a previous finish. Scotty dog key ring . Whilst still looking for my missing thread I cam across some little charms and felt inspired to think again about a dog collar for the Scotty dog.
I had some chain, and jewellery plyers and this is the result.
Doggy has a bone. Still not sure what will happen to him but quite pleased with my modification.
replaces what would have been my Sunday Stitching restart of sorts.
It was slow going, and I was feeling a bit down about it, but plodded away and managed to finally finish The Earth.
Just that comet to complete and the middle section will be done. Just the vines and lettering in the top and bottom banners and the backstitch to do then. LOL Just! Thats almost funny.
to everything normal in my world. A pause to the BFF stitching, the Sunday Stitchings and indeed to stitching at all. A heavy pause to normal time and to normal life.
For some things it will be only a pause. There will be a return to the stitching themes and days. I expect there will be a return to projects to do, indeed I have made a small step back with framing a previous SAL as I found a recipient with a love of the Highland Cow and who has been very supportive on many levels whilst my life changed in a way that is permanent.
After an extended illness which had gradually reduced his independence and physical strength but not his determination, my father became very unwell very quickly and died at home in mid September.
Knowing such a thing is coming still does not really prepare you. The prognosis had been bad in March after the results from the Vampire Lady but my Dad had defied the odds for six months, I am grateful for that extra time even as I greedily wish it had been more. And there is so much to do and sort that the process of grief becomes entangled with that. Time moves differently and oddly.
So this is the small thank you for Heather, who helped in numerous ways and spoke so beautifully at my Dad's funeral, words that brought memories to mind for all in attendance.
And it is the small first step out of the paused time. I know that it is going to take a lot of steps, and some of them may be backward but still will just plod on till we get there. Wherever and whenever there is.
the simple small project that had an unexpected link to a new album release generated contemplation about making that link a lot closer.
That resulted in the realisation the small size would not allow for the style of the lettering in cross stitch and backstitch. Did that put an end to matters?
No, of course it did not. I got the album title to a suitable size, transferred it to the Aida using an iron transfer pencil in a pink shade and then embroidered it on. Mostly stem stitch with a little satin stitch and a few French Knots. Oh I finished off the stamens on the flower first.
I would like to say that I intentionally positioned the album title so it became steam rising from the spout of the tea pot however, any positioning with that result was subconscious. I only realised when I was half way through stitching it!
 |
underneath, a poster, photo cards, a photo booklet , a slide style photo and a napkin / bandana.
and all the black completed. Let the guessing what it is commence.
My BFF has a bit if the black to go, so what she is seeing in hers is different to what she sees in mine and different to what I see. Funny, same but different once more.
and further progress with the small and a funny (well I think it is funny) coincidence.
Dark pink confirmed I started with the light pink
Then on to the mid pink
Then, that from stash dark pink
Then green and brown, finishing off with dots of white, cross stitch on the main area of the design was completed.
A beep on my phone, pre order information for the leader of Forestella's new solo album. And the coincidence amused me, the colours differ but you can see why I laughed. Especially as for me a tea pot is not what you would call a useful item. I don't drink it at all, I find the smell of it awful, my poor grandmother who was quite sure it was a cure all never could persuade me to touch the stuff. Therefore me being in the process of stitching one just as this comes up!
and a little further on with the small, which dare I say it is being fun.
with blocks of colour big enough to feel comfortable but not too big to count.
and made pleasing shapes even before the subject matter became easier to see.
and doing one colour at a time has been possible as new shades are in good counting reach.
There was a pause here, as I wanted to move onto the pink. There have been two shades of teal, two shades of blue and brown but for the pink the key has three shades and I had carded two? First thought they are very close and I need better light to tell them apart.
Better light and no they are the same shade. As you may be aware cover kits no longer list the thread numbers in the key, just the symbol used and a name, so in this instance I was not sure which I was missing, dark pink, pink or light pink. The magazine has a copy of the cover kit pattern printed in it and that has the thread numbers for the three main threads listed.
Finding that had to wait a bit but unlike the satin threads which are still conspicuous by there absence the magazine was exactly where I thought it was.
Numbers obtained it was then a case of checking the threads I had against the numbered threads, I tried the ones in my "not DMC but use the same numbers" BOX as I expect they and the kit threads are from the same source. No help there, it is not as yet a full set so that was not too surprising.
Next option my DMC Bag of thread boxes and the darkest pink on the key is in there and is darker than the pink I have four strands of so mystery solved and I can stitch again.
