Together, separately, the same yet different

My BFF started off our second stitch a long by informing me "I want to be a tree!" which s also part of the title of her blog and as she has posted first this time the link to her blog is at the beginning rather then the end of mine.

So I can can comment on hers here too.  So yes I did tell her that the middle is often a good place to start, but I don' insist on it. It would be a bit hypocritical of me to do so as I do think it depends on the pattern and I have started bottom left, top left, top right and bottom right, all pints of the compass as I felt the pattern needed.  

so she had initially told me she would be starting with the happy little trees, now the pattern has large mid ground trees of which we see trunk and no foliage, mid sized trees seen in full and very small trees blurred and in the background barely seen, so I did wonder what she planned to do. 

I was thinking the big trunks as a good place and a quick test of the question is my material big enough height wise. A quick e-mail exchange and that was also her plan she had just been channelling Bob Ross for the fun of it.

On the evening I started in the middle with on of the colours completed with one strand not two as I wanted to stitch out from the centre to the tree trunk and then start, as you can see from my friends she trusts herself to count over to the starting point.

In a way we were both starting with tree trunks, me on the tiny furthermost trees and she on the big ones. 

I got into the flow with this area changing from the trunks to the foliage (which I miss counted, frogged and re did) and just kept going with it expecting to do brown tree at some point in the evening.

I did get to the point tree was an option, then oh dear , I don't have that shade of thread.  I had not thought to check , I have boxes of the stuff, but apparently not some of the more recent (to me)colours not the dark of the trunk or the light of the trunk and indeed one of the blues.  I am bereft of 3800's.

So I just kept on with the single strand trees.

now if we were working on the same stitch count (mine is 18 count BFF is using 14 count as per the pattern recommendation) and the same colour then the two would fit together as I have a gap to the left of the section in progress right where her tree goes.

We were getting so comfortably into this (even with the frog) we are already talking about what to do once this is finish, which given it is weather permitting to be alternated with walks will take twice the time to do.  This time, well next time we are thinking of setting ourselves a theme and not restricting to stitching the same pattern.  My BFF feels I should pick something that takes a bit longer as I sew faster (I unpick faster too, lots of practice). So in the not sewing time we can be pattern hunting.

What theme, well its a multi theme at the moment till we see what we can come up with, so we have Umbrellas (as they are company for our walks both past and future) poppies, if you have visited with me before you know I like poppies. BFF says she has lots of poppy patterns from magazines, cos I would not let her throw them away and last but not least frogs and toads and the why for that is for my friend to tell if they do become the thing.

Of course if anyone knows of a pattern with all of them combined we would love to know about it (can't guarantee it would get stitched but it would be interesting all the same.

Ice Blue Aida!

is the material called for with the Bluebell pattern chosen for the next in tandem project my BFF and I are calling our lock down stitch a long. Just on the basis that we are doing the same pattern at the same time and stitching along together via Skype. This will be project number two.

And it calls for a coloured Aida.  Blue, ICE Blue 14 count  by Zweigart to be exact.  In this instance exact is not going to happen on several points.

I don't have that fabric in my stash, buying it especially for this project does not fit in with my parsimonious nature as any to buy would be in bits way bigger than I need and given it would be order via the post not guaranteed to arrive on time.

I did recall having some blue 14 count in the stash but had a feeling it would be a bit too blue, judging by the picture of the finished piece in the mag this Ice blue is a very very pale shade of blue indeed.

The in one of her blogs Jo over at serendipitous stitching mentioned painting Aida with acrylic paint, oh that there is a thought, paint some white the shade I need.  Look it up on the internet and ah! it apparently needs a medium to do that. (Not someone that contacts the dead, a painting medium especially for fabric) and we come back to the parsimonious problem and the timescale.  The fabric medium came in rather large containers (well for what I wanted, the stitching area is only 97 by 70) and again for a "try it and see" I felt the cost was not merited and there was the ordering and waiting.

