About threadholders…

A couple of weeks ago, Carolyn responded to a post with a wonderful question:

Can you tell me how and why flosses or threads are attached to mother-of-pearl rings or floss cards or wooden thread holders like a hornbook or heart with holes around the outside edge to keep the colors separate? I mean, are the threads wound around a stick, i.e., 18 inches long and then cut into appropriate lengths for stitching before being looped onto or into the rings and floss minders? Or are the flosses and threads purchased in such lengths from the shops? I see all of the lovely little threads and needle cases and accessories all over the net and it looks like the lengths are about 18 inches or so. I hope this is not a silly question and that your answer will benefit many others.

Before answering the question, let me elaborate on what Carolyn’s asking about. Instructions for any needlework “smalls”, such as When I am Sewing from The Drawn Thread, often include the attachment of rings for managing flosses. Similarly, threads can be managed with cards or wooden items with holes punched in them, like these thread pallettes or this hornbook.

There are only two reasons I’m aware of for using such items.

• The first reason is purely for decoration. These are pretty! You don’t actually have to use them!
• The second is, of course, for function. I suspect if your threadholder only has a few rings or holes, this might not be realistic, unless you’re working a project that requires only a few thread colors. On the other hand, I’ve received class kits that have included the threads attached to cardstock with holes punched in it, like the one shown here. This is much preferable to kits with loose threads that require sorting!

As for the length of threads to attach to your threadholder, it’s a combination of personal preference and ease of cutting.

• Some threads, such as ThreadworX flosses, come pre-cut in 1 yard (?) lengths. To get to an appropriate stitching length, just cut this length in half.
• Pearl cotton skeins (and some other threads) can be opened up into a single loop that can be cut in two places to get stitching lengths.
• In my classes with Carolyn Mitchell, she calls the distance from the inside of your elbow to the tip of your middle finger (with your hand out flat) your “personal stitching length.” In my case, this is approximately 17 inches, so I’m usually fine with using the 18” lengths from the previous suggestions.
• If you have a different length preference, yes, you can wrap the thread around something appropriately sized such that a single cut would result in the desired length, or find some other way to cut repeatable lengths.
• Of course, if you’re just using the threadholder for decorative or temporary purposes, you can just attach a full skein (as seen in one of the links above).

Physically attaching the thread is fairly straightforward. Simply use a half-hitch knot. Fold the thread length in half, insert the folded end through the ring, put the cut ends through the loop formed by the folded end, and pull tight.

Carolyn, I hope this answers your question. If anyone has anything to add, please do so!

WIP: A Case for Color (by Marilyn Bedford)

Today's featured WIP is a needlebook called A Case for Color, designed by Marilyn Bedford.

Technique/Materials:  Various Bargello motifs in silk thread (Waterlilies and Hand-Dyed Fibers) on a hand-dyed 32ct linen.

Background:  If I recall correctly, one of the members of our local EGA chapter had taken this class several years ago at a regional mini-seminar known as "Little Stitches". This seminar specifically only recruits teachers from within the region, to encourage new and aspiring designers and teachers. Several of us had seen the resultant needlecase that came from this class, so when Marilyn Bedford came into town for a region meeting in October 2008, we asked her to stay for an extra day to teach this class.

This was another project for which each student chose her own colors. In addition, students could place the various motifs anywhere within the cover area, though some are duplicating the original layout. I chose to make my needlebook slightly smaller than the original, so I've needed to rearrange and crop some of the motifs make them fit. Fortunately, it's very easy to do this in Bargello!

Why it's not done:  This was set aside when I started My Way and Summer Dream last November. I actually did work on it a bit during Erin's first surgery, but it didn't "stick."

What's left to do:  Filling in most of the empty areas with additional motifs, and then turning it into a needlebook.

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!

Happy Dance: Blueberry Pocket

Yesterday I was finally able to assemble the Blueberry Pocket from Periwinkle Promises. I tried to finish it earlier in the week, but found that the lining fabric included in the kit was cut too small. MIL was able to find an appropriate fat quarter in a local fabric shop, and we were back in business! (Thanks, Mom!)

