Still no Stitching

I have not been stitching a lot this week. The weather has been so dark that I think I'm getting my mid-winter depression early this year. I heard on the news this morning that we have had 19 days with measurable rain this month, and it hasn't been sunny even on days without rain. So I apologize in advance for my blue mood.

I have been reading about this Monday meme here and on a friend's blog, so I though I would participate. Anna suggested a stitching bag, but I cleaned mine out a couple of weeks ago, and there is not much interesting in there. This is the little box I keep next to my stitching chair, and it is full of interesting stuff.

I didn't pull everything out, as you can see. There is still a complete package of knitting markers, a couple of binder rings to hold thread baggies, several business cards, floss labels, several foreign coins, a stone, and an embroidered patch. There's all my scissors that I shared earlier this month, plus one or two I had missed; a tape measure; a small calculator; 4 books of needles; 4 or 5 doll needles (that come in the package with the temari needles I've been buying, but are too big for temari); a knitting needle cable holder, a needle case decorated with wood-burning designs; 2 small and one larger crochet hook, 2 nail clippers and 3 files; a pair of tweezers; a rotary cutter; 2 packages of beads; 2 spools; 2 thimbles, one utility and one decorative (I think it's the Empire State Building); a little blue box with a sponge to wet floss, which I've never used; a baggie with bees-wax; lip gloss; an art eraser (works on fabric as well as on paper); and a head-phone cord. Oh, there's a small piece of crocheted lace mounted on a velvet ribbon, and a beaded and silk embroidery pin that is falling apart.



I do have 2 temari in progress. One is for my JTA work, a pattern I've done twice before. It is turning out nice. The second is an all-over design through Temari Talk that I am going to have to start over. I started, and lost one of the floss colors, replaced it, and lost the replacement! I'm going to have to pull all the stitching out and start over again, which will be a good chance to change the rest of the colors. I think I will go home this afternoon, curl up in my stitching chair, and do that (if I don't have to vacuum up too much water in the basement).

The gas company insisted on inspecting our home for leaks yesterday, and found one behind the paneling in the finished basement. We asked them not to cut a hole in the paneling, so they turned off the gas last night so DH could remove the panel, and came back today to finish the project. No stove, oven, or broiler, no hot water or furnace! but we made it. When they went to turn off the gas in the house they discovered the valve was not working because of tree roots, so we got a 4 to 5 foot hole in the front yard for that to get replaced. They put the dirt back, but not the grass.

Family Weekend

This past weekend was our annual family gathering. We have it at this time of the year, because when winter threatens my parents decamp to Arizona.

The adults sit together and talk.



And the kids run around. There was quite a din this year, but I didn't see anyone getting annoyed. Of course, the kids are all grand-kids and great grand-kids, and you know, they can hardly do anything annoying! LOL



C looking cute, as usual.



A is getting so grown up!



This is the best picture I could get of J. She was non-stop running.



I think G made the most noise, he was the littlest and was getting tired. But isn't he a cutie?



Here's T and G with their grandma.



Can you believe P's long legs? It took a while for him to warm up to the crowd, but he was enjoying himself by the end of the afternoon.

I'm so sorry I didn't get a picture of J. He was busy flying paper airplanes. My brother was making them. I was amused by how individual kids kept appearing next to him requesting an airplane (we had a paper airplane book). He claimed the first flight for each one, he was having as much fun as they.

As you might guess, there was very little stitching.

Fall colors on a Temari

Here's the temari I made with fall colors this week. It is a new kind of fiber, a silk called Grandeur by Rainbow Gallery. I like the colors, but I wish I had used a darker brown mari so the colors would show themselves more lively.

Grandeur is a silk pearl. It is wound tighter than DMC pearl, and so tends to tangle as it goes through the mari. This temari looks better in person than in the picture. The picture emphasizes the distance between the stitching, showing the background color. Looking at it in person you do not notice the gaps as much.



I'm also working on writing the instructions for this temari, for my level 2 JTA submission. That's coming along well, but this temari will have to be re-done.

Done but not Finished

The Quaker Turtles have been my traveling project for a couple of months, and I am happy to announce that the stitching is done!



The medallions were a lot of fun to stitch; I was afraid they were going to feel too repetitive, but it was fun. I even have a little linen left to make a pin-wheel for my sister and a little turtle for C. I'm afraid if I don't give her one of her own, these guys will tend to disappear.

I have everything needed to do the finishing, the wool felt, the backing/lining fabric, the cardboard, and the batting. Now I just need the time, the place, and the courage. I'm hoping to work on finishing my Mystic Meadows box at the same time. The stitching for that one has been done for years. It's the courage lacking on that one.



This was the sky on the way to work this morning; I missed getting a picture of the rays shining out, but it was still beautiful.

I Love Color!

On Saturday DH and I took a road trip to Mishawaka, Indiana. We were hoping to see some beautiful fall colors, and we were not disappointed. This is along the Indiana toll road:



This is taken through the windshield of the car, so the colors are not exactly right, but I'm always amazed by all the different shades and shapes that appear.

Even without brilliant reds and oranges, the different shades of green that you can see are lovely.



