The Embroideress

OF SOCKS AND SHOES AND OTHER STUFF

I received a wonderful present recently - socks!!!! I have an attraction to socks and of course love presents, especially ones that drop in out of the blue.

I had a very shoe deprived childhood. I was forced into brown laceup oxfords because they were "good for my feet". Well they were good for my feet. My sisters both have foot difficulties but except for the occasional broken toe - my feet are amazingly functional. I spent a youth longing for pretty Mary Janes and flats. No such luck. I barely got saddle shoes in high school. So now at 60+ I can wear Mary Janes and crazy socks.

ANOTHER BAND DONE

Another few inches of colored bands and it will be - on to the whitework bits.

THISTLE PROGRESS REPORT

Actually some of the worst is over....

STITCHING, PRINTING, STITCHING, PRINTING

Unlike famous designers I need to stitch my own models and I'm poorly paid for the effort, believe me!! Likewise I do all my own printing and publishing. The last few weeks Joey and the guys at Kelly Paper have been seeing a lot of me as I trundle out the linen finish paper we use for our charts and booklets. I like the finish of the paper because it has a highly tactile satisfaction and it has a high amount of post consumer recycled stuff used in its manufacture.

Then we bring it home and start shoving it through a printer or two. A lot of my charts are pretty graphic laden so it can take forever for some things to print and some charts (Celtic Alphabet for one) consist of high end graphics file which means they have to be printed page by page.

So right now, it's set the printer in motion, sit and stitch a bit on a model and then print and then stitch and stitch and print and stitch and print.

By tomorrow I'll be able to post an update on the thistle sampler.... might have it ready for Nashville.

ALL IS FORGIVEN, COME HOME

Well it appears EZboard has forgiven me my internet errors and without application sent me a membership acceptance. OR the fine folks in charge of the Legacy Guild got the wrinkles out of the system. Being "accepted" feels nice doesn't it?

ON ANOTHER NOTE

Su has taken me in hand and put comments capability on my blog. It simply defeated me on the first attempt and I didn't have time to fiddle with it. Sometimes deferring to an expert is the wisest choice one can make.

I GIVE UP, YOU WIN!

I enjoy hanging around online groups just to take the pulse of the needlework world and EZboard has a couple of great groups. Unfortunately I seldom can use them because the EZboard interface will not allow me to do so. Ages ago I joined Cross Stitch Corner and really enjoyed the give and take in that group but soon EZboard told me I couldn't have access. Yes my profile was carefully filled out but I was persona non grata and I gave up. Then last year I joined the Legacy Guild board which is another super batch of stitching enthusiasts. Everything was going along swimmingly until today and suddenly I can't have access and when applying for membership have been DENIED. But I can't reapply because I already have a membership BUT I can't use that membership because I have to APPLY for membership. I give up. It was great while it lasted but it is just too difficult to try to sort out. I know when to give up. EZboard you won. I'm gone and won't pester you for admission.

SAFETY FIRST

We do work with sharp and dangerous thingies. As recently mentioned I once had a disasterous episode with a knitting needle. Thinking of safety is important especially if we have kidlets or four footed friends about the house. Please please don't get in the habit of putting needles in your mouth. A cough or a sneeze could cause you to do extreme damage. I'm not so careful with needles because I live alone, but stepping on one that has fallen in a carpet can be painful. A good magnet is your friend for finding stray needles in bed, in carpets, in furniture or in stitching bags.

One of the best places to put orts to keep them out of reach of children or pets (both species are very oral and eat anything) is a plastic wipes container with a cross hatch cut in the lid for you to pull out Baby Wipes or cleaning wipes. It is easy to poke the odd bits down into the container as you don't have to remove and replace a lid and they are devilishly difficult to fish things out of. All sympathy to our recovering feline friend and remorseful caretaker. Their experience should be a wakeup call to all of us. My dad was a vet and about once a month a pet would need thread removal surgery. Another bad mixture is rubber bands, pets and small children. They love to put rubber bands around pets' necks and they often are not detected until dire consequences set in.

PROGRESS REPORT

I'm making sampler progress, but you would not believe the chart mistakes I'm finding as I stitch. So it's stitch and fix at the moment.

SMALL IS NICE

A modest webpage such as Bill Fitches' page can be a delight. Hearing about his projects and seeing his photos was a pleasure.

RACE FOR A SAMPLER

Will she win the Nashville challenge? This sampler has been on the back burner for ages and I'm trying to get it ready for Nashville. It is a companion to Beds of Roses and has a wonderful Stuart era thistle band as its design anchor. I'm progressing with the model



This is a first in other ways. Usually I complete the entire design, then stitch the model. This is going back and forth between designing and stitching. Wish me luck folks.

SLEEPING ON THE JOB

Watch out what you wish for. I'd been wishing for some additional dayjob gigs and wow I got them this week. Can't turn them down as there is a scramble for temp assignments in our biz these days, so I crawl home at night and stitch until I fall asleep with a hoop in hand. I do try to keep those sharp little scissors in a basket in the bed so I don't stab myself in the middle of the night. I learned a lesson about needlework implements when I sat on a knitting needle years ago and it required removal with a pair of pliers before heading for the ER to top up my tetanus immunization. It was rather embarrassing as I had to go to the ER where I was currently employed as an evening shift supervisor. I can't believe Nashville is only a few weeks away and there is still SO MUCH STITCHING TO DO.

SURFING FOR NEEDLEWORK

And, what was Mrs. Lincoln's LNS? Just search for "sewing" ignore all the Seward entries and you'll find out.

BACK ON TRACK

One set of frogging is finished and the model done. Another Wee Little Sampler (2003). This one is full of motifs from the 19th Century little accordion books. I collect them and recently acquired some French versions (known to French stitchers as Sajous). I like the way the Dinky Dyes turned out and one skein of the silk stitches the entire design with about 12 inches left over.



Now back to frogging on a special mystery project and then hopefully serious stitching this weekend.

YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW

I'm stitching on two models AND frogging on two models. It's cranky time in Hollyweird.

ANOTHER FINISH!!!!

I finished the model for the 2002 Wee Little Sampler so it's now in our catalog and ready for Nashville. A little behind you say? Well yes. These little tiny samplers don't really sell very well so they got pushed aside for a bit. 2002 is a collection of Mexican sampler motifs and bands in bright colors.



One advantage to being a cottage industry and one who does their own printing/publishing is that I can keep "orphan" designs in our inventory. Things that only appeal to a very small but dedicated group of stitchers will always be there because I don't have to order a minimum of 1,000 and then watch them crumble to dust when they don't sell. One of my books sells a maximum of three per year (on a good year) but it's there when someone wants it.

On to stitching the Wee Little 2003. I'm really enjoying it. I'm using some of the Dinky Dyes silks on it and I must say they have just about the best "handle" I've run across in a long time.

FINDING TREASURES

Whilst cleaning up the computer a bit I found a notice from the British Library. I forgot they were in the midst of a digitizing and uploading project. Some interesting bits online on their preliminary site which would probably be of interest to educators and history buffs alike.

FIRST POST - 2004

Here I am at the keyboard just a few minutes past midnight. Barely finished uploading the basic webpage catalog updates but will spend the weekend adding a few more new things and tweaking everything. Tweaking could be an entire career around here.

Hope everyone has a creative, happy and healthy 2004