GimletBlog

Last spring (May to be exact) I began working on a scene from Edward Lear’s The Owl and the Pussycat, as a gift for Thing Two, who loves the poem.   Soon, though, several other bright and shiny projects like my niece’s band sampler and Hardanger Christmas presents distracted me from this one.  It also didn’t help that I had stitched all the interesting parts, leaving only the moon to do:  a vast expanse of white, and not nearly as exciting as … well, pretty much anything else I could find.  Before I knew it, Owl & Pussycat had become a UFO, a WIP, whatever you call those long-neglected projects.  (I prefer WIP (work-in-progress) because I really, really want to believe I’ll finish them some day.)

So I’m delighted to report that I finished Owl & Pussycat this weekend!  Thing Two is thrilled, too:  he watched intently as the last few French knots were stitched and was reluctant to let it go for photos before settling into its place of honor in his room.

Even though it took so long to get around to completing, I still like this scene quite a bit.  The color scheme is delightful and the characters are cute.  The night sky is all half cross stitches, so it’s not as difficult as it might appear; that section was completed much more quickly than the moon.  The backstitched characters and boat, set against half cross stitches and pale moon and sea colors create almost a three-dimensional look.  I added Kreinik pearl blending filament to the stars to make them sparkle; they also “pop” out a little more from the night sky.   Last year when I began this project, I was worried about all the back stitching, but after completing the chickadee tablecloth for Christmas, this back stitching was a breeze by comparison; I finished it in no time.

The design is by Sue Cook and can be found in Cross Stitch Collection, issue 128.  I bought my issue from eBay, and have seen a few offered since then, so it isn’t too difficult to find.   Owl & Pussycat is one of a four-part series of nursery rhyme charts by Sue Cook, all of which display the same vibrant colors and charm, and would be great additions to a nursery or to a fan of nursery rhymes.

While I’m showing off, how do you like these owl and pussycat stitching accessories?  The pussycat pincushion (which the Gimlet calls “Voodoo Kitty” for reasons best known to himself) was a Christmas gift from a local farmer’s market.  Its stuffing includes lavender, so it smells wonderful.  The owl and mouse tape measure (featured in the September/October 2008 issue of Victoria magazine) is carved out of cow bone with an amazing amount of detail — the feathers and talons are especially intricate.

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I decided to take a break from the long process of making embroidered Christmas gifts and stitch a quick, small project for myself.  This Norwegian reindeer ornament by Scandinavian Stitches was featured in the 2008 Christmas Ornament issue of Just Cross Stitch magazine.  I would have liked to have tried using the recommended Danish Flower Thread, but the snowstorms made a trip to the embroidery shop impossible, so I used DMC floss and 30 count Weeks Dye Works linen.

My finishing skills still leave a lot to be desired but it’s not bad for a first ornament.  Mostly it was gratifying to begin a project in the morning, work leisurely at it through the day, and be able to hang the finished product on the tree just shortly after dinner.  After working long hours every day and night on the last Christmas project (and it’s still not completed!) it was a nice reminder that not all projects take a lot of time and energy.

The JCS Christmas Ornament Issue features several ornaments I’d like to try; obviously I won’t get around to them until after Christmas at this point but once the big project is done I look forward to relaxing with a few small goodies.

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In addition to my niece’s band sampler, I spent the summer working on several small kits by Just Nan.  These projects are so cute:  lots of color and intricate stitches packed into a small space, and each could be completed in a couple of days.

This sparkly pair of enamel boxes are my new stitching assistants.  Lady Scarlet and Bella Bee (aka Barnabee’s Bride) preside over the dishes in which I keep small stitching odds and ends.  They’re surprisingly heavy, which makes them perfect for holding down the page in an instruction book, or pressing folds into place to mark the center of a piece of fabric.  But that’s not all:  each box opens to reveal a tiny needle book or needle roll.  It’s no surprise that Lady Scarlet and Bella Bee are Thing Two magnets, but he may only play with them with careful supervision.

Equally appealing is this year’s Over the Top/In the Tin series:  four small tins with embroidered lids and a stitching accessory to store inside.  The spring and summer tins were Hop and Sizzle, with a coordinating needle book scissor fob and pin wheel, respectively.  (I didn’t attach the cord to the needle book because I don’t have a pair of scissors tiny enough to fit inside the tin.)  I’ve also completed autumn’s Boo tin, but haven’t started its needle book yet.  Jingle, due to arrive in November, will finish out the series.

Finishing is not my strong suit but I’m improving with each project.  These kits are not very difficult to finish; very basic stitches and careful application of glue are all that’s required.  The Gimlet has been pressed into service to help wind the embroidery floss twisted cords that border each tin lid; enlisting a helper worked a lot better than trying to wind the cord alone using a door knob.

