Reading

I did a little bit on the scissors sheath yesterday at lunchtime at work. Didn't get any done last night cause I got the final book in a trilogy I've been reading. I did get some stitching related activity done as I also read and did some sketches from a book on Islamic embroidery. Hopefully, I will get some more stitching done on the weekend. Today I will be reading to finish off my book.

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Elizabethan Hat - Almost

Well, I didn't do any stitching on the weekend cause I was making an Elizabethan Arched Brim hat. And I almost got it done, until I had a bit of a disaster with the brim. Too much glue and the buckram lost some of its stiffness. The pattern called for heavy weight buckram. Mine was fairly stiff, but I think I should have sewn two layers together. The crown is holding up OK, but I don't think the brim is stiff enough to take the top layer of fabric. I am getting really sick of doing crafts that involve materials I can never get a hold of. The pattern also called for 18 gauge millinary wire. I picked up wire from Spotlight, but I'm not sure if it was heavy enough. So the plan for this week is to remake the brim. I will use double layer of buckram and I might double up on the wire as well. With a bit of luck, I will get it to the almost finished stage by Saturday. Then I need to get more bias binding for the end. Then that leaves putting the mulling and top layer of fabric on and construction for Saturday afternoon. I think I should have enough time. Then I can decorate - I bought this really cool feather!

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Stitchers Five - Kits or Charts?

1. Which do you prefer, Kits or Charts?
Neither, I don't normally use kits or charts. But when I do I use kits.

2. Why?
I very rarely use other peoples designs. So when I find something I really like, I want to be able to just start and not have to run around finding the materials. Since the only kits I've bought all involve hard to get materials, its just easier to buy kits and save on the messing around. I've only ever bought 5 kits in my entire life and three of those were very small cross stitch projects (all completed). The other two were a crewel kit and an Elizabethan inspired kit that had all sorts of obscure things in it, including a special Japanese needle for using gold thread.

3. How do you organise your materials before you stitch?
Organise, what's that? No, actually, I just have everything together in a work box, so I can pack up at the end of each stitching session. I have cats.

4. Do you do anything to the sides of your fabric before starting?
Generally no. But it depends on the fabric. I worked with some velvet recently and that I overlocked the edges before framing up cause it was fraying quite badly.

5. What do you do with the leftovers when your done?
Put them aside for future use. But as I said before, I've only done a few kits and don't have that much stuff left over. What I do have left I haven't used yet, as it was cotton, which I don't use.

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Lest We Forget

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

Lest We Forget

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Red is Pretty

Anne - Don't get me wrong!! I think it looks great when its done, but this just seems to be going really slowly! But in most of the cross stitch blogs that I read, the one thing everyone seems to dread doing on any project is a large amount of backstitch! Everyone does it, cause it does make things look better, but I don't think people enjoy doing it.

On the stitching front. Was in more of a groove last night, got a couple more hours done. Finished off the black outlining on one side of the sheath and filled in the middle flower in red and yellow. Just need to do the tips in white and that flower is done (leaving it till last so it doesn't get dirty). I will get the other flowers done tonight, they don't take long at all. Then I have to make a decision about the background and the gold. Still leaning to dark blue for the background.

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Counted = Boring!

Well, I did another couple of hours on the scissors sheath and it is annoying me already. I now see why cross stitchers hate doing backstitch. Although what I am doing is slightly different, it still seems a bit tedious. Hopefully, once I start getting some colour on it, I will get a bit more motivated.

I am still trying to decide about how to do the background. In period examples of this style, the background is often done in silver-gilt thread. Now I am not really keen on doing it in silver, if I was to go metallic, I'd rather use gold. But I am thinking of doing it in silk, I think this will wear better and I have to remember that this is going to be a work piece. Now, if I do do it in silk, what colour? I'm thinking something dark, so that the flowers and gold really pop. Maybe a navy or midnight blue?? Not to dark or the annoying black outlining won't show up.

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Returning to Normal

Well, I think I have finally recovered from Festival. One thing I forgot to mention was that I was awarded a prize in court for being Company Champion. That was pretty cool. It was two period style slate frames. I also got a prize for the previous competition that I'd one. It was a pair of small snip shears. My current WIP is a cover for it - Scissor Sheath. I am working it on 28 count linen in tent stitch. The inspiration is an Elizabethan Knife Sheath held at the V and A Museum. It should be a fairly quick piece. I am doing it in the Eterna Stranded silk. It should have a lovely sheen. I am still deciding about the goldwork. Do I do it in some sort of braid or plait stitch, as was done in period or should I just do quick couching? This is going to be a working object, so I want to get it done quickly and not spend too much time on it in case it gets wrecked. This is progress at 1 hour (including set up, about 15 mins stitching time - it took me a few goes to work out the number of stranded to use for good coverage).