This is a bridge over St. Joseph River in South Bend. (I had to look it up. I couldn't find the name of the river anywhere in the area, and it's a big river.)



While we were in Mishawaka, we found another source of beautiful color at Needle Nest, Ltd. I'm discovering that my taste in needlework shops is changing. My favorites used to be Cross Stitch shops with patterns and floss, but now I find myself getting excited about needlepoint shops, not because of the patterns, but because of all the different fibers they carry. This is just the Pearl cotton, on the left is DMC, and on the right is Anchor.



Besides that they carry the full range of Rainbow Gallery, and several different brands of silk, wool, and metallic threads in sizes appropriate for stitching Temari. It didn't take long to reach my limit (the limit of my pocketbook, not of what I wanted). I picked up some rayon ribbon in bright pastels, some sparkly metallic for the star temari I am going to make, and some silk pearl in autumn colors. After that I just fondled the fibers; I think the nicest ones to feel are the combination of silk and wool. They just feel wonderful. (I do the same thing in fabric stores. I think I learned it from my mom.)

After lunch with friends we drove past the beautiful colors again, and spent the evening with more friends. It was a wonderful day!

Thoughts on Rugs

DH and I were running around on Friday afternoon taking care of appointments and errands, and when we stopped for lunch I saw this on the wall of the semi fast-food restaurant. I couldn't take my eyes off it.

This is a hooked rug. The strips of fabric were cut at least 1/4 inch wide, and some were wider than that. It's worn, it was obviously used. But I think it is beautiful, and I'm so grateful someone rescued it and is sharing it for so many people to see. The colors are a little drab, except for the accents of red and pink.



I keep picturing the maker in my head, finally being able to sit down after all the chores were done, and planning how to use all the scraps she had collected. It would have been so much easier just to make stripes all the way across, and make blocks of colors, but that would not have been nearly as interesting. She planned out the design, probably marked the squares on the backing fabric, and started hooking. I can see her picking out the colors, hoarding the red so there would be enough to go throughout the pattern, and playing with the rest of the colors. There are a dozen or so blocks in the center top with a different color palette, and I wonder if that is where a piece of furniture went, or if there was some other reason. You can feel a connection to a crafts person through their work.

I've seen supplies for hooked rugs before, but there was nothing scrappy or make-do about it. The fabric was pre-cut into 1/16th inch widths and there was a wide selection of colors, and patterns pre-drawn onto burlap. That in turn reminded me of latch-hook rugs where you cut up perfectly good rug yarn to incorporate into your masterpiece.

My grandmother used to make rugs from old woollen clothing, but she didn't do rug hooking, she used to do a 4-part braid. I can remember once hearing her talk about picking up several wool coats from the thrift store for making rugs. You would have to deconstruct the coats, taking out the seams so you wouldn't waste any fabric, cut them in strips and then fold them for braiding so no raw edges showed to cause premature wear. The finished braid didn't get sewn together so much as laced together. I wish I could show you a picture; they were beautiful, but I don't think there are any in existence any more. One of my favorite ones had a lot of purple in it. You could tell she planned the color placement very carefully, saving up colors to use for the centers and the outside edges. One time she tried to use nylons for the braiding instead of used wool fabric, but that one was not successful. Braiding the nylons didn't work, because either the braid was too loose and would develop holes, or it was too tight, and the rug did not lay flat.

I never had the chance to learn rug-making from my grandma. I can do a 4-strand braid now, but I never learned the process, planning out your colors and sewing up the rug. I was more interested, when I was a kid, in the loomed rugs. I can remember expressing an interest to my mom in learning to make them. She did not encourage that ambition, explaining that it required a loom, which was very expensive, and which took up a lot of room.

Twenty years after that, I had the opportunity to use a loom to make rag place mats. My pastor at the time had a loom, and when I expressed my interest he very graciously let me weave the warp he had already installed on his loom. It was place mat width, which is why I ended up making the place mats, and I didn't use rags, I used inexpensive new sheets which I tore into strips. Because of that, I didn't have multiple colors to work with, just a set of brown place mats and a set of blue ones. I still have my set. They are kind of plain but very serviceable; but even though I enjoyed the process of weaving it wasn't very creative. I think if I had to work with used clothing it would be a lot more creative, with making color and pattern choices for the rugs.

Anyhow, seeing that rug mounted on the wall as artwork opened a whole train of thought and a lot of memories for me. Thank you for listening.

Chrysanthemum, AKA Kiku

I had to spell-check Chrysanthemum (and I got it wrong) before I started writing this one. I wasn't sure about the "h."

I finished #4 last night, and I like it. There are a few things that are not perfect, but I really like the colors. The light, middle, and dark shades of red together show up mostly as a glow, not a color change, and I think that adds a nice touch. It also looks very Christmassy so these temari can double as ornaments for my guild's annual Christmas display.



I had some help stitching this. C likes to pull the needle through (when she's not busy doing something else). She also announced to her mom, several times, that grandma was working on a new samari ball. I pronounced "temari" for her very carefully after that, but I'm not sure she got it yet.

The weather has been dark and gloomy all week, and I'm starting to feel it. The weekend is supposed to be nice, though, so there is an end in sight. I can't wait for some sunshine!