Ornament of the Month #3

March. Did I do it? Did I keep with my goal to stitch an ornament a month?Yes, I did!

Little House Needlework's, He's A Flake! This was the ornament released in March. Cute as can be. The only crapty moment I had was completely mistaking where to begin stitching. I didn't want to start in the center so I estimated where the top left hand corner was and as you can somewhat see, I did a miserable job guessing. It looks much worse in person, a whole stretch of green linen unmarked. Oh, well, I don't think it will pose any problems in finishing it ... if and when I ever get around to doing that!

Christmas Ornament A Month #2

I went off the Little House Needleworks path in February and stitched a chart from the Just Cross Stitch 2009Christmas Ornaments Issue. I collected all the materials to make three of the ornaments I really liked (though I must admit I have kind of soured on one of my picks and will probably never stitch it) and have completed one. Here it is, Cross-Eyed Cricket's Wishes: It's incredibly cute and was a lot of fun to stitch, except for ... wait for it ... the French Knots! I managed to give her French Knot eyes but her hair was supposed to be all French Knots and I tried and tried but with my true crapting ability I couldn't accomplish it, so I used regular cross stitches. I also used DMC instead of the more interesting Thread Gatherer soft apricot that the hair called for. It's a shame because the knots (and the varigated color) really do make the hair but I'm still more than pleased with my results.

The other ornament from the issue that I need to start at some point is Heart Strings 2009 Santa but it also entails many many French Knots and I'm terrified. Just plain terrified. I've got to get a stand.

Keep stitching!

Cross Stitch Christmas Ornament A Month - January

Back in January I resolved to cross stitch a Christmas tree ornament a month. I was partly inspired to make this goal because Little House Needleworks were releasing a new pattern every month. I thought the first release was cute so I signed up with a cross stitch shop to automatically receive each installment. The monthly shipment includes the required cut of fabric, beads if any are used and speciality fibers. I'm on my own when it comes to the DMC.

So back in January at the start of my quest, I easily completed Fa La La:
It came out great, though I did have crapting moments in regards to the dreaded French Knots for the eyes and noses. I hate French Knots, despise them, to wish them out of existence does not seem too heartless. It took me forever to get these done. Lots of cursing, plenty of shouts, a few tears. The problem is I need two hands to do them but I don't have a stand. I need to get one because there are always French knots in patterns. Apparently, some people enjoy them. Weirdos!

Obviously, I have not "finished" this one, but I found inspiration in a finish by a contributor to a LHN blog devoted to people's ornament stitching. The ornament was finished in what she referred to as an envelope style. It was beautiful and she is obviously very talented unlike Moi. I have no idea how to finish an ornament in a plain old fashioned way let alone this cool envelope way but I'm going to try it nevertheless. I thought it would look really pretty to finish all of them as envelopes and then string them together in some fashion and hang them across a wall or a fireplace or something. That's yet another project. First I need to see if I can stick to my monthly resolution! Wish me luck!

The Last Christmas Tree

The title sounds like a Nicholas Sparks book where a lonely widower who doesn't have the energy or the will to decorate for Christmas meets a single mom with a young son who has just lost her job the week before Christmas. Melancholy ensues but at the end all are uplifted as they gather around the last Christmas tree left at the Merry Time Christmas Tree Lot. Something like that.

Here is it Christmas Tree #9:
Here are the nine laid out and looking pretty (though the one in the front middle looks like the yellow doesn't fit):

If you look back at the December 2nd post you can see the picture of the finished quilt. It was the border between the trees that completely freaked me out and caused me to put the project away. I'm going to take it back out and give it the old college try. My fear is that I won't cut the fabric correctly thus ruining it. By complete coincidence I have the exact fabric used in the original project. I bought it because I loved it and the fear of my ruining it may cause me to choke like the golfer Dustin Johnson at yesterday's U.S. Open. I'll keep you updated.

Christmas Tree #8

I'm not blind to the fact that this particular tree looks like a big pile of crapt but I will blame it on the lighting (as honestly I can't recall if I considered it hideous at the time I made it). Because I cut that beautiful piece of fabric so badly, I was left with only enough yellow fabrics to complete the remaining blocks. I suppose I could have waited and gone to a store to buy a different piece of yellow fabric but I was impatient, as well as determined to succeed at my goal of one tree a day. Lucretia Mulberry said on page 121 "impatience is the nectar of the crapter, if the crapter did not know impatience then crapt would not be formed". Certainly the case with this particular tree Lucretia.

