Some Finishes

I've done it. I finished cutting out the Hardanger piece I previously blogged about. I was truely scared as I was cutting it out that I might cut a thread that wasn't supposed to be. Whew am I glad that didn't happen, lol. But here is a picture of the piece now.

This is the overall view of the piece. Sorry for the crooked look of the picture.

This is a picture of the center. Look at all those Dove's Eyes.

Here is a picture of one corner. Sorry for the crookedness of the picture.

Now onto another finish. I've fallen in love with biscornu, so much so that I had to make one to see if I could. Well I did, lol. The pattern I got at The Floss Box. The pattern I chose reminded me of the Colorado state flower if you were looking directly at it. The colors speak of the Columbine.

This is a picture of the front of the biscornu.

Here is the back of the biscornu.

I thoroughly enjoyined stitching and making this piece. I like things I can finish on my own. Saves me money on a finisher.

Keep on Stitchin'....

Well I've done myself proud. I completed a stitchery project in the year I started it. This hasn't happened in a long time, lol. I take that back my previous Hardanger project I blogged about I'm done stitching it completely, including the Woven Bars and Dove's Eyes. I'm now cutting it out along the buttonhole, when that's done I'll post a picture of it. But I ramble :-).


This is a Freebie from Stickfee. I loved the design of it, but I changed the verse, lol. I didn't stitch with DMC #498 Dark Christmas Red it called for , I used Au Ver A Soir #946 a similiar Dark Red color. I also didn't do the backstitch in the red I used DMC #3371 a nice Chocolate Brown. Heck I just like to change patterns to suit me sometimes, lol. Who doesn't? Now my mother and I have to figure out what to make out of it. I'm open to suggestions. I thought a pillow would be nice, my mom thinks a box top or needle book cover. Hmmmmm....I really don't want to frame the piece as I think it needs to be felt to be appreciated.

I hadn't been in the stitching mood recently. However, when I got onto Blogger and began to find all of the stitchery blogs..I got inspired again. So thank you to all those blogs out there that are inspirations to us that might not stitch as fervently as you do and remember to

Keep on Stitchin'....

Flower Language

glitter-graphics.com

Since this is one of the biggest months for floral bouquets, it is time to read up on what flowers mean. In the picture above there are Morning Glorys. They mean affection. A very appropriate meaning if you ask me :-).

It intrigues me that flowers have a language all of their own. Everyone assumes that roses mean love but the color of the rose itself also means something. For example a white rose has the meaning of eternal love, innocence, heavenly, secrecy and silence. While the red rose, depending on the deepness of color, has different meanings. This goes for all colors of the rose.

I wish the guys I know today would look up what the meanings were. Have you ever seen Kate & Leopold, a movie starring Meg Ryan and Hugh Jackman. Well in this movie Mr. Jackman plays a duke from the 19th century pulled into the present and falls in love with Ms. Ryan's character. During one of the scenes Mr. Jackman helps out Ms. Ryan's brother to pick out flowers, for his love interest. The proper gentleman (Mr. Jackman) from the Victorian Age proceeds to tell the brother what all the meanings of the flowers are in the store bunch that the present guy picks up. After telling the brother that, Mr. Jackman puts down the store bunch and puts together a bouquet that in a couple of scenes later you find out the brother's love interest just loved the bouquet because it spoke to her. Just imagine getting the perfect bouquet that says to you "I love you eternally" from that special guy in your life.

Here are a few links to sites that have the meanings of the flowers on them:

The Language of Flowers - What they mean
The history and language of FLOWERS and herbs - origins and meanings!
The Language of Flowers

Well there's another reason I wanted to write about this subject. For all the cross-stitchers, embroiderer's, and crazy quilters out there be careful of the flowers you put onto a project, you don't want to convey the wrong meaning. Lol. Just kidding. You can put any flower you want into your work. Maybe this will intrigue you enough to look up what a flower means for fun. If you are doing a round robin you could include that in the journal that may come around with the piece. Just think of all those pieces from long ago done by young ladies and what hidden meanings may be in them just from the flowers alone.

I still love flowers no matter what one may mean.

Keep on Stitchin'....

Beads -- The Ultimate Eye Candy

Well I must say I do like to do many different types of needlecrafts, for example, Hardanger, Cross Stitching, Needlepointing, and Beading. My mom was kind enough to foward me an email in January regarding an online store that was discontinuing it's beads. I went gun ho on what I wanted to order and wound up with a whopping $600+ order. What can I say, I had fun looking at the beads and what I might want. Needless to say I didn't buy that cartful, lol. I whittled my order down to a much more reasonable price for me. I ordered on January 11 and I realized then that with this sale they were doing it would take a few days to process the order and mail it to me. I didn't expect it to take until now to get my order though. However, I am happy with what I got today in the mail, hehe. Not only did I buy for myself, I also bought some beads for my mom.

