The Peacock's Feather

Rain, Rain: Progress

Although this is a small design, it's proving to be slower going that I anticipated.  Mostly due to the fact I'm juggling a few designs at once, I think.  I did work on it a bit over the weekend, so there isn't too much left to stitch--mostly letters and filling in parts.  I'm still planning on turning it into a mattress pin cushion, which I have yet to try and do.  I'm actually looking forward to it, though. 

Oh no, I just realized that the letters/numbers don't match--I'ved picked up the wrong color!  I guess I won't be stitching when I pick this up next.  I'll be picking out stitches.  Sigh.  I much prefer the lighter colors, so there will be no fudging on this one.  Well, better to catch it now rather than when I start filling in the green.

Plum Berry Sampler

Can it possibly be more than a week since I last posted anything?  I have things to share, but I can't seem to get photos taken and posts written lately in a timely manner.  The light has been awful, too--no sun, so I just brought my latest finish next to the window and hoped for the best!

 

I stitched this design years and years ago, and decided it was finally time to sew it into something.  I couldn't even remember what it was called and had to look at the Bent Creek website to figure it out.  It is the "Plum Berry Sampler".

 

I like the simplicity of Bent Creek designs, but I don't stitch them very often these days.  They are great for stitchers who are just starting out, though, which I was at the time I worked on it.  I love the little square buttons and the specialty stitches dividing the rows of letters.  And the sweet blue bird!

I have not had a chance to pull out my sewing machine in order to sew the last two designs I found in my finished bin (along with that recent Fourth of July pin pillow I made).  Maybe I'll have a day off from work soon and can get to it then.  However, I have been making a little progress on a few other designs, which I will share soon!

Mystery Sampler Progress

My poor Blackbird Design Mystery Sampler has not been getting much attention lately.  After pulling out my sewing machine a couple of weeks ago to finish a few things I haven't had much time to stitch, so this has suffered a bit.  Suzanne very kindly agreed to SAL with me, but I've not been a very good stitching buddy.  She's made lots of good progress and will hopefully finish the first section soon.

 

And hopefully I'll get some stitching time in this weekend and I plan to devote most of it to this, and just maybe I can start to catch up.  I still have at least half of the design of part one yet to stitch.  By the way, the fabric color is closer to the color of the top photo than the one just above.  It's strange how the camera angle and how the light hits the fabric can throw the color off.  I think I will try and post a photo once a week and maybe that will help me stay on track to keep adding stitches.

A Prairie Year: In Progress

My Fourth of July pin pillow was stitched from the chart on the right, Prairie Schooler's "A Prairie Year".  There are two sets of designs, so I thought it would be fun to stitch a year's worth of smalls from the charts.  I've been picking and choosing, though I like nearly all of the designs.  These are more projects from my UFO bin (too many years neglected!).

 

Sorry, I took this late at night when there was no natural light, but I wanted to show the designs that I have already finished.  January, February, and March were all stitched and finished in 2006!  I must have stitched July back then, too, but only just finished it a week or so ago.

 

And here are my 'in progress' months.  April is the bunny, May is a basket, nothing yet for June, August is my finished bee skep (am not sure yet how to finish it--another pin pillow?  a pin keep? a plain little pillow?), September is the ABC, and October is the witch, and I still need to decide which designs for November and December.  I've seen these all stitched on one large piece of fabric, which I also really like, but now that I've started, I'll just keep going from here.  It's funny how one design will appeal one moment, but now I think I might have chosen the other for May. 

They won't all be done in the same year, but oh well.  Better late than never, right?

Too Early (or Too Late) for the Fourth

I can't even remember when I stitched this design, a few years ago surely, but it has been sitting in my bin waiting to be sewn into something.  It is a Prairie Schooler design from one of those charts that has a design for each month of the  year.  I started stitching the designs thinking I would do one a month, but I only stitched a few months worth.  You can see some progress here.  I'll have to share my finished designs as well and show what I have done and partially done.  Of course I would love to finish the year out even though they have been done haphazardly!

