A nice thing about a new hobby...

...is that it introduces a whole new realm of Christmas surprises.

The resident TechnoMage normally moans about my sewing (mainly because of the "tails" of bits of wool that he keeps finding round the house) so I was surprised to find two very good needlework-related pressies from him on Christmas Day.



The ruler is designed to be filled with something like a picture or a piece of embroidery. And the neat little thread holder will be just the ticket for carrying lots of colours around without needing to take a whole bag of thread.

Rather than give each other a main present, we always come up with an assortment of perhaps 10 smaller things (partly to minimise the risk of all falling flat). They are categorised under any of around 20 headings such as "DVD", "toy or game", "idea/make it yourself", "freebie", "something silly" or "measuring device" (new category introduced this year to cater for the cheapo-but-surprisingly-decent breathalyser I bought him from ebay and continued now with a wireless rain gauge and a wind meter from me to him and a rather interesting usb thermometer from him to me - it plots the change in temperature over time).

With the measuring device category already allocated, the ruler is classed "something to make" and the organiser could have been a new category of "being organised" but is, I'm told, a new category of "craft".

These two gifts even led to the "freebie" category being filled, as the ebay seller involved also sent a decent pen advertising her website, Marie's cross stitch.co.uk.

Thank goodness for scrap bits of fabric...

My next cushion (in parallel with finishing the 32-year-old abandoned one) is probably going to be based on the stepped pattern from the 1970s pattern book...



in colours from my favourite 'sludge' colour of Kaffe Fassett's paperweight fabric....



But first I have to work out suitable dimensions of the step. I decided on the number of stitches for the steps with the idea of boxes a little bigger than the ones in the pattern book, and to use five rows for the steps themselves. and launched straight into a practice piece on some scrap fabric, using colours I'd got plenty of.



Glad I did that instead of starting on the cushion, as it turns out I've miscalculated. Not sure whether this has anything to do with the book using double-thread canvas or is purely down to me not thinking it through properly.

The squares haven't all ended up the sizes I wanted (or as squares come to that!). I'll continue with this scrap anyway to get the feel for how the steps fit together but think I'll also have to get the graph paper out to work out where I went wrong!

Puzzled by indigo - part 1

I've always loved rainbows and had dozens of pictures of them on my wall as a student. But I've never given much thought to their colours. I can chant the Richard Of York Gained Battle In Vain thing to get the red-orange-yellow-green-blue-indigo-violet sequence right, but have always been a bit vague about exactly how blue differs from indigo and how close that is to violet - they all seem a bit too close together compared with the other colours in the spectrum.

Now that I've got hundreds of lovely colours of tapestry wool...


I want to work out which colours make up a rainbow and so thought it was about time I got it sussed.

Turns out I'm not the only one who's troubled by indigo, eg there's a good discussion here about the topic. It looks like I'm going to have to do some more reading to find the RGB/hexadecimal values for my perfect six or seven banded rainbow - and then to translate those into wool colours. Think this minor puzzle is going to turn into a bit of a saga...

Found the culprit

Think I've sussed why I originally abandoned my brown and green cushion cover. I'd miscounted and so a green square was a stitch out - I suspect that I couldn't be bothered at the time working out what was wrong and gave up in a huff.

But filled with new enthusiasm, the mistake has been remedied with the removal of the (now very wavy) piece of wool and I'm now taking much more care. It's not as if it's a difficult counting exercise - there are only 9 stitches in each part of the outer squares...

Delving in the diary cupboard

On a whim last night I dug out my 1976-1977 school year diary to see if I'd recorded the start of the cushion I've now resumed. Not only did I write about starting it (and doing three more squares that week), but it turns out I also bought the materials and pattern book that same day, spending £3.90. I was amused to see that I remarked then about the original 24p price tag for the pattern book - just like a did in my previous post this week! I love the brown ink I used throughout that year! (I'm using purple Parker cartridges in my fountain pen at present - they're good too).



I must have been quite flush that day - or else my Mum was being very generous - as I also got a very wonderful poster of the late Pete Duel of the TV western show, Alias Smith & Jones.



By strange chance, I was talking about that very poster yesterday morning in the car on the way back from the shops. I've still got it, rolled up and tucked away in the corner of my study and I've been thinking of selling it so that it can find a home where it will be properly admired. I'd dug out all my AS&J memorabilia a few years ago, sold one of the posters and supplied scans/photos of everything to the excellent Alias Smith & Jones Collection site/message board - this poster has been lurking in the corner ever since, which seems rather a waste.

70s inspiration

As requested by Knit Nurse, here are some pics from inside the 1970s pattern booklet (plus the rear cover).



As well as patterns it gives a few ideas on how to use them.



Here are a few of the 28 patterns. (I find it quite hard to decide which I like best, as I'm always swayed by whether I like the colours they used!)









I may in time do this one



but for now I've enough brown and green to be going on with in completing the 1977 cushion cover.

In the meantime it's given me an idea for my next colourful cushion cover, which is to be a stitch sampler so I can learn some filling stitches. I was going to just do 25 square boxes, each in different colours &/or patterns, but I now like the idea of adapting this, with bigger squares to give me a bit more room to work in. I'll try it out on a scrap of fabric in the next few days to get the dimensions right.

The booklet's details are: Canvas Embroidery Patterns, published by Coats Sewing Group, book number 1198, 64 pages, article number H 1198-D1 (no isbn number), copyright 1974.

Anyone who fancies a copy should be able to get one quite easily - as of today, five copies are available (used of course!) from Amazon marketplace (which lists it rrp as 24p!) for around 75p to £2 with £2.75 postage. One vendor in particular lists the publication number so you'd be sure of getting the right thing.

