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Hilary Metcalf of Textileplay has posted a tutorial on how to import the colour scheme into photoshop in order to develop a design.

Another reader suggested that DMC colours should be posted with the colour scheme if anyone wants to blog this feel free. Leave a comment and I will happily link to yo.

Someone else dropped me an email about font size on this blog which I have no control over but I will tell you a tip:

On a PC hold down the control (Ctrl) key and press +  to increase the font size on your screen
Ctrl - decreases font size
Ctrl 0 returns font size to normal

On a Mac you use the Command key to do the same thing key. The command key is the key with the small apple icon on it
Command +  increases font size
Command - decreases font size
Command 0 returns font size to normal

On with the declaration of UFO’s and Wisps 

I have always divided projects into UFOs (Un-Finished Objects) and WISPs (Works in Slow Progress). For me a UFO is something that you have not touched in 12 months or more. In my clean out I did find some UFOs

UFO 1: This is a hand pieced scrap quilt I started over 20 years ago. What happened to make me stop working on it? I discovered crazy quilting! I think it is worth finishing if only because there is so much hand work in it already! As you can see most of the middle is done and I was going to have a large surround in the half hexagon pattern. The Stars I think were going to be the outer edge before a border. Either that or they are another quilt which I have totally forgotten about.

UFO 2: The next UFO is this historical sampler “Band of many colours” designed by Eileen Bennett. It is on such fine linen that it is now a killer on the eyes. As much as I love the design as I explained in this post I have real trouble just following a pattern. It’s not that I can’t follow a pattern it’s just that I always want to change things. I don’t know why I do it but it is something I do. I always get a little way into a project someone else has designed and invariably have to change it. So I might half follow along for a while then add some designs from Linn Skinner’s books which I wrote about in the same post and add other elements as my fancy takes me. Its he only way it will get done!

UFO 3: This is a cover for a file. It is a cross stitch design that I am making up along the way. I know I had plans for the middle and these are probably note in visual journal somewhere but like doing canvas stitches on linen. I think it will become a bit of an experiment with stitches and although the fabric is Lynda I will probably move away from cross stitch and work some canvas stitches in the middle. I will dig back through my visual journals however as I seem to remember I was mad keen on Roman Mosaics when I started this.

Those are the only UFOs I have. I was emailed asking how do I organize my UFOs. Well to be honest I don’t organise them as such as I don’t have many. I find if something is in my face I do it. So the things that I am working on go on the wall in front of my desk. If there is too much stuff on there then its time to get finishing!

This is what the wall looks like today.

WISPs

Many readers think that my WISPs are just another term for UFOs but they are not in my mind as some things just take a long time to stitch while others languish forgotten. Often a WISP is simply a slow cloth I think if you have worked on something in the last 12 months it is not yet a UFO but something that is picked up and put down at various times.

WISP 1: This project is a good example of what I mean. I started this sampler when I was writing the Sumptuous Surfaces class. The shell section is one of the samples I used to illustrate some points in the class. Now I wrote this class in July/August last year and have not finished the sampler but I know I will at 6 months old for me it is not a yet a UFO just a slow finish.

WISP 2: The other sample I have on the go is a small one of odd stitches and patterns I wanted to try out. I use these odd samplers to experiment. They are more doodle cloths than anything else. When I see or think of a stitch that I want to try I simply add a row. They are not designed samplers as such but simply grow with time and I use them to refer to when I am short on ideas. As items they are more about process than a finished sample. As you can see there is not too much more area to cover so it will be finished soon.

WISP/Current project 3 and 4: As you can perhaps already tell I rotate projects picking up things as I feel like working on them or if I am writing lessons I put down my personal projects and work on items I need to use to illustrate various design points made in classes. In many ways this sort of stitching falls under the category of ‘required to do’ These are two samples that I have been stitching for a class on colour theory applied to embroidery. They don’t look very interesting but they are in my ‘required to do’ pile. The first is a colour wheel I am stitching.

The second is a grid I am working on mixing colours with thread.

