Blended Leg

Celtic Swirls

2010-07-03T16:48:00.005-04:00

Hello everyone. I realize I haven't posted much in awhile. Truthfully I've hit a bit of a dry patch on needlework, but hopefully that's changing. I didn't go to Stitch N Pitch this year, but I understand we lost to the Orioles again.

A couple of weeks ago, Tracy Horner sent out this "Celtic Spiral" Ink Spot freebie for those that subscribed to her mailing list. So I went through my stash for a suitable small piece of linen and some Hand Dyed Fibers silk floss to go with it.

Unfortunately I can't give you color names, because they'll all HDF d-bag/mystery spool colors, so they're usually not labeled. They off-colors -- ones where the dye wasn't quite right or where she was trying out a color combination. Her grab bags are great for small projects like this one.

The red and purple spools are both variegated. The red was mixed with a brownish shade, while the other combines different shades of purple, along with blue or black.

I finished it last night, despite the onset of frogs last week. The one thing you have to be careful of with samplers or motif oriented needlework is spacing. If you're off by just a hair, it throws everything else off. And sometimes it's a pain figuring out where you went wrong. This is unfortunately where cross stitch earns its reputations for being all about counting and swearing.

I have one or two other projects in mind to return to needlework. Not forgetting the great Book of Ink Circles. It will get done... eventually.

The unfortunate heron

2009-05-26T21:25:00.003-04:00

So the flamingo was lonely in her menagerie and asked if maybe I could stitch a bird-like companion. Since I needed a project for the Stitch N Pitch game, I readily agreed to stitch Aury's heron, if I could find fabric and floss. I had a whole batch of Vikki's pretty D-bag skeins to choose from. Y'know I was tired of stitching the same colors, so I stayed away from my usual crimson/red/scarlet variations. I instead picked out a lovely shade of orange. I only finished about half of the project at the game. The biggest irony was looking at my color choice -- I'm a Washington Nationals fan and we were playing the Baltimore Orioles, so there I was at Nats Park in my red W cap stitching an orange bird at our home game. And yes, the Orioles wound up winning 2-1. Irony thy name is...

Stitch N Pitch 2009

2009-05-24T13:34:00.006-04:00

I managed a few photos of Nationals Park, but none of the Stitch N Pitch event. They’re up on my Flickr account, if you’re interested. I'll add photos of the hat & my project later.

I attended my second Stitch N Pitch event last night. The Washington Nationals were hosting Baltimore Orioles in the second game of the vaunted “Battle of the Beltway”. The sad truth is both teams are hanging out in their respective division’s basements, so it was a fair match-up, but a frustrating one. There were a lot of Orioles fans in attendance, as evidenced by the ones shouting the traditional “Ohhhh” during the national anthem. At times, I felt like I was the visitor and not at a home game. That made it difficult to really enjoy the game like last year.

The Metro trip to the ballpark was still relatively quick and uneventful. The construction is still in progress around the Nationals Park and I unfortunately get the sense that it’s at a standstill.

One surprise once you’d entered the stadium – if you were one of the first 20,000 fans, you received a free hat! I’d forgotten all about the promotion. Even adjustable, the hat was way too big for me. I could have easily fit my other cap over it without any trouble.

The Stitch N Pitch event was again in one of the conference rooms. I’d grabbed a flyer from Needlewoman East when I was at last at the store. I hadn’t known where to go last year so I spent time hunting around.

This year was definitely smaller and more low-key. Sara Leigh Merrey of Scarlet Thread was gamely demonstrating needlepoint, even showed me to do a simple tent stitch on a “W” pattern. Tent stitch I learned was all about the intersections, which took some getting used to. I think she had intended to demonstrate counted work, but they’d changed things around. I showed off the Book of Ink Circles one last night. That conference captured a lot of sunlight, so it was perfect to see how my colors really looked.

There were other tables for cross stitch, knitting and crochet. There were no goodie bags this year. You could buy an eco-friendly bag for $5. Knitters and crocheters had the option of creating a square for charity. I wish they’d had an option like that for the needleworkers. I do still feel like the knitters/crocheters had a stronger community than the needleworkers.

Most of the knitters in my section knew each other by name. By contrast, I knew only one or two of the people from Scarlet Thread.

Unlike last year, they also had vendor tables for a couple of local designers and a couple of the shops, including some beautiful Quaker patterns. The crowd was definitely smaller this time around. Of course I showed up fairly early when the gates opened. They did schedule it for the Saturday of a major holiday weekend, so that worked against it too.

Afterwards I headed upstairs to find food & drink and my seat. They’d removed the pretzels from the place I’d gone to last year, so I made do with an order of French Fries and water. Water seemed like the smart play, since the soda had made me so thirsty, but it was struggle. Alas the drink vendor who came through our section only had beer and water.

I was seated in section 302, only a section away from where we sat last time around. They’re still great seats of the third base side and left field. You can’t miss the massive scoreboard giving you all the balls and strikes, useful when you need to look up and reorient yourself.

I had knitters on one side of me, although Donna LaBranche, who taught my baseball biscornu class, turned out to be seated only a few seats away on one side. And on the other, I had another family of which the daughter/wife was steadily needleworking away. I was a little worried when the older man broke out the bag of peanuts. I’m not allergic, but the smell does have a tendency to make me nauseous a little.

Ross Detwiler pitched extremely well, even getting himself out of a bases loaded jam in the third inning. Young Justin Maxwell performed highway robbery of the best kind in center field by snatching a ball before it went over the stands for a home run for Adam Jones. Great catch and apparently made the ESPN highlights and well deserved. Unfortunately Maxwell miscalculated a later hit that allowed the Orioles to score, so he still has a lot to learn. Christian Guzman had a gorgeous home run. But it still wasn’t enough. The Nationals eventually lost 2-1. The Nationals just weren’t capitalizing on our chances, compared to the Orioles. But it was nice to see both Nick Johnson and Ryan Zimmerman playing in person. They were both injured by the time I saw the team last year.

I did get quite a bit of cross stitch done on an Aury menagerie freebie of a heron. A gorgeous bird flew over the stadium during one of the late innings. My seatmate suggested it might be heron and maybe I was a good omen. I didn’t have the chance to point out the critical mistake I’d made in choosing my colors for that project. I was tired of shades of red, so I’d picked this lovely pretty color in my d-bag flosses from Vikki Clayton. There was just one problem: the floss was orange. Yes, I was a Nationals fan stitching an orange bird. The irony was not lost on me.