I still have alot of tidying up to do. But my craft/work room is returning to a semblance of normality. Actually, its better than normal as I managed to create some more space for the numerous folders I have collected. Each folder covers a specific embroidery topic and I have quite a few. Up until the weekend they were just on the floor, always getting in the way. But now I have room in my book case for them. I am thinking about moving some more stuff from the bookcase that I don't use very often to create more storage room for stuff that I do use. It will keep me out of trouble on the weekend.

Since the weather is starting to cool down, I feel like doing some cooking. So I am going to buy a heap of mince and make up some stuff for the freezer - bolognaise sauce, cottage pies, meatballs. All stuff that can be thawed and used. The meatballs are good cause you can use them to bolster other meals, like throwing some in soup etc.

Well, that's it for now. Hopefully I will be blogging more regularly again now that Easter is over.

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Back Safe and Sound

Well, I made it back. I am really tired but I had a great time.

Lots of driving, got there at 3am, set up tents in bed by 5am then up at 7am for the first day!! Lots of getting to know the camp and running into people who I had only previously talked to on the net or via email.

I took lots of classes, missed quite a few as well due to conflicts or other things happening (like being just too tired to walk up the hill to the A & S tents one more time!!).

I put my films in yesterday so I should be getting those back today. I only took two rolls of film. The big SLR was just too much to carry around. I need to get a small 35mm camera for my pouch.

Spent way too much money on market day, but picked up some stuff I had been needing for a while. I also spent alot on pearls and beads for embroidery and spent a ridiculous amount on books, actually on one book in particular - Queen Elizabeths Wardrobe Unlock'd. I had to get it, if you do Elizabethan it is THE book.

The word for this Festival was DUST. It was everywhere and in everything. The area was bone dry (therefore the total fire ban). But I would much rather dust than mud.

So more later when I get pics and my brain is working.

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Still Preparing Madly

Been doing final sewing. Also printing for my class - thank goodness Adam has a colour laser printer at work, will save me taking any of my good embroidery books.

Tomorrow is final packing and running around. Then we hit the road at about 9pm. So I will be off air for 5 days. I will probably do a huge update when I get back. So I hope everyone has a great Easter.

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Preparing Madly

Well, Festival is now only four days away. I spent the weekend madly getting ready. Did lots of washing, made up another 10kg of tomatos into sauce. I think this batch is better cause the tomatos were riper. I also managed to get a few projects out of the way, got a banner made up for sticking outside the tent. Now I've just got to work out how to fly it (which may be done with velcro dots if I get desparate). I finished off my cloak and put some quick embroidery around the front edge to keep the seams in place. I finished off my LOG pouch. I really wish I'd done that six months ago when it wasn't so important or time consuming!! But that is another project to have on my table for the LPT. So Festival preparation are just about under control. I have a few things to do, like putting the kits together for my class, and one or two small things for my clothes, but apart from that the panic of last week has subsided a bit.

On the "could have been an absolute disaster front", I put my mobile phone through a complete wash cycle on the weekend. Didn't even notice until I was hanging the shorts on the line. I was so mad at myself for not checking the shorts before I put them in the wash. Anyway, I pulled the phone apart, pulled out the battery and sim card etc and left it to dry on the kitchen table. Luckily, it was a nice hot day. I let it dry all day. When Adam got home, I put it back together and we tried it. Nothing. So we put it in the charger and left it for 10 mins to get a bit of a charge, then tried again. It worked!! So I put it back on the charger. It was fully charged after about 4 hours, I turned it on and its been going ever since. I used it yesterday and the only problem I can see is that the up arrow key doesn't work. Considering I thought it was completely broken and I still had 18 months on my contract, I can live with the not working key. So if you are thinking of buying a new phone, I can heartily recommend Nokia. I always liked them, now I will not buy anything else.

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Thanks to Jennie!

I just wanted to say a big thank you to Jennie for helping me set up MT on my website. I probably won't move this blog, its quite happy where it is, but I might set up a couple of others just cause I can.

On a sewing type note, I finished putting hooks and eyes on my last dress last night. I have brought it with me to work to sew up the front seem (which I will do at lunch). Then its at a wearable stage. Also, after much grunting and other scary noises, I actually managed to get my tent back into the tent bag it came in. I think some sort of Time Lord/TARDIS factor came into play there. But whatever the physics involved it saved me several hours of having to make a new tent bag to take to Festival. All I had to do was draw my badge on it for identification purposes.

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