Our Friends' HAED SAL: luna

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

QS Iris Update & New Pattern

Progress on my QS Iris has been sporadic and slow, but I have gotten a little more done since I last posted. My planned span of lazy days of doing nothing much more than stitching disappeared in a *poof*, almost the moment I dreamed about them, but as always, I keep hoping that life's events will soon fall into some sort of order to allow me more time to stitch.

Here is my update on my QS Iris:

I don't know if it the colors, or what, but I am finding this depressing to stitch, which surprises me, because the finished piece appears to be gorgeous. I guess I just haven't gotten to the colorful parts yet.

So what do I do to pick myself up? What any marginally sane person would do in the same circumstances. I took advantage of the recent HAED sale to celebrate Michele's Birthday (Happy Birthday, Michele!! Wishing you a fantastic year, and many, many more!), and bought myself another HAED pattern. Honestly. .I did go through the ones in my stash, and while I eventually want to stitch them, right now, none of them inspired me out of my funk.

But this one is tempting me, and I couldn't resist. It is a new pattern, Luna, by Marjorie Sarnat. My pattern arrived today, and now I have to go about getting fabric and seeing what threads I need. Then gridding and seeing where to fit it into my already crowded rotation.

Hmmmm, I wonder if one of my kitties would let me paint him or her to look like this one. I guess not. I'll have to be happy and love my furry friends, just as they are, and settle for a fanciful stitched cat.

I wish everyone a happy, peaceful and productive Stitching Thursday tomorrow!

Tutorials

How to Carry Threads
This is really easy...it takes a while to get used to though....and your back will look terrible...this you will have to live with...One thing...You will be working your 10 x 10 grids in colums...it makes it easier...
1. Start with a 10 x 10 grid..
2. Find your first symbol...and stitch all of that symbol in your 10 x 10 grid....When finished...
3. Find the same symbol on the 10 x 10 grid below it...take your needle and bring your thread up like you are going to make the first 1/2 of the X ...but don't do it...just unthread your needle and lay the thread down..
4. Go back to the first grid you were working on...and stitch the next symbol the same way....when finished bring your thread down....
5. continue each symbol until your first 10 x 10 grid is finished....
6. start the next 10 x 10 grid ....you should have thread there already for you to pick up and stitch...
Posted by Vickie 3/7/2009

Tent Stitching (Wikipedia)
Tent stitch variants
There are three types of tent stitch, all producing the same appearance on the front of the canvas but each worked in a slightly different way and having particular characteristics, uses, benefits and drawbacks. These variants of tent stitch are known as basketweave, continental and half cross tent stitches:
Basketweave tent stitch - The basketweave form of tent stitch is worked in diagonal rows up and down the canvas. The yarn on the back of the canvas has a typical basketweave appearance, with alternating horizontal and vertical stitches. Basketweave is the best stitch to use for covering large areas of canvas as it does not distort the canvas as the other two forms of tent stitch do.
Continental tent stitch - Continental stitch is worked horizontally or vertically across the canvas. On the back of the work, the stitches appear diagonally across two threads. This method uses more yarn than half cross stitch tent stitch but is more hardwearing.
Half cross tent stitch - Half cross stitch is worked horizontally or vertically across the canvas. On the back of the work, the stitch appears vertical or horizontal, not diagonal, and crosses only one thread. This method uses less yarn than other stitches but is not very durable as coverage on the back of the canvas is a little thin.