Laser Eye Surgery Update

It was exactly one week ago that I had Lasik surgery.
I went back to the doctor within 24 hours for a check. He said everything looked good.

I am still experiencing some fluctuations in my vision, which is to be expected, but for the most part, I think the healing is coming along very well.
I will go back in three weeks for another check-up.

Of course, I haven't accomplished a lot of stitching during this time.

Foolishly, I tried to go back to stitching a little too early. My eyes were too "jumpy" to count, and I paid for it with a lot of frogging the following evening!

I have managed to get a little done on the Glasgow Poster. I will post a picture later.

Glasgow Poster

After finishing one project, I always try to make the next one something completely different.

Without any doubt, my favorite design period is the Arts and Crafts era (the last few years of the 19th century and the first few years of the 20th century). This movement was taking place in Britain and America simultaneously.

The Royal School of Needlework was founded in 1872 to train young gentlewomen in the art of embroidery and to raise the standard of design. I have a great book, simply titled An Embroidery Book, written by Anne Knox Arthur of The Glasgow School of Art, in 1931.

This is a wonderful book, written by a a remarkable woman. There are thirteen chapters on different methods of embroidery, as well as a wonderful forward by Ann Macbeth. I would heartily recommend this book if you can get your hands on it. It is an inspiration!

Poster, from Charlotte's Web Needlework, is based on a design by Charles Rennie Mackintosh.

I have had this in my stash for some time now.

I have made a small start on this. You can just barely see the outline of her hand, and part of her dress.

It was Bound to Happen Eventually. . . .

After years of collecting frames, I finally found the perfect frame in my attic!

I framed up Beach Roses today.

I like this frame because it reminds me of bleached beach wood that I used to collect.

Click to enlarge

Unfortunately you can't see the pearls in this picture unless it is enlarged.

Beach Roses is Finished!

This was a fairly quick stitch. I finished the stitching part Thurdsay evening, and spent Friday and Saturday evenings sewing on the 20 pearls and the starfish charm.

I like the way it came out.


I think I might even have a frame in my attic that will suit it. I will post it as soon as it is framed.

Laser Eye Surgery Update

On Friday I went back to the laser surgery place and underwent several hours of tests and measurements.
I have researched it as well as I can, and have decided to go ahead with it.

I have been thinking about it for years. When I first looked into it, laser surgery was not available for farsightedness, but now it has been available for several years. My thinking is, "if not now, when"?

This is not being done without a certain amount of trepidation however!

I have been assured that it a very safe procedure.

Still ... hmm! Just hope all goes well. After reading that consent form, I all but changed my mind!

Would love to hear from anyone who has been through this.

Thank You's and Beach Roses

First of all, I want to thank all of you who have taken the time to comment on my Red Thread design and draft dodger tutorial! I appreciate it more than you know!

I have picked up Just Nan's Beach Roses that has been sitting in my stash for quite a while.

This design just cries out to be done during the summer, preferably while sitting with an ocean view, but sometimes that just can't be arranged.

I figured there was just about enough summer left to finish this design.

It is tiny, just 3-1/2" square, but very detailed.

Unfortunately there has been a lot of frogging going on here!

First of all, the chart is tiny and a little hard to read. (Would it have killed them to print it on a full page instead of a half page)? Also, there is just enough variation in the wave border, and just slight variations in the color to make it difficult! One little mis -stich and it is hard to find where you have gone wrong.

All that said, I love the design, and I am looking forward to finishing it up.

I am stitching it on 28 count Lambswool, using DMC.

Here is my progress so far:

The Red Thread as a Draft Dodger!

I decided to finish off The Red Thread as a Draft Dodger.

Of course it didn't go exactly as planned, but here it is!

(Click to enlarge)

Ready, willing and able to stand up against any drafts that try to come in under my porch door!

If I had made one from scratch, I might have a different fabric for the backing, but I didn't want to cut the linen, leaving my options open for framing it later if I liked.

