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!

Blog Action Day/Climate Change

Today is Blog Action Day, 2009. I hadn't signed up to write a post about the topic this year, because I couldn't think of a thing to talk about regarding embroidery and climate change, but when I got ready to post today I realized my topic actually fit.

Our guild wants to save money and the environment by having each person bring their own mug to use, that way we can avoid using the nasty Styrofoam cups, and do good at the same time. I have a plastic cup with an embroidered insert that I made several years ago, so I went looking for it. Of course, I could not find it, but I ran across this:




It is a tin enameled cup (the kind you would use for a camping trip) covered with beads in the Ndebele or herringbone stitch. It was a gift to me from a former director from South Africa, and was made by a Ndebele woman in that country. I was fascinated by it when I got it, and could not figure out how it was made until I got a herringbone stitch bracelet to make, and then I could see the stitch. The beading is done across the narrow dimension by stitching two beads on at a time. That is what makes each row tip in a different direction.

Keeping from throwing away one Styrofoam cup a month is not going to save the world, and at this point I'm not even sure climate change can be reversed. There are even people here in the Mid-West who wouldn't mind several additional degrees of heat in the climate, at least during the fall and winter. But I read today that soon there will be no ice at the north pole during the summer, and things will begin to accelerate. Ice melting leads to oceans rising, warmer oceans lead to more tropical storms (think Katrina!). The most disastrous change, in my opinion though, is that land the currently provides a living could become desert. Think dust bowl on a world-wide scale.

So I will bring my cup to guild meetings, and cut down on my driving as much as I can, and will do my best to act locally. If you are interested in helping, here's a website with suggestions, and there's even some good news there!

Thank you!

Party Time!

Last night we had the celebration of our guild's 30th anniversary. We had lemon fluff cake and punch, Swedish coffee and herbal tea. (Do we know how to party, or what!)



There are still three charter members who are active in the group. We had several former members join us last night, and one very special guest, who was the founder of the guild. She had a needlework shop in Homewood and taught many of the first members how to do Hardanger and other Swedish needlework techniques. She was very excited to be with us.



The table was covered with beautiful embroideries.

I am not a charter member; I joined about 20 years ago. It's been 20 years of stitching, learning, and friendship! I would be happy to be a member for another 20 years.

Number three!

Here is number 3 for the JTA entries. This is a "merry-go-round" pattern, so called because the stitches go up and down past the equator. I like the way this one looks, but I may have to do another one for my entry, this one did not turn out very even. You will notice that there is not a picture of either of the poles! It's only my second one with this pattern though, so I am improving.



We spent Saturday at Bengston's Pumpkin Farm. There was a petting zoo. P didn't actually pet any of the animals, but he did provide a piece of carrot to one of the kangaroos.



C of course petted everything. There were goats and sheep and calves, and llamas, and kangaroos, and a zebra, and a camel, and an eland.



After the petting zoo we went on a hay-ride with no hay, through the pumpkin patch, through the haunted barn, and the shop, through the fun-barn which C remembered from last year, and had a small snack.



I love this picture of P checking how big his sister is. When it came to his turn, he stood on tiptoe, which probably gave a more accurate measurement. There was quite a hollow where scores of people have stood to get their picture taken.



Here's the whole gang waiting for the tractor ride. It would have been more fun if it had been a little warmer, but we managed to enjoy ourselves. There are more pictures on my flickr site if you are interested.