A Nose Job

I put the nose on the Lady and now she looks like Jimmy Durante!  (You have to be pretty old to get that reference.)  Even from a distance, her nose looks like a brown blob on her face.  I'm going to take it out and use a darker flesh color instead of that brown.

 I still have to put in her mouth.  The front door is done!  Yeah!  I like the gnarled tree behind the Lady.

  I think I can finish the house today.  This is going to be a good top for the small box. After stitching this project, everything else I stitch will look huge and easy.  I want to go back and work on A Case of Indian Ink just to see if that is easier now.  It is over one on 35.

I did the finishing for Needle Nut.  Wow. Isn't it cute?   It looks way smaller now that it is done.  This was a fun project and I got it for free playing bingo at the NG of MN reteat.  Nifty.  Of course I had to buy the threads.

I traced the bug from the Cabinet of Curiosities class on a scrap of 40 count.  I going to find a gold Krenik thread to chain stitch the edge.  The pattern I am imitating calls for "reverse chain stitch".  Why make it harder than it has to be?  Why not regular chain stitch?  I am not decided if I'll try the reverse chain instead of the regular.  It depends on how masochistic I am feeling.

I had another idea.  After looking at the Cartouche for the October Retreat, I thought of designing my own.  I want to take a circle of flowers from the Sajou book I bought and find a scrolly "A" to put in it.  I also have a circle design with needlework tools in it.  That would be cute too.  I have more ideas than time!

It is another beautiful day here.  I wish I could bottle up this day and save it for January.
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Saturday

Saturdays are always busy.  I've been to the Farmer's Market.  I just saw the regular stuff this week although I bought a couple of sweet potatoes.  That's about as wild and crazy as I get.  I've been to Pilates but the teacher was helping someone out in the hall who fainted and she only made it to class half way through. Another student led the class (badly) until she got back.  I stopped at the bakery to get some Italian bread to have toast tomorrow morning.  I've paid the bills.

Well, I made my goal for yesterday of finishing the Lady on the American Sampler.  Boy is it hard to take out stitches on 40 count!  But I think I have her all set.  I measured to see if I have enough room to put in the tree beside her and I think I do.  I want to work on this today and see how far I can get on the house. Oops! I forgot to put in her nose and month.  They are just a backstitch.

I finished the stitching on Needle Nut and now I need to read the finishing directions.  I know I have to backstitch an outline around it.  It would be great to get this put together today.

The mailman still has not brought me my Just Cross Stitch Ornament Magazine.

It is an absolutely beautiful day outside.  This is as good as it gets.
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A Cartouche

 I got my pre-stitching done for the New England Stitchers' Retreat.  Yeah!  I need to iron it and put it in a safe place until I leave which is four weeks from yesterday (but who is counting?!?!).  It will be here before I know it.

Then I worked just a bit on the back side of Needle Nut.  It is going well and I can finish it in not too long.

I would like to get back to working on the American Sampler for the top of the small box.  Thank you Mollymaja for your encouraging words. I was a little discouraged yesterday as I kept making mistakes.  I was off a thread, accidentally over two and had to frog, then I didn't like the silk substitute and changed back to DMC.  I guess my goal for today would be to finish the Lady.  Actually I like to finish the Lady and the house but this stitching on 40 count goes slowly.

I'd like to try my hand at the bug we will be stitching  in the Cabinet of Curiositites class.  Maybe I'll trace it on a scrap of linen and play a little.
I'm hoping my mailman brings me the Just Cross Stitch Ornament Issue today.  It would be very enjoyable to sit in the happy chair and peruse ornaments.  Hog Heaven.
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Idea

My idea was born of tidying up my table.  I had a piece of the American Sampler Chart and I just happened to put it on top of the small box in the Cabinet of Curiosities Kit 1.

The basic elements fit on the top of the box:  the house and the man and the woman.  So I thought, hey, I could stitch this for the top of the small box.  So I measured to see what the stitches per inch were.  Oh boy.  Nineteen stitches per inch.  What is the closest linen count?  Forty count stitched over two.  I thought I would try just a bit of it to see how I liked it.  Since I didn't like the sun and moon piece, I wanted to try something else.  So that's what I did all day yesterday, stitched on 40 count (am I crazy?!?) the piece of American Sampler.  There is a good bit of the sampler that is stitched over one.  Challenging!

