A page..

I cut up my fabric that I've been playing with ....and decided to make an opening on my page to display a portion of it.  It will serve to remind me of what I did with this particular piece... how I stitched it ... how I manipulated the bits of lace and silk... the actual stitches I used...

In this particular case..it will also serve as a reminder never to stitch a piece directly onto my page!!  Wow!  What a tricky thing to try.  Why didn't I just use double sided tape like everybody else?  Oh, no..not moi.... I figured it might be just as easy to stitch it onto the paper.  Wrong!   the down stitches were just fine, but the ones coming back up again?  from beneath paper and several layers of fabric? ... arrrgghhh!  I couldn't see the holes even when I held the page up to a bright light... and ended up having to poke a needle through each hole from the topside... guide my sewing needle to the exact spot and withdraw the top needle and carefully poke up with the stitching needle.  As you can guess ... the air was particularly blue at several points during my ordeal.  And, yes, it was a bit of an ordeal.  Next time...play with paper stitching and just enjoy it ... .. tack on fabric later...

Oh, and... I also did the unthinkable.  Stabbed my finger a good one and bled on the paper before I even realized it.  Luckily, I also licked the bloody area immediately...  and then had to lick again because it just smeared... ... and then, luckily ... I was able to blot it off easily with paper towel.  Whew.
Saved the page after I had worked so diligently with my stitching...

I was having some fun with FME also... onto a gauzy square with a few little embroidered flowers on it.  I'm not sure what it is ...perhaps a table protector of some sort... too big for a hanky ...  not really a doily... too small for a scarf...... Maggi found it for me...

I love how the FME looks on it...I'll try a bit more and try for better photos of it...  I cut a bit of it and added it to this smaller piece of the fabric...

Utility stitches .....

...taking some photos of my tiny stitches on my blocks.... talking out loud of course, to anybody who would listen.... mentioning about utility stitches and how the women of old used them so neatly to piece things together and make them look pretty, and how they were the basis, really, of our stitching classes with Karen... etc.....

Here I've done tiny stab stitches
















Here, a tiny running stitch along some silk edges..

They may, or may not, be finished with just the little utility stitching...but, I'll wait til I get all the blocks pieced to make more decisions on that.


All of a sudden.... Mr. BV was beside me .... holding something.... and saying he had "something that I could practice my utility stitching on" ....

I looked up from the fun stuff and discovered this ....

.....a button had totally broken in the centre and come off his slacks...... sigh....yep...that'd be utility all right.... right back to basics.


One of the few things that I could do for years.... stitch on buttons and hem slacks and dresses by hand...seeing as I didn't have a machine and...didn't know how to use one anyway.....  some days I got lazy and took them to the cleaners and had them stitch hems...but, they got to be over $12 each pair and I got penurious.... especially when we were saving for this house.

Cross stitching

Have been doing some, with waste canvas, as it is called.  Who knew? .. not me, that's for sure.

Karen showed us a little heart design... and I gave it a go, but obviously didn't get it quite right... well, like she says, there is not a right or a wrong really... as there are many different ways to make hearts of course.  But, I was trying for some cute little guys like hers... which appear to be chubbier than my first... which is at the bottom ... with the grid already removed.

Too skinny.. so I tried again... too big ... hmmm... this became almost like a Goldilocks senario.... too skinny, too BIG, too .. whatever.... til I finally got one I liked.  The top guy.
                                                           














Anyway, then I tried some on a piece of vintage linen napkin in one of the blocks I am working on ...
that's them in yellow on the left...

Then, on another section I tried some white ones...but, got confused yet again ...and got the second up from the bottom a different shape than the lower one...so instead of picking out my stitches...I decided to alternate my new found shape with the practise one... for a total of five ....

Several people in our group were asking about the row of roses in between...no I didn't do those.... it is a strip of pretty trim I stitched onto the fabric.  It is actually a bit iffy and almost falling apart in some spots... so took a very long time to stitch into position in order to make sure it doesn't unravel.

Then I tried some of the filled in hearts...so cute... but, I did them on practice cotton and cut it out too small ...silly me ...I will still try to use it in some way..just not the way in which I first thought I would.... think twice (or maybe even 4 times before you cut!)

Yeh, I knew that.

My Hoya bloomed a second time in the year!  Can't believe it.  So pretty and velvety...I tried to get it close enough that if you click and bigify it you should be able to tell.  So soft ... and the centres almost look like plastic.  Little birdie is very curious....

