Farewell, Marilyn

The stitching world had a great loss earlier this week. On Tuesday, August 14, cross stitch designer Marilyn Leavitt-Imblum passed away.

Marilyn was the hand behind the design company Told in A Garden, with designs under that name, as well as Lavender & Lace and Butternut Road. She was by far the most successful cross stitch designer of the late 1980’s through the early 2000’s. Between the three design lines, she produced a total of 128 designs, not including the free Christmas angel designs she offered for 20 years.

A little over 10 years ago, Marilyn moved to the Rochester, NY area, which is where I live. I had the wonderful experience of not just meeting this lovely and talented soul, but also to work with her and visit her beautiful home on several occasions. I was lucky enough to be the model stitcher for three of her designs (Winter Sampler and the two Button Box Babies). I also stitched trial bits of Angel of the Morning and Secret Santa, as Marilyn decided between possible color combinations. It was an inspiring time that allowed me to get a glimpse of her amazingly creative mind at work.

Over the years, I’ve stitched other designs of Marilyn’s. The first was Angel of Hope, which went to a teenaged cousin battling Hodgkin’s lymphoma (who is doing very well nearly 20 years later). Nantucket Rose (above) and Celtic Banner (below) both hang in my dining room. And I still have Angel of the Sea half-completed.

Marilyn and I fell out of touch in recent years, but I’ll always remember her generosity of spirit, her determination to make her creations the best they could be, and her stunning perennial garden. Farewell, my friend. May your family and loved ones find comfort in happy memories.

A Sampler from the WIP Pile

So you may be wondering just why I’ve suddenly actually started posting again. You’ll find the answer if you look at my posts in November 2007 and November 2009. Yes, I did it again. I signed up for National Blog Posting Month, a.k.a. NaBloPoMo, in which bloggers are challenged to write every day for the month. I’m hoping this will help me get back into the habit of posting more regularly, even after the month is out.

Over the past year, I have had a few prolonged absences from posting. For the most part, though, I did continue to stitch.

In the last few years, I’ve been in a bit of a counted canvas rut. I love it, but every so often I remind myself that I used to be much more balanced in my stitching practices, and I enjoyed other techniques, too. So I made myself pull out a sampler that hasn’t seen the light of day in a while.

The last time I posted about my progress on Hillside Samplings’ Be You to Others sampler, which I refer to as the Ninja Squirrel Sampler (for reasons that will become obvious as I stitch a bit more), was back in February 2010, right after my carpal tunnel surgery. At that point, the sampler looked like this.

After quite a bit of time with this sampler over the past six months, I’m happy to say it’s much further along.

The personalization and verse areas aren’t filled in yet because, frankly, I’m not that thrilled with the verse on this design, and I haven’t yet figured out what I’m going to replace it with, nor what I want to do about personalization.

Does anybody have a favorite verse that might work well on this sampler? Maybe four lines or so? I’m open to suggestions!

Anyway, I’m back to working on canvas projects for a bit, but I hope to not let this piece sit unattended too long again.

Friday Finish: How Great the Blessing

I can hear some of you thinking, “Didn’t she post about finishing that sampler a couple of months ago?”

Well, yes. I did.

But it wasn’t framed then.

Here you go.

Again, this is:

Design: How Great the Blessing (with a few minor changes)

Designer: Catherine Theron

Ground fabric: 36ct linen

Threads: silks, primarily from Hand-Dyed Fibers/Vikki Clayton

Stitches used: cross, smyrna, queen, oblong cross, chain, satin, slanted gobelin, tent, four-sided, leaf, lazy daisy, upright cross, long-arm cross, and cross over one. There may be one or two others, but that’s what I see right now.  :-)

Stitching timeframe: Started in a class April 2009, finished in February 2010.

The simple frame sets off the design. Nothing more was needed. Thanks to my LNS owner for great framing consultation, as usual!

A right-handed stitcher, stitching left-handed

(Updated to make the picture clickable!)

