Royal Wedding and Needlework

I set my recorders last night for the Royal Weddings, BBC, ABC and NBC; but I still got up this morning at 4:00AM to watch. I woke up, knew if I didn’t get up I would kick myself so I got up. I really enjoyed every moment and wish the BBC would have kept the entire day “live.”  The Royal Wedding has its own webpage (http://www.officialroyalwedding2011.org/tag/homepage/page/1 ).

And in case you have not heard, the Royal School of Needlework (http://www.royal-needlework.org.uk/ assisted Sarah Burton from Alexander McQueen in making the Catherine’s wedding dress design become a dream come true. (http://www.officialroyalwedding2011.org/blog/2011/April/29/The-Wedding-Dress–Bridesmaids–Dresses-and-Pages–Uniforms ) .

I did a bit of stitching today…the first I’ve done since the carrots.  I basted the areas for a design I am going to teach for my guild next year. Each square is individually basted so I can remove the basting before stitching the area. I have not set in stone what I am doing in each square nor the center yet but I have several ideas I am working through. I want very little if any compensation; I think it is much easier to understand a new technique if compensation is kept to a minimum.  I have never been fond of the word teach, it always makes me think of someone who has more knowledge than someone else; AND trust me there are many stitchers who have forgotten more than I am ever going to learn. But I am going to share what I have learned by reading, studying, and practicing a brief study of pattern couching.  I am using the following books for this study, but would appreciate any other suggestions anyone might have:

Jean Taggert; Laid Fillings for evenweave fabrics

Jane Zimmerman; Traditional Silk and Metal Thread Techniques on Canvas

Jane Lemon; Metal Thread Embroidery

I don’t stitch Christmas stockings, but I have a friend who has stitched about 20 or so stockings for her family over the past 15 years. I’m just putting this one on a scroll frame for her. I think this will be a good project for this afternoon as I see a nap in my future.

Recipe for Finishing Carrots

Take 30 carrots (10 designs stitched 3 times each). Originally intended for cross stitch from Vicki Hastings , The Cricket Collection( http://www.cecricket.com/catalog21.html ) and I adapted them to needlepoint using 18 count orange canvas.

60 pieces of illustration board (front and back): Cut out, identified (number and or arrows pointing to top) , and trimmed. I try to get both illustration boards to be identical as possible; these are probably the most important yet boring steps in preparing the boards for finishing. The more time you take preparing the basics the easier the rest of the finishing becomes.

  

Cut 60 pieces of quilt batting slightly smaller than the illustration board and attach with glue to bright side of each board. Yes I said glue, I use it. These pieces are going to my grandchildren, not the Smithsonian. They will probably last my lifetime and maybe even one of my grandchildren will have one or two to share with their children but adding glue will not destroy them next week or in a lifetime.

Next I added white material to 30 front side pieces; clip the curves and pull snugly around illustration board, taking care not to distort the boards.  The batting and lining are optional finishing steps but I like the padding and thought the lining was necessary since I did not have a background stitch on the canvases.

I finished 30 pieces with the backing fabric; clip and snugly fitting these also.

Then I carefully centered the needlepoint to front side of pieces with lining…clipping and wrapping boards snugly being careful not to buckle boards.

I allowed all these pieces to set and dry… but when you’re working on 30 ornaments at a time, by the time you get to #30, #1 will be set and dry enough.  I matched the fronts to the backs…remember the numbering I did in the beginning…this is when it pays off especially when you have 30 ornaments all alike! Also at this time take time to make the cording and cut the ribbons.

Next steps are best completed one at a time. Apply glue to both sides of the ornament pair, place ribbons on one side of the ornament and place both sides together. At this time I also applied the cording around each ornament and set aside to dry. I place these ornaments between wax paper with a phone book placed on top to help set them.

After all the ornaments were completed and I recovered from sitting days and hours I tied a bow with one set of ribbons and with the second smaller satin ribbon tied each ornament on the trees with another bow.

Placed Easter eggs and bunny candy around the bases (it was cold and rainy, so no egg hunt at our house this year) and waited for the Grandkids to arrive.