I also have a picture of it sitting on my mantle.

The project was not without it's problems! It evolved and took on a life of it's own after a while.

I am still getting used it it like this. Of course, if I decide I don't like it this way, I can always take it apart and frame it.

I put together a little tutorial on making a draft dodger below.

Tutorial: How to Make a Draft Dodger or Shelf Sitter

I made my draft dodger out of a design that I had cross stitched on linen, but you could make one out of any piece of fabric.

1) Start with your design or piece of fabric that is long enough to cover the door opening ( plus a few inches).

2) The edges have already been zig-zag stitched, but if you would like to make a ruffled edge, turn under the edges on the ends and stitch. (If you do not want the tied enclosure, you can sew up the end and then later hand stitch the other end when it is completed).

3) Right sides together, pin the long edges together and sew a 1/4 inch seam.

4) Turn it right side out. You now have a sleeve. Just press it very lightly (no hard creases).

5) Next, I cut 3 pieces of floss (18 single strands) about 24" long. I used DMC 221 because it matched The Red Thread in my design. (You could use any cording you wanted. You just have to make sure you can weave it through the linen without ripping it). About an inch from the end of the design, starting in the front, center of the design, I wove the floss all around it.


6) Then I threaded some wooden beads onto the end of the floss and tied a knot. I wrapped the floss around the sleeve a couple of times and pulled it up tightly

7) The stuffing was next. For a shelf sitter, you can use a light fiber fill, but for a draft dodger you need something a bit heavier. After quite a bit of experimentation, I decided to use Feline Pine, which is compressed pine pellets. This can be found in specialty pet food stores. Do not confuse this with regular cat litter, which did not work well at all. The pellets are much larger, and it is completely dustless. Of course you can also use dried beans or rice.

Although you could put the filling in directly, I decided to enclose it in pantyhose. This is a little tricky because the pantyhose will just keep stretching, so the best thing to do is to put the leg into the opening and start filling it a little at a time. As you fill it, the weight will drag it down to the bottom of the sleeve. This works much better than trying to stuff it in.

When it is filled. tie off the top of the pantyhose leg in a knot.

8) I finished the other end off in the same way, added the beads, and pulled it up tight.

Here is the finished result!

(Click to enlarge all images)

The Red Thread is Connected!

Hooray! Hooray! Hooray!

This is Connected, the twelfth and final design in The Red Thread. I finished this up on Friday. The two little snowmen (snow people) are now connected!

I took a picture but it seems a little washed out. It is over a yard long, and my photography skills are not the greatest! Here is how the whole thing looks:

(Click to enlarge)

I am still working out how to finish it. As soon as I do, I will post a picture.

I Won an Award!

Oh my gosh!
Riona nominated me for this award! Thank you so much! I really appreciate it although I don't know what I have done to deserve it. Lately I do not feel especially creative!

The rules for receiving this award are:

1) Put the logo on your blog.
2) Add a link to the person who awarded you.
3) Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4) Add links to those blogs on yours.
5) Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs.

Nominating 7 blogs that inspire me is tough because I get inspiration from so many of you out there!
In no particular order, I would like to nominate:

Nicola - Tales from My Needle
Jayne - Ginnie's Cross Stitch
Helen - Stitchery Nook (I know you have won this before Helen, but you deserve it again)!
Diane - Suburban Stitcher
Stephanie - In Stitches
Lee - Lake Stitcher
Kathy - Purple Wildcat

...and to all the rest of you! You all give me inspiration!

Thankfully, Thankful is Done!

This is the eleventh design in The Red Thread series.

The next and last design is Connected.

I am close to finishing, but the next one will take some time because I have to go back and sew on all the little snaps and stars on the border.

I am still thinking about various ways to finish this design. Not sure if I want to frame it or not. I was thinking about the possibility of making a draft dodger out of it. Hmmm! We'll see.

The Wreath is Finished!

This was a fun, quick stitch! I really enjoyed all the colors.
I am stitching it using DMC, but for this one, I used blended threads for a more subtle effect.

