Mid-July Update

Lots of progress since I last updated you on my AotH progress.  LOTS!

After doing the July block of AotH I got back to working on Lizzie Kate's Christmas Rules.  And I'm DONE!  This is a good thing because that project was starting to bore me; I think mostly because I wasn't a big fan of the colors (I don't particularly like pink).  So, here's the finished product:

The whole piece

 And, so you can see them a little bit better, here are four sections of the whole piece

The last section, Jingle all the Way was LK's Last Minute December (2010).  By the time she put it out, I think a lot of people had finished doing the whole XR, but it was just a twinkle in my eye so I decided to add it as a 13th Rule.  The colors, while not the same as the XR colors, were still pinks, reds and greens so I just used the XR colors in place of the ones called for.  Some who have done this piece may notice that the buttons aren't on there quite right.  That's because somewhere along the way I misplaced a button pack.  I will find it as soon as the piece has been framed, I am sure.  So, I took the button packs I had and divvied them up between all the pieces.  JatW came with four buttons for the corners and I simply used them elsewhere.  In other places I replaced buttons with stitching.  I also did more red checkerboard borders in between each section than was called for in the all-in-one instructions from LK.  I like red, you know that.  Now for a nice l-o-n-g red and black frame!

Next I started back on The Chase sampler.  I finished the bottom section of crewel work.  First picture is across the whole bottom followed by two pictures of the left and right so you can see more detail.

 I have now moved up to work on the two urns filled with flowers.  I've been working on this since last Sunday, finishing the bottom and starting the urn.  The urn work began on Friday.  By the time I finish it tonite, it will have taken me three days just to do this one urn.  I think I'll do the other one and then put The Chase aside for another project later this week.  Once I finish the urns, then I have the flowers to do and then a final bit of cross and straight stitches on the sides to finish the whole project up.  I'm estimating I'll be done in October.

I have also been working on several things for clients.  One was a punch rug pattern from an antique that was found at an auction.  I've also been working on that oriental-style quilt wall-hanging.  After more than 30 hours, I have the top done.  I have to take it to show her this coming week and we'll discuss the actual quilting that I'll have done on it.  One of the things I have to do this weekend is search the internet for oriental-style quilting patterns.  Wish me luck!  I'll have a picture of the quilt top soon - I'm really quite happy with how it came out.  Hope you enjoyed!