Almost done!

Hi everyone.  Hope your weekend is off to a pleasant start.  After several changes, I'm finally happy with Dorothy.  The 3046 was looking too yellow on this fabric so I replaced it with 642 and 832.  I found a backing fabric that is the same odd brown with a blue and gray in the check, and a brownish red that is similar to the 632.

So this is 30 count 18th Century Rook linen, with 926, 927, 832, 642, 3023, 3021, and 632.  I'll add a green in the bottom motifs and should be finished soon. 

 

I'm still not caught up on blog reading but I have seen several that are linking to Bloglovin.   ???  I go to my dashboard to see new posts on the reading list and then click to be taken to that blog.  I don't know how the other works.  I signed up for email posts but prefer visiting the entire blog page and its layout.  Maybe everything shows up the other way too, but I'm not mobile.  Nor do I text.  I have a Tracfone ($7/month) that I use for emergencies or to call someone when I'm out to see if I can pick up anything for them.   I end up with a ton of carryover minutes because there is no way I can use 120 minutes in 3 months.  I'm too cheap to spend the kind of $$$ they want for a plan that I would rarely use, and I have no desire to have a phone that is smarter than I am.  So if Bloglovin is sent to those mobile devices that I do not use, no sense signing up.  I don't Tweet either.  Or have Facebook tracking every move I make.  Nothing wrong with social media, it's just not for me.  It amazes me to see a parent with a child in a restaurant, and the adult's eyes are glued to the phone instead of setting it aside and talking to their child.  We've seen several weekend dads that never spoke one word.   Is it more important than your kids?  If they would look up, they would see their child's sad face, so wanting some attention. 

Never mind.  I'm in one of those moods, yearning for the old days when social meant actual contact with a human instead of plastic. The interaction that teaches you to handle situations and do a better job, accept disappointment graciously, to have manners and civility, to learn about others - not just where they are going today and what they purchased.  I need a pill again, don't I.  Yep.  Must be chocolate withdrawal.  Starting over......isn't Dorothy cute???

 

Ignore my rant please, I'm too lazy to delete and begin again.

Have a great weekend!  Stay safe.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Color

Good morning.  The sun is out.  It's cold as heck but it should start warming up soon.  My winging it method as commander-in-stitch is going well except for one thing.  I don't like it.  Choosing colors as I progress is not the problem - it's the colors themselves.

 Pastels are just not me but I like light threads on a dark linen.  So my lesson learned is that pastels are fine, as long as they are neutrals.  Beiges, grays, browns, anything dull with just a hint of tint.  The 926 and 927 are dusty shades but they are still a little too much on the dark ground.  The original sampler is pastel except for the center area and I'm following that part,

 

 

 but when I saw these guys this morning, I realized I could have tried brighter dark floss instead of dull light floss.  It's a wonder why I have any mind left at all isn't it?  Such trivial crap.  Dorothy will be very nice when completed.

Anyway, I ordered more Rook and a small piece of 18th Century Sea Glass, Brown, and Mustard Seed.   Except for a tiny thumbnail on the screen, I have no idea what the colors will actually be but I'm hoping I can stitch on these darks.

I'll leave you with the boys and their new perch.  They fight over who gets the seat while mom Missy is jumping on top of my hutch and knocking things off.  Those are grapefruit and oranges drying on the table.

Thank you for the well wishes for my sister.  The cardiac MRI was yesterday and the results will be given Monday.

Hope your week has gone well.  It's already the start of another weekend.  Stay safe and I hope there is sun in your part of this world.

Thanks for visiting!

 

 

Trying something different

Hiya!  It's morning and my freaky mind says it's OK to pick projects now.  This will be something new for me.  After checking the conversion and not finding every color (but close enough), I decided to wing it.  I just love 18th Century Rook linen and Dorothy will juuuuust fit with a seam allowance to spare, or a hemmed edge.  The colors are greens and blues, teal, gray, browns, which is what I pulled from the floss box.  Some the same as recommended, some slightly different.  With all the work involved in recreating and charting an exact reproduction, I feel guilty making changes, both in colors, size, and stitch type.  I do it anyway to make it easier for myself, and although many stitchers want authenticity, some like me just prefer the look.  So instead of following the chart symbols and my notations for conversions, I'm planning on looking at the photo and using whatever color seems to be appropriate on the dark linen.  This could become a real disaster, or an exercise in control management.  Why is there anger management therapy but no control management?  How many control freaks do you know?  I'll bet more than angry people.  Is this why needlework is a sort of therapy for us?  Whether quilting, hooking, or stitching, we are kind of in control of that fabric in our hands.  We can baby it, change it, scream at it, love it, abandon it, and in some cases, kill it without having to answer to another, accept punishment, or be retaliated against.  It's our little secret!  ..........

