Erica's Stitches

My second First Step is coming along. In some ways it's going much faster.  I'm familiar with the stitches and color scheme so I don't have to refer to the directions as often. But, I've been having difficulties in the medium section.  For greens I chose the DMC 500's, which are my favorite green.  I tend to have plenty of floss and lots of spares.  I ran out of 502. I have spares of every other 500 green, but not the one I needed.  I searched drawers.  I looked for projects I kitted up to see if there was any spare 502.  There wasn't. I was busy at lunch and couldn't swing by a store.  When I was doing errands I miraculously never went by a store that floss.  Finally, after over a week, I finally managed to find a skein and I'm going again. Then, I noticed that one of the gray squares didn't look right.  It turns out I had one length of gray floss that was not 415 wrapped around my 415 bobbin.   Grrr....

I started out so organized.  I sorted the thread and attached it to the card in the kit.  For the first part of the kit I carefully removed some floss, split it and put the unused portion back on the card. Then I got lazy.  I was too much work to keep the thread neat. Now my unused floss is mixed in with the ends.  I'm almost done, so I'll clean up the mess when I'm totally finished.

I stitched on my travel kit while waiting in the airport.  I worked on the border.  It was simple enough that I could stitch without referring back to the pattern. There are other sections that it would be more fun to work on, but they involve more counting and attention to detail. Usually I like to stitch the border last.  So, I was very relieved that after stitching all of the vine the border connected back to itself.  I hate ripping.  I was even able to fill in some of the shamrocks.  I have many more to go. When I got this pattern, it was a free download, but the link now yields only a "sorry this page could not be displayed".  But I did find a link to a picture of a finished sampler . The design is "An Irish Shamrock Sampler" by Lucy Lyons Willis of La Chatelaine Designs.

I'm going on a short trip soon.  I've been mentally packing for a while. One thing I need to have is a small travel kit to work on while I'm stuck in the airport.  I've been reviewing all the small patterns I've seen recently trying to decide which one I would like to do the most.  It was going to be a hard decision. But, look what I found!  An old travel pack forgotten for a few years.  I guess I should work on that one.  It has shamrocks on it and St. Patrick's Day is next month so it is season appropriate and I have a chance to get it done before the holiday.  It's already half way done. My kit comes complete with dental floss - my travel cutter of choice. I know small embroidery scissors are allowed, but I'd rather not take the chance of them being taken away.  I've got some stitching, a magazine and some snacks.  Lets go!

I'm creating bags out of the sheets of fused plasitc bags I made earlier . But first, I had to try stitching on the plastic. Yes, I can with a really sharp needle.  The plastic fabric is not like I expected.  It is surprisingly strong and doesn't tear.  It is supple, yet not as pliable as normal fabric.  That makes it harder to stitch on in the center of a big sheet.  But along the edge its easier. Also, once you stick the needle in there is a hole, whether you wanted it there or not.  So, I had to be very careful.  I ended up using the running stitch exclusively and used simple designs.  But, sometimes the stitched lines are not as straight as I would have liked. I added some sequins and spangles. The straps of the bags are the seams of some old black jeans. For one of the uglier pieces I simply added as zipper and sewed up the seams to make a bag.  Actually, it was my first zipper so I shouldn't say "simply".  I di...

Acorns!  There are acorns on the Gambel Oaks this year! Usually there aren't many and they are quickly picked off by the squirrels. According to Wikipedia the acorn is a symbol of patience.  I believe it because I don't see them that often.  We have planted many baby oak trees and it will be years before any of them have acorns. Thinking back, I have many samplers with acorns on them showing a patience of a different kind. I also have very patient friends.  These acorns were stitched on a round-robin sampler. Isn't it fun looking at all the variations on a simple acorn design.  They are all different and they are all obviously acorns.  Makes me want to stitch some more acorns.  Maybe later.

Many people think cross-stitching is a mindless activity done while watching TV.  For me, it's not.  I either end up abandoning my stitching to watch a show or I end up tuning it out and missing the ending. My mind is constantly thinking about what I'm creating.  Here's an example from when I was stitching my Coneflower Biscornu : This is the first side.  The border is made up of many quilt blocks.  I stitched all the pink and yellow first. I like this border.  It would be fun to use this as a frame for something else.  When I was designing I was using whole blocks and didn't see this possibility.  Is the pink too light?  What will it look like when I add the green?  How will the yellow look when the green is added? Now the green has been added. It looks totally different now.  The pink is definitely not too light.  The look of the "frame" has changed and is totally different.  It would be hard to pick which...