It has the most amazing scent for hours in the evening...and sometimes in the morning for a while too...

Web stitches on silk

I love stitching on silk.... I wish all my pieces were silk.... maybe some day I will do a block or even a small cloth all in silks.

A couple small bits snipped from a pretty piece of trim sent to me ... placed on two strips of skinny trim ... stab stitched into position with stitches on the diagonal... and then... "encrusted" with web and French Knots... don'tcha love that word?  .... encrusted...   sounds like jewels on a crown...

 The clean up continues for the poor flood victims.  It is hot now and must be dreadful doing all that heavy dirty work in such heat...

Watering restrictions were lifted at midnight for the rest of us and I am busy watering plants and the lawn... 'midst trying to organize where to stitch next and making something for supper.  Oh, yeh...and doing some laundry as we have also been trying not to overdo with anything pertaining to city water until the water subsided somewhat.  The reservoir and sewage treatment plants were working overtime.

Some web stitch

..... although, to me they look more like starfish....well, that's what I like to think of them as ....and with the French knots..?  tiny bubbles .....

If I had a seashell I'd be listening for the sound of the sea washing ashore.....

Here's how this particular block is shaping up.  The bit of green thread on the edge of my lovely vintage hanky is the third row on some buttonhole lace stitching...

.. and just to the left of that is a row of tiny scallops..hey...more oceanside stuff ..hahahha.... I'm on a roll here...    not...  .... they are the frilly picot stitch Karen showed us.  Love that one... you can do it in various sizes and degrees of tightness and get a whole different look to it.  Well, I guess that is possible with almost every stitch.... amazing, this embroidery.......

I really don't know how folks zip through all the edges and seams....there are soooo many areas to embellish and embroider.  I can see this project taking me many months to complete...not that it is a race..but, it is interesting that each time you do one area, you see more to do and then, when we piece the blocks...more seams of course....it's great!  Opportunities for embellishment as 'somebody' I know says.....

Today I was supposed to be golfing...but, it is windy, rainy and mosquito-y ....so...I'm staying home; playing Suzi Homemaker.  Baking bread, making soup and stitching..... how I love a day like this!

And, when we were in Portugal.....a day like this!  Beside the ocean.....ahhhhhh..... perfect......

Jumped up ...

... to the seam where the piece of fabric joins Harley's piece.... and tried a line of bullion stitches.















I looked at a lot of Karen's bullion edges... still can't quite figure out how she does something that looks sort of random and yet gets it to look great.  Maybe it is not as random as I think it is .  I unpicked quite a few bullion stitches before I hit on this configuration ...and, I like it.   Looks like regular criss cross, but that's okay.... it gives a nice look to the seam I think.

The embroidery thread is my new Coton a Broder which I finally found.  Once I got busy stitching with it I discovered it is quite creamy coloured even though it is called Blanc.... (white) .... I wasn't really checking different whites at the shop... must call the gal and see if there is a whiter white .... hahhaha....   I need stark white for some areas..

maybe third time's a charm...

Definitely not the second.

Remember how long it took to piece together my first block of fabric for my wrapping cloth? .... and how I thought maybe the second one would be a bit easier and therefore take less time?  hahahahahha..yeh...right.... it took even longer if I'm not mistaken.

But, I love it. ...   and, that's all that counts really isn't it?

Mooooommmm.... c'mon... hurry up willya? .... how 'bout this lovely lacy hankie? .... ..

The guys and Buttercup were getting exhausted trying to help... poor little tykes.  Still burrowing in and out of all the lovely whites .... trying valiantly ..holding  up bits every so often for approval .... Mikki just finally fell asleep under his hat...which is not his really...he just "found" it and wanted to wear it even though it's a bit girly and quite obviously far too big for his little head.

I used a few bits from my newly acquired 'stash' from Twig too.  See the fabulous lacy looking scallops at the top right ? ...I love that piece... and just under it...the one with the cutout circles? a portion of a little blouse or dress top...  this is a piece of the collar... so soft and fine that cotton is...  there is one other piece of it with a button still on it...that will go on another block... definitely leaving the button in place.

My Friendship Garden is well under way now.....

.... today I'm going to cut up some hex shapes to piece together .... that's my new found info from Karen for this week ...

and...in other rnews..... whoops..I mean news..... it is snowing........................better get out to shovel too..........