Illuminated House Blessing Coming Along

It's been a little hectic around here lately with 2 sick cats, and today, a broken water heater, but I have managed to make some progress.

I can never seem to get a good picture of this one. It seems too flooded with light. The colors are a bit bolder than they appear.

Hopefully I can finish this up soon, although I know the bottom border will take a while! I am not sure how I will finish this one, whether I willl use a mat or not to frame it.

I am already thinking about the next project. There is an autumnal design I would like to do. Somehow I can never manage to time seasonal things right! I do need to make some Christmas ornaments. Perhaps I can sneak a little one in before going on to the next project.

And. . . oh yes! There is always the rug that is calling me to finish it!

Just not enough hours in the day!

Weekend Yard Sales

This time last year we were making several trips to out of state flea markets. With the price of gas so high, we can long longer do this. In spite of this we still manage to put on quite a few miles going to local estate and yard sales.

Until this weekend I haven't really hadn't found any real treasures.

On Saturday, I found this wonderful little crib quilt at a local antique sale.

(Gracie must of course approve anything that comes into the house)!

I love the cranberry reds. The prints are actually all different, but so carefully selected that they match perfectly! It also has indigo prints, black mourning prints, beautiful old browns, and lovely shirting prints! The backing is a white and brown shirting print.

It dates from the 1890's to 1910's. What is really remarkable is that even the binding was made from one of the cranberry prints, and it is intact, in excellent condition! That almost never happens!

I also picked up two other quilts with lots of indigo and mourning cloth prints, but they are definitely "fixer-uppers". The real prize was the crib quilt!

The only bad part of the day was when I fell on a pile of plastic bags that someone left out. Kaboom! I went down hard! Landed on my wrist. Luckily nothing is broken but oh boy does it ache! Oh well, the quilt was worth it!

At another garage sale I found this little Victorian angel pin cushion.

And, at another sale, I picked up an antique tea cosy. There is a different cross stitch design on each side.
I love the little red squirrels!




All in all, not a bad week-end! I am so pleased! Normally all I ever see at these sales are those dreadful bright colored plastic toys that everyone is trying to get rid of!

Back to Illuminated House Blessing ...

I took a quick picture of my progress yesterday. I have made a bit more progress since, but it is a slow go with all the back-stitching!

The verse is:

St Francis and
St Benedicht
Bless This House
from wicked wight.
Keep it from all evil
Spiretes, Fairies, wezles,
Bats, and, Ferrytes.

Oh my! I sure don't want those things about! I have enough trouble with the cats!
I guess I better finish it up soon!

Time for a Picnic!

I finished Picnic, the seventh design in The Red Thread.

I'm not sure that I like the snap on the flower, but I am completing it as designed.

Here is a picture of the whole thing so far.

Next is "Ocean Voyage".

Framing The Chase Sampler

(Click to enlarge)

The Chase is finally framed!

Hooray, Hooray, Hooray!

I was beginning to think it would never happen!

I had no luck finding a framing shop, so I decided to take on the job myself!

This is no small job in itself, but it was met with frustration all along the way!

First, I had a lot of trouble finding a frame. After months of searching estate sales and thrift stores, I finally found a plain wooden frame. You wouldn't think this would be hard, but it seems like all the frames being made today are either metal, plastic, or laminated with some kind of plastic. I wanted a simple wooden frame.

Finally I found an 18" X 24" frame at an estate sale. The frame itself was unremarkable, probably from the late 60's or early 70's. It was the closest in size that I could find, but it was still too big for the sampler. With some persuasion, I got my husband to cut it down for me. He was hesitant to do it, but it turned out very well. The older frames, unlike the laminated ones of today, cut very easily. Other than a dark stain, it had no finish on it, so I rubbed it with Danish Finishing oil to give it a nice sheen.

I had already washed the sampler by adding hot water to Orvus soap, making a lot of suds. I let the temperature cool to luke warm, and then squeezed the suds through the sampler. It was dirtier than I thought with 38 years of dust on it! I rinsed it several times and laid it flat to dry. Before it was completely dry, I ironed it between two pieces of cloth to remove most of the wrinkles. The rest of them came out during the stretching.

I decided to use acid-free foam board. It is really not that much more expensive than regular foam board, and truly does make a difference in conservation.

First I cut the board about a eighth of an inch smaller than the frame opening in the back.

I centered the sampler over the board using pins in the corners and on the sides, moving them as necessary until the sampler was centered.

Next, I transferred the pins into the sides of foam, so the sampler could be turned over.