This was a very simple assembly. The sampler had a backstitch border on the left and right, with slightly more decorative Palestrina knots along the top and bottom. The fabric was trimmed 1/2" outside of this border, and the lining fabric was cut the same size. After folding the 1/2" seam allowance back on both pieces, they were stitched together, using small, nearly invisible stitches. The pocket was made simply by folding up the bottom 1/3 and whip-stitching the backstitch borders together on the left and right.

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Pregnancy ticker: 32 weeks, 2 days.
To answer a question from Kathy: No, we still don't know whether BJ ("bundle of joy") is a boy or a girl. A couple of times, I've thought a nurse slipped up (because the answer is in my chart due to an amniocentisis from a few months ago), but then the next will come in and use the opposite pronoun!

Plaited braid on Tudor Purse

I was so glad to read that Mary Corbet of Needle 'N Thread, who executes some gorgeous surface embroidery, has trouble with the plaited braid stitch. I was feeling like a bit of a dunce when this stitch proved so difficult to tension correctly.

After several doodle attempts, making sure I consulted the stitch diagram with each pull of the needle, I finally felt comfortable enough to try the plaited braid on the little leaves at the top of my peapods. The fact that these change in width along their length just made it a bit more difficult!

All in all, I'm pleased. What isn't apparent is how long these took. I'd guess the first leaf took at least an hour (with me still checking the stitch diagram with every movement), and they took about 4 hours in all. Each leaf is only about 1/2 of an inch tall!I've also been able to finish the stitching on the back of the purse, which is an outline of the same design, executed entirely in spangles. I've only got to add some random spangles to the front of the purse, and it will be ready to be assembled! As soon as I'm done with the spangles, I'll post more pictures.
I'm sure some of you are wondering. No, folks, you will NOT get a stitch study on plaited braid from me, at least not until I try it on several more projects. I was very glad to hear that Yvette Stanton will be including detailed instructions on this stitch in her left-handed stitch dictionary. While I'm not left-handed, I look forward to reading her details "About the thread thickness, and about the spacing of the stitches. And about starting off on angles, and things like that." I really hope she makes the instructions for her sweetbag available, too.

On a similar note, I ordered the instructions for Jane Zimmerman's The Art of Elizabethan Embroidery project during her Christmas sale. Goodness only knows when I'll get around to doing it, but I couldn't resist this lovely project!
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Pregnancy ticker: 32 weeks, 1 day.
Getting past 32 weeks is a VERY BIG DEAL in terms of maturity, according to the doctors. While there still might be some complications, most of what needs to happen now is growth. We'll have another check on BJ's size next Wednesday during my next ultrasound.

Happy Dance: stitching on Blueberry Pocket

Hooray! The stitching is done on Blueberry Pocket by Periwinkle Promises. (Thank you, Katrina, for keeping me honest on the designer! I keep mistakenly attributing the wrong one!)

I mentioned in the last post that I was changing the sentiment on the pocket to "My Stitching Gadgets", but I charted out both this and "My Stitching Tools". Somehow I planned to stitch the former, but only left enough room for the latter. Of course, I started at the end, and had "Stitching Gadgets" all stitched before I realized I didn't have room for "My". As a result, I ended up taking it all out and restitching it. (They say that your brain actually does get temporarily smaller with pregnancy, and I keep proving it!) :-)

I think I like "Tools" better than "Gadgets", anyway!

Today I stitched the border that will be used for finishing it into a pocket. MIL is taking it home to iron it and the backing fabric, and I should be able to finish the assembly in the next few days.

Next up: Tudor Purse, from my EGA seminar class with Chris Berry. DH brought it (and my lap stand in yesterday.

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Pregnancy ticker: 31 weeks, 2 days.
Yesterday, we had a bit of a setback, with some of my complications from last month returning. The good news is that BJ seemed ok through it all (based on heartrate monitoring), and things are getting back to normal (a.k.a. boring :-) ) today.

Only a bit more...

