(H)owling!

with joy since I finished stitching the clip-on owl ornie yesterday. The canvas by Labors of Love Needlepoint is so well painted and fun to stitch it "flew" by. Also, Toni Minieri has done stitch guides for many of  the different birds available. I decided to stitch the back side with 2 threads throughout where the front side body and wing were stitched with a single strand of Burmilana. I think the front looks a little more feathe-rlike than the heavier back. It's really not that noticeable in either case. My next thought is "Do I want to attempt to finish this myself?" Will keep you posted.

The feathers included are to be placed on the tail only, but I am tempted to place them elsewhere on the bird. Maybe over the wings? on the back? Again time will tell. A clip is also included making it very easy to clip onto the Christmas tree or elsewhere.  The finished size is 4"x 5" not including tail feathers; a nice size to clip on a larger house plant or any where really.

Many thanks to my dear friend Melanie for gifting me this delightful owl with all the trimmings!

Bargello on My Mind

Thank you all so much for your kind words of support; I am very appreciative you took the time to comment, it helped a great deal. As you all knew it would happen, the sun is shining again and things are getting back to normal. YAY!

I went back home on Sunday only to return to town on Monday night thanks to a predicted 12 additional inches of snow in the forecast and waaaaay below normal temperatures looming. I realized I would be stuck for several days if I didn't leave. Anyway this time I brought some stitching with me. I grabbed a bargello project that's been in the hopper for several months (years more likely) and have been stitching as if I were on vacation or something. Stopping only to come up for air and food.

I admired, okay coveted, this booklet of incredible bargello designs created by Jean Hilton, for a long while and found it (miraculously) for sale at one of my needlework chapter's tag sales. Score! I had seen the cover piece, "Down the Garden Path", finished once and had my sights set on doing it. Long ago I pulled threads for it only to later raid the "kit" a number of times leaving me short on what I needed. Most everything in the booklet is stitched in perle coton #3 and round metallics on 18 count canvas (lots of color choices on 18 ct).

I did, however, have almost everything kitted for another interesting design, "Tug O' War" which, because of Jean's thread and canvas color choices, seems to have a southwest flavor. I did some creative substituting (why else keep a stash closet half the size of a small bedroom), mounted the canvas and just began stitching. That was on Tuesday and here is where I am today. To me, there's not a lot to demonstrate here and maybe not even a lot of interesting chatter but let's not let that stop me.

While there are a number of wonderful books around on the topic of bargello, written by artists far more knowledgeable than I, for me it's pretty much establishing a pattern of long and short stitches, repeating it in graduating shades of color and voila an incredible piece of stitched art emerges.  The real talent lies in those professionals that design patterns and experiment with color variations; I just follow their lead.

Not so fast, it sounds a lot easier than it is, actually. Just when you think your only requirement is to methodically stitch along daydreaming, you suddenly realize, wait that doesn't match up. What's wrong now??? Miscount...typically. But for me it's usually I didn't study the pattern closely enough, if at all, and there was a subtle pattern adjustment that went unnoticed...until it was too late. Such is the case here, see the central part of the design? well it has a break in the colors. Oh sure it looks easy to spy now, but if you're cruising along bargello-style, you miss it and I did. Oh well, in the words of Porgy and Bess, "Wintertime and the ripping is easy."

As it turns out it is a good thing I have this positive feeling about ripping out because in my substitution of threads I crossed the line. Thinking it was the color that only counted in bargello I totally ignored that the texture of the threads counts every bit as much. In the full photo (notice the light blue and light peach next to it) of my unfinished piece you can see that instead of using perle coton (because I didn't have that color on hand) I chose to use a stranded silk. Huh? Well the colors were right but now that I see this nearing completion, frankly those silks stand out like sore thumbs. Perle coton has a delightful sheen and it's twist reflects texture adding to the overall beauty of the design. It's actually perfect for bargello, no laying of threads although you do have to make sure you keep dropping your threaded needle to prevent any extra twisting. So soon I'll be off to my LNS for the appropriate colors of perle. Clearly I should have actually read all of those aforementioned books on bargello instead of just looking at the pictures!

I think I would like to have this piece finished into a portfolio of sorts to carry larger pieces of my needlework projects. The finished design size is approximately 9.5"x10.5". As always, thank you for taking the time to visit today, I wish you hours of joy-filled stitching and am looking forward to next time!

Touching Base

This email was started a few weeks ago and I had been debating whether or not my blog would be an appropriate venue for this. After much internal deliberation and now with my latest news, I decided to just go with it.

To say the past month was eventful would be an understatement. I've been wanting to write about our holiday celebrations and share with you the joy these special experiences brought into our hearts. But apparently the universe demands balance and there always seems to be something to help remind us of this. Damned universe.

It's been quite a month weather-wise too, our temperatures have been record breaking in both directions from 68 degrees one week to below zero the next. Well I really got the "macdaddy smackdown" this week. . I am most grateful to you my friends for bearing with me as I express myself here.

In Memoriam

Born on St. Patrick's Day he was a beautiful child, a bright young man, a jitterbug king from the 1950’s I’ve heard. A huge sports fan, he could have made his living commentating on the radio. My husband’s older brother, whom I’ve known and loved for over 40 years, passed away on January 17.

As I reflect upon this loss I am reminded of the reality that our outer “shell”, existing only to harbor the real person we are, was never intended to last forever. Vulnerable to a variety of maladies and conditions it eventually ceases to go on; yielding to the circumstances and terms of a life lived.  Still it’s hard, we think in terms of living, believing our body will continue to serve us faithfully as we do our work, perhaps touch and love others, or as we give our all in whatever form we choose, it remains, we have a finite time in this physical world of ours. A fleeting moment to achieve, experience and leave our mark. I know there’s more in store for all of us once the physical is gone; but still I mourn and miss him. I am sad and feel the loss. I am sorry for my husband’s grief and concerned how losing Patrick will affect the rest of his family. I’m filled with faith that we will meet again. RIP ol’ card partner.

And then...

You may recall meeting my kitty in a previous posting or if you scroll down the page you will find the slide show of my beloved pet Teddy aka the Bear. I wanted to let you know that the Bear died unexpectedly in my home on Monday. I don't really know what happened, he was only 13 and seemed to be in the peak of health. I am beyond heart broken and am having trouble keeping this sad event in perspective just now. He came into my life to be doted upon, indulged, pampered and dare I say loved because it felt like love; but it is so very clear to me that Teddy was here primarily to bond with my heart and it's this loss I feel the most. It's hard to believe and accept the finality of all of this. Damned universe - can't live with it can't live without it.

I'm staying at my daughter's house since my husband is away but I hope to get back home to my normal day to day activities soon (weather permitting -remember my driveway?). So far nothing seems very natural to me right now and my desire to create is no where to be found, but I am optimistic that the sun will once again shine and I'll be back on my stitching throne and feeling contented. For those of you that have been there and understand, thank you kindly for your empathy; for those of you that don't, it's okay, I don't fully understand this myself. For all, please know I'll keep you close until next time.

Sincerely thanking you for making it down this far, you are a friend ever faithful. Madonna