I put some green stitches in and then I took them out, in out in out...
Although the camera is telling a slight fib as the roses look more purple and less red in reality.
Click Here to see what is making my BFF feel like James Dean.
I have been working the pale blue half stitches however, today I felt like something a bit more relaxing so I did some of the fill sections that the pale blue had outlined.
It was very pleasant and made such a difference, the progress is much more visible here.
Thank you for visiting and if you can leave a comment that would be appreciated. Posts always look lonely without them.
I have always liked the effect of this pattern and the way it can be used to emphasise the patterned pieces.
It always looked rather fiddly, and I was not sure what I might use.
Then along came TEMU and pretty sets of pre-cuts that sort of floated into my basket.
I got a few sets of pink, because they were on the offer so very reasonably priced. I tend to use the mental check mark of would I buy it at that price if I saw it in a charity shop? And if I answer yes then I get it.
I was fairly sure that my very local fabric supplier (in the instance AKA the stash in the loft) had some black and some shade of grey. Indeed that was the case. So following some simple instructions but measuring to the pre-cut blocks I gave it a go.
It turned out to be less difficult that I had anticipated and even with my interpretation of a straight line I think it produced the desired optical illusion of the pink blocks floating above the grey.
It will join the blue Flimsy waiting for the next stage to becoming a quilt. And would I make this design again? Well I think so, and maybe sooner rather than later as there were a few pre-cuts that made there way into that virtual basket. I could even be tempted to cut up some of my fancy material that has been waiting for the right pattern to show it off, although that might wait till the next question receives an answer.
How to quilt them, well that still requires some contemplation. I shall bask in getting this far successfully for a little bit first.
As you may have noticed from the last BFF post I had the threads on a card last week but not grouped.
We had a few moments discussing which was dark and which was light. Mainly because the darkest shades are for backstitch only and the palest of the shades on each (green and purple) are so pale as to be tinted greys.
Once we had that figured out we made a start, and as usual we each went our own way.
CLICK HERE to see my BFF's progress.
It was funny but until she pointed it out I had not occurred to me that the pattern we have picked is once again by Durene Jones. She does appear to create patterns we both agree on.
that I see from Facebook groups is the term for the completed patchwork intended for a quilt but not yet sandwiched.
To be honest I have previously most often worked with heavy fabric (curtain weight) so even before quilting flimsy they were not.
However, I have more recently been using lighter fabric and so that tile is more applicable.
I am still in the "want to sew" but not anything complicated. And pre cut stuff is my go to of the moment.
This top is from 2 packs of patterned blue material from Temu. The solid blue squares and the navy blues (the horizontal and vertical are different shades)are from my stash. Some of it is left over bits from the Quilt as you Go blue and white quilt.
I am not sure how I will quilt it, lots of thoughts on that and not even sure if I will hand quilt or machine. There is time as I have a plan to just make flimsies for the moment and then sandwich and quilt later.
now that is not last as in final finished and there will be no more , it is last as in this is what I did last week. Isn't English a joy.
So the plan for last week was to work on the Millennium earth and comet, which ever of the two or maybe even both that wanted to play nice!
I did get it out, I did do some stitching on it. But some really means not much, my eye was not in for the one over one stitching and the subtle blending of shades particularly in the comet was not helping I was getting lost. So this is how it is looking at the moment, not much difference from the last time.
There was more conference to watch than there was stitching done here so I switched to my normal Sunday stitching project . More half stitches, well in the flow with those on this project.
All I had left to do was backstitch inside the inner black edge and round the word.
Easy!
I however chose to do that with two strands of gold blending filament. I wonder what inspired that choice?
I liked the way it was looking but it is certainly a lot slower to work with than normal thread.
As I worked my way around the edge and we chatted I sent my BFF pictures of a finished quilt top (sometimes referred to as a flimsy in quilting groups) and some finished blocks for another "flimsy" in progress. They will get their own posts at some point hopefully with more colour representative pictures. But talking about quilting projects brought to mind a post I had seen on Facebook with the lady noting she had been told when threading to "lick the needle and not the thread" she had tried it and it worked. Of course it might be safer to say wet the needle not the thread! As licking the needle on a sewing machine sounds like it requires a contortionist or a rather long tongue. Anyway I tried it, the wetting not the licking and it worked. And just as suddenly I thought I wonder if the same would be true of a cross stitch needle?