Finishing may not be a four letter word but it could be. BUT…Every time I take on these monumental tasks, it reminds me of how much I really appreciate Finishers.  Yes, Finishers with a capital “F”, because they really do deserve a title and our accolades. So next time you think the cost of finishing is high, remember it took me a 4-5 days working 6-8 hours a day to complete 30 ornaments. AND these ornaments were all the same so I could do each step while your finisher probably is doing one ornament at a time, and even if she is doing 30 round ornaments each will be a bit different. So Finishers of Needlework in the world, you deserve a thank you note every time we pick up a finished piece of needlework. You have made our needlework into a finished piece of art. So from me to all you beautiful, wonderful, talented Finishers of Needlework in the world…

THANK YOU!

Hope everyone has time to stitch today! Me? I’m still recovering from Easter and just reading and resting. ttfn…sue

Bunny and Carrots

As my Grandmother would say, “Oh Shaw”, I might use another term but since this is open to the world we will stick to Grandma’s terminology. But “Oh Shaw,” I went by the shop the other day to pick up Mr. Bunny and to get the perle cotton for the carrots. …Got the bunny but forgot the perle cotton! Went back Saturday because I didn’t it would have been Tuesday before I could go again. I hate it when I have these senior moments and the worst part about it was when I was there the first time I thought about the perle cotton. The shop had customers and they were using the DMC thread chart so I waited; …waited it right out of my mind!  

Mr. Bunny is so-o-o cute with his wired ears. He is a Brenda Stofft bunny and way back in February when I started him (http://sudukc.wordpress.com/2011/02/07/bunny-one-bunny-two/ ). Brenda gave me permission to show the canvas and she still paints him in brown and white but will do black and white. Brenda, I hope you think my Mr. Bunny is as cute as I do; his fellow bunnies have welcomed him to the brood with twitching ears and tails. I think the small bunny to the right of him is his cousin…Brenda painted him too but he spoke to me many years ago and I’ve had him stitched for some time. They have the same turkey tuff tail, so they must be cousins!  I’ve had Mr. Bunny canvas a long time but he was worth the wait, wired ears and all.

I am still stitching carrots, hope I get done! As I have been stitching I realized that the finishing will also be a monumental undertaking, another one of those I am glad I do not do this all the time and how much I love finishers moments. As the canvases mount up, I took a mind looking inventory: 10 ornaments per set; 2 piece of illustration board cut per ornament equals 20 cut carrots; time 3 sets equals’ 60 cut cardboard pieces. Um-m-m maybe I better start marking and cutting…stitching…cutting…cutting…stitching. Have the perle cotton for the cording and the ribbon for the hangers (stash is good.) I’m going to use green ribbon for the hangers, so that you can tie them on the tree.

So needless to say, you probably will not be hearing from me the rest of this week… I’m down to the last three designs and I may have to finish two sets and leave third for later. I will be stitching, finishing, finishing, stitching, finishing, finishing, and then cooking.

Hope everyone has time to stitch today and the rest of the week, I know I will!

ttfn…sue

CBS visits Royal School of Needlework

I always like to watch Sunday Morning, just for the different suns they show. I wish CBS would publish a book of them…they could donate the money to different charities

But in case you missed this morning: The sun was a poor example of stitching especially since they were talking to the Royal School of Needlework…had they asked I would have whipped one up.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7363014n&tag=contentMain;contentBody

Thought the whole segment was interesting. My favorite part…The robe for Queen Elizabeth’s Coronation has 18 kinds of gold and the women who worked on this robe were sequestered for 3 months while stitching…no leaks here.

Back tomorrow. I gardened all day and now off to stitch until I fall asleep.

Hope everyone has time to stitch today! ttfn…sue

Thank you!!!

I want to take this moment to say:

Thank you to all of you who have visited and read my blog; I am amazed that so many will take the time to read what little old me has to write. I have many blogs bookmarked and I am a faithful reader of stitching blogs. My morning coffee would not be the same without my blogs. I am always startled and pleasantly surprised when my name is mentioned on another blog. It always increases the visits to my blog (I know the correct word is hits, but visits is so much more pleasant…and I’d like to think of you all more as friends visiting than just the click of a mouse or punch of a button.)

And I hope when you visit you learn something, it refreshes your memory of something you may have forgotten, or it just brings a smile to your face. I may not write as often but I am trying to be better about this. My goal is at least once a week and if I’m lucky I can get two in.

But no matter how often I write, Thank you for stopping in to visit. Coffee or tea with friends is always welcome.