Speaking of That Bird, he made an appearance during the President’s Race to trip up Teddy from sprinting to victory. I cried “Foul!” as it were. I’m sure the Orioles fans were pleased. They were quite vocal in their support, especially when they introduced Redskins players’ Mike Sellers & Antwaan Randle-El. (As I quipped, Randle-El could do dear damn near everything they threw at him, so maybe they should try baseball! It might have helped.)

After the game, I hiked down Half Street back to the Navy Yard to find a Metro train to L’Enfant and then home. I actually have very few complaints about getting to the Park or back home, compared to some DC events.

All in all it was a good game, but I think it’d be improved by going to the game with a few friends. Also I hope that next year Nationals have a better team and a different opponent.

Book of Ink Circles updated finally!

2009-05-21T15:25:00.007-04:00

I've been slowly getting back into working on my Book of Ink Circles project. I ran out of several major colors, which slowed me down. After reordering from Vikki Clayton, I've been slowly getting parts done during the hockey playoffs. I'm still not wild about either shades of blue, especially the lighter one.

Uncertain what to do next, I asked the designer. Tracy Horner offered some color suggestions. One idea was to swap the blues, making Magpie Warbles the dominant color in this corner and using my purple as a shadow. The end result created an interesting z effect with the center cross because of the way Mahogany variegated. I found I liked the old Ultra Maroon I still had left over. (I don't know if it's the new floss or a dyelot issue, but all of my colors are a lot lighter than before. Serves me right for not buying enough at the time.)

"The flamingo is ridiculous looking bird."

2009-05-20T20:06:00.007-04:00

So it's been awhile since I've posted here. Time just has a way of getting away from you, doesn't it?

Quite a lot has changed since that last update. My old haunt, Needlewoman East, has shifted almost entirely towards needlepoint. They still carry a good selection of specialty threads, but from a cross stitch charts and fabric perspective, I'll have to look elsewhere. Scarlet Thread moved from Vienna to Great Falls and sadly will be closing next month. There a few stores left in the Northern Virginia area, but not a lot of them are public transportation friendly.

The latest scan is a Quaker-inspired flamingo created by Aury. She publishes some lovely freebies of different animals and they're very easy to stitch up. The blog is bilingual in Spanish and English. For threads, I used a Vikki Clayton mystery spool. When I saw the color initially, I couldn't imagine what I'd use it for. I tend towards more muted colors. But this color seemed perfect for this particular bird of paradise. West Wing fan that I am, she's nicknamed "Claudia Jane".

Hope to post some of the older updates, including my Olympic stitching, my first needlework class, Stitch N Pitch and continuing trials of the Book of Ink Circles. I'm back-dating those posts and marking them "flashback" in the tags, so readers can find them easily. I tried doing them as new posts, but that was going to get confusing fast.

Stitching Olympics 2008

2008-08-17T14:46:00.000-04:00

The cross_stitch group on livejournal hosted an "Stitching Olympics" for the 2008 Summer Olympics. Stitching entrants set goals for themselves at various gold/silver/bronze level for different types of projects. Stitchers could challenge themselves to finish a pesky WIP or a page or two from a BAP or stitch a bunch of smalls, whatever combination you could come up with. If you finished before closing ceremonies, you win!

I signed up with three projects, one WIP and two brand new projects. I didn't make much progress with the Fox tote bag WIP or Aury's Mini Quaker, but I did manage a Silver medal for completing Ink Circles' Quackworth 2007.

Quackworth 2007 stitched up unbelievably fast. I started it the first night of the Olympics and finished it during the women's marathon only a week later. I was surprised as anyone. It wound up feeling more like a middle distance race than a marathon, but I wasn't complaining.

The fabric is a 32 ct cream Belfast linen stitched with Vikki Clayton's HDF Bitterness.

Here is my silver medal. To quote Michelle Kwan, "silver's not so bad.")

We make our own fun

2008-07-08T14:38:00.001-04:00

So I finished the latest two parts of Book of Ink Circles. When you're doing a long term project, I've discovered you learn to make your own fun. I doubt it's entirely a coincidence. All of the "Dutch Beast" motifs had hidden in-jokes/meanings, so why should this Mystery be any different?

For this corner section, I think Buffy the Vampire Slayer's Anya has reason to be afraid... very very afraid.

Maybe they're to chase the frogs away? Or keep the cats company? Or look furry and menacing? Cause they're not just cute like everyone supposes.

For the next section, maybe it was because of July 4th, but I kept quoting certain lines from the musical "1776". See if you agree:

FRANKLIN: The turkey!
ADAMS: The eagle!

So I figure the bird can be either done in browns/oranges for Thanksgiving or in patriotic fervor for the 4th. Your pick.

Stitch N Pitch 2008

2008-06-21T13:36:00.005-04:00

After changing into my Scarlet Thread t-shirt and my Nationals W cap, I went straight over to Nationals Park after work. The Metro ride to the game was pain-free. I was going against the usual commuter traffic back into DC, changing at L'Enfant Plaza and two stops to Navy Yard. And then what has become a tradition -- walking down Half Street towards the stadium. And yes, don't let them fool you. While there construction going up around the stadium, it is in a rather miserable neighborhood. But there's plenty of security types around. Even after the game after midnight, I felt perfectly safe.

The new Nationals Park is gorgeous! They really outdid themselves on that front. I wandered through the team store, but I already had my prized curly W hat. I did buy a program. Ironically the freebie program had Elijah Dukes on the cover.

The one flaw in the Stitch N Pitch organization was I didn't know where they were meeting. They'd included little notices at the seats, but I hadn't found my section yet! I'd watched a video from last year's event where they met on one of the concourses. That was last year, when the Nats still lived at RFK. In trying to find the ramp to up to my level, I found the conference rooms and our location!

There were representatives from most of the local shops, including a couple of familiar faces from both Scarlet Thread and Needlewoman East. The first 400 people received a red curly W goodie bag with patterns, fiber, even a pair of Bates number 8 knitting needles. Tables were demonstrating or teaching the different arts. The knitting table was particularly popular, especially with the younger crowd. The lady from Needlewoman East showed off needlepoint and the owner of Scarlet Thread worked on her cross stitch on a table stand. The MASN tv camera popped in for a short time to allow their sideline reporter Debbie Taylor to interview someone about the event. I'll have to check the DVR to see if we made it to the pregame show. I taped the game, but I was assuming it was a normal nine inning game too. Oops.