It was, for me and for the blending filament , it surprised me that it worked.
So here is the picture.
Sadly after all that you can't see the sparkle from the gold filament, I might try another picture later in natural light to see if that can capture it.
Just as a reminder the pattern is from this book
surprisingly we also know what we are going to do for BFF 16 but we feel a little stitch in between larger projects is a good reset. We are amazed that we have found so many "joint" projects and continue to do so.
CLICK HERE to see my BFF's update.
but not quite.
I have all of the blackwork completed. What a relief that it all joined up where it should. I was a tad eager to finish and made a mistake adding a bit that was not in my plan, so that had to come out. That little bit of reversal did not impact on where I finished for the evening.
For an update on my BFF's Click HERE
And for todays Forestella link
More light blue half stitches. Not easy to see in the picture
There should be General Conference Stitching next week so this project will most likely take a rest and I will try and finish the Earth, or the comet or maybe I will be on a roll and finish both!
And the Forestella for today. Well chosen on multiple levels, including for the lights at the beginning
Happy Easter
Welcome to this years Easter themed Hop, those of you who have visited with me before or who have come here via the host's blog will know what is happening. But just in case you are new to my blog and the concept of the hop here is a little explanation and a link to the Host Hop so you can start at the beginning.
CLICK HERE link to Serendipitous Stitching.
Each participating blogger will post something Easter or Spring themed and a letter. Hop around the blogs in the order the links appear on the host blog, or by following the next place to go links on each blog, collect the letters to spell out a phrase then finish back with the host and comment the answer.
I have been Easter Hopping for some years now and if you are new to the hop concept you can find my previous hop posts by clicking on the hop label at the bottom of a page. Or there is a HOP's tab at the top of the host blog page with hops from past years and the relevant links.
That explanation got a bit longer than anticipated, in complete opposite to my stitch for this year which ended up a lot smaller than anticipated.
I was a tad late with my stitching this year you you have this very small bunny with a touch of gold from a very large spool of blending thread.
And here is the letter you came for presented by my Easter blackwork bunny.
Just in case it is too faint to see for you that's a P
And to get to the next participant Click Here and I hope you have fun hopping at some point over the weekend.
Comments are always welcome on any post at anytime.
Oh and just to close here is the themed Forestella (well one of them performing solo) that feels appropriate for the day. I hope you enjoy it.
Thank you for stopping by.
in working on this, a bit more of a pause than I had anticipated as for some reason this year I am late getting started with my stitching for the Easter Hop, so as my BFF was feeling a little behind on the SAL I started this evening stitching my hop piece which will be getting posted later.
Then I went onto the SAL for the last little bit of the evening.
I finished outlining the edge as I had black in the needle from the Hop stitch and having the edge in did feel like it speeded up the blackwork.
I even managed to get a bit of blackwork in.
My BFF made good progress and there was much laughter over a mutual friend's issue with her car car alarm going off, stopping and resetting during the night. At 3 a.m. she could not stand it any longer and told her husband to get up and go to work (he has his own business with an early start but not that early) so at the least the faulty alarm would be ringing at an industrial estate and not in a residential area disturbing her sleep and that of the neighbours.
So up he got and off he went and she snuggled back down to get a few hours more sleep......and the car alarm went off!
Yup, it wasn't their car after all. She did call her husband to let him know but he was halfway to work by then.
So in the end neither of them (nor the neighbours) got much sleep.
For my BFF's update CLICK HERE
And the Forestella song for this post?
Well I went with the Background of the video for the link rather than the song title. This is the first one I came across and it is rather jolly. Although I must admit to not speaking Spanish and originally having no idea what they were singing.
Forestella cover "Despasito" (original-- Luis Fonsi) (youtube.com)
Don't forget to pop by over the Easter weekend for the hop.
at the charity shop...not quite literally but very close.
Put it this way for the not so princely sum of £1.50 I think I will never need to but gold blending filament again.
Indeed I may look at every pattern wondering if a bit of gold filament might be a suitable addition.
I am not sure how much is there as there is nothing one the cone to say, but the smaller (and the small is relative) bobbin of green thread also pictured here holds 5000 meters ! (Oh it was a £1).
