One Stitch At A Thyme

Well I finally managed to take a picture of my progress. I’ve got at least 2 weeks worth of work done and I’m guessing I completed roughly 10%. Which brings me up to a total of 30%.


I’m going to take a break from stitching for the rest of the week. 1) Because I’m starting to feel burn out and 2) I’ll be bobbing 28 skeins that came in the mail on Saturday the 28th. I’ve finally found an on-line needlework shop that carries J & P Coats embroidery floss and I plan to buy 2 full sets of 142. One to be carded and the other left as skeins in a floss-away bag.


WAHOO SATURDAY S. E. X. !!!!!
I haven’t seen this brand of floss since the late 1960’s when I first taught myself embroidery ( with a little help from grandma ) . In fact I’ve got a Ziploc freezer baggie full of old J&P Coats that I had as a kid along with some I inherited from my grandma. I guess I should really get around and get it sorted, cleaned, and put on bobbins along with the new dye lot.

You know, that would make a good question for the SBQ - How many brands do you own.

Well that’s all for this blog blurb.

Today's SBQ was suggested by Carol ( http://www.carolsxsblog.blogspot.com/ ) and is:

If you were to come across a sampler chart that caught your eye and appealed to you. Would you, or would you not, stitch it if it had a morbid or "creepy" saying on it? If not, why?

The permalink to this post is:
http://blondelibrarian.net/stitching/archives/2006/10/sbq-halloween-edition/

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Why YES indeed I would! In fact I plan to use a shortened version of
“Houses of Hawk Run Hollow” by Carriage House Samplings (one of Carol’s WiPs).

In a self-designed sampler sometime in the future. Mine however will only carry the following lines from the poem - slightly altered:

“When I am dead and laid in grave & all my bones are rotten: When this you see: Remember me tho I was quite forgotten.”

I haven’t decided if it’s going to be a band sampler, spot sampler, or a combination of both. I recently purchased a book on sampler symbolism and since I’ve never designed a sampler before; this should be interesting. But it’s not going to happen for quite a while. I have far too many “iron’s in the fire” as it were, with all these WiPs to deal with at the moment.

Today's SBQ was suggested by Vash ( "http://seasidestitcher.blogspot.com/" ) and is:

Which way do you stitch, i.e. do you stitch /// followed by \\\ on top, or the other way around \\\ followed by ///? Are you left- or right-handed and do you think that this affects the way that you stitch?

The permalink to this post is: "http://blondelibrarian.net/stitching/archives/2006/10/which-way/"

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I taught myself how to embroider and cross stitch when I was in my early teens. Back then, I was all over the place when it came to counted cross stitch. My stitches went in both directions on the pieces I stitched and looked very amateurish.

Much, much later in life when I picked up the needle again I purchased books on needlework stitches and counted cross stitch kits with detailed instructions and diagrams. And in all of them it showed the left /// leg then right \\\ leg method. I’d always assumed that, that was the official method for cross stitch.

Well I have tried both techniques. Left /// leg then right \\\ leg, and the opposite, right \\\ leg then left /// leg. I prefer the first – Left /// leg then right \\\ leg. I guess it’s because I’m right handed and stitching the opposite way always felt awkward.

As far as affecting the way I stitch, yes I think it does. In as much as I keep my left hand under my work, and my right hand above. I tried it the other way round and found that I couldn’t hold my needle steady and kept dropping it instead of pushing it through the fabric.

Also depending on if I’m doing a solid area or confetti stitching, I’ll do a whole row of left //// legs then return on the same row for the right \\\ legs. Confetti stitching for me means one complete stitch at a time.

I’ve noticed that the last dozen or so blog entries have been nothing but whining about my job and now lack there of. Well I’m putting a stop to that with this entry. This is suppose to be a blog about my needlework, not my problems. So I shall move my whining to a new blog and get back to writing about my needlework.

I’ve tried to stick to a rotational schedule in the past and I will return to it as soon as I get this time sensitive project done. I swear on my stack of numerous bobbin floss boxes – I will NOT start another needlework project until I get at least 5 of my 10 WiPs finished.

Now on to the new Work In Progress page, side bar link and percentage bar.

This is the 10th project in my bulging WiPs pile. A wedding present for my sister which unfortunately didn’t get started soon enough and has now become either a Christmas present for 2006, or a one year anniversary present for June 2007. The kit is called “To Love and Cherish” by Sandy Orton. I have all the copyright information on it’s WiP webpage.

Anyway here is a progress picture I took earlier today of “To Love and Cherish”. I’m guessing that it’s roughly 20% complete. I’ve always liked Sandy Orton’s designs, so much so that if I ever get married I’d probably stitch this same design for myself.



Well that’s it for this Blog Blurb. Hopefully in a couple of weeks I’ll have substantial progress to post.

Called manufacturing services today, and again they blew me off saying no work this month. They’re obviously not going to call me back so I told Cheryl that I was coming in sometime after lunch to pick up my organizer and fan from the stock room.

Well this means the odds of getting Maryann’s wedding stitchery done for Christmas just went up 100%

Update 3:00pm: When I went over today at 1:30pm to pick up my stuff I finally got the truth out of Cheryl. The truth being that the earliest they might call me back to work, if they decide to that is, is the end of January or February. Can you believe that they were going to let me hang in limbo for 6 months!!! I wish they had enough guts to tell me at the beginning of September, then I could have at least started looking for work. Trouble is I’m going to have the same problem as last year. Businesses want you to work holiday hours and I don’t have a car. Meaning no one will hire me.

Just another typical UNLUCKY FRIDAY the 13th.