 

I stitched the design on Lambswool, it looks like 40 count linen with plain DMC floss.  I had thought of stitching it into a pin cushion using the whipstitch method and adding beads.  However it seems like these little pillows with the fabric added to the front seem to be popular.  This must have started when I wasn't stitching, and I liked the way they look so decided to give it a try.  What do you think?  I wonder if I should have stuffed it more to give it a more rounded shape?

 

I liked the fabrics I found in my stash.  Here's the back--a striped red and white fabric--the sort that looks a little like what's used for pillows!  Anyway, it's nice having a new way of finishing something like this and you can use fun fabrics to set off the design.

I was on a little finishing binge last weekend.  I not only sewed my "Sampler Farm", this design, but a small Bent Creek design that has very, very long been in my 'finished but not finished' bin.  I only have to sew the bottom closed and will share a photo of that as well.  I have two more projects lined up to see sewing machine action--the fabrics are ready to go, I just need to find the time.  Both are also Fourth of July designs.  I'll actually have something to display this year. 

I'm still working on my "Rain, Rain" project and hope to perhaps finish stitching the front tonight or this weekend.  And I was digging through my freebie charts as well....so lots to share this coming week, I hope!

Drumroll, Please . . .

 

Okay, here it is!  Not the best photo, but we've not had any sunshine, so I had to use the flash and it's washed things out a bit, but you already know what the design looks like, right?!  I must say, it turned out larger than I was expecting, and I think it is actually the largest design I have finished on my own.

I'm pleased with how it turned out, but I must tell you it took the better part of Sunday afternoon and then Sunday evening to sew this!  I'm not a skilled seamstress and discovered how completely out of practice on the sewing machine I am.  I had cut everything carefully and started sewing only to discover things were slightly off.  The first fabric strips were not entirely straight and when I started to add the green strips they weren't the same size.  The more I looked at it the sloppier it seemed and I knew I wouldn't be happy with it after so much work on the stitching. 

So, I picked it all out and started it again.  It was not fun and I was feeling stressed over it, but now I am happy I did so.  I took much more care the second time around.  I recalled that in the past I pulled a linen thread out of each side in order to act as a sort of guide (does anyone else do this?  I can't remember where I learned that).  Then I used my quilting pen to drawn lines on the backs of my strips to make sure I was leaving the right amount of material on each side.  Although I am happy now with how it looks, if you were to open it up and look at the back you would see what a mess it is!  My quarter inch seams are completely off and I will have to be careful as there are a couple of places where I'm not sure what is even keeping the fabric together (I shouldn't share this, should I).  But looking at the front I don't think you can tell, and as it is only for display I think it will be okay.  And do you see how it even matches my bedspread?  I'm not sure where it will live permanently, but at the moment it is on a shelf.  I need more display space.  All in all good practice but using two colors for the cushion is much harder than using only one, and I didn't even do anything fancy like use complementary colors on the corners (like a quilt square)!

I've also finished another smaller cushion and will share when I can take a decent photo, and am in the midst of finishing another.  I even have two more designs ready to finish (all things from my bin that were stitched ages ago).  It's fun having new things to display, but I have to say I really prefer finishing projects by hand when I can do so.  Am I the only person slightly intimidated by a sewing machine?  

My first semi-large (really more medium-sized) finish of 2010!  While I'm going to enjoy working on some small projects for a little while I am contemplating what large-ish design to work on next!  And I don't know about you, but all I can think of is, yay, some new design to share (as much as I like looking back over my progress I am ready for something different to look at here).

Ten Things You Might Not Know

A while ago Margaret kindly passed along to me a blog award, and as I don't often get something like this I wanted to make sure I say thanks and follow up, as part of the idea is to share ten things you might not know about me.  So here goes. 