Here is a badly lit picture of the Gang of Eight:

Christmas Tree #7

Christmas Tree #7. It's been so long since I actually pieced this tree together and I have a real crapty memory but as far as I can recall I did not, I repeat, I did not, have a crapting moment during its construction. It's not the most exciting tree but it's functional and definitely not Charlie Brown-esque.

Here is the group of seven:


It looks wonderful if I do say so myself. I just hope I can actually put it all together. Have faith! Anyone out there also a beginner at quilting? Perhaps we can work through our fears together. Give me a hoot!

Time Goes By

I can not believe it has been six months since I last blogged. I am shocked. I could have sworn I wrote a few posts in April but apparently I had deceived myself. Where did the time go? What have I achieved?

Lucretia Mullberry opined on page 72 of her work, "time is what you make of it ... so make sure to make lots of crapts." Have I been doing this? Yes and no. I have begun many projects, worked on some that have been gestating for years and completed a few small stitching pieces. I can also reveal I've had many brainstorms, though the majority I have not followed through on (yet) while others I just don't have the drawing capabilites to achieve (must learn to draw!).

Back in December I posted about my Christmas Tree a day project. Well, I actually did finish all my trees for my Christmas Tree Quilt but I just never posted about them. From what I remember, (my memory like my time management skills are not top notch) I read the directions for the next steps in completing the quilt, felt hopelessly lost and I took all of the finished blocks and shoved them in a bag, shoved the bag in a plastic container and shoved the plastic container under my bed where it still sits. Christmas is still six months away. Plenty of time! Yeah, right.

For now, I'm going to get back in the blogging rhythm by posting about my other completed blocks. So here is Christmas Tree #6:

Drawing from my rather smalll memory bank, I recall not being too delighted in the background yellow fabric. It seems too orangey. I did however, love what I did in making the ornaments.

The little peppermints were the perfect size to cut out and stick on the tree. I couldn't have been more pleased with them. It's one of those satisfying arty moments that real craptors so seldom experience. So I'm taking a few moments to relive the pleasure. Ahhh. So nice.

Here are the six completed trees together:

Not bad, looks okay, right? But, of course, no Royal Society members work would be complete with out a crapting moment. Here is mine.

A gorgeous piece of fabric that I cut completely wrong (the top is a good 1/2 inch shorter than the bottom) and could not use for the quilt. This is why I ended up using that rather orange fabric above that I'm not too fond of - oh well, life goes on.

Mill Hill Finish

A year or so ago my mother gave me two Mill Hill ornament kits. I finally opened one and finished it. Here it is, Mill Hill's French Horn: It was my first attempt at perforated paper. I wasn't quite sure how much tension to use so in the gold stitches, which were the first I put in, are a bit looser than they probably should have been, but once surrounded by beads, I don't think you can really tell. I'm not sure if this was my imagination but the combination of working with the thread and the paper really dried out my hands.

Crapting Moments: Not true crapting as it isn't evident in the finished product but threading the beading needle was a bear. I think it was the cheap thread (at least it seemed cheap). I could see the hole well enough (though it was tiny) but I really struggled to get the thread to actually go through it. It would split all the time. I think one threading session took about 20 minutes. Due to my hatred of threading, I strung the red beads with the same green thread I was using for the green beads. I was not going to thread anymore needles than necesary, as a result if you examine the ornament carefully, you can probably see the green thread on the side of the red bead, but I DON'T CARE!

Cutting the shape out was also a bit of a challenge. I'm scissors challenged to begin with so making sure I wasn't cutting into any of the stitching was difficult. There was a near disaster at the very top where I think I did cut away the hole for one stitch, but I think it's going to stay in place. I can't decide if I'm going to back it or not. I probably will, just not right now.

Side note: I did finish all my Christmas tree panels, I just haven't had time to write about them. I hope to in the new year, as well as actually put it all together.

Merry Christmas!

Days 4 and 5 - Christmas Trees 5 and 6

No, I didn't fall down on my goal. I just fell down on my posting. I was able to make a tree on Saturday and one on Sunday. Today is Monday, how will I do? Time will tell. Here is Saturday's tree:
I really like the green fabric I used for the tree. I wasn't sure at first if it would work but I think it does.

Here is the resplendent festival:
Crapting moment: None that I can remember. Hooray again!

Sunday's Tree started out with this fabric selection:

Note the peppermint rounds fabric. I thought this was perfect for ornaments and the big ones fit the circles perfectly. I thought I'd end up with crapt as I'm not always adept at matching things up nicely, or for that matter, cutting things out properly but they actually came out pretty nice:
And here is the finished tree:
I adore the peppermint ornaments. So cute! And the expanding festival:
It looks great. Three more to go (before the real work begins that I have no clue how to do). I better get cracking!