Now that the end is in sight, I have decided to go for it and finish this up before I start any new projects.

Two more little boxes to go, plus the lettering and the border of course.

The next little design is Thankful.

County Fair is Finished!

This one was not one of my favorites, but I think it will blend well into the whole design.

This is how it looks so far:

Not the best picture, but it is getting harder to take such wide shots.

There are 3 more little boxes left.
The next one in the series is Wreath.

Sampler Consortium

I saw this post and thought it looked interesting. I figured I would pass it along.

"The Sampler Consortium is a newly formed, international organization of scholars, historians, curators, educators, genealogists, textile conservators, collectors, dealers, and needlework experts interested in the study of historic samplers and other girlhood embroideries".

If you join before July 31, 2008, the membership is free.

'Tis the Gift is Finished!

I finished it up last night.

It was stitched on 32 count lambswool using Sampler Threads Sable, Grape Leaf, Antique Rose, Grecian Gold, and Clover (instead of Parchment).

I stitched the little gold bits of pollen as French knots. It is hard to tell in the photo, but I think it gives it a dimensional aspect.

I will have to search for a frame. I will try the attic first of course. It is a small piece so it might be easier to find something suitable.

Now I will go back to The Red Thread. The next (9th) square is County Fair.

I have four more squares to go to finish it, but I am losing patience working on it one month at a time. I may just work all the way through it to complete it.

Laser Surgery for Farsightedness

I have been struggling with glasses now for well over a decade, but now things are really getting serious because it is interfering with my stitching!

I have to use high magnification reading glasses as well as my magnifier just to see, and then it is still difficult at night.

Yesterday I decided to look into the laser surgery option. I don't know whether it would be LASIK, LASEK, PKR, or what. He did rule out CK, saying the farsightedness was too pronounced.

It turns out that I am a candidate, but I gather the procedure is more complicated than the one for nearsightedness, and the results although very promising are not quite as certain.
I am convinced of the doctor's qualifications, however this still seems daunting!

Has anyone out there had any experience with laser surgery for vision correction?

Kreativ Blogger Award!

Imagine my surprise to find out I have been nominated for this award by Helen from Stitchery Nook!

Thank you so much Helen!
I understand that now it is my turn to nominate 5 others whose work inspires me.

This is a tough one because I read many blogs every day on many different subjects, but here goes:

Rowyn at Stitching under the Southern Cross

Laurel at An Artist's Journey

Desi at Go to Your Studio and Make Stuff

Chris et al at Strange Maine

Carol et al at Gallery of Samplers

There are so many more!

Yucky Weather and some Progress

We have been putting up with this heat wave for about a week now!

With mid 90's and high humidity, Autumn cannot arrive too soon for me!

In spite of the weather, we tried to get out for a little bit on Saturday.

We went to Pomptom Lakes, NJ where they were having their annual town-wide yard sale.
Not too much success. I did pick up some cheap frames (of course none of them are the sizes that I currently need)! I also found an interesting antique mirror.

We must have gone to about 50 sales. Most of them were junky, but you never know when you will find something good. By the time we worked our way to the older section where most of the antiques were, the weather had done us in!

The heat was so oppressive that every movement was an effort!

Oh well! Hopefully next weekend will be better.

I did make more progress on 'Tis the Gift.

One of the things I changed was the pollen. (I think that is what the little gold specks are). Instead of individual cross stitches, I am making them French knots. It is slower because of that, but I think it gives it a dimensional effect.

Hopefully I will finish it up in a few days.

Quite a Find!

I meant to post this last week, but never got around to it.

The Saturday before last we went out wandering, looking for yard sales and other good stuff. As it turned out there was nothing really interesting near us, so we widened the circle a bit.

Somehow we wound up in the little village of Lafayette, NJ. There was a little merchants village there.

One of the shops was Village Antiques and Collectibles.

This is what I found there.

It turns out that it was a special edition kit by DMC.

