Jenny Joins the Family's Traditional Needle Arts

First Post of the Day

First, auction mystery solved thanks to reader Carrie who reminded me that one of the Saturday and Sunday raffle models are included in the BreyerFest auction. Now the Math works! Thanks, Carrie!

I come from a family strong in the needle arts, a tradition that goes back generations on both my mother's and my father's side. My sister Leslie sews and does beautiful hand embroidery work. I sew near daily and embroider both by hand and by machine. 

Then there was our mother, she who did all that plus knitting, something none of us ever learned. (Although I tried. FAIL!)

Our mother designing and sketching a new page for a quiet book in 2010.

The finished design - she also did all the coloring. (I NEVER would have thought to add yellow to the palm tree's trunk!)

She knitted this scarf for another page. 

With Lisa and Jessica, all of them wearing clothing that she had made for a living history event in Kankakee, Illinois.

When our mother passed away in 2016, most of her sewing things went to Leslie and me since we'd always had the interest. Jenny has never had any interest in sewing, embroidering, knitting, or any other needle or fiber arts. None. (She's not horsey, either. Can she REALLY be my sister??? Haha!)

But somehow, Jenny ended up with some embroidering kits that were our mother's, and when she retired last December, she opened up one of those and dove right into embroidery. Just like that.

She did NOT start with a beginner's project - she jumped right in with a tablecloth that is long enough to fit my fully opened dining room table. Thousands and thousands and thousands of stitches!

And by golly, it's the end of June and she's almost done. Just in time for the annual 4th of July family bocce tournament held at her own home.

A week ago she texted Leslie and me with one word ("Nooooooo!!") and this picture.

"I was cutting the thread and my scissors slipped. I accidentally cut the fabric of the tablecloth!"

I could not blame her for being upset - a first time embroiderer who'd tackled a massive project and worked for hours and hours, was finally at the very end, and then that happens? I agree - noooooo!

Leslie and I were both very sympathetic but honestly, I could not see the cut in the photo and told her that.

She pointed it out so I could see it better. It was very small, at most just a half inch clip into the fabric. And that was good news.

I knew then that I could fix it, and told Jenny that, if she could get the tablecloth to me soon, I would repair it, send it back to her, and she'd have time to do the final embroidery work before the 4th of July.

Her relief was palpable.

When the tablecloth arrived, I could not find the hole. I looked and looked, comparing each embroidered part to the photo. It took me a half an hour before I found it. (More good news; it was that small.)

I cut a one inch square from the cotton I use to make 18th century chemises, ironed the cut area that needed repairing, and then put some double faced bonding fabric between the cotton square and the back of the tablecloth. Several passes with the iron, and the square was securely bonded to the tablecloth and holding the edges of the cut shut.

Jenny will be able to embroider those five last stitches without problem, and then, if she wishes, she can gently peel back the cotton square and trim it close to the embroidery work. Easy peasy.

I've already sent the tablecloth back to her and she is anxious to get back to work and have it ready for the 4th of July.

I can't wait to see her first finished embroidery project when it is out on the buffet table for lunch. It's going to be beautiful in all its 4th of July glory. Well done, Jenny! I am so proud of you!

Stay 'tooned!

Just About Ready!

"Spring is coming!"

My mother and grandmother would call each other on the Winter Solstice and say that with glee. The tradition continued with my mother and me, and I think of it when the day rolls around each December.

Winter Solstice is today's Yuletide prompt. I was looking for a hardy looking pony, maybe wearing a blanket. I was reaching for Mittens, the 2023 Pony for Christmas, when I spied this piece among my Mistys.

Wish from the 2018 Wish and Wonder set. Perfect!

I've shown her as a Canadian Rustic Pony and as a Eriskay Pony, and she has a NAN card.

A base coat chalky, she looks like a pony that could survive during the depths of winter with her shaggy coat and windswept mane and tail.

Speaking of winds, this was yesterday morning. I was glad I was in my warm home!

So, everyone, spring is coming! The days are getting longer! Soon all the snow and blow and ice and chills will be over. Although we do have to get through January first... But it's on the way!

Yesterday I was busy working on Christmas until the evening hours.

In my embroidery stash, I had a set of 8 red dinner napkins. I've always wanted to make some holiday napkins for Christmas dinner, so I pulled them out, found a design, uploaded it to my embroidery machine, and got started.

I wanted something simple and classic, so of course I chose sleigh bells.

Our family gathering will be smaller this year, but still, ten people are coming. I was two napkins short. But, I also had a set of white dinner napkins in my stash, so I took two of those and embroidered them in red to match the other set.

I embroidered them, I washed them to remove the stabilizer, and then I ironed them.

