The final linen

Good morning to you.  How's the weekend going?  My furnace is still running day and night.  The warm up is coming the end of this week, so they say.  We've been working on the cabinet fixes and took a chance on correcting the legs - it worked.   Lots of sanding and sealing on the insides and tomorrow I will purchase the primer, or three more paint samples. 

Several of you asked if the Blackbird Chart was posted and you missed out.  Nope.  Once I see the design of the A, the rest of the letters are easy.  In fact, I usually just continue stitching letters without checking chart on most pieces, unless the spacing between is inconsistent.  So it wasn't hard to get a start, and if the chart has something different, that's OK too.

 I jumped the gun because I haven't been stitching and the longer I am not, the harder it is to start.  This was easy because I love it and the colors are simple.  It looks to be pretty worn, and in the end I think I will cut and remove the threads to be more like their antique piece.  So far- 3860, 3722, 3022, and antique gold wool. I chose 28 count natural because I sometimes have problems with wool on higher counts, but now wish it was 30.  I just noticed in the photo that I missed a stitch in the border. You can also see my cross over threads - lots of muslin snips will be on this back!

It started as apricot from this bunch of Paternayan from old needlepoint.  This really took a lot of mixing dye colors but I finally got the antique shade I was hoping for.   Should I have used the deep purple instead of 3860 DMC?  Too late.  I'm hoping this is enough of the gold to work through the alphabet and I think it will be.   Will I start again on another linen?  No.  The Sea Glass was fabulous with these colors, but I was afraid the wool threads would start shredding when pulled through the coarse fabric.  Maybe not - but this is all I dyed and I didn't want to take the chance.  I may work on it more this evening but that depends on how sore my arthritic right hand is after more sanding.  At least I have something to work on that I'm excited about.   Too many other projects going on and that can create a slump that is hard to crawl out of.

 

Enjoy your Sunday!

Thanks for visiting.

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BBD stitch-along

Good morning.  Before running out the door, I had to pull a few things together after seeing Blackbird Design's stitch-along post here.  (Photo from their blog.)

 

Love this little sampler.  I pulled a piece of R&R's Sea Glass thinking these colors would be perfect on it.  Couldn't wait for them to release more details and wanted to start on linen choice. I need to change the gold to 3829 - again - and maybe even switch to a very dark unbleached ground.  Or lighter with a darker gray for the eyelet section. Or not.  See?  I hate having to start something new. 

Colors, sizes, background, one thread or two - AWK!  Having a family of few, and not a stitcher in sight, I won't be passing it to other members as they suggested.  Just me.  The lone stitcher.  Who can't decide on 30 Sea Glass or 35 Mink. Lambswool 40?  Who may do it all!  Who has to get out the door for errands. 

 

I'm not the only one that gets the evil eye from this tiny princess.  She chased Squeak away shortly after this was snapped.  Old man Bud is tired of fighting and is sleeping sitting up.  He does that a lot.  We were watching tv one evening and he just fell over!

 

 

Enjoy your weekend!  Stay safe.

Thanks for stopping by.

Winner

Good evening all.  Random.org scrambled every comment entry and seven email entries, and then generated number 49, which was assigned to Annmarie.  Hello Annmarie!  You're no-reply so I can't notify you other than this post.  Please send your address, country, and planet along with your choice of design.  Thanks to everyone for participating.  I will probably offer another pear at some time and I may just keep my list of entries from this post and have a surprise notice of a winner when I get bored.

Having a little relapse tonight but will start going through charts before bedtime.  I think Eliza has linen and threads at the ready so starting her would be the easiest.  But where is she?  I can put it aside if I change my mind and really do not feel like going through all the linen colors, especially trying to find the right cut.  I still hate cutting into a large piece and will search until I find one that is close, even if I'd prefer the color of the larger piece.  I am so weird.  But I make everyone else feel normal.  Nothing boosts the spirit like knowing there is someone more peculiar than you.

Thanks for participating again!

Knots - stitching & stomach

Good morning.  I'm in the middle of a dark and windy rainstorm, trying to catch up on blogs.  The cats came in to eat like they were shot out of a cannon.  Well they're finished, and I can't get them back out. Under the hutch, the chair, anywhere to hide.  Now I'm stuck at home until they're out.  I just came from Carol's Stitching Dreams blog and she mentioned colonial knots with a link to an instructional video.  You can't beat Mary Corbet's Needle 'n Thread for detailed videos on almost any stitch.  I couldn't remember the difference between Colonial and French knots and wondered which of those are my method.  French.  I've never had a problem but will give the Colonial a try.  Mary's photos of her work using both methods makes me want to knot all day.  Love the look. 

 

 

 

The Colonial knot video is here 

 

 

 

and the French is here. 

Both photos are from her site.

Oh boy.  I just heard the rush seat chair fall.  The boys are roughhousing again.  When I visited Agway for squirrel corn yesterday, the handsome orange tabby with the wide face, so calm and sweet, was still living in the small cage.  No one has adopted any of the adults for a long time.  This tabby is such a handsome well mannered gentlemen.  I spend as much time as I can trying to stroke them through the cages.

 

If you're sick of reading about the damn cabinets, go away now.

As for the cupboards, they are well constructed, but there are a few problems.  I helped him carry them in and immediately saw the leg (bracket - whatever) problem.  He rabbeted in another piece of 7/8" thick wood - I don't know why.  He's never seen this style and I guess he didn't look closely at the drawings.  I can't even add vertical 3/4" slats to fill that area because his wood is thick and it should certainly not be down to the leg bottom.  So we will try to carefully cut it off, but I seriously doubt it will end up straight and smooth.  I am not having him transport these large pieces in his open bed truck again with three days of rain scheduled.  If we fail, we will cut the legs off. 