Thanks for all of the well-wishes on my carpal tunnel surgery. I'm now back to typing with both hands, but I can't lift anything heavy (as in >1 pound) or do much grasping or pulling with my right (dominant) hand.

As a result, I'm obviously slightly challenged in the stitching department! This situation rules out:

• Anything that requires the use of a laying tool – and I use a laying tool for everything that calls for more than one strand.
• Anything done in hand. (Thank goodness for my handy Elan lap stand!)
• Anything with less than tight tension on the ground fabric, since my left hand isn’t as sensitive to stitch tension.
• Any fancy stitches that require manipulation of the thread and needle separately.

This means that all of my canvas projects are on hold, as well as all of the in-hand stuff I was avoiding due to the carpal tunnel, and complicated areas on samplers.

What’s left?

Well, I guess I could read a couple of books that showed up in the mail last week (Samplers by Rebecca Scott and Stumpwork Medieval Flora by Jane Nicholas). I do want to write up reviews on each of these soon, but I want to stitch, too! So I’ll be picking up these books in between stitching sessions for the next week or so.

I tried to work on Hannah Thornbush, since the section in progress is a simple stitch in one strand. Unfortunately, I discovered that the Soie de Paris used on this piece (a very loosely twisted filament silk) wouldn’t  cooperate with my winter-rough skin. Even a sugar scrub wouldn’t help.

Back to the WIP pile. Oh, how about this? It’s my affectionately-nicknamed Ninja Squirrel Sampler. Mostly just simple cross stitch with one strand of twisted silk. That will work, especially since I recently laced the very limp linen to the sides of the scroll frame, so linen is now fairly tight, which lets me get decent stitch tension even with my “dumb” left hand.

Even with one hand, I’m slowly making progress on this piece.

I have a feeling I might want to work on something else soon, though. Does anyone see any candidates in my WIP list?

Happy Dance: How Great the Blessing

Ok, now it's done. Here is my version of Catherine Theron's How Great the Blessing.

This is stitched on the 36ct linen supplied by Catherine as part of the kit, using Vikki Clayton's Hand-Dyed Fibers regular silk floss and a tiny bit of Rainbow Gallery's Splendor.

I made minimal changes to the design, primarily in the areas designated for personalization, but I also

• placed the birds and squirrels as I liked
• skipped the crown originally over the house (it just seemed odd!)
• left the queen stitch flowers in the large vase open, with just the outlines

All in all, I really like this piece. I think this one will actually get framed rather than finding a home in my closet. (Does anybody else do this?)

Is it done yet?

Here's where I stand on Catherine Theron's How Great the Blessing sampler. In the past week I've added the verse, and the numbers and personalization (with updated dates!) under the alphabet, along with four birds and another squirrel.

Is it done?

Early on in stitching this project, I deliberately didn't fill in the flowers in the large vase and left off the small berry bushes to the left of the large squirrel and the right of the bunny. Now I'm reconsidering.

The sampler doesn't have many blank spaces at the top, and the larger empty spaces by the bunny and squirrel seem to be screaming for something. Maybe those berry bushes would work after all.

What do you think?

***********************************
Erin update: Guess who had a birthday on Friday? Yes, already!

The best part about presents? The wrapping paper, of course!

My first decorated cake. Yes, that's supposed to be Elmo. I think I'll stick to stitching.

Erin's "personal" cake. Both cakes were applesauce cake, and they came out yummy.

The aftermath...

Somebody liked cake, but was clearly ready for bed!

Issues with thread color conversions

If you're like most stitchers, when you've started a project, you've used a color conversion chart to change to a different brand of floss from the one called for in a project's instructions. There are plenty of these conversion charts online, allowing stitchers to change from DMC to Anchor floss, or from Soie d'Alger to Needlepoint Inc silk, or even to switch from cotton floss to silk or vice versa.