I am really pleased with how they turned out and can't wait to see how they look on the table Christmas Day.

The rest of Saturday was spent in Christmas Central (aka our bedroom) wrapping gifts. I wrapped, and I wrapped, and I wrapped. (Principle of three!)

I tell my kids I will wrap their dad's gifts if they send them to me and usually I have a few of those to do, too.

I laughed at Jessica's note to her dad on the address label! And so did he!

Of course, the girl who thinks I need guiding was with me the entire time. (Her favorite guiding job? Guiding me to her food tub!) 

Tammo started out with us, but I sort things into piles as I go, and whenever a box was tossed over to the recycling pile, it made him uncomfortable.

Despite my reassurances and that Pepper was with him, he finally got up and went out to his bed in the living room where no boxes were randomly flying across the room.

I put a few things under the tree, broke down the boxes and put them in the recycling tub in the garage, and finally collapsed into my reading chair for the night.

My back had become painful after doing all that standing, reaching, lifting, bending, and carrying. (The injection I had in November is clearly wearing off.) Craig cooked dinner and offered to bring me a plate, sweet guy, but I was able to get up and get it myself. 

I have one last gift to do - Kathy and I are going to take something over to Tsao, our pedicurist, on Monday or Tuesday, but other than that, I'm ready for Christmas!

Ho! Ho! Ho! (Principle of three! LOL)

The December Sewing Room

Second Post of the Day

My sewing room in December looks very different than it does the other months of the year. As soon as Thanksgiving is over, the 18th century patterns are tucked away, out comes the embroidery machine, and I begin making Christmas gifts.

 This is a difficult pattern, but one of my favorites. 

Here is a sample piece from when I was learning to make it and experimenting with colors.

Doesn't it look a lot like Hagen Renaker's mini Clydesdale Stallion? (Photo from Google Images - I can't find the pics of my own!)

With 40,000 stitches and 22 color changes, the Clydesdale pattern is labor intensive.

I've been asked if I would sell these aprons, but the rule of thumb for selling your embroidery is to charge $1 per 1,000 stitches, and I'm not sure people would pay that much. So, I just make this design for gifts.

And, for me! Although my visiting family has been known to borrow it. Haha!

Another thing I'm embroidering this Christmas are these bell ornaments. Bells are one of my favorite holiday symbols.

This embroidery technique is called free standing lace. Those heavy outlines are very, very closely spaced stitches and as a result, the stitch count is high for these, too. (20,000 each.) But, there are no color changes so they are easier to make than the Clydesdale.

I make them two at a time and have sixteen made thus far. I'll free them from their backing, press them, and then add ribbon hangers. 

When you know you are going to do a large project with a color, you don't buy a spool of thread, you buy a large cone of it. There are 5,000 meters (5,468 yards) of thread on that new cone. That's three miles of embroidery thread!

Today's project is to start work on a Christmas tea towel for Belle using the Clydesdale pattern. In between color changes, I will press the lace ornaments and add their ribbons.

I may run some errands, too. We have another winter storm coming in tonight and then again on Saturday. Temps are in the 40s so things have melted enough for me to be able to get outside and use my walker without too much trouble.

Busy day ahead! 

Project Work

I hadn't done any embroidery work since last November when I was making Christmas ornaments and gifts for my family.

I'd run into some issues with the bobbin thread holder

and had had to stop before I'd finished everything I wanted to make. (This towel, one I was able to finish, was a gift for Hawkeye Sarah.)

On a whim, I pulled my embroidery machine out and set it up, thinking that I'd see if I could fix the problem myself.

To my surprise, the problem had disappeared! The machine stitched as it should! (I had oiled it just before I'd put it away in November; perhaps that was the issue?)

Embroidery work is an expensive proposition. There is backing to buy, fabric (or in this case, a towel), fabric clips, and thread. The thread needs to be a good quality; I learned early on that cheap embroidery thread breaks and snarls, ruining a project and necessitating that I start over. Of course, that meant buying more backing, more fabric or another towel, etc. It's cheaper in the long run to buy a good quality thread.

The digital patterns the machine uses has the thread numbered rather than by color. After struggling the first few months I began embroidering, a friend told me about color guide booklets that sort it all out for you and make it easier to discern which color the pattern is calling for.

Which makes sense since there are a lot of colors.

Lots and lots and LOTS of them. Each of those colors represent one spool of embroidery thread, and each spool costs me about $3.50 - $4.50. This way I get the exact color the pattern needs.

There are four different colors of thread in this towel I just made ($14), the towel ( $6, also good quality, another lesson I learned early on), and the backing ($10) for a total expense to make of about $30. I plan to either use it as a show donation or to sell it for $15, so I will not make those expenses back.

