Gluing 101

Greetings.  It's rainy and dark today, still fairly warm but that will change tomorrow.  I gave in to Fall crap and bought a pumpkin.  Well,  I bought more than one and also a few mums.  They're out front and I'm liking the lime green sweet potato vine with the orange.  Yes, I'm still hanging on to summer plants including the marigolds here.  I usually pot some in yellow and orange and when fall rolls around, I try to pass them off as mums.  Close enough.  But I couldn't pass up the beautiful rust ones I found for $3.99.

I know this will probably get a few (or more) stitchers upset, but I was working with glue today and thought I would show how I close seams when I choose not to stitch.  First off, I didn't take a photo of the actual amount of glue.  I spotted the red/brown Dove chocolate bag and lost my train of thought for a moment.  A tiny amount spread evenly is all that you need of Liquid Stitch.  I've tried other fabric glues but still prefer this brand since it's very tacky and grabs quickly.  Even after several minutes, you can still reopen if needed to adjust. 

When you close the seam and press gently, if you don't have batting or interfacing behind the fabric it will sometimes grab the outside layer. There will be a little indentation like this.

Pinch the seam and kind of roll the fabric until it's loose and not attached.  You won't hurt the glued seam and you can easily pinch it shut again if it should come open.  So here's the seam.

If stuffing is not to the edge, take a long strong and sharp needle and insert at an angle into the fabric.

Twist or rotate the needle towards the seam.  I also do this for corners when needed.  The needle grabs some of the stuffing and moves it to the area.  Not a lot, but enough to fill any voids.  It's usually not necessary when using the thick batting because it will stay in place right to the edge.  You already know this, but I'm covering all the bases. 

Now you're probably wondering what the heck I was gluing. 

By now, you know that I can never leave well enough alone.  In fact, I started making a few more.  I just love fabric.  I've been buying fat quarters in such beautiful prints, but they are not something I would use on the backs of more primitive stitchery, so I'm working on pincushions.

And on this day, 75 years ago, Dominic wed Stella. My Aunt Kay, dad's sister, is next to mom, and mom's sister Jenny is in the middle. They were married 65 years when dad passed.

So that's it. I'm making smoked pork chops with mom's scalloped potatoes from scratch.  You know how it was - no one ever measured - so it's usually different every time.  No cheese in these, just the milk, flour, butter, onions, and black pepper.  So good.

Welcome to new followers!  I thank you all for reading and wish you a wonderful day.

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When is that pill coming out?

Hi everyone.  I just don't understand why we have a pill for every possible ailment and disorder except for that pesky decision making.  And BTW, spellchecker still hasn't put menobrain or hysterectobelly into their files.  No one listens to me.  This change isn't as much of being indecisive as it is for aesthetics.   Beside the point.  I still want a pill.  I did two rows of the 503 and thought it was too bright.  Yes, it's soft and medium toned but it looked bright against those muted threads. 
Is it still there?  No.  Lots of stitch removal.

And I have to say, the Uncle Bill's tweezers that Carole send to me made it a lot easier.  No leftover fuzz and twice as quick to remove.  I owe her for this help, so I made this heart pincushion with a crushed shell strawberry.  Hope she likes it.  I used to make items like this and took most into the needlework shop of years ago.  Back then (25 years ago) I tried a few patchwork quilted hearts but didn't enjoy the work involved so put a price of $2 on each just to get rid of them.  The next day, the owner called and told me she had taken an order for 40 of them to use as favors for a birthday party.  Yikes!!  My mistake for not making it clear they were one of a kind and not priced for orders.  The lady was a good customer and wanted each to be different.  Since it was my fault I had no choice but to oblige.  Lesson learned.

Got off track there.  Here's Mary as of last night.  When I removed the 503 I also removed all the offending blue.  Another mistake I made originally was testing 3768 which is a little darker than 926, thinking the latter would be too light.  I should have tested both because that slight difference made it work.  926 it is, sticking with a blue like Mary's original work.  Next will be to change the gold to a lighter shade.  That will be the end, and worth the hassle to be pleased. 

