Autumn Heart

I think I mentioned that my friend Ann and I have a stitchy night every Thursday evening? She brings yummy biscuits and I provide as many cups of tea as we can get through - not as many as you might suppose as we talk a lot and drinking and talking are hard to synchronise.

Oh.... and we stitch!

It is a guaranteed oasis in the chaos of our busy lives.

Ann is much more adventurous than me and tries lots of new things, new finishes, or different stitches, I tend to stick to what I know.
I do have a bigger variety of stash though - ( c'est un surprise n'est-ce pas?) So I am sometimes able to help out with the odd thread and this lovely heart is a thank you gift from her.

Can I say that the French phrase above is just a shameful affectation. I have tried to learn French since I was knee high to a grasshopper and have spent many happy hours lounging around in France, sometimes staying there for five weeks in the Summer holidays, but in spite of that, and ignoring the fact that I sometimes even wore a little jaunty neckerchief (surely that isn't the word?) giving all the outward appearances of being stylishly French, and totally at home (a la maison?) as soon as I opened my mouth, my northern roots showed.

I so envy people who can speak a second language - or play an instrument - two accomplishments that in my life I have failed to .....well.....accomplish really.

Well, I did learn ....... naw... I can't really count that.

OK - when I was 6 I had my turn playing that clapper thing, that you bang on your hand, but hey - nobody recognised my potential so I just passed it to boy sitting next to me.

Raymond I think it was. He's probably in a boy band now.

Anyway, no good crying over that, the heart above is freebie from the gazette94 site and is stitched beautifully over one on a 32 count linen using an unnamed but appropriately autumnal thread from HDF. I also took a photo of the back which is finished in a matching watermarked cotton with a little 'hand-made' tag, but it was really too bad to post. Sorry Ann.

Love to all
Irene xxx

So I resume - with Sarah Tobias

It has been five weeks - can you believe that - five weeks since I last posted here.

I will tell you in a sec what has been occupying my time, but first to Sarah.

I was a participant in the Round 5 Blackbird Designs Exchange organised by Patti, and therefore browsed through all of my BBD charts and booklets looking for a suitable design to exchange. It was then I realised that in my eagerness to acquire stash, to possess it, to have it, own it, file it, organise it, gloat over it ( come on - you've done it!) I had actually hardly stitched any of it. So I completed my exchange project - afore posted - and decided to do a couple of things from the Sarah Tobias booklet.

I chose firstly the little alphabet pin cushion above, stitched over one on a mid-cream 32 count linen with Kaalund thread - the colour of which is lost in the mists of time. Now it seems that in the intervening interlude, any photographical skills I may have once possessed have deserted me completely, so the pictures show hardly any detail at all.

This, I think, leaves me open to a little exaggeration!

The piece is backed with a perfectly matching batik fabric ( you can't really tell so you'll just have to believe me) and exquisitely finished with opaque irridescent blue / green beads! It is packed with crushed oyster shells. I know - it sounds exotic, but I can't find those darned walnut shells that everyone seems to use and this gives a nicely weighty emery-ish feel.

So that is finish number one. I have a lovely gift and another finish to show another day.

Well, you ask, those of you who loyally check to see if I have made any effort to write here at all, what has the girl been up to?

A dream holiday on a paradise island.

Naw.

I've just been cleaning. Relentlessly. Unendingly. Exhaustingly. Purposelessly ........ cleaning.

Yes - purposelessly. To no purpose. Uselessly.

I still have the builder here. We are running into, I think, 6 or 7 weeks now. To be honest, he so much part of the family I've stopped counting. He came to renovate all the sash windows in the house, and just stayed. Like a lost puppy. We have adopted him. He hardly ever goes home.

He is now finally outside, repainting the house and it looks great. It is just taking so long. And because it was every window in every room that needed some work, every room was a mess, with dust sheets everywhere, and wood shavings and paint scrapings. He promised faithfully it would be completed before my guests from America arrived for their holiday.

Oh didn't I tell you? Oh yes, in the midst of all this I had guests for about ten days. Happily they are old friends and picked their way around the rubble, but it's not want you want, is it, when friends are staying?

So in a vain attempt to make the house look habitable I cleaned. But in the end I just asked people to wipe their feet as they left, not as they arrived.

There is just a glimmer of normality showing, a tantalising glimpse that I may eventually resume the retirement I signed up for.

We shall see.

Thank you for your patience

Ooooo - almost forgot to mention. Are you desperate for the 2010 Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornaments Special? My friend Margaret is giving one away in a draw on her newish newsy blog. She would love to have you visit. http://allthingsmaggieo.blogspot.com/

Irene xxx

Shhhh - not a word

I have stitched a couple of small things - and I've started on a Christmas pressie for my Mum - but I have nothing much finished to show. I don't think I have shared this with you though and I do like it very much.

This is Mocking Bird by La D Da. I used their recommended linen - if only I could remember what that was - and substituted HDF threads by Vikki Clayton. I am pleased with the colours I've chosen except that his little feet have almost disappeared. I'm afraid he looks a bit grounded, in real life and even more so in this very poor photo. He is framed, so that accounts for some of the wonkiness of the picture. Don't ask!!!!

So - I have a man in at the moment.

Not a handsome, suave, debonair, ready-for-love at the drop of a hat, man.

(I should be so lucky.)

( Well - I should be if I could be bothered with all of that, but I can't)

But anyway - back to the story.

He's a very nice workman.

He is renovating my windows. I live in a Victorian house and the windows are those old sash windows which I really like. But most of mine have, after a hundred years of less than precise painting, been sealed shut.