Although nether of the above are silk. LOL
as I worked across the top of the blackwork I realised I had made a couple of mistakes putting a top line in where there was not supposed to be one. As I turned the corner a couple of things occurred to me. Firstly life would be much easier if I was not having to watch were I was going to for the edge.
That was solved by stitching in part of the black edge.
The next thing was if working left to right had felt comfortable but working down over wasn't, there was nothing stopping me turning the piece so I was still working left to right.
So I did both, and it was making things go much faster.
 |
My BFF noted that whilst the blackwork felt like it was going fast it also felt slow, as if there was not as much done as it felt like there should be. I understood that and then I realised that feeling had gone away once that black line went it. It stopped it looking like more needed to be added on.
How much longer on this project for me may depend if I have to go back to add the middle section to the large circular parts of the black work. In the original they are cross stitched squares in a slightly darker shade. Roni has changed them to blackwork squares.
I am not sure which , if any of those I will do.
To see my BFF's progress CLICK HERE
And yes there was still more conversation about Forestella so in line with my BFF's post here is a link to a solo performance by KoWooRim
(6) 220710 La Vie En Rose 고우림:부티크(KoWoorim: Boutique) 포레스텔라 - YouTube
I was in a charity shop looking around and I saw two plastic wallets with ship patterns, one is the Heritage pattern you can see here and the other was a page from a magazine. They had both obviously been kitted up by the former owner, with skeins of thread. The patterns are A4 size.
They were worth the price being asked just for the threads even if I never stitch the ships and I was in a mood to spend some money in the charity shop.
Underneath was a little packet with orange Aida in it for £1.25. I did not bother opening it, I thought it was going to be some random bits and I do like random bits as you may know.
However, when I opened it, well you can see how BIG that piece is! And although it does not show particularly well here it is a light olive green and then changes to the orange. The edge notes the piece as being African Sunset. I wonder if it was created for a particular pattern. Does anyone know?
Well if it is or not I have something to look at and consider. Hey its so big. The BIGGEST piece I have ever had!
perhaps that should be a half and a Sunday Stitching. I only did a little bit last week because I had a talk to give on Mothers Day (although not on that theme) so I did not get around to taking a picture or posting about it.
Although as I am still working on the half stitch it feels like this upper section is going quite quickly.
And how the finished piece might look is becoming clearer. As you can see I was working in a much paler shade today.
as hosted by serendipitousstitching where we basically share anything gifted to us or that we are working on (or have completed) that is intended to be a gift.
Earlier this month a friend retired from work and then began "a sort out" she contacted me as she was divesting herself of some sewing items. Four full kits (three cross stitch and one tapestry) via Facebook Market place but would I be interested at a mates rates price?
Oh most tempting, but tapestry is a no for me, and of the three kits, well one had the potential of getting done whilst the other two were very nice but more resistible.
So I replied would she split them and said which one I was interested in, she came back with a yes and a most reasonable price and offered to drop it off. I countered with a lets meet for a beverage of our choice with maybe a cake!
So that is what we did, although without the cake a she had a dinner out planned for that evening and that was all to the good for me as I am on a diet for my health.
There has been a Starbucks in my town for quite a while now but this was my first visit (well I don't drink tea or coffee and neither do a lot of my friends) and added on to that it has been awhile since I was out like this the prices surprised me almost as much as them not taking "real" money.
There was chatting and laughing at shared stories as we caught up, and then out came the kit and I reached for my purse only for my friend to say she had changed her mind and decided to gift me the kit I wanted and one of the other cross stitch kits as well. So I guess I am finally forgiven for winning the chocolate truffle category at the craft fair or the decorated egg competition at work.
So here they are my gifted kits. In reverse order.
And then this one was the one I very much liked and by the same designer as the BFF SAL 14. This is a 22" by 9" piece.
It took me two hours to card the thread from the bundles.
It is going to be a big project and I am sort of waiting to make a proper start until I have at least finished the planets on Millennium. Well that is the plan.
It falls well with my fondness for Chinese historical dramas.
I will note however as mentioned as a chat subject in BFF SAL posts as the result of cookies or AI algorithms I have discovered a Korean Quartet who's music is delighting me no end.
