Linens of another sort

Hi everyone.  Hope your weekend has been enjoyable.  After three consecutive chiropractic treatments my back is much better and I can bend over, so I'm back to cleaning the mess from the remodeling.  Still exhausted, but working as I can.  I'm sure you all know how one task can trigger a thought that leads you away from said task, onto another adventure.  I ended up finally removing the majority of mom's doilies and linens.  There are a few I want to show you because I don't think you can get the quality of 50 years ago, today. 

We'll start with mom's hankies.  I remember her schedule of Monday being washday, and then the linens would be dampened and kept in the fridge overnight for ironing on Tuesday.  Her hankies and dresser scarves were well cared for and pressed perfectly. 

 

 A very small sampling and a few of my favorites. 

The dresser scarves and doilies are gone.  Sad to say, but I only kept a few that were unusual, and cut the embroidered parts off others for another use.  Way too many to wash and press and selling them would be more trouble than worth.  I moved on to the tablecloths, many of which I never saw before.  

This one is such beautiful and heavy fabric which I think is all cotton. 

But this one is really special.  Can you see the stars and stripes? 

Opening it further I found the US in the center. 

 

 

Now for the linen I'm more familiar with.  Another colorful border and one more line before the good part of the sampler.  I was distracted with the pear design and another project.  Remember the cover of SANQ that sent a thrill up my leg?  I received it and I'm disappointed to find that the bag is a wide sampler folded in half.  I don't think so.  Why would I do all that work to hang on a wall with half of it unseen?  So I designed my own long skinny bag and I may put Eliza aside and work on it.  If it ends up looking good, I may offer it as my first design that isn't free!

Did I just hear someone whine?

That's it boys and girls.  I need to continue finding some order here before the next big mess.  I have a feeling this will continue in bits and pieces all summer, but that's OK.  As long as there is progress.

And I may have some really good news in a few weeks.

Enjoy your day - thank you so much for visiting with me.  Hello and welcome to new followers.  I have to apologize to everyone for not having time to keep up with all the blogs and emails, but if I get distracted by this computer, nothing will get done!  So with that, I will close this lid and get moving.

Stay safe!

 

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Done! Pear X

Hi all.  June has three birthstones, one being alexandrite, a grayish lavender.  Since June is my birth month, I thought I would use that shade for the June pear. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Both 451 and 452 are very gray with a hint of lavender, which is why I chose them over my second choice of 3041 and 3042.  Hope you like it!

 

Chart is posted under the Pears tab.

 

 

A few new non-stitching things

Greetings.  We've gone from frigid to boiling and I'm on my way to the doc's, but wanted to show you a few things.  My favorite iris and the only one I have left.

 

 

Stray kitty #4 who is very timid and untouchable with the most beautiful green eyes.

 

And we found an Amish nursery that had the biggest hanging baskets I've ever seen.  Even in my color theme - yellow and purple!

Pear will be finished today unless I make changes for the fifth time.  Hopefully be posting it tomorrow.  Thanks for visiting!  Have a wonderful day.

Did you see this???

Hi everyone.  Hope you're enjoying the holiday weekend.  We've had temps in the 30's at night and very cold days but it's warming up a little.  We will be 90 by week's end. 

 

 

I was doing an online search for something (I can't remember what), when I spotted this.  Holy crap.

Immediately went to EBay and bought one.  Can't wait!  I had a subscription from the very beginning until I started caring for parents and quit stitching.  But when I saw this bag I was smitten and that hasn't happened since my last fried donut.  This morning.

 

 

 

 

I'm still completely exhausted, like I've never felt before, and have been working on the drywall.  The ceiling patch was not good and rather than wait for him to return, I've removed his work and am redoing it myself but it's a very very small area. 

 

 

Not much work on Eliza because I forgot about the next pear!  As usual, I came up with several options and wasted time.  It's free, everyone is tired of them,  pick the easiest one!  So I did and will stitch it tonight.  Here's Eliza's progress once again.

 

 

 And I wanted to tell you how touched I was that Denise emailed a photo of my free chart (here).  Dealing with the heartache of losing their parents, she stitched it for her sister who found it comforting to acknowledge them in this way.  The angel was added from her mom's jewelry box.  Thank you Denise for sharing this with me.  I told her that this is how I felt after our parents passed, along with our much loved Lab.  We may look OK on the exterior, but the grief is within.

 

Thanks for visiting - stay safe and enjoy the holiday.

Remember those that made the ultimate selfless sacrifice.