Hope everyone has time to stitch today! ttfn…sue

Back to the carrots & Additions

This is the tree I bought from Pier 1. I have three of these to inspire me to finish the carrots for my Grandchildren. I’d like to believe my stitching means more to them than candy and money…but even I remember being a kid and chocolate and shinny coins outweighed my Grandmother’s hard work. Not that I don’t appreciate all the lovely things she made for me…I still have one of the tea towels (with holes) that I can’t bring myself to throw away. It was the last thing she embroidered for me when I got married and I think I may just have to frame the stitching part. I also have pillow cases she stitched I use on the guest bed and Lord, help the head that ever touches one of these. I even have one or two that I use to keep my larger needlepoint projects safe.  

But I digress; this is turning into another blog for another day…back to the carrots and the tree.

I am trying to complete 3 carrots a day…so far I get one completed and start a second. On a good day I can get almost two stitched. I have 10 completed and 11 almost. I made a copy of the chart, enlarged to 125% and then with my trusty colored pencils I coded the stitches.

Yesterday, I had a discussion with a stitching friend about cross stitch designs. There are some that do not think one should every cross over from one media to another (i.e. using cross stitch designs for needlepoint). I am of the opinion that if you like it, want to try it, go for it. Life would be pretty dull if we all colored in the lines. Anyway, after we decided that we could use any media we chose; my friend pointed out a very interesting observation to me. She said that by doing cross stitch designs she had learned to look at the total design and make decisions on what part of the design to stitch first so she had places to anchor other threads and points of reference. And of course she is right…I just never thought about this.

When I came home I took a moment to look at the design I am stitching and realized I had done this too; kind of an un-thought of knee jerk reaction. Using the design above as an example…Obviously the lower part of this carrot was a no brainer, lots of stitching, place to anchor next thread, etc. But the flowers at the top I did think about and plan but not consciously as my friend does. Well, I guess it was consciously unconscious. I did the long green stem first, followed by the pink flower. Then I did the white flower; petals first then the center.  If I’m off count the center can be adjusted to work…less stitches or add a few…never frog stitch. I did the outside of the blue stitches, more of them and again if I’m off center can be adjusted; and then I added the backstitches.   

I think we can all continue to learn something from each other and I am grateful to this person who helped me to think about what I am doing and why.  From this conversation, we moved on to other things that we all take for granted or learned a long time ago and just do from habit. I’ll write again about these another day…because I need to get back to my carrots. I’m also taking a lunch break to the quilt shop to purchase material for finishing and of course eat lunch.

Hope everyone has time to stitch today! ttfn…sue

Additions: 

One morning and early afternoon later: (I need to find a personal shopper who will only purchase what I originally head out to buy!)

Heading for the quilt shop I should drive past the Half Price Book Store, but my car turns into the parking lot and two books later I am back on track. Jill Carter’s book: New Canvaswork has been on my want list for some time and the Complete Color Index just jumped into my hands. I love the box and the two books; and who can pass up a $45 find for $10 bucks?

Back on track, I spent an hour at the quilt shop. As luck would have it the canvas is not an orange, but it’s not a yellow-orange nor peach either. Whatever material I put it with just didn’t speak to me. I finally decided the two in the picture spoke to me best and even if I did go by JoAnn’s on my way (just 10 blocks out of my way, but I am in the area)…I would probably like these best. So my experience is buy them and if nothing else I am collecting a great stash for the garage sale my family will have when I go.

 I decided lunch was in order and my favorite Greek restaurant happens to be directly in my path. They always have a lunch special: Gyro sandwich and salad with a glass of fresh tea…Spoke to me and anyway if I eat lunch I may not buy so-o o much. Oh wait too late and that’s at the grocery store anyway.

 Okay full stomach, off to JoAnn’s. Found 1 fabric that would be okay, but decided I did not like it any better than the ones I had. Okay, going to make it out of JoAnn’s without a purchase…do you feel the earth shaking? Wait, this nice lady is putting out new books. Oh no, I’m not looking for anything in particular, I just have this want list of books in my phone that I carry so whenever I o to a bookstore (new or used) I am prepared!  And low and behold, what does this nice sales lady do? She enables me to the back to look at all the books that have just arrived! One book later off my list as one I really do not need; thinking I am going to escape and feel the earth move; out pops Jacqui McDonald Crewelwork from the Royal School of Needlework. MINE!!! With a 50% off coupon to boot!

