Stitching To Go

I'll be leaving my husband alone on the home front when I leave for my annual religious retreat Sunday night   I will provide him with sustenance by cooking a pot roast tomorrow and, perhaps, frying up some breaded chicken cutlets for a little variety.  In the meantime,  I have already packed my clothing, toiletries and diabetic friendly food stuffs so I don't crash on the carb heavy food served at this retreat house.

Now comes the fun stuff: picking out the stitching to carry with me!

I have decided to take:

The Woodland Angel Stocking: braid and beading yet to stitch

The Frame Shop: need to start this November goal piece

By the Light of the Moon: A Primitive Needle piece started on Halloween that I'd like to finish this month

Halloween > Thanksgiving

I took my Halloween ornaments down and put up the Thanksgiving ones.  Here are three shots from three different angles: the better to see all the ornaments.  I could probably use 5 or 6 more ornaments to give my tree a nice full appearance.  I'll be browsing through my binders to see what I can find that's appropriate.  I have a Prairie Schooler Year Round chart that will likely have something appropriate and a few complimentary chart downloads that might work as well.  I like to stitch Thanksgiving stuff during the week leading up to the day and during the long weekend following.

In the Pink

My Woodland Angel now has a face.  But before I started on the gold braid and bead work, I thought I gave the piece a spin in the delicate cycle.  I have been working on this piece since August 2012.  Although I am meticulous about hand washing while stitching, I do want to freshen the piece up a bit before embellishing and finishing.

As I near the finish of Liam's stocking, I look to the start of Piper's.  Now, my four year old granddaughter is the diva of all things pink and girly.  She has been known to well up in tears when things in her world aren't pink ... and I am talking about things like ferry boats, not dresses or headbands.   Even at this early stage, she is decidedly girly ... she accessorizes every outfit with play jewelry, prefers ruffles to plain, gravitates toward skirts that are "twirly", eschews pajamas in favor of nightgowns.  I could go on but I think you get the picture.  In short, she is a continual source of mystery to her grandmother who wouldn't be caught dead in pink and prefers clean lines to frills, comfort to fussy display, simplicity to elaborate embellishment.  

So making this little one's Christmas stocking is going to require stepping out of my comfort zone and trying to find hers.  I was gifted many years ago with a Dimensions Gold kit of a medieval maiden in the woods.   It came with Aida cloth and floss.  The person who gave it to me is a very good non-stitching friend and was trying to find the perfect gift.  I thanked her enthusiastically but, in my linen snobbery and I-have-graduated-from-kits arrogance, I buried the kit in the bottom drawer of the sewing center.  Ironically, this kit is going to be a major pain in the anatomy.  But I couldn't bring myself to discard the gift because it came from someone I care about deeply.  Several years later, Piper was born.  Still later, I decided to make stockings for the grandchildren, by then three in number.  It seems my friend's gift was positively prophetic.  This fairy tale princess-like woodland maiden will be perfect for Piper's stocking.  There are a few glitches, though.   Having finally opened up the kit, I was appalled not to find the DMC equivalents in the symbols charts.  I am not particularly impressed by the floss included: it feels very coarse.  Before I can even start.  I am going to have to pull out my DMC color chart and compare some sixty or so flosses and come up with the numbers myself.   Then, as you can see by the photo, the maiden is charted wearing a white skirt with an elaborate  blue-green overdress instead of pink clothing.  I plan to keep the blue green overdress and rework the underskirt in shades of pink with the darkest shade in the skirt being the same shade as the flowers in the over dress.  This will keep the Christmas-y green-gold-red colorway intact.  After all, I am stitching this as a Christmas stocking.  And, due to the size of the piece, I shall have to stitch the entire thing over one in order to make it fit my stocking template.  One thing I am extremely grateful for: the woodland maiden is oriented in the right direction.  So far all my stockings have toes pointing left and, thank all the angels and the saints, the train of the woodland maiden's dress points to the left as well.  I know I keep calling this piece a Woodland Maiden and the chart is actually entitled a Woodland Enchantress.  But enchantresses, or sorceresses, just don't seem very Christmas-y ... hence the name change.  That is my story and I am sticking to it.

My pink conversion is noted below.
white > 225
3753 > 224
312 > 223
334 > 152
322 > 315
3842/744 > 300

I may be refining this conversion when I get to the actual stitching.  I may even test this all out on a doodle cloth before stitching the area on the stocking.  I've done many conversions on past projects but this project is special.  I want it to be come a treasured heirloom so it's important to me to get it right.

Liam

I am at the over one phase of the stocking now.  The stocking is properly labelled with my grandson's name, as you can see in this photo.  Soon the angel will have a face.  I've already begun the work on that.  Then it is just the washing, the embellishing with metallics and beads.  Coming close to the end of this project is bittersweet.  The project itself has been such a joy.