Both with the arrangements/ interpretations of old favourites, covers of songs that were OK in the original format but amazing with this group to songs in multiple languages that are new to me. You Tube has never been so visited by me. So I bought a CD.
As a gift from me to me. So I can have their music for sewing to. I did my ironing to videos and other than ironing for the quilting its the most fun ironing has ever been.
So fair warning, I may get a tad carried away and add links to you tube for my new obsession as I explore my newly discovered fan girl persona, and embrace being a Soopbyeol (mind I do wish it was something a bit easier to remember how to spell like that other group's Army). Of course those same cookies and AI s are now presenting me with other artists of the same nation and they are not half bad. The Rose are on in London this month, too late for me to arrange anything but there are still tickets if interested.
Now at the moment I am obsessed enough that the thought of doing a Forestella cross stitch is appealing (ETSY has no patterns yet, yes I looked, they have ones for that other little group...BTS , it has taken me ages to recall those letters in the right order and not mix them up with a sandwich ) Mind it would certainly not be of this album cover, too much white!
And on that note I will leave you with a link to one of those familial and loved pieces that I now prefer this version of and something my friends and family might wish for from me on the subject of this group.
열린음악회 - 포레스텔라 - The Sound Of Silence.20190106 (youtube.com)
If you got this far don't forget to pop over to serendipitous stitching to see who else and what else is in this months link up
Oh and as always comments are appreciated from real people or robots or AI's
chinguga doeja
친구가 되자
I would say try not to laugh but I am giving myself the giggles as I try to learn Korean. It has such a nice sound and the letters look so pretty!
Once I finished the backstitch on the main part of the design it was time to chose the colour for the black work.
I had my eye on a skein of random thread in a bag of mixed threads I bought at the charity shop. The shade I was particularly drawn to was not however a full skein. Not a named brand, so as my BFF pointed out using it was taking a bit of a risk.
So "do I feel lucky" well in this instance yes I do and yes I also have a plan if it does run out.
I like how it is looking so far, and I was getting into a nice rhythm as our evening came to an end.
I think the fact that we have our next project planned but it is not one we are eager to do, its just going to be a nice little place holder whilst we look for the next big BFF means we are both happy with however long this takes.
So far we have four disenable differences, material count, and colour. the lightest shade of the petals and now the colour of the blackwork.
We may also approach blackwork a little differently, that remains undecided and is also part of the plan should I have underestimated the thread available.
To see the progress on my BFF's version of this case Click Here to go to her blog.
Oh and I remain delighted with the music of Forestella so perhaps I will see what is classed as traditional Korean embroidery just out of interest.
and discovering ninjas.
I normally fill them in as I find them but I left my thread bag in the other room and just had the black cone with me.
So you can probably spot the missing stitches, I will fill them in later.
I am still contemplating what colour to do the blackwork in (that always sounds funny) and I will have some time next week to still be thinking about it whilst I finish off the backstitch.
As is our want more often than not my BFF and I have diverged on our approach, to see where her whim of the day led her CLICK HERE to visit her blog and update.
I bought at a charity shop. Usually when I get little kits this way they are the unwanted cover kit from a cross stitching magazine.
I picked this one up because 1) it was there, 2) I could see it came with a little bell and well that might come in handy 3) I like to buy at least one something when I visit a charity shop and 4) it was 50p
You will note missing from that set of reasons was me actually liking it or or having much thought about getting round to stitching it anytime soon.
Indeed by the time I had bought it and come out of the shop, other than it having a bell I would have been hard pressed to tell you what it was a pattern of!
My Dad asked me what I had and I fished it out to show him and as I did it dawned on me there was a heart on it. Oh! I had been looking for something to sew for the Secret Stitching Sweetheart blog hop on Valentines Day, which was not that far off. Unlike last year when I was well ahead on my themed blog hop stitching this year its going to be a bit tighter to the wire.
But this was (as is the host for the hop) very serendipitous.
When I opened the packed it was to discover the kit contained sufficient materials for three repeats of the pattern ,including bells and little brass safety pins.
I expect that is is a Christmas design at heart (LOL) given the top image is a bauble. However to reflect the time of the year I was stitching on I changed that to a gold metallic heart.
