Parts: Being a Needlework Update

Not been much fun around here lately. Mei Ping the Siberian Husky tore her ACL about three weeks ago. Or more precisely, we tore her ACL by roughhousing with her in the PA woods. She had a ridiculously expensive surgery approximately two weeks ago and contracted an e-coli infection while in surgery. The infection settled in her knee and an abscess formed. By the time the vet realized it, they misdiagnosed her the first time I brought it to their attention, the abscess was draining, leaving a large hole across the front of the knee with bone and the metal screws implanted during the initial surgery sticking out. Yesterday she got the hole closed up and remains one unhappy dog.

Like I said, it hasn't been much fun around here lately.

Whilst trying to keep her still I realized that if I sat still, she would eventually settle down too. Therefore I have been able to do more needlework than normal. I figured that now would be a good time to post some updates.

First up is a 12 part mystery sampler by Amy Mitten Designs. Mystery because one piece is released each month, and you don't know what the finished sampler will look like until it is done. Only this one was last year's mystery, entitled the Garden Plot Thickens, so I do know what the finished piece looks like. Anyway, this is part one:

Here it is from another angle so you can see the stitching better:

And, because they nearly killed me, here is a closer shot of the bullion knots. This remains one of my very not so favorite stitches:

Next up is a 14 part piece by Blackbird Designs. This one is called Anniversaries of the Heart and it is meant to commemorate family and friends. Each block is personalized by the stitcher in honor of someone important. I've done three blocks thus far. Here is the whole piece:

And here is part one, in honor of my revolutionary ancestor, Sgt. Samuel Yetter, who served in the Philadelphia County Militia during the American Revolution. In addition to his name, this block also contains my Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) number and the initials of Samuel's wife, Mariah Yocum.

Part two is in honor of my maternal grandfather, Raymond Kazuo Sakamoto. We visited his grave site a few months back in the Punchbowl cemetery blog entry.

And what is really part five, sitting below part one, is in honor of my paternal great grandmother, Hazel W. Rudduck.

This is proving to be a fun and addicting piece to stitch.

And finally, the updates on those crazy French kiddies, courtesy of Perrette Samouiloff. Eventually the 48 parts are going into a shadow box/printers tray - this one:

And here are the latest parts. I have finished eight and have only 40 to go! Only 40!

Starting with the three winter girls:

Then the boy and girl of spring:

And then the continuation of those somewhat tedious monthly children:

That is all that I have photographed for now. Clearly you can see that I have a long way to go on all these projects. I guess I need to get back to my needle.

2 down, 47 to go - and this one almost made me blind

The second of 49 Perrette Samouiloff pieces for my shadow box/printer-type tray is done. 

I struggled with this one. Or rather, my eyes struggled. First, it was on fairly tightly woven fabric (32 threads per inch) and crossed over one thread. The first piece I did was on fabric with 28 threads per inch, so this one had 4 more threads per inch, which actually works out to one hell of a difference when you are crossing each thread individually.

Second there was a fair bit of white in the design, and while I thought I had chosen a fabric that would provide enough contrast, the white simply disappeared when viewed under my stitching lamp. Stitching it was like trying to find the lines on the road while driving in a snow storm.

But it is done and I think that given all the little screw ups that you all can't see, it is darned cute.

Details. Done with HDF silk threads on Sassy's Lugana Winter Winds 32 count, over one.

A woman on a forum I visit posted the link below earlier today. It is the online portion of an exhibit by the London Foundling Museum. From the page below, click on the "online exhibition" link and it will take you to a slide show with some very amazing and sobering photos. Each photo shows a snippet of cloth that was worn by a foundling when delivered to the old foundling hospital in London. Some photos also offer biographical information on the abandoned child. You will see that many of them date from the Georgian period, in the 1700s. I find it amazing that they were preserved for so long. 

It is a very moving and meaningful exhibit and I wish I could go to see it in real life. One more place added to my, "next time I go to London" list of things to do.

http://www.threadsoffeeling.com/

I actually found the timing of this to be fortuitous as I just finished reading the book, English Society in the Eighteenth Century, by Roy Porter. One of my weekend goals is to write a book review. You can hold me to it on Monday.

Finally, the part about the needle

In my fleeting spare time, I like to dabble in the needle arts. I am lucky to have a well-stocked sewing room with wonderful afternoon sunlight where I spend every spare weekend afternoon. It is my happy place, the girlie room and the only one devoid of antique guns, knives and other military memorabilia. Not that there is anything wrong with any of those things. One day we’ll take a tour of it, but not today.

Due to the holidays, my stitching time has been rather limited in the past few months. Only now am I getting back into the swing of things. One of the first things I wanted to accomplish in the new year was to turn a stitched piece into a pillow. It is a design by one of my favorite French designers, Perrette Samouiloff. I know it is terribly cutesy, this from a person who is not terribly cutesy herself, but I blame my Mom for this particular fascination of mine.

You see my Mom spent some of her formative years in rural France, when her Dad was stationed there after the war. All throughout my childhood she pointed out (whether she realized it or not) images of French children that made her reminisce about her childhood. I grew to think of these images as the epitome of youth; brightly colored, carefree, simple, delightfully anachronistic.

When I started stitching I stumbled upon her designs and was immediately hooked. In other words, get used to seeing stuff by Perrette Samouiloff.

But about my pillow. Here is the layout. Stitched design, trim and fabric. Yes, I know, it is a bit late. But there is always next Christmas, right?

And here is the finished piece.

Like I said, almost too cute for words.

But wait! There’s more. One of my projects for the year is to fill a shadow box with her designs. A shadow box is something like this that you can fill with pieces of stitching.

This is not the box I am using for this Perrette Samiouloff madness. The particular box I am using for this project has 49 spaces, of three varying sizes. I can’t show it to you right now because T’s Mom has it in North Carolina where she is getting the individual pieces of foam core cut for me by her framer.

This past weekend I finished my first square. Yay! Only 48 more to.

Isn’t she so cute and tiny?

For those who are reading this and who stitch, I’ll give the details. She is done 1x1 in HDF silk threads on Sassy’s hand-painted 28-count Lugana fabric. What is all this gobbledygook you ask? Okay 1x1 refers to the number of strands of silk thread used (one) and the number of threads in the fabric that you cross over as you stitch (again, one). Typically, when cross-stitching, you go 2x2, or two strands over two fabric threads. Here is the difference visually.

Over one thread.

Over two threads. Here the stitched design is larger, and a little more blocky.

Lastly, the “count” of a piece of fabric refers to the number of threads per hole. So in 28-count fabric there are 28 threads per inch in each direction. Or something like that. Therefore, 40 count has a higher thread count than 28 and thus when stitched, the design will be smaller.

And that is my first “needle” post. Like childhood itself; short, simple, sweet.