100 Details in 100 Days: Day 19

Lynn asked me how I keep track of my threads, which leads me to another detail. I actually use special software for tracking my needlework supplies. I wrote a review, including screen shots, in a past issue of CQMagOnline. I have been using Organized Expressions for Needleworkers Personal Inventory and Journal Software by LNS Software for many years and it is a wonderful tool for keeping track of threads, personal projects, books and magazines.

The software can even provide a valid inventory if you ever have to file an insurance claim. The one draw back is that you have to actually use it to make it a worth while endeavor.

LNS Software also offers inventory software for Quilters, People who Sew, Knitters and Crocheters, and even Scrapbookers.

100 Details in 100 Days: Day 18

Printing on fabric.

I love to create my own silk prints using Bubble Jet Set 2000 and my inkjet printer. BJS2000 is designed for use with silk and cotton, but I have also used it successfully with rayon. Printing on smooth fabrics, like habotai, will allow for more precise detail. Textured fabrics, like dupioni, give a more vintage look, because the slubs change the quality of the print. Maureen Greeson suggested silk pongee, and I bought some from her but I have not actually tried it yet.

I tend to print on fabric in spurts and I tend to do it in batches. I soak a bunch of fiber in BJS2000 at once, set it out to dry, iron it, then cut it to size and mount it onto freezer paper. I have a 8.5" by 11" template for cutting the fabric and freezer paper to size for the printer. The letter sized template and rotary cutter are indispensable if you are printing a bunch of motifs.

I use both Epson and HP Ink Jet Printers. I tend to prefer the HP, because it uses less ink. The irony there is that I used to be a complete Epson devotee! I still use my Epson photo printer and I now have their wide format printer, but can not find ink for it anywhere locally and have not had the courage to send off for any. The wide format printer can handle a maximum of 17" x 22."

I use a photo editing software to set up a letter sized page and add as many images as will fit comfortably. My first efforts were too crowded, because I was overly frugal. I also discovered a trick for printing a single small image. I print the image on regular paper, then tape a piece of fabric treated with BJS2000 directly over the image with packaging tape, and then run it back through the printer. This time the image prints directly on to the fabric, with very little waste or trouble. I was shocked the first time that I tried this method and it worked.

I also learned that even though the directions for BJS2000 recommend using all the treated fabric within a few days of treating it, I have used treated fabric that was stored for nearly a year with excellent results. Of course, your mileage my vary.

Do not forget that your print is not ready to use until you have washed it in BJS rinse or synthrapol. You need to disperse any ink that did not bind with the fabric. The rinse usually turns pink, since reds tend to slough off.

More on Peau de Soie

I already knew that peau, as in peau de soie or peau d'orange, means skin and is of French origin. My husband, ever the cunning linguist, just pointed out to me that it was pronounced "po." I could not resist looking it up, so I checked the Bartleby/American Heritage Dictionary website and there was a audio clip of the pronunciation of Peau de Soie! Click here to listen to the audio clip.

100 Details in 100 Days: Day 17

A word about satin. I use a lot of bridal satin, but I am picky. I do not really like Silk Charmeuse, because it is too slippery for easy sewing and piecing and too thin for surface embroidery without using stabilizers. I prefer Duchesse Satin and Peau de Soie, which are medium to heavy weight satins, with a slightly delustered finish.

While these fabrics are available in 100% silk, often it is rayon backed, rayon blend, polyester blend or even 100% polyester. This is one case where I am not a silk snob. Be very careful, because even though soie means silk, many companies sell Peau de Soie that is 100% polysester. That is okay, just be sure you know what you are buying. Avoid acetate at all costs. While I prefer 100% silk; at $45 to $100 a yard, it is a rare treat and I use it exclusively for special hand embroidery. The good thing is that it is easy to determine if what you have is really 100% silk, because it rolls up, no matter how much you press it!

Photos of some of the storage

Since Nan asked...

In reference to the last 100 Details in 100 Days entry, here is a photo of part of the tower nestled between the window and the bookcase.

