Blackbird Designs Exchange

I interrupt my busy schedule to bring you excellent news!

I still have a 'counting mistake' project to share, but this lovely ornament arrived this morning from Christina and I just had to show it.
It is called 'Thistle Manor' by Blackbird Designs stitched on 32ct linen with an unknown, but very pretty Anchor thread.

I am a member of only two exchange groups, the Quarterly Quaker Exchange and this - the Blackbird Design Exchange.
Patti encouraged me to join, and I am so pleased I did as I would not otherwise own such a lovely piece of work. I am delighted to have the ribbon finish too as I can't do this - and the ribbon is all shiny and curly-whirly and so neat!! I don't know if Christina has a blog, I suspect she may have, so I will find out and post it here next time so that we can all go and look at her meticulous work.

Thank you Christina, I thrilled to ribbons with it.

Love
Irene xxx

Post Script Edit.

Christina's blog is http://whilstirisnaps.blogspot.com.

So there's no excuse, pop on over and have a look.

Counting Mistake - item 1.

Last week I explained how, in spite of teaching maths, I seem to have lost the ability to count.

Well this little acorn ornament is proof of that, if proof is indeed needed.

Oh yes, it looks very nice - on the surface - at first glance - from a distance.

But it is flawed, deeply flawed.

I frogged a whole heap of it once, then twice and then I tried to work out my mistake. I had miscounted, in the middle somewhere, near the central ( well, actually, as it happens, not central) motif.

Frogging was leaving behind little tell-tale shades of evidence of error in the form of brown fluffy residue.

So finally, needing to move on, I just accepted the imperfections, sellotaped it liberally, and went ahead and finished it.

So my friends, look if you must, but not too closely.

The chart is a freebie that Patti very kindly offered to send, the fabric a 28count evenweave, the thread HDF 'Kindling' and the beads a sort of bronzey colour.

However, to shine a little lightness in the dark that is this posting, I tried something new for the hanging cord.

I have often used a single thread of matching beads, but this time I put my elementary and very rudimentary knowledge of beading to, I think, good effect by using a peyote stitch which gives a little more interesting and substantial finish. I think this method is used to begin a piece of flat beading and is very very simple to do, although I think it looks more complicated.

I will be trying it again methinks.

Thank you for your welcome comments.

Irene
xxx
PS This is counting mistake item 1, - item 2 to follow. I know - I never learn!

Another needle case - whoppee!!!

OK. So I seem to have got the hang of these needle case things. I can just churn them out now, like crisps on a conveyor belt.

Crisps on a conveyor belt????

Actually I really like this one.

I used for the first time, Kaalund threads, this one is colour 'Taipan' and I really like them. They are cultivated silk and come in twelve stranded, 10 metre skeins. All of the colours are subtly variegated. They are Australian threads but available in the UK. I got mine from the Sampler Guild. (www.thesamplerguild.co.uk)

The fabric is a 28count evenweave linen. I used a matching cream ribbon for ties and for the little hinges - the first time I have tried this.

Having completed it, I think I would change a couple of things - the tie ribbon is too unbendy (can you tell I taught English?) and I think a hoop and button would have worked better and I painstakingly stitched beads on both sides of the hinges - on reflection they were only really needed on the top side.

I mentioned above that I taught English, and indeed I did - to Primary aged children all my teaching life - and for a year I taught other teachers to teach too.

I also taught Maths. My pupils did really well in all their tests.

So...why can't I count? Not big counting, with hundreds and thousands and lots of zeroes, no just little counting - you know - up to 10!!

Next week I will share with you the results of my inability to count. I have no shame.

The thimble keep was nice wasn't it? Thank you for your comments.

Love

Irene xxx

Ann's thimble keep.

Cast your mind back.

Not far - just 5 weeks or so - to mid-April when I showed some little silver sewing treasures I had found.

Remember?

OK - well I mentioned then that having found the little silver thimble with the two swans entwined, I would look out for a Quaker pattern to make a keep for it.

No need!

My friend Ann brought this amazing gift with her to our stitching evening on Thursday.

She decided that a humbug design would work well for my wished-for keep and then had to work out the size and stitching to just fit the thimble. She said it took an inordinate amount of time to work out just where the opening on the humbug needed to be! It is usually these little decisions that are so irksome and because they work so well they oft-time go unnoticed.

Ann - (I think we can now call her now Designer Ann ) - thank you so much for this gift. It was totally unexpected but beautifully stitched and will be treasured.

The photos - Aw not so much! I haven't done this little beauty any justice at all.

Love to all and thank you for your many comments.

Irene xxx

Sorry Stitcherhood!

No pictures this time, although I am working on a couple of things.

My major current project is one of Betsy Morgan's lovely etui sets. This one is from the Australian publication 'Inspirations' magazine ( the one before the current one - I've checked now and it's issue 65!) and is called Tiny Treasures. The set consists of an Etui box, a button box, a needlebook and a tuffet (biscornu). My stitchy friend Anne also has the chart for a thimble keeper, so I will add that to the list. It is stitching up quite quickly on the recommended 32 count Belfast linen. The threads should be Gloriana, but as I have only a few of those, I am using Vikki Clayton's hand dyed silks.

I have a couple of other small projects plodding along too, and of course, I still have finishes to complete from the Jackie du Plessis class. Oh dear - and it all started so well!

However, the main reason for this quickie is a correction I need to make regarding my last post.

