Trying Hardanger

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Last night I sat down with my Hardanger supplies, Jane Greenoff’s The Cross Stitcher’s Bible, and my iPad. After consulting the book, then some websites, then the book again, and finally a few YouTube videos, I was ready to tackle the terrifying craft of Hardanger. I am using 22 count ivory Hardanger fabric that was made by Charles Craft years ago and has been in my stash for some reason (I honestly have no idea where it came from). I am also using ecru DMC pearl cotton in sizes 5 (skein) and 8 (ball). The kloster blocks seemed easy enough, but I had to keep stopping and starting again because my stitches wouldn’t end up where I wanted them to. I was going in circles. Finally I found a website with a diagram that showed how you could use the same hole to go back to the beginning of a block, so I was able to work my blocks diagonally to work my heart.

hardanger2

This morning I finished up the last of the kloster blocks and was ready to start cutting. Yeah, cutting. The part that terrifies me most. Working stitches wrong is no big deal, you can rip them out and start again and have only wasted a bit of time and thread. But cutting where you aren’t supposed to means you can ruin an entire project. I took a deep breath and decided to dive right in. And then I found that my scissors are too thick. They are pretty small, so I don’t know what kind of scissors I am going to need to get to continue working on this. And I can’t do anything else until I cut those threads. So I guess this is one more project that is on the back burner for now…

 

XXX
Carrie


Ran out of room

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stockingjuly28

I have done just about all of the cross stitching I can do on this stocking, unless I want to move my Q Snaps, which I am not thrilled about. I really don’t want to put the clamps on top of some of the stitching I have already done. I tried working on some of the backstitch, but it is AWFUL! You can see some of it (done in black) at the bottom of the yellow and purple sash of the angel’s robe). None of the stitches actually follow any kind of path. It is like working on the Margaret Sherry hedgehog all over again. So I think I might have to give up on this project for the next two weeks and just get back to it when I am home and have my scroll frame set up. Even then, I will probably just wing it – the stitches all cover cross stitches, they don’t actually go around the stitches. So I don’t think anyone would even notice if I just did the outlining freehand. I did happen to bring some Hardanger supplies with me on vacation; maybe I will have a go at that. After all, I can’t not have something to work on!

XXX
Carrie


A New Product to Try

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easycountI am excited about a new product that I will be trying with my large Summer Ball project. It is called Easy-Count Guideline and it is manufactured by R&S Designs Inc. This is a product I will also be offering in my store. It is a red nylon thread that you use to weave a grid into your cross stitch fabric. The grid helps you stitch faster and without mistakes because you are able to follow the chart more easily. Most charts already have thicker grid lines every 10 stitches, and this method allows you to stitch each 10×10 grid at a time. When you are done stitching, the red line gets pulled out. There are other methods of gridding fabric, but this product is supposed to be superior. You do not have to worry about invisible ink all of a sudden showing up again, and using regular sewing thread to grid can cause problems when the needle pierces the thread, making it difficult to remove. The nylon thread cannot be pierced, so it cannot be sewn through. This makes it easier to remove in the end. I am excited to try this product in my next large project!

XXX
Carrie



New on my “Must Stitch” List

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The other day while looking at another stitcher’s blog, I found a project that I instantly knew I had to stitch. It is called Summer Ball and was designed by Sandy Littlejohns and Deborah Lester. This chart was originally a 3-part series in Cross Stitch Collection (British) magazine. Although I have many old copies of that magazine, I did not have those particular issues. A quick search online took me to stitcherydoodahs.co.uk, which is Sandy and Deborah’s website. Luckily, they had the chart for sale as an instant download, so I purchased it. If you are a fan of Pride and Prejudice, you will know why I just have to stitch this!

summerball

I can just imagine the dancers in the center as being Elizabeth and Darcy. Since I am still on vacation, I can’t get started on this yet. And I think I will force myself to finish the Heavenly Herald Angel Stocking first. But I think this will be a fun (and huge) project to work on this winter. I think I will do two things I have never done before – gridding and parking. I have done a tiny bit of parking on the angel stocking, but only in the border which had many colors all intertwined. I want to grid the entire piece of fabric and then work one page at a time, doing one block of 10×10 stitches at a time. I think it will be like learning a foreign language since I have cross stitched every project the same way that I learned when I started 30+ years ago. But I am always up for a challenge!

XXX
Carrie




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The angel is really taking shape now! The blue sky and stars on the left is the very left edge of the stocking. The area above the angel’s head will be the top part where my daughter’s name will go. I am going to work on the rest of the angel’s robe now because I am running out of room on my Q Snaps. I don’t want to ruin any of the stitching I have already done, so I am going to do as much as possible on the fabric that is showing. When I get home in about 3 weeks I will transfer to my scroll frame which will give me access to the sides and very top to work on. These areas are covered by the Q Snap clamps right now.

angel1

XXX
Carrie