So far it looks pretty good.  I was wondering if the over one parts would look okay on 40 count since the original sampler is to be stitched on 25 count.  I was wondering if I could handle over one on 40 count for heaven's sake.  The over one windows look fine.  I am working on the lady (over one!) and so far, so good.  I like the little birds (over one!) above the house.

I had originally intended this piece of the sampler for the top of the flat casket.  It is interesting to stitch this and to see how it is developing.  There are many other pieces of the sampler that would work on other parts of the small box too.

I got the Thistle Threads newsletter late on Tuesday night.  I was thrilled to find that several things I wanted were being offered.  I had always admired the Flowers of the Needle teaching piece and several kits were for sale.  Oh Joy!  So of course I ordered one.  Then there is a Needlework Nibble of a Butterfly Pinpad kit.

  It looks a lot like the project we are going to be doing as the first project in the Cabinet of Curiosities class.

  Since we only had a tracing picture and no idea what technique will be used,  I was very interested to see how this butterfly was stitched.  I kind of wanted to experiment with the design and do it a couple of ways.  Cross stitch it and embroider it to see which way looked best.  It is just a small project so you could do it several times and it wouldn't take forever.
I think I have too many ideas for my lifetime.  That's why I have to hurry and stitch.
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Irony

Did I clean off the bed yesterday as I said I would?  Yes!  I am very proud of myself as I had been meaning to do this for months.  But when I was putting some papers away such an ironic thing happened.  Let me backtrack for a moment.  On Monday I was delighted to get the pre-stitching for the New England Stitcher's Retreat in the mail. The kit was just for the cartouche that will go on the top of the box we are going to make.  The fabric in the kit was labeled as :

  I remembered the description of the project said something about a high count of linen but I know it wasn't 40 count.  So I went back and looked.  It said the linen would be 36 count Examplar.  Hmmm.  Anyway I set off to start the pre-stitching as I love starting something new.  It is a little challenging but going fine.  I am getting more used to 40 count.  I had to graph out my initial and I put that in.  I have about a quarter of the leaves and flowers that surround the initial done.

Then as I was sorting papers yesterday morning that I had out for my Cabinet of Curiosities class, I looked at one and thought "that's what I was stitching last night!"  And it was.  The paper was a print out from an old Sajou book that I got off  of Free Patterns of old Historic Cross Stitch Patterns site .(http://patternmakercharts.blogspot.com/).  So I compared the paper with the pre-stitching chart and, yes, they were the same.  How ironic!

I have been working a bit on Needle Nut and finished the front and am now working on the back.  The back is turning out way neater stitch-wise.  Maybe I am becoming more comfortable stitching on the silk gauze. Or  maybe I know not to try and use too long a strand of Simply Wool.

I got the big red flower done on Cherished Stitches Limited Edition Kit.  It is great to see progress.

Then last night, I got an idea.  I'll tell you about it tomorrow.
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Chubby Charmer

Those people at the Quilt Shop that I took Sue's class at are very clever.  As I walked into the store, there was a fairly large bag just sitting on the counter.  It was an oilcloth bag.  I loved it - and so did a lot of other people.  I ended up buying all the stuff to make it.  Unfortunately they were out of the pattern and the stuff that goes between the lining and the outside fabric but I got everything else.  So many people want to make that bag that the Quilt Shop is going to have a class in how to make it in a couple of weeks.  It was the fabric that first caught my eye.  I loved the colorful patterned fish.

The bag had some umph to it.  It stood up by itself.  I found out that the stuff they use inside it is called Soft and Stable.  It is much stiffer than batting and more polyester- foam like.  The lining was quilted to the Soft and Stable.  I got little blue fishy fabric for the lining.

 I went looking at my local fabric store to see if I could find some Soft and Stable and the bag pattern that is called "Chubby Charmer".  I found "Mini-Charmer" and I found some black Soft and Stable in a smaller size than I need.  I still have a couple more places I can check and the Quilt Shop has ordered more Soft and Stable and Chubby Charmer patterns.

