The Peacock's Feather

A Few More Motifs

I've managed to stitch a few more motifs in my Toccata 2.    There is one more in this row and then I will be able to start on the second row.  Sorry this isn't a very clear photo, but I'm sure there will be more to follow.  Some of them go surprisingly fast.  I really enjoy this sort of a project, though I do have a few regular cross stitch projects I'd like to get back to.  I've spent the last week watching the Olympics and normally I would stitch as I watch TV, but things have been too exciting, so I end up with my eyes glued to the TV rather than what's in my hands, so I don't bother.  I have some new charts to share, but I'll save them for another day.  I've been very good about not accumulating any new stash, but these were gifts, so I don't have to feel guilty.  Now, though, I have to kit them up....

Still Here!

I'm still here.  I've been terribly neglectful of my stitching blog--very sorry about that.  Life has been too hectic and I can't seem to keep up with everything.  I do have good intentions, but now I need to find the time to actually carry those good intentions out.  I am still stitching when I can, however.  I've put in a few more stitches on LHN's "Early America" freebie. 

I've started DT's "Toccata #2" finally.  I actually have more motifs stitched, but I will have to wait until the weekend to take photos and load them into my computer. 

Here's another view.  I'm really enjoying this design a lot.  It seems to fit my mood and how I can stitch these days.  A motif here and there, and I feel like I am still accomplishing something even if it is just the occasional motif a few times a week.

I'm enjoying it so much, I've pulled out a couple other Drawn Thread designs, which I would love to stitch as well--"The Souvenir" and "Random Thoughts".  Both are kitted up and waiting to go.  Now I just need to find time to start them!   

Another New Project

In honor of the upcoming Fourth of July holiday, I've started stitching the Little House Needlework freebie, "Early America".  I've got a few stitches in, and I hope to add a few more this weekend.  I don't expect to finish it by the Fourth, but I don't mnd.  I  haven't decided yet how I'll finish it.  A cushion perhaps?

And I've not forgotten about "ABC 123", also by Little House Needleworks.  I have to say I am not a fan of working with white floss.  I try and be a neat stitcher, but white always shows every tiny imperfection, and I admit I sometimes get lazy.  Not a good thing when working with white.  I need to pull that out as well.  Maybe tonight I can add some stitches on this, too.

The Tenth Gift

Do you believe in ghosts?  Rationally I have to say I don't.  Perhaps, though, it's just possible that the aura of someone still lingers in the things they leave behind and that are passed on to each new generation.  Maybe this is a stretch of the imagination?  Jane Johnson's The Tenth Gift is a wonderfully entertaining read even if it may on occasion require a stretch of the imagination.  I'm usually willing to suspend belief somewhat for a story that keeps me captivated and makes me turn the pages as rapidly as I did even if I questioned some of the smaller details and motivations. 

Although a work of fiction, the book is based on historical fact.  Two stories set 400 years apart run parallel in The Tenth Gift.  Quite often with two competing narratives one will be the stronger of the two, but Johnson fairly seamlessly wove the two storylines together so they meshed into one larger picture.  The novel is set in 21st century London and 17th century Cornwall.  What prompted me to pick up the book in the first place is that a the heart of this novel exists a book of embroidery patterns, which links two heroines (both needleworkers), and the promise of an exotic adventure to far away Morocco. 

I'm familiar with the fact that pirates participated in the trade of humans as slaves, though I didn't realize they were so bold as to actually raid the southern coastline of England as well.  A captured ship meant prize money for the victors, whatever their nationality, who would return home with the ship and its contents.  The sailors and other human cargo caught by pirates, however, might be considered chattel.  If they were lucky their families would pay ransom to have them released and pity the poor souls whose family couldn't pay up.  I've even read that when he was a soldier Miguel de Cervantes was captured and ransomed before his famous days as an author.

Twenty-first century heroine, Julia Lovat, is given an antique book of embroidery patterns as a farewell gift from her married lover when he decides to call things quits.  Julia is crushed despite the fact that it's her own childhood friend that he's married to and hoping to make a fresh start with.  Although I did come to like Julia, she wasn't always the most subtle of people and had a few blundering moments in the story.  Her 17th century counterpart, Catherine Ann Tregenna, known as "Cat",  mirrored her in some ways.  Only nineteen she works as a servant in the house of a wealthy man in Penzance.  She's a talented needlewoman and hopes to make her escape from her provincial life by her work with needle and thread on an altar cloth she has been commissioned to create.  She notes her ideas for stitching patterns in a small book, where she also writes down details of her life.

