What I’m working on, crafty wise

So, I am totally frustrated and aggravated. Blogger/Google won’t let me put pictures into my posts. The Help site is equally totally useless- it doesn’t even offer my problem as a choice. So, I can’t, for now, share all my crafty projects other than verbally. 😡

I have been doing nothing but crochet, and a little loom knitting, since the spring. Crochet was my first textile craft- my Gran taught me the summer I was 10. That was a couple years after my first scrapbook, which I made at 8- so, this crafty thing is not new to me. I decided that I was going to do cross stitching and applique after the first of the year. Then, suddenly and shockingly, my old friend of many years, Martina Rosenberg, died.

 Martina was a member of an “elite” group- a small bunch of crazy ladies who “met” every night in the early days of the Internet in a chat room called #Stitch. We were drawn together by cross stitch and many other types of textile art, and shared not only our stitching, but everything. Today, 20+ years later, we are all still special to one another. 

Martina took the plunge into becoming a Needlework designer. If I showed someone today the cute little penguins that started her career, they’d have a hard time believing that they were the product of the internationally known and loved designer “Chatelaine”. Martina grew into one of the most admired designers in the industry, producing charts that create absolute masterpieces of art in thread. You can see her work at www.chatelaine.de

 So, I will be starting my first large Chatelaine. I’ve been collecting them for years,  ut never got around to actually stitching one. I am starting with her magnificent Hawaii Garden, which is a monster- 26 x 26 inches, with several hundred dollars worth of silks and beads. It will probably take me years, but I am starting now, in memory of Martina. Many of us from Martina’s Facebook Page are doing that, so we will all be sharing our progress.

I also joined a sub-group on one of my Facebook stitching groups, to commit to completing some old WIPs (stitch speak for works in progress). I can’t say here what I’ll be working on, but I am anxious to get these 2projects done. It will be nice to have encouragement and accountability. 

I do have one crochet project to complete before I put the yarn away. My niece is expecting her first child, who will also be the first child in my family for that generation. So, I’m working on a baby Afghan, a 10 point star using a really pretty Caron cake. 

When I finally solve this new picture issue, I’ll share pictures of what I’m working on. Until then, we’ll, you just have to use your imagination.