 

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Never forget....

those lives lost in bravery and courage, conviction and virtue, duty and honor, to preserve the freedom and safety of the land they loved.

The number of American soldiers buried in foreign lands is much higher than I expected to find.

  WWI - 30,912 with 4,452 missing. 

 

 Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery and Memorial in France, most from WWI, total of 14,246.

 

The foreign burials from WWII are a staggering 93,202 with 55,851 missing. 

 

Lorraine American WWII Cemetery and Memorial in France, 10,489.

 

 Information needed to find a family member killed and buried in a foreign land can be found on this site and by name here  Another resource is here. 

This is the list of foreign cemeteries where tens of thousands of American soldiers rest.

 Aisne-Marne, France
Ardennes, Belgium
Brittany, France
Brookwood, England
Cambridge, England
Corozal, Panama
Epinal, France
Flanders Field, Belgium
Florence, Italy
Henri-Chapelle, Belgium
Lorraine, France
Luxembourg, Luxembourg
Manila, Philippines
Meuse-Argonne, France
Mexico City, Mexico
Netherlands, Netherlands
Normandy, France
North Africa, Tunisia
Oise-Aisne, France
Rhone, France
Sicily-Rome, Italy
Somme, France
St. Mihiel, France
Suresnes, France

Click on any of the above to view a video of the grounds and information, or go to the website of the American Battle Monuments Commission,

 which is where I obtained the listing.

  Do you know that there are many cremated remains of veterans that were never claimed? They are sitting in beat up containers on shelves in mortuaries across the country. An article about a local cemetery preparing to care for some of the unclaimed remains brought this to my attention. How sad is this, that no family members came forward to respectfully bury these young souls. If you would like to know more about this, you can visit the Missing in America Project website.

 

Enjoy your freedom this weekend.

I've been working on the railroad

Greetings to all.  Prayers for Oklahoma.  I've mentioned before that we were 1/4 mile from the F5 that came through Wheatland PA in 1985, and took our best friend.  Seeing such destruction is mind numbing, and hard to comprehend.

I received an email from Beth, the stitcher responsible for the perfection in Kathy Barrick's post.  She mentioned railroading, a term I remember from my early stitching days.  After checking a few online sources, I thought I'd give it a try once again.  My sis in law used a laying tool to smooth her threads, and she was kind enough to gift one, which I considered a direct hint.  She was a top notch stitcher and rolled her eyes a bit at my style.   Using the stabbing method instead of the laying tool is my preference, and I tried it on my messy eyelet stitches. 

 The last one on the right is railroaded.  See the one above with the twisted thread?  This is how many of my regular cross are also.  I usually give the needle a quick twist in hand but it doesn't always work.  Sometimes it comes up through the linen with a bad twist and a laying tool doesn't even help. 

 

This is the stab method I tried on the eyelet.  Instead of the usual down stitch (on the right), 

 

 you lay the floss in front and insert the needle between the two strands before going down.  This prevents the twisting and both threads lay side by side (as a railroad track), which gives better coverage and a full flat stitch.

 The biggest problem I have with this method - I can't see the linen threads and end up in the wrong hole.  So I decided to scrap the idea of better stitches out of fear that frustration will add to my impatience.  Looking at these photos did show me another reason my eyelets are off. 

Take a good look - don't they look like they are all doing a Travolta move?  The top left corners appear to be pointing, don't they?  This is because I am starting the next stitch from that outside edge and it's being pulled from the left.  I guess I should start it from the center eye or a middle stitch rather than a corner.  Another color will fill between them and probably even them out but I should pay attention to that. 

 

Here's the railroad stab on a regular cross stitch.  I may keep practicing and see if it becomes a habit I can handle.  I doubt it, but it's only because of my lack of patience and absence of caring what anything thinks.  It bugs me that my threads are twisted, but not enough to be more careful.  Beth also directed me to this article on correct placement of the first stitch.  I can never remember, but this article used the term, "leaning on the post", and that was all I needed.  Thanks for your help Beth!

Ed left after what we hoped was the final sanding this morning.  For some reason, I am so exhausted I can't even go out for groceries.  This afternoon will be spent on the swing stitching, enjoying the beautiful day.  Eliza is turning out to be a fun stitch with the different dividing bands and bright colors.  I'm so glad I chose her.  In fact, I think my last few projects were some of my favorites.  Which brings up a question I may not be able to answer.  Can you?
What is your absolute favorite piece? 

 

Have a wonderful day and stay safe!

Thanks for visiting.

 

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