Bold in Heart

 Hi all.  Too many things happening right now to try for another heart so for now, this is it.  Corny as it is!  I used a short and rounded center furrow instead of a deep point.

 

Here's the difference with a muslin or white interfacing, and the woven black fusible.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I used the black under my carry over threads too since some were noticeable from the front.

 

 

 

 The top line had to be moved and I also changed the bottom do-hickey before sewing. 

I like the back almost better than the front.  The other smaller hearts were to be on the gold Havana and a dark grey/green linen that I had previously dyed, and this fabric looked fabulous with each.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The chart will be under the Free tab when I get around to it but for now, it's here.  I almost decided not to offer it since it is so ... corny.  But I've seen so many designs that are sappy to me yet well liked by others. 

 

Bud hasn't been growling through the glass door at Yellow Cat and I thought they may be tolerating each other.  This warm evening when I let them out for a while, all hell broke loose.  The boxes, the plywood shelter, food, fur and blood went flying.  I ran outside and Yellow Cat was tearing into Missy who is half his size.  Bud came running and attacked him so Missy ran into the house and I couldn't stop them even with a broom.  Bud has many bites and we are trying to get to them all with a dropper of peroxide but he is not wanting to be touched.  I know the stray Yellow must be hurt too.  Missy will tear me up so I can't check her.   I hope no infections develop, especially with the upcoming trip to Cleveland.

 

I got my second order of wool the other day.  I checked tracking so I knew it was out for delivery, and I waited for her to come.  She came with no box.  I asked where my box was and she said "oh!  Was that yours?".  It had my name and address on it so YES IT'S MINE!!  "I left it at 26."  ???  I'm 51.  I told her to go back and get MY package from 26.  Don't mess with my wool baby or there will be hell to pay.  No sense inquiring why she never looked at the name, the address, and decided to gift a stranger with my wool.

 

Taking Carole to the lab again tomorrow, then the doc, groceries, and I need to clean her house again.  Busy week coming up.

 

Have a great...good... decent...tolerable week.

 

Thanks for visiting.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Merry Christmas

A little sampler as my gift.   I truly appreciate each and every one of you.

Wishing you a joyous Christmas.

I hope you like it!

Stitched on 30 count linen over two threads, aged and stained.

 



 

Pear IX and fabric printing

 

Hi all.  Sick again from trying another Rx so no stitching to show.  I'm posting the new one under the Pear tab and wanted to show how I print on fabric.  I've tried the method of ironing the muslin onto freezer paper and it works, but I've had problems with the paper curling and jamming on occasion.  This is just easier for me.  The trick is not having the fabric in the top two inches of the paper since this is where the rollers first grab to pull it into the printer, and also not along the side edges. 

 

 

 I trim all hanging threads, position the muslin down a bit, and use the wide shipping tape across the entire top.  The bottom edge can be taped at the corners.  This is on card stock and the fabric has lightweight fusible interfacing on the back, but that's not necessary.  If you want to age the fabric, do it before printing.  I move the print down and do a plain paper print to check position before the fabric. 

 

 

 There are times that I want the backing to display an occasion's date or memory that is to large to stitch on a small piece, so this is my solution.  Colored print that matches the front looks good and I should have done this in a blue - but my mind failed me once again!  When sewing, I just put the fronts together and hold it up to a window which allows me to see both outlines to center it, pin, and baste.

If you would like to read the entire poem it is here.

Originally I stitched (680 gold) Never Forget in the light stripes, and had one leaf of navy/white stars fabric and another of red/taupe.  Looked nice, but not me.  But as I'm typing this...... never mind ...... too late.  I'll post both so you can decide.

Thanks for visiting - hope you like number 9.  Three more to go!

Stay safe.

 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sampler Pear VIII

Greetings to all. First -
I want to wish everyone that celebrates Easter, a happy and blessed day. And to those of you in school districts and states that have banned the word Easter, let me say it for you...
EASTER!!!!
How can you preach tolerance when you teach the opposite?
Moving on ~
Here is the eighth pear!  Only four more to go!! Chart is available in the Pears page under the header.  I saw so many lovely spring designs with pastels, vibrant greens, rabbits, and chicks.  Although beautiful, just not me.  So I chose the 730's and 830's in their glorious odd gold/green/brownness and I like the result.   I have to say, that last pear was yuk to me.  I just couldn't handle it.  I dipped my paintbrush in black coffee and saturated it the other day.  It helped, but not enough.  I think the heart threw everything off and it should have been solid and much smaller, but I tried that on paper and didn't like it either.  Too late.  You know I always set fire to things that aggravate me and if I didn't need it for a group photo, probably would have by now.  Chances are really good that I will disassemble and change the center.  And yes, the fusible interfacing is on the back, but reheating it under a pressing cloth will allow it to be removed .  It softens the glue bond and will come off in one sheet.  Just heat again if it doesn't.  With that off, I am back to linen and can make changes, or light a match.