Cat feels more imprisoned than ever when the mistress of the manor decides her wayward manner needs to be reined in and betroths her to her cousin.  Although a handsome man, she wants more than a stifling life married to a boring man with nothing to look forward to than bearing his children.  Be careful what you wish for however, adventure will come to her in a harrowing manner when she along with 59 other townspeople are stolen from their Sunday worship by corsairs--Muslim pirates from the Barbary Coast.

Now both the heroine's paths are set in motion.  Cat must endure a voyage in the stinking, dirty hold of a ship en route to Salé in Morocco and faces the possibility of being sold.  It's only her fine ability to use needle and thread that will give her any chance of real survival.  Julia is trying to make sense of her life knowing what a muddle she's made of things.  When her ex-lover realizes the real value of the book and tries to get it back using whatever method he can, Julia decides she has nothing to lose and travels to Morocco trying to trace what happened to Cat.

Unsurprisingly there will be a clash of cultures and religions between the women in both centuries and those men each encounter in Morocco.  I thought some of the situations might have been a bit contrived and quite predictably there is a definite element of romance to the story, the decisions the women making not really surprising me.  Still, I really loved the exotic descriptions of Morocco particularly modern day Morocco.  And it's not often I can read about needlework in novels, so I was especially pleased with that aspect of the story.  If you're looking for a good beach/vacation read this will sweep you away to another time and place!

Cross posted on my book blog:   A Work in Progress.

A Few More Stitches

I meant to share this updated photo of my Little House Needleworks project, "ABC123" days ago, but I didn't get around to posting the photo.  I've actually added a few more stitches, but it wasn't enough to get me to drag  out the camera!  Such a small project, but I'll keep going!  I've also decided to stitch a LHN freebie design with Colonial America as the subject.  I've pulled it out and it is ready to go--now to just get in those first few stitches.  I'm also in the mood for something medium sized.  I'm not sure if I wan to start something new or pull out a UFO.  I need to look through my charts!  And now there is the Fourth of July just around the corner, and Summer...

Needlework Update

I buy very little in the way of new needlework designs these days.  Aside from the fact that I'm not stitching quite as much as I'd like, I also have so much needlework stash that it's more than I could ever finish even if I devoted all my free time to it for the next decade!  Unlike with books I am pretty good at knowing when to say when!  One of my favorite needlework shops offers a birthday discount, which I took advantage of in February, however (it's hard to say no totally).  A couple of the designs hadn't been released yet, so this week I finally had a nice surprise in the mail!

The two designs on the left are by Chessie & Me.  The chart on the top is "Miss Chessie's Tuffet" and the bottom chart is "Busy Bee Tuffet".  A tuffet (also called a biscornu in French) is a pin cushion with eight corners (four pointing up and four down).  They are my favorite accessory to finish.  I've made lots of them, but I've only ever kept one for myself.  Both these charts have tuffets and fobs.  I ordered the fabric to go along with the charts, but the photo of the bottom one looks distinctly blue, but the chart calls for a color called putty.  Hmm.

The designs on the right are by one of my favorite designers, Just Nan.  If anyone knows how to market her designs, Just Nan does!  They're so clever, and very tempting, and also pretty expensive.  She's designing a series of four of these little tins with stitched lids and fobs to hang on your scissors.  "Hop" is the first one.  It's too bad this didn't come out before Easter, as I'm not sure I'm in the mood to stitch rabbits!  It's a small project at least.

What am I working on?  I've finished what's going to be a pincushion.  This is a freebie design that Carriage House Samplings offered several years ago.  This is another very favorite designer.  Her designs are very American folkish.  I'm a very lazy finisher and I should have sewed this ages ago.  I thought I might finish it as a mattress pincushion.  I've never tried this, and it doesn't look particularly hard, but it does look time consuming.  I tend to be a lazy finisher, so I might just sew a nice piece of fabric to the back and call it finished.

I did start this one well before Easter, but it's been languishing.  It is  by designer Drawn Thread (I have lots of her stuff, too).  This is a another series of designs, one for each season, that are finished as little cushions.  This is the "Spring Spot" and really I should be pulling out the "Summer Spot" soon, since it's getting so warm.  Like books I always have more than one project on the go.  Unlike reading I don't feel too guilty to set a project aside (I hate to admit how long some have sat waiting for me), but it's nice completing something.  Especially something small, which really shouldn't take all that long to stitch anyway.

