What a week!

The old saying, “Time passes quickly when you’re having fun.” is apropos for this week.  This was the week that was…and truly it went by much too quickly…I’d like another, thank you very much. If nothing else was going on this week the weather was beautiful…and I caught a sever case of Spring Fever!

I could barely keep myself inside this week and had the doors open on several occasions…in February! Lucy sniffed every blade of grass in the yard and even wanted to play soccer. From 2 feet of snow on the ground to 70 degrees, love that Mother Nature!…but Jack Frost will be heard from again and not in the too distant future I’m sure.

It was also Valentine’s Day this week. My valentine bought us a picture I have wanted for a long time…Thomas Jefferson painted by Bob Holloway a local artist. I have several of his pictures and love them all. http://www.bobholloway.com/

I also purchased supplies to try needle felting. It looks like fun and something that could be applied to needlepoint as embellishments. I made a ladybug just to see if I could. Since I am not sure yet…was searching the internet last week and bookmarked several stops but haven’t gotten back to them yet. There will be more to come about needle felting I’m sure.

I also picked up a couple packages of rick rack to make rick-rack flowers. Kathy’s blog Shakl http://www.shawkl.com/search?updated-max=2011-02-11T09%3A21%3A00-06%3A00&max-results=10 told how to do them and I thought they looked like fun and something else that could embellish a needlepoint. When I was a the store picking up needle felting supplies I also picked up two packages of rick rack, I didn’t read the blog close before I left home to know which size to buy. I also bought a rick rack that was one sided (painted). I just had to cut my rick rack and make a couple adjustments. It would have been easier with one color but these turned out just fine for my first try.

Also made a large temari ball. I thought I might participate in Barbra Suess challenge but I may not have enough time since I played this week. You can read all about it and see Barb’s beautiful temari on her blog http://temaribarb.blogspot.com/  or her website  http://www.japanesetemari.com/ . But at least now I have one very large temari ball…unstitched

And poor bunny…well, he is still on the stretcher bars. All the black (except ears) is stitched. Started working on the turkey tuff tail but between the nice weather; trying my new projects; and oh yes I am suppose to be doing computer graphics for a teacher (sh-h-h, maybe she won’t notice it is taking me forever) I haven’t made much progress. I tried to stitch six thread lengths a day but I am about 24 threads behind this week…but who’s counting.

And that’s the week that was in the Midwest…and now I’m off to enjoy the rest of this beautiful day. Lucy and I are taking a walk and then we are cooking on the grill tonight. If Mother Nature wants to tease us, we are going to enjoy every moment!

 I hope everyone has beautiful weather too and if you can squeeze it in…time to stitch!  ttfn…sue

We interrupt this blog…

for a return from my finisher…

My finisher called me yesterday and said Thomas Jefferson was finished, so I did not write my blog but went to pick him up. TJ looks so good and I may have to order another from Anne at ABS Designs (http://www.absdesignsonline.com/) or her blog The Cape Stitcher (http://thecapestitcher.blogspot.com/) to stitch and keep for myself. But since I have my red white & blue patriotic stuff out until Sept I know the recipient (my Granddaughter) will not mind if I store TJ with my other patriotic things until then. She is going to receive him as a birthday gift in December and he is probably safer out with the other things than put away somewhere I could forget him.

 Isn’t he cute?! Thank you Anne for painting my favorite President.

Tomorrow I will post more on the Pulled Thread Postcards.

ttfn…sue

TJ is going to the finisher tomorrow

 

 

 Stitching TJ,aka Thomas Jefferson from ABS Designs (http://www.absdesignsonline.com/) was fun…I used Rainbow Gallery Very Velvet for most of his clothing and Rainbow Gallery (http://rainbowgallery.com/) Patent Leather for TJ’s shoes. Very Velvet and Patent Leather are easy to use for stitching if you follow a few easy hints: #1. Use short lengths – I use 12 to 15 inches max. #2 Use a larger needle than you would normally use to stitch- I use a #20 or #22 Tapestry or Chenille on 18 count canvas. #3 When threading needle use a short tail and do not move the needle around on the thread while stitching. The Patent Leather will not wear like the Very Velvet but it will distress the thread at the eye of the needle. I also lay the Patent Leather on the front and back.  

 

 

  

  

 For me, the hardest part of stitching TJ was his hair, it is a Loose Basketweave. For me, Basketweave is one of those stitches that is relaxing and a “no brainer”; and I can tell if I’m tired or irritated because my Basketweave stitches are tighter. For the most part my tension on the thread becomes second nature, it is just part of the stitch process… But if that tension is changed on purpose it takes concentration. I kept finding myself, watching TV and just normally stitching and then would have to “frog stitch” and then loosely re-stitch the Basketweave. After all the stitching is complete, it is then picked/pulled with a sharp needle and that gives TJ his soft curly look. It is a good stitch to learn, so that when French Knots seems too much Loose Basketweave is a good substitute. The stitch can even be stitched looser and can have a loop effect; play with this, it is fun.