For more photos, check out the Studio Page on my website.

100 Details in 100 Days: Day 16

A word about storage...

I love storage bins with clear plastic drawers. I have small ones on my cutting table. I have letter sized ones on a bookshelf for ribbon, wool and motif storage. But my favorite size is 12 x 12, because there is more room to store all my different threads! I have six of them stacked up, each filled with a mouth-watering display of threads.

Of course, those threads are also sorted! Here is a drawer by drawer breakdown, starting at the top:

1. EdMar rayon, Iris and Glory
   
2. EdMar rayon, Lola and Frost, plus a few skeins of Boucle and Cire
3. Oliver Twist Threads
4. YLI Silk Thread
5. Eterna Stranded Silk
6. Hand-Dyed Silk
   
7. Au Ver a Soie and Kreinik Silk - Silk Mori, Silk Serica, Soie d'Alger
8. Assorted silk - Silk Madeira, Cascade House Silk Perle, Rainbow Gallery Silk Grandeur & Elegance, Trezibond, Thread Gatherers, and Gloriana
9. Caron Waterlillies
10. Caron Watercolors
11. Needle Necessities
12. miscellaneous Over-dyed floss and cotton
13. DMC Flower Thread
14. Assorted Floche & DMC Broder Special Coton a Broder/Brilliant Cutwork Thread
15. Miscellaneous cotton threads and flosses
16. Perle Cotton size 3 and 5
17. Perle Cotton size 8
    
18. Perle Cotton size 12
    

100 Details in 100 Days: Day 15

I am a big fan of hard graphite pencils. My first preference for design transfer is a hard graphite pencil and a light box. There is very little I can't do with pencil. Especially since I discovered spray starch as a barrier and olive oil soap for washing my finished projects.

That said, sometimes the fabric is too opaque for the design to be placed under an item to be transferred. What then?

Well, for me, graphite is still the solution. With an opaque fabric, I have two methods that work.

The first still uses a hard graphite pencil, but instead of direct transfer, I draw over the design laying down a lot of graphite on the pattern. Then I flip it over and lay the design pencil-marked side down directly on the fabric and use the same pencil to mark it from the wrong side. The pencil marking from the other side of the pattern transfers the graphite to the fabric. This works well, but you have to worry about design orientation.

The other method I use, is to lay a piece of graphite artist's paper between the fabric and the design, then run a stylus, hera marker or pencil across the pattern. You have to do a lot of checking and peeking to make sure that you are not missing any of the pattern and not to marking too broad of a line. It is a simple and effective method of design transfer. Be sure to use a wax free artist's graphite paper, such as Sally's by Saral.

Remember graphite pencils and transfer paper both come in white for those dark fabrics.

100 Details in 100 Days: Day 14

Red six-stranded embroidery floss...a cautionary tale.

I hear the debate often, Anchor is better than DMC, less likely to bleed. Horse hockey. Despite what the labels say, the red colors are just NOT colorfast, in either brand. I hate to be reactionary, but it really is annoying to put a lot of work into a project where the deep red thread bleeds onto the bright white fabric. It does not always happen, but when it does, it is always after laundering a finished item. There is little worse than that.

The solution? Well, you can try soaking your floss in a weak acidic solution. Personally, I prefer citric acid to vinegar...it is a smell thing...but either one should work. After the soak, wash it with a pH neutral soap...I like olive oil based soaps...to prevent any damage to the floss.

My big complaint is that there is little consistency. Sometimes a color will bleed and sometimes it won't. It is more likely to bleed on linen, because linen is ironed damp and the extra dampness gives the dye a better opportunity to migrate. It would be okay, if the dye would then just wash out of the linen, but of course, some of it manages to set. I think of it like the tomato sauce principle. if you eat spaghetti, you are bound to splash tomato sauce somewhere where. Just substitute red floss for red sauce and you run the same risks!

Tagged...