Using cotton thread, I started lacing from the center, working my way out to the edges. I spaced the lacing about 1/4 inch apart. This is fairly tight lacing, and I probably could easily have spaced it about 1/2" apart with good results, but I really didn't want it to move around. The design itself was not stamped evenly on the linen, so I was dealing with unevenness in the design, as well as the linen. I alternated the direction of the lacing so it would not become skewed in one direction.

This was a very long, tedious process. I was constantly re-threading the needle. If I cut the thread too long, it invariably become tangled!

Slowly, I worked my way to the corners. I just folded the material over, easing the bulk as best I could, and whip-stitched them closed.

Finally, I got it all laced and the corners stitched down.

When I turned it over it looked reasonably even.

Next, I cleaned both sides of the glass with warm water.
I laid the frame out on the table and placed the glass it it.

Because the sampler should not touch the glass. I needed to make spacers from the acid-free foam board. This actually turned out to be one of the hardest parts. I experimented with various shapes and finally decided that a right-angle shape worked best. I wedged these little pieces of foam-board into the corners.

Then, I took the opportunity to remove any remaining cat hairs off the sampler! LOL! It is really best if you can have the cats out of the room while you are doing this! Ha! Good luck with that! Those of you who have cats know what I mean! I have 6 of them!

Finally I placed the stretched sampler into the frame and covered it with another piece of acid-free foam board for the backing.

Next, I covered the back of the frame with brown paper to keep the dust out.

After the adhesive dried, I attached the eyes and wire for hanging.

The only thing left to do now is record the information about the sampler on a piece of paper and attach it to the back of the frame.

That's it! Finis!

Illuminated House Blessing -1st Line

I have finished the first line of Illuminated House Blessing.

When I was considering this design originally, I wanted to change the colors a bit (less green and lavender, more vivid shades). The reason I didn't was because the colors are so intricately woven together! It is hard to see from the picture, but the shades make it seem three dimensional.

Even as I am stitching it, I don't know what it will look like until I have finished the section. Then it looks different again when it is back-stitched! Even the blue scrolls at the top of the first line take on a lot of depth with the two shades of blue.

I was wondering what this design would look like in silk, or with the hand-dyed cotton floss. Actually, the colors chosen, create a similar effect.

I will be leaving this for a while. I need to stitch another box on The Red Thread to keep up.

Also, I have made a lot of progress on framing The Chase. I will post the pictures just as soon as I get them out of the camera

Illuminated House Blessing Coming Along

I finished the large initial on Illuminated House Blessing.

The top of the S is some sort of long-neck bird, and the bottom has a little green-faced guy sticking out his tongue!

Hard to see here, but I have used blending filament around the initial. I wish it was a little brighter.

Then, the entire thing was outlined using a back-stitch.

Next I will be moving to the right, finishing up the first line, and some scrolls that are over the first line.

This looks as if it will be a bit less complex, so maybe I can make some quick progress.

Illuminated House Blessing Progress

Here is what I have done so far on Illuminated House Blessing.

Helen is right about this one! It is deceptive! It looks simple but the amount of detail is incredible, with a lot of backstitching.

I started in the center and worked my way up to the top.

In the upper left-hand corner, there is some sort of ferocious little beastie!

... and in the right-hand corner, there are some inter-twined serpents!

I need to finish backstitching the serpent area, and then I guess I will go on to the illuminated initial.

This is not going to be a quick stitch!

Illuminated House Blessing

I have a new start to report!
I have decided on Illuminated House Blessing by Patricia Andrle.
I love her designs. I have several of them waiting to do in my stash!

I made a small start on it.I am using DMC with some Kreinik blending filament on Antique White Permin/Wichelt.

Before I started it I was trying to think of a way to change some of the colors.

There are a lot of pastels, light greens, and lavenders. I would have prefered to see some more vivid colors, blues, and a touch of red. I couldn't work out how to introduce those colors without changing everything, so I left the colors as they were designed.

I have actually gotten a bit further along since I took the picture. I think this will be a slow stitch because there is just a ton of back stitching! Almost every area needs to be back stitched.

Braided Rug Update

Well, the rug is coming along, slowly, but coming! (I get lots of help from Furrytail)!

I really need to have it finished by the fall.

I have just completed the 32nd row. I still haven't figured out exactly how many rows there will be. There is a lot of variation in the wool strips, making it hard to get an accurate measurement until I get a little closer to the end.

It needs to be about 7-1/2 feet by 12 feet, a really odd size. I will need to figure out the total number of rows before too long because I want to end it with a dark border.

