Quaker Motifs and Symbolism

Here's my latest quaker round robin finish. I stitched this floral motif on Carrie's sampler. I love the pomegranate Gloriana silk she chose. It's such a pretty rose color so I thought I'd add something rose-like. I thought this flower looked a bit like an opened rose. As I was writing in her journal and documenting what I stitched I noticed that this motif is actually a Passion Flower. Upon further investigation, I found that the passion flower is symbollic of the Passion of Christ (His crucifixion). The flower has three stamens that symbolize His wounds and the petals symbolize the apostles. Also the ring of corona represent the Crown of Thorns. The Spanish call this flower Espina de Cristo or "Christ's Thorn". Interesting. I'm very intrigued by the symbolism in samplers and it's interesting to learn the quaker ones have their meaning as well. You'll see this motif on Sarah Tatum 1800 and on Beatrix Potter's sampler, and I'm sure on many others. I actually stitched it from the Ackworth School Pattern Book. I am so glad I purchased this wonderful booklet as it's now out of print. This motif is one of the largest, I think there's only one larger and that one is the swan one I used for the blue/white quaker pinkeep I did. I also added the small rosebud taken from a larger motif. :)

Happy Birthday, Kajsa!

Poor Kajsa had to wait a bit longer for this gift. I didn't want her empty handed on her birthday so I did send a phase-one gift on ahead to tide her over. The first package included my second knitted dishcloth, some overdyed threads, a small candy tin with a victorian scene on it, and a card. She seemed to enjoy it and I'm hoping this phase-two, the actual stitched gift, will be a little more of a "wow" for her.

I thought I'd show you the Scissor and Needle Keep I constructed. The stitched design is a freebie from Sharon of Crescent Colors. I used R&R Dye Pot linen and all the Crescent Colors with one unintentional substitution. When I stitched it, way back in July, I added a couple of personal touches, the sheep got french knots in some Whisper to make him wooly, and the grass is done in long arm cross stitch. I called it into action for a birthday gift for Kajsa. I just had to figure out what type of finish to use. The fabric it was stitched on was not that large and my placing of the design on it didn't leave me many options. I really wanted to make some sort of pocket and include scissors with the gift. I also wanted to use the same fabric for the inner lining. The way it ended up, I literally had about 1/2 inch between the pieces and less than that on one side. I really learned my lesson and will stop being so stingy about fabric allowances from now on. Due to the size of the design/fabric etc I had to improvise a way to house the scissors. I came up with this diagonal slip and it seems to work just fine. If I had enough fabric I would have made a little fob too, but I seriously did not have even more than an inch wide of fabric left over. I just tied a bit of ribbon on the handles and added a needle threader too.

My stitching deadlines are colliding on me lately. Now I am quickly trying to finish up a round robin, and then on to another exchange which I'm fearing will also be a bit tardy. UGH... I hate being late with these things. Then, I have another birthday gift to do next month. I predict some late nights ahead. Good thing I'm a night owl.

Oh.. the sheepie in the pic is just hanging out there checking it out. He's not part of the gift. He was a gift to me actually. I included a couple of small charts though but they didn't jump in the pictures. The gift will go out Tuesday since the post office is closed for President's Day tomorrow. I told Kajsa not to look here if she wants to be surprised. LOL... If it were me, I'd totally look!

Eliza Jane has landed.

Finally. Oversees mailing can be so disconcerting. I was a bit late in mailing but I really thought it would have arrived in Finland before now. All is well though and Leena has received the item I stitched for her for the SBEBB Needlework Smalls Exchange. It's always feels nice to know someone appreciates your work. I really enjoy exchanges and the international ones add another dimension of fun for me.

I've had this Eliza Jane's Needlekeep and Scissors Flat "kit" from Brightneedle for quite a while and I was happy to finally put it to use. This "kit" simply included that chart and two colors of wool felt for the needlepages. I enjoy stitching over one and I seem to be collecting a good number of Brightneedle designs because of that. This was a fun stitch even with the hundreds of smyrna crosses for the borders. I found that the design was lacking when it came to the finishing though. The instructions simply call for a long piece of ribbon to be stitched to the inside center. That simply will not do the job if you expect the scissors to stay in place. I came up with a modification that I think worked out pretty well. I just used that same piece of ribbon to form a loop for the scissors tip to sort of harness them in place. Tacked it down some more and wallah.. a much sturdier attachment after you weave through and around the thumbs and tie a bow. I'll put a plug in here for Vikki Clayton's silk ribbon at Hand Dyed Fibers. I have a few colors on hand as I love to use ribbon in my finishes. Her prices can't be beat. I can't remember if this is turkey red or garnet.