If it weren't for the fact that I will soon be starting a very similar stocking for my granddaughter Piper, I'd be very sad indeed!  This will be the first Gold Dimensions chart I have ever used and I am telling you right now that I really don't like the layout of the chart and symbols tables.  I am also not impressed with the floss included in the package.  Converting all those shades to DMC and making up a new symbols chart before starting is going to be one major pain in the anatomy.  Then, there is the conversion of blue robes to pink ... but more on that in a later post.  But the biggest hurdle will probably be the necessity of stitching the whole project over one in order to reduce the design to fit on a stocking.  At least, this next project will keep me challenged and interested.  It is not a Teresa Wentzler but it will have its own set of complexities!

Happy Halloween

Here's the annual photo of my Halloween table top tree.  There are a few new ornaments added since last year: note the two Stitcher's Hideaway pieces toward the front.  I particularly like the witch's hat.  I enjoy making oddly shaped ornaments; circles, squares and rectangles can get so boring after awhile.

Next year, I believe I'll have to purchase a larger tree.  I have five stitched but not sewn ornaments on my sewing table and another one in the spring tension hoop.  I think I'll look for one of those spooky bare branch trees though I am hoping I can find one in wrought iron rather than wood or, worse yet, plastic.

Now for the treat part of the program:

I promised I would announce the winners of the chart giveaway and here they are:
Chart #1: Lavender Wings' Santa's Helper [8 contestants].  Donna won this chart.
Chart #2: Calico Crossroads' Share Your Heart Stocking [2 contestants].  Julie is the winner.
Chart #3: GPA's #1 Cottage stocking.[1 contestant]. Pinwheel gets this one.
Chart #4: Rosewood Manor's Snowflake Tree [1 contestant]  Pam gets this one.
Chart #5: Beary Merry Christmas 2013 ornament [2 contestants]  Rossana is the winner
Chart #6: Lavender Wings' Stacked Pumpkins [6 contestants]  Tina gets this chart.

I will be e-mailing the winners to get mailing addresses sometime after work today or on my day off tomorrow.  Congratulations to the winners and thanks to all who participated in my little giveaway.  The next giveaway will come sometime in November, whenever I reach my 1,000th post.  It'll be for a $25 gift certificate to 123stitch.  November is another of those "post every day" months.  Depending on whether I manage to do so, the giveaway could come as early as 11/14 but will be later more likely.  I don't believe posting everyday will be an option while I am away on retreat.

Assessing October Goals, Setting November Goals

I had decided to pare down my goals during October down to a mere two:

OCTOBER GOALS:

BAPs: Continue to concentrate on TWs Woodland Angel Christmas Stocking.  I am really quite pleased with my progress on this piece.  Except for the over-one face stitching and the embellishments, the body of the stocking is done.  The Celtic knotwotk border is done and the name is started.

Class Project: Pre-work on Victoria Sampler's Mystic Christmas Sampler.  Well, the pre-work did get done, though not before class.  I even managed to stitch a bit more, namely: the assignment for the first morning's class.  Although other participants went home with a nearly completed project, I still have quite a ways to go.  Still, I am happy with it.
Some Off Goal Stitching:  Having been bitten by the Seasonal Stitching Bug, I started Peg Bowen's Columbus Day on the appropriate day and finished it up before the end of the month.  Shortly after started Columbus Day, I was casting about for something to stitch on the road trip to Mystic and chose a charming little primitive Halloween piece from Plum Street Sampler which I managed to finish before the 31st.   And then, because I had silks in a Halloween colorway out anyway, I picked up Not Forgotten Farms' Rotted But Not Forgotted and finished stitching that as well.

NOVEMBER GOALS: Since I am really quite close to finishing Liam's stocking, I think I'll expand my reach a bit and attempt to reach four modest goals this month.

BAPS: Finish the stitching and the sewing assembly of Teresa Wentzler's The Woodland Angel Stocking.  If possible, start Piper's stocking.

Class Project:  Resume work on Mystic Smalls

Town Square SAL: Stitch The Framing Shop.  Assemble the Fiber Shop and the Framing Shop ornaments.

WIPs: Resume work on the English Band Sampler.

I seem to have recovered my stitching momentum.  So, I shall take advantage of this development to work on a few more projects than last month.  It would be soooo nice to add a few more stitching finishes to my paltry sidebar list of 2013 finishes.    When I started blogging just six years ago, I averaged about 70-80 finishes a year.  Of course, many were smaller and simpler pieces than I am tackling now but still ... I find I wax nostalgic for the big numbers.

Now, I know that stitching should be a pleasure not a contest or a numbers game.  But once an A-type personality, always an A-type personality.  I can't help myself: I just keep competing with my past self, goading my future self to exceed the most outrageously unrealistic expectations conjured by my present self.

Random Stuff

I got the Not Forgotten Farms' ornament done at lunchtime today.  It is a lot more colorful than originally charted but I like it that way.  The deep red and the yellow gold give it just enough autumnal pop.  The black and green and grey are still suitably funereal for Halloween.  It seems a perfect marriage of bright and dark.  I may turn this into a flat ornament for my own Halloween tree or for an exchange.  I wasn't particularly attracted to this chart at first ... the English teacher in me was not too pleased with the forgotted bit.  I had seriously considered changing the wording to Rotten but not Forgotten, but that would have destroyed the primitive whimsy of the ornament.