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Finally it can be told:  the band sampler was a birthday gift for my niece, who turned eight this week and is preparing to be baptized.  JoAnn’s Fabrics & Crafts did a super job on the framing: a lovely antique-looking frame with roses to match the flowers on the sampler; they also added extra spacers to protect the silk ribbon embroidery; and the pink matboard backing shows off the Hardanger band beautifully.

To see the completed sampler, click on the smaller image.  Earlier posts about the sampler in progress can be found in the “sinister craftiness” category.   I began stitching the sampler in June, completed all but the date in July, then added the date and had it framed at the end of August.  It was a lot of fun to learn all the new stitches, and the sampler was a great confidence builder for future projects.

The poem on the sampler is the first verse from “Shine On” by Joseph Ballantyne, a song in our church’s children’s hymnal:

My light is but a little one,
My light of faith and prayer;
But lo! it glows like God’s great sun,
For it was lighted there.

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The band sampler (Heirloom Birth Sampler chart by Victoria Sampler) is finished, and in a little more than one month! The date is still blank; that won’t be set for another month or two, but everything else is done.

Here are some before and after photos of the Hardanger band. Just in case I completely messed up cutting the linen I wanted to document that at one time the sampler looked pretty. But that part of the process went well, so instead it’s interesting to see the difference that the drawn and pulled stitches make to the design.

As a Hardanger newbie, I wanted all the help I could get. Hardanger Basics and Beyond by Janice Love was the book I relied on most of all to make sure I stitched my kloster blocks (groups of satin stitches) in the proper order, cut the threads just right, and weave or wrap the remaining linen threads. The book is full of diagrams and clearly-written, detailed instructions. Best of all, there are plenty of left-handed directions! As the title suggests, basic Hardanger elements (kloster blocks, wrapped and woven bars, dove’s eyes, square filets, etc.) and motifs (tulip/ship and star) are introduced and explained. Projects are small: sachet-type pillows and bags.

I also highly recommend Victoria Sampler’s Beyond Cross Stitch series of small learning samplers — the samplers are grouped into six levels of ten projects each and each sampler teaches one or two new stitches. The diagrams and directions are excellent. Extra hints are included for each level of stitches (ribbon embroidery, pulled thread, Hardanger) and those are very helpful, too. (As I do most of my stitching after the Things have been put to bed, the advice to avoid cutting when tired was timely). Both the VS kits and Janice Love’s book were confidence builders for learning this type of embroidery. I found that the stitches weren’t particularly complicated; following the directions slowly and carefully yielded the best results.

Look for photos of the entire sampler in the fall once the date’s in place and the sampler has been framed.

Aside: the finished sampler will be mounted over a colored mat board so the Hardanger embroidery will match the ribbons and lettering. To take these pictures, I recalled the advice of my favorite Jane Austen hero (and his equally admirable sister) that muslin (or in this case, silk) always turns to some account or other … thus my ball gown becomes a fine backdrop to show off embroidery projects.

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A biscornu is a tiny eight-sided embroidered pillow. It can be used as a pincushion, a key or scissor fob, or filled with potpourri for a sachet, to name a few possibilities. The name derives from a French adjective which literally means “several horns” and refers to an odd or bizarre, irregularly shaped object. Sometimes they’re called tuffets, too. I had seen a few of these little gizmos and wasn’t sure I could make one, but they’re not difficult after all! I began stitching the pieces late one afternoon, finished most of the stitching that evening, and assembled the biscornu the following day.

To try it out, I used a quick, simple pattern and materials already on hand. One of my favorite eBay sellers often includes extra fabric with my purchases, so I chose a small piece of her khaki colored Quaker cloth (28 count). The biscornu instructions on the Own Two Hands blog includes a list of links to patterns; I based mine on the “Popular Red Biscornu” pattern, but instead of red I used alternating bands of cream and lilac. While stitching the design, I decided to add cream-colored beads to the ends and points, and chose a pair of honeybee buttons to decorate the center. So much for keeping it simple. This is a good time to point out that biscornu-making can be addictive like embroidery crack. The design possibilities are endless, and they can be embellished with beads, buttons, charms, ribbons, hand dyed fabrics — anything goes.

