A tag dilemma

Greetings.  I'm in the process of finishing some tags and can't decide how to offer them.  Do I list the labels and have you choose, then complete them?  Do I complete a variety and what you see is what you get?  Do I offer the old with the new which is WAY too many choices?  Do I limit the folk art because it's not what you would want?  Do I consider Halloween and Christmas tags?  Do I have a problem with chocolate?  I threw that in there because I wanted to be able to answer at least one query.

 

But first, I may be closer to finding the Santa charts because this little ditty showed up.  It's a darling little Christmas cardinal, only 1 1/2" x 3 1/4" inches on 32 count and I started working on it until I make a sampler decision.  Put a rusty star on it and it's always a favorite.

 

My husband is off today and getting in my way.  Good grief he'll be retiring soon.  I told him to start making new friends and taking up new hobbies.    My hips are big enough without another person being attached to them.

 

 

 

Here's the new house tags.  A little fussy for my taste.

The folk art offers.

And holiday?

Here he comes again.  I need to find a project that isn't so involved it makes him balk, or so simple that it requires little time, or anything that needs a helper.   I'm going to hide out in the sewing room. 

 

Thanks for visiting!

 

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Bad photos - good choices

Hiya.  How's your week going?  Are you needing a jacket in the middle of August?  The way this month has been progressing it may snow in September.  I know, I know.  Many most of you like frost on your pumpkins. 

I've been working on tags and only came up with four new house labels.  It seems the sampler or alphabet tags aren't as popular so I didn't work on any, but still may because those are my preference.  And I'm in control.

PS's Old World Santas were to be the next project but I can't find them.  I really got some things in order the other day but the Christmas charts are ?????  So I went through the samplers and decided on several, then started weeding out fancy borders, over one stitching, and motifs.   Simple and quick seems the best choice with all the house disorder.  The sanding companies are coming today for estimates and they both claim to be dust-free.  Although the photos are bad, I like the choices. 

 

 

 

R&R's very primitive and quite different piece.  The colors I choose will be more prominent.

 

 

R&R's Lydia Tyler.  Beautiful colors.

R&R's Mary Ann Bradbury.  Small yet several different stitch styles.  Calls for flower thread but I will use DMC.

Hoping to finish the tags today and will start stitching this evening. 

Look who snuck onto the deck for a snack.  Bud was sound asleep 10 feet away.  And this is something you don't see very often.  A groundhog lounging on your fence.

While working outside, some sort of flying critter flew into my hair (which many mistake for shelter), so I had to brush it.  With my hair, not a good idea.  It's best to leave it alone.   Never did find the bug. 

 I went for a haircut the next day and the only change is that it's a shorter bush now.  She didn't find the bug either so it must have suffocated or found its way out.  Now my hair goes out to a point and comes back in so I have a bevel head.  It feels weird.

And look at my second bean string.  Love the color!

 

 The sander will be here in a few minutes so I better start watching for him.

Thanks for visiting!  Enjoy your day.

 

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A day without fringe

Greetings!  Are you enjoying the weekend?  Our weather has been too cool for summer, but very nice and sunny.  Today there was no fringing around!  I tried to get the rooms into organized chaos.  Did a fairly good job, enough that there is a definite path to follow without tripping. 

I had a little time to start a few of these, but the new printer is spitting them out in different hues than the prior machine.  Lots of adjustments and I'm thinking - just start over.  I had quite a few of the folk art labels sized and ready but never got to them before Niky's Creations featured hers.  I waited and waited before offering mine.  Honestly, I like hers!  She has a scalloped border and aging around the edges.  Very nice.  She may offer more and her Etsy site with other goodies is here.

 

Started a few of these.

 

And offered a second chance.  The fraying fringe would not have bothered me, but I planned it as a gift and didn't want it to come apart in someone else's hand.   So I tried again.  And guess what?  I'm still not happy.  I never really cared for the fabric frame so I will take it apart and use this print on the back, maybe attach a hanger.  It would have been quicker to just stitch another but I dyed this linen for those threads and have no more.