The drawing specifically stated a fixed shelf in the middle of the two smaller cabinets on the end.  There is none. The center stile on which the 18" doors close, is missing on both pieces.  My heart really sank when I saw this.  He said the doors are butt doors.  NO THEY ARE NOT!!!!  There is no center overlay on any of them and the center stile is on the drawing.  I got out the tape and measured, realized the opening was too large for the doors and he had forgot to install the stile.  Whew.  They can be added.  Now for the final disappointment. 

 His method is to recess the back in 3/8" instead of flush, and adding this 3/4" blocking to the bottom shelf in addition to the thickness of the plywood back = my dishes don't fit.  I can use a higher shelf but I've always stored them on the bottom.  Even then, they just fit because my doors are partially inset.  So. I'm not as upset as I should be because I've been disgusted for so long.  Having to reach up to get my dishes is the thing that bothers me most.   The heaviest and largest items should be on the fixed bottom shelf, not above.  Whatever.  I'm done.  The next time you see them they will be painted and on the wall, and the kitchen changes will end there.  I can't do this any longer.

If you made it this far, thanks for listening to me whine.  I wonder if my husband prefers that over shouting.  Dare I ask?

Enjoy your day! 

Well...duh!

Greetings.  Didn't tell you when the drawing will be did I?  Since I am feeling better today and half of my mind is back, how about Wednesday at 8 pm EST?  I guess there are some readers who can't leave a comment, so just click the email button at the top right and I will add you.

Many have stated that they are concerned about finishing the pears.  Try the pattern on fabric scraps first.  My older post Finishing a pear plus the template shows my method, which may not be the best, but it worked for me.  Here's the template again, and it's also at the bottom of the Pears page.

You would think that scanning something this simple would be a sharp image, but not on this HP.  Open this in Windows Live Photo Gallery and choose full page to print.  You can sew in further at the top and outward on the hips to exaggerate or create the shape you want.  Enlarge on a copier if needed.  I think the biggest help is the fusible interfacing which holds the shape very well, clipping the seams, and definitely pressing the seams open before clipping.  The bottom bends gets bunched when turned and I use a very wide V to trim excess here, fabric glue to close.

Right now, I am waiting for Dominic to deliver the two large cabinets that we can't fit in the SUV.  I have a jar of my hot pepper butter and some chocolate for him.  So grateful he came through for us in short order.  The pepper butter is hot, and dark chocolate calms the burn.  Wait - he's here. 

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I'm back.  The cabinets aren't right.  He pulled out my DETAILED drawing, and saw that he was wrong.  Whatever it is, it is. Mark and I will try to add the missing center stiles, but nothing we can do about the legs.  I opened the tightly wrapped doors from the cabinet company and see one miter that is open, another is half open, two rails are cracked.  Life is good - get over it.

Time to hit the Dove bags!!

Pear offer

Good morning.  Hope the weekend is going well. 

If you would like to enter the drawing for one of these four designs, please leave your entry on this post.  Initials if anonymous or no reply. 

 Checking to see if you are no-reply is not as easy as it used to be with upgrades to Blogger and Google+.  But if you want to know for sure, click here to see the steps.  If you don't have your own blog on which to leave a comment, just follow the steps.  I'm sure some of you prefer that setting and don't want a reply to your comments.   Not all blog owners reply to comments and some feel that is rude, others feel it's unnecessary.  Note to anonymous Karen - the pear designs are all free under the Pears tab beneath the header photo.

 

The boxes were painted and ready for labels. Remember the first HP laptop crash and having to start over with labels on another HP?  My newest one is a Dell after the second HP crash, and adjustments in color need to made again, but minor compared to the last time. 

The printer is also HP (Photosmart series), less than a year old, and uses more ink than you can imagine, even on normal settings.  But some times, it likes to throw out more red, then stop the red for a few lines, and then start over.  Like this.  Why haven't I had it replaced under warranty?  Because they will only replace it with another HP and this being my third, I want nothing to do with their products.  Why haven't I bought a different brand yet?  Individual ink colors!  I run out of yellow but have $80 of other ink still usable.  Needless to say, I am so frustrated (and out of red ink again) that I don't know when or if the labels will be done.  I spent two entire days printing over and over and trying to adjust colors.  I think this will be the last offer for boxes.  For the amount of time I put into them, it costs much more than I charge. 

 I have so many blank 3 box sets, large and small, and don't know if I want to bother doing Ebay to sell them, or if a good fire is in order.  Sometimes I would rather incur the loss and have it over with immediately.  No waiting for a buyer, no buying packing boxes, stuffing, labels, just get it done. Which is exactly the attitude I'm taking for a new printer.  Just forget about the ink costs.  Wait - the Animal Welfare thrift store!  Perfect.  I'm sure they will take the boxes. My two little square favorites are the only ones ready.  I'll let you know when and if there will be a sale.

The bug that I thought was invading is not a bug.  There is something wrong and it's robbing me of sleep and food, so I am crabbier than normal.  I know which tests the doctor will order and that thought puts me up to Queen Crab status, and the current exalted ruler of Bitchdom.

So here we go - if you want a pear, leave a comment here.  No need to give your preference in the entry, you can make that decision if your name is drawn.

Thanks for visiting!