Does it sound like I need a pill of some sort? 

Anyway, I love these colors and the linen so Dorothy will be worked on today.  Harriot is still being considered for some insane reason, but Mary Ann and the girls may rescue me.  The samplers in these two posts here and here just won't let go.  Elizabeth Moor is one of my favorites but there is quite a bit of over one which I'm not up to now. 

This is the plan and unless a sugar overload interferes,  the decision for now. 

It's very cold this morning but sunny, so the boys are enjoying the warmth radiating from the siding.  My brother has another abandoned cat.  Very young, small, starving, solid black.  Obviously a house cat that couldn't find food for itself, and very affectionate.  She is in a large dog crate for safety and when he brings her out to play with the others and run around a bit, she does for a short time and then runs back in.  Our agencies are overflowing, none will take her, and the vets he used before for discounted stray neutering has decided to change policy.
That's all I got!  Have a wonderful day and control that needle!
Thanks for visiting.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Possibilities

Greetings everyone.  I'm itching for stitching alphabets, so I grabbed a few charts.  Lori's design will be perfect to work on while taking my sis for more tests.  I'll run errands while she is in the magnetic hole but will still have time in the waiting room for a little fill-in stitching.  While going through the pile of possibilities, I can't seem to stay away from the marking samplers of RandR.  The simplicity and colors of Mary Ann Bradbury, Frances, Rebecca, Thankful, Lydia, Julian and so many more are calling me and so is little Dorothy Allen.  So small and a quick stitch.

She is AVAS threads and instead of going back through the blog to find conversion sites, I just Googled and found this site, Cherished Time.  Lots of websites listed for a wide variety of threads.  I clicked on the AVAS to DMC conversion from Needle Graphics ~  just what I needed.    I may change them all and do her on a dark fabric.  I wish I could use all the darker linens I dyed but for some reason, I still see only the warp or the weft, not both.  Very strange.  Some coarse linens like the dark 18th Century Rook are OK, but not on my wimpy crap.  My other consideration is was Harriot Boardman from SL.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I originally had the Scarlet Letter's 25 count green that is required but that fabric's warp and weft are two different hues and that created the same problem.  I dyed it a darker brownish green but I'm still having a little trouble because of the thin threads which make it really sheer.  I need fat threads as I've said before.  I also said I wouldn't do any more samplers rated for intermediate stitchers but that's what Harriot is. 

Looking closer, I see over one in red above the deer.  This isn't good.  Specialty stitches in the bottom area and a little freehand......I'm thinking twice.  Look at the gorgeous colors in this sampler on the darker linen.  I love it, but with my patience and anxiety lately, probably not a good idea.  Best to stick with simple marking samplers which are my favorites anyway.  I'll choose tomorrow morning since I'm weird.  I can't chose linen and pull threads for a new project in the evening.  I have to have it all ready to go when I sit down. 

 

 

 

 

 

Speaking of sitting down, check out Nitzy trying to sit in the squirrel's chair the other day.  Sunday, the deer came for their Easter bread. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next year, it's back to baking my own.  We haven't been satisfied with any locally and I used to bake bread almost every day for mom.  I made my Aunt Nancy's Angel Mousse dessert which we love, and with the rest of the pineapple, her cake that is so easy, rich, and moist.  The Mousse has a little pineapple, cherries, almonds, and macaroons in a Cool Whip/gelatin base.  Light and luscious.  The cake was the pineapple with juice, sugar, flour, eggs, vanilla, oil, baking soda.  Easy and different and very good.  In fact, I think I'll finish it off now.

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter and weekend and your week is off to a great start.  Stay safe and stitch what you love!

Thanks for visiting.

