Christmas Sewing Finished

At least for the time being. I'm not planning to do any more than these 14 potholders but you never know!

 I actually made 16 potholders, one more set than I really need.

No doubt I will find someone or somewhere to gift them. 😉

I'm having trouble with my new eyeglasses. (They're not that new anymore - got them about six months ago.) We've changed out the nose pads, installed something called a nose bridge, and still my nose feels like it's been bruised at the end of a day wearing them. I cannot function without my glasses. Well, maybe at very close range but that's all. I'll be calling the vision clinic to order up the new prescription for my old frames in the morning. 

I have fallen behind on the #52tags project. I know, I haven't been sharing most of my ATC's for that project here. They go on Instagram when I've completed one and remember to post it. Probably won't be doing much on Instagram after this year. I'm just not a social media kind of gal. I have been thinking about a year-long project for next year though. One piece a month probably, like the Bead Journal Project I did for a few years. I do like journaling through my textile work one way or another. I intend to get caught up with my ATC's for #52tagshannemade but holiday preparations get the higher priority at this time of year. 😊

Checking In

 Just so you know I haven't checked out altogether. We're about a week away from Scrap Happy Day (on the 15th) and my last post was for Scrap Happy Day last month. I have done almost nothing in terms of quilt making since then. Completed the binding on the quilt I'm calling Sticks and Stumps...

But I haven't laundered or photographed it yet. (I just bound it with more of the sashing/border print.) 

I have been doing a little bit of needlework, keeping up with the #52tagshannemade project. Without going back to where I left off with that project, these are the most recent ATC's I've made in response to the weekly prompts.

Week 32, lazy daisy stitch

Our area was thirsty for rain during week 32 so I stitched my hope for the heavens to water the flowers.

The originator of #52tagshanndmade is Anne Brooke. She lives in the UK where I gather they are fond of stringing bunting on various occasions. The prompt for week 33 was "flags."

Week 33, flags

I tried to stitch a windy background for my flags. The flags are loose on the vertical string. There's not really an official casing but the stitching I did on the flags creates the same effect.

Most folks are fond of a cup of tea or coffee (or two or three!) during the course of a day so for week 34 Anne had us make ourselves a cup or mug. She used raw edge applique. I chose to simply stitch around an image I found in a print I had on hand and add some embellishments.

Week 34, a cup or mug

 An awful lot of us textile people tend to hoard fabrics and things we love and are reluctant to cut into or use. The challenge for last week was to cut into a precious fabric for our tag and decorate it with three buttons.

Week 35, a precious fabric and 3 buttons

It took me a surprisingly long time to identify a precious fabric. I have silks and velvets that others would consider precious but I couldn't face messing with them. In the end I pulled out a hand dyed cotton from long, long ago and cut a 2.5" x 3.5" rectangle from it. Then I also cut the corner off of a vintage tea tray cloth and layered that on top of the cotton. Cutting up vintage linens is a brave new step for me, it was hard to do. I used some of the painted perle cotton thread I'm so in love with to tack the sheer tray cloth in place. I did not stitch on the cotton except to secure the perimeter. I chose three of my favorite antique mother of pearl buttons to showcase on this ATC. 

It's been a difficult month for me what with all the setbacks caused by poor air quality, heat, and disturbed sleep. Luna, our little dog, has been suffering from seizures this year. I strongly suspect the flea treatment we had her on as the cause. She is getting older too. They were happening about every 21 days until recently. For some reason she had two within ten days. They come on suddenly, so there's no preparing for them ahead of time really. Inevitably I have a mess to clean up afterward as she loses control of her bladder. When she recovers it's like she's had a hit of adrenaline. At four in the morning I'm in no mood to cater to her increased energy. I keep hoping the effects of the flea treatment will wear off but I'm afraid this has become the status quo. She seems to have lost her hearing to a great extent, and some vision as well. She has not lost track of her meal and treat schedule though! 