I wanted a traditional look, but with contemporary colors. I chose camel for the predominant color which runs all the way through it.

I have the rows grouped together as light, medium and dark. I started out with 2 rows to a group, but have made the change to 3 rows now.

Also, every third row, or at least once within the color group, I add a bright color. I have light blue, red, green, teal, yellow and light green so far. I was very nervous about this at first. It is truly a leap of faith when you are adding these bright colors because it looks somewhat shocking at the time. When the following row is added however, it all seems to blend well.

The rug no longer fits on the dining room table. It hangs over the edges a little. I have placed old tablecloths underneath it to make it easier to slide it around. I don't know how much longer I will be able to do that. At some point the weight of it will pull it off the table as I am working on the other side. Then, I guess I will have to put it on the floor to work on it. I am not looking forward to that!

Furrytail has claimed it as his!

Road Trip - The Red Thread

In spite of the high price of gas, the "Road Trip" has been completed!

I cannot believe I have 6 of these little boxes now! Time is just flying by this year!

I sewed on just a few of the little snaps and buttons on the border to see what they would look like. I'm not sure they improve the design or not.

I like the snaps in the various designs. It is perfect in "Road Trip" to designate a round-about or exit, but I'm not sure about them in the border.

I'd like to get ahead on this one because I would like to use it as a holiday decoration. To do that, it would have to be framed. At the rate I am going, I will finish the last box by December!

The next one is "Picnic".

In the Forest is Finished!

Hop Hop Hop!

I finally finished this one!

In the Forest is a design by La-D-Da. I stitched the rabbits on 35 count R & R Reproductions "Blackbird", using all DMC threads.

The only substitution I made was Ecru for White in the rabbit tails. It just seemed more natural looking than the bright white.

Another one that is going to be difficult to frame! I spent the weekend looking at yard sales for a frame, but no luck.

It is really quite amazing! In spite of collecting frames for the last 25 years, I never seem to be able to find the right frame in my attic!

I have also been working on the 6th box of The Red Thread. Hopefully I will have that done soon.

I am trying to decide my next project, that is besides the elephant in the dining room, my braided rug project!

Happy Birthday Sampler

Lately I have just been overwhelmed by all sorts of annoying distractions and nonsense, so my stitching progress has been slow.

I did however, manage to get a picture of "Happy Birthday" framed.

I actually finished this last year. I did it for my mother-in-law who celebrated her eightieth birthday last July.

The design is by Blackbird Designs. I used Sampler Threads from the Gentle Arts and stitched it on 32 ct hand-dyed linen.

Originally, I did not plan to frame it because my mother-in-law has said many times that she did not have any more wall space to hang anything.

I decided to turn it into a scroll to be presented and untied.

I searched for quite a while until I found a piece of calico that exactly matched the color of the thistles. I finished it with the calico folded over the front to show the color, and made ties that wrapped it in a bow. I only wish I had a picture of that. I thought I had taken one, but I cannot seem to find it.

Anyway, when I gave it to her, she decided she would rather have it in a frame.

Here is a picture of it framed.

I like the way it turned out! I think the frame is just right for it!

Some New Stash!

I picked up some new goodies!



The new edition of the DMC Threads Color Card is out!

I haven't picked one up in a few years, so I figured it was about time. The new one is larger. It includes all the new colors as well as the color variations floss, and the new satin floss (formerly rayon floss). One thing that disappointed me, was that the new card does not include samples of the actual floss like my old card. I was thinking of selling the old card, but now I think I will hold on to it.

My other goodie is "Matter's Choice" from Carriage House Samplings. It is not the best picture here. This one has been on my list for some time. I love the monochromatic designs.


Aside from that, I am making very slow progress in coming to grips with the problem of framing The Chase. What a pain! Ah but that is a subject to be blogged a bit later!

Progress on "In the Forest"

The rabbits are getting bigger!

Here is an update:

I just realized that I forgot the stitch on the girl rabbit's nose! At least, I think she's a girl! I think the one with the cape is a guy and the one with the heart is the girl.

What do you think?

It's coming along slowly. I had to take out parts of it which cost me some time. I am finding that there is quite a bit of eye strain on this one. The linen is very dark, and the thread is very irregular on this fabric. With a thread count this small (35 ct), it really helps if the threads are more uniform. It makes it easier to count.

I would guess that I am a little more than a third finished.

The Maypole is finished on The Red Thread

I finished this last week, but I misplaced my memory card for my camera so I couldn't take any pictures. Boy is that annoying! Those slippery little things can get away from you so easily!