There are several great how-to sites (I already mentioned Own Two Hands; also check out Violarium and Biscornu Basics) which show off lovely examples to pique interest, then walk the biscornu-curious through the creation steps. Here are a few lessons learned:

• The pattern I chose used only one color. Was that good enough for me? Oh, no. The light colors I chose give this biscornu a lovely antique look, but it would have been a lot easier to stitch with a dark color … like red … especially on the khaki-colored fabric. These stitches were hard to see and I had to unpick the design several times because I kept miscounting the evenweave. Not a big issue, but if I were making one for the first time again, it would be much easier if there were greater contrast between the floss and fabric.
• The how-to sites suggested attaching some backing to the evenweave. Good idea, because the evenweave frays like crazy. But I chose to back mine with felt, which was so thick that it made it difficult to stitch the two pieces together. The corners are not as square as I’d like them to be, either. Next time I’ll use much thinner backing.
• I used #12 perle cotton to stitch the connecting backseam, which may have been overkill and was almost impossible to see against the khaki fabric (see do-over #1). But between the felt and the perle cotton, it’s sturdy!
• Not precisely a do-over, but the rest of Team Gimlet claim the buttons aren’t honeybees, but houseflies. Even I have to admit these buttons are a little bit ambiguous (but I still say they’re bees). Perhaps I should name this the Pestilence Biscornu?

Even with these missteps, I’m pleased with how my first attempt turned out. Speaking of first attempts, here’s another peek at that band sampler I’ve been working on. It’s proceeding more quickly than I thought it would; ten out of the fifteen bands are finished. At this rate there shouldn’t be any trouble completing the sampler on time, but the Hardanger embroidery at the end promises to be a challenge.

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In addition to Owl and the Pussycat, my other long-term stitching project this summer is a band sampler. It’s intended to be a gift, so I’ll leave out certain identifying details about it, but I’m using Victoria Sampler’s Heirloom Birth Sampler chart with just a few changes to the text to suit the occasion.

As per the directions, I chose to stitch the sampler on 32 count Belfast linen, platinum color. Everything about this project is new to me, from stitching on evenweave fabric (after a few false starts on a practice piece I’m getting the hang of it) to the embroidery threads (I’m loving the various silk flosses), ribbons, and beads, and nearly all the stitches are new, too. The sampler doesn’t need to be completed until the fall, so I’m going to take it very slowly, one or two bands at a time, learning the stitches as I go.

This week I finished the first three bands. The top band is a gorgeous garland of ribbon embroidery and beading, which may look more difficult to make than it was. The ribbon had to be handled carefully to keep the loops full, but the stitches themselves were easy to learn (and the ribbon loops are a great hiding place for any stitching sins). The garland is followed up by a band of pulled three-sided stitches, then double-sized cross stitches.

So far so good, but there’s a lot more left to do, and I’m especially nervous about cutting the fabric for the hemstitched band a few rows down. If it doesn’t work out, I can always give the intended recipient a gift card instead, and nobody will be the wiser.

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Mary Hickmott’s New Stitches magazine has published a series of tropical fish charts; so far I’ve completed five out of the six designs. These circular charts are approximately 5″ in diameter and I’ve been stitching them on 16 count white Aida, although the magazine also suggests using 32 count evenweave. Generally about 16 colors (Anchor floss) are used per chart, although the first one I made (the starfish) requires only 9. The charts in New Stitches include the number of ½ metres of floss needed for each color, which I find very helpful. It’s great to be able to prepare a floss card in advance. I wish more charts included that information.

It’s been a fun series of charts, each taking about one week to complete. These projects have been my first experience working with blending filament. The filament adds sparkle to the fish, making them stand out from the coral reef background. I haven’t decided what (if anything) I’ll do with these designs, but while I’ve been working on them, Thing Two has become very fond of the fish; he loves to take them out of the project box and look at them. So I may frame them for his nursery, or if a few more charts are published in future issues, the fish could be made into panels for a quilt.

Thing Two has become an eager assistant. I was worried that letting a toddler loose in a yarn shop was a disaster in the making, but our occasional floss expedition has become a fun way to practice learning colors and counting — and little children love to have a job to do. At the “color store” he loves to hold the floss skeins. We count them, of course, and he tells me what the colors are — often offering suggestions for colors he thinks I should buy if the ones I’ve chosen aren’t interesting enough. After briefly surrendering his colors to the cashier, he then carries the bag for the return drive. Some of them are unravelled by the time we arrive at home.

There is a sameness to a series of charts; after five fish I needed a break and wanted to try a larger project. The Owl and the Pussycat, based on Edward Lear’s poem and adapted into a colorful, enchanting image by Sue Cook (Cross Stitch Collection, issue 128) was ideal. Thing Two can recite the poem with a little prompting here and there and has been following my stitching progress with great interest. Every morning he examines the scroll frame and asks, “Where’s the owl? Where’s the pussycat?” He’s going to keep me on task until it’s done. I started May 12, and finished the “beautiful pea-green boat” yesterday, so its occupants will materialize soon.

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