Another little finish!

Wow.  I'm moving right along!  Still haven't picked a project but I'm miserable with my neck problems so I decided to play around a little more.  I'm beginning to think that the Pear chart is responsible.  I was so tight, my shoulders felt like they were up by my ears.   My first attempt at that count, and then being over one, was a little much.  My stitches kept ending up horizontal and slipping behind the linen threads, and I had to keep readjusting or removing.  I'm just not experienced enough to be comfortable so the tension in my neck area could have contributed, or even caused this.  Anyway, here's today's work.....

I have two magnifiers, each a different power, so I put that number on the first pouch.  Usually the glasses have the power stamped on the stem, but these do not, so I thought this would help.

That's it.  At least I'm stitching!  And I now have something I like to keep my glasses safe.  I really like these little projects.  Maybe I'll stick with my freebie folder and keep making smalls for a while.   It's certainly not too early for stitching Christmas ornaments, and I should try to paint a few Santa boxes.   THAT will really cause some tension!  Haven't painted in years except for one or two and I really enjoy it, until the fine details start getting to me.   I'll wait until my neck is better, which I hope will happen.  Doc said it can get worse in a short time or stay as is for a long time.  Anything to delay surgery around the spinal cord is top priority!!!  

I would like to start getting rid of my inherited charts and Jobelan fabrics plus a few small items (and beads!) and hate to take it all to Goodwill again.   Do you think posting the fabric on a different blog and only charging for postage is a good or bad idea?   I have a yard or two of Klostern too.  I think I will make a chart listing with one price for any chart (cheap!) and keep it there until they're gone.   No samplers....maybe one or two.  Prairie Schoolers will probably go on EBay.  I'll see.  I'm sure there are stitchers who use Jobelan and do projects other than samplers.  But where are they?????  HELLO!!!  Can you hear me now???  I don't have many followers and the viewer numbers aren't great either, but maybe one of you know someone who could use the items.  I'll let you know when I have an inventory list. 

That's it.  Time for chocolate and Advil.  Have a good week and stay cool.  Thanks for taking the time to read!

A little scrap project

Hiya.  I went outside to feed the birds this morning and felt like I was walking into an atmospheric hot flash.  So I decided to play around inside, even though my right arm is numbing from my neck problem.  I guess the work is catching up with me.  I used to make these in the old days for stitcher's gifts or anyone that wears magnifiers.  You know those long skinny strips you have left from cutting (AUGH!) into your linen yardage?  They're only a few inches wide and very long, usually too small for an ornament.  I made magnifier pouches with them and decided it would be a very quick project, and I could use another pouch.  Instead of a peacock or another little freebie, I stitched the eye chart I will be gazing at in a few days at my doc's.  Just stitch your favorite little design, or personalize with initials, cut a piece of lining, iron on fleece, fold it, sew the sides, and voila.  I some times would use a button on the flap and a cord to wrap around a button on the pouch, but decided to add a little square of the lining for a self stick velcro dot instead.                      

This is Amber 28 count and after that piece of work fruit that I just completed, this was like stitching a piece of burlap with a cord.  I can certainly see now why stitchers using the higher counts stick with them.  It was really weird and I kept thinking I was going over too many threads with too much floss. 

All I have left to do is attach the velcro dot on the lining and I'm done.  Such a quick project - nice to have several ready for quick gifts (if you have friends and aren't a stick in the mud bitch like me), and a nice project to use up your linen strips.  I also made these for the short Line-a-Timers.  You know what?  Since I was making these 20 years ago, you probably have too, and this is another instance of my living in the old days and telling you something you already knew.......................Never mind.

The veins have popped

Hello all.  Happy dance!  This pear design was one that I always kept to the front of the stash as one of my favorites smalls.  Even though I have been frustrated at times, questioning whether picking up the needle after so many years would be enjoyable, shying away from over one and higher linen counts, I chose this.  Didn't make any sense to do so, but menobrain does foolish things at times.  Except for the algerian eye and long arm cross border, all done on 36 count over one.  And I survived with not a match in sight.  So here's my finish ...

Not sure if I want to add chenille trim or not, and I don't know where this little thing will be displayed.  I love pears and will probably have this in with my beeswax and pomanders. 