I showed off the Book of Ink Circles. We were still in last batch of sunlight and the sun caught it directly and all the colors gleamed. I was momentarily surprised. My home lighting really doesn't do it justice.

Then I wandered up stairs to find food and drink and my seat. I did not find a Curly W Pretzel. They were all the way back downstairs and I wasn't in the mood for a hike, so I went with the local little stand. I made do with a boring pretzel, hot dog and drink. In retrospect, I should have gone with water. The one annoying thing: no lids. I know they don't want people throwing things onto the field, but really, I wish there was a practical way to allow them. Do you know how hard it is to carry all this stuff and not spill something? Especially with all the stairs you have to navigate, it's like they're asking for trouble!

I was seated in section 303, which is one of the upper levels opposite left field. I had a perfect view of the massive scoreboard, which came in handy for keeping up with the balls and strikes. It really did look like it was hard to find a bad seat in the house. You could see the entire field. If you want the view of the Capitol dome, though, I think you want right field side. The MASN booth is way way up there behind home plate. Someone would really have to be trying to hit a foul ball up there.

I was seated between a knitter on one side and a set of quilters on the other. They all worked in a quilting shop in Great Falls, Virginia and apparently there's a Veterans Day swap/event among the local stores so they were sewing squares. They needed to do eleven and I think they'd nearly finished four by the time they'd left. Some people were bigger baseball fans than others.

I do wish the regular attendance was better. For all the hype of a new stadium, there were still a lot of empty seats and even more as the long night wore on. There were going to be some disappointed fans, too. They were promised Friday night fireworks, but the game ended so late, they had to cancel them, out of respect for their neighbors. They had to do that once before with the Cubs game that Nieves hit a walk-off home run to end.

Oh, yes, there was a game! The first Stitch N Pitch had a near no-hitter, so this one more lived up to its former hype. It was a little disconcerting not to have the replays and Sutton/Carpenter commentary. For stitching purposes, it usually means I don't miss things, but last night I missed a few key plays, including Rangers catcher Gerard Laird injuring his hamstring running out a single. Tim Redding had one bad inning that scored three Rangers. The Nationals kept chipping away at that lead with base runners here and there. With eleven hits, they had no trouble getting people on base, it was converting those opportunities! Elijah Dukes was a one man wrecking crew. He was on base almost every time he went up. He hit both the home run that tied the game and the go-ahead winning single in the 14th. Not a bad way to earn your game check.

The night was a long one. And lord knows they tried to keep things interesting. They wound up running two President's Race. Teddy didn't do very well in either. Poor Teddy. We had both a 7th inning and a 14th inning stretch. I joked that it had been another 7 innings, after all, much to the amusement of the man behind me. We both quoted "Bull Durham" when the Rangers had a meeting at the mound ("Candlesticks always make a nice gift. And, maybe you can find out where she's registered...") You make your own fun by the 14th inning, okay?

There was also a lovely moment of tribute on the the big scoreboard to Tim Russert in between innings. They showed a video backed to Bruce Springsteen song with clips of Russert talking about baseball being back in Washington. It ended with "You'll always be our 10th man".

The quilters and I had a good time with the theme songs. Apparently every Nationals player has an at-bat theme song clips, featuring a lot of hard rock/rap/Latin music from what I could determine. We were trying to figure out what our themes would be, prompting some silly responses. One lady was a big country fan so somehow we went from "Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off" to "Beer for my Horses". I wasn't snappy enough to come up with "Margaritaville". Sadly I would have gone with some classic hard rock -- "Back in Black" or "Walk this Way" or even "Enter the Sandman". (I know they've got a list of the songs on the MLB site. I stumbled onto it by accident once.)

When the game was finally over and the Nationals won, leaving most fans happy (not all -- they were quite a few Rangers fans at the game), a large number of us trudged down Half Street to Navy Yard. Say what I will about WMATA and I can say plenty, they managed the crush very well. They held one train to allow people to get downstairs and then brought in a completely empty train to cover nearly everyone else. Two stops and then go downstairs at L'Enfant to head for home.

It was quite an experience for only my second MLB game. I had great fun going to the game and meeting all the stitchers, but I would not want to do that on a regular basis. Certainly not 14 innnings worth!

I did manage to take a few photos which are on my Flickr account. They include pictures of the goodie bag and the stadium and neighborhood.

Articles on the Game
Washington Post article
Washington Times

Flashback: How I spent my Sunday afternoon

2008-06-08T11:35:00.000-04:00

So Sunday, June 8, 2007, I went to my first needlework class at the Scarlet Thread. I'd wanted to take one, but could never find one in my skill bracket. Then I saw the newsletter about the upcoming biscornu class featuring a pattern inspired by "Take me Out to the Ballgame." What could be better? Combining my love of baseball and a curiosity about putting together biscornu.

What are biscornu? Near as I can figure, the term comes from the French and has various meanings. It's an oddly shaped pin cushion/ornament/fob/doo-dad created by stitching two pieces of fabric together. Instead of getting a square, you get biscornu. There's a great online tutorial translated by own_two_hands showing all the steps. Being one of those visual types who needs someone to show me how things work (and generally terrified by finishing/sewing techniques), this seemed like an ideal course.

The full piece is shown on My Ordinary Needle's blog. The instructor was Donna LeBranche. The kit came with the class and I intended to start tackling that before I went to the Stitch N Pitch, if only because the teacher was going, so I could ask tech support questions. She's a big baseball fan of the Red Sox persuasion. She was even interviewed by the Washington Post's Dan Steinberg at the 2006 Stitch N Pitch event.

Since we wouldn't have time to finish the full biscornu, the teacher created a mini version with "I Heart Baseball" on the top and a diamond eyelet on the bottom. The heart was done in a Rhodes Heart stitch. I'd never done either of the two specialty stitches. I ironically had an easier time with those than the back-stitching. Except for the part where I was stitching on the back of my fabric... oops. At least I hadn't done much yet.

Then came the fun of attaching the two pieces of fabric together with a whip stitch. Once you get the hang of it, it's really easy. I can definitely see why you need the squares to be exactly the same. Otherwise, it'll never work out right.