 

I think he turned out very nice and can hardly wait to get him back…I’ll post a picture of him finished. Now I am going to go back to work and do some computer work for a few days.

 

ttfn…sue

TJ update

Thomas Jefferson is progressing. I think I am becoming one of those stitchers who does not like to stitch black on black. I had a difficult time keeping RG Very Velvet (http://rainbowgallery.com/ ) on the true diagonal for his hat. I tried the white cloth of the lap, light under the canvas, more powerful magnification, every trick I had been told over the years…but the best for me seemed to be daylight window with white cloth on my lap.

 

Anyway the black is all completed now but I have to make a trip [oh darn ] to LNS to get gold (002) Kreinik (http://www.kreinik.com/) #8 braid; I have #4-12-16 and ribbon but no #8 (at least that I can find). And I’m sure something else will pop into my hands, this is how stash enhancement starts. You never get just what you are going to purchase and pretty soon you have a whole room of necessary stitching supplies…But alas, never the ones you need for the current project.

 

I also need (notice I say need not want) to look for hair threads.  On the right of  TJ canvas you can see when I have been experimenting with TJ’s hair color. This is what I had decided upon, 2 colors of Epic (http://www.epicyarn.com/index.html) mixed in the needle…but you never know what I might discover. History trivia: Thomas Jefferson was described as a strawberry blond or light red head. And even though powdered wigs and hair were the style of the day, Jefferson never did anything to his golden locks.  

 

Stash Enhancement…a beautiful circle of stitching life.

 

ttfn…sue

Happy Birthday TJ

Saturday and Sunday I pulled the threads for my new take along project; ABS Designs’  (http://www.absdesignsonline.com/) Thomas Jefferson or TJ as I like to call him. I am a big Thomas Jefferson fan and April 13^th was his birthday, so “Happy Birthday TJ.”

 

Thomas Jefferson (http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/thomasjefferson/ ) is my favorite president; he has my favorite monument (http://www.nps.gov/thje/ ) in Washington DC and Monticello (http://www.monticello.org/ )  is my favorite president’s home. Thomas Jefferson felt you were never too old to learn and grow. His love of country is documented in his service to our country: Governor of Virginia, Minister to France, Secretary of State, Vice-President, and 2 terms President. He was the author of the Declaration of Independence and the Statue of Virginia for Religious Freedom; gave books to start the Library of Congress; lawyer; inventor; architect; and horticulturist. He was responsible for the largest acquisition of land to the US (Louisiana Purchase) and exploration of those lands (Lewis and Clark expedition) and he founded the University of Virginia. The epitaph on his tombstone tells what he was most proud of:

HERE WAS BURIED THOMAS JEFFERSON

AUTHOR OF THE DECLARATION OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE

OF THE STATUTE OF VIRGINIA FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

AND FATHER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA

 

I never go back east that I don’t try to visit Monticello. One year, my husband and I did the garden tour and the sunflowers were in full bloom. We have this running joke about sunflowers; they are the state flower of Kansas and grow wild everywhere in Kansas & Missouri. So, I said to my husband, “Obnoxious weed, Jefferson must have been trying to figure out how to kill it.” Anyway the docent heard me and very indignantly informed me that these sunflowers were from the original seed brought back from the Lewis and Clark expedition and are a cash crop. She went on to say that many plants had been sent back to Jefferson during the expedition. Imagine that, the first UPS system from the middle of the Louisianan Purchase to Monticello. I am not a gardener by any stretch of the imagination, but I am told by gardeners that the diaries kept by Jefferson are wonderful. And his gardens are a picture!

 

Thomas Jefferson died on July 4^th.. It never ceases to amaze me how far he traveled and what he accomplished; AND all without cars & planes; computers & cell phones; Facebook, twitter, etc.

 

Who knew you were going to get a history class and stitching all in the same post?

 

 

 

Back to my stitching…Thomas Jefferson’s eyes are up for discussion. Some say they were light blue, light gray, hazel or brown. I chose to think of his eyes as a blue gray and combined gray (DMC 415) with blue (DMC 926.)

 

The White House biography and many pictures show and describe him as, “Freckled and sandy-haired” so after basketweaving his face with flesh (DMC 948), I randomly overstitched his face with 2 ply darker flesh (DMC 758) to give him the ruddy, freckled face as described.

 

I didn’t get to far yesterday, but I was taking life easy after Easter.  But TJ was begun on his birthday and by the 4^th of July should be proudly displayed in the summer needlepoint collects. Then in December, he is going to be a birthday gift to my granddaughter who collects nutcrackers.

 

 ttfn…sue