One more thing that was brought up in my comments ~

Yes I did get mentioned in Cross Stitch & Needlework magazine!  I am grateful for the honor and found that my local JoAnn carries it.  Lots of great information and sources, published 6 times a year.  Their website has downloads for patterns in addition to helpful information at the bottom of the page from previous issues.  That's where I found an article I printed for Stitching Over One.  Simple and just one page to keep with the charts since some things refuse to stick in my mind and I need referral notes.  I can still remember all my friends' phone numbers from school, but need refreshers for stitching!   I found a nice article with photos on Needlework Shop Travel Guide.  In the free projects, I was tickled to find a product that is totally new to me. DMC's Soluble Canvas.  I found a video on You Tube showing a project for stitching a design onto a jacket using this and I've already come up with a few ideas.  So I've learned some things and found a product I didn't know existed and this is just from their website, so check out the entire magazine and see what you think!  How did I not know about this soluble stuff??  I see it's available through online shops and also on Amazon, but I usually browse for charts and never think to look at other products.  Well that answers my question, doesn't it.

It's warm today, the boys are outside tussling, and I plan to sit out there and stitch this afternoon since it will be chilly this week.  Husband is making Greek spaghetti before the Steelers come on so I hope to get quite a bit done.

Welcome to new followers, thanks again for participating in my offer (I have a few more I'm trying to get ready), and for taking time to visit!  Stay safe.

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Whew! Finally a winner.

Took me a while to enter all the names in the List Randomizer.  But it shuffled and numbered and generated basketsnprims as the winner.   Pam, please send me your address and I'll get this in the mail to you Monday.  Thanks to all who entered!   This offer had the most entries of any and I so appreciate your interest and participation.   There will be a few more to come before the end of this year, so stay tuned!!  I'll be back tomorrow!

I did the right thing

Hello boys and girls!  First off, just wanted to show that I have been stitching behind the scenes.  Trying to make new labels, I combined my sampler bag chart with another design.  The round boxes are easier to get and are not cock-eyed like some of the ovals.  This is the largest 6"x6" but I can adapt this design to the 5" and 4" too. I'm still working on a few others while stitching Mary.  Speaking of her...I removed the line of stitching and correctly followed the chart for Mary's name.  In the instructions, it does show the "offset" stitches being one thread over from the others, but I still had trouble until I found the secret that no one told me. 

Stitch the border beneath that line first, and you can line up the entire row by following the border stitches.   They told me when to be offset and when to line up.  Easy peasy.  But I'm still not happy.  The linen color could be the cause, but these floss hues are not setting well with me.  The majority of the verse is blue DMC #161 which I thought was too strong.  So I tried 931 dipped in the gray dye.  Still not happy.  Looked through my color cards and came up empty with the blues.  The 611 and 632 are fine, the ecru changed to a gold since it was invisible, but it seemed a blue looked out of place.   Nothing really wrong with it and others may like it, but I just thought the blue was too cold, and the brighter blues too bright for my taste.  Here's the blue and the cover-up with the 500 series I chose.

So it looks like the end result will not be the colors of the Mary's original design.  Does that bother some stitchers?  Yep.  Does it bother me?  Nope.  If the stitcher is not pleased with what she is creating in her hand, what is the point?  I asked last year if you thought a designer would be insulted by our changing colors after they labored over their design to find what they felt was perfect.  This is one of the topics I want to post in the near future.  For now, I really like the 501 and 502 in the main body, and may use 503 in place of the gold, or change the gold to a different hue.  I love the sampler, want to finish it, and not regret choices when it's on the wall.

I want to show you my new basket, too.  I custom ordered a basket from Ann at 1803 Ohio Farm Baskets for my new nasty cupboard and love it.  I chose her long skinny basket with higher sides and shorter handle.  For years I've been searching for a basket for the tank lid (of the commode) to hold items and this fits the bill.  Perfect side height for the standard tissue box, with lots of room for other items.  I can even lay a piece of homespun over the contents.  It's staying where I had planned but the width makes it usable almost anywhere, including mantels.

That's all for now.  I sure hope I don't forget to draw a name tomorrow!  Until then, enjoy your weekend start and thank you for visiting.

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Mary Mary, quite contrary

Greetings everyone.  Thanks for all your comments on the knotting issue.  We've discussed glass or no glass, knot or no knot, and there is one topic that I'm almost embarrassed to bring up.  So I won't.  Not this post.  But soon.  I worked on Mary yesterday and as I sat outside to stitch today.....uh-oh.  Mary was going along quite well, but no longer!  First off, the 612 was too light so I changed to 611, the ecru wasn't showing up either so I chose a gold, and 3790 isn't visible either.  The latter is only one border and a few stitches at the bottom so I'm just substituting a current color.  I don't mind samplers that change color every two letters, but am not fond of every other letter such as this.  I don't know why but it's like static to me.  