Sampler Pear VIII

Greetings to all. First -
I want to wish everyone that celebrates Easter, a happy and blessed day. And to those of you in school districts and states that have banned the word Easter, let me say it for you...
EASTER!!!!
How can you preach tolerance when you teach the opposite?
Moving on ~
Here is the eighth pear!  Only four more to go!! Chart is available in the Pears page under the header.  I saw so many lovely spring designs with pastels, vibrant greens, rabbits, and chicks.  Although beautiful, just not me.  So I chose the 730's and 830's in their glorious odd gold/green/brownness and I like the result.   I have to say, that last pear was yuk to me.  I just couldn't handle it.  I dipped my paintbrush in black coffee and saturated it the other day.  It helped, but not enough.  I think the heart threw everything off and it should have been solid and much smaller, but I tried that on paper and didn't like it either.  Too late.  You know I always set fire to things that aggravate me and if I didn't need it for a group photo, probably would have by now.  Chances are really good that I will disassemble and change the center.  And yes, the fusible interfacing is on the back, but reheating it under a pressing cloth will allow it to be removed .  It softens the glue bond and will come off in one sheet.  Just heat again if it doesn't.  With that off, I am back to linen and can make changes, or light a match.

This one goes so well with my little mustard drawers.  I didn't attach leaves this time, just wrapped the grapevine stem with heavy hemp.

I'm back to working on Lori's design but the house is pretty large and I'm missing my usual letter stitching.  I may pick out a sampler to switch back and forth, but that's not something I like to do. 

 

I was at the grocery store the other morning and shoppers close to me thought I was having an attack.  I was!  For the first time ever, I saw these.  A friend sent this bar to me and I loved it, but never saw it locally.  I could have been missing it which is entirely possible, but not this time.  Guess how many of these are left as I type?   Nope.  Try again.  ......  One more time....... yep!  You got it.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend, a blessed Easter, a joyous Passover.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

Finishing a pear

 

Hi everyone.  I receive a lot of emails from stitchers about finishing the pear designs, so today I snapped a few while doing the latest.  Lots of boring photos in this post.  First off, here it is - pattern needs tweaked a little and I will post it this weekend.

 

I use the template that I originally posted with the first pear, on a bright color cardstock (so I can locate it). Whether it be square or shaped, I always fold my templates to make sure they are the same each side, and then mark the fold in black.  Depending on the pear size, I resize it on the copier.  After fusing the interfacing to the linen and the backing fabric, I hold the linen up to a window with the template on the backside. 

 

You can see the center line through the linen which helps a lot.  Two pins to hold it, and then I use a chalk pencil to outline right onto the interfacing.  This is NOT the cut line, but the stitching guide.  Some times I go a little over since I can always go back to make it a little smaller.  I always use basting 8-10 stitches/inch to make it easier to remove if necessary and it holds with the interfacing very well. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Turn it right side out to check the shape and then either sew it in further or remove the stitching to make it larger (that has never happened), or hopefully be perfectly pleased and no changes are needed!  Clip the seams and trim the excess fabric.

 

The bottom is folded and pressed as is the seam to open it.  I use a plastic letter opener to crisp the seams by sliding it between the backing and the seam allowance, never on the linen side. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A smaller piece of cardstock is inserted (so the batting slides easily) and after cutting the batting smaller than the original template, slid inside to fit the shape. If I use Mylar to hold the shape, it's cut slightly smaller than the pear and kept in.  For a flatter pear, one layer of the thickest batt, but usually it's two, one on each side of the paper.  It's easy to insert the stem between the batting through the top opening now, while the paper is separating the two.  Remove the paper and fold the fabrics over the batting. 

 

 The bottom is usually wonky and I open the seam where necessary and hand stitch or glue to shape and close.  A little strip of additional batting is sometimes needed here.  Done.

I'm sorry I haven't been reading blogs or responding to comments.  I have so much going on right now and my head is spinning, unfortunately in the opposite direction that I would like.   When I was getting quotes for home owner's insurance, I told the agent that we are classed as a Type 2 alarm system.  She asked what we have - I replied a menopausal woman with a gun.  She laughed so hard she snorted.  I wasn't kidding.  The moods are raging!!!!

The chart for this will be posted in a few days and until then, stay safe, have happy thoughts, fabulous food, and good stitching!

Thank you for visiting!