These conversion tables work well, at least most of the time. The simple fact is, though, that each brand of floss has its own range of colors. It's rare (perhaps impossible) to find exact matches to the original threads for any project within another brands range. Fortunately, it's not typically necessary to find exact matches. It's more important to find colors that work well together and have the right amount of contrast to each other as needed in the project.

It's this last point where I ran into a problem when trying to finish my How Great the Blessing sampler. In the original sampler, Catherine Theron used Soie d'Alger from Au ver a Soie. The class kit only included the linen, and each stitcher had to supply her own threads. For convenience, Catherine did provide conversions to several other brands of floss, including DMC.

Of course, I wanted to convert to a brand not on Catherine's list. For linens 36ct and higher, I really like using Hand-Dyed Fibers from Vikki Clayton. The nice thing about this is that Vikki redesigned her colors a few years ago to specifically correspond to the entire DMC line. She also has color conversion tables right on her site, so I could type in the Soie d'Alger or the DMC color numbers, and know what color to order from her.

Here's what I ended up with for the reds in my project:

• Original colors: AVAS 2911, 2912, 2913, 2914, 2915, and 2916.
• DMC conversion: 3713, 761, 760, 3712, 3328, and 347.
• HDF conversion: The "Gandy Dancer" series: 1101, 1103, 1105, 1107, 1109, 1111.

Catherine called these colors very very light red, very light red, light red, red, dark red, and very dark red, respectively. (Actually, I think they're more coral than red, but it's easier to refer to them as red.)

This conversion had been a success, until I reached the lighter flowers in the border of my sampler. The flowers call for a border of very light red, with petals of red and very very light red. In HDF, this means I should used 1103 for the border, and 1101 and 1107 for the petals. As seen at right, when I added the 1101 to the 1103 border, though, it didn't have any contrast. (Part of this might be due to the slight variations within the hand-dyed threads, but it wasn't working for me!)

I tried darkening up the border to 1105 (light red), but then I found that I needed to go to 1109 (dark red) on the other petals to get enough contrast between the border and the darker petals! See the picture at left.

Then it seemed that these flowers weren't light enough. To the stash! I found a very pale pink Splendor silk. It's just slightly more pale than the 1101, though that's hard to see in the photograph with only one stitch. Here's how it turned out with all of the light petals complete.

Now, I've just got to make a decision: which of these flowers do I go with? That's a topic for another post!

How about you? What have your experiences been with color conversions? Have they all been successful, or have you needed to play with things? Feel free to answer here or on your own blog!

WIP: Angel of the Sea (by Lavender & Lace)

Today's featured WIP is Angel of the Sea by Marilyn Leavitt-Imblum of Lavender & Lace.

Technique/Materials:  Cross stitch on 32ct linen with cotton floss, metallic braid, and beads.

Background:  This was originally intended as a gift for a friend after the birth of her first baby. I think that baby is now 7 or 8. Ooops!

Why it's not done:  I've had this project mounted on a floor stand since I started it. The floor stand, given to me, has legs on both ends, so it's designed to straddle the stitcher's chair. Up until 2 years ago, my main stitching chair was a "chair and a half" similar to the one seen here. Of course, the floor stand wouldn't fit over this, so I had to use it in another room, which didn't have good lighting for stitching. As a result, I've stitched this only on sunny evenings and weekends, and not at all in the past year (though it's remained set up in my living room with a towel draped over it!).

What's left to do:  The bottom of the skirt and all of the waves.

WIP: Japanese Octagon Box (by Chatelaine Designs)

Today's featured WIP is the Japanese Octagon Box by Martina Weber of Chatelaine Designs.

Technique/Materials:  Mostly cross stitch with a few specialty stitches, along with beads and crystals. I'm using the variegated silks specified in the pattern, though I substituted Vicki Clayton's silks for the more pricey Needlepoint Inc silks. The fabric is a standard color of 32ct Belfast, though I couldn't tell you now what specific color it is.

Background:  This was started with the online class in early 2006, and I was really enjoying it. I even picked up the finishing kit when it came out.