WISP 5: The biggest WISP of all is this series of diamond shaped blocks which I first spoke about in 2006! I actually wrote about the it back in April but I have done a few more since then and as you can see in the photo of my desk areas I have 5 diamond blocks on my wall that are embroidered, but are waiting to be beaded and have buttons etc added to them.

I have been working on these just not blogging about it. I must admit to feel very frustrated about this project as I had wanted to get this quilt done by now. Last year it felt as if every time I had some time to stitch on this project something came along to prevent me. This was just a feeling it does not necessarily mean it was so but sometimes subjectivity takes over! It just felt that way. Last year I had life throw me a few curlies, which is probably the reason for the frustration and feeling the need to start the year with a good clean out.

This is how the quilt will be set. As you can see all the blocks are pieced and I have worked on good few I want to complete it this year.

WISP 6: Of course I have the charm quilt on the go. Since this project is hand pieced it will probably take me years to do but I am quite happy to let it be that way. Since I started it late November and last wrote about it on the December 14 last year I feel it is simply something that is in slow progress … it will take its own time to be made as it is a slow cloth.

Other Projects:
As I have explained before I sit down about once a year and go on a crazy patchwork piecing a binge. This means that I always have a block to work on. The basket that contains these blocks regularly goes up and down. I don’t see them as UFO’s as I eventually work through them as I pick them over. When I get sick of them its time for another piecing binge.

I have a number of 8 inch blocks that are worked and embellished which I was going to turn into a quilt but I have been turning them into teaching samples. There are some on wall in the image of my desk area, in the image above in the top right hand corner. These are finished I just have them up on the all at the moment and I thought you might like to know what happens to those 8 inch blocks I post from time to time.

I have another stack of pieced blocks which will either be teaching samples like these or I might assemble them into a quilt I am not sure yet. I don’t feel particularly pressured about them and am quite happy to pick some more up and stitch them adding to pile.

Every now and them I feel like breaking out and working a really bright block in jewel tones which I do. These are of all sorts of sizes and as they accumulate I think may I piece them together in a larger quilt. As you can see they are blocks of different sizes but it might make an interesting talking point if nothing else. Once again I think of them as teaching samples so am not too worried about them. I am happy to just keep adding to them as the mood for a different and brighter colour scheme strikes me and then when it feels right turn them into something ‘finished’. The the process will probably start all over again.

The other thing I pick up and put down is scrumbling or freeform crochet. These scrumbles will eventually be made up into a jacket of some sort (I think) basically when the weather turns cool I like to vary things a bit with a crochet hook but not in heat wave conditions in an Aussie summer!



I do have some other sewing tasks. Last month I cut out some shirts that I need for work. Christmas meant they were put to one side. I have 3 cut out waiting to be made up. I also have a denim jacket half made. I won’t be blogging this sort of stuff as I think people will find it boring. I can’t believe that anyone would find this at all of interest but I do quite a bit of sewing one way and another.

In the Future:
I am sure there are those with longer lists and those who have shorter lists but that is mine for the moment. I hope to clear the decks of these and then start a few projects. There are three large projects that have been brewing away in my visual journals for years and have yet to be realised. Briefly there is a particular quilt I want to start and I will talk about that when I actually start it.

The second project I have actually started as I thought of during the 100 details for 100 days challenge. I thought it would be fun to produce a CD of 1001 stitch combinations and embellishments for Crazy Quilters with how to work the stitch combinations clearly described with photographs illustrating them. I figured I could make a play on 1001 nights. I am sure people would like it and I have been working on the idea on and off for a little while now. In fact it was another point of frustration for me last year. I have not been blogging this as I am thinking in terms of selling a CD but a few teasers might appear here as I get closer to the finish line.

The third large project is that I want to document more of the stitches I have collected, get them online or perhaps put them out as a CD. In reality this project might have to wait until next year as if I achieve what I want to this year I think this is really pushing it time wise. Particularly since I have taken on more responsibilities at work but I will see how things pan out.

Through out the year there is bound to be some embarrassing confessions from the stash. Is there anyone else doing this sort of thing? Are you setting goals this year of working projects, de-cluttering and clearing the stash? Leave a comment and let me know. It might be fun to watch each other.