5 Things always in my purse:

1. card holder
2. check book
3. meds
4. stamps
5. pen

5 Things always in my wallet:

1. driver’s license
2. my husband's business card
3. credit card
4. insurance card
5. frequent buyer cards

5 Things always in my refrigerator:

1. half and half
2. fruit
3. TaB
4. eggs
5. mineral water

5 Things always in my closet:

1. athletic foot wear
2. clean clothes
3. spare bedding
4. dehumidifier
5. boxes of clothes in the wrong size
   

5 Things always in my car:

1. sunglasses
2. proof of insurance
3. cell phone charger
4. change
5. sun shield
   

5 (or more) Things always on my desk:

1. printer
2. laptop dock & accessories
3. ink jet paper
4. cardstock
5. pen, pencils, paint brushes
6. watercolor & oil paint, inks, dyes
7. task lamp
8. mountains of unsorted junk

100 Details in 100 Days: Day 13

Never try to unply crewel wool! Remember, crewel embroidery is worked with a sharp needle!

For Appleton Crewel wool, use

• Size 6 or 7 Crewel/Embroidery Needle
• Size 22 or 24 Chenille Needle

100 Details in 100 Days: Day 12

Six-Strand Medici Wool:

For 1-2 strands, use -

• size 9 Embroidery/Crewel Needle
• size 24 Chenille or Tapestry Needle
• size 9 Milliners/Straw Needle

For 3-4 strands, use-

• size 5 or 7 Embroidery/Crewel Needle
• size 22 Chenille or Tapestry Needle
• size 5 Milliners/Straw Needle

For 5-6 strands, use -

• size 3 Embroidery/Crewel Needle
• size 20 Chenille or Tapestry Needle
• size 3 Milliners/Straw Needle

100 Details in 100 Days: Day 11

I missed a day, because I was feeling puny, so today is my chance to catch-up! :-)

A word about hoops...

Hoops are very personal items. I own a wide variety of styles and sizes and I use different ones for different tasks. Most hoops work better if you wrap the inner ring with bias tape.

For Punch Needle Embroidery, I use a 4 inch Susan Bates or the new 4.5 inch Clover embroidery hoop, because they both have a pronounced lip and the fabric can be held very taut. Plus they are small, cheap and easy to use.

For Crewel and Stumpwork Embroidery, I use a six inch European style wooden hoop, with an adjustable brass screw. This type of wooden hoop is much more substantial than the kind you might find in the local big box craft store. Someone borrowed and never returned my favorite hoop, a German made hardwood hoop that I purchased at Needle in a Haystack in Alameda California. While in Atlanta to take classes from Judy Jeroy at the EGA National Seminar, I bought some wonderful wooden hoops that work with a table clamp made by Tristan Brooks Designs. For this kind of hoop, you will want a stubby slotted screwdriver for tightening. You will know it is tight enough for this kind of work when it literally squeaks!

For surface and silk ribbon embroidery and quilting (including Crazy Quilting) I prefer to use a Q-Snap. Q-Snaps are square PVC bases, with plastic clamps. It keeps me from clamping or hooping over beaded or delicate places. I use a hoop that is slightly larger than my embroidered area, with the base fabric secured under the clamps. Some people have reported trouble with snagging or too loose of a fit. Both of these problems are easily remedied by putting a piece of cotton flannel under the plastic clamp.

Avoid bamboo hoops, unless you plan to sand and wrap every one of them.

100 Details in 100 Days:Day 10

A few tips regarding Crewel Embroidery:

• Crewel Embroidery is worked with either a crewel or chenille needle. The critical factor is that the needle needs to be sharp.
• Crewel wool shreds very easily, so make sure you use short lengths.
• Never knot your wool, always use a waste knot or secure your thread in an area where you will work over it later.
• In crewel, stitches are worked both in and out of a hoop. I like to heavily starch my linen twill before I transfer my design. As mentioned before, it make it easier to remove any stray marks, but it also helps keep the fabric from skewing out of shape when you are stitching in hand.
• The "right" side of the linen twill has more pronounced ridges, but it can be difficult to discern.
• Always bind or overcast the edges of the linen before you begin to stitch.
• Surprisingly, denim twill makes an excellent ground fabric for crewel embroidery.
• If your fabric in in hand, use the sewing method.
• If your fabric is in a hoop, use the stabbing method.
• Use a wooden hoop, with a screw tightened closure. Wrap the inner hoop with twill tape or a strip of bias cut fabric. Judy Jeroy recommends a small hoop, so that you can easily manipulate the thread with your fingers and thumb.
• Never leave your work in the hoop any longer than necessary.
• Washing is almost always necessary. Do not wet your piece until and unless it is laced on a frame first.

100 Details in 100 Days: Day 9

Now for my favorite...silk ribbon!

Almost all silk ribbon embroidery is done with a chenille needle, but I do sometimes use tapestry petites. They are essentially the same needle, except that the chenille needle has a sharp point and the tapestry needle has a dull point.

• For 2 mm ribbon, use size 22 or 24
• For 3.5 mm or 4 mm, use size 22
• For 7 mm, use size 20
• For 13 mm, use size 18

The Big Haul

Rhonda called me today to let me know that she had more stuff and I should come by to dig through it. I got a few more bags of wonderful stuff. I even got more lace to wash and iron! There were several yards of this nice woven ribbon and a slew of the Christmas ribbon. I already asked several people if they wanted some of it.




This is some of the washed and ironed fabric. The first organizer is full of organdy and batiste.


This one is full of organza, spark organdy and very thin habotai.

This one is filled with Duchesse Satin.

And, finally, some really incredible lace and trim!

And motifs!

This was definitely worth the trouble. I have a bunch more to iron, but I will be mailing some of it out during the coming week.

100 Details in 100 Days: Day 8

7 Strand Silk, such as Au Ver a Soie Soie d'Alger or Silk Mori:

For 1-2 strands, use -

• size 7-9 Embroidery/Crewel Needle
• size 24 or 26 Chenille or Tapestry Needle
• size 7 Milliners/Straw Needle

For 3-5 strands, use-

• size 5 or 6 Embroidery/Crewel Needle
• size 22 Chenille or Tapestry Needle
• size 1 Milliners/Straw Needle

For 6-7 strands, use -

• size 3 or 4 Embroidery/Crewel Needle
• size 20 Chenille or Tapestry Needle
• size 15 or 18 Milliners/Straw Needle

100 Details in 100 Days: Day 7

A diversion from the needle and thread to discuss washing fabric. I got a bunch of fabric and trim last week from the very generous Rhonda. I washed most of it, but tried to keep some of the older trims from the water. It was a mistake. I ended up washing everything.

I was surprised by which method worked best for me, so I thought I would share. First, I put all of the fabric and trims into small lingerie/laundry bags before loading the machine. I filled the detergent reservoir with vinegar and set my machine to soak. Then I ran a regular cycle (with extra rinse) using detergent, fabric softener, and a few drops of bleach in the dispenser. Next, I removed everything from the washer and unloaded all of those lingerie/laundry bags and shook out everything to help with the wrinkles. What did not air dry, dried as I ironed it.

Sadly, I was at the ironing board for about four hours last night and I forgot to post anything to my blog. But the good news is that I am finally through washing all of the fabric and trims! Man is it is tedious to iron small, fiddly trims. I used a lot of ironing spray and stacked everything as I finished, giving it a chance to dry completely before putting it away. I usually use my iron in cordless mode, but it was not practical with this much ironing to be done.

It came down to a point where I realized that the only way I was going to be able to use the fabric and trims was to wash it. To my surprise, even the Duchesse Satin came through the washing and ironing in good shape. A few of the trims started to unravel, but the bulk came through the process just fine. The upshot of this rant is, sometimes you just do not have a choice, so just wash it, before it gets any worse.

100 Details in 100 Days: Day 6

More on the right needle for your thread. ..