Why it's not done:  According to this blog post, I set it aside to work on some GCC's (and, likely, some of the Jim Wurth ornaments that were showing up every other month). As you can see, I haven't touched it since March 2007!

What's left to do: Well, only two of the eight panels are complete (or nearly complete), plus I have to do the top, bottom, and scissors sheath, and then assemble the whole thing. Looking at cathymk's pics makes me want to set everything else aside and get it done, but I know that's not in the plan. There are other things I want to get done first!

WIP: Remember Me Photo Album (by Indigo Rose)

Today's featured WIP is likely the one that's got the least amount of stitching complete. It is the Remember Me Photo Album by Catherine Strickler of Indigo Rose. Isn't it pathetic that I only made it this far before putting this aside?

Technique/Materials:  This photo album cover (and yes, the kit came with the album) is worked on 28ct evenweave with two strands of cotton floss. Not having the instructions in front of me right now, I can't be sure, but I believe most of the stitching is in cross stitch, though there may be a few other stitches here and there.

Background:  I'm not really sure when I started this. I think it was shortly after the design came out, and since Catherine's original had a date of 2003, I'm guessing I started in 2004. Since I never bothered to mount this on a frame/hoop/Q-snap or any such thing, I'm sure this was started as either a desk project (for stitching during my lunch hour) or a travel project. As such a project, it only saw hit-or-miss progress, which accounts for how little is completed.

Why it's not done:  Have I ever mentioned that I really don't like to work on 28ct? I really don't. On 28ct, you have to use at least 2 strands of cotton floss, and then you have to lay each stitch to get halfway decent coverage. Of course, this is much easier if the fabric is mounted on some sort of frame and in a stand, so you can use a laying tool. Trying to stitch on 28ct in hand is a pain. (Yes, I know about railroading. I never have good results with it, because one strand eventually overtwists and the other undertwists on me, so I don't use this technique. If it works for you, please share your secret!)

What's left to do:  Just about everything. Fortunately this piece isn't huge, and if I actually mount the fabric on a frame of some sort, it shouldn't take too long to do.

WIP: Martha Willkins (from The Scarlet Letter)

Another reproduction sampler is today's featured WIP.  The Scarlet Letter reproduced the 1699 sampler of Martha Willkins.  Actually, I should say that most of the original sampler was charted.  If you look at the original, you'll see that SL left off the cutwork portion.  Whatever.  I still think it's lovely.

Technique/Materials: 17th-century sampler stitches over 2 on a higher-count linen with silk threads, mostly Soie d'Alger from Au ver a Soie.  I think the fabric is 34ct Oaten Scone from Legacy Linen.

Background:  I'm not really sure when I started this.  I think it was around 4 or 5 years ago.  I recall that it was a toss-up between starting this piece and Margret Gatis, also from the Scarlet Letter.  I decided to start Martha mostly because the entire piece is charted over two threads of linen, whereas Margret has some areas of over-2 and other areas over-3.

Why it's not done: I'm sure it was just a matter that other things caught my eye.  I've picked this up a couple of times over the past two years, according to past blog posts, but I haven't really committed to it.

What's left to do:  Most of it. I'm a little less than 1/4 finished.

Flowers and berries and bees, oh my!

Catherine Theron's How Great the Blessing sampler continues to be the focus of my stitchy attention.  As you can see, I've added the bees (cross stitch and double-running), a few berries (satin stitch), the outer area of several flowers (queen stitch), and the grout of a brick walk for a house (tent stitch over one).  Only in stitching can you add grout before the bricks!

All of the flowers are "supposed" to be filled in like the one on the left, but I really like them just with the outside areas done.  I can't really pull out the central areas of the bottom left flower due to the fabric distortion caused by the queen stitches, though.  Right now I'm going to proceed with filling in the flowers off of the vines on each side, but leave the center plant as it is. 

