Needles Required!!

Someone once told me  " There are only 2 rules to needleart.  1) The thread must go through the needle and 2) The needle must go through the fabric.  Everything else is a suggestion".  I never forgot these words of wisdom.  I only have one thing to add - You MUST have the right needle!

I was so excited to get away last weekend.  We went up north to my parent's cottage,  I love it there.  I had all my stitching projects packed, but nothing worked out as planned.  First I wanted to finishing my Palm Tree sampler, but I lost my needle. I had others with me of course, but none were as fine or finer than a tapestry #28.  To petit point on a 32ct silk gauze, the tapestry #28 is the best.  Why I only had the one with me I have no idea;  I always have spare needles packed just in case.  So, next on my list was my "Stitching for a Cure" needlepoint pillow, but I couldn't work with the wool for too long.  I generally avoid wool in the summer, because my hands start to sweat and then the rest of me overheats.  I worked on it on and off, because I want to finish the pillow and display it in the shop to help raise more money for our Cancer drive.  The full amount of all donations will go towards the Credit Valley Hospital's Cancer Centre Phase III.   So then, I worked on my next Stitch-A-Long;  a pulled thread 15 sided biscornu.  With this too, I didn't get far.  Once I started stitching the design I quickly realized that it was not working out as I had envisioned it in my mind.  So this too got tucked back into my bag.

But all was not lost.  The weather was great,  I swam in the lake every day and played cards in the afternoon.

This past week I managed to fix my sampler, finish it and stretch it.
I love it!  It looks great!   The Caron Collection Waterlilies I choose is  perfect for this tree.  I should have the chart available for sale within the next few weeks.

 I also managed to give my biscornu a rethink.  I'm very excited with the new plan and will share the outcome with you next week.  If everything works out this time, it will be even better!

Have a great weekend.

This is how my sampler looks today.  I'm so pleased with it so far.   I was hoping to have had it finished this week, but life got in the way.  I don't know what it is about summer; although the days are longer, it feels like we have less time.

Simular to my previous tree samplers the palm leaf is faintly visible in the background, and all the images indicate products from or items we associate with each tree.  Oh my!! I only just realized  I forgot to include the year.  Well, I guess I'm back to ripping - it's too much to restitch and I'm so anxious to get started on my next Stitch A-Long  (SAL)project.

Over the past two weeks, I've had a great time playing with fabric and thread colour options for my next SAL

I've been playing with design ideas for another SAL for quite some time, and once I had it straight in my mind I couldn't wait to get started with choosing fabric and thread colours.  So, over the past two weeks I've been doing just that.  Playing with fibres and threads sooths my soul.  When choosing thread colours for this kind of project I start by picking a variegated silk and then coordinating the other threads and fabric colour to it, but this time I wanted to select a colour very different from my usual.  The result, I realized, is that I love them all.
 This will be a pulled thread project so I selected a variegated Wildflowers (stronger than silk) by the Caron Collection.  And although initally they were out of my comfort zone, by the time I matched the solid thread colours and fabric, they looked fabulous. 
 
These 4 colour combinations were my favourite.  I have to choose one, or stitch it more than once.

In the stitching mood !!!

Two weeks ago I finished my "Palm Tree" Sampler design.  As I looked through all our hand-dyed silk threads in the shop,  I was really taken with "Savannah" by the Caron Collection.  However, we only had it in in the Watercolor fibre, and as all  my Tree Samplers have been stitched using 2 strands of a hand-dyed silk in the continental stitch on 32ct silk gauze I wanted this colour in Waterlilies.  So I had to patiently (not) wait for the silk thread.  It finally arrived in the shop on Friday, and over the weekend I have been unstoppable.  This is about two evenings worth of stitching but it took me almost three days, as much was ripped out & restitched.  If I had had another piece of silk gauze at home I would have been done by now.  Stitching anew would have been so much faster than ripping half of it out and restitching.  The stitches on 32ct count over 1 are so small that I needed to proceed slowly with caution, so not to cut the gauze.  But I'm so pleased with the results, and once the background is added it will look great, just like the rest.

 These are the Oak Tree, Maple Tree, Cocoa Tree, and Eastern Hemlock

While I was waiting for the silk to arrive I continued stitching on the background for my "Stitch for a Cure" needlepoint cushion.  But this will now be on hold until I finish the Palm Tree sampler.

Stitching background can be just as theraputic as counting from a chart.  While filling in the background I was mulling over ideas and fine tuning the design for another SAL project for my blog, and in the shop I  spent much of my free time playing with fabric and thread colours (one of my passions).  The SAL will be another 15 sided biscornu.  I'm very excited, in my mind it's awesome.  I'll start stitching once the Palm Tree sampler is finished.