I would note that it appears they "as in whoever packed the kit" accidentally included four strands of the pink in stead of two each of the dark pink and the pink.
A little pause for me but it would be very frustrating for anyone without a stash to dip into or who had taken it on holiday or into hospital. Hopefully it did not happen to many in those positions.
or perhaps that should be a smalls plan?
When I finished the Castle and Wyverns sampler and it was the wrong size for the place I had planned to use it I had to do a rethink.
And I quite quickly chose another pattern, but it is supposed to have three satin threads, I thought perhaps I could use the marlitt thread I already have, thread that has been in a paper bag in a pocked of my blue thread storage bag forever! Except I have at some point obviously decided to move it to a more logical place! You know what comes next, my brain fog has obscured any recollection of having moved it. I have no idea when I did or more importantly where I put it.
I have of course looking in all the places my current thought processes consider logical, or even illogical but locationally near the original place, nope no sign of it.
It is being a nag in the back of my head, can't start the new project and it would feel off starting something else of any appreciable size before this.
So, smalls, smalls that I do not have in common with my BFF so as to not diminish the pool of potential little SALs. Small enough to not feel off starting, and something to keep my hands busy as otherwise I wonder around muttering where did I put that thread, where would a good place be. On the positive side I have rediscovered various bits I had forgotten about, although that does stack up as oh things I was going to do in the back of my head, and there is not that much operating space in there at the moment.
So here it is the start.
Nice colour and I think all of that one shade done.
And perhaps it will help me get past the nagging of where is my thread that is repeating in my head like an earworm.
we had planned this as our next project last week, indeed we managed an in person get together and Roni picked up a little piece of red felt so it would be to hand.
We did not realise that we would be working on this on International Dog Day.(which is 26th August, we will be blogging later than that as usual) I found out due to the little corgi icon in my search bar, Roni heard about it at work.
But realised or not here is our pick, the Scottie dog key ring cover kit.
I had considered adding some features to the wooden form with pyrography before doing the stitching but did not get around to it.
So made a start with the dark green, three strands for the cross stitch, then what the pattern described as dark red but looks more like a shade of pink to me.
Dark red done then it was onto the light red, hmm pinker red and the base for the tartan was done.
Onto the backstitch that would make it look like tartan. And here I had a silly thought. When doing a previous project on wood and using a felt backing I had used the backstitching to hold it down in the middle. However, I was forgetting that was just a little bit on the thread drop and just one strand.
This was different, more backstitch than you think when first looking at it, and not continuous flowing there and back lines.
The first line was in the cream and four strands. Not too bad going on, But the next one was more difficult and by the third I needed to use plyers to get sufficient grip on the needle at the angle I was trying to pull it through. Roni, made aware by my grumblings and the fetching of the plyers was a wiser woman than I. CLICK HERE for her take on the project, we each had our own tired brain challenges.
I was still battling with my backstitch through the felt and she was all completely finished! I had the special dispensation this week to finish off screen time. So I did.
I would like to say that the struggle was worth it and the backstitch on the red felt gave a pleasing checky result, if not a tartan one. I would like to but to be honest can't. It might have somewhat worked if I had been able to keep the lines straight on the back and the stitch sizes consistent. I failed, and the result was not worth the extra effort. I had started so I had to finish, but on this occasion I think I should have kept it simple.
That being said, the tartan effect on the front, on the cross-stitch part well that worked very well indeed.
Last picture the finished keyring , placed on top of the illustration on the kit which being to size I find amusing.
The question of if this little tester of sewing tartan will lead me to trying anything similar is still being debated. It was done in one session and a bit (it would have been done easily inside the two hour mark if I had not made it awkward for myself) and stitching blocks was OK, but the back stitch, hmmm, but if not trying to do it on something with a exposed or semi exposed back, perhaps that would not be as irritating.
We are all set for next week and a bit of forward planning seasonally speaking.
backstitch completed, after some pausing for the missed stitches flushed out of hiding by the magic of the backstitch. We overran out allotted time by 14 mins as we wanted to finish.
I used the darkest green and the darkest pink from the pattern to do the peas stems and flowers respectivly.
I like the peas and stems, and I am dithering a bit on the pink, between liking the subtilty and wondering of perhaps a shade darker would have been better mid petals.
It looks a bit more defined in the picture than it does held in my hand.
Plans for BFF 25 are pretty much set but that is for next week.
To pop over to my BFF's blog CLICK HERE