I am a geek

2008-04-24T18:18:00.007-04:00

After seeing my Doctor Who needlework, this shouldn't surprise anyone.

I reinstalled an old version of PCStitch to see if it'd work on my XP computer.

Not only did it work, but I was able to import jpgs to create cross stitch patterns. I'd tried this before, but I hadn't much success. I suspect I was trying too complicated pictures.

So what did I do for my first project?

I charted a familiar symbol for fans of "Stargate SG-1" and "Stargate: Atlantis" -- the point of origin symbol from the Earth gate. After several attempts, I came up the final version you see stitched on aida. The hardest part was figuring out to scale the picture down, so the symbol could be small enough for bookmarks. I'd love to see it in other colors, maybe in a starry or sea variegated thread.

I'm not sure how well the Pegasus gate addresses will translate into cross stitch. They're less symbols and more constellation patterns. Maybe with backstitch & french knots for the dots?

4/22/08 Celtic Masks

2008-04-23T16:04:00.003-04:00

A quicker update this time. I finished most of the top section. Now I just have to lie in wait for the green and gold skeins to arrive in the mail. The scanner boxed the ears of one of the cats. Sorry about that.

My friend Lisa had an observation about the pattern today. When I asked if the colors were too Mardi Gras-ish, she pointed out the cats could be masks. I hadn't thought of that particular interpretation. Most people thought of them as gargoyles or ornamental beasts. I rather like it.

I'll be interested to see if any of the other squares work with that idea. But that's part of the mystery, right?

Celtic Mystery SAL Progress

2008-04-22T11:34:00.004-04:00

I found a piece of 28 ct Platinum Jobelan at Scarlet Thread in Vienna that worked well with my chosen Celtic Mystery SAL colors. I steadily got started two weeks ago. I've been mostly working on the black borders with a couple of detours with two of green knots. Everything was going so well.

And then I hit another snag along the way. Last Saturday night I discovered I was off somewhere. I couldn't figure out for the life of me where. Finally I made a plea on the SAL mailing list. The designer is very nice and posted a larger version of the first part. I found my two errors. The major error was on the big square underneath the top green knot. It was missing one stitch which threw everything else off, of course. That involved the heartbreaking frogging of the whole green knot. Thankfully needlework can be redone.

After a morning with the frogs, I was able to close up some sections and complete my first corner motif. I still have to work on the left side some more before the next release. The design goes pretty quickly when things are clicking, even the black border. Then I hit another major snag. I was in tears and ready to throw in the towel, but I persevered. I finally found light at the end of the froggy tunnel and I finished off the interior framework. All that black...

I've included a closeup of Barfy the Cat-Owl. That requires some explanation. On the mailing list, there's been some discussion on what animal is in that corner motif. Was it a cat? An owl? Some strange mutation thereof? Then came the observation that the cat was puking a rainbow and Barfy (Or maybe Ralph?) was born. (Someone also joked it was the original Lolcat.) My variegated orange thread has made Barfy into a very mottled calico cat, rather than a tabby, kind of orange and brown, although the glowing eyes are rather owlish too. Hence the Cat-Owl, a rare species lost in Celtic times. Or something. The rest of the color scheme with the green and purple is very Mardi Gras-esque, especially once I add the gold interior border. Pretty though.

This is the fishtail section that comprises the second part. I'd like to thank my yellow highlighter for its part in my success, because keeping track of those color changes is no small feat.

And this is my full progress as of 4/21/08. I've since added more green in the border and completed the other cat on the corner. Thank god I've ordered more green and gold for the borders. Otherwise I'd be at a total standstill.

Purple Ink Circles

2008-04-01T14:26:00.000-04:00

Since I can't start the Celtic Mystery SAL until I find my fabric, I stitched the Ink Circles May 2007 freebie using MLI's Needlepaints 2011/2010/2008. I'm still not sure if I picked the right shades of purple. One shade feels a little off somewhere. What do others think?

Best laid plans...

2008-03-29T19:40:00.001-04:00

We appear to have hit a snag. Or is it a slub? Yesterday I went over to my local needlework store to see if they could match my mystery fabric. I was hoping it'd be a simple painless process. I should have known it wouldn't be nearly that easy. We went through nearly every neutral/beige/off-white fabric sample they had in the store. The closest thing was the Jobelan Lambswool and even that was way off the mark. We know it's a 28 count and we think it's an evenweave. It doesn't have the scratchy feel of a linen, so maybe it has some cotton in it. Maybe it really is like going through piles of old socks for that one off-white pair. This one's too yellow, that's one's not bright enough, that has the wrong consistency... *sighs* So I'm still looking for my dream fabric. I may see if I can visit one of the other stores in the area, either Scarlet Thread in Vienna or In Stitches in Alexandria.

I have post?

2008-03-27T21:29:00.002-04:00

My first order from HDF arrived! I stalked the post office long distance via the tracking info. I was worried it'd get booted over the post office. Long drawn out story, suffice it say my apartment building is having issues. But the infamous white envelope is here. The colors are quite lovely and silky smooth to the touch. I'm a little torn now. The floss of the month included a very very pretty blue and I'm already thinking of replacing the dark blue I chose. Does Blueberry Soup go with Magpie Twitters?

Anyway, here is the floss toss for my Celtic Mystery SAL. I hope the pictures worked out. My digital camera needs replacing.

I'm amazed the fabric color worked out so well. Unfortunately it's a stand-in piece of fabric because it's nowhere near big enough for the project. Going by my measuring tape, it appears to be 28 count. I'll need to go off to the LNS and see if they match this fellow up to its maker. It's not quite matching socks...

I can stop anytime... really!

2008-03-26T13:18:00.000-04:00

I started that purple Ink Circles freebie in MLI's Needlepaints colors. I'm not wild about how it's turning out. I think either the darkest or lightest shade is off. But I'm over halfway done with that mini-project which is a Good Thing, since I went and bought some Vikki Clayton HDF silks for the Celtic Mystery SAL. I dithered over my choices for the longest time until someone posted their choices. Everyone wanted the bright bright colors and I wanted to pull it back just a little. You can earn points by ordering and participating in her forums and suddenly you'll have enough for something else. It's an icy treacherous slippery slope I walk on, because all of her colors are so lovely. But I can stop anytime, really. (In the immortal words of Miss Betty Roberts of Elkhart, Indiana -- "I admit it! I'm an addicted... addict!") They should be here any day now. I just have to lie in wait for the mailperson and find an appropriate fabric.