And as I had some metallic thread pulled anyway the red heart received backstitch of gold. It makes up as a badge to be worn. That's what the little safety pins are for.
I was a bad girl and did not read the instructions properly and I started stitching in the middle of the fabric out of habit. That is not what the instructions called for which meant I could not follow then for the finishing and had to do it my own way. OK that's a bit of a habit of mine anyway so not a major irritant, and I am quite pleased with how it turned out.
I've not made the other two yet. I am not sure if they will be variations on the double heart or if one might get the bauble.
I have tried Googling the design company, they have a lot of very nice things. I wonder if this little kit came over to England as a holiday purchase some time in the past. I also wonder if the finished badge is traditional to the country or origin, does anyone know? The kit says it was printed in Denmark.
more half stitches, and I was finding it much quicker going this time.
finished yet.
Its that moment when you get all of the cross stitching done, the split second between the satisfaction of that and the dawning of the knowledge there is still the backstitching to do. Yes the back stitching , I was feeling indecisive about the colour of the blackwork, to backstitch first.
And you make a start, thinking well it is just around the edges of things.......well perhaps not.
It took a little while to get into a rhythm with the backstitch, although I tend to use the Holbein method as much as possible.
It takes a bit less thread and I find it more interesting to stitch that way.
I was just getting properly into it when it was time to stop.
Which it typical.
I did find a couple of ninja stitches as I went, sometimes it feels like the real purpose of backstitch is to find all the missing stitches and mistakes.
Pop over to my BFF's blog Click HERE blog to see how her version is progressing.
not general conference, stake conference however we were still watching it streamed via the internet so it felt like time to get out Millennium once more as see if I could progress either the Earth or the comet?
To be honest although I managed a couple of dark blue edge stitches on the comment and quite a few on the Earth it is very hard to tell what progress has been made.
Hunting ninjas on the over one, and the lighter shades is being somewhat challenging. especially as the other projects that I am working on at the moment are smaller counts so of course bigger stitches. This over one feels incredible small..
At times it does feel like the title of the design refers to how long it is going to take me to get it completed rather than a reference to the design.
but not quite there.
More filling in on the vase tonight, but not all done yet. It will be next week then it is onto the wide border which is blackwork in style. It is not however on the pattern black, but a beige / gold shade.
I am not sure if I will go with that in this instance or not. Next week will tell. You can pop on over to my BFF blog by clicking here she was working on the flowers and filling in sections. When she said she had missed a full section of the white? Section of white I asked? There are only three stitches of white in the flower!
This prompted her discovery as noted in her blog. And I like it, it looks good and I am a little sorry I did not make the same ohps, but then we are working on different fabric so it might not have worked out quite as well on mine as it has on her pink.
in dyeing aida. This attempt again came from a desire to use something up. Chestnuts to be precise, I got them at Christmas, I don't know why because getting the vacuum packed ones is much more convenient. Perhaps it is nostalgia for roasting them at my grandparents , whatever the reason I bought some, didn't use them up in time and was left with them.
So I roasted them off for the birds and then put the shells in hot water.
I popped a random scrap of white in first for a little bit. Then as that had an interesting soft shade put in a bigger bit of natural aida (the one from HB) and left it for three days in the hopes of something darker.
This is the result, with the thin strip of dyed white against white, and the dyed beige with the little cake stand stitched on the original beige for comparison.
I quite like how they turned out, and at this point I have no idea what I am going to stitch on them but they add another option next time I am looking for something different.
these require a but of brain rewiring for me as I tend to stitch the bottom half of the cross for a section then go back with the top. So where I am stitching is worked out on the basis of there an back again for the best reach to the next section.
With half stitch and there is no back again, I have to look at the section and work out the best way to reach the most stitches with the least carry over on the back.
It keeps things interesting.
Next Sunday is Stake conference, we won't be able to attend in person so I am hoping the link will work so we can view it over the internet, in which case I will need to do a little pre planning so I can work on my usual conference stitch.
as I have finished the symbol / word (so hopefully it now says something correctly) and it is time to make the case solid.
The odd thing about this process is the vase somehow looks less finished with this third shade started than it did with just the two teal shades previously completed.
