Egg-stra stitching..

.... oh, brother....I suppose I could go on forever with the eggy titles...but, I should quit...hahhaha.... but, why? .... it's kinda fun and ...funny to me..... good enough.

Doing some extra stitching on the scalloped edge of the lace on the top of this one.... Karen's little frilly dilly stitch...she calls it Frilly Picot.  I never know if I've got it quite right...but, it looks right to me and with the number 12 Perle cotton and if I pull each stitch pretty tight...I can get it tiny.  Click on the photo to "biggify" and you can see it so much better.  I love it.  And, I think it really enhances the flat lace.  Gives it more body or something... and makes it more interesting to look at.


See the four little tiny scalloped bits on the lace edge? ....  just above the umbrella looking machine stitched flower on the cotton fabric I used for the base fabric?  Those are my little frilly dilly thingies ..... with some French Knots above holding the lace in position.. until the whole egg gets a backing of white silk.




I'm debating what to use for trim on this other guy...and ... more or less leaning towards a bit of this lace on the top end of the egg......

Not much time to stitch today ....but, must do a few each day at the very least.........every little helps, as my Mum was fond of saying.... then she would add...... "said the little old lady who peed in the sea"....... must be an old English saying ..or ... maybe she just made it up .......

Thinking about it.....

Karen stopped in to see if any stitching was happening in between snow shovelling...and, well, ...it wasn't, of course.

It's already been almost two weeks since somebunny decided we had to tear the drywall ceiling down in the finished tv room and replace it with a suspended ceiling.  Mostly because of some wiring ..  ... and, well, .. you know how it goes....   it does take time, effort, and lots of work, to get things back together again.  Now that he is back at work after the Christmas break... he only has such a few hours each day to work on it...

So, the room still looks like this...plastic protecting the other half of the room... drop cloths covering the carpet, tools all over the place and lots happening overhead..

Moving some pot lights and re-arranging wiring, etc...

However, my stitching buddy came for tea on Monday ...  and, although we didn't actually do any crafting or stitching...we did discuss what we are going to make in 2014 and that got me thinking 'bout stitching..and that lead to looking at stitching stuff later in the day, and that ... you get the drift............................

I've decided to make a pouch with the completed blocks from the first stitching class I took with Karen. It was going to be a wrapping cloth...but, since doing the little pin cushions and loving them...I decided to turn these into a smaller project that I know I can and will finish.   I do like the joy and satisfaction of completing a little project and being able to look at it and say..." I made that".  Maybe it sounds almost arrogant, but to me it's more just a bit of slightly smug satisfaction in knowing that I worked diligently and carefully on something; actually finished it off, and am happy with my project.  I like that feeling.

Here is the placement of my blocks...it could be a smallish wrapping cloth, I suppose ... or I could make a few more blocks and make it somewhat larger....but, no...I've decided a decent sized pouch that I can use for bits of lace, or pieces of fabric, or something like that, will be better.  Useful and still pretty ... just what we were striving for actually, if we were going back in time in our minds and hearts while stitching away on our treasured little bits of fabric and trim........

For some reason, even though I didn't measure any block....they all turned out to be exactly the same size across.  How strange is that?  They are not  the same length.  I may add a bit of lace or some trim here and there to change the centre as it might look like a seam down it.  That may look just fine.  I won't really know 'til I have it stitched down.  But, if it looks strange, or I don't like it  ...I can fix that .... we have ways.   I'll decide later.  Probably much later.......

If you come to the blog sort of regularly, you may remember seeing some of the embroidery and embellishment, but if not..here are few shots of the areas. I tried to incorporate most of the techniques that Karen was showing us in the class.

Today I'm still trying to get somebody to buy my sofa and loveseat... because, Monday some new ones are arriving ... who wants a really nice sofa or a  loveseat, traditional style...exceptional shape...for next to nothing? ... Anybody in Calgary reading my blog? .....

big and little..

I was so happy to be able to get one of Karen Ruane's little pin pillows because it lets me see the stitching of a master.  Right up close and personal.

Her pin pillow on the right....my own block of fabric on the left....

Her photos of her works are amazing and she definitely gives all the information we need to complete beautiful projects...her videos are fun and full of detailed explanations...  and she does the best job of instructing, but, it still just isn't quite the same as being there.  How I wish I lived close enough to be there watching her in person and seeing the sizes, the fabrics, the textures .....  even watching her hands flutter daintily around her fabrics isn't enough to give perspective on size.... and, believe me, I've re-watched things umpteen times in my own attempt to copy her stitches.

Yesterday I did some buttonhole lace stitching ... "Karen size".... on one area that was perfect for testing it.  What a difference it makes in the overall appearance ... not that my original stitching is bad or poor or does't look perfectly acceptable on the size of the block....but, just to see some stitching done in the same size she does on my own piece produces a whole different look.

That unfinished edge of the broderie Anglaise, next to the ruffled ribbon, ..  just above the fan shaped bit of lace is where I am talking about.