Stay tuned for photos of this new SAL's fabric and fibre selections in my next post.

Happy 4th of July

In celebration of Independance Day I wanted to share this pattern with all my American friends.

I had designed this Stars & Stripes Pin for a Make-It & Take-It workshop I ran one year at the Stitching Jubilee in Lancaster, PA

The pin is stitched in the Continental / Tent stitch with 3 strands on a 22ct. canvas.  If cross stitched 1 over 1 on 22ct Hardanger fabric the finished design size will be the same.  Click here for the pattern and fringe instructions.

At the time I was lucky to find these red & white stiped beads, and with 13 blue stars they were perfect for the beaded fringe.  I still have some of these kits remaining.  The kits include the Chart with Finishing Instructions, Petit Point Instructions, 22ct Cordova (petit point) canvas, Anchor Threads & Nymo Beading Thread, Red & white striped beads, Blue Star beads, Matt board & red felt, Bar Pin, and Needles.

If anyone is interested in purchasing a kit, please email me at the shop, questions@gittas.com

Have a great day !!!

Happy Canada Day

In celebration of Canada Day, I have a chart to share with all of you.  I charted it many years ago for a workshop I was teaching at the Creative Sewing & Needlework Festival in Toronto.  It is stitched in the Continental/ Tent Stitch on a 10ct canvas using Anchor Tapestry wool.  The larger canvas is great for teaching at shows, as one never knows how good the lighting will be, and for a pillow the wool wears better than cotton.  At the time my son, Christopher, was in elementary school and had wanted a Canada themed bedroom. The room looked great, right down to a 6' totem pole.  Over the years his room has slowly transformed into a NFL decorated room with a heavy emphasis on the Chicago Bears, his team.  Today the only sign remaining from his childhood room is this Canadian Flag pillow.  It sits on his window bench among his other pillows.

Click here to download the Canada Flag chart

Have a great Canada Day !!!!

Background! Background! Background!

I have never thought of myself as a pink person, but it was the soft pink I choose as background for my "Stitch for a Cure" cancer ribbon pillow.  What is it they say?
"Never say never!"
So over the past few weeks I have started filling in the background.  Although stitching with knitting wool is quite different than tapestry wool, I am very pleased with the result. 
I could have had the background done by now, were it not for the high temperatures we had over the past week.  When handling wool while it's HOT, my hands feel sweaty and my internal temparture goes way up!!   I can stand it for only about an hour (after the sun has gone down, of course), so it has been a slow process.

But my time has not been waisted.  I've have been working on my "Palm Tree" sampler design, the 5th tree in my Tree Sampler series, and it's all done.  I love it!! It looks great.  Now I just have to stitch it.  If all goes well, I should be able to release it by August.

Prom Night

My son, Christopher, was at his Prom tonight.  He met up with his date, Lauren, at the banquet hall.  Don't they make a lovely couple?  The dinner and dance runs until midnight, and knowing my son he'll be ready to come home by then.  He's not the "party 'til you drop" kind of guy.  

So while I'm waiting for him to call for his pick-up, I'm working on my "Stitching for a Cure" pillow. 

Last weekend was a perfect weekend for stitching 

- it rained, and rained, and rained.  

We had gone up north to my parents' cottage,

 and I took a few stitching projects with me.

Friday evening I had worked on my pillow.  I stitched the darker colour in the ribbon border, only to then discover that I had not brought enough of the second ribbon colour.  So I started filling in the background.  I stitched a full skein of 7322 DMC, to get a  feel on how this colour works with the pink.  I quite like the aqua-greenish shade, but I wasn't convinced about using it as the background.  My other option had been a soft yellow, but of course I did not bring any of it with me.  As it turns out, I was glad I had to put this needlepoint on hold.  On Tuesday I popped over to our local knitting shop and found a wonderful soft pink, it was exactly what I had envisioned in the first place. The above photo I had taken before ripping out all of the aqua-green, to show you all 3 background options.

On the Saturday I sat in the kitchen, watched the rain come down, and finished  this Huck Weaving table topper.  Huck (Swedish) weaving is so fast and lots of fun.  I had the centre Star pattern all finished by dinner time.  

It will look great on my table at Christmas time.

The fabric is 11ct Stockholm and the threads are DMC's perle cotton #5 - 3 shades of red and a Gold.  The pattern is from an old German magazine my grandmother had sent me in the 80's.  Patterns never really get old!!!

I'm charting the pattern and will make it available with some instructions to all interested at no charge as long as you purchase the fabric and threads.

Happy Stitching!!