Perle Cotton:

For size 3, use:

• size 20 Chenille or Tapestry Needle
• size 3 Embroidery/Crewel Needle
• size 15 Milliners/Straw Needle

For size 5, use:

• size 22 Chenille or Tapestry Needle
• size 5 Embroidery/Crewel Needle
• size 18 Milliners/Straw Needle

For size 8, use:

• size 24 Chenille or Tapestry Needle
• size 7 Embroidery/Crewel Needle
• size 3 Milliners/Straw Needle

For size 12, use:

• size 24 or 26 Chenille or Tapestry Needle
• size 8 Embroidery/Crewel Needle
• size 5 Milliners/Straw Needle

100 Details in 100 Days: Day 5

I occasionally see questions about which needle to use for a particular thread. We are so lucky to have so many choices available. Each time you start using a new product, you can learn by trial and error. However, it helps to have a reference or place to start.

This is the first of several posts listing the suggested needles for use with some common thread sizes.

Stranded Embroidery Floss:

For 1-2 strands, use -

• size 7-10 Embroidery/Crewel Needle
• size 24 or 26 Chenille or Tapestry Needle
• size 8 or 9 Milliners/Straw Needle

For 3-4 strands, use-

• size 7 or 8 Embroidery/Crewel Needle
• size 22 or 24 Chenille or Tapestry Needle
• size 6 or 7 Milliners/Straw Needle

For 5-6 strands, use -

• size 3 or 5 Embroidery/Crewel Needle
• size 22 Chenille or Tapestry Needle
• size 3-5 Milliners/Straw Needle

Weekend Goodness

On Friday, I got an email from Rhonda and she wanted me to come over and go through some stash before she started shipping it out to people. I got some great trims, some nice organdy, a little batiste, some duchesse satin, a bunch of lace and even some silk ribbon. The dogs did something they have *never* done when I brought in stash, they were all over the box, they even climbed into it to snuffle.




I have spent a LOT of time at the ironing board in the last few days. I washed, ironed, folded and sorted all of that fabric and trim. :-) Well, most of it. I still have one load left to go.

Yesterday, we had the second meeting of our Crewel Confidence Group Correspondence Course in my studio. It was fine until the sun came out, then it would heat up and get uncomfortable. We have already had the A/C repair guys out once. Ben realized that all of the ceiling fans were still set for winter and running in the wrong direction. He changed them today and we will see if it makes a difference.

100 Details in 100 Days: Day 4

I already talked about using spray starch as a barrier when you are transferring a design with pencil. It not only makes it easier to wash out any stray pencil marks, it allows you to use a white plastic eraser while you are transferring the design.

I get a lot of questions about pencils. I do have a special Quilt Marking Pencil that I keep in my traveling sewing kit. But at home, I never bother to get it out, I just use graphite pencils. Graphite art pencils come in hard (designated by an H) and soft (designated by a B.) For marking fabric, I prefer hard graphite, usually a 2H or 3H. Occasionally, I use a special pencil called a Sketch and Wash, which is a graphite pencil that is water soluble.

As long as I use starch, I never have any trouble removing my pencil marks. Before I started using starch, I found that soap with a high concentration of olive oil (like savon d' Marseille) worked wonders!

I almost never use blue washable pens, because of all of the horror stories. These days, when I do use a pen with washable ink, it is always one a project I plan to finish and wash within a week. Even though it has never happened to me, all the apocryphal stories about the ink reappearing have soured me on them.

Round Robin Amnesty

There has been a lot of talk about Round Robin blocks that have gone missing on the Quiltropolis Crazy Quilt email list. In the past, Nark would be the contact for people to anonymously contact and mail missing blocks, then she would forward them to their rightful owners. Several people actually took advantage of the amnesty offer.

Since she is no longer doing this, I volunteered to do it for a while. So if there is anyone out there who would like to return a block anonymously through me, just send me an email. Shortly, I will post a mailing address where people can *really* mail them to me completely anonymously. All you have to do is pay the postage to get it to me, and I will pay the postage to get it to the rightful owner.