Company just came.  Skinny Limper is allowing me to walk very close to her with the bread.  She comes several times a day and waits until I see her and offer her corn.  Big Daddy doesn't seem to mind my presence either.  The mosquitoes are taking advantage of my flesh so I think I will head back into the house, or switch to the single swing and start flying.  They can't land when you create as big a draft as I do.  I used to have a large standing fan that kept them away too.  Have NO idea what happened to it.  It's not easy to lose something that large, but if anyone can, it's me.

Have a great start to a new week. 

Thank you for visiting.

 

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This little hairy bastard

Can you tell I'm not in a good mood? 

Here's the finish, filled with walnut shells, backed with a darker greenish taupe linen, with both linen colors variegated with the floss in this darling fringe, and if I wasn't done burning the wood it would be ash by now. I wasted DAYS that I could have put toward a sampler.  I wasted three pieces of linen working on the back which is impossible to neatly attach when you don't turkey through both sides at once.   This hairy little bastard has tried my patience more than Lucy and that ***** bird design put together.  I've tried to keep my cool, have patience, take a deep breath, but my breath is now fire. 

  I was about to attach the trim over the stitching on the back, when I saw this.  I don't know if it happened when attaching and removing the backing stitches, or probably when releasing the linen threads for fringe, but these pulled off.  Could I fix them?  Probably.  Do I want to devote more time to it?  Hell no.  Will I ever do fringe again?  Yes.  But I'll find a different way. 

But look at my leather britches.  The beans are almost completely dried and I hung them with my sweet potato garland.  I think they will eventually turn brown but that will take more time. 

The other string that is drying much more slowly, is continuing to lighten.   Happy happy.  No yellow wax beans at the markets but I'll keep looking.

So what's next?  A break.  I want to get these tags finished, do a few boxes, stitch a Santa, and think about the next sampler.  Right now, it's best I do nothing because when I get upset, it stays for a while.  In this case, with all the thread splits, knots, tangled loops, six strand pile-ups, and frogs choking at every turn, I should have probably released a little steam from this pressure cooker now and then.  The bigger the explosion, the longer it burns. 

Thanks for your concern over my foot, which is back to normal size and feeling much better.

I hope your weekend is safe and enjoyable.  Thanks for visiting!

 

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Show me the pictures

Good day to you.  Thank you so much for the encouraging comments!  The majority of stitchers do their own thing and that's good.  My sister in law always rolled her eyes when I pulled out a wrinkled piece of linen, rolled and scrunched to work in hand, from an open top canvas bag with Dove wrappers in the bottom.  "Don't look Pat"!!!  "It's like an accident", she would say, "you shouldn't look but you can't turn away".  I loved my Proper Pat.  I miss her.  And I'm glad that there are a few Proper Pats around to scold once in a while.  Makes me feel like a naughty girl and at 62, that's refreshing!  Thank you all again.

The older I get, taking more time to reach a goal seems unnecessary and I'm always looking for shortcuts.   For instance, this book.

 

A wealth of information but I don't want to take the time to read about quilting, crewel, needlepoint, tatting, and all the other early needlework. I want pictures. Not black and white little ones, big colorful close-ups. This book is old, stamped with a library stamp, yellowed pages, some with small tears. I don't want it. Give it back to the library? Will someone buy it again?

Before I forget, Yankee Candle has a BOGO sale on large jars/tumblers right now online. Great deal! Coupon code TREAT through 8/11. Stock up for Christmas gifts.

To make you feel good about your homes being a little disorderly....

 

 

But the installation of the floor in both rooms is now complete. Most of it is covered with the upside down carpet strips to prevent stains. I still would prefer not to sand and we need to get the areas stained and finished quickly. 

I have four of these very sturdy bentwood stools and they will be replaced with two of something more colonial.