I need a new project obviously...

2008-03-19T22:25:00.002-04:00

So the cross stitch bug is back.

Or I have to assume so, if I'm thinking seriously about starting a new project.

I was looking at Ink Circles' new Celtic Mystery Stitchalong. A Mystery is where there's a piece of the project revealed each month. This one looks like a Celtic parchment. Loving all things Celtic, I went "Oooh, I could do that!" until I looked at the dimensions of the full piece and boggled a little. But I saved the first pdf for future reference. You never know. I'll need to do a bit of thinking for colors/fabric anyway.

Maybe I'll start a little smaller with one of their other complimentary charts. I'm eyeing the purple one for May, especially since I might have all the supplies I'd need. I still have TIAG's Needlepaints in my stash. The purple range would be perfect. The only minus of this designer is they work in generalities. They feel you should be free to pick out your own colorways, rather than be hidebound by what has worked in a precise design. And while that's lovely in theory, some of us are better off letting others choose colors. Ooh, they have blackwork too...

There are a pair of color packs, both a "Rainbow Brite" and the more muted colorway chosen by the designer. I know the colors in Celtic artwork are bright, but not that bright!

I'm trying to come up with a conversion for Vikki Clayton's pretty silks. Her board is really helpful so far. I should have plenty of time to make my fabric/floss choices before the next section is released. I think I might have a fabric color, but I'll have to find out what it is, because the piece I have isn't big enough. I really need to write the fabric count and color somewhere when I buy them. The frame of the carpet page is huge.

SBQ - Online stores

2007-10-04T10:09:00.000-04:00

My first annual US Openalong was quite successful. Despite a bad frogging incident that threatened my stitcher's morale, I gamely carried on. In the end, I made some good progress on my main WIP, Mirabilia's Garden Verses. I haven't nearly kept up the pace since then, but every little bit helps in these large projects.

What are your favorite online stitching supply sources?

Elegant Stitch immediately comes to mind as a favorite. I adored quite a few specialty fibers from them, including the Old Willow Stitchery's Quaker line. They regularly update their website with new goodies and report from the Nashville trade show. They're more of a brick and mortar store that has a major online presence. As a fan of samplers and specialty threads, I also adore the Canadian Traditional Stitches. I was particularly interested in Amy Mitten's Fibers To Dye For, which have beautiful muted colors and ghoulish names. She's also designed samplers and projects using her threads, all that evoke the old style samplers.

Speaking of fibers, Vicki Clayton is running a nice little deal where if you send her a SASE, she'll send you back samples of her hand dyed six stranded silk floss on a half yard tags. I was expecting maybe one sample, but I received five! I received: Mermaid Blue, Oeillet, Buff, Ultra Maroon and Dark Burgundy. Those last two colors are particularly pretty, but I'm a sucker for the purple ranges. They're silky smooth to the touch. I don't know what I can do with a half yard of floss yet, but colors! Pretties! Silks!

The Doctor and the Dragon

2007-08-13T08:52:00.000-04:00

It's been awhile since I've updated this blog. I have a tendency to take long breaks between spurts of work on my needlework projects. Mostly I blame a lack of time.

I've completed not one but two projects since I last updated. One project was brand new, one was an ancient UFO.

For their "Stitch the Star" section, the UK Cross Stitcher magazine did a pattern featuring Doctor Who's David Tennant in their latest issue. The pattern isn't the greatest, just a very basic side face shot, no back stitching involved with about seven or eight colors. I fussed over choosing the fabrics forever at the LNS, finally enlisting some help from the shop owner. I really didn't want to use boring old white. I'm not wild about the natural linen shades either, but I thought it gave it a little more zing. Only to discover there were unstitched parts of the pattern and no outlining. Despite my initial worries, I think it makes a good contrast. I went with 28ct natural linen for the final version.

For comparison, Cross Stitcher has already posted a picture of someone's completed version to show how it'd look finished and in white. And a British fan adds her finished version in antique white aida. I know mine would have definitely stitched up faster on aida, although I do like my version.

The other finish was the other Real Musgrave Pocket Dragon pattern "Scary Book". They were both published by Crafty Capers in the early 1990s. I lost the original patterns and never had the chance to finish them until by chance I was at Media West one year where someone was selling old cross stitch charts.

This poor dragon has probably been rereading the same chapter for the last fourteen years!

SBQ - Mishaps and blunders

2006-07-05T12:09:00.000-04:00

What is the biggest mishap you have had with your stitching material (i.e. spillages)?

I don't think I've had any big mishaps where fabric was concerned, but I did have one nasty incident with orange drink falling all over my Needlepaints threads. Panic soon followed. Fortunately I was reassured by several people online that the Needlepaints wash fine, since they're colorfast. Breathe sigh of relief. Commence dunking and washing of threads. The threads turned out reasonably well, although some are sticky in places.

SBQ - Magnifying glass

2006-06-21T15:44:00.000-04:00

Have you ever used a magnifying glass with your stitching? If so, do you find it helpful?

I've never needed one for the stitching thankfully. My eyes have mostly held up under the strain. I have been tempted on occasion to use one for the actual charts, because sometimes even with a good light, it's hard to tell similar symbols apart, especially ones combined with colors. I noticed this again working on a Charles Craft freebie. The symbol for black is a black box, which is nice and clear. However there's another symbol for a dark grey which is black with a dark X inside. Usually they're right next to each other, so you think it's all black. I'm thinking I should stick to black and white charts if I keep having this issue continually crop up.

It's an art

2006-06-08T15:29:00.000-04:00

Trends come and go. Needlework is no different. I've noticed a growing one on Livejournal's cross_stitch group. The theme should be "think big". Cute small pocket projects are passe. No one does angels anymore, unless they're UFOs or older charts they're finally getting around to. No, what everyone wants to do is paint. Everyone is doing these massive projects charted from fine art, requiring hours of gridding and prep work. Finishing a whole page is a big deal to these stitchers, which I can understand if the final project has 60 pages! Wayback when I was last paying attention to cross stitch, places like Uncharted Territory were unusual. Now they appear to be a dime a dozen. While I adore Pre-Raphaelite art like whoa, I'm not sure I have the time or patience or endurance to do one of those projects. It seems like it'd be easier to just buy a print. Besides, it's almost like needlepoint where you cover the entire canvas, losing the fun of picking an interesting piece of fabric.