I'll be using different sizes of the exact same stitch in different areas now....and of course, on the day I make my very own tiny pin pillow.... tiny stitching will be perfect...

Here is a sample of my original buttonhole stitching.... and below it...the new area of tinier buttonhole stitching  ....

See?  It looks like a whole different stitch doesn't it? ... and gives a totally different look to the edge.  I love it.

Late bloomer

This cactus bloomed before Christmas .... it is Canadian...but, it usually blooms around American Thanksgiving ... I forget now when that is ...but, about a month before Christmas.

Posie was pretty impressed.

... but, I think she was more interested in this bit of gold fabric... is it 'silk tissue'?  Taffeta? ..

Poor cactus is in such poor soil and hardly any at that.  I'm a terrible person to my plants .... sigh .. no wonder they don't do major blooming like my sister's plants do.  She even re-pots hers and replenishes soil from time to time... practically unheard of around here I have to say.  This year.... I must do it.














Anyway... over a week ago I noticed a tiny pink bud and began to watch it ... gave it a big drink of water and lo and behold...one solitary beautiful flower appeared over the past few days ...















Gwendolyn really is quite thrilled with it ... honestly, .... she is ........ it's just a bit difficult to tell sometimes..........

maybe third time's a charm...

Definitely not the second.

Remember how long it took to piece together my first block of fabric for my wrapping cloth? .... and how I thought maybe the second one would be a bit easier and therefore take less time?  hahahahahha..yeh...right.... it took even longer if I'm not mistaken.

But, I love it. ...   and, that's all that counts really isn't it?

Mooooommmm.... c'mon... hurry up willya? .... how 'bout this lovely lacy hankie? .... ..

The guys and Buttercup were getting exhausted trying to help... poor little tykes.  Still burrowing in and out of all the lovely whites .... trying valiantly ..holding  up bits every so often for approval .... Mikki just finally fell asleep under his hat...which is not his really...he just "found" it and wanted to wear it even though it's a bit girly and quite obviously far too big for his little head.

I used a few bits from my newly acquired 'stash' from Twig too.  See the fabulous lacy looking scallops at the top right ? ...I love that piece... and just under it...the one with the cutout circles? a portion of a little blouse or dress top...  this is a piece of the collar... so soft and fine that cotton is...  there is one other piece of it with a button still on it...that will go on another block... definitely leaving the button in place.

My Friendship Garden is well under way now.....

.... today I'm going to cut up some hex shapes to piece together .... that's my new found info from Karen for this week ...

and...in other rnews..... whoops..I mean news..... it is snowing........................better get out to shovel too..........

Not the Easter chicken..

"Listen Missus ..... this is all well and good...but, where's me legs"? ... "Where, eh"?

.... Poor little goosie....

She's been checking out the shiny shell buttons I've added to my embroidery piece... and the thread wrapping for a button loop ...

That is not an elastic piece even though it may look like one.... not.... ...instead, it is many wrappings of embroidery thread around two other strands of thread.  French knots at the base.... there will be more in the vicinity...eventually...and... I have a further idea for those buttons... and now...a second loop is also on the fabric... for the other button... what fun!

Practising my embroidery stitches ...

Learning some new stuff too....

About me actually......... hahahhahh... almost as much as I am learning about embroidery and embellishment.

For instance ... I'm totally anal.

This block...our first.... took me about 3 hours and 7 minutes of agonizing over before I got it pieced together... and was happy with the look of it.

Dare I tell you how long it only takes for Karen to put together an amazing looking block?  7 minutes!  Flat!  .... PLEASE go to see her beautiful work... it's worth it just to gawk at some of her postings.  The photos are enough to blow you away....

I'm consoling myself with a few things..... first, she has a lot more 'stuff' to choose from than I do at the moment ..... and......she has been doing it for several years now..... plus....as she says herself...it is not a race.  It is to make a lovely cloth for ourselves, that honours the traditions of women through the ages that have made, or pieced, or stitched, on any fabric or scrap of fabric they managed to find, buy or somehow secure ....

I'm going to start begging for scraps and, (all of a sudden, while typing),  I just remembered a lady up the block makes quilts........so, now,  I do know three people who sew ...maybe they have some useable pieces hanging around....and my sister says she has found a pretty doily with some cutwork ...  so maybe I will find or make a pretty box or container for all my lovely white stuff which I hope to eventually accumulate.  I've always loved white on white...just never got around to doing anything like this... but, now.......it will probably become an obsession.....

The first stitches I wanted to do were some my Mom taught me ... she used to do bits here and there .... little cloths and some pillow cases and one table cloth are all I really remember her doing... but, she did know how to embroider and so daintily. She always worked so tiny and I find I do the same with a lot of things... how we become our parents in so many ways.... without even realizing it.

The first embroidery stitches I ever learned.... Chain Stitch and French Knot.......how did I do Mom? Personally I realize quite a bit of practice is needed...it's been awhile since I embroidered..... but, I know she would have said how wonderful they are .... she was always our biggest cheerleader in all our endeavours.

My cloth is underway.