity. I even made the same mistake with those little blocks with the red patterns, because I’m completely insane and that’s why it’s taken me six years to finish this, so far.
deep breath
A happier subject are the corner kitties — I use an alternate pattern for the cats, and I changed the colors to honor my Libby kitty. She was just barely not a kitten anymore when I started this. Yeesh.
No more complete pics of this project until I get it completed. Partial shots only, to whet your appetite for more.
Or something like that.
I guess it has to be okay, these circles and cycles that life is. We start things, leave them, pick them up again later – everything from projects to friendships – and it’s all the same when we return, but it’s all different, too.
Here, without further ado, is my finish of Namasté.
The design is from Tracy Horner at Ink Circles, though I confess to the redesign of the third/solar plexus/yellow one. I needed a fire (upward pointing) triangle in that spot, rather than the water (downward-pointing) triangle she’d used. Fortunately, her charts are so expertly done that making that change was just a matter of stitching that part of the chart upside down.
Aren’t those colors exquisite?
For those of you who are interested in spiritual things, if you’re wondering whether prolonged work with each of those colorful mandalas had effects on me/my life as I stitched them, the answer is an unequivocal YES.
I wholeheartedly recommend the chart, though. And I’ll probably stitch these again individually, just cuz they’re pretty, too.
I opted to finish them in plastic mini-embroidery hoops, which came in dusty pink and baby blue. Out came the trusty spray paint! I spent a bit of an afternoon coating them and recoating them until they were all uniform, shiny black. Then, I deployed them, thus:
I think I rather like it.
Grimalkin Crossing 