Disappointed I mulled a bit then recalled I have some silk paints, somewhere safe? Mind that was not all that appealing for some reason.  Then the light bulb went on, I have fabric dye pens, but again the shades would be a bit too intense.  Perhaps if I coloured the fabric and rinsed before setting with heat some of the colour would stay put and I would get the light shade I wanted.

A bit more mulling and I decided on a double test. 

1 a small piece (and I do mean small, I keep small, I use small (click to see how small) with the three shades of blue drawn on to it to see how well the "fade" would work.

2 a slightly larger piece of white just popped into the water with piece 1 to see if it would take up enough of the dye bleeding into the water to colour it.

Her are the bits soaking. 

So here is a picture of the pattern illustration, with the big bit of blue I had (too blue really very too blue) and with the result of test option 2.

Looks a bit too pale the tester, but still closer than the stash fabric. 

It was hard to tell if it had taken any colour until you put it next to white..

I had every intention of checking the frame stash for something suitable and deciding on the count to use based on the frames aperture. Notice past tense, I got carried away with the dye process and all in a hurry I cut a bit of 18 count white and popped it in to the blue water, unsure if there was enough colour left in the water and needing a bit more water to cover this, I applied more dye pen to the strip of test Aida and put it back in.

This has resulted in a slightly deeper blue shade on the fabric for the project and a much deeper shade on the test strip.

So here is my home dyed "Ice Blue" for the project. It is a bit more turquoise in its blueness than the picture suggests, a bit warmer but I am happy to give it a go.

I did ask my BFF if she would like to give this a try, but she felt that she had a shade of blue in her stash that she could live with for the project and that would keep things simple and it is always nice to use stash, especially the coloured stuff bought in packs that you wonder "what will I do on that!"

So whilst same pattern at the same time we will again be stitching on different coloured Aida and this time round I think we will be on different counts too. Hopefully that will be interesting.

Of course this has also opened up a whole new set of options for the cross stitch, I have at least 20 shades of fabric marker in the pen format.  Mind I am quite happy with the blue, I have in the back of my mind that there is a pattern of corn, poppies and a field mouse I quite liked the thought of but it was on a blue I did not have....hmm more mulling over ahead I think.

It might be nice to start a new pattern for me that is not as complicated as my ongoing Teresa Wentzler, or perhaps it is time to tune back to the three angels (embroidery no cross stitch) time will tell.  

Here is a link to my BFF's blog life outside the washingbasket

Diamond Dragon ?

more stuck on but this was a session of rote not fun, of course that may be where my head was at whilst doing it rather than the project.

Or that odd thing that as you get some sections filled in rather than seeing how much is done what strikes you is how much is still left to go.

Oh and there is the symbol issue why do B next to 8  particularly when it is a coloured pattern and the shades are close to each other.

Socially distanced walk and what next

In my (our if you are popping over to my BFF's blog too) last update on our stitch along it was noted this week there would be a change.  No stitching but an in person get together and a walking chat, weather permitting.

Well the weather was looking reasonable (for that read not wet) so we had our plans in place, indeed I also had a plan B, clear plastic umbrellas, just in case.

So we walked and we talked and we talked and we walked, after two hours my joints were noting there had been much more walking than talking in their opinion. Not the case just my "walking" muscles have had less practice lately than my talking ones.

So within the talking we firmed up our next in tandem project, I had mentioned before that for ease we had looked for a pattern we would both already have and as the book options were not acceptable to both that we were looking to the patterns in a magazine we both certainly had.

Why did we both have it, because of the letter pages, one page in particular, well one letter and its accompanying photograph. Normally with magazines at some point we pull them apart and just keep the patterns we like or think might come in handy. But this particular issue we had hunted down to have a copy.

It has featured on my blog before (Click here for link to full post) .  So you can see why we both had it.

The cover kit was a long ago already completed item for both of us so that was out of the running (I did not bother with the beads, you just know I still have then waiting for a suitable project) 

I quite liked the costumed dolls but not BFFs taste, fair enough I had vetoed just about all of the stuff in books before we got this far.  Then we hit on the one to try. Bluebell wood by Joanne Sanderson. Not too big not too small and it would be the first time of using a variegated thread in a cross stitch (I have of course used it before lots-of-little-knots) so it would be a something new.

