Stitching Sunday: Chocolate is always the answer

Greetings all, and happy Sunday! After a week of chaos and lethargy in equal measure, I am feeling more relaxed and recharged today. Got some big school-related meetings and events out of the way, so today I’m enjoying some quiet stitching time.

I’m working on a candlewicking project, which I have been documenting on the &Stitches blog these past few weeks. It is a snowflake cushion kit printed with water-soluble ink. You can read about it here.

Candlewicking is a historical technique that uses two-strand cotton string embroidered on cotton muslin fabric. The overall effect is very rustic, with a texture that gives the single-coloured work some depth.  

Now, using cotton string is not as pretty as smooth embroidery floss, and stitching onto rough muslin fabric is not as elegant as fine linen, but it is very easy to see the difference in the stitches. And with such crude materials, I find inconsistencies in stitches to be even more glaring, even with small spaces.

Like all stitchers, I strive for neat lines with uniform stitches. Normally I can stitch along quite evenly, on my own designs or in a freestyle manner – but this kit is printed with definite straight lines and patterns (I have discovered that I am not a fan of pre-printed kits. I’m a bit of a control freak, and I like dictating my lines and stitches, even when I’ve traced a pattern myself). I found that as I toodled along with my needle, my stitches would come up short to fit on the end of a line. This happened on the left side of the diamond, you can see the bottom stitch is shorter than the top.

I realised this would be a project where I would have to actually employ some brainpower, heaven forbid some sort of mathematical formula to calculate stitch length...but like so many problems in life, it simply took a tray of brownies to make everything better!

When cutting brownies or other tray-baked goodies, I start by cutting a line down the middle of the pan, then I cut the halves in half, and so on, until I have lovely, even little pieces of yumminess. I was doing this the other day when the light bulb lit in my head and I realised the same could be done with embroidery.  

So I eyed the centre of the line – which mind you isn’t consistent with the spokes of the snowflake jutting out from the centre – and stuck my needle through to mark it.

Then I judged half of this line and started backstitching. The results were far more equal than the top side...

...just not as tasty as an even brownie square. But at least this will make quicker work of this cushion.

I’m sure the non-stitchers are looking at this and saying, “I don’t see much of a difference, they’re all such tiny stitches.” But you embroiderers will know what I mean. You know I’ll sleep better at night...hee hee!

Hmmm, I should keep embroidering...but I feel a little peckish now. Chocolate, anyone?

Link up your stitching projects below!

Chrissie x

An InLinkz Link-up

Stitching Sunday: Order from chaos

In line with the sunshine this morning, promising Spring and its requisite cleaning, I want to start reorganising my embroidery supplies. I picked up a handy tool to make sense of the plastic bag(s) of embroidery floss...

If I wind a few a day, I could have them all sorted and ready to file away in this handy-dandy gift from my mother:

My mother is the most organised, tidiest person I’ve ever known, and the sight of my craft supplies (or craft piles) must make her cringe. She has given me storage gifts for yarn, fabric and threads. I aspire to get it all sorted this year...

The top will hold hoops and fabric, the drawers keep floss, scissors and needles tidy. And its portable, so I can take it to my craft groups...

I also have this lovely vintage sewing box, bought from a friend who refinishes old and tattered furniture

It has the original blue velvet lining in the top, and a small drawer for organising bits and bobbins

Another embroidery tool that keeps me organised is my magnetic needle keeper. I have a few at the moment, they beg to become a collection!

I have shared my love of magnets before, in this post, written in the first two weeks of my blog. These invaluable little pretties are perfect for anyone who can’t ever seem to be able to sit for more than five minutes without someone somewhere in the house calling out for something! Rather than stabbing the fabric repeatedly or just losing the needle in the back of the sofa, I park it on the magnet, sort out whatever minor crisis only I can solve, then pick up the needle and carry on with my work.

My little magnetic frog!

I found these lovely magnets here.

Now that we’re into February, I can report on the &Stitches Finish-Along. No, Sam-I-Am isn’t finished (ha! Don’t be silly!), but hey-ho, I’ve made more progress with him this month than I have all autumn and winter!

The ham is just about complete. I will add more black stitches today, but I wanted to show you the flow of the green stitches, following on from last week’s post.

I used long and short stitch embroidery, curving very gradually as I stitched. Here’s a size reference:

I couldn’t have done this without this super-geeky piece of kit:

This is a magnifier that I wear around my neck, so I have hands free to stitch. It comes complete with a tiny light if I need extra illumination to my thread. I am so rock-n-roll crazy it frightens me.