Temporarily Caught Up

 So far I'm doing a pretty good job of keeping up with the #52tags project hosted by Anne Brooke. I seem to need almost a week to decide how I'm going to handle each new prompt. Since there's a new prompt every Friday it would be easy to fall behind. There have been a couple of times when I've skipped one prompt to tackle the newest one but as of this writing I'm all caught up again. 😁

The prompt for week 15 was to make a tiny 'scape, land or sea, noon or night. I struggled with this one. It took almost two weeks to get it done. The moon and clouds were easy, even fun. Creating the landscape was another matter.

Anne encouraged us to try to create depth or perspective through the use of value changes. She also encouraged us to create curves, like hills and valleys. I just couldn't get into it. In the end my goal was to just complete the tag somehow.

The following week was to use seed stitching to create negative spaces.

I had fun with this one. I find it delightfully mindless to use a variegated thread to put random stitches in cloth. 

The next prompt was another that was pretty straightforward. I didn't get to it right away though. Anne asked us to review the colors we'd used so far in our tags to see what hue might be missing. My ATC's are all over the color wheel. Finally I realized that I hadn't used any true red yet. Once we'd determined what color to use the plan was to roll up little sausages of fabric and couch them onto a base piece.

Rolling up the fabric was fiddly. They didn't always stay rolled up in spite of pins. I used a couple of strings of yarn and sari silk ribbon amongst the fabric. I tried to use different types of threads, perle cottons and stranded floss, as well as a variety of stitches. 

But before I even started the that ATC Anne revealed the latest prompt, English paper piecing teeny, tiny hexies. When I saw that my first reaction was, "No way!" Anne did say we could just make a single large hexie if we so desired, and I figured that would probably be what I would do. But some spirit of rebellion and determination took over instead. I used the folded circle method to make hexies that finish at about 5/8" across. Anne sewed hers together to create a mini panel. She laid that on top of a piece of an old quilt and boro stitched over the whole thing. I sewed seven of the nine I'd made into a flower and appliqued it on top of a piece of fabric I'd quilted. Then I added the single hexie just to fill in the blank spot. The ninth hexie was just too wonky to bother using. I may even toss it out!

 I had some vintage baby rickrack in my stash that worked well to frame out the piece. 

That takes us up to week 18 of this year. And now I have what's left of this week to rest on my laurels!

Catching Up on the #52tags Project

 I've been keeping up with Anne Brooke's #52tagshannemade project pretty well so far this year. I find I have to sit with each new prompt for a few days before I'm ready to start stitching. We left off with tags nine and ten, in this post I'll show you what I've done for weeks eleven through fourteen.  😊

The key word for the eleventh week was "rings." Anne asked us to find washers or some other type of ring to cover with blanket stitches. I used some plastic curtain rings I had in my stash from long ago.

And variegated threads. I love variegated threads! The big ring was done with a Perle cotton, the others with cotton floss. I did cheat just a tiny bit and add the shisha mirror at the bottom that was made overseas.

Interestingly, she followed that up with straightforward blanket stitches. She encouraged us to play, explore what could be done with the stitch. Circles, single scattered stitches or elongated legs, that sort of thing.

I wasn't in an experimental mood apparently. I found this piece of plaid wool and used it to direct my stitching. I'm also finding that the 2.5" x 3.5" ATC format that I'm using doesn't allow for a lot of room to play. The tags are usually done in a matter of hours though!

Week thirteen was to be many layers of yellow or gold in celebration of the return of spring sunshine. 

I managed eight layers of various textiles. I'm learning I don't like covering up prints I've just put down!

It took some time to figure out what I would do for week fourteen. The prompt was "a place, a pocket, and a treasure." Hmm, what place, and what treasure? The treasure could dictate the place or vice versa. The pocket was the least of my worries. 

Anne used the beach she loves to visit in the summertime and a shell from one of her family trips there. I had to cast my mind way back ("Sherman, let's use the WayBack machine." Does anyone else remember those segments from the old Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons on TV?) I went back to my teen years and our family cottage on the lake. And I went for the interior, not the outdoors as might have been expected. Knotty pine cupboards and a green linoleum countertop in the kitchen for the body of the ATC and our favorite recipe for quick chocolate cookies in the pocket.

The cookies are made in a saucepan on the stovetop and then dropped by the spoonful onto waxed paper to cool. I used a bit of tulle for the wax paper and French knots for the cookies.