For those who wondered at my bit of consternation with Eliza, it wasn't really the scissor attachment problem. I think I got the better of that part. My goof was forgetting what I had learned from previous finishes when I've used skirtex. I have quite a bit of skirtex a dear friend gifted me, and I try to use it whenever I can. I like the body it gives to a project. What did I forget? Was it to cut the piece just a smidgen smaller than the size of the piece? No, I remembered that. What I forgot is that it is better to use two pieces rather than one and try to score it and fold it for a book. This time I should have used three pieces and butted them up next to each other. That way it would have laid flat when tied shut instead of trying to spring open. I learned that. I remembered that I learned that right about the time I was fighting irritation over this little beauty not staying shut as I would have preferred. Just you wait, I'll get it right next time.

More Royal Mail

Joy of joys! Heheehee I've been blessed to receive another exchange item from Helen. More "Royal Mail", I can't believe it! For the Needlework Smalls Exchange, Helen chose to add more pieces to match with the Quaker Exchange Needleworker's Pocket she did for me. Now I have a beautiful scissor pocket and a matching fob too! She sent me some linen, floss, and finishing materials so I can stitch the remaining pieces myself. I'll set out to do those in the coming months for sure. I dug out the Julia Gingher's I acquired some time ago. I still had them tucked away in the box. I just take them out and look at them once in a while. LOL... I think they look lovely with this set, don't you? Many thanks to Helen for such beauties. What treasures they are to me. Please visit her blog and you will see what a talented photographer she is as well! This photo was the last one my battery allowed and the white linen doesn't look like this.

Eliza, let's call it a draw.

This is what I've been concentrating my attention on. That's all I have to say about it for now.

Orange Coast Sampler Guild Scrimshaw Fold

Say you have four rows of large stitch diagrams on a page. Each one is labeled. Everything has the same amount of space above and below it. Would you expect the title/name of the stitch and short comment to be above the diagram, or under it?

Why?




I went to my Orange Coast Sampler Guild meeting tonight. I wasn't going to do the project. We didn't get to see a picture ahead of time and I didn't think I would want to do it. I thought that it might be a canvas piece as the designer does do a lot of canvas work, nothing wrong with that, but I thought I'd pass on this one. Once I saw it, I wished I had signed up. Lucky me, they had extras on hand, so I went for it. $45 bucks is pretty "cheap" when it comes to any project for this guild.

A local designer, Margaret Bendig, designed Scrimshaw Fold, A Stitching Accessory, especially for our guild. It's the 15th anniversary of the guild, so she included the guild logo, a basket of oranges, and it has a significant 15 oranges in it. The colors of silks and dupioni are really pretty. She commented on how she is not an "orange person". Neither am I, but I do like the pallet she came up with, and the orange part is really a soft clove almost salmon color which is quite tolerable. Anyway, that's just for the logo part. The project was designed to hold all the various pieces of the logoed scrimshaw made available to guild members. A new piece is added each year. I only have one piece of the collection and I really don't intend on purchasing the whole set. Scrimshaw is quite expensive and I don't think ours is especially pretty, just cool if you're a guild member. Anyway, it's nicely constructed beautiful fold with silk pockets and such and I thought I should have it. Margaret likes to encourage stitcher's to make modifications and gives other options to the design and finishing, and I intend on doing just that. On with the lecture, or rather, instruction of the piece. This guild has done some fairly formidable projects a la CA Wells, Merry Cox, etc. Since Margaret is also a member of the guild, perhaps the fact that she knows what they've tackled before had something to do with the speed. I'll tell you what, you gotta have it going on when it comes to these "classes". I find most classes are like that. Fortunately, it does look like her instructions are pretty good. I'll let you know if/when I ever get to the finishing part. I'd love to start it right away but my plate is too full right now. I think when I complete this project I should treat myself to another piece of the scrimshaw set. It's by Marcy Pumphret and she actually uses old piano keys.

Oh, about that diagram stuff. LOL.. I was embarrassed at myself when I finally figured out at home tonight that the diagram I was looking at for the Two-Sided Italian Cross Stitch was actually the diagram for Reversible Cross Stitch. In my defense, I was not the only person confused by the placing of the title of the stitch. Besides that, I've never seen the Reversible Cross Stitch diagramed this way, so it was new to me, too. LOL. It's cool. Now, I know a new way to do reversible cross stitch.
And... to me,
the logical place for a title/description to go is above it, not below it, since we read from left to right, top to bottom.