This one goes so well with my little mustard drawers.  I didn't attach leaves this time, just wrapped the grapevine stem with heavy hemp.

I'm back to working on Lori's design but the house is pretty large and I'm missing my usual letter stitching.  I may pick out a sampler to switch back and forth, but that's not something I like to do. 

 

I was at the grocery store the other morning and shoppers close to me thought I was having an attack.  I was!  For the first time ever, I saw these.  A friend sent this bar to me and I loved it, but never saw it locally.  I could have been missing it which is entirely possible, but not this time.  Guess how many of these are left as I type?   Nope.  Try again.  ......  One more time....... yep!  You got it.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend, a blessed Easter, a joyous Passover.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

Pear VII

 Hi everyone.  I'm posting the pattern under the Pears tab and giving you a few options.  I had a difficult time choosing a green that I liked.  So you'll see a choice of two shades of green (or your own) and a chart that is over one (for words only) in case you would prefer that.  Changing the fancy heart to all pink is another option.  When I started this project (several times) I originally did the over one but this is the third finish and I had no intentions of repeating that chore.  Can you tell how indecisive I am?  

 

  I tried an easier method for the stem.  I pulled the fabric through the sewing machine to miss two stitches  leaving a hole for the stem.  Thin cinnamon sticks or grapevine pieces are what I usually use, leaving them long and inserting between the two quilt batt layers.

The mylar was inserted to help the batting slide easily into place, but I didn't leave it in.  Card stock paper can be used too. Interfacing on the linen and also the backing held the shape well enough. 

 Here is Bonnie's February pear done on 40 count.  This is very nicely shaped and I've seen quite a few that are beautifully finished in the various pear forms.  I'm using the same template for each of mine but maybe I should try something different.

 

Thank you all for the prayers and offers to send cards to my cousin.  I will check with her sister and get the address for the nursing home.  We've been sending greetings to her devoted friend's house who visits her every day and I'll check with her too.

 

I'm making some progress on Mary but having a flare-up of the neck problem and my arms are quite tingly.   The rest of the center is verse and all one color of basic cross so it should go without a hitch, but that stem stitch area doesn't look like it will go as easily.  I'll show how Mary is coming on the next post and until then, have a wonderful and safe day.

Thank you for visiting!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sampler Pear V

Happy New Year!

Hello to everyone.  I decided to post January's pear a few days early.  I think the verse is appropriate for starting a new year.  Instead of using mylar in this one, I chose a heavy weight fusible interfacing which also worked well to hold the shape. 
Hope you like it!
Wishing you all a happy and healthy New Year.

 

Thank you for visiting ~ enjoy your weekend and stay safe.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A Christmas chart for you

To all of you, I wish you a very Merry Christmas, a healthy and happy New Year. 

 Thank you for your friendship, encouragement, knowledge, and inspiration.

Remembrance

Good morning.  Along with many others, I'm having a difficult time dealing with the recent tragedy.  Seeing the children's pictures last night was just...........  I had been in a good mood for some time and usually the hormonal aftercrash is somber and it came about the same time as the event.  I don't know if any other menopausal maniacs as myself, tend to fixate during these mood swings but it seems I am.  So last night, after seeing those sweet faces, I made a chart.  I don't know why.  Maybe since stitching is therapeutic, I thought it would help.  I may stitch this today, make it into a little pillow, and put it away in a safe place.  I can't help these families, but stitching a remembrance for their children and keeping it near, is the only thing I can do. 

Drawing is tomorrow - hope I don't forget.

Worth waiting for??

Hello!  My goodness.  I've been so busy painting that I haven't checked blogs for several days.  I can't wait to catch up!  I know I'm a few days late with the pear design, and it certainly isn't the super nice one I lost in the crash of 2012, so I hope you'll like this one.  Best I could do in such a rush.  It's a quick one!  

One of the  reasons is the half stitch tree. You can really do a lot of different things with this, too. My choice is this one.

You can also stitch the star, use a star button, bead the tree, use little charms, add little do-dads to a piece of hemp and make a garland....I don't need to tell you! 

 You're all great stitchers and can come up with your own version and embellishments.  The chart is under the Pear page with the others.  I still need to get the last of the boxes completed so I will be back in a few days.  Just wanted to get this out to you and if it doesn't print correctly or there is an error, please let me know.  I did this so fast!  Karen, if you've changed your mind about the boxes (#1 #7) that's not a problem!  Just let me know soon - I can't email you. 