This week's SBQ is slightly more involved, requiring either camera or scanner. I may wait until the weekend to put up anything, if at all.

SBQ: Collecting habits

2006-05-31T21:35:00.000-04:00

Do you collect charts by one particular designer, yet have never stitched anything by that designer? If so, which designer and why do you collect the charts but have not yet stitched any of them?

Not intentionally. I have collected a number of charts by the same designer, usually with every intention to start them someday. I don't think I've ever bought them just to say I own a particular chart, nor would I call myself a completist with needlework. (If you asked me the same about authors or musicians I like, it'd be a completely different story.) I have quite a few Drawn Thread patterns but I haven't started any of them yet. Usually in my case, I find a shinier chart/design that I can't live without... or I get intimidated by the specialty threads or stitches. There's usually a reason I haven't started something.

Speaking of designers I own a number of charts, but haven't done them, I was interested to learn that Teresa Wentzler now has a blog called Artistic License. One of her posts talked about the process of recharting her older designs, weighing the artistic desire to improve her older designs, while feeling a certain loyalty to those who've already stitched the pattern. Personally I don't see why having the alternate version available is so terrible. Stitchers are known to do the same pattern twice, although not TW's patterns usually, because they take so long to finish. Apparently a number of her charts are available now on Patterns Online where you can download and print the chart. Her patterns still look pricey, but compared to the hassle of searching for used copies off ebay, it's a nifty way to keep patterns in print.

Scary Book progress

2006-05-25T10:29:00.000-04:00

As I mentioned in the "Five More Minutes" post, I had a second Pocket Dragon UFO called "Scary Book". I've been stitching steadily on this project since I finished "Five More Minutes", much to the dismay of my Mirabilia WIP, who must now feel like she's being deserted in her garden.

In retrospect, I should have scanned this before I started to give you some idea where I stopped before. Basically I had done most of the dragon and background on the left side. The arch and background below him will take some time. Most of them are shades of grey which sometimes makes it difficult to find my place.

I've been amused by the response to the Pocket Dragons thus far. Everyone loves them and wishes they could find their own copies. Sadly they've been out of print for a looooong time. I still have no idea where my original copies disappeared to. I bought them from the Dancing Dragon catalog. Last year, a vendor at MediaWest was selling old used cross stitch charts and both in the collection. Besides ebay and its equivalents, I'd check to see people's chart sales/trades. Maybe someone will want to part with them.

SBQ - Specialty stitches

2006-05-24T14:18:00.001-04:00

What is your favorite specialty stitch? Which one is your least favorite? Why?

I don't do a lot of specialty stitches to be truthful. My least favorite would probably be french knot, because I have yet to master them, no matter how hard I try. I've tried a couple of tutorials, but I think I really need someone hovering over me to show me the ropes, like with beading. My favorite is probably the Holbein stitch or double running stitch for blackwork. There's just something about flipping over your work and seeing the same thing on the other side. At least you know you're doing it right. I seem to remember liking nun's stitch when I used it for the fringe on a couple of bookmark projects.

SBQ: Who stole my mojo?

2006-05-18T13:52:00.000-04:00

"Lately, it seems that many stitching bloggers have experienced a loss of their stitching mojo. Have you ever lost your stitching mojo? If so, how did you get it back and how long did it take?"

A timely SBQ question this time around. Only in this last month I have started to recover from a long stitching drought. I don't think it was losing the interest or "magical influence", just constraints of time. I always had a number of other priorities or other hobbies holding me back.

And yet even with other friends knitting away around me, I didn't feel the urge to pick up my needlework in my usual solitary protest. (It's not that I dislike knitting. I just don't seem to have the coordination for it, so I stitck with the craft I do know.)

A month or so again, several friends online discussed the idea of a general themed stitch-along and I wanted to participate. Suddenly I itched for a project. I wanted to stare at fabrics and pretty overdyed specialty fibers. I found myself actually looking at needlework websites and discovering how many stitching blogs existed. Even discovered a larger cross stitch community on Livejournal I hadn't found before. Seeing other people's WIPs and finishes helped the process back along. Stitching can be very solitary sometimes, like writing, and I seem to do better when I have other like-minded souls to correspond with. (Or feel like I am anyway.)

For me, the time away refocused the juices on the older projects. Sorting through my stash was both depressing in what I had left unfinished (or even unstarted) and invigorating. Hence my desire to finish the two Pocket Dragons patterns. "Scary Book" is still coming along, although I need to frog a whole section of 932 I did last night. The dragon himself is mostly done except for some little "pockets".

I'm hoping to start some new projects when BGAL starts in June, so hopefully the stitching will continue.

Update of sorts

2006-05-14T20:51:00.000-04:00

"Scary Book" continues to be my focus piece for the month. After many attempts I found the problem area, so the dragon actually now has most of a tail. I'm hoping to finish this piece before my trip out of town at the end of the month or at least get the stitching down to the fill in stage.

I'm participating in the Blue & Gold Along. BGAL is open to any needle arts as long as the projects involves some combination of blue and gold. Yes, Ravenclaw scarves do apply. Hence my current fascination with the golden dress with blue trim of "Rose of Sharon". The current start date is June 1st to allow people to find supplies and steel themselves for the coming project. But rules wise, it's fairly loose and open otherwise.

Frogs and pocket dragons

2006-05-12T13:06:00.000-04:00

In my post about "Five More Minutes", I mentioned that it has a sibling UFO "Scary Book". That UFO actually was one for two reasons, not just one. The main one was I'd misplaced my copy of the chart. The second more irritating reason was I had made an error. I could see the error quickly after comparing the chart and project a few times. I'm wondering if this is fourteen years of hard won experience showing up or just dumb luck. Probably a combination of the two. The irritating part is figuring out where the end is for that section. I wound up having to frog the whole shell of the poor dragon's tail before I was even close.

The background is going to drive me insane with all those greys and dark blues. I may focus on finishing off the dragon before I attack those areas just yet.

SBQ: Floss & kits

2006-05-11T11:14:00.000-04:00

When you stitch from a kit and use the supplied floss do you have leftovers? If so, how much and what do you do with them? If not, do you usually have just enough or do you have to dig into your stash to finish?

I do mostly smaller bookmark/card kits. I've usually had more than enough floss to finish. Usually they just go back into the packaging, especially if they don't give a DMC equivalent.