These are the only seed beads I got.

I can see doing a variety of Christmas ornaments or using them in Crazy Quilting. It's a nice deep pink that could go as red if you choose to see it that way. I'm picturing in my mind the ornament I want to create with them, lol.

This is the 1st dolphin I purchased.

This was the last of this type of dolphin this company had. I can honestly say I wish they had more. I purchased this for my mom. She is thinking of doing a Crazy Quilt with an under the water theme. I love the colors of this dolphin.

This was the 2nd dolphin I purchased.

I love the colors on this dolphin also. Also purchased for my mom in regards to her under the water Crazy Quilt.

The red Sea Horse I purchased.

He's not as colorfully as I might have liked but I do like his colors. Also purchased for my mom for her Crazy Quilt.

The blue Sea Horse I purchased.

As with the first dolphin that is pictured on here, this sea horse was the last of it's kind that the company had. I wish they had more because this bead has colors on both sides that you really could have a hard time deciding which side should be up and which should be down. Purchased for my mom but I may keep him and make a suncatcher out of him with beads to pull in the colors that he has so that we don't have to make the decision of which side not to show.

One of the moons I purchased.

Now if you haven't figured out yet, I LOVE moons. In fact, I like all things celestial with an emphasis on moons. I mean I collect moons. I have a lot of bookmarks that feature the moon or sayings for the moon. So I supposed it was appropriate for this comapny to have moon beads, muhahahaha. Yes, this is what I purchased for myself. My mom may only touch them if she puts them onto a Crazy Quilt for me. A celestial themed one of course, lol . The pictures really don't do justice to the bead. They are simply gorgeous.

The other moon I purchased.

Keep On Stitchin'...

Hardanger Doily

I started this Hardanger doily 2 weeks or so ago. I've finished the stitching that the chart called for and it's ready to go into the wash. I'll do the cutting, Needlewoven bars and Dove's Eyes after it is cleaned. After that is done I will cut out the doily along the Buttonhole.

I thought I was working on a piece of white 28 count evenweave. Boy, was I wrong! I think my eyesight is going :-(. I know it happens with age, lol. Anyway, I did all the Klosters and Buttonhole in DMC White #8 Perle Cotton. My mom pointed out to me that my cloth was off-white and if I were to do all the stitching in white it would always look dingy. We put our heads together and decided that the Tulips/Ships and the Cable Stitch should be in a very light taupe . I chose DMC 822 #8 and #12 Perle Cotton. The needleweaving will be done in DMC White #12 Perle Coton.

This is a close up of one of the corners.

You might ask why my mom and I wash our Hardanger pieces regardless of what they are going to be used for. In fact, you might ask why we wash them before we cut them as this is not what all the books tell you to do. This is why: My mom did a beautiful Hardanger dresser scarf one time and completed it with everything done, the Klosters, the Tulips/Ships, Eyelets, Buttonhole, and Woven bars (to have this step done in Hardanger you will have cut the cloth and removed threads to weave bars out of those threads that are left). Following the instructions for washing after completion my mom threw the dresser scarf into the washer. Unfortunately, my mom had unknowingly used a poor quality of evenweave for this project. After it came out of the dryer it appeared shredded and ragged along the cut Buttonhole edges and in some areas of the cutwork where the Woven bars were located. My mom was devestated. (A very small piece of that dresser scarf can be seen on my Dottie Doll in another post from January 25, 2009). She took the seemingly ruined piece to a friend of ours that is a great stitcher of Hardanger, in fact one of her mentors. Our friend explained that the cloth had shrunk OUT OF the Kloster blocks by almost 1/8" and she would not be able to fix the piece. My mom said to me, "From now on no cutting gets done on a Hardanger piece before it's washed, to ensure that the cloth is shrunk." So that's a little reason behind why we wash our Hardanger pieces. Another reason is no matter how hard you try to keep your hands clean, dirt and body oils will always appear on cloth. It's just nice to start with a clean slate so to speak before any cutting gets done. Then, if you get the piece dirty again while cutting you are assured in your own mind that it won't shrink anymore when you throw it into the washer and dryer.

Below is a picture of the dresser scarf. My mom was able to save it and turn it into a panel on this bag.



I'll post another picture after I do the cutting on it so that you can see the finished piece.

Keep on Stitchin'...