Is anyone else having underlined blue text appearing when trying to post?  I can't figure this out, am taking way too much time positioning photos and haven't found any solutions online. 

Anyway, thank you again for your response to my boxes and I hope everyone will be pleased.  It's warm but raining and after today, very cold.  Crap.

Thank you for visiting!!  Stay safe. 

Sampler Pear III

Hi everyone.  I may be outside burning linen, charts, and threads tomorrow if things don't improve, so I thought I should post the new month's pear now.  The chart to print is at the bottom of this post and if you don't want to read more of my mood ranting, just scroll down. 

I tried starting a sampler on three  four different pieces of linen and instead of having two rows completed, I don't even have two letters.  I am so disgusted.  The chart is shown on a darker gray/green linen and I dyed several pieces which looked perfect with the light floss colors.  But I can't stitch! 

 One linen is so thick and goofy, I can't even get a needle through easily.  What is this crap?  Look at those thick threads.  I have thinner fringe on my knitted scarf.  I can barely see the thin ones and this yard is gone.  I'm in no mood.  The other three linens are also perfect colors, but I'm having so much trouble. Two are similar and have a weave with very fine threads which are difficult for me to see clearly on a dark fabric.  I'm messing up every few stitches.  Another piece has that honeycomb look to the weave that I have trouble with. They're also too limp, fine, and not what I like to stitch on.  I like heavier, substantial fibers, with an easily recognizable weave.  I don't want to search for that barely seen thread.  It should be enjoyable, not work, not frustrating.  Tomorrow morning, I'm pulling my rough stuff and dyeing a piece and ridding the rest.  No looking back! 

So here's my lastest method on dyeing.  I blend several colors to get a nice shade and instead of it going down the drain, I put it in these wide mouth plastic jars.  So now I just drop in the piece, and shake it.  I even have a few that are just one color.  I store them in a plastic tray and they are ready whenever I need to dip.  So much easier. 

I happened to see this little angel while browsing Mosey 'n Me and thought it was adorable.  I could probably fish those stars out of the trash that I threw them in yesterday!!

And here's the boys coming in for a sip of cream. 

Sorry I'm still bitching.  This mood is a doozie and lasting longer than most.  My wireless printer still isn't working properly with the new router, and neither are the two computers which doesn't help.  My box order is coming in Friday - hope it's a bright spot to end the week on.

Thank you for putting up with my menopausal rants and taking the time to visit.  Still hoping all those affected by Sandy are getting help for their difficult situations.  And here's the chart -

A little freebie for your kindness

Hiya!!  First off - I still hate the new Reading List in Blogger - too much text! I have so many blogs in there and if they would enter just the new post title, the list would have room to show all the new posts without clicking and scrolling multiple pages.  I think I'm missing quite a bit. Finally found that clicking on the orange "g" in top left will take me back to the dashboard.
*********************
I've been having giveaways but still feel it's not enough for all the support I receive.  So yesterday I worked up a little pear design and stitched it for you.  This morning after a much needed haircut (I swear I lost 3# after the cut), I sewed the little bugger together. 

 As you know, I love pear shapes.  I'm considering designing one a month for you of different sizes.  But please don't count on it!  A forgetful procrastinator cannot be relied upon.  I haven't stuffed this yet and am thinking of using the Mylar inside with fleece, not batting.  I already used a mid-weight interfacing but haven't decided yet on a final fill.   I love the colors on this.  I used a piece of rolled wool for the stem and green felt for the leaf. 

These shapes are not easy for me to sew, mainly because of my lack of preparation and patience.  I just follow the outline of the stitching about an inch out, and then turn it right side outside 40,358 times to add or remove a few stitches here and there. 

Making a template would cut that time down one quarter, but I am a putz and always think I'll get it right the first time.  There are two things that help me with this shape, and also for heart designs.  After stitching, I fold in half matching the stitches on each side to see where the shape needs tweaking.   This can go on for quite a while so I use basting stitches on the sewing machine until the sides match. 

Once I have the shape to my fusspot satisfaction, I sew the seams with a regular stitch and use pinking shears.  I trim away the rounded bottom corners instead of clipping, well before the stitched seam ends, which gives me less bulk and a smoother bottom for hand sewing (or gluing) shut.  Nothing is trimmed until I'm sure there will be no more tweaking.  So there you have it.  You should be able to click on the photo and right click to save, or print from there.    I hope you like this design.  And thank you again for your concern over my wrist, for your support of my "style", and for taking time to visit with me.  Much appreciated!!! 
Welcome to new followers - hope you will enjoy your visits! 