I anticipate a separate post on preparing to start this project before the actual made a start post, not quite ready for that just yet however, I can say it looks like the variegated thread won't be the only new thing for this project.

Now as I post this my friend does not have her update done so I can't link you to it, but as soon as that changes I will add in the link.

Here it is, The Link to BFF blog

Lock down SAL a finish

So I added a fine gold braid around the edge and not as intend buttons, what you say after mu post about the button tin, no buttons!

Well I don't just keep buttons in there, hooks and eyes and spare fancy bits for clothes and in this case apparently to gold beads of just the right size for the middles of my project.

As you can see I formed the braid into a loop as I have decided that this will be a Christmas ornament and it will join the other Christmas stitches.

It took me longer than I had anticipated, indeed I finished with only 15 mins left of our designated stitching time.  I don't mind, it was leisurely sewing, not too much chatting as my BFF was concentrating hard, that being said you may be wondering how stitching it up the right way went for my BFF, and what she intends for her Tulip biscornu by Durene Jones ( link to pattern location on Facebook.)   Follow this link to my BFF's blog and see .BLOG LINK (now this is a blog link not a post link today.

Now I must admit I was not sure about this project, what I would do with it when finished, but it was something different to try. Having done it, well I would not rule out doing another one, yet neither am I suddenly scouring the internet for further patterns.

Well at least you know our next BFF SAL won't be another biscornu.

(by the way I looked up biscornu and according to that much used online Font of all knowledge and I quote.

  "The name is derived from the French adjective, biscornu, meaning skewed, quirky or irregular.

Mathematically, two squares joined together in the pattern of a biscornu will form the boundary of a unique convex polyhedron, by Alexandrov's uniqueness theorem.^[3] In the case of a biscornu, this polyhedron is a flattened square antiprism, with ten faces: two smaller squares (diagonally inset into the squares from which the shape is formed) and eight isosceles right triangles (the corners of its original squares) around the sides. However an actual biscornu will have a somewhat more rounded shape than this polyhedron."

Well there you go I am impressed with myself  for creating a slightly rounded flattened square antiprism, and I though I got some funny looks saying I was sewing a biscornu, wait till I say I made a square antiprism!

More little tiny faceted tiles

and discovering the annoyance of realising that a given tile is not as squarely in its place as I thought.  Mind the sticky stuff is still sticky  not set so they can be shoved and pushed about.

                                                                  So here is my progress

     I am still working on the principal of completing one colour at a time as it is easier to see that way.

The Button Tin

this is a post that has been rolling around in the back of my mind and has almost been part of a couple of previous posts where buttons for eyes or other little additions were mentioned, yet it always felt like it should have its own post.

The button tin or jar is a bit like the sewing equivalent of sour dough for me. A living thing that you both take from and feed to keep it going.  A really good one is generational and evolves. It is a starting point  for many things and a repository of memories.

The contents, a combination of buttons removed from worn out clothing, the spare buttons that come with new items but were never needed, those bought new but not needed and buttons from jumble sale items bought for pennies and just for the buttons.  And in my case, inherited from my grandmother, aunt and combined with my mothers.

Oh and as suggested by the title, in my family the container is traditionally a tin, a biscuit tin. Not that somewhat iconic Danish biscuit tin so oft used for sewing notions. So the collection needs two tins due to it growing.

This is tin one, the tin my mother left home with, with a starter of contents from my grandmothers tin (or maybe it was my grandfather's, I recall he did more of the sewing ).

It is very pretty don't you think?

For a long time this was the button tin in my life, as a child it was a rainy day toy, parades of buttons, mosaic patterns on the floor, oddly I never did string them as I see others doing on TV shows, in films or read about.

For a time it was partnered with a big jar that white buttons went into.

Buttons went into the jar or tin, left , some did both more than once. 

A recent Christmas gift resulted in the retirement of the jar and a second button tin.  I think it is also vey decorative but makes no secret of its original purpose. 