Then I was thinking about how to finish the oilcloth bag I sewed together last week.  I went back and read the directions (always a good idea) and thought about putting some batting in the bag to give it more body.  I decided to use some iron on batting.  I also looked to see if I had some plexiglass to cut a square to fit in the bottom.  I added plexiglass to the bottom and ironed on batting to the lining.  It is almost finished.  I just have to sew the lining and outside together and attach the handles.  I want to use this bag for going to the Farmer's Market on Saturdays.

My goal for today is to clean off the extra bed in the computer room.  Every flat surface in this house is in danger of me piling junk on it.  It is a constant battle to keep things looking tidy.  The bed has stuff on it that has been there for over a year.

  Enough is enough!  I am going to clean it up today!!!

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Crafting With Sue

I had great fun yesterday going to the Sue Spargo class.  It was a great time to drive an hour north.  Sunday morning there is no traffic.  I got there with Google directions, no problem.  When I went into the classroom the front was full of Sue Spargo stuff like she has for sale on her website.

Sorry the pictures aren't great.  But there was a lot of good stuff to choose from.  I loved seeing all the threads.  I didn't know Thread Gatherer made so many different threads. Sea Grass?  Overdyed pearls? Chenille?  Sue's favorite thread is Valdani pearl #8.  I have a thing for thread anyway.  This is some of my stash enhancement:

There were tons of overdyed wools and velvets.  Many of Sue's kits were there.  Just lots of nifty stuff.  So I shopped a bit and got some fun stuff.

Sue had many of her quilts on display.  It was great to see them in person. I had seen many of them on her website but they are more impressive in person.

We got some more parts to our bird kit: lining fabric, wool for needle pages, labels and pearl cotton.  What was missing were the written instructions.  So through all of our class time, Sue would tell us what to do next.  It was nice to see the completed piece as we opted for this class without knowing what we were going to be making just that it was a needle book.

 The first step was to backstitch around our bird using a chenille needle.  I didn't have a chenille needle with me but Mary, who sat next to me gave me one.  It would have been nice to have one in our kit, but whatever.  I know how to backstitch so that went well.  Trying to get the stitches even is a trick as the stitch turns out smaller than you think.  The material is kind of squished together with each stitch.  But this is a folk art style so it is not supposed to look perfectly even.

 We used the back stitches and turned it into a Pekinese stitch.  It makes an interesting woven edge.   Then we put some french knots on the legs.

 No big deal, I know how to do french knots.  Then came the eye and bullions.

  I'm not as good with bullions.  Barbara Jackson taught me how to do bullions and they aren't too hard.  Actually, with just a couple of hints, it's easy.  Using pearl cotton makes it even easier.  Also, using a milliner needle makes it easier as well.  The lady across the table, Amy, gave me one of her milliner needles.  (Again, it would have been nice to have a milliner needle in the kit.)  I don't really like the yellow eye, looks like he's been eating too much curry.  The next stitch Sue taught us was the drizzle stitch.

 It is a variation of the cast on stitch.  They are the on his tail.  Then we had lunch.  I was hoping they weren't just going to have a big salad, as I can't eat salad.  I actually was hoping they would get the pick two lunch boxes at Panera.  But some guy made hamburgers.  They were good and there was potato salad and slaw as well.  Then they had cake and ice cream for dessert.  That was outstanding.
So in the afternoon, we concentrated on the eight circles that added texture to the bird body.  Each circle was a different stitch.  I learned how to do a double cast on.  I did some familiar stitches:  spider web rose, whipped rose, bullion rose, pistol stitch and fly stitch.  I was amazed that I am almost done.  Lastly, we wove the bird's beak.  I was so happy with how it turned out.  I thought it would be harder than it was.  At then end of the day, Sue explained how to put the needle book together.

Sue has a new book coming out soon.  I put my name on the list.  She is very talented.  She can take six wool circles and embellish them and put them on a small bag and it is darling.

I had a really good time.  I just love making stuff.  It was good to learn some new stitches.  I'm afraid I still think the bird is ugly and I hate the colors and fabric for lining it.  The needlebook is way bigger that I would like.  After the teeny tiny things I made in the Merry Cox classes, this seems huge.  It is surprising to hear that Sue has only been embroidering for eight years.  I got to see some of the things Sue taught in past years.  Very interesting.

This is Sue signing one of her books.

I had a great time and wish I could go to classes everyday.  But then I wouldn't get anything done!
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