Here is the 5th month, The Maypole. The picture came out a bit dark and out of focus, but here it is!



It is hard to see, but the little white dots from the butterfly are French knots.

Here is a picture of the whole thing so far:

I am still not sure about these colors. I think I would have chosen different ones, but I am going to wait and see how it looks when it is finished.

Working on My Braided Rug Again

I have finally gotten back to where I was on the rug!

Last October, I pulled out four rows, four large rows! I had used a lighterweight wool for one of the strands. Sometimes you can get away with it, but not this time. It was twisting on both sides of the rug. At first I thought it would work itself out, but it bothered me so much I just decided to pull it out. This is a major project in itself in a rug this size. Unlacing it is not the problem. It is the un-braiding that is awful! I replaced the wool strip, rebraided and laced and here I am back, ready to start again!

I have just ended the 28th row here and I am about to make a color change.

Furrytail, my Maine Coon, is supervising.

He says he doesn't care that it is a dining room table. If it has a rug on it, he is going to sit on it!

In The Forest by La-D-Da

Now that I am caught up on The Red Thread, I wanted to start another design. I picked In The Forest by La-D-Da.

I don't know why but this one just tickles me! He reminds me of "Harvey", one of my favorite movies, (and rabbits)!

I am not doing the one on the cover. In my opinion, they put the wrong one on the cover.

The better design is on the back with both rabbits in the same picture.

I think this one is much better with the rabbits together.

This is my progress so far...

He looks like a kangaroo here!

The linen is 35 count Blackbird from R & R Reproductions.

I decided on DMC. I had considered using silk from Hand Dyed Fibers. They have a package put together for this design, but the colors seemed too dark for the dark fabric I am using. Also, I think this type of folky design is better suited to the cotton.

It has been a little hard though. I am using two strands of DMC. The holes are very small in 35 count. I have done a lot of work on 35-36 count linen, but this is the first time I have used the dark color with this fine a count. I have noticed it is a bit fatiguing, and my progress is much slower.

Progress

I have mades some progress on The Red Thread.

I finished up March's "Go Fly a Kite", and April's "smell the Flowers"! Now I am caught up!

I am not entirely pleased with the way the flowers came out. I am using DMC and the purple flower was not purple enough. It came out an orchid color that did not provide enough contrast to the pink flower.

That being said, it is certainly a variation you would find in nature, so I opted to leave it as it was. For some reason this little design gave me some trouble, a lot of re-counting and pulling!

Earth Hour

Last night during Earth Hour, we dutifully turned out our lights hoping it might get the attention of the "powers that be". One hopes they are paying attenion, but who knows.?!?
Maybe they are too busy sipping brandy in their penthouses to look out the window and notice the darkness!

We have an old Jotul #6 woodstove that can be opened up and used as a fireplace. We hardly ever use it that way because it is more efficient to close it up. (It is still quite cold here in NY). Last night however, was a perfect night to open it up!

My husband took this video. It was quite a pleasant way to spend an hour.



The only down side was that I was not able to get any stitching done! I thought about all those stitchers in the olden days, working by the fireside. I guess they had better eyes than I do. Unfortunately I need my magnifying light!

February's Love is Done on The Red Thread

I managed to finish up February last night.

I made a little start on March's "Go Fly a Kite".

Hopefully I will be caught up soon!



Hmmm! Still not entirely sold on these colors. I guess time will tell!

China Killing Thousands of Cats!

I do not wish to bring down everyone's Happy Easter, but I have been so very disturbed since I heard about this a few days ago, that I have to speak out!

Apparently, in preparation for the Olympics, the Chinese govenment has ordered the round-up of thousand of cats.

Working under the misguided premise that these cats bring disease, they have been sending them to death camps, even convincing owners to turn in their own pets!

The Chinese govenment does not have a very good record with human rights, let alone animal rights, but this is horrible even by Chinese standards!

www.alleycats.org has a petition on their website to oppose the trapping and killing of Beijing's cats. Please sign it so we can bring awareness to this atrocity.

For those of you who have blogs, it would be great if you could put a link to their website.
http://www.alleycats.org/china/index.html

The Red Thread from Bent Creek

The Red Thread
An invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet regardless of time, place or circumstance. The thread may stretch or tangle, but it will never break.
-An Ancient Chinese Belief-

Bent Creek, known for its little designs that can be put together in a theme, has come up with a design based on the Red Thread.

There is a little design for each month that can also be stitched separately for an ornament, and there is a separate chart for the border. The idea is that the red thread flows through the whole design, tying each one to the other.