It is hard to tell from the picture (fingerprints and smudges included), but it is a 4" deep cabinet.

The most amazing thing about it is the elaborate chimes! I thought it would just strike the hour, but it also has a different chime for the half hour, and yet a different chime for the quarter hour!

The case has a few scratches that need to be touched up, but other than that it is in excellent condition.

I do not know when it came out, but it was signed in 1963.

Very cool!

BLOGGER PROBLEMS!

Blogger is constantly trying to change my font size and constantly double spacing for me!

This is very annoying and very time consuming trying to fix.

Does anyone know how to fix this?

The Best Thing about July!

Blueberries! Glorious Blueberries!

I do not like hot weather, and am therefore not a summer person!

The one thing I do love about July however is the bounty that my blueberries bushes produce.

I look forward to it all year long!

It is truly one of life's wonderful little pleasures to pick fresh blueberries for your cereal every morning!

The challenge is to get to them before the birds!

This year I think the birds are winning!

I was looking through my stash the other day and found this little design, Bountiful Blueberries by Sweetheart Tree.

It is very small, only 43 X 34 stitches. It came with a tiny heart-shaped charm, but the blue beads were missing, so I ordered them.

Now, I am thinking that I might experiment with French Knots instead of the beads. Not ready to start this project just yet, but I thought it would be an appropriate celebration for blueberry season!

Stitching Progress

I have finished stitching the Christmas Chick!

Now for the hard part, finishing him as an ornament!

I have determined that he needs to be finshed as a rectangle. Originally I wanted to turn him into a circle or an oval but that will not work. His little hat throws the dimensions off too much.

Hopefully I can get that done soon. I like to finish an ornament and then put it away until the holidays so it seems fresh.

My next project, (besides my braided rug) will be 'Tis the Gift from La-D-Da.

It is a small design and should stitch up quickly.

I am stitching it on 32 count Lambswool, using Sampler Threads.

I am a little concerned about the Sable (brown). Most of the color is a nice mellow brown, but at the end it goes to a blackish color. I really don't think this looks too good in the border and in the letters. It is just too much of a change in color.

This is the problem I have with the hand-dyed threads. I think they need to be more subtle in the color changes. I was considering ripping it out, but I guess I will let it go and see how it looks.

I have made a small start.

Crummy Weather!

The weather for the long holiday weekend was absolutely dreary!
I heard some fireworks going off Friday night, so I guess they managed to get some in between the showers. All the daytime activities were cancelled however. There were no yard sales, antique fairs, etc.

It turned into one of those "I don't know. What do you want to do?" weekends that no one enjoys!
I did get quite a lot of stitching done in the evenings however.

I finished up Ocean Voyage on The Red Thread. I think that is the oddest looking seagull I have ever seen!
The count was off by a bit. I know there is a mistake in there somewhere, but I couldn't find it.

The next in the series is County Fair.

With that finished, I wanted to sneak in a Christmas ornament before I started anything else.

Earlier, I fell in love with Valerie Pfeiffer's Christmas Chick when I saw it on Helen's blog.

I have made some good progress on it, but there are quite a few partial stitches and outlining that will take some time. It will be several more evenings until it is finished.

I am stitching it on 27 ct Danish linen, using DMC.

I am not sure yet how I will finish it. I have some red velveteen for the backing, and some velveteen piping for the edge, but I am still trying to decide on the shape.

Illuminated House Blessing is Finished!

I had a lot of trouble with the lower border. I made a counting mistake early on, on the left side. I did finally find it, but correcting it would have meant taking out several rows and undoing the left border, so I decided to work with it.

This strategy was going ok until I reached the lower right-hand corner, when it all caught up to me. I had to improvise, which meant a good bit of frogging until I got it to work!

I signed it, washed, and dried it. Now I just have to find a frame for it.



I was going to start a new project, but the timing isn't right. I have to go back to The Red Thread again. Another little box is due! August is Ocean Voyage. It is a small design and should work up quickly.

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!