Sampler finished and framed

I have been working on a sampler for a relative, and it is not only finished, but also framed.

Of course, in theory, I knew all about mounting needlework. In theory, however, the thread neither knots itself up, nor breaks, and the pin you are using to centre the piece stays in place. Certainly the back of the frame lets itself be locked into position. That last was, of course, my fault for using two layers of batting behind the sampler. But I think the final result looks really good. Luckily I had planned to leave the glass out anyway. It would never have fit!

To the sampler: This is a pattern I saved from a magazine some time ago. While I liked the basic concept, I did not want to stitch lots of hearts with partial stitches, so I substituted beads and buttons. I also thought the various stitches were too boring, so I chose my own. I more or less used the original colour scheme, but added in the multi-coloured thread, and sometimes changed the distribution of colours as I stitched.

As a final touch, I added in a tiny bit of the Klosterarbeit I have been doing, as I had a heart.

I hope the recipient enjoys it.

Week 27 Project 14 Sampler

I finally finished the sampler last night! It's hanging in the stairway here at the apartment, but I'll move it to the house soon. I will also take a picture as soon as I unbury the camera from whereever it has gotten to. (Moving is creating real chaos everywhere. And I thought it was bad before!)

Anyway, it looks lovely. I really did finish the whole whitework alphabet. Not nearly as difficult as Linn made it sound - I found the border gave me more trouble. I changed a few of the letters - partly just becuase I thought they would look better my way, partly to fill up the two rows, as my sampler is a different width from hers.

At the bottom I added our new and old addresses in the first alphabet. That makes it a real momento of this year.

Week 22 Project 12, SD Sampler

The day after I started making cards, a friend asked me to make a sampler for her. She needed a gift for a special occasion, and had an idea for something that would be very special - but it needed to be stitched, and she didn't have the skills for that.

We quickly came to an agreement, and decided that the sampler would include a monogram, the date of the celebration, and the Austrian greeting Grüss Gott that the friend knew from a trip to Vienna, and had really liked. The areas of text would be separated by rows of beading.

I had been looking for a chance to try out Jane Davis's Bead Embroidery: The Complete Guide which I bought in Vermont in January. Yes! I had to try out each stitch on a piece of waste band to get just the effect I wanted, but the book is just as good in use as it was fun to read. Another friend had sent me some Dinky Dye silks to try out, so I used those threads. As I had been promised, they are a real pleasure to work with. I also used some Swarovski crystals in the fringes.

The picture doesn't do the beads justice, but you get the general idea. I think the recipient will enjoy the sampler, don't you? I certainly enjoyed stitching it. (BTW, yes I have the permission of my friend to include this here.)

Week 12 Project 8 Happy Birthday,Steven!

Steven wanted a mouse he can carry around. They use laptops a lot at school, and he works better with a real mouse. So I bought him a mouse and special thin mouse pad. (Whether there are technical problems is his worry, not mine.) My worry was how this mouse is going to survive in his pack. So I made him a mouse pouch. The pouch is quilted and the pad also acts to protect the mouse, so I think it should be safe. There is also a small pocket for Steven's Data stick, which also tends to get lost or damaged at regular intervals.

I've taken pictures, and should get them up soon. The camera and my computer don't talk to each other, so I need Jerry's help - it talks to Jerry's computer.

I'm not totally happy with the job I did of the sewing - I usually figured out how I should have done things about two or three seams further on, and I didn't frog it to make the improvements. I still think he'll like it. He was very funny when I asked him to help pick out fabrics for a mystery project. He didn't like picking fabrics without knowing how they would be used. And then I insisted on including a mouse print (the animal) I had, which also confused him. Tonight all will become clear, I hope. I'll need to make strudel, too.

Plenty of time, though. This weekend is the Seussical, and he won't be home before 8. He's the mayor of Whoville. And if you are wondering why the mouse pouch only got made this morning - it has to do with my being told on Saturday that he still hadn't brought in his black shorts for his costume. His black shorts? What black shorts? Steven! I managed to get a pattern and black cotton gaberdine before stores closed on Saturday, and he now has a very nice pair of black shorts. One of my next projects is to make him a second pair of shorts. I also bought navy gaberdine, but this pair I intend to spiffy up with a different fabric for the pockets and coloured top stitching. Watch this space!

BTW the sampler is making great progress.

Week 10 Project 7 Bookmark 2

My black and red sampler has taken on a life of its own, and I had nearly forgotten that the whole point was supposed to be to have a place to try out the original colour schemes of historical patterns that I was modernizing.

I had to buy more of the red thread I am using, and saw narrow linen band in the shop, so I stopped work on the sampler long enough to make a bookmark from one of the patterns I am planning on using there soon. Even on the sampler I am planning to switch the colours - I am trying to keep to twice as much black as red. Since I am doing the alphabets in red, the other bands need to be mostly black. For the bookmark I have not only chosen very different colours, but also changed the way they are distributed.