It will look like this when it is completed.



Generally, I do not like to stitch "cutsie" things, nor do I like charts that are spread out over a year, but this one caught my eye.

I am stitching it on 32 count Light Mocha. I decided to use DMC instead of the hand dyed threads. I think the DMC looks just fine, and I have the all the colors on hand, which is a plus.

After working on The Chase Sampler for five months, I needed a little change of pace, something lighter!

This is what I have done so far.



As soon as I get caught up with the third month, I will probably start on another little design. I haven't quite decided which one I will do just yet.

Hooray! "The Chase" Sampler is Finished!

Last night I finally finished the verse on "The Chase"!

My first 2008 finish!

I am not entirely happy with the lettering on the verse but there are only so many times you can pull it out without damaging the linen.

I did the entire verse in backstitch. Toward the end, I started having second thoughts about the backstitch. I thought that maybe I should have tried it in a cross stitch, but I think I made the right decision. The little spacers were done in a cross stitch.

There are issues with stamped linen. I stitched in the original verse, however this was not the intent of the kit maker. It was meant to be left blank, or to have you stitch in your own name. The design is stamped on the linen, generally with the grain, however the count is very dense. I noticed that the two stamped lines for the verse were not exactly straight. This made it difficult to square up the letters.

Also, I am not entirely certain of the numeral on Mary's birthday. My best guess is that it is January 9, but it is hard to be completely certain.

I signed it by the urn.




All that is left to do now is to gently wash it, mount it, and frame it.

I will have to go to the framers for the frame because of the unusual size. It is about 17" x 25".

I have been collecting frames for years, and yet somehow I never find the right one in my attic!

Here is the finished sampler. Not the greatest picture. I will take another one when it is framed.

The "Chase" Sampler - The Original!

I finally found a photo of the original"Chase" Sampler.

Click on photo to enlarge.

I think the Paragon kit is remarkably like the original!

I enlarged, and lightened the signature and verse section to try to see the spelling of the name.

The name appears on the first and third line. The first line is very faded and hard to see in this photo. On the third line, I can make out "Mary Starker" (near the center). It looks to me that it ends with an "r", which would agree with the Paragon kit.

That is how I am going to stitch it!

Issues with "The Chase"

Up to now, I had been trying to fit the information, verse and biographical information on the two lines.

I found out that it was divided up into three lines. The area above the two stitched lines is to be used as a line.

Well, this meant ripping out part of the line I had already stitched.

While doing the research, I encountered another problem.

The biographical information given on the kit clearly lists the girl's name as "Mary Starker". When I tried to research this, I also found references to "Mary Starkey".

Which one is it?

Joanne Harvey of The Examplarery released a new reproduction of this sampler in December of 2006. In that version she shows the name as "Mary Starkey".

I have tried unsuccessfully to find information or a picture of the original.

I would really like to be as accurate as I possibly can, however I would also really like to finish it!

I am wondering if perhap the stitching on the original was hard to read. Could the "r" have looked like a "y"?

If anyone has any information about this, please let me know.

Free DMC Cross Stitch Starter Kits!

I was surfing about on a freebie (www.shop4freebies.com) website when I came upon this offer.

DMC will send you 4 mini kits when you sign up to be a DMC Mentor! http://www.dmc-usa.com/majic/pageServer/19060000mb/en_US/index.html

The DMC Cross-Stitch Mentoring Program is designed to share your love and passion for cross-stitch with a friend, family member, scout troop, class or anyone you think would enjoy cross stitching as much as you do.
Worth a look!

Hooray! "The Chase" Backround Finally Finished!

Last night I finally finished the background!

This step took longer than anything else. The long outline stitch can be very tedious. If I had it to do over again, I think I would have worked the background a little at a time. I thought of doing this but I was afraid the discontinuity would show up in the stitches. Now I don't think this would have been a problem. There is enough variation in the stitches done in one sitting anyway.

Of course, by the time you get to the end, you have mastered the sitch. I found that in many cases it was easier to turn the work sideways and work on it that way rather than working it vertically.

Next I have to do the signature line and the verse.


I have used some straight pins to measure out the eight, quarter and halfway points along the line to try to get an idea of the spacing.

It will have to be done in a straight stitch. There is no room for a cross stitch.

There are no guidelines given for this at all. I will have to play around with it a bit. It will be a tight fit to get everything on the lines.

I need to do a little more research on the Colonial alphabets.

I was thinking of doing the verse and the signature line in a medium pink. I think pink would have appealed to an eleven year old girl.