Day Three - Christmas Tree #4

I've done it again. I'm on a roll. Here are the pieces, fused and needing to be cut:

Everything ironed down and the finished product:
Again, surprisingly I'm quite pleased with it. Cute!

Crapting Moments: Happy to report not a single one! At least in regards to this tree, however, I did make the mistake of reading the instructions and I'm not sure I'll ever be able to put it together without major assistance. Also, the instructions said that you need to sew around all the appliques with quilting thread that matches the fabric! I don't have enough spools of thread to match all the different colors I'm using (actual fact - I own no quilting thread whatsoever). What's a girl to do? I'm wondering how tacky it would be to maybe use some kind of Christmasy metallic thread (does that even exist?). Pretty tacky, now that I think about it. I'm going to finish the rest of the trees before I sew and then honestly, I don't know how I'm going to manage the borders, binding and quilting. I've never done anything remotely like this! Positive thinking, girl, positive thinking

The four trees:
It is getting to be quite a festival!

Day Two Christmas Tree #3

I've kept to schedule and have finished Christmas Tree #3. Here is the fusible webbing with the pieces traced on: Here is the rough layout minus the ornaments and star:
Then here all put together:
Pretty cool. Here are the three finished trees:
Sweet. But, with six more to do, I'm realizing this thing is going to be huge.

Crapting Moment: None! Hip hip hooray!

A Christmas Treee A Day

Over a year ago I started to make a Christmas tree quilt. I found the pattern in the December 2007 (!) issue of American Patchwork and Quilting. The designer is Linda Lum Debono. Here's what the finished project looks like:

Very cute! The project was marked Beginner, which was right up my alley as I've never done quilting, applique or worked with fusible webbing!

I began the project in January of 2009, with one Christmas tree panel. I did okay. Had a fun time. Put everything away until yesterday when it occurred to me - "Hey, it's getting near Christmas, where am I again with that Festival of Trees quilt?

Oh, that's right. Nowhere! So I have decided to do a tree a day! I already had one so only eight more to go!

Perhaps I can get this sucker done before Christmas (or at least in time to fold it away with all the Christmas stuff until next year)!

Here is the first panel I did from almost a year ago:
Why, this picture came out so tiny, I'm not sure. But you get the idea.

Let's cut to yesterday, December 1 and my return to the project and Christmas tree number 2.

Here is the beginning of Tree #2 with all the fusible put down on my fabric. In true crapter fashion, where my brain left my body, I also got webbing on my new 90buck Rowenta iron. Lucretia would be proud!

Here is the finished product:
Overall, I'm very happy with it, but I did have another crapting moment that isn't quite evident from the photo. The bottom corner of the tree did not have webbing on it for some reason and so it's kind of sticking out. Very annoying and I'm not sure how to fix it. Anyone have any suggestions? Glue?

Here is Tree #2 next to Tree #3:

So far so good! Let's move on to Tree #3 tomorrow!

Hip Hip Hooray!

I have finally finished Carriage House Samplings' Faith, Hope & Honor! In fact I finished it three days ago but have only photographed it today. Here it is:
Here is a nice detail:
Though it was quite difficult to stay motivated, I'm so happy I did and that it's completed. What a relief.

And now I've turned my cross stitching sights to Mary Queen of Scot Needleroll by Dames of the Needle that was featured in the September 2008 issue of The Gift of Stitching. I've done a bit of grass but not enough to bother putting up. I'm working quite diligently to get organized so I can work on other crafting projects. But I'm going to feel good for the next few days for having finished Faith, Hope and Honor!

The Project That Never Ends

The closer I get to finishing Carriage House Samplings, Faith Hope and Honor, the less I find myself actually sitting down and doing just that. And look at it! There is so little work left to be done. Finish the border. Finish the plant container. Fill in the bottom strip and fill in the words Hope and Honor. And voila! Finished!

I could have been done weeks ago if I would have just sat down, kicked ass and plowed through, which is my usual behavior in regards to stitching projects. I'm always a sprinter when the finish line is in sight. But for some reason, I can not figure out (though, honestly, I haven't delved that deeply) I just can't seem to do it. I glance at it, sitting there on my hassock looking sad and unloved, and I turn away. I can't take the guilt. So I ignore.

It's odd, because it's not like when you're reading a good book and you start reading slower because you don't want it to end. I want this to end. I desperately want this to end. And yet there it sits.

Tomorrow. Tomorrow, shall be the day.

