A Little More Stitching

I'm still trying to figure out what I want to try for a bigger project, but meanwhile here's what I've been doing. I put a border around the peacock, which I think makes it look more interesting. Now I just have to try the pillow finish. Carol R. has sent me excellent directions and now it is up to me.

And I've picked up Schoolgirl Lessons again. This is the perfect easy stitch for an anxious stitcher like me. I'm trying hard to avoid making mistakes, because the floss leaves a pinkish tinge whenever it is frogged out. We are traveling to New Jersey for Thanksgiving next week and I'll take my little schoolgirl along for some turkey.

In thinking about trying something more advanced, I've got questions as always. Does anyone have any advice about keeping control when you have a lot of different floss to use in a project? This is baffling me at the moment. It's one thing to keep the floss in bags or rings with floss tags at the start, but what happens once you start cutting the floss and are in the process of using different colors? How do you keep it all straight? Once you start unwinding a skein of floss it isn't easy to keep it neat when you are cutting lengths to use, and multiplying by several colors just winds up in a mess, at least at my house! I am interested in learning about your systems - there must be a better way to do it than living in floss chaos (hmmm, Floss Chaos - another name for a blog for me!)

Missing in (non) Action

Hello everyone - remember me? It's been a long time since I've visited with any of you. I'm sorry to have been so quiet but I haven't had much to show for my silence. Here's my little fox - it still needs backstitched grass, but the leaves are all done. I really enjoyed working on him - now he needs to be turned into something so I can keep him around while I stitch.

I bought a pair of those DMC marbleized scissors and stitched a small peacock (from the Gift of Stitching Historical Sampler series) to go with it. It was supposed to be a scissor fob but it's a bit too big, so I need to make a little pyn pillow. I've never made one and have to figure out how to measure properly so my pillow doesn't turn out lopsided - any suggestions? I don't exactly know how to start. I think I need to start a new blog called Fear of Finishing - no similarity to another well-known blog intended ;--) Couldn't one of you magically transport yourself to my house, and show me how to do it? I promise I'll feed you well...

French Knots (Sort of)

Tonight I decided to tackle the dreaded French knot again. I used the tutorial that Carol pointed me to (thank you, Carol!) and after many false starts I came up with this:

They aren't the most beautiful French knots in the world, but at least now I can say I made one! It took awhile before I realized I shouldn't pull too hard when finishing the knot or it would go right through the fabric. One thing I haven't figured out is how you are supposed to start a knot if you aren't bringing the thread from another stitch; when the knot is actually where you first start using the thread. I had to make a loop start first, then I moved over to make the French knot. I'm not sure I am making any sense here - I think what I am asking is can you start a French knot when you start using your floss, and if so, how do you secure it so it doesn't just pull through and out the other side of the fabric?

I should have practiced more before I tried to make knots for eyes on this little freebie I am making. I ended up doing several knots in the same place, so his eyes look rather bulgy. I may take them out and try again, but at least he isn't blind! I think this chart comes from this blog - the design says it's copyrighted by Kirsten Schmidt, but I can't find the chart there. I hope I am attributing it correctly. I just fell in love with this little guy!

A new discovery to me is a blog called Stitching Bloggers Links, which I read about on Independent Needlework News. I was pleasantly shocked to find that my blog is listed there; it's still hard to believe that I am considered part of this great community of wonderful stitchers. As I try to navigate this hobby and get better at it I so much appreciate all the support I get. There is so much inspiration out there and it makes me want to keep trying and not give up!

Teacher Gift Framed

Here's the framed version of the gift for my son's teacher. Thanks again to Tanya for the wonderful chart.DS has a new teacher now - he just started third grade. So far she seems nice; we'll see if she merits one of these at the end of the year. DS's first week was a bit dramatic - I got called to the school because he had a fever of 103. Of course this call came in while I was on my way to my haircut and color appointment, which was already three weeks beyond when it should have been. And my hairdresser was going on vacation the next day. So now I look kind of like Medusa, with my hair all over the place. At least there aren't snakes coming out of my head (yet).

Right now I'm working on a little freebie that should be finished soon, and I am trying to talk myself into giving a floss tag a try. Carol got the greatest looking device for putting in the eyelets. I was thinking of giving the one sold at Joann's a try - has anyone used it? The idea of putting a hole in my stitching scares the dickens out of me, but then so did making a needleroll, and I managed to handle that okay.

I have been reading all the Me, Myself and I RR plans with pleasure. Being a contractor isn't something I'm quite ready for, but it's such fun to go to open houses! I have a great old book by Dorothy Rodgers (wife of Richard Rodgers of Rodgers and Hammerstein fame, and mother of the woman who wrote Freaky Friday) called The House in My Head. She kept a kind of journal as she planned and built her dream house. I can't help but think of that book when I read the planning blogs. If I were to design one, I'd model it after a town near the border of Wales called Shrewsbury (are there any Brother Cadfael fans here?), where DH and I spent a wonderful trip over Thanksgiving one year. It has a castle, a narrow windy street called Grope Lane, a Tudor-style B&B where we stayed, and a friendly, non-smoking pub. I'm still too new at stitching to take on a project of this magnitude, but I'll be dreaming and scheming along with the rest of you in spirit!

