Sinister Craftiness

May Birthday Needle Roll by Victoria Sampler
Confederate Grey Cashel linen (28 ct)
Stitched with DMC and Kreinik metallic braids

This is not the first time I’ve tried to stitch this needle roll:  when I was starting to get back into cross stitch, this kit was my first attempt at stitching on non-Aida fabric.  It was a failure!  Very early in the stitching I miscounted, but instead of unpicking my mistake and starting over, I thought I could adjust the size of the following stitches to compensate, and it would all work out … but of course, it didn’t.

As the design drifted further out of alignment, each “correction” getting worse and worse, I had to admit defeat and set the mess aside.  Since then I learned that successful stitching doesn’t necessarily mean never making mistakes; successful stitchers recognize their mistakes, take the time to correct them, and move on.

I still wanted to stitch this pretty needle roll, so I bought another kit.  I’ve stitched more complicated pieces since then, but because of that first disaster, this needle roll will always be a reminder of how much I’ve been able to progress as a stitcher.

One last look (I promise, this is the last time!) at the anniversary sampler, just back from the framer:

Heirloom Wedding Sampler
by Victoria Sampler
Platinum Cashel linen (28 ct)
Stitched with:
DMC perle cotton
Trebizond
Soie d’Alger
Silk Mori
silk ribbon
Kreinik #4 braid

Hooray, it’s done!  Now it needs to be framed.  I love Victoria Sampler band samplers; between learning new stitches and the overall sampler design, they keep me interested all the way through and the end result is always so pretty, making all the hard work worthwhile.  This design reminds me of an antique wedding gown, all lace and pearls.  Click on the picture on the left to see the larger (1 MB) version.

I think my next Victoria Sampler project will be the Heirloom Nativity and maybe its companion piece, the Carol Singers … but I’m not starting those any time soon.

I have, however, started the Châtelaine Designs Peacock Garden Mandala — better late than never!  Part One is almost complete; I’ll post photos when it’s done.  So far, the colors are gorgeous, rich greens and blues.  A big change from working with all white.  And I’m working on the JOB box lid and base.  But for now, here’s a last look at the Hardanger section of the sampler.

It’s been really frustrating not having a camera.  I hadn’t realized how often I use one, and how much I rely on photos to keep my blogging juices flowing.   Thing One leaves on a spring break school trip later this week, so we bought him a small, inexpensive digital camera, and I’m borrowing it for a quick set of pictures before he and the camera depart for their great adventure.  I’ve been researching cameras and am seriously considering one of the Canon superzoom models.  My stolen camera was a subcompact Canon and I was mostly happy with how it operated and the results I could get out of it, but I’d like to try out the superzoom features.  Any thoughts or recommendations to share?

On to the stitching!  After the burglary, I needed something to do very badly to take my mind off it — at least to keep from a bad fright every time there was an odd noise around the house.  The Heirloom Wedding Sampler’s soothing white-on-white design, with plenty of specialty stitches on which to concentrate, has been perfect.  Here’s a look at the sampler so far.

I began at the middle of the sampler and worked my way down to the Hardanger section, then up to the trellis heart with bullion roses.  In the customized area, where the couple’s names and wedding date are supposed to be stitched, I had one of my brilliant bad ideas:  how about adding a fancy French initial?  Stitched over one, yet?  I don’t like to do much stitching over one; it leaves me cross-eyed.  Why do I do this to myself?

It was supposed to be a white initial, but the one strand of AVAS didn’t show up at all, so I was stuck with an invisible letter, and a potentially ruined sampler.  However, I had plenty of AVAS left over from Noella, and the baby blue silk was a great fit with the taupe frame and accents.  Nice save, if I do say so myself.

The sampler is stitched on Platinum Belfast linen, using perle cotton in various sizes (mostly #12), AVAS and Trebizond silk, #4 Kreinik braid, and those little pearl beads dotting the bands.  After completing the bands on the sampler, I took a break to work on the scissor case for the Japanese Octagon Box, but I’ll be back soon to assemble the heart (these will be my first bullion roses; wish me luck) and get started on the Hardanger.

I took a break from the Japanese Octagon Box to begin the Heirloom Wedding Sampler, and I would love to show you pictures of it, but I can’t.  Why not?

Last week our home was robbed, and the burglar took my digital camera, in addition to some other small electronics, laptop and computer parts (but thankfully not the main computer) and all of my jewelry.  It has been a rough week as we try to put ourselves back together and work towards feeling safe again.