And my most recent new project?  Little House Needleworks also makes very folksy American types of designs.  I have lots of her charts, but I've yet to actually finish any of them (unlike the other designers that I've mentioned).  This is called "ABC123".  It's not very large, just a tad over 4" x 4".  I think I will try and finish this as a mattress pincushion.  I like small projects as they usually give me the satisfaction of working on something and finishing it relatively quickly.  I've been in the mood for a larger project as well, though I can't seem to settle on one thing.  I used to stitch in the mornings before work, but lately I've been spending the time reading.  This means stitching just on the weekends usually when I am watching a movie.  And I've really not even done much of that lately either.  I wonder how other people do it...reading, working, and maybe some other small hobby.  Do you do something more than read?  Hopefully I can work on one of these this weekend (and finish a book--I'm still being optimistic!).

**I actually posted this on my book blog, which I hope will explain my explanations in my post.  Normally I wouldn't be so specific over here!  I've been terribly neglectful lately of my stitching blog.  I'm not quite sure what to do with it.  I want to post more regularly, but I've disovered how hard it can be to just post in one place let alone two!  I would love to update this blog a few times a week, but I haven't been stitching a whole lot, which means I don't have much to share!  I do thank you for anyone who still comes around and checks in here!  I'll do my best to try and update more often.  And I absoutely say thank you to everyone who is still kind enough to stop by and leave comments.  Oh, to have a few more hours in the day!

New-ish Projects

Although I'm moving very slowly, I do have a couple of progress photos on two new projects.  Actually this one I started ages ago and really need to finish.  It is by Carriage House Samplings.  It is a freebie called "Pins and Needles".  I think I will make it into a plain cushion when I am done--something easy.

This is Drawn Thread's "Spring Spot".  I plan on stitching all four seasons and finishing them exactly as the photo shows.  I'm only curious...if this is a cushion, and it uses hemstitching around the edges, what do you do so the fiberfill doesn't stick out of the hemstitching? (Does that make sense?).  I've never finished one of these.  I need to look more closely to the instructions!

The Secret Flower Bed

Just in time for Spring, I've finished Trilogy's "The Secret Flower Garden".  I finished it as a little pillow--one of the few finishing methods I'm pretty confident in doing (despite the fact I need to use the sewing machine!).  I'm pleased with how it turned out.  Sorry, my photo is a tad bit dark.  Now I'm working on Drawn Thread's "Spot of Spring".  It's coming along nicely and I'll be sharing a photo of it soon.  I think I might have come questions on how to finish that one, however.  I plan on stitching all the spots!  I even worked a little this past weekend on CHS's "The Houses of Hawk Run Hollow"!

Progress Report

I've actually been stitching  bit lately.  I'm more or less back in the habit of stitching a little each morning before work.  I bought an MP3 player and have been listening to podcasts as well as a book while stitching.  I'm actually much further on "The Secret Flower Garden". I took this over the weekend.  I've got most of the large motifs finished and just have to fill in the flower centers and some vines.  I hope to sew it into a cushion over the weekend!  Photo to follow!

 

I've also pulled out my Hawk Run Hollow designs.  I ordered "The Shores of Hawk Run Hollow", but I'm not sure when I'll get it (Drema was still waiting on fabric).  I didn't order any floss yet, as I am making myself finish one of the others first!  I am hoping to work on these a bit more regularly now.  We'll see if it really happens!  I'll probably keep going on the first design, since that has the most progress so far.  If I could just finish a square I think I'd feel like I was accomplishing something and work harder to finish more.  It's always a matter of having enough stitching time!

Fevrier

Before February slips away, I better post this photo!  My friend Laurence C. in France made me this lovely redwork pillow and the little fabric container to its left for my birthday last week.  It came as a lovely surprise.  I hadn't expected anything at all from my stitching friends as I haven't been stitching much lately.  She also sent along two skeins of L'atelier floss in the colors India and Epices.  I can't wait to use them.  Perhaps I'll look for a Quaker medallion and use one of the colors!  She also sent along "Quatre Miniatures" by Un Rien de Fil Rouge.  There are four designs (over one stitching) with the floss and fabric included.  Merci Laurence!