1. I love to read.  If I am not stitching I am most likely reading and try and fit it in whenever I have a chance.  Luckily I can easily read while walking on the treadmill or riding the bus--places I can't easily stitch.
2. I work full time in an academic library.  Before that I worked in an independent bookstore, so you see I've been around books for a long time.
3. I've been to Europe several times and lived in Austria for a year, which I loved.  I've not been able to travel for some time however, as now I have a house and it always seems to require some sort of repair!  I long to return sometime, though, and am dying for a proper vacation.
4. I have two cats--Dulce and Chispa.  Dulce is Chispa's mom and she had her in my window well.  It seemed only natural that I had to take them in after that!
5. I love to walk, which is good as I don't own a car.  I don't mind it so much,  but Omaha is not a very pedestrian-friendly city.
6. Someday I want to live by the ocean.  I've been to beaches on the Pacific side, the Atlantic side and even in Ireland.  I love to hear the crashing of waves and it is my personal fantasy to live close someday and be able to see it and hear it daily.
7. I live in Omaha (as far away from the ocean as you can get) and the longer I live here the less I like our extreme weather (you'd think I'd have gotten used to it by now).  I don't like the intense cold of winter, or the heat and humidity of summer.
8. I don't like cooking much, but I do like to bake. 
9. I love dark chocolate--the darker the better.
10. I bet I share this with just about every stitcher out there--I have enough stash to keep me busy well into retirement (which is some 25 years off still) and maybe even enough for a second lifetime!  I try hard not to accumulate more, but you know how that goes!

I think I am supposed to tag a new set of bloggers, but as I can never choose (and expect this award has probably mades the rounds already), please just refer to my blogroll as everyone there could easily be tagged for this award!  

First Stitches: Rain, Rain

In the comments on one of my recent posts someone called Prairie Schooler the comfort food of stitching and I think I have to agree.  Prairie Schooler is a little like comfort reads as well--they may not necessarily be the most challenging, may even be a little predictable, but you know you are going to enjoy the journey as much as the destination.  Last night I put in my first stitches on "Rain Rain, Go Away", the smallest design on the chart.  I've stitched it before but gave it away.  I liked the design so much I have wanted to stitch it for myself, too.  It seems like it will work up very quickly and I am enjoying stitching it.  I've even managed a little work on my "Mystery Sampler", but I will share a photo when there is more to see.

However, today I plan on pulling out my sewing machine and finishing my "Sampler Farm".  It's been difficult deciding on which fabric to use for my cushion, but I have several possibilities ready.  I've not used the sewing machine in quite some time, so fingers crossed it turns out okay.  I also went through the bin that holds my stitched pieces that are in need of finishing and pulled out a few that I hope to work on over the course of the next few days.  Hopefully I'll have some things to share this week!

Sampler Farm -- Finished!!

Here it is....Goode Huswife's "Sampler Farm" all finished!  I put in the last stitch a few nights ago but wanted to wash and iron it.  The nice thing about using plain old DMC floss and Lambswool is being able to handwash the project when you finish.

It's a little hard to squeeze a long design into one shot, though this is actually not all that large.  Finished dimensions are 9-3/4 x 3-1/2 on 32 count linen.  

 

Easiest over one stitching?  The frame with the ABCs in it.

 

Favorite section?  The little sampler farm frame.  I love how the letters look like they are growing on vines.

 

Least favorite over one section?  These sunflowers.  I have numerous mistakes in this frame, but hopefully they are not obvious.  I love finishing projects, as it always spurs me on to want to stitch more!  Many thanks to all the kind words along the way!  And to think I was so close to folding this one up and hiding it away in my UFO bin!  I plan on finishing it into a pillow/cushion over the weekend and will have to raid my fabric bins.

 

Next new project?  A nice small quick one.  I've already stitched this "Rain, Rain" design--the smallest one on the Prairie Schooler chart, but I gave it away.  It seems a perfect project for April.  I think I will make it into a mattress cushion and have almost all my supplies ready--am missing a few floss colors.  Maybe I can start stitching tomorrow night, and it's time to dig out my Blackbird Designs' Mystery Sampler, too!  Hopefully I'll get in lots of stitching time this weekend!