French Knots (Not)

I finished Our Souls Entwine in the nick of time; my husband's birthday is Wednesday. The only thing I tried to change was instead of making cross stitches for the birds' eyes, I wanted to make French knots. Unfortunately my attempts to perform this feat led to abject failure. I looked online for instructions and even though I found plenty of references, I couldn't figure out how to hold the thread properly. The pictures usually only showed one hand holding the thread but not both hands, and I was all fumble fingers. I also wasn't sure how many strands of floss to use - the instructions kept telling me to "wrap my floss around the needle" but not how much of it would make the knot correctly. If anyone can point me to "French Knots for Dummies" or some such, I would be forever grateful.

Meanwhile I finagled with cross stitches so the eyes look a little more substantial than Xs. Just Xs made it look kind of like the birds were supposed to be dead! Not a very romantic thought for a birthday present to one's DH.

Our Souls Entwine
Brightneedle
R & R Reproductions (Parched Bone)
Weeks Dye Works and DMC

The frame looks perfect, doesn't it? Well, don't look too close. It's just a regular picture frame, so the excess fabric is too thick to lace at the back of the stitching. I took the picture by hiding the fabric behind the frame. That's the way DH will get it, with my promise to have it framed properly one of these days!

So now I am project-less, not counting UFOs Gingerbread Cottage and Schoolgirl Lessons, neither of which are calling to me at the moment. I've been looking for a chart that I can use to make a floss tag for the MFC, and I really want to start something with which I can start to master color changes. I love LHN and the like, but I want to conquer my fear of something more complicated. I found a chart in a British cross-stitching magazine that I might try - a country house with a garden in front. But for this I'll need a trip to the LNS for the linen. You all seem to have endless stashes of beautiful linen - do you order it online? I have been getting it project by project but it would be wonderful to have a small store of it. So much linen, so little money... Off to look for a floss tag chart - see you soon!

Blogger did it again!

I clicked the wrong thing and Blogger ate my post. Again. Don't they allow room for dumb mistakes? Not that I had said anything earthshattering, of course - merely a brief travelogue of my vacation to Cape Cod, where I got some stitching but no blogging done. I'm about 3/4 finished with Our Souls Entwine from Brightneedle; I don't even have to hide it from DH as he pays no attention to what I'm stitching. And shortly before I left I finished my scissor fob for the MFC, a little angel I gave to my relative who is undergoing chemotherapy - I figured she could use an angel to watch over her. Before I go after the pictures, I'm saving this paragraph. I know Blogger, I bet it's still hungry...

Angel
28 Count Platinum Linen
Crescent Colours Ruby Slippers Floss
Freebie from Casa Mia

The little heart was taken from Tanya's teacher gift I made, which is still not back from the framer. I forgot to take pictures with scissors before I gave it away.

Okay, I think I'm safely through this post (she says anxiously). I'm off to publish it before Blogger changes its mind and nabs me again!

I know how Sally Field felt...

when she won her second Academy Award and said "they like me, they really like me!" Jennifer honored me by naming my blog a Brillante Weblog. Her post about the awards floating around our community was like a gift in its wisdom and thoughtfulness. Sometimes it can feel a little funny to be selecting particular blogs to highlight, for fear that others will be hurt. But Jennifer really makes a case for the positive nature of these awards. To a new blogger like me they are really meaningful, and they also do serve to introduce many of us to blogs we might not otherwise have found. I love seeing blog lists and finding new stitchers to be inspired by. So I am gladly following the rules:

1. Put the logo on your blog;
2. Add a link to the person who awarded you;
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs;
4. Add links to those blogs on yours;
5. Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs.

I would like to give this award to:

Carol at Linen Stitcher - for her amusing posts about her neighborhood (we need an update on the soap opera!)
Carol R. at iStitchaholic - for all of her stitching and also for her reports on her lovely flowers (how's the eggling?)
Lisa at Me My Needle and I - for her color choices that just glow
Nicole at Carolina Dreams - for her prolific output and all her LHN finishes that I love to see
Ranae at The Needle and I - for her adorable Halloween stitching
Tanya at At the Honeysuckle Tree - for her creativity and her delightful posts about her children
Vonna at The Twisted Stitcher - for her beautiful finishing and for being herself

I hope you all have fun with this - I did!

In other news, I've just gotten back from Pennsylvania Dutch country. Most of my family got together and stayed on a farm where our kids could learn how to milk cows, feed calves, and collect eggs. It was a wonderful trip! And you haven't lived until you have seen Amish people shopping at WalMart. They drive their horses and buggies there, since they can't use cars. Just another reminder that people are like each other than they are different.

I got a little bit of stitching done, and taught my eight year old niece how to do simple cross stitch - I hope she gets the bug! My husband's birthday is in September, and I started this for him, sitting at the kitchen table on the farm. Stitching and looking out over green cornfields - 'twas bliss!