I'm just glad it's over!  My goodness that was tedious for me.  I'm still working outside quite a bit, and sitting to relax with a few stitches was certainly not the case with this fruit.  My shoulders and neck would tighten and it was just not enjoyable at all.  But I did it.  And I will never do it again!  There is a positive outcome of wanting to pick a project now, feeling it will be easy and fun.  Of course it will be over 2 and on 30 count, but that's me.    This is me, too...

My mom's wieners!  Love these things on a bun or a plate.  It started with leftover hot dogs from a picnic. 









She would brown lots of sliced onions....    slice and brown the leftover cooked dogs...

 

Add them together, throw in some ketchup, and there you have it. 

Mom's leftover wieners.  I've even thrown them in a crock pot for a party.  You can eat them as is, or add whatever you want on a bun.  I've used Ball Park's fat free, Angus, and even mixed them.  My favorite is Smith's but I can't find them anymore.

So that's what is happening here.  Still not finished outside but closing in.  I ran out of flagstone to complete the front and can't locate any more at a stone supplier.  I was told it is against the law in PA (Fish and Boat Commission?) to take those flat stones out of even the smallest of creeks, so I'm not taking any chances.  People can obviously be responsible for the death of a child and go free, but I would be in jail for taking a rock.  So thanks for reading, visiting, and bearing with me.  I promised you I would do better and I expect to keep it.  Not sure what will be next but I'll post the new project soon.  I recently saw the Scarlett House's Coverlet Birds completed and forgot all about ordering that chart, so I need to do that and browse a little for a few more.  The recent Attic's newsletter has featured Scarlet Letter charts and I just love that Sarah Brown.  And of course many more!  You could make a whole day of perusing the offerings.  I still haven't had the time to go through all the beauties on the Antique Samplers site.  But as soon as I pilfer a few flat stones, I should have lots of time sitting in that cell.  Think they'll let me have my laptop? 

Have a good week everyone!!

Thank you all & kittens

Hello and Happy 4th!   Hope everyone has a great holiday weekend.  I wanted to thank you for the helpful emails and comments.  Your advice is greatly appreciated and necessary!  I did not know about using tent stitches for thread jams.  Stitching on 28-30 mostly, this was never a problem and your guidance taught me what the chart and my books did not.  I tried it for a few letters and it was much better, but because they are so tiny and the color was light, the thread was barely noticeable as a design.  So I continued on with the full cross, and then realized the entire design is over one. 

I always loved this design and assumed the center flower and such were over two.  I'm not happy.  But I will complete this and then never ever ever again NOT read the chart before starting, do anything that has more than letters over one, or take whipped cream icing out of the freezer a day early and expect there to be enough left to frost the cake.

This is the full design with satin stitch on the bottom border. 
 Not a stitch I do well.  I'm not happy with the wonky look of what I've completed so far because they are not uniform at all.   I must spend too much time at Glenna's and Margaret's and all the other fabulous advanced 40 count silky perfect stitchers' blogs.  It looks like 2 threads were used on the ABC, but the chart states one. I've heard of the happy dance, and I'll be doing one when this is over till the varicose veins pop.

 So now on to the kitty pics I'm posting at local pet shops...Take a look at these calicos. The really dark one is much like the mother, mostly dark brown, black, and orange splashes, including that sweet tail tip.  Does this count as a calico?  Brother is able to pet two babies now and they seem to be coming around, so hopefully, we can find homes.  Yeah, right.  Every agency here is overloaded.  Wish me luck.  Have a great weekend and listen for the popping veins.

Pear with me...

Hiya.  I'm making some progress on Pears Two but as always, two steps back also.  I decided to use the silks I inherited and matched colors with the DMC.  Not sure I like them.  No.  Wait.  I'm sure.  I don't like them.  I can't even pronounce them.  And they shred with every little frogging movement.  And I think they're fat.  One strand, 36 count (AUGH!), no problem on the large Eyes.  The over one is what's bothering me.  First of all, the silk I have is YLI and it's smoother, thinner, and less twist than Soie d' Alger.  YLI is the ABC and gold border.  Soie d' Alger is the over one letters.  It's too fat.  I found some Au Ver à Soie and decided to try that instead.  Seems smoother, less twist, looks a little better, still don't like it.  The letters are so bunched with floss that they are almost unreadable, to me anyway.  Obviously there is a big difference in brands of silk and dummy me thought not.  Wrong again.  Seems I'm learning a lot since picking up a needle again, but why is it always the hard way?  Lack of a local shop!!   Here's a few pics of my mess.

