Farewell, Thread Heaven

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It was announced on September 12 that after 22 years in business, Thread Heaven has ceased production. They have decided to retire and have no plans of selling the business or formula. Whatever stock is out in the stores is all that will every be available, so if you are a Thread Heaven user you will want to buy up all that you can find!

For more information, you can visit their Facebook page.

XXX
Carrie


Some Beautiful Finds

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Every year our local Boy Scouts have a Labor Day “yard sale”, where every item is donated and you pay for things on a donation basis. This year we got there just as the gates opened, and after checking out the book section (which was disappointing compared to previous years) I decided to see what kind of frames they had. I always have projects needing to be framed, and I was delighted with the frames I found this year. But what I immediately noticed, and could not pass up, were two framed pieces of completed stitchery. They appeared to be in great condition, and I couldn’t bear the thought of these countless hours of work being thrown away at the end of the weekend (sadly, anything that is not purchased is either recycled or trashed at the end of the last day). One of the pieces was small but contained a ton of beading, and appears to be worked on canvas. The back of the frame was professionally done with kraft paper and a hanging wire. The other project, a blackwork design done in all brown and gold was framed very poorly. The fabric was simply folded over the cardboard backing from a cheap frame, then inserted into the frame with glass on the front. When I took it out, it was rusty around the edges and there were actually a few bugs trapped between the fabric and the cardboard. I soaked this piece in a warm water and a drop of dishwashing liquid, and the water immediately turned yellow. I don’t think this is from the floss bleeding, but from the grime and rust on the piece. Perhaps the owner was a smoker. Here is a picture of the piece right out of the wash, wrinkles and all.

A query on a Facebook stitching page led me to believe that this piece was a correspondence course through the Embroiderers’ Guild of America. Sure enough, I was able to find that it was designed by Judith Logan and was from about 1990. The tile of the course was Blackwork is Fun! The main outlines are the same for everyone, but a Google images search shows that each individual personalized their design with blackwork filling patterns of their own choosing.

My search for good bargains also turned up a good sized stack of cross stitch fabric. Some pieces were large, some were small. There was Aida and linen and evenweaves, in all colors and counts. When I finally sat down to look at everything this afternoon, I was shocked. In the stash were two completed pieces, all folded up. One was definitely a Hinzeit pattern, because of the block lettering and charms. I did a quick Google search and found that although it is now out of print, the last price on it was $19 for the chart and charms!

There was also a large piece of an eagle, soaring with wings spread open. Sadly, I had no way of knowing who the designer is. But then I uploaded a picture of it (right out of the wash bowl!) and found that it was a chart by Cross My Heart Inc, from their book Majestic Birds of Prey. This project took a long time to stitch, and I can’t believe someone would just toss it away like that. It does have some rust marks along the edges, but they can either be cut off or, worst case scenario, they will not show when the project is framed.

I will iron these projects and then get better pictures.

XXX
Carrie


Frogging

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Tonight I finished up Autumn Flowers, and then had to decide if I wanted to rip out the two small flowers and redo them, or just leave it as it was. Here is the finished project along with the picture of how it should have looked.

In the end, I had plenty of floss left and there was enough time to rip out and restitch the two flowers tonight. I felt that if I didn’t redo it, I would forever look at it and wonder why I had left it. I am so glad I decided to frog the orange flowers and make them yellow.

Frogging is a term cross stitchers use when they make a mistake and have to rip out stitches. “Rip it, rip it” sounds like a frog saying ribbit, ribbit. Get it? Generally, I don’t make mistakes when I cross stitch. I am a slow stitcher, and stop every few stitches to cross off what I have done on my chart. On large pieces, I grid. And I am always double checking to make sure I am doing the right thing. So I rarely ever have to frog my work. But on this project, I wasn’t even looking at the key. I knew I was to use two colors of variegated threads, yellow and orange. And since I had done the first flower with the orange on the outside, I just assumed I was supposed to do the small flowers the same way. Oops! But it wasn’t much work to rip out my mistakes and start over. And I am so pleased with the end result! So often I get caught up in large projects that take months to finish, and my stitching time is so limited. So I am glad I was able to get a quick finish done.

XXX
Carrie


A Tisket, A Tasket, Three Flowers in a Basket

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Last night my daughter wanted to read her new Owl Diaries book aloud to me. We sat on her bed and she read while I stitched. Occasionally, she would show me a funny picture from her story. I didn’t get a whole lot of stitching done (reading, although something she excels at, is not her favorite pastime) but I’m glad to have three flowers done as well as the start of the basket.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t paying very close attention to the pattern, and apparently the two small outside flowers are the reverse of the larger central one. The outside was supposed to be yellow, with the orange for the inside. Oops! Now I have to decide if I want to keep it as is, or rip out the two small flowers and start over. I definitely won’t do anything about it now, I will wait until it is completed to see how it looks, as well as see how much floss I have left over.

XXX
Carrie