When I do feel like stitching, this band sampler has been a great comfort.  There’s something very soothing about concentrating on a specialty stitch, then embroidering the line across the fabric.  And since the sampler is for our upcoming anniversary, it’s a good reminder of what we still have.

After finishing Glow I began Three Friends, a needlework case by The Drawn Thread.  The title refers to the Chinese “three friends of winter”:  bamboo, pine, and plum blossom.  I’m stitching it with the recommended NPI and Dinky Dyes silks on 32 count Putty linen.  I decided to begin with the inside pockets; this one features a lovely satin stitched plum blossom.

I think this may be Chinook’s first appearance on this blog.  Usually Nanaimo claims the stitching table, but today Chinook got there first.  In the preferred napping spot are two stitching frames, with linen marked and all set to begin.  The wider one is for Theresa Wentzler’s Holly and Ivy Sampler.  I’ll be very happy if I can get it done in time for Christmas.  Chinook and Nanaimo are already looking forward to Tapestry Cat, which is next on my to-do list of Theresa Wentzler projects.

The narrow framed linen is for the Heirloom Wedding Sampler by Victoria Sampler.  About a year and a half ago I bought the supplies for it because three weddings of family and friends were in the works, but as it turned out, none of the couples wanted the sampler.  (After a less-than-grateful reaction to a birth sampler gift several years ago, if I’m not very, very sure the recipient will like a present of embroidery, I ask in advance to save the effort and disappointment.) Anyway, this year I’m stitching it for our own 20th wedding anniversary this May.  Victoria Sampler also offers a pretty anniversary sampler, but I like the white-on-white design of this one better.

The ort jar is filling up! I don’t know if I’ll continue to save my orts all year but it’s fun to track for now.

Finally it can be told:  the band sampler was a birthday gift for my niece, who turned eight this week and is preparing to be baptized.  JoAnn’s Fabrics & Crafts did a super job on the framing: a lovely antique-looking frame with roses to match the flowers on the sampler; they also added extra spacers to protect the silk ribbon embroidery; and the pink matboard backing shows off the Hardanger band beautifully.

To see the completed sampler, click on the smaller image.  Earlier posts about the sampler in progress can be found in the “sinister craftiness” category.   I began stitching the sampler in June, completed all but the date in July, then added the date and had it framed at the end of August.  It was a lot of fun to learn all the new stitches, and the sampler was a great confidence builder for future projects.

The poem on the sampler is the first verse from “Shine On” by Joseph Ballantyne, a song in our church’s children’s hymnal:

My light is but a little one,
My light of faith and prayer;
But lo! it glows like God’s great sun,
For it was lighted there.

The band sampler (Heirloom Birth Sampler chart by Victoria Sampler) is finished, and in a little more than one month! The date is still blank; that won’t be set for another month or two, but everything else is done.

Here are some before and after photos of the Hardanger band. Just in case I completely messed up cutting the linen I wanted to document that at one time the sampler looked pretty. But that part of the process went well, so instead it’s interesting to see the difference that the drawn and pulled stitches make to the design.

As a Hardanger newbie, I wanted all the help I could get. Hardanger Basics and Beyond by Janice Love was the book I relied on most of all to make sure I stitched my kloster blocks (groups of satin stitches) in the proper order, cut the threads just right, and weave or wrap the remaining linen threads. The book is full of diagrams and clearly-written, detailed instructions. Best of all, there are plenty of left-handed directions! As the title suggests, basic Hardanger elements (kloster blocks, wrapped and woven bars, dove’s eyes, square filets, etc.) and motifs (tulip/ship and star) are introduced and explained. Projects are small: sachet-type pillows and bags.

I also highly recommend Victoria Sampler’s Beyond Cross Stitch series of small learning samplers — the samplers are grouped into six levels of ten projects each and each sampler teaches one or two new stitches. The diagrams and directions are excellent. Extra hints are included for each level of stitches (ribbon embroidery, pulled thread, Hardanger) and those are very helpful, too. (As I do most of my stitching after the Things have been put to bed, the advice to avoid cutting when tired was timely). Both the VS kits and Janice Love’s book were confidence builders for learning this type of embroidery. I found that the stitches weren’t particularly complicated; following the directions slowly and carefully yielded the best results.

Look for photos of the entire sampler in the fall once the date’s in place and the sampler has been framed.