There's also supposed to be some small vines in freehand surface embroidery in the empty areas next to the squirrel and the bunny, but I think I like the space there for now.  We'll see how this looks as I get more of the sampler done.  I can always add them later.

I really do want to finish this sampler this year (after all, I've already added the year), but I've got an itch to do some canvas work.  I'm going to pull out Carolyn Mitchell's My Way, which I started last year before my pregnancy eliminated my ability to work on large canvases mounted on stretcher bars!

*******************
Erin update:  CAST-OFF COUNTDOWN:  6 days to go!

Decent progress

Wow!  It's been a bit over a week since I last posted, but I've been making good progress on my Blessing sampler.  Erin's been cooperating by going to sleep around 8PM each night, so I've had time to stitch! 

I finished the grass and the vases, then added the strawberries, the squirrel and bunny, the center plant, and one queen-stitched flower.  There are 14 more of these flowers (5 on the center plant, and 5 on each side), and they'll take some time. 

A few pieces in my stash are calling to me to start them, but I already have too many started, and really need to finish a few (ok, at least two) before starting anything else, hence the concentration on this piece.

*****************************
Erin update:  We have a date for cast removal!  Cast-off day is Monday, September 21.  Two weeks to go.  Erin is getting very impatient with the cast.  She's now seven months old, and wants to GO!  She's constantly getting frustrated that she can't reach something or she'll try to throw herself backward when she's sitting on someone's lap.  It's like she knows she should be able to move more, but can't quite figure out why she can't.

Here's a picture from a couple of weeks ago.  Somebody had given us this really pretty dress, and it was just hanging in her closet waiting for a special occasion.  I finally decided that any day could be a special occasion, or the dress wouldn't be worn at all!  When DH first saw this dress, he commented that it looked like she was wearing a tablecloth (though since then he's decided it's really cute on her). 

This past week, Erin's started to wrinkle her nose at times.  It's pretty funny.  Here she is (in a different pink gingham dress) when trying Cheerios for the first time yesterday.

Don't worry. Other pictures showed that maybe Cheerios were ok after all.  :-)

Slowly growing grass...

...on my sampler.  (Not the stuff outside - it's been a pretty wet summer and it's growing fast!)

This week I've been filling in the grassy area at the bottom of Blessing.  I'm leaving the areas to be filled in as strawberries empty.  In the last post, you'll see that I started the strawberries on the right side, but I wasn't happy with how the stitch was covering, so I took them out.  I also thought that particular stitch (upright cross) would be more easily worked if I didn't have to count it quite so carefully.  By doing the grass around each berry, now I just need to fill in the blank spaces.  It seems I'm continually trying to take the easy route these days!  Works for me - at least I'm stitching.

Catherine Theron class

Please forgive the shameless promotion!

My local EGA chapter is bringing Catherine Theron to town (Rochester, NY) this summer, and there are spaces still open in the class. Please leave a comment on this post with your email address (which I'll delete after replying to you) if you're interested in attending the class or would like more information.

*** UPDATE: "Ghost" students (those who can't be there but would like to do the project) are welcome. We already have a few signed up, but we still have class spaces available! ***

Here's the class information:

During the last region seminar, several of us had the very great pleasure of taking a class from Catherine Theron. We enjoyed the class so much that we’ve invited Catherine here to teach her “How Great the Blessing...” Sampler. Please join us Saturday, July 18 and Sunday, July 19 to explore the wide range of stitches in this lovely sampler!

Here’s how Catherine describes the sampler:

“This glorious sampler is 8¼” X 11¾” (on 36-ct cream linen) or 9¼” X 12¾” (on 32-ct cream linen) and has barely a spot NOT covered by stitching! Queen stitch flowers in vibrant shades of red form the border on this piece. Little (and not so little!) squirrels, birds, and a rabbit run riot on a landscape that includes a giant vase of flowers, rampling strawberry vines, and a sedate house perched over it all. A verse section, alphabet, and a row of pines with a bee skep finish off the sampler. Stitches used include Queen, Upright Cross, Petit Point, Smyrna Cross, Four-Sided, Oblong Cross, Stem Stitch, Chain Stitch, Long Arm Cross, Double Straight Cross, Slanted Satin Stitch, Satin Cushion, and a Leaf Pattern.

