Template for Spot pouch

I've received quite a few emails asking if I had a template for Spot's pouch, and thought this would be easier than attaching a file to reply.  For any new shape, I just fold paper and cut, then hold the cut-out behind the design in a window or against a light to see how the shape and size fits the stitchery.  Might be a more scientific way to see if the template will work, but I'm lazy and need a visual.  No interfacing since I wanted it soft and wrinkled. Then I pin in several places to center and secure, mark the outline with my  .... my ..... dammit.  I posted about that pen twice and can't remember the name!  You know, the one that disappears with the iron.  Isn't that frustrating?  You know what's more frustrating?  Looking for the pen to get the name and not being able to find it which is why I am not looking for it.  I'm absolutely positive it's not where it should be.  That's my pat answer to a sarcastic "you don't know where it is, do you?".  Yes I do.  It's where it shouldn't be.  Bingo.  Once again, he has to admit that I am right.  You don't have to know the answer to be right.
This is the template I used, sized for 40 count fabric.  Just increase on a copier for other counts.  This is the SEWING line, not the cutting line.  I didn't line it, just added the wool backing (and a piece to the top front), folded the excess top to the inside to create the drawstring casing, stitched in the ditch and trimmed excess.  Lots of online videos for that.
 Click to open in another window, then right click and print.
 Hope this helps to get your Spot on!

 

The next small

Hi everyone.  Just a quick note to show the next project.  Do you remember when Connie sent me a bunch of older PS Santa charts?  She said to keep what I wanted, to share the rest, and several stitchers were thrilled to receive a chart they've been searching for.  She is the epitome of the stitching sisterhood.   Yesterday I received another envelope from her. 

There are some other things going on that I haven't mentioned and I really have no ambition or focus to delve into the chart stash.  What follows with linen choice is even worse.  So when I saw this 2011 design come out of the envelope, I felt relief because I love it, it's small, and there was a piece of linen hanging over the sofa arm that was the perfect size.  Thank you so much Connie.  For everything.  I will follow your example and offer the charts to others in a Pay it Forward giveaway after stitching is completed.

 

This linen was a gold color and rather than look for another piece in the color I would like, I got out the Rit and started playing.  Purple erases yellow, blue makes it green, a drop of red erases green, so it took three different dips to get a neutral brown.  I would rather do that when I find the correct size than cut a larger piece.  Not sure if it's 30 or 32.  I'm using two strands of floss for the design elements and one thread of black for the letters.  I also changed the key's color and will take out the watering can in the lower left and spread out the letters instead.

 

I made my posts on Primitive Stitchers and have no idea from there.  I see that some comments are answered but I don't know how, and not sure about the friends.  When I signed on several years ago, I received all these invites from people I don't know and when I emailed a few, found out that they never invited me.  Anyway, when my mind is not preoccupied, I will learn more.

 

Have a great day.

 

Thanks for visiting.

 

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Spot's finish

  As you already know, my end finish is never what I planned. 

 

 

So here is the finished Spot, in a small bag to carry coins for maybe horse trading back in the day.  I dyed the finished piece, left it wrinkled, backed it with black wool and used black leather lacing to tie.  Spot was too good looking for me, not dark enough, not primitive enough, and once this popped into my head, I knew it would give me the look I wanted.  It's much darker than seen in this photo because of the flash.

I can hang it from a peg rack too, as soon as they are installed in the unfinished rooms.  The starkness of the black against the black wool is so nice.  Too bad I can't get a decent photo.  You can see from my hand how small it is.

Not sure what the next project will be.  I haven't done a sampler in a while and I don't know if I'm up for anything other than smalls.  We'll see.  

I've been checking Facebook pages and wanted to post on the Prim Stitchers page, but I am so confused!  I need to find a Facebook for Dummies tutorial. 

Hope your week - the last few days of March - will be a good one.

 

Thanks for visiting.

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What is a sampler

Happy weekend to you.  We have a light dusting of snow this morning which makes me crabby.  Off to a good start.  The pain is much better though as long as I don't smack the huge shoe into the leg of a cabinet or the stair riser.