Quaker Exchange Stitching

You know, there's mail, mostly junk mail, and then there's "Royal Mail". Any day you get a package from the UK is going to be a good day. That's a given. Look at this fabulous piece I received from Helen! You may recognize it. It's the Needleworker's Pocket from the ornament series by With My Needle featured in the yearly JCS Ornament issues, only it's blue instead of the deep red. Ellen Chester is one of my favorite designers. She's getting to be so prolific too. I have quite a few of them in my collection and I am looking forward to adding the newest releases that will be out after Nashville. Helen did an excellent finishing job- totally professional looking. I loved that she wrapped the tassels in their own little protective sleeve to keep them nice in transit. Now, that is attention to detail, wouldn't you say? She spoiled me with a lot of extra goodies too - fabrics, ribbons, lace, and pins- and I'm all set up to do a finish of my own now. Love it. Plus, I got a darling little beeswax bear for my needlework basket.

My partner in this Blue/White Winter Quaker Exchange on the Stitching Bloggers Exchange Board was Myrna. This is the pinkeep I stitched for her. It's stitched one over one on 30ct Cadet Blue Murano which I dug out of my stash. (High five!) Don't look too close. I'm afraid stitching in white on dark isn't very forgiving. The swan is one of my favorite quaker motifs, and this one in particular is from the Sarah Tatum sampler. For me, swans evoke grace and serenity. Don't I wish I had more of that!

She's Flying (again)

The hard part about having the dear-sweet-darling-wonderful daughter home from college is the part when you have to say "good-bye". I am a big fat cry baby. The whole airport thing is the worst. The drive coming home from the airport is the worst. It's just all the worst, and tomorrow will still be "the worst". I missed her before she even boarded the plane. She is such a joy to me, to us all, I can't imagine how I'm going to get along without her. Yet, I know I will. Just right now, my heart is torn apart. :...( But this is how it's supposed to be. You grow them up and then they fly, and you're happy that they're flying. I'd just like to go flying with her! boo-hoo-hoo... Aghhh!!! Really, I am the biggest crybaby anytime there's this separation thing. It happened every single time our other daughter left from a weekend at home (which wasn't nearly often enough). Now the other one is on the other side of the country, so no weekend visits with this one, not even once in a while. I am so thankful for the last four glorious weeks with her. Most students only have a two week break, but at least this semester, it worked out for her to leave a couple of weeks before most.

Here she is, Boston Girl. Might I add.. she is modelling the scarf I made her. I hurriedly added the fringe to it today and I did a lousy job of it, but it's my first completed knitting project. (Insert loud cheers) A dear friend gave me a knitting lesson a couple of years ago during my recovery time. For some reason, I am bound and determined to knit socks. Of all things.. I must knit socks. I have no idea why it's such a strong desire, but there it is. This scarf was my first real, albeit super easy, project so that I may proclaim to the world, "I knit". I am quite amused with myself. I had to relearn what I'd been taught but I was happy it came back to me with a little practice. Anyway, that was one of her Christmas gifts. I've also begun my first pair of socks. I got as far as the heel and had to set it aside, but I'll get back to it this month. Guess what I did yesterday though? I knit a dishcloth. I finished it today. Here it is! My second completed knitting project. I don't use dishcloths but I thought it would be a good practice project. It's got a couple of goofs but I still like it. It was a KAL. That's knit talk.

American Sampler

My New Year's Day start turned out to be American Sampler by Sandy Orton. I have been wanting to stitch this sampler since the first time I saw it. I almost can't believe I've finally begun! I struggle so much with decisions about what linen to use, what count, what color, cottons or silks, etc. This is why I nearly always simply follow exactly what was used for the model. Way back when, the one decision I did come to was that I really wanted to stitch it with silk. I could see that this was going to be an intensive project, and I felt it warranted the extra cost of silk. That decision made, it was easiest to just stick with the AVS conversion that was supplied. I have been collecting the silk for it for literally years. See, I knew I wasn't going to be starting it for a long while and I didn't want to sink money into it all at once just to shelve it. (How sensible of me LOL...) Now that I've begun, I discovered I left one color off of my check list. I also discovered that I need more of some of the colors than I have now. I remember now that I had found a place, that you could buy silk by the yard/meter. I had taken advantage of a sale and sent them my list. Anything they had full skeins of they sent; if all they had was lengths, then they sent lengths, and anything not in stock I just kept on my list to buy elsewhere. I figured I at least had what I needed to get started, so it was much to my chagrin when I found I was completely missing one of the colors needed for the flower I'm working on. One of the reasons I like this sampler is that it employs other stitches besides cross stitch. The border is done in rice stitch which is done with two colors. It's a cool layered stitch. The bottom layer is done in one color and then the top layer is in another color. There's quite a bit of queen stitches too. I never did decide on what fabric to use. I know someone who stitched it on 40ct and I had toyed with that idea but decided against it because of the large amount of queen stitches. The final fabric choice is one I pulled from my stash, a European linen, natural 35ct Weddigen. It has a very nice hand and is what I would call a dense linen. I got it for a great price and now I wish I had bought more of it. I'm patting myself on the back for using something from my stash. (pat pat pat)

By the way, I have a duplicate of the magazine this was published in. If anyone would like to buy it just send me an email.