100 Details in 100 Days: Day 3

Linen should be damp when you iron it. Keep a spray bottle of water near your ironing board to dampen your linen just before you iron it. Some people suggest putting linen in the freezer for a day before ironing, but I have great results just misting the linen. I have ironed out folds that seemed like they would be permanent. Okay, that is a little obvious for some of you, but when I mentioned it at my guild meeting last Saturday, it was news to several long time stitchers!

Also, if you use spray starch, make sure that you spray the fabric and let it sit before you apply the hot iron. Otherwise, you will just be starching the bottom of your iron. The starch needs to soak into fabric in order to be effective.

100 Details in 100 Days: Day 2

Okay, this one seems so obvious that I debated listing it here, but it is important. I understand thrift and holding on to things, but once your needle starts to discolor or rust, throw it away before it can mar your fabric. Needles are inexpensive and easily replaced.

If your needles (or pins) are prone to rusting, then buy or make a wool pincushion or needle book. I live in the deep south, where humidity is always a problem, so this is a real issue for me. I have learned the hard way that cotton flannel and craft felt needle book pages do not offer enough protection here in Mississippi.

Just remember to be conscious of the condition of your needles. If they are starting to rust, discolor or flake...just get rid of them. With a little care, and the right storage, they can withstand many years of use.

The Joys of Spray Starch

Sharon Boggon started blogging 100 Details in 100 Days. She is focusing on Crazy Quilting stitches. As usual, I was slow to join, but decided to play along, just adding my own twist. I wanted to cover a broader range of topics related to CQ and embroidery. So, here I go, with my own version of 100 Details in 100 Days.

The Joys of Spray Starch

Sometimes you need to stiffen your fabric. Plus, I am allergic to some commercial sizing products. So I tend to use Spray Starch instead of sizing. Plus, spray starch is inexpensive and easy to find. I can pick up a can at my local drug store, grocery or big box store.

There are a few things to consider when using spray starch. First, it is reputed to attract silver fish which can damage your quilts and embroidery. So spray starch is a good choice for anything that will be washed. Second, be careful not to scorch the fabric or brown the starch.

Starch also makes it easier to remove pencil marks, because the graphite will likely wash off with the starch.

CQ Teddy Bear Block

Kimber and Nancy came up with the idea for Teddy Bear blocks as the outreach project for CQMagOnline.com. I was slow to join in, because I am not very good with kid themed items. Earlier this week I was sorting through my stash and found this "Classic Pooh" print. I decided to make a block and once I got started...well, I really could not stop until I was done.




If you are interested in participating in this project, check out the article, Making Juvenile Diabetes a Little More Bearable.

Now, back to my class samples. :-D

Gifts for a Friend

I made these for my friend Cynthia, but did not want to post a photo that she would see before she got them.




Cyn recently returned from a trip to Mexico and she told me that she bought some silver in Taxco. So, I dug out my silver cloth and made up a variety of jewelry bags. Hopefully it will slow any tarnishing. I thought about making a crazy quilted cover for the jewelry bag, but I was worried that whatever was in the silver cloth would affect the CQ.

Today is my EGA meeting and I plan to work on my redwork splasher class sample. I am very excited about getting the chance to teach classes down at Natchez Needle Arts. I hope that we get enough people interested to make this worth their time and money. Either way, it should make for a good Labor Day weekend.

Simple Market Farm's "Spindle Keep"

Well, the mail brought me this very cool item from Jeanne and Paul at Simple Market Farms. I had been keeping wool on several handspindles, so that I could test this for them. Here is a front and back view with three high whorl spindles in place.





I have spent the last three days up to my eyeballs in wool! Here are some more photos of the progress on the free fleece. I ended up cutting off all those weird tips on the first batches, but cut them off before washing the rest. I still have not washed all of it, but I have gotten through about half.

The stuff in the pond insert is the part that was washed by mother nature! I added some Dawn the next morning. This particular fleece had a ton of vegetable matter, but the next one had a little less.