 

When I asked about the works so similar to Mary Antrim's, I received a reply from a sampler enthusiast who is also the owner of several featured in the current exhibit, stating there is a group of similar samplers all made in Burlington County NJ.  The Morven Museum in Princeton is showing 151 NJ schoolgirl samplers of 1726-1860 and ends tomorrow the 29th.  If you go to their website you can purchase a catalog from the exhibit under the shop tab.  In reading an article about the Antrim piece which was sold for the highest price on record for a needlework sampler ($1,070,500), I found there is another needlework scene that sold for a little more.  The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston purchased View of Boston Common by Hannah Otis (1732-1801), stitched around 1750 for $1,157,500 in 1996.  I wonder what the bid would be today, almost 20 years later.

The article said it's a huge piece embroidered in wool and silk on linen.  But it's not considered a sampler which is why Antrim is listed as the most expensive.

 

But Antrim's is also a scene, with some cross stitches in addition to lots of embroidery stitches.  What's the difference?  I always thought samplers were letters and verse.  So what determines classification of needlework?   Does it matter?  Since I don't plan on spending a million for a beautiful antique, no.  But that doesn't mean I'm not curious.  Even today, many charts are listed as samplers, but I see a design, not what I would consider a sampler.  So what is a sampler?  This crab wants to know.  I have books on them but I only look at the pictures!  Guess I should start reading.  Maybe that will be my goal this summer as I sit on my swing, if it ever warms up. 

 

 

Have a great weekend!

 

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Making an on the Spot decision

I stopped stitching at this point, haven't stained/aged him yet,

and now I see that I failed to complete the eye.

Then .... a Spot ornament finished with mini pom pom black fringe which needs to be ordered.

 

Or Spot as a pocket on a coverlet patterned bag, suede bag with fringe, or heavy canvas with leather straps.  If I choose the bag, I have several decisions within that decision. 

 

 

Spot on the lid of a paper mache box I will paint black and distress.

 

 

Spot on a Faye bag.

 

Spot on a padded fabric box lid.

 

I hope the pain subsides quicker than expected so I can start walking around.  Sitting with too much time to think can make a confused individual worse.

 

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Spot reduction

Greetings folks.  Everyone doing well?  I'm sitting with a bag of frozen peas on my elevated foot.  No big deal.  It will hurt like hell for a few days and then get better, just as my oral surgery did.  He asked why I am doing two minor surgeries so close and I explained that my insurance is changing 4/3 and I've been too busy with Carole the last six months to schedule anything.  Cram it all in the last days!  Still a few more things to take care of next week.

 

Spot.  Spot spot spot.  Why do I want to stitch something and then can't wait until it's done?  Bored?  Maybe because it's not a sampler?  I don't know, but I am considering using Spot with a few motifs only.  I have enough linen to stitch the entire design and it's certainly no big deal, but I am already thinking of stopping and making a pillow.  Ornament.  Pinkeep.  Whatever the heck you call smalls that can hang with the best of them, lie in a bowl, play well with others, or be trapped in a frame.  Wouldn't this be nice with tiny pom pom trim?  I did the first cross left to right and will complete the stitches from top to bottom.  Even though it's 40 count, the tension of my stitching is visible in places.  Going in two directions corrects that for me.  I was considering Fraktur Friends on 40 over two but I can see that the black background would not be as tight and dense as I'd like.  Still haven't decided but something tells me I would end up stitching the friends only and not the other elements.  I'll be working on Spot today and tomorrow, supposed to stay off the foot for a week but that won't happen. 

 

The soapstone guy is finally coming out Friday to measure for the sink and counters.  After being exciting about starting the kitchen so long ago, between the lack of craftsman around here and Carole's situation, I really lost interest.  Mark thinks once the counters are in I will get with Dominic to finalize the details and regain interest.

 

Carole is having problems breathing again (in the morning) and she is complaining constantly, having no patience to heal and let the heart adjust.  Just like with my mom, you love them, care for them, but at times you just want to smack them!!  I would butterfly a flank steak, fill and roll with spinach, feta, pine nuts, bread crumbs (one of her favorites) and mom would eat like there was no tomorrow but never say it was good.  It was OK but I should have used more feta, seared it longer, tied it better, glazed it more.  Carole is the same.  I probably am too!  You see what drives you nuts in others, but when you step back and look at yourself from another's perspective, sometimes you're shocked. 

 

Might be what happened to Nitzy.  He thought he was being cool and another cat thought he was being a smart ass and cleaned his clock.

 

 

I was hoping for red, but they only had this style in black. 

 

 

Closing in on the end of March already.  Hard to believe that surgery was 4 weeks ago today. 

 

Hope your week is going well.

 

Thanks for visiting.

 

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