I said that the needlebook came from a free pattern. This is because I discovered it whilst browsing through a file of printed freebie sheets, without a front page, just asking to be stitched - so I presumed it was a freebie.

I wanted to credit the site and today started to look for the precise location.

And....

It was not a freebie. It was actually a download from www.thestitcherhood.com which had been misfiled. The download (#17 Stitcher's Samplers) is only $4 and if you like it, check out the site above. I hope the designer will forgive this oversight and that at least a million people will go to the site and choose this or other available designs to stitch.

That's all - conscience cleared!

Love
Irene xxx

A touch of scarlet.

This is another freebie pattern which I finished into a small needle case. It has also occurred to me that I keep on making these needle cases but never actually use any! They're just piling up on my little display and my needles are stuck in my T-shirt..

I used a 28count white evenweave linen and HDF colour 'Be-grimed'. You can see that I stitched one little bud on the Quaker motif with red - DMC 666 - and then, having got the bug, one little leaf on the central motif on the back and if you look carefully there is just one red bead among the black on the edging.

Oh for goodness sake, its in the middle on the top edge!

I used a red fabric for lining and a red gingham ribbon. The outside spine is a tiny herringbone stitch.

I made a little key fob too, but I haven't got a photo of that at the moment.

Oh -do you remember I couldn't think of a simile for 'as smug as'? Well, Katrina, (http://theneedlespromise.blogspot.com) a girl with my own sense of humour suggested 'Smug as a bug in a rug'

Nice one Katrina!

Thank you again for you comments.

Love
Irene xxx

It was this!!

So, this is what I saw.

A full set of bone embroidery tools in this amazing purple case.

I have looked at many of these sets, but I have never found one with this colour lining. I just love it.

It has a heavy Dorcas thimble, some bodkins, tweezers, hooky things, a pair of pretty scissors and most wonderfully of all, a bone needle case with a little screw top. You can see it tucked into the second loop.

It has a gathered half-pocket in the lid.

What a lucky find. I am not even going to tell you how much - OK - how little, I paid.

£20.

I know. I've paid more for a thimble.

Heyho. I must have done something right at sometime in my life.

Love
Irene xxx

The Tease!

Yesterday, in my post script, I promised you a little tease.

Well - here it is.

I know, it's just a box, a bit dull, a lot torn and very worn. Not very impressive at all. This how I found it, on the end of a stall at the Flea Market we visit at Tynemouth every 5 or 6 weeks.

Tomorrow I will show what I saw when I opened it.

Incidently, it is sitting on a place mat I also bought. This is a fine count sand coloured linen, hand worked with white perle cotton, with, as you can see, cut thread work and speciality stitching. It cost me £2.

Oh! Did I mention it is one of six, and there is a matching table runner? The whole set cost me £2.

Mmmmm. Yummy.

Til tomorrow then.

Irene xxx

Briar Rose finish.

Well, I'm feeling pretty smug.

I know, not a nice thing to admit, but there we are.

Smug as a ?????

I can't actually think of a simile to go with smug so I'll leave it there. But feel free to finish this sentence with anything (polite) you want to add.

The reason for all this smirky smirky smugness is the Briar Rose finish above.

When I went to the Jackie du Plessis classes, I saw in the flesh many of the amazing projects she has designed, Briar Rose among them. I looked at it and thought 'I would love this, really love it'. And now I have it.

It has less little personal tweaks than Treasures of Comfort, the only one being that as in Treasures, I finished the needle and button pages with tiny blanket stitches rather than cutting them with shaped edge scissors. Mainly because I only had pinking shears and they seemed a bit mundane. I have since invested £1-79 in fancy scissors so from now on I will be cutting!

You can just see the little pin cushion Jackie added as a class extra.

So - I saw it, I stitched it and now I have it. And wild horses could not prise it from my grip.

Hope you like it too,

Love
Irene xxx

PS Tomorrow I have a flea market find to share, well actually, I thought I might just tease you with it a little first!

PPS Is 'Smirky Smirky Smugness' a song title??? If not - should it be?

Treasures of Comfort - da da!!

So here is my first finish from the Jackie du Plessis classes. It is the the little needlework book from the Treasures of Comfort design range and I think it is very pretty.

It was quite tricky to stitch, not because of the speciality stitching which was fun to do, but because the chosen thread was sooooo close to the colour of the linen that is was difficult to decide if I had actually put in the stitch I thought I had put in.

That sounds muddled, but believe me - it was tricky!!

I have taken a little liberty with the finishing which I hope Jackie will not mind too much.

The original piece had a length of space-dyed ribbon which went across the middle of the needle 'pages' as mine does, but then carried on to tie on the outside with a bow. This meant the needlecase could be attached to the basket which is available to stitch along with other necessaire items. As I am not going to stitch these other items, I finished mine without the outside bow as you can see. This also means that the initials, date and little saying are not at all obscured by the ribbon.

The saying - quite difficult to read here - is 'another blue day'.

This is not 'blue' as in depressed and miserable, but comes from a verse of a favourite poem of mine by Thomas Carlisle.

So here hath been dawning
Another blue day.
Think will thou let it
Slip useless away?

My answer to this question always is 'No, so better do some stitching'

Did you notice I said 'first finish'? That's 'cos I've done Briar Rose too. I'll show that later in the week.

Oh my - I am such a smarty pants!

Thanks for calling by and for your comments which are much appreciated,

Love
Irene
xxx