Happy New Year!

Can you believe it is 2007?!

I'm looking forward to it! How about you?

Some thoughts for today

I don't exactly know what this entry is going to be about. I'll just start in and see where it goes.

I skipped that whole 10/25/50 deal. Now, New Year's Resolutions are the talk. I am an anti-resolution sort of gal. Yet, I do feel a need for some focus. I'm not any good at making resolutions. My first thought is just to make a few very general proclamations and leave it at that. But what good is that? Then I go the other direction and start listing everything I can think of that I might want to do. Again, what good is that?
Here's a couple that may make the cut, that is if I decide to venture forth into the resolution making madness -
1. Start a Spanish sampler
2. Finish a Merry Cox piece

The other thing I wanted to talk about was my holiday project starts. It didn't happen. I did start Heaven Is My Hope (The Scarlet Letter) on Thanksgiving. I really thought I'd be starting two more projects, Sarah Moon December 1, and another one on Christmas Day. Didn't happen. I needed some supplies and I was struggling with purchasing anything when I have plenty of other things I can start that I don't need to buy anything for. Unfortunately, those other things just aren't as interesting now. I do have a couple of large gift certificates I can use, but I waited too long to place the orders and I won't have them in time for New Years start either. :( All of this is actually good! It means I've been far too busy with other things. Those other things would be my family. (Oh yeah, people. Interaction and the such. Good. LOL... ) In the meantime, I've been working on HIMH while I wait for the next round of the quaker round robin. When I started this piece I really had no thought of actually finishing it. Isn't that silly?! It's just that I've had it for a while and I got such a screaming deal on it and it was ready to go since it was a kit. I had already decided I would use the kit as is and not substitute the fabric or the cotton floss. It is such a large sampler that I thought if I were to swap the supplies out I would be investing more in it than I want to and I'd rather spend it on other new charts or fibers and fabrics I need for other cool projects. I'm not too keen on this linen but I can deal with it. Here's a progress shot after stitching on her by candlelight the other night. I was desperate! It's not on 32ct though. It's on 30ct and, as you see, there's a lot of repetitive stitching and that doesn't require consulting the chart so much, that's why I was able to work on it in such little light. The queen stitches will require full light.

Power Out!

13+ hour power outage = me no happy

I stitched by candlelight last night. Really!

Oh, and I just switched to the new Blogger, so if I'm popping up on your Bloglines with a crazy amount of posts, this is why.

Are you ready?

Christmas. Just two days away. Are you ready?!
I am! It was decided this would be a "no gifts" Christmas. (In truth, there are a couple of secret little gifts hidden away.) I am so relaxed I can't even believe it. The house is decorated. We play Christmas music throughout the day. I've baked some of my annual Magic Bars. This is the easiest recipe in the world for some decadent bar cookies. You must try them! Today, we made up some batches of pretzels dipped in white chocolate, another ridiculously easy thing to do and everybody loves them. Of course, tamales were made a few weeks ago. Miraculously, we still have some left, because I froze several dozen. I've been out shopping with daughter a couple of times and I am sort of marveling over my free and easy attitude. I don't feel the least bit of stress and I am loving it. There's been a twinge or two wishing we had the money to do the Christmas's we've done in the past, but it passes quickly. This Christmas, my biggest gift has been having our younger daughter home from college on break. Oh, how I've missed her! Our other daughter has been ill with a terrible cold. Hopefully, next week she'll be up for some "hanging out" but this week she's been down for the count. She seems a little better today. The next few days we'll be on the go, going to church, visiting family near and far, and eating a lot.

Best of all, our hearts are prepared, as we approach the day set aside to honor the Christ child, Savior, Redeemer, King. Gloria in excélsis Deo!