The only big kit I've used is Teresa Wentzler's "Romeo & Juliet". I haven't gotten far enough to run out just yet. Usually though I'll dig into my stash for more, if it comes to that.

UFO sighting at finish line

2006-05-11T10:12:00.000-04:00

I feel like Miss Adelaide in "Guys and Dolls" perpetually engaged to Nathan Detroit for fourteen loyal years with no wedding in sight. And then finally in the last act, closure!

I started cross stitch fourteen or fifteen years ago when I was in college. I learned one afternoon while staying with a friend. Her sister visited and she taught me to stitch, doing one small red fox I have somewhere. Her then-husband taught me backstitching. I graduated to the occasional leaflet on Aida, including a pair of Pocket Dragon patterns from Crazy Crafts, "Five More Minutes" and "Scary Book".

Somewhere along the line I lost my copies of both patterns, so neither of them ever were completed. They became in the parlance of stitching UFOs - unfinished objects.

I despaired of ever finishing them when I came upon the patterns again at a media convention. Someone was selling a bunch of cross-stitch and needlework charts, so I bought both. I came upon both the charts and the UFOs over the last week while I was sorting through my stash. So hey, I needed a break from the Mirabilias, so I opted to finish "Five More Minutes". voila the little Pocket Dragon can now have his nap. Or at least hit the snooze alarm a few times in my honor...

"Scary Book" is a sibling UFO and hopefully that one will get finished in due course. In retrospect, I wish I'd done that one on navy fabric, because there's a lot of background to stitch on that pattern.

Saturday stash shopping

2006-05-06T16:56:00.000-04:00

So I went needlework shopping today. Now that I've identified new projects I want to work on, then I obviously need the fabric and threads and bits and bobs now. I also have an upcoming trip at the end of the month, so I hope to get some stitching done then.

My LNS is Needlewoman East, a lovely little shop in the middle of Falls Church. I'm enough of a regular there for them to recognize me. The one lady commented that they hadn't seen me in there in awhile and it was true. The shop is heavily geared towards the needlepointers, rather than cross-stitchers, but they're still a fun group.

I bought two pieces of 28 ct fabric for the two new Mirabilia WIPs "Winter Queen" (Off-white) and "Rose of Sharon" (Mushroom). Both were stitched on 32ct, but the store's supply of 32ct fabric in the evenweave wasn't much. I suppose I could have done them on linen, but I suspect those projects might have been more frustrating than relaxing.

I also bought yet another Mirabilia "Stargazer". Really, I can stop myself any time. But I've seen a couple WIPs of this piece online and couldn't resist getting this pattern.

Unfortunately their building hadn't turned on the a/c yet, so on this spring day, it was sweltering, even with the windows open. I can only imagine having to work in those conditions.

I bought some floss at Michaels/JoAnns. Michaels has completely reorganized. I almost didn't recognize the place when I walked in. Unfortunately they've put the DMC floss in these weird individual display trays. Even looking at the notices of which floss ranges were where wasn't always a help. I should have waited until they were having one of their sales, but I can't guarantee it'll be before my trip.

As usual I didn't find all the colors. I'm a little worried because I didn't see trays for some of these colors. I need to see if DMC has discontinued any colors. And hope mine weren't the ones...

SBQ: Overdyes

2006-05-05T13:18:00.000-04:00

Do you or have you stitched with over-dyed threads? (Weeks Dye Works, The Gentle Art Sampler Threads, Six Strand Sweets, etc.) If so, what is your opinion concerning them? If not, why not?

I am on the fence on over-dyed threads. I've bought a number of them over the years, but I've only dabbled in actually using them. I've used Caron's Waterlilies and Watercolors and Gentle Art's Sampler Threads predominantly. I've also bought Silk N Colors and a few others.

I love the muted colors. I'm an old-fashioned girl and I like the antiquey feel to most over-dyes. And I love the imagination and creativity that goes into the naming of some thread lines. Silk N Colors had a series based on the London Tube stops. Gentle Art has their Simply Shaker, not to be outdone by Olde Willow's Quaker Colors. Amy Mitten's Fibers to Dye For are delightfully ghoulish and mysterious.

On the other hand, I don't love the upkeep. The price you pay for hand dyed anything is that they are usually unable to be washed. I consider myself fairly clumsy, especially involving drink or chocolate or tomato sauce. White sweaters have given their lives in my name. Some would tell you unspeakable tales... So telling me something can't be washed or might bleed makes me skittish.

Reading the responses so far, I've noticed a number of people aren't wowed or convinced. They want more variegation for their buck. And they are expensive threads so I understand completely. For small pieces, it's a nice effect, but I'm not sure I'd want a full wall hanging in it. I don't necessarily like the wide variations in color, but that's me.

I include this small piece of work using Caron Threads:

This appeared in New Stitches #122 "Ackworth School Samplers", stitched on Aida using Caron's "Alpine Moss" Waterlilies thread. The motifs appear to be the same as the one shown in the center of the "Elizabeth Shephard" 1820 sampler. I just needed a small project to work on one weekend, hoping that it might encourage me to pick up the bigger projects I've let languish.

SBQ: March 2005

2006-05-05T10:51:00.000-04:00

Do you prefer old-fashioned black and white symbol only patterns, color patterns, or a combination of color and symbols on your patterns?

Black & white are fine as long as they're clearly printed. Having looked over some of older charts this weekend, I noticed the ones that were lovely designs, but I'd be hard pressed to read the charts. If you have to do color, I'd prefer it combined with a symbol of some kind.

I'll add a caveat to the color plus symbol method. I was working on a chart like that last night. Please for god's sake, don't put the same symbol with two different colors, especially if they're right next to each other on the chart, however nice they look on the printed chart. It'll just confuse the poor stitcher on which shade of green she needs.

Do you have a favorite designer? If so, who is it?

You're asking me to choose? But... but... but... I'd probably go with early Mirabilia as my current favorite. They're beautiful and relatively easy to make progress in.

On average, how many hours a week do you spend cross-stitching?

Varies widely. I just went through a long drought, so comparatively speaking, it seems like I'm stitching a lot lately. I try to do a few hours a day if possible, but sometimes all my stitching is over the weekend.

What are your thoughts on craft and/or needlework shows? Have you been to one or are you planning on going to one this year?