Coming Up Next

I'm a big watcher of Bravo's reality shows. Housewives, watch them all, Top Chef, never miss it, Flipping Out, never flip it off ... but I hate hate hate the "coming up next" part of these shows. Why don't you just give another couple of minutes of real show instead of these coming up next teasers. I'm already here. I'm already watching. You don't need to entice me by showing me that in four minutes and 22 seconds I'll be watching NeNe yell at Kim or that Padma will tell one of the chefs to pack his knives and go (hello, there's two minutes left in the show, I know someone is about to get kicked off!). Oh, another pet peeve, I've noticed lately Bravo has edited all their shows to have a 60 second light hearted bit around the :37 minute mark. Please, I'm not stupid. I can see what you're doing. You're giving me less show. I'm not fooled by those supposedly funny bits you pop in there. All right, rant over.

Coming Up Next:

Progress in the stitching world.

Gems From October 1958 Good Housekeeping

I have been so lax in writing here and I haven't done any crapting whatsoever. Heck, I haven't even done cross stitching, which is really lame on my part. So, in order to not be so delinquent in blogging I've decided to draw attention to some amazing items I've recently read in an old Good Housekeeping magazine from October 1958.
Here's the cover of that issue. Sad little puppy eyes. Sad little girl eyes. Not sure why they chose such a somber looking picture, should be sub-titled our other dog got run over'.

I bought this and three other Good Housekeeping magazines (1949 - 1958) off Ebay and also purchased eight Ladies Home Journal (all 1961). I'm reading them as research for a fiction book idea I'm writing. It's still in the planning stages but I think it could be a lot of fun.

Anyway, two great items from the Keep Up With Medicine article of Good Housekeeping:

"A review of the records of 200,000 Worth War II veterans points to a 32 percent higher death rate among men who smoked."

Wow! You think there's a connection?!

The second one is about psychotherapy's help in averting abortion (I assume they mean miscarriage). Do you know what type of woman is most likely to have a miscarriage according to the doctors of 1958? "... the frail, clinging vine girl and the independent career woman." So, you're not supposed to be clingy but you don't want to be independent either if you want to go to term with your pregnancy. I'm not quite sure where that leaves a woman and how so many kids were actually born!

More great 50's and 60's tidbits tomorrow!

One Over One Done! New Project Begins!

Finally, after much frustration, much angst and so many mistakes, I have finished the one over one water lilies on Jane Greenoff's Monet's Giverny Garden. I also added the butterflies (and in typical crapter fashion, backstitched using two threads not one. I realized my mistake with about two backstiches to go, so zen approach, I left them).
I tried a buttonhole wheel and it was a disaster. It started out fine but after about three progressions on the circle it just fell apart. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong as I feel like I'm doing it right. Go figure. I don't know what to do if I can't figure this out as there are about twenty buttonhole flowers to do!

I also dragged out the sewing machine this morning. I've had some cheap baby blankets hanging around for the last four years and have been wondering what the hell to do with them. Well, I got an idea. I sewed bits of them together in a crazy quilting kind of fashion. Here is the lookI wanted all the stitching to be seen and I purposely threw in as many different kinds of stitches as my machine allows. The next step is to thumb tack it to a stretched canvas. Next, I'm going to mix some paint with some gesso and paint it all over the fabric. After that, you'll just have to wait and see. I'm pretty excited about it! I hope it turns out okay but as Lucretia Mullbery would say "crapt is in the eye of the beholder"

New Sewing Interest Proves More Difficult Than I Imagined

I've developed a new interest. Vintage patterns. Now, along with my belief that I should be a natural at drawing, I also have this unfounded belief that I should be able to sew. But, the truth is sewing a straight line can prove daunting to me unless I sew very sloooowwwlllllyyyyy.

This interest, however, didn't develop from a yearning to sew. I was looking at Ebay for some cheap patterns that I could use for mixed media collages. This was the first one I bought: When I actually got it in my hands, I realized that I'd never be able to cut the pattern up and paste it to canvas. It was too cute. It occurred me that I should sew it. In fact I should make lots of clothing from vintage patterns. It's so retro. Thus started my current obsession. I have always admired clothing pre-1970. I especially love clothes from the 1950s. In fact one of my favorite clothing movies is The Best of Everything with Hope Lange from 1959 (based on a Rona Jaffe novel). The clothes in that movie are a marvel and even though I hate heels and I'm basically a jean and t-shirt kind of person, I'd love to be kitted up in some of those outfits.

I looked all over this Vogue pattern but I cannot find a copyright to date this particular look. Anyone have a guess? I'm guessing from the hairstyle, it's early to mid sixties but I'm not sure.

