July 9, 2019 Tuesday

The First Day of My Remodeled Website

Permanent Resolutions for Stitchers

1.  Take all the pent-up anxiety about perfection and redirect that energy toward creativity. Open up your minds and think of creative  possibilities you can bring to your needlework, ways that will personalize it and make it distinctly yours.  Here are two ways to start:

Oops you made a mistake and you face a lot of ripping.

Ask yourself, is it really a mistake or a variation?

You do have to rip if you crossed most of your crosses in one direction and suddenly you started crossing them in the other direction, yep no way around that. Why? The real reason for good technique is that it allows all your attention to focus on your design (where it should be).

You don't have to rip if you made a leaf one row bigger than the design called for. This is obsessive behavior that needs redirecting.

You do need to rip if you make something so large it is out of scale with the rest of the design; you do not have to rip if it is barely noticeable.

You do not have to rip if you mixed up colors and the design is not exactly as the designer's model. For heaven's sake, if it looks OK, stop obsessing.

You do have to rip if a color or texture is not in harmony with the rest of the design.

You do not have to throw away a design if you run out of a dye lot.

If it looks like you are headed toward thread shortage, don't use the thread to the last strand, save at least 1/4 of it. Buy some more and decide where and how to introduce the new dyelot. I actually prefer to work with multiple dyelots. If you pay attention to lights and darks etc., they can bring an added depth to your design.

2. In memory of Audrey Francini, my generation's greatest needlewoman, slow down. Needlework is not a speed contest. Audrey was the slowest stitcher I have known. She was also the best. I have a couple of great stories about Audrey and her speed, I'll tell them in the next couple of mornings.

3. Forget about the Needlepoint Police. They don't exist except in their minds. You may meet people who think they know it all. Good for them, I applaude their confidence, but I don't buy into it.

I have probably told this story a dozen times but it is worth telling again and again. Years ago a friend wrote to me and asked, will this Kreinik braid look good with this silk?

I replied, beats me, try it and see.

Friend: whadaya mean you don't know, you're the teacher.

My reply: if the Immortal Artists Of The Western World don't know without trying, how would I, one mere mortal needlework teacher? (There's a bit more to thsi story too, I'll tell the rest another time).

All this goes to say once again, there is no real right and wrong, there are problems of course. The best way to find solutions is to think creatively.

Those are my New Year's Stitching Resolutions for 2021, still good for 2022, 2023 and for 2024.

Reminders for me as well as for all of you.

TO REVISIT MY SALE,

CLICK ON DRESSING HENRY

January 19, 2025 Sunday

Yesterday was a disaster day: I ripped all day long. I ripped twice. I didn't like the first time, I didn't like the second time either. Depressing rip but I got it all out before the light left.

And I set it aside for this morning. I thought about it, decided what was wrong and came up with a solution and... after a couple of hours stitching this morning, Elizabeth had a Fair Weather Ship.  Fitting for Tally Day 150 today.

So how am I doing? I am getting there: having a Fair Weather Ship in place was a big step forward, and I have only two more small designs to go: the Shipwreck and the Globe.

Then I have the background, two tiny strips of white and some overstitching. And then my decision time comes: do I just enjoy the project or do I write it and sell it?

I have two friends coming for a visit in early February and they will help me make up my mind. Why wouldn't I write the instructions? Sheer drudgery.

January 18, 2025 Saturday

Today: my needle in my hand. This is Tally Day 149 of at least 2 hours a day. I think it is the longest I have spent on a project, perhaps ever.

My new Queen is the Armada Portrait of Elizabeth 1.  Several of my friends have said to me, 'are you nutsss?' Last night, I did say to DH, I wonder whatever possessed me to start this project.

I know the answer. Of all the portraits I have looked at, none I can think of displays raw power in the hands of a woman more than this portrait. But what cinched my decision: Mary Beard's comment asking what did the power cost the woman who held it?

To my warped sense of life, I think this attempt of mine follows well on the heels of ECS and Susan B. which was my most diffiicult ever and my favorite.

January 17, 2025 Friday

With my order for Kreinik braid firmly in place, I am taking off the next three days to stitch. I do not want to make kits until I firmly have Kreinik braid in my hands. That is, I don't want to count threads and break up my large skeins until I know the braid is available.

The result: I will have a significant delay in kit delivery. I said I would do the kits in January but obviously this is not possible. When I ordered the braid, I had no idea there would be such a great delay.

Thank you to those of you who wrote to me about Kreinik braid. It seems like you are divided on the issue of spools vs. cards. It is inevitable that the cards will replace the spools, but not for the time being. Sigh....

January 16, 2025 Thursday

Yesterday I learned more about availability of Kreinik braid and I reported my findings on my Home Page,

I will know more early next week, so I decided to stitch my way through today and tomorrow and through the weekend.

As soon as I know more, I will post what I learn.

Meanwhile, answer if you have an opinion: do you prefer spools of Kreinik braid? Or are you equally happy with cards?

I would be very interested to know. Eventually, of course, they will offer only cards, but for a while longer they will offer spools also.

As I'm sure many of you know, supplies for needlepoint are are always easy to come by.  I'm off to the grocery store and then time to pick up my needle. Today: eternal Tent Stitch. That's OK with me.