I need then to pose the question - why is it that although they are painted shut and will not moved by a herd of angry elephants, the wind whistles through them like a hurricane and leaves me shivering in my favourite (stitching) chair all through the long Northern winter???

I know, another of life's mysteries.

But Derek - for indeed that is his name - is mending them for me. He is making them open, top and bottom, replacing sash cords and weights, burning off the old paint, re-painting them and draught proofing them.

Which is all good. And he's no bother.

But..isn't it unsettling when things are going on in your house? I am in a constant mood of unsettlement. I feel not ready for anything. This blog, mundane as it is, has required considerable effort this morning.

Sorry it wasn't more exciting!!

Love
Irene xxx

My contribution to BBD Exchange

When Patti asked me if I would like to join the Blackbird Designs Exchange Group, I was quite apprehensive - not that I was afraid I wouldn't love the gift I received (I did!) but the whole thing about what to stitch, how to finish, can I complete in time etc.

However Patti is a persuasive gal so I agreed to give it a go.

There followed a great deal of chart searching and discussion with my stitching friend Ann. Is the possible design too big? Too small? Take too long to stitch? Need framing to look good? Has it been seen too much on other blogs? Will my partner have it already?

Eventually I chose this little Blackbird design from a file of printed-off charts. I chose the colours from Vikki Clayton's HDF as the original was a single colour and set to work.

It was lovely to stitch, just enough variety to keep it interesting but a bit of repetition to make it a fairly quick stitch.

Then half way through - a really worrying thought struck me.

'Was this an actual Blackbird Design chart, or just a chart with a blackbird on it' - in which case it wouldn't do! There was nothing on the chart itself to indicate where it was from. I found it under 'Blackbird Designs' in my folder, but you can see my dilemma.

I called my friend Ann and she remembered seeing it on a blog somewhere, but between us we read so many! She came round and together we began to trawl through the blogs we normally read - something with 'needle' thought Ann, or 'thread' - mmmm that narrows it down a lot!

Eventually we found it and read with relief that it was an actual Blackbird Design freebie. So I carried on, finished it as a little ornament with a beaded edge and peyote stitch hanger (I really like these now) and sent it off to my partner Elisabeth in France.

There was the expected anxiety about whether it would arrive safely and whether Ela would like it.

It did and she did. Ela even sent me a lovely hand-made card to thank me again for the gift.

So maybe I will join an exchange group again. I loved my gift from Christina and Ela loved hers from me and that's just about everything you can hope for.

Thank you for your comments - always read with much pleasure.
Love Irene xxx

Counting Mistake Item 2

I know, I promised you this ages ago. Counting mistake number two.

Mmmm you think - can't see anything much wrong here.

Well actually, there isn't anything much wrong, except that it is supposed to say 'Live, Love, Laugh'

I bought a chart which showed a little woven basket with a stitched border along the outside, and inside, lots of pretty little mottoes and inspirational sayings - like - 'be what you want to be - it isn't too late' (it was slightly more catchy than that) and 'seize the day' and stuff.
I determined to use my wonderful Kaalund thread (Taipan) and set to work.

Now, for little inspirational saying ornamenty-baskety-things, I don't much bother about the linen count, huh, that's for amateurs, so I grabbed a piece and began to stitch 1 / 1 because that is mostly what I do now and as I stitched I hummed a little inspirational tune. I was getting really quite good at this stitching thing although humming and smirking at the same time was proving a little more difficult

I learned the pattern quickly, the border was looking good, the colour was yummy, and so as I stitched, I began to discuss with myself where I might put the completed basket and the aforementioned sayings. On the table, in the hall, in the bedroom?? Now where would be the best place to show off my considerable skill?

Enough of this, border finished - time to look at the lettering.

Have you guessed yet?

Yes....stitching 1 / 1 from a chart that was meant to be 2 / 2 with lettering - spells disaster.

There was just not enough space to stitch anything much. So, not wanting to waste a perfectly good border, I wrote 'LIVE'
It's not even inspirational is it? If you manage to take in a breath, you're doing it.

I couldn't give you the exact quotes and sayings because I threw the chart down in disgust and now I can't find it.

Yeah, not so smirky now eh?

Love to all who visit,

Irene xxx

Beautiful Tall Ships.

I mentioned in my last posting that I have been busy. Well, I thought I would show you briefly what I have been up to.

My home town, Hartlepool, has been hosting the 2010 Tall Ships Race and I have been a volunteer. I haven't had a very high powered job - I am a 'Lost and Missing Persons Assistant' but it has been such fun to be involved with this event.

We began our training way back in May and have been looking forward to the arrival of these ships for months now. There are about 65 vessels in all, quite a few of which, including all those in the photographs, are Class A - the biggest of the sailing ships. They are from all over the world, Oman, Russia, Indonesia, Poland etc and their crews have been magnificent. It is not every day you see a group of Russian sailors shopping in your local supermarket!

From the Headland, we watched the ships far away on the horizon, steadily making their way into our port. I am not a watery, shippy sort of person at all, but seeing those great vessels in full sail must send an echo back through the ages as it really stirs the heart. I found myself quietly humming the tune of 'Hearts of Oak' and the rousing 'Rule Britannia'. Both these songs are probably inappropriate these days, and of course most of the ships here are not British, but still.........

The festival ended on Tuesday with a full Parade of Sail when all the ships left the harbour and sailed north along the coast, again in full sail.

OK - so even I shed a tear and like I said, I am not usually a watery sort of person!

Back to sewing now all the excitement is over.

Irene xxx

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