No time for a portrait ?

how about a dragon?

A visiting missionary got his eye on Nantucket Rose and thinking it a painting asked, pointing at the cross stitch, if he sat still would I do one of him.

After some explaining (which was made difficult as the gentleman in question speaks a limited amount of English and I speak no Marshallese) that  a cross stitch portrait was definitely not possible I asked what he might otherwise like.  He said a dragon, that was a surprise, then again maybe the various dragons displayed in the room may have given him the idea.  Then he noted that I had two weeks to do it as he expected to be moving on soon.

This is what I made, just a small dragon with the Missionaries initial (surname) and hopefully it will eventually go home with him to the Marshal Islands.

Little dragon

I tried to find something I could write in the card in Marshallese.  That was more difficult than I had anticipated. I found some single words however, word combinations appear to alter meanings.

I was rather wary of using something without confirmation it was going to say what I meant it to say.

I took the risk and used what I hope were the words for hello/goodbye and friend.

yokwe and motta.

I may never know if I got it right .

Joanne P 's question below noted I forgot to say where this design came from, it is from the same book as the witch I made for 2015's  Halloween Blog Hop.  the designer is Barbara Sesock.

He was right about his moving on I understand Halifax will be aiding him with his endeavours to speak English.

Sunday stitching update for today

It is just as well I am still filling in with the lightest of the grey shades.  Today, I was feeling rather tired, anything more complicated would have been beyond me.  However, I needed the stitching more than ever, not just to keep me focused but to keep me awake.  That is no comment on the quality of today's talks, just on how overtired I was.

Graduation Lion

Graduation Lion

Moving on from The Engagement and The Wedding, this is a composite from two photographs of my friend, his wife and their daughter.

One of the traditional places for graduating students from his university to have pictures taken on the Big Day (other than in front of The Royal Albert Hall were the ceremony takes place) sitting on one of lion statues in the quad. 

We had to wait for a lion to be free (and the other lion to be briefly unoccupied) to get the pictures and with others waiting, the time for posing was limited.  Therefore the good shot with my friend and his wife was not a good one with their daughter and vise versa.  So I put the two together.

The angle of the picture did make my friends foot look a bit bigger than it really is, just a bit bigger mind you.

This picture does not do the lion justice.  This square saw the introduction of padding into the design. And now there were three squares. 

   

Sunday Stitchings, Valentines Day

Oh how relaxing filling in with the light grey,

 felt like I got a lot done today.

If you would like something with a bit more of a valentine day theme see the post below.

Click on the link

and sweetheart hopping go.

Secret Stitching Sweetheart Blog Hop 2016

Welcome to this fun blog hop hosted by serendipitous stitching

The basic surmise is each blogger sends a stitch to Joe, she shuffles them all up and we each receive one, post it and then go hoping to see where our own has surfaced.

So this is the Valentines delight I have been sent this year (just the picture mind don't get too excited for me).  I wonder who sent it and how soon they will find I am the recipient. Hopefully they will be able to leave a comment (Regretfully I still have not the most comment friendly blog). I like the little mirrors stitched to this, something to add to my "to do" list.

My own contribution, be it where it may, reflects the colour friends bring to the grey days of our lives.

So use the link at the top of the page and find the list of all the participants and have a heart warming hop around, you may find a new place to make regular visits.





See if you can  guess which one is mine while you are checking them all out.

Stitching Sunshine

I started this in February 2007.  You will note that is a bit more precise than some start dates I have given here.  I would work on it for ten or fifteen minutes in the morning before my lift to the training for my new job. Been in said new job several years now.

The bright sunny and cheerful colours were a great start to my day.  I sort of remember the mornings being quite bright too, which is unusual for that time of year here..perhaps the fine weather leaked out of the sewing?

You will note this image includes a lighthouse, a recurring theme in my work apparently.

Still looking for just the right frame

Sunday Stitchings the final grey begins

Yeah! Medium grey finished and onto the light grey.  This shade is going to be a workhorse of the pattern, filling lots of the currently empty spaces.  I have been looking forward to the relaxing feeling of "filling in".

I was thinking today about the effect restricting my sewing to a set day and time has had on the way I approach it.  I look forward to that time, I am eager to work on the pattern and see how much it will grow.  Now this is on a pattern that I would not say is exactly to my taste, it just happened to be there.

Contrast that with a project that I bought because I like the image, that I want to do but took me ages to start for just that reason, it was for me.  I had thought making it the item for the IHSW I would make progress working on it at least once a month.  That has not worked, I wonder if I told myself I was only allowed to work on it once a month  rather than I should it would make any
difference to how much actually gets done?( link to my last update on that much delayed project)

I have a friend who has hit a similar sticking point with just a section of background (sand) on a long team project.  My job has been regular "is it done yet" questioning (oh and washing it once as a mark had produced, why bother finishing feelings, the mark came out) anyway I wonder if an approach of you can only work on it when or for restriction would work any better.

The Wedding

In my previous post on this topic (The Engagement) I said that I had wedding photographs and a new idea what the end product of the blocks  was going to be, a quilt with lots of picture squares.

It took a little thinking to pick the right image from the wedding, I just wanted the couple in the shot. I had been a proper "woman in a hat" at the wedding and made sure I got my photos instead of being the ultra polite guest with hurried out of frame shots.

There are a few bits in this one I was particularly pleased with that won't show as well in the picture. A tiny bit of metallic gold for the wedding ring, the flowers, the little bride and groom on the cake and the veil.

The Wedding

I was a little less pleased with the side of the brides face where the satin stitching holding down the edge had to be a bit thicker than I would have liked.

So what life event would next make it onto a block? The answer will be on the next post about this project.

More technical wizzadry

on the blog, not on the sewing that is.(but if you did want a wizard then click on the link WIZARD Finally got round to adding flag counter. Sadly it can only start counting from today so all the previous interesting places people are from, when popping by to say hello won't show.  I guess I have to start somewhere.

Back to the sewing and I have had a moment of magic. Quilting rows of leaves, five rows, four leaves to a row and with 10 completed it dawns on me that there won't be enough of the thread I am using..oh no.  It was stash thread so no idea about getting more.

Now if I just had enough to do two more leaves (thereby finishing the middle three rows) then changing to a different shade would be less of a problem.

Find some thread that is a close match, in such a lunch half hour rush don't look at it properly and I have machine embroidery thread which is not strong enough for hand quilting, stuck again.

Quilting night at Church, mention my dilemma to my BFF, she asked the colour and produces some thread a half shade darker...yeah! I can get on with things.

So back to the quilt and something (ok probably my parsimonious nature kicking in again) says if you are going to have to mix up the threads might as well use the bit of the original up first.  You just know what is coming don't you?

Had enough of the first thread to finish the leaf I was doing and move onto and complete the other two.  Result!

The thread from my friend will complete the last eight which sit top and bottom of the quilt.  Whilst I am reasonably sure that the difference between the two colours is so slight most won't notice I am still delighted with my magically increased thread.