A little chart for you part 2 and an egg critter

Hiya.  Me again.  In case you downloaded the chart or were interested in stitching this, I thought I would show you the update that I changed on the original post.  I don't know how to publish the edited version as a new post so here's the chart with the verse.  So many emails from readers (THANK YOU!!) that like the chart but knew that the initials wouldn't work, so I graphed two different lines if you would prefer either of these.  It could be stitched without the verse, too.  On 28 count it would fit in a 5x7 frame if you remove the entire top branch, or without the verse and roots.  So here you go.

 

And now for the egg critter.  I made a few hard boiled eggs for a chicken salad and look what I got.  This never happened before!!  The entire yolk held together and scared the heck out of me when I took the lid off the pan.  I thought I boiled a baby chick!!  The rest is still in the shell. 

That's it!!

Later!!

Needle Keep Free Project

Hi all.  Just a quick post during a raging flash.  I posted a project on the page titled Needle Keep (under the header).  I'm soaked and want to get outside in the cold for a few minutes so this is really quick.  Here's the finished piece...

 This is the inside.  The chart and the instructions are on the page, so if you're interested, check it out.  I would like to post more but I really need to get outside.   I really appreciate the support, friendship, information, and needed help over the last year and I hope you like this project as my way of saying THANK YOU!!!   I gotta get outside!!!!

LATER!!!

Finishing a freebie!

Hello people!    I'm still playing with interfacing and decided to try a shape without corners.  Since I don't have any - that I can find or remember stitching - I made one up.  And guess what?  I don't like it.  I used Jobelan for the project as a test for the Santa ornaments.   I would have much preferred one floss color for the alphabet on an unusual linen color.  And after all my bleaching and dyeing - I have that!    Instead, I picked five fall colors on sage Jobelan that was later coffee stained. 

I'm going to post the chart and template at the end of the post if you would like to stitch the pear.  If you don't want to be bored through my photos and routine instructions, just scroll down.   Blogger has changed the format when you click on a photo but you can still right click to print or "save as" when the new page opens.

*******

Please understand that posts sharing my experiments or trials certainly are not meant to imply that you need my advice or that I know it all.  After 25 years, I'm learning again, and dragging you down with me!  I get emails from readers asking for more clear information on subjects, as well as emails telling me the mistakes I am making, or suggestions to help.  So I'm learning from you while I'm sharing my progress.   

*******

    After I stitched the piece, I used a marker and just followed the outline at least an inch from the stitches on one side.  Folding it exactly in half and then cutting on the outline gave me evenly matched sides, then stitched right sides together to a piece of felt. 

I used my presser foot as an edge guide and I could have sewn in a little further for a smaller piece.  Now to cut the facing.  

I placed the pear over the facing and used a thick needle to pierce through the seam, poking holes in the facing beneath.  You then have a perforated outline to trace, fold, and cut.  I had trouble seeing the holes so I placed a dark fabric beneath.  Minor adjustments and cuts were made to fit inside. 

 After pressing the Decor Bond, I decided to hem it a little higher and had no problem pulling the facing off the fabric a little and cutting more off.  If you need to make an adjustment, reheating with the iron will allow the facing to be lifted, repositioned, or cut.  Pressed the seams open and turned it out.  No facing on the felt, it stood by itself, and held the shape nicely.  

I'm using quilt batting again instead of the loose fill and just cut to fit the shape.  Pretty easy finish once again!  Now I'm anxious to see how both coarse and fine linen work.  I did finally get a silicone finger to prevent burns when ironing seams open and it worked fine.  (And hid the crooked bumpy joint.)

 

 So here's the chart if you would like to stitch the pear shape along with the template.  I had a heck of a time trying to get this to scan properly.  Click on the chart/template, then right click and hit print and it should print the correct size.  If not, try "save as".   I must have used half a ream of paper testing the copies and scans but I did get a nice fire out of the deal.   I'll test again once it's posted and if it doesn't work, I'll try again.  Your seam will be stitched inside the template, width depending on your seam guide.  Don't forget to add a little rolled piece of felt/wool for the stem, or a real one!  Add the little leaf and there you go.  I think I will stitch one on my saffron linen, a greenish shade, and a darker brown, all different thread counts.  Several sizes and colors in a display might look pretty darn nice.  And if not, they'll make a nice hostess or exchange gift. 

Hope you like this little freebie!!!  

Thanks for the visit.
Oh!  One more thing.  If you're a Yankee Candle fan, they are having a buy 2 get 2 free offer on their large jars and tumblers.  Go to their website and use code CATH211 or I can email a coupon to use in participating stores.  Great holiday gifts for a good price!