My model is worked using Au Ver a Soie Soie d’Alger (silk floss) in vibrant shades of red, green, gold, blue, cream, and brown. Each stitcher will be sent a “threads needed” supply list with silk, DMC and Anchor conversions. Each stitcher will also be sent fabric for pre-basting.

Kit cost includes fabric (either 36-count or 32-count cream linen), needles, practice fabric, instructions, photograph, and charts. Threads ARE NOT included in the kit fee and are up to the individual stitcher.

Extra magnification and/or lighting may be useful. Scroll bars or stretcher frame with thumb tacks or a small hoop is recommended.”

The fine print:
What: “How Great the Blessing...” Sampler class with Catherine Theron
When: Saturday & Sunday, July 18-19, 9AM – 4PM
Where: Gypsum Mills community center in Victor
Bring: Your threads, basted fabric (on a frame if desired), regular stitching tools, plus a dish to pass for lunch on Saturday
Cost: $100 for EGA members, $110 for non-members, which includes the kit (NOT threads), teaching fee, and Catherine’s travel and boarding costs

A deposit of $50 is due by June 1, with the remainder to be paid by July 1.

Quaker Quarterly Exchange XV arrived in Spain!

I can finally show pics of the piece I stitched for my first-ever exchange! Much to my relief, my Quaker Christmas treat bag arrived at Mercedes' house in Spain.

This exchange was conducted through the Legacy Embroiderers Guild forums. The pieces for this exchange were to be stitched in Christmas colors: red, green, and white. My medallion was chosen with these in mind. I thought the tulips and outer stars looked a bit like poinsettias, the green triangles like Christmas trees, and the center star like a snowflake, so I stitched all of these in the appropriate colors. I couldn't resist adding both Merry Christmas and Feliz Navidad to celebrate our two cultures.

On the back, I stitched our initials.

As I was stitching, the fabric seemed pretty flimsy for a bag. I wanted to make the bag a bit more substantial, so I found some burgundy velvet at a local fabric store. Never having lined a bag before, I put it together (by hand) in entirely reverse order*. I caught the selvage of the velvet in the top hemstitch first, then sewed the lining together up the back and across the bottom. Pulling the lining and linen apart, I stitched the linen from top to bottom, flipping the lining back in only as I reached the top. You can see my inexpert join on the top inside of the seam. Then, I stitched the bottom of the linen using a blind double-running stitch.

*(Apparently most bags are sewn by creating separate bags of shell and lining, then joining them at the top. Who knew? I think I would have had trouble with the top hemstitch if I had done this!)





I had also hemstitched the drawstring area on both top and bottom. The cording is made of several strands of #12 pearl cotton.

Happy Dance: Bead Blanket Sampler

Sorry, all! It's been a heck of a week, with all the Christmas preparations. Up until yesterday night at the LNS, I think I stitched about two hours all week. I've been off work since Wednesday, but I've still been baking, writing Christmas cards, finishing up my shopping, fixing my sister's electrical outlets so she could plug in her tree for her party tonight, etc., etc.

On Wednesday, I received a surprise in the mail. I knew Kaz was sending me the Moss Waterlilies I needed to finish the border on my Bead Blanket Sampler, and it arrived Wednesday. That wasn't the surprise, though. The surprise was learning that not only did this generous stitcher send me the thread, but that she sent it from the U.K.! The sharing in this wonderful global community of stitchers never ceases to amaze me. Thanks again, Kaz!

So, for stitch night at the LNS yesterday, I packed up my Bead Blanket Sampler with all the threads I needed to finish. Between time at the LNS and an hour afterward at home, I finished the back cover. Today I made time to finish the project, before sitting down with a pile of presents and wrapping paper.