There was also a bit of stringing, not sadly as a necklace or a counting aid, I am a bit too old for that now, but gathering together sets of matching buttons to make button hunting easier.

My recent SAl project with my BFF brought the subject of the button tin to the fore and my BFF shocked me that she does not have a button tin! She has a few buttons, here and there but no dedicated tin! Stunned, we talked about it and laughed over the oft seen Danish cookie tin meme and I discovered she is rather partial to them.  All these years as friends and still things to discover. So as she likes those biscuits, double win say I put it on your Christmas list.  However she is not locked to the tin idea and feels utilising one of her many pretty boxes would be more her thing.  Maybe after her house move.

Buying things at jumble sales just for the buttons is a thing of the past, so my tins are fed less often than they used to be, occasionally a trip to the charity shop  looking for something not in my tin means buying a job lot and adds to the contents.  Mind some boutique style charity shops display the buttons prettily then charge as much as if not more for them as buying new.

I do hope that my tins will continue to be living things full of memories and inspiration.

Lockdown stitch along..sewing up time

time to take two cross stitched squares and turn them into a biscornu.  Here is maybe a point at which the mental link to my other hobbies maybe caused a little issue. 

As the way to do this would be face to face and then turn it out (or bagged out) I have done it with various previous projects like the Dolly Bag for my friends wedding of the tail for Giles Gentlemouse's tale.

Of course this is stiffer stuff.

So corner of one square to middle of the other, face to face

It is a bit strange looking

Pulling it through, turning it out, well that was an interesting experience to put it mildly, small space stiff material.  During my vocalisation of the difficulty of the process and wondering a bit too late if the turn out was the way to go my BFF noted she recalled there being some directions (Id only printed out the pattern and she thought it was for turning.

As I battled away (small space stiff material) she read the directions out, twice and turning out was not part of them....ah well just as I was thinking I would have to take the stiches out and start again it decided to finally cooperate and out it turned.  That was a relief.

Time to stuff it, at this point the quilting scraps come in handy, little bits of wadding  trimmed from edges of quilts after quilting and before binding are perfect for stuffing.  My BFF was of the opinion that it would not take much given all of the seam material already on the inside.  It took quite a bit of stuffing.  Then stitched it closed.

I am contemplating couching cord around the edge over the join and perhaps adding a hanging loop.  Buttons as well I need to sort out buttons.

Link to Bff's post  to see her progress

Next week may see a finish 

A little update

I put the initials into the little book and am reasonably pleased with how it turned out. It will be a little while yet before it can be gifted to the intended recipient.

Inspired by

well I can't really say that I followed the pattern . I had intended to follow the pattern but having made a very silly mistake, (no I am not telling what the silly mistake was) I had to do some redesigning.

So this is on blue sheeting (yup sheet) left over from sashing my sampler quilt and not going to be made into a bonnet for |Sue.

I worked out the stitch count (over two) by stitching an inch and then counting the stitches, it was about 30 to the inch.

So here it is in the inner ring of my three inch hoop.

Hope fully the initials are clear, the intent is to put this into book that came from Cross Stitch Crazy  and gift it to, well the person with those initials.

I will update once it is in the book, ok and this is the book the pattern inspiration came from using the alphabet on the front near the bottom, I changed the colours to go better with the t

little book it is supposed to go into.

Lockdown Sal...what a difference

the back stitch makes.  All those greens that made no sense, hiding under all those backstitching lines suddenly come together and wow! Yes that's what drew me to this pattern.

Now as I was getting closer and closer to having the decorative part of the stitching finished my BFF asked if I would be looking at buttons, not yet was my reply as the two parts need bringing together and the stuffing added before the buttons.

Still the question lead to a discussion about the requirements of a button tin, preferably a repurposed tin (that was my stance) with a very tightly fitting lid, or maybe a bug jar with a screw on lid (or in my case, both!) that live in a cupboard nice and safe.  OR my friend feels that she has lots of pretty boxes that could be button receptacles once she has consolidated the buttons she has hear and there.

Yes I was shocked too, she does not have a button tin! 

So to see her progress from this session pop on over to her blog Link here