My next purchase I was completely excited by and was definitely planning to make. Here it is:
Once again, I can't find a year and I'm not quite sure when this would be. 1950s? Anyone know? The mailing envelope is pre zip codes and the postage was .02. But, anyway, I thought when I won it on Ebay that even with my minimal experience I could whip this right up. Wrong! I couldn't even understand the instructions. "Baste interfacing to wrong side of BAND FACING. Turn in and baste seam allowance on straight notched edge ..." Huh?!!! What you talking about Willis?!

For some reason I bought this pattern (probably because it was cheap):Very Harriet Nelson. It's dated 1953. I doubt I'll make this one. I think I just got caught up in the spur of the moment bidding.

The last one I've recently acquired is this:

Simplicity from 1965. I love this simple dress. I might be able to make this one. It does say Simplicity after all.

Actually, I just looked over the instructions and it's like reading a book on do it yourself plumbing: "bias seam binding may be used to encase inner edge of facings." Okay. I have no idea what you're talking about. Still, I think I'll give it a try and if worse comes to worse, I can always glue the pattern pieces on to a mixed-media collage! Very resourceful!

Time Flies When You're Not Crapting

It has been far too long since I last blogged, but laziness, a vacation (England and Italy) and a working at home husband has put the computer our of my reach. I also have not been crapting due to laziness, vacation and the ever present husband and kids (it's a NYC apartment not a McMansion). Honestly, I don't know where the time has gone but I need to throw myself back into the world of crapt. A Cloth Paper Scissors arrived awhile back and I still haven't opened it, so that will signal the return to crapting. I will open Cloth Paper Scissors. Tomorrow.

I actually had a thunder storm going on in my brain for the week after we returned from our trip. Lots of thunder claps of ideas for paintings (with the underlying theme revolving around Goldman Sachs, which was my obsession that week) and I dutifully made little sketches of each idea in my "art journal" (more words than art since I can't draw - yet) but the storm seems to have cleared and moved on.

So, the only creative endeavor involving my hands has been trying to finish up Jane Greenoff's Monet's Giverny Garden. Here is my progress as of today:

I'm currently doing the one over one water lilies and it has been a nightmare. I've put the thing down so many times, but now I'm holding a hammer over my head and forcing myself to behave. I made a mistake in back stitching in the far right pad and after one attempt to get it out and nearly ripping out the other stitches I gave up. I'm going to believe no one will notice. Can you? If so, tell me where and if you're right, I'll say very nice things about you in my blog.

I've developed quite a Zen approach to my cross stitch these days. Before, I would have festered on errant stitches, the thought of them taking over my brain until my entire head became a giant X in the wrong color and then I would have frogged the whole damn thing and started over. Now, I choose to ignore and move on (sometimes easier said than done, I still think of a mistake I made in Tracy Horner's Tanglewood, which I stitched two years ago).

After the water lilies are done (a pad a day is the goal) I have to do french knots (pure, utter torture), buttonhole stitch (which I've never done but look forward to), bullion knots, which terrify the hell out of me (if it takes 15 attempts for every one French knot, how am I going to get through the bullion knot stage?!) and then beads, which I like and look forward to as well. According to Lucretia Mullberry one should always end a project with a bit of cheer! And that's just what I plan on doing with my beads!

Paris Pillow Relaunch

A few days ago I received a package from Hand Dyed Fibers with my linen of the month, a few colors for a new project I'm going to start stitching soon (which I will write about in a day or two as I need help picking colors) and the always highly anticipated detritus bag of floss. Here is the floss from the detritus bag: I love the coral and the pinkish one and the variegated at top is really cool, but I must admit to a bit of disappointment with the black/gray. It wouldn't have been that bad if there was just one skein but there is two and that is a heck of a lot of black! Honestly, I'll probably never use it. But out of four or five detritus bags I've received, this is the first one that mildly disappointed, the rest were pure fab.

After sitting with my crapty Paris pillow for quite sometime, wondering if I should proceed to make it into a pillow or proceed to toss it in the garbage, I decided to embellish it. I have taken the variegated floss from above - I'm not sure what colors it is, green, coral, pink - and put some Algerian Eye stitch across the top. I'm using four strands of floss and let me tell you, four strands is very difficult to thread . One little sucker always decides to hang back and chill!

Here is my progress so far:Kind of cute though I'm wondering (the crapter always second guesses themselves!) if I should have stitched half over the postcard, half above the postcard. I think I probably should have but oh well too late for that.

I'm currently looking through Judith Baker Montano's Embroidery & Crazy Quilt Stitch Tool for other stitches to add to the piece. I'm a big fan of the classic Feather Stitch but I need something interesting for the corners. Any suggestions?