Then I did a quick shift back to the Celtic knot work border on the Woodland Angel stocking.  Here is a  shot of recent progress.  I was only able to devote an hour to this after work.  I did manage to do the back stitching of the knot work I had already stitched and then continue with the border till I turned the corner.  While this section is very clearly charted, I find I have to stitch slowly and carefully to make sure all the quarter stitches are neatly and correctly placed.  Given my slowed down pace, I figure it will take another 2-3 hours of serious stitching to finish the border.  Still, I am getting close to a finish.  I am almost tempted to draw the process out a little longer.  This has been such a wonderful piece to stitch, I hate to be done with it.  On the other hand, I have to sew it up, trim it, stuff it and mail it to the West Coast.  So perhaps, I'd better keep the momentum going.

However, I think I'll steal the time to stitch one more Halloween ornament, Primitive Needle's By the Light of the Moon, before the month is done. I'll use that piece of purple linen on which I stitched two other Halloween ornaments earlier this month.  The deep purple will make a suitably spooky night sky background for the piece.  I don't think I am quite over my Seasonal Stitching Disorder yet!

In mid November, I'll be going on another retreat: this one will be a spiritual retreat instead of a stitching retreat, though.  Even so, I always pack a few stitching projects to work on in my down time - I can't stay on the psyche's equivalent of mountain tops all the day long - too intense for a mere mortal like myself.  I'm already thinking about what I will take along.  Certainly the Woodland Angel Christmas Stocking, if it is not finished by then.  Also, The English Band Sampler.  But I will also want something small:  I am close to a finish on my Fertile Circles Needlebook or I could work on my older son's Name Tree ornament.  Then, there is The Framing Shop from the Town Square SAL to be considered if I haven't finished it by the time I leave for the monastery.  But there is also the lure of all the new items brought home from Mystic as well as a few charts  given to me as anniversary gifts by my husband that are calling my name rather insistently.  It's just a Sunday evening into Tuesday morning, so I'll only need stitching for two nights.  But if I run true to form, I'll pack more stitching than clothes.

One More Halloween Ornament

As long as I had the Perfect Palette silks out for the Plum Street Sampler Halloween challenge piece, I thought I'd use them on the Not Forgotten Farms ornament from the JCS 2012 Halloween special issue.  I started this ornament only this morning and stitched on it intermittently throughout the day.  I am quite pleased with my progress since the piece is very nearly done.  Obviously I changed the color scheme somewhat to use the silks left over from my Primitive Needle sampler.  I'll be using the deep red for the remaining circles and for the flowers at the top of the vines as well as for the floral motif across the bottom.  I'll use a silver grey to fill in the wings and skull and a pale yellow orange to fill in the trapezoid shape at the top.  Otherwise, I stuck with  black and green where originally charted ... though not the exact black and green called for.  It is stitching up quickly and should be finished by tomorrow evening.

A Few October Smalls

I know these weren't on my monthly goals but I seem to have caught a touch of Seasonal Stitching Disorder from Sue Donnelly at the recent Stitcher's Hideaway.  Now, ordinarily, I have no problem stitching Christmas items in February, Easter designs in November or a St. Patrick's Day project in July, but somehow this month I had to stitch something appropriate to October.  I don't know why.  Just a whim, I guess!

This first piece is a small Columbus Day design, shared with me by a stitching friend, Peggy Bowe, who designed it for a feisty little old Italian woman who declared that a certain seasonal series Peg had stitched for her was incomplete because it didn't include a Columbus Day piece.  Being as accommodating as she is talented, Peg designed and stitched one.  She has since shared it with friends she knows to be of Italian descent.  I'll be very happy to be able to add this to my basket of smalls once I finish it as a small pin pillow.  Happily enough, I actually started stitching this on Columbus Day.

And the second piece will serve as my annual Halloween piece for 2013.  It is a challenge piece from Plum Street Samplers but I didn't participate in the challenge having missed the deadline.  I used some 14ct banding in eggshell trimmed in a muted green that has been kicking around in my stash for a while.  I paired the banding with Perfect Palette & Needlepoint Inc Silks Inc. left over from a Primitive Needle Project.  And instead of stitching the number 13 or 31, I attached a small sterling witch charm in the semi-circle.  I also replaced some of the stitches in the border with beads.  I will finish it as a small Treat bag that I will use for one of my grandchildren next year.

After all, I couldn't let October pass completely by without stitching something autumnal!

More About the Stitcher's Hideaway

One of my favorite things about the Stitcher's Hideaway is the final night's festivities culminating in a Show & Tell.  There is always such an amazing variety of projects to view when stitchers get together.  One woman displayed four etuis: one shaped like a church with a steeple, two more in a more conventional box shape and one stitcher's pocket.  A mother daughter pair displayed their own interpretations of Thea's carousel pin cushion.  There was lots of hardanger and even a quilt and some knitting.  Plenty of samplers and even a few Teresa Wentzler pieces.  It was great fun to see what other folks were working on.  These are just a few photos of some of the lovely projects displayed.