Now I’m back home haven’t taken a stitch and am thinking about a nap. Between shopping and lunch I’m pooped!

Hope  I  have time to stitch today! ttfn again…sue

Eagles…the real thing

I first saw this on TV news and then Theresa at Homestread Needlearts mentioned it in her newsletter: http://www.homesteadneedlearts.com/ .  Now, I am so addicted to this webcam: http://raptorresource.org/falcon_cams/index.html ,  I have split my screen and keep it running all day. I may never get anything accomplished.

You can read all about eagles here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eagle and Bald Eagles here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bald_Eagle

This morning about 8:15 AM- CDT one eagle got off the nest and feed the two eaglets that have hatched, there are three eggs in the nest. Then it flew off and within a couple minutes either it or the other returned. I haven’t figured out who is who yet, I remember reading the female is usually larger. At 9:00 AM CDT both eagles were in the nest. And at about 9:15 both were standing. As I write this at 10:30 AM-CDT I think Mom is on the nest and Dad is setting on a near by limb and occasionally comes over to check things out. I think he is suppose to be attending to the nest but in typical make fashion I am sure he is waiting for her to get off the nest and take care of this too (typical male).

The webcam does move and obviously sometimes makes a noise because the nesting eagle will whip it’s head around to check it out.

These eagles are so impressive…it makes me want to stitch eagle heads forever:

http://sudukc.wordpress.com/2010/04/12/the-eagle-is-at-the-framer/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sudukc/sets/72157603612462658/

Hope everyone has time to stitch today! Me too;-)  ttfn…sue

Ukrainian Eggs

Everyone should try something new and different once in awhile. I have always loved the Ukarainian eggs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pysanka) since I first saw them in the 70’s  and have collected three or four over the years. I have collected books and magazine articles about them and have always wanted to take a class. Last January when we toured the Strawberry Hill Museum ( http://www.strawberryhillmuseum.org/ ) I learned they offer a class in the spring. I signed up and yesterday was the day.

The class was taught by Irene Thomson and Frieda Kossyk, mother and daughter. It was about a 4 hour class, very intense but fun. It was not as difficult as I imagined…but mine was a simple design and maybe after 30 years I could do some like these …

My egg was a simple design, but my stars are a bit off and I noticed some places where I did not get the wax applied well and the wrong dye is peaking through. But all in all I was pretty pleased with my first attempt. It is complete I just have to varnish and then decide whether I am going to blow my egg or take a chance and let it dry up.

I would love to get into a group that meets once a month for a couple hours. I bought a kit and I think I will order a couple more Kistka’s (pens used to apply wax). These come is different sizes and my kit came with a med point but think I would like a fine and broad also. Gong to have to spend some time looking up information on Pysanka (Ukrainian eggs) on the internet.

I did notice that all the arts I enjoy are graphic and all work on their own grid. Needlepoint of couse is a grid system; Temari balls are a grid system you establish with the markings on the ball, and the Ukrainian eggs are also designed on a grid established on the egg. I must be in gridlock

But right now I need to get back to my Easter project I have already started for this year…especially if I expect to have finished by Easter.

Hope everyone has time to stitch today!  ttfn…sue

No more stitching

I’m not stitching anymore!

 

 

April Fool

 

I’m really working on stitching carrots for an Easter tree. These are charts from Vicki Hastings , The Cricket Collection( http://www.cecricket.com/catalog21.html ):

No 241 Rabbits’ Big Day( http://www.cecricket.com/catalog_pics7/241big.jpg ),

No 242Rabbit Garden ( http://www.cecricket.com/catalog_pics7/242big.jpg ),

No 243 Rabbit’s Delight ( http://www.cecricket.com/catalog_pics7/243big.jpg),

No 244 Leaping Rabbit ( http://www.cecricket.com/catalog_pics7/244big.jpg ).

They were designed for linen but have no half or quarter stitches so I am stitching them on 18 count orange canvas. Since I’m on a short time schedual I’m just using the suggested DMC floss and stitching them in basketweave. Well, that’s not exactly true…I did change the coat from green to blue and I am using Threadworx overdyed oranges for the carrots…but other than that staying pretty true to the charts.

I found a tree at Pier 1 that will work. It is very similar to the one in the picture.

So, No Foolin….I’m going to stitch the day and night away…

Hope no one fools you today and you have time to stitch today!  ttfn…sue