Having said that, there is a huge factor of enjoyment in embroidery work. It is relaxing and it is fun to create 

Sixteen colors are in this donation to the Indy Blooms show

and in the same pattern with a name change for the one for Midwest Mini Mayhem.

I have another project whose completion date is May 1, so I've packed up the embroidery machine and its accoutrements and set up my sewing machine again.

Carefully supervised by the girls to be sure everything was back where it belonged. (Molly has a knack for lying JUST where I need to put something!)

And I even got some more haversacks cut out and ready to work on. (Having one or two prepped and ready to go means I actually get more stitched up than I would if I waited until I had a block of time to work on them.)

The tea towels are all finished and ready to go to Indy Blooms and Midwest Mini Mayhem.

A sales towel (and one I like so much, I may keep it!)

Another that will be up for sale at the swap meet.

A donation to Indy Blooms.

And another one that I personalized for them.

A donation to Midwest Model Mayhem

and another, only in brown. (I ran out of the white flour sack towels and had to pull from my stash of colored towels.)

One project done and one more to work on. May 1 is 11 days away so I am in good shape, but still, I am having dreams about not finishing it. (And goats. I am dreaming about goats. Go figure.)

Tick! Tick! Tick! Tick! 

Stay 'tooned!

Stitching for the GLC Show, Family, Friends, and a Headless Llama

Saturday's Great Lakes Congress show is just a few days away and the L bag is getting full.

It is crammed with Mercantile orders and donations that Barn Buddy Kelsey is taking with her to the show for me. (I still have a model that I sold to put in there but I am not sure it will fit.)

What's the L bag? It's a tote that was gifted to me by a student during my teaching career.

Of course, the L stood for Lynn. (I is a difficult letter to find so the student settled on my first name.) Liz Cory and I use it to carry things back and forth to each other which works nicely since her name begins with L, too!

Yesterday I finished this Hamilton sized Traditional haversack in Jockey Caps as part of an order that is being delivered to the show.

It may be traditional sized, but the Hamilton mold has a tail that requires a wider haversack to accommodate it. I've had to create a category of haversacks just for that mold!

I am just about finished with all the ornaments I've been making for family and friends. Now that my family has opened theirs, I can post a picture of what I've been embroidering.

Gingerbread ornaments! I am so happy with how they turned out.

Yesterday I made two Naught/Nice/I Tried aprons, one of which is a GLC donation.

And I finally finished this tea towel for Hawkeye Sarah. This pattern is absolutely the MOST difficult I have ever embroidered - it took four attempts and several weeks to finally get a finished towel that had no errors.

Sarah is a wildlife photographer so this pattern is perfect for her.

After the aprons and tea towel were completed, I went back to stitching up the last six gingerbread ornaments that I needed to make. A friend of mine who also has an embroidery machine calls hers "the moody teenage girl."  Well, mine chose that moment to join the moody teenage girls club.

It was skipping stitches, breaking threads, and not cutting the jump threads as it should. That can lead to what is called "birds' nests" where the thread balls up and looks like a bird's nest (a bowl of spaghetti might be easier to envision.) I only got one small bird's nest on the back, but the stitching issues on the fronts of these two ornaments ruined them and they had to be thrown away.

And while an embroidery machine is not quiet while it runs, it should not sound like this. That occasional ratchety sound is the bobbin holder.

I pulled it out to check it, but I cannot see any reason it is rattling around while it works.

I had to shut down the last of the ornament work and am going to have to take my machine to a repair service in Kokomo. Those who were going to get an ornament from me will get a mini loaf of pumpkin bread or something instead. 

I wasn't the only one frustrated with the state of my stitchery; Local Son Curt sent me this text he'd received from Pony Pal Mila.

She was so upset that they FaceTimed me so she could show me the problem and ask if I could sew the head back on. (Because, you know, that glue gun just won't fix her llama! LOL)

Headless llama is coming over today and has been added to my list of things to do. Repair work is becoming a bit of a sideline for me -  I fixed two of the dogs' favorite toys and two stuffed bunnies for Mila and Lukie yesterday, too!

Today I will finish up the last of the GLC donations and transfer the L bag to Kelsie. (There's a thank you surprise in there for her, too.) The llama will get its head back, and then I have a basket of cut out and pinned haversacks to work on.

Nashie and Molly are coming to spend the day with us, and I will get to see if my repair holds on the toys this time. (It's the second time I've fixed them.)

Nash waiting at the laundry room door into the garage for Lisa to come in.

I'm going to work on Christmas shopping, too. Some of it is done, but there are still a lot of people to buy for.

Speaking of gifts, I received a very special one from a hobby friend on Monday that I am excited and very touched about. Stay 'tooned.