I wonder if I could tart up this magnifier, make it less, well, old-lady-ish? I mean really, I love embroidery, I love the cute magnets and gorgeous array of floss, so why can’t there be some Cath Kidston-inspired magnifiers and lamps?

Before I leave you to your day, I want to share some lovely discoveries in my garden this morning...

Amidst the rubble...

Despite the winter storms throwing all and sundry onto the back border of my garden (a thousand twiggy branches from my birch tree, piles of leaves, buckets of rain, and the odd bit of plastic bag blown away from a rubbish bin), the first few blooms change are making their tentative appearances.

The mighty-yet-dainty snowdrop, which no doubt would find a way to pop up through a glacier if challenged. I love these flowers, so delicate yet determined to flourish – never to be thwarted by the ongoing grey of January (note to self: take a cue from the humble snowdrop next year post-Christmas!). They pop up just when you need to be reminded that change will come!

Hiding behind the foliage

I was so delighted to see the hellebore blossoms opening this morning. Only last week I thought they had succumbed to the Christmas soaking, but by the end of the week, fat buds were sneaking out from beneath the leaves.

I love how these blossoms perch bashfully on their stems, heads down, revealing the beautiful rosy streaks on the back of the petals.

Eenie, meanie, minie, mo – do I work on my sewing projects now, or go outside and do some chilly gardening? I think I’ll take advantage of this gorgeous golden orb in the sky...

Chrissie x

The return of Stitching Sundays

Although I don’t make a specific list of New Year’s resolutions, I start a new year by taking stock of where I am with things and make adjustments as needed...and some adjustments are certainly needed with my embroidery.

I decided to re-launch Stitching Sundays so that at least one day a week, and preferably more, I will give time over to my needle and thread. I absolutely love embroidery, but so often I find myself reaching for the crochet hook, because at the end of a long day it’s easier for me to crochet than it is to concentrate on small satin stitches...but honestly, I think I’m just being lazy. I only find crochet easier because I’ve been doing it so much longer than embroidery.

I just need to keep my stitching supplies to hand, preferably sitting atop my crochet hooks, and I know I will make good progress with embroidery techniques. The concentration helps me to forget about all else going on, which is ultimately very, very relaxing.

If it's written on a mug, it must be true

I have a WIP list a mile long, and I want to clear away some of these projects before I take on anything new (and of course I have a mile-long list of new things I want to stitch, too!).

Luckily, &Stitches is hosting a Finish-Along for the month of January!

I’m now a contributor to this wonderful site devoted to all things stitchy, and a little part of me is wondering if they introduced this FAL topic just for me...and Sam-I-Am...

I know they are fond of my Dr. Seuss embroidery, but the poor fellow has sat waiting for so long, I’m sure they really would love to say, “Get on with it, woman!” but are being polite...

I needed a break from this because I wasn't happy with the black outline of that letter 'H' - it's just sloppy, and I got ticked off that it wasn't working out as I planned. I knew I'd have to rip out part of it, so I put it away for a while. 

I’m joining in this FAL so that I devote more time to Sam, finish up his green ham and eggs, and then I can move on, because I have some ideas swirling in my head that I’m excited to share with you! Do you have an embroidery project needing some TLC? Link it up to &Stitches and finish it with me!

Please also join me as and when on Stitching Sundays – you might be curious to take up some fun and simple embroidery (click on the relevant words in my ‘Looking for Something?’ section on the right for inspiration), you might have a detailed project languishing in a drawer, you might want to add a personal touch to a quilt or item of clothing – share it here! I have some interesting topics to share in the coming weeks.

Link up below, and don’t forget to grab the button on the sidebar...

Happy crafting!

Chrissie x

A peek at my heart...

Just a quick look at the negative space project I’ve been working on...

...you can find out more at the &Stitches site, where I am a new contributor! Please pop by and let me know what you think of the result of this embroidery experiment...

In other news, I have clipped these beauties from my garden

I find hydrangea colours absolutely enchanting, from the acid greens of early summer blossom, to the entire range of pinks, blues and purples of the full blooms, and now the dusky roses and soft greens of autumn. So magical.

Any tips for drying these? I have had mixed luck in the past – I’ve hung them upside down, I’ve left them standing in a half-centimetre of water in a vase, I’ve laid them gently on their sides...all with varying results. Sometimes I have perfectly preserved flowers, other times they just shrivel and fall to pieces. There seems to be no rhyme or reason...

The sun is shining on this crisp Saturday morning, I wish you all a lovely weekend!

Chrissie x