Finishes and Starts

May was a very busy month both at home, at work, and in my needlework.
It was the end of the quarter so there was lots of grading. There was graduation to prepare for which meant practicing the pronunciation of over 100 names since I got to announce the graduates for the first time this year. Our fiscal year ends at the end of June so the budget has to be closely monitored. The faculty are getting ready to leave for the summer so I had to plan and facilitate our faculty retreat. At the end of the retreat I treated the faculty to ice cream, congratulated them on another successful year and waved goodbye as they headed into their summer break.
The busier I got at work the more I needed my needlework to relax me. I knitted and crocheted. I did cross stitch and needlepoint. I finished two projects, started two projects, and continued to make progress on others.

I finished a needlepoint Heart for my ANG chapter outreach project. I am new to needlepoint and this is the first project I have done without a stitching guide. I was really unsure how to go about it so I started to browse through Suzy's Portable Stitches ( an iphone app) which is also available in regular book format. I scrolled through the stitches trying to see what new stitch I could learn that would suit the shape of this project. What I selected is called the diagonal oriental variation. It allowed me to move across the heart from lower right to upper left on a diagonal I also picked a Caron Water Colour called geranium. Since it is variegated I was able to move from that through to a deeper color ( 815) in Perle #5 at the left hand side of the heart and use yet another Perle # 5 to stitch the pink ribbon in the middle.

I also finished stitching for a biscornu for my Cyber-Stitchers chapter. The chapter members stitched over 200 biscornu for a regional S-A-S that is happening later this month. I was happy I could donate one. I unfortunately was in such a hurry to get it in the mail that I forgot to take a picture. However the pattern I used was Teresa Wentzler's Beginner's White Work freebie stitched in ecru on a coffee colored linen just as it is shown here from her web site.


I started an lap throw for my father this month to practice my newly developing skill in crochet. I took a beginner class in April and decided to make this project with my new skill.

On Memorial Day weekend I also started a new needlepoint project titled Lavender Blue Celtic Quilt by Nancy Buhl from Nancy's Needle. This isn't a great picture but you can see what I accomplished in two days of stitching. I am stitching this on 18 count canvas in a light blue. The fibers are a combination of one # 5 perle cotton and four different Caron Watercolours in shades of blue, green and lavender. It was a wonderful month all around and I am looking forward to seeing what I can accomplish in June.