We would make a batch of these cookies before going out to swim or sail on the lake. By the time we got back they were ready to eat. Perfect summer food!

Tags Nine and Ten

 I actually got all caught up with the #52tags project during week ten! If I hurry up and get this week's tag made I'll still be all caught up. 😉

The prompt for week nine was "bits and pieces and a gift." 

I used some strips that seemed to have nowhere else to be, and a  scrap of cheesecloth. Then I tied on the large button. It came out of the gallon bag of vintage buttons my SIL sent to me from her friend's parent's clear-out. The strips of fabric hang free, like fringe. 

Week ten was to include a Suffolk puff (or yo-yo) and a bit of lace. Some folks enjoy making Suffolk puffs and went nuts on their tags. I put one on mine. 

I found a circle of lace I'd made some years ago that worked beautifully under my yo-yo. It's basically a strip of lace sewn up the way a Suffolk puff is. I used beads and sequins to fill the hole in the center of the puff. A few pistil stitches in the corners to hold the layers together and I was done! Sometimes it's best not to over-think things. 😁

I've also been stitching away on my scrolls. There are now four of them in various stages of construction. (There were only three when I wrote my last post!) I wish it were easier for me to photograph them so you could see a whole strip in one picture. Hopefully you'll be able to piece the separate photos together in your mind's eye. These more recent scrolls are only about 24" long; my first ones were longer. Still, 24" is too long to get in one photograph close enough for you to see anything in detail, more's the pity.

Tags Seven and Eight

 I actually got caught up on my ATC's for the #52tagshannemade project this week, week ten. But let me bring you a little further up to date by showing you what I made for weeks seven and eight. 

The prompt for week seven was hexagons made by folding circles of fabric instead of the English Paper Piecing method. If I ever need to make hexies, this is the way I'm going to do it in future! There are at least two tutorials on YouTube demonstrating the method so I'm not going to try to show you how it's done here. I first saw Lauretta make them here. Then Anne showed how to do it when she released the video prompt for that week's tag. This is what I did with the hexies I made:

That's a bit of cheesecloth under the flowers, and rickrack for the stems/leaves. I only secured my hexie centers with the stitches required to sew on the sequins and beads. Might have been smarter to have stitched the folds down in the center first, then decorated them. 

Week eight was all about wrapping thread around the needle to make French knots, pistil stitches, and bullion stitches. I'm okay with French knots and pistil stitches but the bullion stitches were intimidating.  I had more success with them on my practice strip than I had on the ATC I was trying to make. 

Still, it wasn't my idea of fun. And by the time I felt I had conquered bullion stitches my hands hurt. I opted to make straight stitches on my ATC where I would have put the bullions. Then I made up for it by putting a few Colonial knots in the background.

There's plenty of room to have done more on that tag but I chose to leave it the way it is. 

There hasn't been much else going on here in The Magpie's Nest lately. I did manage to get two of my rose bushes pruned. There's one more waiting for its' spring haircut. Today is the best I've felt since I was outside the last time; I'm a bit reluctant to go back outdoors again. I'm wondering what the daffodil fields are looking like now though. It's about time for them to be in bloom. 😊

Tags Five and Six

 I'm getting caught up! 

The prompt for the fifth tag in Anne Brooke's #52tagshannemade project was "kisses." Anne made a large X on her tag and included some cross stitches, I pretty much followed her lead. 

I also seed stitched the background. I put cross stitches on the red dots though. In the end I wasn't as happy with this tag as I'd hoped. I made a second version on my winter scroll.

Fewer stitches overall but I like the look of it better. 

Tag six was to feature "a bevy of buttons." Once again I ended up making two versions. I wanted to play with various ways to secure buttons to a foundation but I also wanted to showcase some special buttons.  The special buttons went on the ATC version of this tag.

These are all vintage buttons made from a variety of materials. After the fact I wished I hadn't used the green seed beads in the background. They tend to steal attention away from the buttons. This overall project is as much about learning and gaining experience as anything else so it's all good. 

On my scroll the focus was on finding different ways to attach the buttons. 

