Not-So-Crazy January Challenge Update – 01/03/2011

I spent part of New Year’s Day prepping for finishing the pieces, including choosing and ironing backing fabrics for every piece that needed it. I then spent yesterday doing more prep work and starting to finish some pieces. The prep work was mainly cutting mat board for additional pieces while I was cutting for other pieces. Here’s an update on individual pieces:

3. Crystal Pink Pincushion by Lorri Birmingham – I decided not to stitch anything on the back. I’m not sure if that’s due to laziness or just because you’ll never really look at the back, but it didn’t seem worth the effort. I might change my mind, though. 😉 It would actually be much easier to finish if I repeat at least the outer border on the back. I don’t have any more of the overdyed for the inner border, so that’s probably as far as I will get. If I do that, I’ll probably put my stitched signature and the date inside the border.

4. Nantucket Basket Topper “Butterfly” by Lorri Birmingham – I found the basket and cut the mat board. Still need to cut backing fabric and a piece of thinner material to mount the backing fabric to. I need to take a look at the instructions and see what I’m really supposed to be doing.

8. Jingle! Biscornu by Just Nan – I actually finished the biscornu last night. It took longer than I had anticipated because of the dumb, fiddly ribbons in the corners. I need to trim the tails of the ribbons so that they are more manageable.
Finish #1!

9. Happy Wishes by Shepherd’s Bush – Picked a DMC floss that matches the fabric. Need to do backstitching to ready the pieces for stitching them together.

10. Sarah Belle Scissor Case by Lorri Birmingham – Picked a backing fabric. Need to buy some light pink or ecru ribbon.

15. Star of Wonder (Punchneedle) by Homespun Elegance – Picked black felt for the back, cut it out and glued it on. Just need to trim it a little bit.

17. A Very Merry Summer by JBW Designs – Glued front onto foam core. Glued a blue backing fabric that matches the sails of the boat to mat board. Glued the two pieces together and put them between two large books (actually one on the bottom and two on top) to dry. I need to buy some floss in the dark blue color for the cording/hanger.

18. Acorn Nantucket Basket Topper by Lorri Birmingham – Found not only the basket, but the kit remnants. Woohoo! Cut the mat board.

19. Irish Needle Roll by Lorri Birmingham – completed the hemstitching of the open areas last night. Wow, that took a lot longer than I had anticipated. I had hoped for a finish by the end of the night, but it was not to be. I just have to sew the seam, stuff it and then tie up the ends and it will be done. I should get it finished tonight.

21. Celtic Ice by Ink Circles – Glued front onto foam core. Glued a dark purple backing fabric to mat board. Glued the two pieces together and put them between two large books to dry. I have some purple ribbon that I could use to finish it off, but it didn’t work with the dark purple backing, so I think I’m going to go with black cording for this one.

22. Peace on Earth by Indigo Rose – Chose a dark blue sparkly fabric for the backing and pinned the two pieces together. It’s ready to be sewn up.

26. Butterfly Scissors Fob – Figured out where I wanted to place the new seam, traced it onto the back of both pieces and pinned them together. It’s ready to be sewn up.

While I was doing my prep work two days ago, I also picked out some small pieces that I want to stitch up early this year and ironed the fabrics to go with them. A couple are now kitted up and ready to go, plus I found an old project that I had started stitching on a sweatshirt many, many years ago that I want to work on this winter. I’m determined not to do any (much?) stitching this month, though, and just plow through finishes instead. Hand-stitching pieces together should scratch my stitching itch, right? In theory?

Anyway, with any luck, I’ll have at least one finish to show in an update tomorrow!