Unfortunately, the second fleece had the same problem with gummed up tips as the first. After spending an entire morning cutting tips off of wet fleece, I decided it had to be easier to cut them off while it was dry.




So after three days of work, this is the end result. Most of it will be pincushion and dog bed stuffing, but it looks like some I will be able to spin some of it.




No doubt this is a slow, time consuming process. That said, I really believe that it is something every spinner should do at least once; go from raw fleece to finished product.

Raw Fleece

I got a note from the nice lady in Tylertown who gave us the free fleece. I started to feel really guilty for not having tackled any of the raw fleece yet, so I spent many hours last night sorting through one trash bag full of fleece and picking out vegetable matter. This was unskirted, so about a third of it was leg, belly or butt wool and the discard pile was as big as the keep pile.

This was the first shearing and she thought no one would be using it, so the fleece was allowed to fall into the bedding as it was cut, which explains all the VM. There were surprisingly few second cuts.






I pulled out a lingerie bag full of fleece to wash as a sample. The tips of the wool remained gummy, even after two washings and two rinses. I tried cutting the tips off after washing, but it would be best to do it before washing. The sample will be going into pincushions and not spun, but I hope to be able to spin some of the rest of fleece.








Of course mother nature decided to mock my efforts...and there was a huge sudden thunderstorm and the wool got a rain bath! It is out back soaking right now. I promised my Puggy friend some of the raw wool, so I will be sorting another bag before the weekend.

Whip Up: Stickin' it to the Pincushion

Sometime today, Karen sent along the link to the Stickin' it to the Pincushion on WhipUp.net. I already had pincushions on the mind, because I had seen and purchased some really cute ones at merchandise night when I was in Louisville. But these were so easy and so cute, I just had to make one. Then one turned into three.

This first smaller one is made from a yummy sea turtle batik from a friend and a piece
of fulled wool from a swap last year. I used black mother of pearl buttons and variegated floss for the first one.





Here are all three that I made during the afternoon. Most of the fabric came from
my birthday present squishy from Karen. I used different buttons and different threads for each, including gold metallic for the one that is metallic batik and satin.

Stitching Memories

A member of CyberStitchers posted about finding a photo of her 9th birthday, where embroidery supplies were in evidence as a gift. It got me thinking more about my own stitching time line again.

On the last few trips home, my mom and I have talked about knitting. Unlike most mothers and daughters, I was the one who got her back into knitting. The memory about shopping for yarn my first year at Westminster, led to another one about stitching. I remembered that I was buying needlepoint and embroidery kits for a few years before I started knitting. I would walk to the needlepoint shop in Sandy Springs, because it was so close to my middle school. The association with school makes it is easy to pinpoint it in time.

I also remember our big excursions out to Lee Wards in Marietta...it was always an ordeal to get there before I could drive. It was right about then that I learned basket weave, because I was so put out with the gaps in coverage of continental stitch. I can even remember the exact kit I was working on when my friend showed me a better way.

That means I was fourteen when I first bought skeins of tapestry wool at Lee Wards instead of a kit! I still have some things with Lee Wards price tags. Scary, huh? To still have supplies from so long ago...

I also remember that I discovered my first Maggie Lane book in 1984 at the Sandy Spring Public Library. I was in love with her stuff! In terms of canvas work, I stitched her designs almost exclusively throughout most of college. I still have one uncompleted project that is my oldest UFO. Maybe I will finish it one day.

Anyway, hope I have not bored you to tears, because it was actually fun for me to develop a more concrete timeline for something I feel like I have done forever.

Finished a Project

Well, despite getting the cooties and being sick several days...I managed to finish stitching my TVR Seminar class project, "Perfect Forest" by Catherine Jordan. I still have to find a mirror, lace it and frame it, but all of the stitching is done. Woo hoo!




My husband sent me some pictures of me that he took while we were in Louisville. The seminar had a twenties theme,so I used it as my chance to dress up and have some fun. But I looked better in my day clothes than my evening wear. I really need to learn to lift my chin when someone is taking my photo.