Sinister Craftiness

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.

A heads-up to the locals:  the Victoria Sampler trunk show can be seen at Issaquah’s excellent shop Threadneedle Street through September 7.  What a treat to see so many designs so beautifully finished as framed samplers, bellpulls, pillows and other finishing ideas.  It’s a great opportunity to examine the stitched models up close, too.  A little extra inspiration to dig into my stash and start something!

From here, the trunk show moves down the coast to Portland and Grants Pass, Oregon and Garden Grove, California; see the Victoria Sampler web site for all the details.

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.

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.