 Can you see the difference in the YLI (gold)?  It lays better in the border and is thinner.  Look how fat the little letters are.  This next one is with the Au Ver à Soie (recommended thread) on the right and although the picture doesn't show well, it looks a little less bulky but I still don't think you can see the letters.  I tried removing the Soie d'Alger and it's impossible.  It's shredding and I can't get under it to pull out - not even the Lift 'n Snips are working.  So now I have two different greens and will waste a lot of time removing what I can't remove.  I'm a determined old fart.   I'm going to do a few stitches with one strand of DMC to see how thick it looks for future 36 count silk thread projects that I'll never do.  If I like it, is it wrong to mix silk and cotton?  Do I care?  So tell me, can you look at a framed sampler and tell if it's silk or not?  You can? 

What?

 I decided to take a break so Bud and I had a donut.  I fried mine.  Bud #2 was not happy.  She's the prettiest of the bunch with her silver coat.

It's too bad I don't like the taste of alcohol.  A glass of wine might do me good.  But another two Advil and the sound of a second donut sizzling in that hot pan will work too.  

To be continued.....

Saint Clare

Hello boys and girls. I haven't posted since the 21st, a week ago, the day I moved into the 6th decade. Well, technically, I'm 40 with 20 years experience. I've been busy getting outside projects completed so I don't have a summer like 2010. Waiting, waiting, waiting, while staring at mud with no where to sit. I hired a new landscaper and he's already completed three projects so we should be done soon. Yes I work with them or watch them because I've been stung too many times, regardless of how good looking they are.  What?   I finally finished planting the flowers in pots.  One of my favorites is this little rusty paint can on a small hook. 

I pour old paint on to cardboard appliance boxes and when dry, burn.  I hate to throw the cans in the garbage (no recycling in my township) so I decided to let them rust, poke holes in the bottom, and plant! 

My other wire baskets I line with two layers of burlap, fill, and plant.  I put slits in the fabric and poke starts in the sides, eventually flowers cover the entire pot and no one sees the burlap.  Doesn't matter to me since I like primitive style crap anyway.   I've covered plastic pots with burlap too, and tied it on with raffia or jute.

 I haven't put this swing out for the last three years.  We had it custom made for mom, and you can see the handle on the post that she used to pull herself up.  Big swings were too unwieldy for her so I found someone to make a single.  We had it positioned to watch her from the kitchen window so I see it all the time, very hard.  But I love to swing in it like a little kid and remember how she enjoyed her special spot.  You can see another new paint can that hasn't rusted yet. 

Anyway, I'm haven't stitched and I'm really upset with myself.  But before I get into that, a blogger mentioned getting another pair of scissors recently, a new style, and I thought I would embarrassingly show you mine....

Fiskers.  Orange plastic Fiskers.  Did I hear tsk tsk tsk?  Are you embarrassed for me or am I not the only one that uses orange plastic scissors???  Should I treat myself to a pretty pair? 

Tonight I will work on that Pears Two chart since the supplies were pulled a while ago. Part of why I'm procrastinating is having to find the linen, figure the size, and CUT it. Grow up girl. It does no one any good sitting in a drawer. If a project was ready to go, I would certainly have started it, but I really hate searching through linen and trying to figure out the count. Excuses excuses. So this came to me when I was digging a hole.....do we have a patron saint to pray to when we are in stitch distress? You probably all know that we do, but I didn't.   She is Saint Clare.   I found her story here and I enjoyed the article. Another article from the New York Public Library is here. Technically she is Saint Clare of Assisi and developed Assisi embroidery. If you are like me and unaware that stitchers have a patron saint, it is pretty interesting to read.  Never did I expect to find her when I Googled for patron saints.  Maybe she and I will have a long talk tonight. 

Thank you for visiting, commenting, emailing, and putting up with stitching absentia.   Not sure if that is the correct term for my affliction, but I don't care.  I own it.  And it ends tonight!!!