Aside: the finished sampler will be mounted over a colored mat board so the Hardanger embroidery will match the ribbons and lettering. To take these pictures, I recalled the advice of my favorite Jane Austen hero (and his equally admirable sister) that muslin (or in this case, silk) always turns to some account or other … thus my ball gown becomes a fine backdrop to show off embroidery projects.

A biscornu is a tiny eight-sided embroidered pillow. It can be used as a pincushion, a key or scissor fob, or filled with potpourri for a sachet, to name a few possibilities. The name derives from a French adjective which literally means “several horns” and refers to an odd or bizarre, irregularly shaped object. Sometimes they’re called tuffets, too. I had seen a few of these little gizmos and wasn’t sure I could make one, but they’re not difficult after all! I began stitching the pieces late one afternoon, finished most of the stitching that evening, and assembled the biscornu the following day.

To try it out, I used a quick, simple pattern and materials already on hand. One of my favorite eBay sellers often includes extra fabric with my purchases, so I chose a small piece of her khaki colored Quaker cloth (28 count). The biscornu instructions on the Own Two Hands blog includes a list of links to patterns; I based mine on the “Popular Red Biscornu” pattern, but instead of red I used alternating bands of cream and lilac. While stitching the design, I decided to add cream-colored beads to the ends and points, and chose a pair of honeybee buttons to decorate the center. So much for keeping it simple. This is a good time to point out that biscornu-making can be addictive like embroidery crack. The design possibilities are endless, and they can be embellished with beads, buttons, charms, ribbons, hand dyed fabrics — anything goes.

There are several great how-to sites (I already mentioned Own Two Hands; also check out Violarium and Biscornu Basics) which show off lovely examples to pique interest, then walk the biscornu-curious through the creation steps. Here are a few lessons learned:

• The pattern I chose used only one color. Was that good enough for me? Oh, no. The light colors I chose give this biscornu a lovely antique look, but it would have been a lot easier to stitch with a dark color … like red … especially on the khaki-colored fabric. These stitches were hard to see and I had to unpick the design several times because I kept miscounting the evenweave. Not a big issue, but if I were making one for the first time again, it would be much easier if there were greater contrast between the floss and fabric.
• The how-to sites suggested attaching some backing to the evenweave. Good idea, because the evenweave frays like crazy. But I chose to back mine with felt, which was so thick that it made it difficult to stitch the two pieces together. The corners are not as square as I’d like them to be, either. Next time I’ll use much thinner backing.
• I used #12 perle cotton to stitch the connecting backseam, which may have been overkill and was almost impossible to see against the khaki fabric (see do-over #1). But between the felt and the perle cotton, it’s sturdy!
• Not precisely a do-over, but the rest of Team Gimlet claim the buttons aren’t honeybees, but houseflies. Even I have to admit these buttons are a little bit ambiguous (but I still say they’re bees). Perhaps I should name this the Pestilence Biscornu?

Even with these missteps, I’m pleased with how my first attempt turned out. Speaking of first attempts, here’s another peek at that band sampler I’ve been working on. It’s proceeding more quickly than I thought it would; ten out of the fifteen bands are finished. At this rate there shouldn’t be any trouble completing the sampler on time, but the Hardanger embroidery at the end promises to be a challenge.

In addition to Owl and the Pussycat, my other long-term stitching project this summer is a band sampler. It’s intended to be a gift, so I’ll leave out certain identifying details about it, but I’m using Victoria Sampler’s Heirloom Birth Sampler chart with just a few changes to the text to suit the occasion.

As per the directions, I chose to stitch the sampler on 32 count Belfast linen, platinum color. Everything about this project is new to me, from stitching on evenweave fabric (after a few false starts on a practice piece I’m getting the hang of it) to the embroidery threads (I’m loving the various silk flosses), ribbons, and beads, and nearly all the stitches are new, too. The sampler doesn’t need to be completed until the fall, so I’m going to take it very slowly, one or two bands at a time, learning the stitches as I go.

This week I finished the first three bands. The top band is a gorgeous garland of ribbon embroidery and beading, which may look more difficult to make than it was. The ribbon had to be handled carefully to keep the loops full, but the stitches themselves were easy to learn (and the ribbon loops are a great hiding place for any stitching sins). The garland is followed up by a band of pulled three-sided stitches, then double-sized cross stitches.

So far so good, but there’s a lot more left to do, and I’m especially nervous about cutting the fabric for the hemstitched band a few rows down. If it doesn’t work out, I can always give the intended recipient a gift card instead, and nobody will be the wiser.