This pattern is taken from 'Stickmusterschatz' by Irmgard Gierls (Part 2, p. 69). She says that it is taken from clothing on a painting by one of the old German Masters. The first thread is an overdyed floss by Needle Necessities (196). I had some problem deciding which thread to use for the contrast. I settled on Anchor 897. I'm quite happy with the result. I'll try to remember to show you the 'same' band from the sampler once I have stitched it. Originally the large diamonds, their decorations and the baselines near them are red. The centres there, the small diamonds and the swirls off them are black.

I have now designed my own Greek alphabet for the sampler. I found a nice Russian one online, and have given up on the idea of Hindi - There are just way too many letters. Anyway, It's coming along quite nicely. Actually it's getting a bit too big for my scanner already. Below the narrow band that you can barely see part of I have also started the next alphabet: that is a wide band in Assisi work with nice borders either side of the alphabet in negative.

WIPs

The two quilts are the biggest open projects . Steven's quilt is fun: Each block is different, and each block we have designed together so that the quilt will reflect his taste (over a period of time), as well as mine. The quilt will be 6 x 4 30 cm. blocks, except that the central 4 blocks are one big chess board. (In flannel so the flannel pieces will stay put.) The left hand column will spell STEVEN. The other blocks are a big medley of things. There is a Harry Potter block quilted in 'glow in the dark' thread that makes the moon really shine. An appliqued tiger with machine-embroidered jungle around it. A fish tank where the biggest fish has eaten a cat. A Paper-pieced puffin. A crazy square that uses all sorts of bits that Steven liked but somehow didn't inspire full blocks... The S is a lovely snake. We started with a copyart picture, Jerry changed the image to come closer to a real S shape, then I appliqued and embroidered it. One of the Es is a Pakman out of a bubble material that Steven liked. It's really high time I finished the quilt. Luckily I'm quilting each block as I go along, and also sewing some of the blocks together. When the final block is made I'll be able to bind it and be done.

The 3D quilt is mostly to have a quilt, and for the fun of sewing with others once a month. I do like the pattern, though, and have made one big change to the quilt as planned for the class - It has sashing that matches the block background. Except mine won't. Karen and I found a marvelous match in Essex Junction that will enhance the quilt, and my blocks will 'pop' visually as they wouldn't otherwise.

Then there are several samplers going. Right now I'm actively working on a sampler of 30 cm wide linen band trying out some of the bands in Linn's reprint books. These will be alternated with various alphabets. The first one is Latin alphabet in back stitch. I intend alternating the latin alphabet with others that are meaningful to me. That means Hebrew and Greek, of course. Also Russian. I ought to also try to do the Hindi alphabet I (supposedly) learned as a child. After that I could use a cursive Hebrew alphabet and braille, if I am still working on the sampler. The piece of band is 1 meter long, so the final length is more up to how long I feel like working on it. I'm sticking to red and black on this one.

IThe Hebrew sampler is near the top of the heap.

I am also working on a kit of the rose window of the National Cathedral in Washington DC. Dad gave it to me for my birthday, and it is proving to be quite a challenge. First I tried replacing the 16 count Aida with 32 count linen. Forget it. I can't see that well, and there is just too much thread counting becuase the bits of colour are so scattered. I think what I'm using now is 25 count. Much better. I bought new black for the background rather than risk running out and having the new not match, but decided to use the coloured threads. A risk, I know, but it's going to be fine. This kit had plenty of thread in it, even for a significantly larger embroidery. I do wish, however, that the pattern had overlap between the pages. I finally had to glue the sheets together, and the size is very difficult to deal with.

There is also most of a crocheted sweater lying around for me to work on. One of these ribbony yarns.

I'm also supposed to be working on Christmas stockings for Melissa and Cailan.

Is that ALL my WIPs? No, but it's the ones that I think have a chance of being worked on in the next few months. I'll try to report in once a month.

Week 1 starts

I've done some needlefelting today - just a few samples, nothing that I can use for anything really - unless I call the larger one a coaster. But it was fun. I wanted to show you, but am having trouble uploading pictures today.

Otherwise I worked on the avodat yad Hebrew alphabet band sampler. Very nice pattern, and I'm having fun playing with the threads. I'm using silks and metallics. Breaking some rules - I'm using Oliver Twist machine threads, and prefer using two strands for some bands, so have to double up a thread that is not meant for it. I quite like the way it moves in and out of a tweady look as well as changing colours. Lovely!

I leave for the US on Thursday. I'm taking my quilting with me. But that doesn't really count either - not until the whole quilt gets finished. But I suspect I can find ways of fulfilling the challenge even while travelling.