 

 

 

 

 

And looky looky!  I've been feeding these two warriors closer and closer together.  Torrential rains and really smelly canned food led them both to a makeshift shelter.  Harmony!  Briefly anyway.

 

I had my contractor cut new tags for me since I still can't find the others.  They need sanded and stained but at least I know where they are.  Today - not sure about tomorrow.  And the new bean string is turning lighter each day.  I have no idea why and I wish I knew which local farm they came from. 

Rite-Aid had Dove on sale this week so I stocked up again.  Now I need to hide the bags from myself which is a thinly veiled attempt at control, because I have to make a note of where I hide them or I will forget, and in case I lose the note, it's best to hide them in plain sight. 

 

Thanks for visiting!  Have a wonderful and safe weekend.

 

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My apologies to you

Hi all.  It seems that I've upset a few needleworkers with my crude methods.  Sorry.  But here's how I feel.  If we all had to follow the rules and only stitch using proper methods, some of us would not stitch at all.  Working a small project is the perfect opportunity to try new things, experiment, practice, and give us an idea of how we would manage a larger project with these elements.  If we have some difficulties, changing the method to match our ability (or patience) still allows us to be stitchers and create.  Just as a youngster brings home a wonky work of art, they are praised for effort.  Yes, there were instructions to follow for their creation, and they followed the best they could, improvising to complete their project.  Same here.  We're learning, wanting to create these pieces that catch our eye and allow hours of relaxing enjoyment, not nerve wracking tedium or a test of our skill.  I will never be a rule follower when it comes to stitching, because I am not always pleased with my end result, frustrated, and many times tempted to burn, flush, shred, toss the entire project. I have no desire to change the way anyone stitches, just to show that some of us feel free to wing it.  We covet the old samplers with misspelled words, missing stitches, uneven borders, mismatched rows, so our execution of these pieces or others, should be just as much ours as theirs was theirs.  If I do a stitch incorrectly or fringe instead of frame, I am not trying to get others to follow, or become a bad influence to beginners.  I am only showing you ....... ME!!!  Wonky, menopausal, bitchy, emotional, animal loving, nail stepping, indecisive, sampler loving stitcher who needs a facelift.  Me. 

A woman who is keeping her current project in a styrofoam container from the grocery store.  Easy to keep it all together, protected from tabletop spills and construction mess.  But not what you would normally keep your projects in.  Key word - normal.

 

 

But because I think the world of all of you and so appreciate your friendship and help, I will show the correct placement of the turkey stitch loop according to other videos I have watched.

First stitch is down through the linen and the floss end becomes part of the fringe.  Then anchor stitch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 For the basic loop, come up into the next hole from the anchor,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 and go down in the center hole behind the anchor, pulling through to create the loop.

 

 

 

 

Do the anchor stitch by coming up in the hole to the right of the loop, and go down into the same hole as the anchor stitch right edge. 

 

You end up with each side of the loop behind an anchor stitch. 

Correct?  If not, forgive me cause baby that's the best I can do!  I can't wait to finish and cut the loops. 

Still easier that my original video method of going left to right and coming UP behind the anchor

instead of going DOWN.

 

 Now - here's the boys.

And the blood.  I got my tetanus shot, antibiotics, came home, and stepped on a staple coming out of the old carpet that we took up and turned upside down to protect the floor.

This was the old wool loop and I loved it, but it matted more than any other carpet I ever had.  I really like the very abrasive backside and wouldn't mind carpeting like it.  You can see my swollen left foot and the band aid on the left edge from the staple. 

Bean watch!!

It appears the string has shrunk to half its original length and bean size.  My second string is completely different.  This is day 4 and hardly any change, whereas the first batch dried quite a bit by this time.  They appear to be getting lighter.  YAY!!!  I hope so.

 

 We've had a very long day and are exhausted from all the cleanup.   My battery is drained - computer and body. 

Enjoy your weekend - stay safe - stitch happy!

 

Thank you for stopping by.

 

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