Quaker Round Robin Update

Time for an update on the Quaker Round Robin I'm in on the Legacy Board. I was the fourth stitcher to add to Linda's piece. I'm sorry the color just isn't showing up correctly no matter how many photos I take. It's stitched on a very pretty shade of blue with mostly DMC 824 and a little 3842. I really like her center alphabet idea and I get a kick out of her initials being "LMN". I added the large floral urn and the little crown, plus my initials of course. Bring on the next round!

The Fourth Ornament

Have you been counting?
Remember, I said I signed up for four Christmas Ornament Exchanges?
Believe it or not, I would do it again. I think Christmas ornaments are my favorite thing to stitch. I definitely enjoy receiving them too!

Here's the third ornament I received. Sorry, I didn't post that pic sooner. I received it on a day I had to rush over to my mom's and I never got around to posting it here. Isn't it darling?!
Julianne stitched this design from "All Our Yesterdays" by Faye Whittaker. She generously included a lot of extra goodies including two fabric cuts and some darling snowman fabric I know I will definitely use. I've already worn the Christmas socks twice. The chocolate bar was enjoyed by the family. What a sweet package. Thanks Julianne! :)

AND THE FOURTH ORNAMENT...
I signed up for the ornament exchange and contest with Judy Odell's board, Just A Thought. I did her exchange last year and she sweetened the pot by offering a free finishing class to show us how to do a box finish. This year the extra incentive was a free set of chimes to add to our ornament and the winners got bucks at her sight. I was very motivated! However, I stretched my finishing time too thin and when it came down to it I just didn't have the creativity to figure out a clever way to hang the chimes. Anyway, I did not win the contest but I am a winner anyway because I got one of the best ornaments in the bunch. Su's entry was this gorgeous quaker and it suits me perfectly. Another of my favorites belonged to a stitching friend, Nancy, and it was another quaker, very cleverly constructed.

I can't tell you who got mine yet but I can show it to you.
This is the other ornament I refered to stitching from last years JCS issue. I'm afraid the pulled work doesn't show up that well in the photo. There is gold lining underneath the stitching that doesn't show through. The design is by Patricia Ann Designs. I botched up on changing the 2005 to 2006. The six is strange looking. I've been wanting to do some whitework after seeing some beautiful work others have done lately. This was just the right size for me right now. Small. LOL...

Fancy Work Sampler Noel

Juanita received the Christmas ornament I made for her. This one is (also) from Fancy Work. This one is Sampler Noel from this years JCS Ornament issue. I am so happy she likes it because I did not want to let it go. I plan to stitch this one again. I am not sure what fabric I used but the fiber is Vikki Clayton's Garnet and the silk ribbon is also from Hand Dyed Fibers.

photo is clickable

And Heaven & Nature Sing

Chris received the Nature Sings ornament I stitched for her. It seems I made the right choice for her for. That always feels nice. This one is by Fancy Work and it is in the 2005 JCS ornament issue. Funny, that was an issue I was quite disappointed in last year, yet I've stitched two of the four ornaments I just finished from that magazine. I'm not sure what that proves, but surely it must count for an exemption of this, or an allowance of that, somewhere in the stitching world, right?



Thanks for the comments on Tamale Day. We have survived two back-to-back days of tamale madness this weekend :) More to come about that later.

Tamale Day is Coming

Yes, Senorita stitches and she makes tamales too!
My family enjoys making tamales every year at Christmastime.
I've been doing it since I was a kid and my girls have done the same.
Last year we initiated a 2nd tamale day and started what I think will be a new tradition of the younger set (the cousins) all joining together to continue on the family tradition. So this week I will be busy shopping for ingredients and preparing the meat and chile. We save a lot of time by doing as much of the prep work as we can in advance so Tamale Day itself really just involves wrapping the tamales and cooking them. It's a festive day will lots of laughter, great music, and THE BEST tamales you'll ever taste.

Why don't you make some for our tree?

You can't blame 'em. Four perfectly nice ornaments out the door...where's ours? LOL... Since I was in the finishing mode I decided it wouldn't be a bad idea to finish off one for the home team. The stitching on this one was actually completed in 2003 - says so right on the edge there. This little guy was originally intended for my first ornament exchange sometime back in say 2000 or 2001. I abandonded it when it was taking way too long to complete this solidly stitched ornament with many color changes. He's from a Better Homes & Gardens Special Issue they used to put out every Christmas. Are they still doing that?
You know, I've got a good little stack of stitched ornaments, and every year I say I'm going to do a finishing day and get them done. Maybe I'll do it this year...

Prairie Schooler Christmas Exchange

I just love it! It turns out Nancy got my name and I got hers. I came really close to stitching her initials too, but decided on a mitten instead.


Check out the message board dedicated to Prairie Schooler designs.