The Peacock's Feather

Quaker Heart Finish

I finished this late yesterday, but I was too tired to post my photos.  This took much longer to finish than I anticipated, but it's done!  The hard part was whipstitching the linen pieces together at the top in that middle gap.  I had to take out stitches and remove the beads, so there is a little section with no beads, but I don't think it really is very noticeable. 

Quaker Heart Freebie (from Piecework Magazine)
Stitched on 32 count Lambswool using DMC #4210 Variegated Floss
Antique Glass Beads (#03021) attached to the outside edge

Here's a view of the back of the heart.

 

And I took a few photos of my finishing.  It's just your basic backstitching and then whipstitching the two linen pieces together (hopefully I'm using the correct terminology?).

 

I added a bead at every other stitch.  Each stitch would have been too close together, I think.

 

The beading wasn't as hard as I expected (except at the top).  It just took a while as it's quite a ways around the heart.

 

And here's a close up of the beads.  I filled it with little plastic pellets used in crafts to give it a little weight.  I'm quite pleased with how it turned out! 

Odds and Ends and Updates

I was hoping I would have finished all the stitching on my Quaker Heart freebie, but I still have a couple of motifs left on the back to stitch.  I plan on back stitching and whip stitching the hearts together and making this into a pin cushion (I have a fondness for pin cushions).  I was wondering how it would look with beads attached to the edges as well?  Maybe small pearl/white beads?  I've done this before, but it's been so long I can't quite remember how I did it.  I always use two plies of floss for the backstitching, but I wonder if only one ply will be sufficient for the whip stitching, as I'm not sure two plies will fit through the beads.  Any ideas?  I may have to just mess about with it a bit to see.  Hopefully I can share a finished photo sometime tomorrow--just in time for Valentine's Day.

 

I finally finished the first row of the border on my sampler farm and did a bit more of the over-one stitching.  I've not worked on this one much in the last week, but I'm really looking forward to getting back to it.

 

Here's a little close up of the over one stitching, which wasn't too awful at all!  What I find hard is solid rows/areas of over-one stitches--I tend to lose my place easily, but letters and borders are pretty easy (only I hate the counting part--too tiny stitches).

 

I've put in only a very few stitches on my Valentine Wabbit by Sheepish Designs.  I still hope to stitch this before the end of the month.  And thanks very much to Pam F. for sending along the ribbon that I needed.  What a lovely surprise!  Now I am all set to go, and really there isn't much to the design, so I think it's the finishing that is going to take a while on this one.

 

This is an awful photo (again no sun so I have no natural light to work with), so you can't get a good idea of that the colors really look like.  I've decided I do want to start this Quaker Heart Sampler by The Needle's Content.  I pulled out 40 count Lambswool, and I think the colors look okay on it.  It calls for Navy Bean, which I think is closer to off white, but we'll see how this works.

 

And one more.  I am hoping to finally start my Blackbird Design Mystery Sampler very very soon.  The first section is seen above and calls for Korty's Blend fabric.  I'm all kitted up and ready to go.

But first I'll me working away on my Quaker Heart.  Happy weekend everyone.

I Found Her! (and a few other things besides)

I knew she had to be somewhere amongst my things.  And while it took two times through the bins (such a painful job digging through stash bins...), I did find her.  I've got quite a lot crammed into some of those bins and she had sunk down into it and I just missed her.  I was certain I had finished her, but I see I never did get around to sewing on the beads (hence the reason she wasn't in my "finished" bin).  She's a little wrinkled, but the worst of the wrinkles are at least on the sides.  The little saying reads: "There where the weeping willow weeps, a dainty housewren sweetly cheeps". 

 

Here she is a little closer.  The color of the linen is very off (I took the photo at night with the use of a lamp), but the floss colors aren't too bad.  I stitched her on 40 count Ink Spot Black by R&R Reproductions using Needlepoint Silks.  I plan on finishing her as a cushion.  On the chart Kathy of Carriage House Samplings mentions she used olive brown velvet, so I may look for that as well.  She somehow seems like she deserves velvet over regular cotton fabric.  And I've never added beads around the edges (they'll be slightly raised in half circles), so that will be an adventure.  First I'll need to order my velvet, though.

 

It's impossible (for me anyway) to look through my stash bins without pulling something out that I want to stitch.  I came across this "Sampler Heart" by The Needle's Content.  I've had the chart and floss for a long time but have never gotten around to getting the linen.  It calls for 36 count Navy Bean.  I'm trying hard to work from my stash and not accumulate too much new stuff, so I was thinking I might just stitch this on 40 count Lambswool.  It seems like it would be quick to stitch up (said the world's slowest stitcher), and it would be another perfect February design.  So it stays by by bedside.

 

When I saw Terri's beautiful Elizabeth Savilles sampler in all its pink glory, all I could think is 'I must get this one, too', but then I started thinking of all the designs I have kitted up and ready to go.  So I am trying to distract myself and pulled out an entirely different sampler.  Not so pink, but still very pretty.  Now I'm not sure I'll start stitching this, since I need to finish this and will soon be starting this (hopefully this weekend) but it's nice to look at and think about.  I have my Quaker Heart to finish in the interim--maybe in time for Valentine's Day?

A Few Letters Short

It was my goal yesterday to finish the alphabet on my Quaker Heart freebie and do the backstitching around the heart (I plan on making this into a pincushion), and then maybe even put in the first few stitches on the reverse side's design.  I'm afraid I got a little wrapped up in what I was watching, however, Emma on Masterpiece Theatre.  I think I like this remake the best and will have to buy it for my little DVD collection (I only buy movies I know I will enjoy watching more than once).  There are two Jane Austen books I've not yet read, and Emma is one of them, and this made me want to pull out my copy and start reading right away.  As I'm rereading Pride and Prejudice at the moment I will save it for later.  I stitched during the news and then was just too tired and it was getting too late to add those final letters.  So I'll finish them tonight instead.  And maybe I can start working on one of my other Valentine projects now that it is officially February. 

Just curious--when and where do you stitch?  I used to take my stitching with me to work, but as breaks and a short lunch is just not enough time to really make any progress (by the time I pull out my work and find my place my break is usually half over), I've stopped dragging it with me (to say nothing of letting it get wrinkled in my bookbag).  Now I stitch for a while in the evenings right before I go to bed, and actually stitch in bed!  The bad thing is I am either too tired to work long, or would like to work for a while, but I have to get up early in the morning, so try and turn the lights out at a reasonable time.  Weekends are my prime stitching time generally, though I also try and get caught up on computer related things as well (emails, blog reading).  Oh to have a few more hours in the day--or three day weekends every weekend!