I really like the square ones dangling from the round button at the bottom. Just above, on the right, I was trying to make a flower. I'd seen others do something similar but they had better results. I haven't quite figured out why that was. Could be I needed bigger holes and/or finer thread to get what I was aiming for. At least I have this one for future reference! 

This morning I completed my ninth tag, putting me ahead of the game for the first time. Hopefully I'll get you all caught up in a few more posts. 😁

Tags Three and Four

When the #52tags project began I wasn't sure I wanted to participate fully. I made my first "tags" on my Winter Scroll, up until about the sixth tag. After that I started making ATC versions of the prompts. 

The prompt for the third tag was scrappy. Anne had been given a bunch of narrow strips that she folded in half lengthwise and then stitched down onto her foundation along the fold line, nestling each new strip right up against the previous one. That resulted in a lovely fluffy texture but also created more dimension than I wanted on my scroll or on my ATC. So on my scroll I just dug out tiny fabric scraps (of which I have plenty!) and stitched them to the foundation with scraps of leftover threads.

I actually like it better than my ATC version. I used essentially the same technique the second time around but my stitching is all hidden. At the time I wanted the scraps to be loose flaps more than quilted in place.

The prompt for the fourth tag was fly stitch. Anne plans to make one stitch the focus of one tag each month. Here's what I did with the fly stitch on my scroll:

And this is the ATC version:

This time I followed Anne's lead a bit more closely around the button. 

The prompts appear on YouTube on Fridays. I was caught up until this morning. Now I'm two tags behind again - I still have to make last week's tag featuring French knots, pistil stitch, and bullion stitches. I'm not worried about the French knots or pistil stitches, but I'm not looking forward to the bullion stitches. I've never done them before but they have a bad rep. The newest prompt is to use bits and pieces (of fabric and lace) and something you've received as a gift or found. That will be fun! 

Tags One and Two

I have made the decision to bow out of the tri-weekly SAL. Partly to take some pressure off myself, partly so I can set aside the #12pages book project I've been featuring in those posts with a clear conscience. It's time to do the cover for that book and I haven't a clue how I want to proceed. I've also become distracted by a new project. Don't tell me you're surprised because I know it's not true. 😁

I don't recall whether I've mentioned this new project here or not, and I'm too lazy to go back through my posts to find out. Suffice to say that Anne Brooke, the creator of the #12pagesofChristmas book project has created a new endeavor for 2021. She's calling it #52tagshannemade (the 'hannemade' designation ties it to her specifically). She presents a slow stitch prompt each week and those who are playing along then do a bit of stitching in response. Most folks are attaching the stitchery to some form of shipping tag per Anne's example. One tag per week, 52 weeks in the year, and you end up with 52 tags. I did my first "tags" on my Winter Scroll stitch wrap. Anne started us off with an all-white prompt as a nod to the new year. The next prompt was to make a heart in a contrasting color to the background. I mashed the two prompts together on my scroll. I went so far as to put a bit of my own dried lavender from the summer under my heart patch.

I stitched a couple more "tags" on my scroll before deciding to make a change. I could see that the scroll was soon going to be very cumbersome to work on so I switched to an artist trading card format. That gave me about the same amount of space Anne is using on her tags but I'll find a tin or something in which to keep my cards instead of threading them on a binder ring. To have a complete set of ATC's at the end of the year however, I needed to make the first tags over again. Of course they don't look much like the originals! 

My do-over for the all white prompt turned out this way:

A tag on a tag, completely unplanned. There's some shiny white tulle under the tag shape, and two different white fabrics make up the foundation of the ATC. I'm still using cotton batting under the fabric. I've got to do something to make a dent in my pile of scrap batting and I like the substance the batting gives to these little pieces. At the moment I'm using a double-sided tape to stick a piece of card stock to the backs of these ATC's so I can annotate them. 

The replacement heart tag began with a scrap of wool in the shape of a heart. 

Not sure I improved on it with my stitches and French knots but this is all about experimentation and practice for me. The charm is a reminder to that effect. 😉

I have more tags to share with you and a couple to catch up on still. At least this will give me something to blog about!