... to go on my Blueberry Pocket from Periwinkle Promises.
Thanks for all of the opinions on the lighter green in the center band. I left the old dyelot in the left and right sets of trefoil leaves, and used the new dyelot everywhere else. It turned out that I did run out of two other colors. Thankfully, MIL had some very good substitutes, so I've been able to continue.

Other than running out of colors, I faced a challenge when stitching the satin stitched leaves. The issue was in determining how many strands of silk to use on the diagonal. The instructions called for 2 strands, but that looked bulky and messy. 1 strand looked too sparse. I compromised by using 1 strand, but stitching every other diagonal twice, making sure the strands lay nicely next to each other. I really like the smooth result.

I've decided to change the phrase on the pocket from "Stitching is the berries", since that seems somewhat awkward to me. I've charted " My Stitching Gadgets" to use instead. That's the last thing to be stitched before I put in an outline to be used in finishing. MIL has graciously agreed to take the piece home to iron it so I can actually finish making the pocket.

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Pregnancy ticker: 31 weeks!
Thanks again for all of the encouraging comments. One in particular made me grin. Pierrette asked if I would be working on one of her favorite pieces from among my WIPs: Cinders from Marion Scoular. I replied to her directly, but thought I should share my reply. There's a bit of a problem working some of my larger WIPs on stretcher bars (like My Way, Summer Dream, and Cinders). I'm running out of lap space to flip these large pieces over! :-)

Pocket progress

Thank you to DH for bringing my camera in to the hospital!

Blueberry Pocket is continuing to work up quickly. It's got enough variety to keep it interesting, and I'm enjoying seeing such good progress. Unfortunately, I'm finding that I've run short on one color. Others are possibly going to run out, but I'm trying to be very frugal, so we'll see.

In the wide center band, notice the leaves that aren't filled in and the hexagon shapes in the vine. There wasn't nearly enough thread in the kit to do all of the stitching in these areas. The good news is that DH braved my stash collection and was able to find the same value of silk. The bad news is that the dye lot doesn't really match. You can see the difference between the left-most hexagon and the leaves just above and to the right of it.

I don't even have enough of the original dye lot to finish the three leaves in the center, so I think all of this will have to be frogged. Oh well, it gives me something to do tomorrow when a few of my stitching friends will be visiting!

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Pregnancy ticker: 30 weeks, 4 days.

I'm learning to appreciate small bits of freedom. Yesterday, I took my once-weekly 30-minute wheelchair ride. DH took me down to the lobby, bought a hot chocolate for me, and we sat in the sunshine in a quiet hallway. I was so unused to such bright sunlight that he had to turn the chair away from the windows to keep my eyes from tearing! :-)

On top of that, today the doctors decided I've been stable for long enough, and I'm now allowed to take short walks around the nurse's station in the center of this unit. Small victories are wonderful!

A mini happy dance and a new project

Hooray! Less than a week after it was started, I put the last stitches into the heart I stitched for the ANG cancer center outreach. (Doesn't that sound better than the name I almost gave it - Cancer Heart?) This was a fun little project.

I made quite a bit of progress on my Bargello needlecase during class yesterday. This piece doesn't have a set pattern. Instead, the teacher suggested we take each of the Bargello motifs and arrange them as we like. The original pattern used one color of variegated thread and 5 values of a single color family. I found a variegated, but then pulled two color families from it, so I'm having fun with color and motif placement. For those who wanted less of a challenge, a full size picture was provided, with a grid basted through the design so folks could place their motifs in the same place as in the original. I'm going to continue working on this tonight.

Thanks to all of you for the lovely comments in response to my last post. The internet stitching community is such a wonderful group!

One MAJOR happy dance!

Yesterday's mail brought me the extra threads to finish my Strawberry Purse, designed by Elizabeth Talledo of FingerWork. Thank you, Elizabeth, for a fun project and for the extra thread! This dye lot of green was slightly darker than the original kit thread, but who says all stems on a given strawberry plant are the same shade of green? I like it!