I've only been to two needlework shows, the Woodlawn and Loudon Museum shows. The Woodlawn show was usually bigger and covered a wider range of needlework styles. The Loudon Museum one was mostly samplers, but they had a large book dealer. I enjoyed both shows immensely, but they were also quite intimidating. I'm not sure I'd ever show my work. The closest I came was when Needlewoman East showed some of their customers' work for an Open House and my "Winter Rose" hung on their wall.

How has your stitching evolved since you first started stitching?

I'm not as afraid of evenweave/linen fabrics as I used to be. I still tend to do older patterns by designers so I can dodge the worst of blended colors and beading/metallics. I still shy away from the specialty stitches, which is a pity because I like a lot of samplers. The only non-cross-stitch stuff I've dabbled in is blackwork. I'd like to do a full project in that sometime.

I'm taking over...

2006-05-05T10:36:00.000-04:00

Good heavens, someone is posting here again. Please don't keel over in shock. After a long drought, I'm slowly getting back into needlework at full steam. I have been doing needlework since the last entry, but they've mostly been smaller pieces. I desperately need to update my finished projects page with new scans/pictures.

I started this page to chronicle my headaches on Teresa Wentzler's "Romeo & Juliet". Hopefully those posts will return when I get back to that piece.

Until then, I'm going to turn this blog into my regular needlework blog with comments on the projects I'm working on. I'll also be answering the Stitching Blogger's Questions, both old and new, because I like the topics they've raised so far.

Latest progress

2001-11-21T13:31:00.000-05:00

I apologize for not posting recently. I've been spending some time on other smaller needlework projects besides "Romeo & Juliet". The blends are a headache. I suppose I could try to have several needles prepped before I start a session, but I never know what I'll feel like working on next. I started working on the top of the pattern, stitching some of Juliet's balcony. I'll wait to post a scan when it's nearer completion. Right now, it's missing a few too many railings.

Teresa Wentzler is reportedly disappointed that more people aren't stitching "Romeo and Juliet". The kit probably dissuades some people. They prefer kitting up patterns, gathering the supplies, on their own, with their own choice of fabric and floss and accessories. The pattern itself isn't the easiest for newcomers. If you've never done blends or fractional stitches before, this pattern might be a nightmare.

Tangentially related, I saw "Shakespeare in Love" for the first time recently, which features that classic "Romeo and Ethel - the Pirate's Daughter." Somehow talking about great actresses who have played Ethel doesn't have the same effect, does it? Gwyneth Paltrow was adequate, though I still don't see the fuss with her. Joseph Fiennes was a *yummy* Shakespeare. Imagine if we had sat in English class knowing William Shakespeare looked and spoke like that?

Let's try again

2001-07-07T11:38:00.000-04:00

I'm back. I took some time off from R&J with other needlework projects. I've come back with a semi-vengeance, finishing the outline of the border. To celebrate I made a scan. This is a closeup of the stitched area.

I also have a larger version which shows the entire area. The piece nearly didn't fit on the scanner.

Great Green Bushes of Doom

2001-05-14T23:56:00.001-04:00

I scanned the second week's progress on R&J. As you can see, I'm making some progress but I'm hardly flying through the piece. I can see why the border gets tedious. And the "Great Green Bushes of Doom" as nicknamed on the board also get troublesome with so many shades of green and grey blended together. I can also comprehend why I like the loop start so much for cross-stitch. Every-time I start a new blend, I invariably find the place where I didn't tie down the previous one well enough, when it comes undone, thus necessitating unnecessary frogging. Can we say "Argh?"

I managed to get a little more work done on Juliet's gown, mostly filling in those purples next to the pinks/reds.

First week scan

2001-04-30T22:18:00.001-04:00

I scanned my first week's progress.

I'm not sure how the colors turned out.

I've had some odd luck scanning needlework.

Week of frustrations

2001-04-30T22:10:00.000-04:00

AHA! Eureka, I finally found some solid colors amongst all the blended ones. I was starting to despair of stitching normal single color floss, when I started working on the gold of Romeo's cloak.

ARGH! Only my first day stitching and I discover a mistake. I hate frogging my errors, especially after I restitch the "correction".

Stitching continues on R&J. I've expanded outwards to include part of the bushes and Juliet's dress.

Tweedledee and Tweedledum

2001-04-30T22:05:00.000-04:00

I finally started stitching. My first attempts at blended threads were boringly in the center with Romeo's cloak lining. Teresa Wentzler is notorious for using this technique to combine two strands of different colors to create a new one. Unlike variegated threads, you don't have to carefully plan your "tweeding" so the variations line up the right way. Of course there are disadvantages to blends. Besides the hassle of rethreading each time with a new blend, I can't use my usual loop start for the blends, but I can for the rest of the pattern, which accounts for about half the colors.

Getting started

2001-04-30T21:55:00.000-04:00

I have done cross-stitch for a number of years, but I have always been intimidated by Teresa Wentzler's fantasy designs with their partial stitches and blended threads. Her designs regularly take several pages just to cover the color chart alone, never mind the detail involved in the actual patterns. Then Teresa Wentzler released her "Romeo and Juliet" kit and I fell in love with the colors and design. I reasoned as how I did want to try a larger project and "Romeo and Juliet" was relatively small for her pieces. So I wound up ordering the kit from Fantasy Crafts. I also received her "Stretch" freebie included with my order, so I have more TW to contemplate.

The kit arrived on Thursday. Fortunately I had been reading the Teresa Wentzler Bulletin Board, so I knew where to locate the color key on the back of the French instructions. Key in hand, I spent part of the night sorting the colors, only to run out of bobbins.

This necessitated a trip to Nimble Needles, a small needlework store in the Crystal City Underground. I use the shop primarily because it's near the Metro, useful for restocking simple supplies on the way home from work. I found my bobbins and some Floss Away bags for the rest of the floss.

With the floss neatly organized, for now, I turned my attention to the light blue Monaco fabric, basting the edges to prevent fraying. My fabric always frays. Even when I work with pre-finished bookmarks, I have this problem.

Blended Leg: A "Romeo & Juliet" Project Diary

2001-04-30T21:35:00.000-04:00

Welcome. This page chronicles my stitching progress on Teresa Wentzler's "Romeo and Juliet" cross-stitch kit with occasional links, pictures and always pithy commentary. To see the finished project, please see the official Teresa Wentzler Designworks website.