Here is the Bead Blanket Sampler, designed by Catherine Strickler of Indigo Rose. The three pictures are the front (with the alphabet), the back (with the types of beads listed), and the side (so you can see the piece of velour blanketing that's meant to keep beads from bouncing all over the place while I'm attaching them onto a WIP).

Another UFO down! I'm officially down to 39 WIPs/UFOs. That still seems like a really big number, but I've got another small piece that really only needs a couple of hours to finish, and that will knock the number down again!


***************************************************
WIP-loss challenge status: 6 down, 4 to go

Happy Dance: Christmas Treat Bag

It seems that the plan to finish small UFOs is working!

This is the Christmas Treat Bag from Shepherd's Bush. I finished up the ribbons on this tonight, changing the arrangement slightly from the instructions.

The drawstring area is made by withdrawing several fabric threads, and a ribbon is threaded through these. The instructions showed that the drawstring was made with the burgundy ribbon, but the bow was tied with both the blue and burgundy ribbons. That seemed silly to me, because whenever the bag was opened, the blue ribbon could be lost. I made the drawstring out with the burgundy ribbons and just attached large silver beads at the ends. I then tied the blue bow over a couple of the linen threads in the drawn thread area where the ends of the drawstring met. Now, the bow stays in place when the bag is opened and closed.

(Oh, and in case you're wondering... I did not stitch the doily on which the easel is resting. My grandmother collected such pieces, mostly through garage sales, and this is one from her collection. I hope my hard work doesn't find its way to somebody's garage sale, but if it does, I hope it finds somebody that appreciates it as much as my grandmother did and as I do!)

***************************************************
WIP-loss challenge status: 5 down, 5 to go

Seven strawberries

Since Scottlee is on hold for a bit, I picked up Catherine Theron's Examplar IV yesterday. It's been a while since I've shown a progress picture of this piece, but it hasn't progressed very far. I did, however, finish the top border yesterday! The strawberries across the top are stitched in a combination of italian cross and smyrna cross.

Actually, I see that the web page I just referenced distinguishes between the italian cross and the arrowhead stitch. The italian cross shown is the way both Catherine Theron and Eileen Bennett's Red Book describe it, with the bottom horizonatal stitch done first. When I did it this way, the diagonal stitch always pulled the bottom stitch up underneath it. I then referenced Darlene O'Steen's The Proper Stitch, and she describes italian cross as the website describes arrowhead stitch. In this stitch, the diagonal is stitched first, so the horizontal and vertical don't get pulled out of alighment. This is actually the stitch I used because I though it laid better.

An update on my recent stitching

Ok, yes, I am very delinquent in updating my blog. It's been over a week! On the plus side, this is the first of two posts today.

I have been working a tiny bit on some of my ongoing projects, but some of my stitching time is being taken up by two other endeavors:

• Kissing Pillows. These are small (~5" square) pillows with a cross-stitched front and a patriotic fabric for the back. They are given to troop deployments so that a soldier's loved ones can kiss it, and the soldier takes it with him or her. They also works the other way around, too. The soldier can kiss several and give them to family members (especially children). That way both sides will have a remembrance and a kiss from their loved ones who are half a world away. The project was started by an EGA member in Texas, and each pillow must have a very specific cross-stitch design on it - the words "I love you" in a heart with two stitched stars. So far I've stitched 1-1/2, and have several more to do. Check out the above link for a picture.
• Stitch Samples. Designer Jane Zimmerman will be coming out with a new 2-volume encyclopedia of canvas stitches in early 2008. A request for sample stitchers was sent to one of my email groups. I replied, and a package arrived last week with instructions, floss, and a 10" x 10" piece of canvas. So if you pick up this new book next year, look for my stitching on pages 164 and 174!

In case you're wondering, I'm not counting these against my challenge. I figure the pillows are gifts, and the samples aren't really a project - they're just... samples!