October TUSAL

I'm back from the Creative Festival. I, of course, completely forgot about TUSAL before I left. But here it is never the less. Lots of ecru this month as I've been stitching nothing but my 18th century sampler.

Over the next few days I'll put up posts about this years Creative Festival with lots of pictures as I remembered to take some during the class :)

TO Here I Come

It's that time again! This years Creative Festival is starting a week earlier, so we get to use the North building at the Metro Toronto Convention Center. This means there is less walking as it's usually in the South building which is all the way in the back. I'm really excited to go this year as it will be the first time I'm going as an EAC member and will be meeting some of the members of Virtual Threads in person.

I ended up getting a Gold pass again, giving me 21 hours of workshops. And here's the line up for this year:

• Precious Jewel with Kathryn Drummond (6 hours class!)
• Romantic Rosebuds Cupcake with Kathryn Drummond
• Intro to Lace Knitting with Kate Atherley
• Heirloom Needlecase with Erla Wilson
• Needle Tatted Ornament with Kim Beamish
• Loom Creations: Bead Weaving with Kelly Garland

I'm taking classes with 3 teachers I met last year: Kathryn Drummond, Erla Wilson and Kim Beamish. They're all excellent teachers and I really enjoyed their classes. Kathryn is teaching Punto Antico again, it will give me a chance to practice what I learned last year and hopefully improve my finishing techniques ;) Erla Wilson's class is a needlecase which I keep wanting to make, so here's my chance.

I'm learning 3 new techniques this year: needle tatting, lace knitting and bead weaving. I'm pretty excited as I've always wanted to learn these. Although for the tatting I was aiming for shuttle but it shouldn't make a difference, right?

I was kind of worried about the lace knitting class as it targets advanced beginners and as you know I'm only starting knitting. So far I've never even finished anything lol. In order to remedy that and not look like an idiot, I've started yet another knitting project this time with lace weight thread.

When I went to buy the circular needles I needed for the class, the sales lady was very encouraging and helped me pick out the needles and recommended a free pattern and thread to help me prepare. The pattern is called Out of Gas and has been pretty simple so far. Although I'm kind of wondering if it's supposed to be crooked like that or if it will even out eventually. The holes aren't even either. In any case, between this and the Craftsy class I started I shouldn't slow down the class too much. I hope.

I will be taking a cell phone with data plan. So I should be able to post some pictures on Instagram while I'm there. But I tend to get distracted and forget while I'm in the moment. I'll try to post at least at the end of each night.

Craftsy October Special

If you have, like me, been looking at Craftsy classes but hesitating, here's your chance. Craftsy has an 'All Access Class Pass' event this month. You can sign up anytime before October 31st and have unlimited access to all their classes till October 31st.

I've been very curious about the some of their embroidery classes, especially the new Goldwork class with Lucy Barter. I took a peek at it and what I've seen so far is very good. I'm going to try and sample as much of the classes as I can and wishlist a few I would buy later.

What I can say for now is that I watched a few videos of Knit Faster With Continental Knitting with Lorilee Beltman and it's really helped. I tried out her technique and it's made my knitting much faster and it doesn't feel as awkward. I still have a ways to go but at least now I'm on the right track.

I found out about this through Joanne on her blog Thread Head. Thank you Joanne :)


Update 2015/10/08: It seems I misread the conditions. This special has expired on October 6th at midnight :(

18th Century Sampler - Block #3, 8, 10

I kept my ground and didn't get tempted by the easy road. Since I will be away most of next week (8 days till Creative Festival!), I figured I should get a head start.

These patterns are part of the mock lace section.

They use a lot of smyrnas and eyelets in combination with some needlepoint stitches.

Block #3

This next one was a pain to stitch. There were so many smyrnas I didn't know where I should start. I ended up going in a circular pattern till I reached the center. I then proceeded to do the same as I was filling the circles.

It took all day Saturday and despite all that moaning, I think this will be my favorite square. If you look at the square from really far it looks like a tile you would find in a mosque. Something I would love to do one day is to translate a geometric design into embroidery.

Block #8

The next block is one of the first ones that really uses pulled thread techniques. It's the four square stitch and is really simple to do...

Unless you're doing it on canvas. You have to pull really hard on the thread to make the holes nice and big. I use a modified version of the sewing motion to get them like that. Since the canvas is too rigid to pass the needle under and over, I would stab it with my needle and before pulling the thread completely down into the fabric,  I pull it back out where it should go next. This way, when I pull the thread completely out, it tightens very nicely around the canvas threads.

Block #10

I have one full row all done :) There is one more square in the mock lace section, you can see I've already started (second square from the left in the bottom row).

18th Century Sampler - Block #2, 5

Wow, third post in one week! This project has been moving pretty fast.

In the last picture I post yesterday of this piece, you could see that I was stitching one of the remaining darning blocks (with all the octopus arms). That was block #2. It looks very similar to block #16 but with less empty spaces.

Block #2 

 Again, I kept the cream color as the main focus, letting the green compliment it.

Block #5

Here is the overall piece so far. I'm going to continue working on filling the squares, unless I get tempted by those easy satin stitch borders.

WIPocalypse 2015 – September

This month's topic (I'm keeping the original one as I've already answered the one picked for this month): Where do you buy most of your stitching supplies? Online. I do a lot of shopping online, I'm sad to say. I would love to help support an LNS, but there isn't one here and shipping costs what they are, I can't. Although, since becoming part of the local guild I have met a lovely lady who sells stitching supplies out of her home. So I've been buying my DMC perls and broder special threads as well as fabric from her.

Still nothing on Bramble and the Rose.

	No Update
Ink Circles - The Bramble and the Rose

Tree of Hope is still off the frame and will be for quite a while unless I figure out an easy way to clamp a scroll frame onto my lap stand as it is now. I'll see.

	No Update
Mirabilia - Tree of Hope

I still haven't touched Tracery Dragons.

	No Update
Teresa Wentzler - Tracery Dragons

I did work a tiny bit on Fantasy Lace. I've been taking it with me to stitch in meetings with the Lakeshore Creative Stitchery Guild. Excuse the really poor lighting, but you can sort of see where I'm at. Which is not very far, I'm still stitching eyelets on the center diamonds.

Satin Stitches - Donna's Fantasy Lace

And the project that has been taking up the bulk of my time is 18th Century Sampler. This is an online class I'm taking with SJ Designs. It's very messy at the top as I was in the process of stitching one of the squares. Ending threads on this piece is a real pain, so I avoid doing it until the last moment possible :P

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SJ Designs - 18th Century Sampler

I will have to try and find a balance, so that I can keep stitching on my cross stitch WIPs as well as my sampler, but that will be hard to do for next WIPocalypse as there are only 14 days left before Creative Festival :)

18th Century Sampler - Block #7, 11

My fingers are still sore but that didn't stop me from stitching this weekend. I'm still stitching the darning patterns. For these larger squares, because there is so much space in between the stitches, I decided to stick with one color.

Block #7

You can't really see it in this picture (because there was no light when I took them this morning), but cream of the thread also shows from underneath the canvas. It's lovely in person. I'll have to try to take better pictures this weekend. Nowadays, by the time I get home all the good light is gone and there is no light when I leave the house in the morning :|

Block #11

There are two more darning squares, I've already started one yesterday. For these I'm going back to combining the two colors.