This wonderful Star Temari ball was a gift from World Embroideries. I couldn't wait to get my paws on it! It now resides in our living room where I can see it all of the time. It's surprisingly heavy and solid and very cool--thanks!Well, the transmission problem looks likely to be the expensive one, not the cheaper possibility. We're now looking into who we'll have fix it and where. My husband has a scanner that reads codes so we knew it was the transmission, but a friend has a better one that reads more specific information and he used it to diagnose the more specific problem this weekend.
We took ourselves to see Clint Eastwood's Gran Torino Sunday. It was a very good movie. It hit me hard, but then most things do. But it was very good.
I've worked my way through about 7/8 of Drums of Autumn. I find myself picking up words and speech patterns from the book. By the time I finish rereading the last two I'll likely have a Scots accent! Even knowing what happens, it's a riveting read. (I generally rocket through Diana Gabaldon's books the first time I read them because I have to know What Happens. My second time through I go slower and savor.) The movie and book filled up a lot of my weekend.
I did pull out another older project. Actually, this one is newer than most in my pile, but it's been on my mind. I began this piece in a class by Catherine Jordan last April at the EGA Great Lakes Region Seminar (blogpost here).
(BTW, this year's seminar is coming up soon--check it out here. It is very definitely well worth it.)
I made a lot of progress, but since it's mostly layers on top of layers, it may be hard to tell. At seminar I completed most of the tree trunks and began to stitch leaves on the trees. I began with the biggest tree in front and then realized that may not be the best idea.
I left that stitching in but rethought the rest and began from the back, stitching the leaves I thought would show through or be taller than others. Then I added leaves for the middle layer of trees. Now I'm back toward the front and am working on those leaves and have begun thinking about the foreground. Even if I mostly cover an area that's already been stitched, things peep through and add a feeling of depth.
Last night, just as I lay down in bed, it came to me how to stitch the mossy path--underside couching. It worked well with the very fragile velour thread. I got up early this morning (very rare for me) to stitch the path. (I was tempted mightily, but I knew that if I got up last night to do it, I'd probably botch it from being too tired.)
Taking photos like this is also very helpful. Looking at it I can see areas where I want to go in and add more background or change the shape a bit. I was worried that the little tree on the far left would be too bright but I think it's okay now that I've seen the photo.
I've found it interesting to note that most of what I'm picking up now is on canvas. I wouldn't have put needlepoint at the top of my list if asked but, well, there it is!
