Flower Patch is Back

After over a year of no stitching, Flower Patch is back. The last time I touched it was back in April 2013 and only to put in a few stitches.

2013/04/08

2014/08/22

One of my goals for this year is to finish this WIP. In order to encourage me to accomplish that goal, I can't start the Hardanger piece until Flower Patch is finished. Let's see how that goes ;)

Over the weekend I also worked on binding my new wooden hoop.

In a previous post I had ordered one hoop, but there are two hoops in this picture. That's because I liked the one I had so much I ended up ordering a bigger one (10") for an upcoming class I'm taking. More on that in the coming month :)

August TUSAL

Late again! Itty bitty TUSAL report this month since I mostly worked on the Hardanger project.

First Hardanger Project!

This weekend I decided that I needed to finish my Hardanger project. I only had one side left to do, so I stopped watching my k-drama (Korean drama for those not familiar with the term) and spent the hour or two to stitch it.

The actual cutting of the fabric took longer and I even made a boo-boo. Right at the end, I got tired and should have stopped but didn't. And anyone would tell you that that is a BIG mistake. While I was cutting away the fabric, one of the top corners slipped between the blades of the scissors and nicked a bit of the buttonhole stitches. I felt like crying at that point, so I stopped everything and decided to come back to it in an hour or so.

I was going to buy some fray-check today to fix it, but my sister told me she had something in her art supplies that would do something similar. So I decided to use that.

So here it is, my first Hardanger!

My first impression when I finished it was that I can see all the places where I stitched it wrong or used the wrong method. It's consistent, but stitched incorrectly (at least according to some of the stitching tips in Janice Love's book). I also realized towards the end that I stitched the buttonholes in the sides (the area that is between the corner edges) incorrectly, and by the time I realized it, I figured it would be okay as long as they were all the same. But I don't really care about the flaws, this was a practice piece and came out great despite the fact that it's my first project.

Second, I did lose steam at the end, but I loved stitching it. I can't wait to start on the kit I bought, but I think I should practice the different stitches I learned by following the instructions in Janice Love's book first. Also, I really should work on my other WIPs lol.

Stash From the US

My co-worker was sent to the US this year again, this means I obviously put in an order for new stash. Can't waste the opportunity.

I've already mentioned that I didn't really like the beginner's Hardanger book I got. I had ordered it before I found out about these amazing books. Both books are by Janice Love and were recommended to me by other stitchers (it's even mentioned as a reference in the pattern I bought in June). By the way, Nordic Needle is the best source to get these two books from.

Hardanger books by Janice Love

I spent the weekend reading the first one "Hardanger Basics and Beyond" and realized that I did a bunch of things wrong. Most of them have to do with how threads are supposed to be anchored or passed beneath existing stitches. Which is okay, I'm almost done with my piece and changing anything would just make it look weird. But I sure wish I had this book before I started stitching. It's Awesome! It shows all the stitches in detail and covers do's and don't's as well as expert advice. I really like the pictures at the end of the book that shows bad stitches and how they went wrong.

I love reading Nordic Needle newsletter which I get by email, especially the ones where long time stitchers share their stories. It's a great way of finding out about patterns :). In one of the articles, the stitcher had embroidered a pattern from the 2005 Award Winning Design booklets that's published every year by Nordic Needle. She had stitched the runner that is second from the right and it looked amazing.

In for a penny, in for a pound. I also ended up getting extension bars for my 17" Q-snaps and ordered one of the Q-snap covers just to try them out.

I wanted to try wooden hoops and heard about these from Mary Corbett's website. They are by Access Commodities and can be found at Hedgehog Handworks. Now when I placed my order, it was before I bought the Elbesee hoop in July (I got too impatient). I'm glad I did though, because I was able to see them side by side.

No offense against the Elbesee hoop, it works great and once it's bound I don't really worry about my stitches, but you can clearly see a difference in workmanship. The Access Commodities hoop feels more solid in my hand and the wood is nicely sanded down.

I worked a little on my WIPs last week. Not as much because I've been spending most of my free time reading. I have a corner and a half of another left on the Hardanger piece, so I think I will try to finish that this week.

Break Needed

Originally this post was going to be called "I HATE French Knots" but after finishing them all and moving on to the next layer I forgot all about that.

On my last port, I mentioned that I stitched the Hungarian Criss Cross stitch with the wrong thread. I fixed that on Friday and started restitching it with the correct thread. Once I finished that, I took a look at the next step, and seeing French Knots, I promptly stopped for the day. I needed a fresh start since I had to do so many LOL.

Octagon A with French knot layer

I stitched the French Knots on both Octagons A and C, so I wouldn't have to waste time pulling the thread out twice.

Overall view

Once those were done, I was excited to move onto the next step and ended up stitching the entire day, which was a VERY bad idea. Because my stitches are so tight, I'm having a hard time passing the needle under the stitches when I'm starting a new thread. Which causes me to pull hard and straining my right hand. By the end of the night I was feeling some pain up to my elbow (not as bad as last time, then the pain extended to my shoulder). I feel better this morning, but I won't be stitching on Spirit of the Southwest for at least a week just in case.

Here's a picture of where Octagon A is now. Octagon C is at about the place except for the last layer in peach(?) thread.

Octagon A as it is now

July TUSAL

My TUSAL report is late again. Same as last month, I've been stitching a lot on Spirit of the Southwest and my Hardanger piece, but this month it's the inverse. I've been working more on Spirit of the Southwest than on the Hardanger WIP. I've only been stitching the Hardanger piece when I'm sitting outside in our backyard. We've had some really nice weather and it's been relaxing to just sit on our swing and stitching.

Oops

I guess getting passed the Panache thread got me really excited to work on Spirit of the Southwest again. But I think this blunder is going to bring it down a notch. It's not a bad thing, it just means I'll be more careful and not jump in too quickly.

I started working on the first Octagon which is A, but since C is the same design but mirrored I decided to do them at the same time. Also to note I'm working with the design upside down to be able to reach the top Octagons more comfortably, which makes stitching a little confusing (I have to flip the charts upside down to match).

I'm now on the third step which is the Hungarian Criss Cross stitch. I got the thread out and sat down to plan out how I'm going to stitch this. I couldn't figure out from the instructions what directions I was supposed to be working in. So I googled it and found this nice diagram, but I was still not sure how the colors should come out since the thread is over-dyed. So after more googling, I found some pictures of what that Octagon should look like. Now in my defense I couldn't find any close up pictures of this design in my colorway but I thought I saw enough to understand what I should do and started.

One hour later after finishing one strand, I realize that not only did I use the WRONG thread, but that the diagram I found is the REVERSED Hungarian Criss Cross stitch. I have some ripping to do tonight.

Right thread is the top one