Articles by Carol Harper

After all that progress last week, I backslid this week. There was quilt guild on Thursday night and another computer glitch (and long telephone conference with Apple Care: upgrades to the operating system aren’t agreeing with my laptop, for some reason) on Monday and just general mailaise the rest of the week… In all, I stitched only one day and made little progress: just a thin strip of outlines along the tops of page four of the pattern… It's been snowing but, luckily, we seem to be eith…

Got a little sidetracked this week, and ended up spending an entire stitching session ripping out a massive mistake in the lower right corner (I really have issues with multiple pages sometimes, matching up pages with each other, and in this case, I was a whole ten stitches off! AAACL!). Anyway, I did manage to complete the top half of the outline, all of page 6 and a part of page five (until the ripping started…) in “Rematch” of the “Roll Your Own Mandala” series: Quilt guild meets tonig…

I pushed myself but I did it --- got back into the groove and stitched every night on the outline for "Rematch", the eights in the series of mandalas in the "Roll Your Own" series by Tracy Horner. And I have finished on page (of six) in the pattern and nearly finished two more! Since I am opting out of doing Crazy Quilt Journal Project and Bead Journal Project for this year, there we no other stitchery pieces competing for my time so I'm feeling pretty good about the completion time for "…

I pretty much wrapped up the year in my WIPocalypse report for December, but I have made a little progress since. I feel like I am a broken record because, in December 2014, I said "Like in 2012, I'm not that happy with my completion rate for 2013". There was a list of fifteen completed projects and/or classes for 2013; and a list of eleven in 2014! Well, If I wasn't happy then, I am miserable now because completed even less in 2015. I blame it on road trips, a protracted sinus infection…

A completion to celebrate the end of 2015! Well, part of one, anyway! I finished "Revenge": and here is how the "Roll Your Own" Mandalas look today: Other than that, Christmas day at brother-in-law's and then again on Sunday (for the other two in-law families who were in town for the day), lunch with the widow of one of husband's dear friends, and an eye-appointment on New Year's Eve (which is why I'm late with this check-in) took up my week. Not a great year for stitching (see…

The final WIPocalypse post of the year has the theme "Recap your accomplishments for the year! " This will be easy because this is one of the least productive stitchery years I have had in ages. Travel, a series of nasty respiratory infections and just general malaise pretty much dominated... At the end of 2014, I set the following goal: "I hope to make 2015 a year of catching up and maybe even re-organizing my crafting space (which is currently a hot mess!). So my stitching goals are to f…

Only two stitching days since reporting in for International Hermit and Stitch Weekend, but I am on the last color *number 12!) for “Revenge”! So it’s looking good for having this part of “Roll Your Own” completed in 2015. Only two more mandalas to go! Now the question is, in 2016, do I try to finish “Roll Your Own” or do I switch back to “Save the Stitches” and try to make some progress on that one. I do know for certain I will not be joining either the Crazy Quilt Journaling Proje…

Happy first day of winter! I finally got back to stitching on "Revenge" after completing my last block for the 2015 combined Crazy Quilt Journal and Bead Journal Projects! I finished color #10 (of 12) and started #11! Christmas holidays will be getting in the way of completing this mandala, I'm afraid, (although it does look like it would be doable otherwise): Christmas dinner and gift exchange at one brother-in-law's on Friday (which means cooking Wednesday night and shopping for food…

This week was pretty much dominated by gatherings (meet the new coach, quilt guild holiday brunch, University President's holiday reception, lunch with my two best friends) and decorating the tree. No pictures for the gatherings but here is the tree, before and after ornaments: Our first ever purpose-build artificial tree (we've made do the past decade with a tree meant for outside decor). The only stitching I did was on my Crazy Quilt/Bead Journal block. I finally finishe…

I decided this week to try to get my December Crazy Quilt/Bead Journal block finished. I was slowed down by holiday prep and gatherings but I did manage to get all (or most of --- I haven't decided yet) the seam treatments done. Here it is, hooped and ready for beads and buttons:

While I kitted up my December Crazy Quilt/Bead Journal Project block, I didn't actually do any stitching on it. I did, however, finish a few fill colors on "Revenge", the seventh of the "Roll Your Own Mandalas". I now have a small amount (maybe 25%) of color nine (of twelve) stitched... What else was accomplished? Well, Thanksgiving dinner as at brother-in-laws. I was sou-chef to husbands chef as he made four pumpkin pies and two casseroles of oyster dressing to contribute to the meal…

After reporting in on WIPocalypse, I managed one more night of stitching on "Revenge" and completed color seven (of twelve): I composed this in the morning with Thanksgiving dinner next on the agenda... dressing was in the oven, pies were done and we needed to get our act together if we were gong to be at brother-in-law's by noon! After stuffing ourselves on a traditional menu, we came home and went to bed! Three hours later, I'm awake, groggy but awake, and neither husband nor I wish to…

This month's Topic: Which designer has inspired you to stitch the greatest number of designs and why do you think that is? This is a hard one since I "collect" a lot of designers but don't really stitch a lot of them. For example, I have ALL of the little black cats from Calico Crossroads but haven't stitched a one (choices are harder when there are so many!). I do have a few Michael Powell designs stitched - maybe two or three are framed and have won ribbons in our county fair (and I o…

This was the weekend for staying in and stitching. Football on television, snow on Sunday --- what better excuses, right? But for some reason, I had trouble motivating and didn't stitch every day, so my progress is miniscule. I worked at color #5 (of 12) on "Revenge", the seventh of the "Roll Your Own Mandalas". It is almost done --- I'd estimate a little less than 50% complete:

Another mixed week... a football game with our arch-rival Tuesday night (which we lost, AGAIN, sixth year in a row! And we have - had? - the best quarterback in the country and one of the ten best receivers as well! Well, we did. QB threw two interceptions and fumbled once; receiver caught only three passes for a total of only 32 yards...). If it hadn't been for the other receiver (two phenomenal one-handed passes in the end zone for touchdowns), the score would have been even more lopsided tha…

I can't believe it but I actually stitched this week and I'm making some progress on "Revenge"! I am on color three of twelve: I also have a completion to report: my Crazy Quilt /Bead Journal Project block for November. LOts of leaves, falling and otherwise, seem to be what is characterizing this warmer-than-usual, but windy, November. Also, it seems to be darker this month, mainly due to longer nights, but also to overcast skies. So my block is darker than the rest of the quilt blocks ha…

That pesky cold is back again, along with a sprained lower back… Yesterday morning was husband’s high school class monthly breakfast so we had to get up early to get there. And then there was last night — a night football game, kick-off at 8PM. It was televised so each 15 minute quarter lasted an hour (we finally gave up and left at 11 PM, end of the third quarter, when our team was leading 48 - 17). It was warm for November (70 at kickoff) and the President’s Suite was crowded with people…

What a difference two days makes in stitching. despite a new bout of ripping out (upper left corner this time), I FINISHED the outline for "Revenge" late last night! I even managed to put in a few more stitches on the outline for "Rematch" (I had some black stands left and didn't want to mess with them tangling in my project bag): Here is what "Roll Your Own" looks like as of October 28, 2015: Now, on to color! YAY!