This little happy dance is much more of a celebration than just finishing this bag, though. It marks the end of the first round of my WIP-loss challenge!!!! Here are the 10 "official" finishes since I started the challenge last July:

1. Luck of the Irish by Michele Roberts
   
2. Fantasy Remembered by Luan Callery
   
3. Redwork Mystery Sampler by Gay Ann Rogers
   
4. Traditional Elegance I by Pat Taff / Golden Thread Designs
   
5. Christmas Treat Bag by Shepherd's Bush
   
6. Bead Blanket Sampler by Catherine Strickler / Indigo Rose
   
7. Mimi's Tape Measure by Olde Colonial Designs
8. Treasured Snowflakes & Trees by Mill Hill
9. White-eared Hummingbird by Crossed Wing
   
10. Strawberry Purse by Elizabeth Talledo / Finger Work

Many of these were smaller pieces than I had originally planned to finish, but they're still pieces off of the Work in Progress pile!

Right after I finished the purse yesterday, I wasted no time. I immediately mounted the fabric to begin my new start! It is To the Acorn, an EGA group correspondence course by Pat Krahn. I'll share some progress in the next day or so.

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.

Stitch in today + great customer service

Today I went to a gathering of local stitchers & knitters. Approximately 37 of us gathered in a banquet room at a local hotel for a buffet breakfast and a day of our textile medium of choice. I've attended similar events with the same group before, and we always have a good time.

Since I just finished one project, I brought a few more WIPs with me. I spent a bit of time on a piece that uses Japanese flat silk, until I got completely frustrated with the silk catching on my winter-rough hands.

For a complete change of pace, I pulled out a wool felt project from Elizabeth Talledo of FingerWork / Dames of the Needle. The project is called Strawberry Purse. Prior to today, I had only cut all the pieces of felt to size and put them in place. Today I spent just a few hours on it, and had it all but finished before we left the hotel. It was so much fun! Unfortunately, I ran out of one of the threads in the kit.

Shortly after I returned home, I went to the Dames of the Needle website to find Elizabeth's email address. I sent her a note explaining about running out of thread and asking where I might be able to find more. Within 5 minutes (!), she replied, thanking me for letting her know so she could increase the amount in the kits, and apologizing. She will be sending me extra thread early next week. Bravo, Elizabeth, for great customer service!!! I love when designers care enough to go the extra mile.

Once I receive the thread, it should take me no more than 30 minutes to finish this up. In the meantime, I'll be making cording to attach as a strap. Here's the purse so far.

Received my first exchange piece!

It's so exciting to get a stitched piece in the mail! It's even more exciting to think that the piece was stitched a world away by an Aussie stitcher. Here is the ornament I received from Georgie as part of the Quaker Quarterly Exchange on the Legacy board.

DH says the birds should be upside down since they're from down under. [rolling eyes]

Thanks, Georgie, for the ornament and the few extra goodies! Along with the ornament was a skein of DMC, a couple of Australia postcards, and a tiny bar of fancy bath soap. (This exchange keeps the adage of "Quaker Simplicity", and so keeps the extra stuff to a bare minimum.)

I still haven't heard if my partner received her exchange piece yet, so I'll have to keep you in suspense regarding what I stitched for the exchange!

More progress, and another HD

Isn't vacation great? I've been making a lot of progress on my UFOs.

First, I finished Mimi's Tape Measure from Olde Colonial Designs. Another one down!







A few days ago, I pulled out an old GCC. This is Plum Blossoms by Margaret Kinsey. It is in a Japanese technique called Rozashi, which is stitched on ro fabric, and all stitches are vertical. This ro is 40 holes to the inch horizontally, and about 10 holes/inch vertically. All I have left to finish is the background, but it looks like it's going to take a while!

I started a project for the Quaker Quarterly Exchange on the Legacy board. I can't share pics of this until after the recipient gets it, though. This has to be sent out by January 5th.

On several of the boards, folks are talking about what big projects they're starting over the holidays. I haven't started anything, of course, but I did resurrect Martha Wilkins from The Scarlet Letter. This one has a loooong way to go.

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WIP-loss challenge status: 7 down, 3 to go