Christmas Bells

The kitchen (never to be completely finished) won't see action until Tuesday.  By then we're hoping Carole will be better.  The Polish dinner for Eve, also postponed, will be next Friday or Saturday.  I don't want to freeze the kielbasa so we'll have it Sunday.  If there is any left.  I've been alternating snowball, kielbasa, nutroll, kielbasa, almond crescent, kielbasa, butterscotch crunch, kielbasa, bobalki, kielbasa.  You get the idea.

 

 

Someone has been taking liberty with house privileges.  Her coloring is like camouflage and sometimes I am looking right at her and don't realize it.

 

I said I probably wouldn't be back until after Christmas and I've shown up three times since.  Can't trust me.

 

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From four years ago

and still true for many of us today.

Carole has been sick, another incident with Chris this morning didn't help, and our dinners are on hold until the antibiotics kick in and she feels better.  Maybe by tomorrow, maybe not.

 

I finished the Christmas Bells free chart and will be attaching the bells this evening.

 

Merry Christmas to all.  Again.

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The snark that stole Christmas

The good news, the daylight will start getting longer.  The bad news, it's officially winter.

 

I haven't worked on the bell, haven't finished Santa or the free design.  I'm tired.  I always bite my tongue when I want to say something about a family member because one day they may be gone, and what I'm upset about now will be very trivial and irrelevant.  But sometimes, human nature takes over and my Release the Snark bracelet is glowing red hot.  For many reasons, for several people.  But I do what I can for others and when I look back, that will be the thing I am OK with, no regrets, nothing to wish I could take back. 

 

I doubt I will return in time to wish you all a Merry Christmas so I will do so now.  May it be filled with the blessing of family and love and good will. 

 And goodies.  God bless you all.

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Scripted

Hello folks.  Seems like we've all been experiencing frigid temps and icy conditions.  Enough said.  Why give villains top billing?

 

First off, I can't answer your comments because everyone is no-reply.  I still refuse to join Google+ and Googlemania because I do not want my personal preferences changed and dictated by someone else.  That being said, I can't even leave a comment on some of your blogs because of it, forcing me to join.  Nope.

 

So here's the thing about the linen.  If you want printed linen, I suggest purchasing it from Kanikis (https://www.etsy.com/shop/Kanikis) or The Primitive Hare (https://www.etsy.com/shop/ThePrimitiveHare).  It is professionally done and a better option.  I'd been printing and transferring for a long time, for muslin sacks, sachets, labels, book covers, and had tried linen but wasn't happy with the outcome.  Linen is rough and the weave has too much texture to result in a crisp (or even close) outline.  Not with my method.  I purchased script graphics several years ago which is what I used for these and a piece of red script fabric I was lucky to grab on Etsy.  I have linen that I don't like for one reason or another so ruining a piece was no big deal.  And several attempts were failures, which can get costly.  Especially when you forget to reverse the image.

 

I have the few pieces shown here which will be used for hearts.  I'm not happy with the red, may try one more time on a lighter linen.  I have several pieces of antique white in a linen grab bag that I will sell in the near future, and one of those may be the ticket for the red ink. 

 

I need to focus on dinner here for Eve and Day, cookies/desserts, getting the house clean, and applying flea meds without bleeding.  Not to mention .. worm pills.  MEDIC!!!  I may be seeing one anyway if these extreme and sudden jolts above my ear don't stop.

 

Have a good start to your week.

Thanks for visiting.

 

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I couldn't wait

when I saw The Primitive Hare's (http://theprimitivehare.blogspot.com/) new Christmas chart she graciously offered to her readers.  The fabric will be available soon, but not soon enough for impatient crabs.  I had a little piece of 30 count in a very gray sage green, and went to work.  I may not even finish Santa before I start this.

I tossed 3787, dark red, and sage green on this odd shade of linen and I believe 3787 will do it.  I don't care for printed, dotted, checked linens, but her design on it, and the simple designs on the dotted hearts, spoke to me.  Loudly.  The print is not as prominent on this color linen as the tans I tried, and I prefer it.

 

 Ignoring the pile of large sampler charts may be a key to feeling needle love again.  Just don't think about them, feel pressure to stitch them, and put them away.  Work on the smalls until I'm ready, and if I don't want more small pieces in my collection, I can always enjoy the stitch and then see if they would sell.  Sounds like a plan.

 

No comment on the weather.

 

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The bell attempt

Feeling a little better. My family tells me that once germs enter, if the hot flashes don't fry them, the bitchy will have them running for an exit.
 I played with the bell a little and wanted to share with you for your thoughts and suggestions before I go any further.

The shape is rough, basted, and just for sizing.  I used a heavy canvas on the back for body and am finishing it as I would any other to be stuffed, but I'm not stuffing it.  Let me try to explain my reasoning and method.

 

 

Making it into a true bell shape would mean that both back and front would be rounded, preventing it from laying flat on a wall or door.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It would be nice hanging freely, but where?  And with no extra linen in this color, the back would be a contrast.  So I'll sew a backing to the stitched piece which will serve as the lining and finish off the edges. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the very thick felted wool product I chose for the back.  The color blends nicely and the edges need no finishing.

 

  

 

 

So the plan is to hand sew the finished Santa on to this wool back, raising the Santa to create the bell with the curved front.  I don't know how else to do it.  Once the back of the bell is attached to the finished front, I may have to stuff with fill half way down to keep that shape, and probably need a piece of mat board/cardboard cut to that half circle arc pushed up inside to hold it.

 

This way, it will lay flat on a door and have the shape of a bell (well .... half bell), and I can have the jingle bells extending down.  I can add a trim of some sort to the hand sewn edge, but I think I will sew the front edge over the thick wool edge to hide it.  If I get that far.  But really, once the bell shape is tweaked and the backing sewn on, this shouldn't be difficult at all.  The wool (Michael's, Hobby Lobby all have it) which is super thick, can be trimmed easily. 

 

  Do you think the backing material of the Santa front will be sort of loose and maybe hang?  I hate to fuse it.  Wait.  How about using Mylar (stencil blanks) inside the bell part, cut the same shape as the front piece?  Yep.  That's what I'll try.  I can poke a few needle holes on the sides and stitch it to the front's backing.  When I sew the front to the wool, the Mylar will bend also and keep that shape, and also press against the front's backing so it stays in place.  Hey.  Everything sounds good, but that doesn't mean it will work.  We'll see. 

 Any suggestions? 

 

 

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