I have sort of been saving the fill till a time when filling was all I had the energy for. This was that time. I did get a lot done but there is more space to fill than done. I an also contemplating if a change to the next section is merited.
For an update on my BFF's progress pop over to her blog by clicking HERE
Welcome to the Valentine Day blog hop hosted by serendipitous stitching there is a slight difference to this hop. The image shared is something on the title theme stitched by another hop participant.
My stitch is making its appearance on someone else's blog, but where I do not know. I will be hopping around looking for it.
Links to all of the hop participants can be found on the host blog by clicking on the link above.
The image sent to me certainly fits the theme and looks like it was both fun to stitch and finish.
I wonder who made it...off to find out....
Have fun hopping and I hope you have a love filled day.
And a little update, as you can see from the comments the origin of this delightful stitch has been identified and you can pop over to see more at Le Coeur Celtique by clicking here or using the link from my Blog list to the right.
an evening of black, sadly not all of the black. And as I stopped part way through the Chinees character the forms part of the design I do hope that the fragment does not in itself equal a character and have therefore an inauspicious meaning. I have seen enough picture of people who have tattooed oriental characters which look beautiful but would make someone with an understanding of the words wince or laugh to be a teensy bit paranoid about it.
So if does in its current form manage to say something, I don't mean it whatever it is.
That is what I am going to name this quilt, just as soon as I get the label on to it that it. You may have seen the top for this before at this blog entry about how the material happened to be in my home all unintentionally..
It waited a little bit to be sandwiched, and then a little longer to get tacked and more waiting for the quilting design to be marked on as I have put my tailors chalk in a safe place. Not even buying some more coaxed it out of hiding.
I had a plan for the quilting got it marked on with chalk, in different colours due to the differing shades of the squares sat down at the sewing machine and changed my mind. I had planned on doing something similar to the one used on Catherine's Flowers but in the end I just went with wavy lines there and back again.
It went reasonably quickly and I managed to get the quilting done in one evening.
The binding was a front over back with the back edge sewn down with invisible stitching. That took an hour or so each evening for the next week.
Then back to the machine for a nice wave stitch all around the edge for added strength.
The paler shades don't show as well in this picture, I might try again later in natural light.
My BFF likes the backs, and the way the quilting shows there. So I am adding a picture of that however, I don't thing that it shows well in the picture, even at the biggest size, She will need to see it in person I guess.
I had not realise just what a backseat to the other crafts quilting has taken till I noticed the gap in things posted. I guess there are more things to get out which take up the available crafting time and other crafts are easier to access like the cross stitch. It would be nice if I could get on with some more this year. Perhaps at the beginning of the year and into the summer I might focus on doing tops, and leave the quilting till the back end of the year. That might equal more progress.
And why the name, well it fits in many ways, or many waves and I shall leave it at that.
A different shade of blue today.
started and finished. I don't think there is any to do in the shade in half stitches, there is quite a lot of it left however, that may just be generous supplies in the kit.
well unless there are some ninja stitches waiting to be discovered during the back stitch process all the green would be more accurate.
All the green and all the pink.
and some black, just because there was not enough time left after finishing the green to make a good start filling in the vase, but it was too early for stopping. So a bit of black.
It looks a bit unbalanced in this picture, that's my camera angle rather then the way it is stitching up.
Click HERE to see my BFF's progress. Between the two you get a good idea of the central image here.
so shine was a theme for one of the talks today.
Appropriate for the project I am stitching on.
I was filling in white last week and did not post an update, this week? I was filling in white but am posting an update.
It is just so hard to see the progress in the picture with just adding white. but I can see it and feel it.
Filled in the white so the vase fill was available yet I did not want to do it tonight for some reason.
I got the bud finished, and then went back to the leaves.
At Christmas my mother and I were the recipients of some crochet items. For me a decoration.
are subject to change.
The plan was to put in the light shade on the vase, including the white highlight then soothingly fill.
I managed the first stage but then where did I put my white?
So even though doing the white would not prevent the soothing filling it did. And off I went finishing the last of the pink on the pattern and adding some green.
My BFF has noted the odd "lots" conundrum in her blog and we are both feeling it.
Pop on over to her blog to see what we mean by that .
One thing we are at this point agreed on, a change to our variations session at the beginning of February, what we are varying to, that remains to be decided.