So I just went ahead and did the lower case letters in one color, which kind of pertains to the topic I want to confess....later.  This is where I was to begin today.  Here's my major error on the line containing Mary Oldfield. 

Looking at the chart, you'll see the symbols are on the line instead of in the square, which started with the "a" in Mary at the beginning of that line.  I assumed this meant that instead of being two lines over, it was one.  Well that's only partially correct.  Each individual letter needs to be positioned separately, and I just moved the first and continued on, thinking the entire line would be one thread over since it started that way.   Dummy me thought the letter in the square just happened to line up correctly, and the letters on the line fell on the offset.   I am off by seven stitches now.

So here's my option.....remove that line and start over, or leave out the crown and just stitch "her" and the cross design.  Obviously I should remove the line and probably will.  But alter ego stitcher considered the lazy way out.  Looks like my new tweezers from Carole will get a workout tonight.  Thank you again Carole!

A sure sign of fall is my doe with her new dark coat coming in for winter, and the spots almost completely gone from her twins.  You can see the color difference.  Her beautiful reddish coat is now drab.

They ignored what was happening a few feet away.

BOX

BOXING MATCH

Carried into the yard with a few good flips, and finally roughhousing was over.

Hope your week is going well.  With these house projects finally getting lined up, I've been pretty busy with ..... changes.... and getting materials, so I haven't been reading and commenting as much as I'd like.   Pretty soon it will be leaf blowing time.  I LOVE my Little Wonder blower.  But hate fall.  So until next time, thank you so much for visiting ~ hello and welcome to new followers!

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In case you're interested

Hiya.  Just a quick post to mention a very interesting site.  It is Antique Pattern Library and has an amazing number of books and patterns from as far back as 1800.  First, you have to download the latest version of Adobe reader which I thought I had but nothing worked.  Once I upgraded, I had no problem.  The first time I clicked on the PDF button for viewing, I had to allow Adobe to read the files which led me to the product's usage agreement, and then viewing commenced.  If you already have Adobe (your PDF reader) in the 10. version you'll be OK.  So.  When you go to the site, click on "catalog" at the top.  Any booklet that you would like to view, just click the PDF button and their site's disclaimer will appear, scroll down to view by page.  Hover on the bottom and the bar will allow you to save the entire book to your computer, print, or print certain pages.

 You will find tassels, filet, knitting, Battenburg, tatting, maltese, thread crochet, Berlin work, naval knotting, lace making, cross stitching, embroidery, quilt patterns, beading, things I never heard of, and on and on. 

 

There is a brief description of each with the name of the person who scanned their antiques to share with others.  Very interesting and some gorgeous bags, shawls, sweaters, and lace. Several books on cross stitch with borders, florals, and
ethnic designs.

Instructions are in most booklets and those old time photos with proper ladies.  When done viewing just hit your back arrow and it will take you right back to the site. 

So if you are interested in browsing through these antique patterns and being amazed at the detailed needlework our ancestors learned, expect to spend quite a bit of time.  I was thinking of printing some of the pages for framing in my sewing room but it will take forever to decide which!  It's been a while since I bookmarked the site and still haven't viewed them all.

On another topic, I ran into a girl (lady, woman, whatever) that I worked with many years ago and we yakked while our frozen desserts melted in our shopping carts.  It ended with her asking me if MaryAnn was still around, and I answered that I hadn't seen her name in the obituaries so yes, she is.  Genny cracked up and said "I meant is she still living in town!".  A younger person would have know that, but as we age, we think differently.  "Still around" to me means you're still alive!! 

THE SENILITY PRAYER:

Grant me the senility to forget the people I never liked,

the good fortune to run into the ones I do, and the eyesight to tell the difference.

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THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:

I don't want to brag or make anyone jealous or anything, but I can still fit into the earrings I wore in high school. 

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I've been busy stitching new designs for labels, but I'm not finding box sets to my satisfaction.  They aren't true ovals and some are really wonky.  I told the manager months ago but it seems the factory overseas has changed their quality control.  I can't find the boxes anywhere else and would certainly not trust ordering online.  I'm still trying and will hopefully be successful!  Today I'll work on Mary again during the dust storm my guy will be making.  I'm so glad to have found him.  He has a square and knows how to use it!  He told me I was the only woman that asked to see his square and checked his level. 

Back in a few days!  Hope you week is starting off great.

Thanks for visiting!