Making a sunflower

I've been having a go at sewing this sunflower as an experiment to get a feel for what it's like to work a simple picture. I hasten to add that the design isn't mine, as explained below.



I've made some mistakes, so some areas are a bit thick where I had to go over them with another colour - particularly on the leaves and stem, which I couldn't get right. And the back has ended up very messy as I was moving fairly randomly from place to place once I had a particular colour in my needle - need to do some reading up about the correct technique for doing this I think! But I've enjoyed the process anyway.

I like the resulting texture. The tent stitch (not sure if I can really call it that as I didn't work it in rows) provides what feels like a really hard-wearing, smooth (ish) finish, which makes me think in terms of tacking a foot stool or chair cover at some stage when I've learnt more. It feels so much tougher than the simple upright stitch of the cushion.

The use of shading has also opened my eyes to the possibilities. I've no talent for drawing, so am going to look through my photos at the weekend and see what I've got that's simple enough for similar treatment.

The design of the sunflower is copied as best I could (ie I made lots of mistakes where I miscounted) from one of the flowers on a lovely completed needlepoint picture of a field of sunflowers. I bought it a few weeks ago from someone who hadn't room for all the beautiful work done by her late mother-in-law, Maureen. I'd been thinking of buying the same Anchor kit, but instead came across the completed one and figured I'd appreciate someone else's labours instead!

Stepping back in time

I think it's about time that I tried to finish the cushion cover begun on 16 February 1977. It would be nice to put an end date to it, ideally before 16 February 2010.





But it's going to be so boring - these days I favour a far wider range of colours. And the holes are very tiny (18 per inch - I find 14 is bad enough). Perhaps I should make myself do say two squares a week? Or maybe I'll scrap the rest of the design and pick other patterns to do around the edges to build up to cushion size. For old times' sake, I'll have to pick them from the book I was using then of course - a rather good Coats guide to canvas embroidery patterns, bought for 90p (which was probably quite a bit then).




The few things I did manage to complete at the time were specs cases - quick, easy, nice and useful. I rather like this very 1970s-looking one. The suede backing is worn and torn through use though, so I need to put a new back on it.



And this one never got finished - mainly because too little was left for the edges and it frayed, but I'm sure I can remedy that.

Addicted to buying fabric too...

As well as buying lots of tapestry wool, I've been getting a bit carried away with buying fabric too, to use as backs for cushions or specs case and the like. Trouble is, I didn't really need any - I have this whole laundry basket of material - bought, or salvaged from old clothes etc with the idea of making a quilt one day.



But there are so many lovely patchworking fabrics available that I can't resist buying more...




Stripes and flowers, checks and random, bright and subtle. Most of all, I love Kaffe Fassett's design, Paperweight. I've loved millefiore glass for years - I've got several pendants and other bits, lots of the little pieces of the glass canes and a few paperweights. My favourite is the brooch in the middle of the photo - sadly, now cracked after being dropped on the terracotta kitchen floor. It's not really surprising that this fabric appeals so much to me. (Kaffe Fassett also does a pattern called Millefiore - but I think this one is more millefiore-ey than that. His Roman Glass design looks lovely too - no doubt I'll soon get some of that too.)



So far I've got two of the eight or nine Paperweight colourways and particularly like the one that's the main background to the picture. It's got a great name too - sludge.

I think Kaffe Fassett must like it lots too, as it's the background on the home page of his (very inspirational) website - was pleased to notice it there just after ordering some.

A task completed at last

I began this Dimensions crewel kit (Charming alphabet) when on holiday in Spain in 1983 and finished it just 22 years later...and at last, today, it's framed.



I'm particularly fond of the cat - the one on the kit's packet wasn't nearly as friendly as mine. I seem to recall making a mistake with the line of the neck and having to adapt it to hide the error but it worked out for the best, as I far prefer the cuddlier version that resulted. And I don't think the kit's one was smiling.



It took me a mere four more years, until September this year, to frame it but I didn't particularly like the pale green surround that I had to hand at the time. That has now been remedied a new maroon mount - not quite as reddish as I'd've liked, but near enough ... and so the project has now been finally completed in not much more than a quarter of a century. (I really didn't enjoy doing the framing - cutting brown paper to size to stick on the back was a little too like wrapping presents, a task I'm really bad at.)



I'm feeling on a roll now...several other half-finished (or quarter- or tenth-finished...) decades-old projects awaiting rescue from the cupboard may now be in with a chance of completion.

Bewildered about canvas

I'm about to order some more canvas but have some more research to do...I'm waiting to hear back from Zweigart about what the difference is between white Magic Canvas (9414/100), 14 count Mono Canvas (604) and 14 count Royal Canvas (9281) - all of which superficially look the same but presumably feel different.

I really liked the black Magic Canvas (at least I think that's what it was) that I used for the cushion cover. I found it quite soft and comfortable to work with - though some online shops seem to imply that it's quite stiff and more suited to things like Christmas tree decorations. Maybe I should buy some anyway to confirm that it really was Magic Canvas.

But I don't like the 13 count mono interlock canvas I've got (bought in the 1970s and found a few weeks ago)- horribly, horribly stiff and with rather uneven holes. It's really tiring to work with, even on the little colour sampler thingy I'm doing now - I know I'd give up on a cushion in that after just a few rows...

And do I go for black or white? Where the horrid white canvas shows through (being only 13 count) it's quite obvious and doesn't look very nice - but on the other hand, white is easier on the eyes when sewing.

Trivial decisions, I know, but given all the hours I'll be working on Cushion #2, I'd like to get it right...

Collecting colours

I've been enjoying building up a collection of as many different colours of tapestry wool as possible.

I'm someone who does tend to like collecting things whether it's Magic the Gathering cards, mini ornaments for my printers' trays or pieces of dichroic glass jewellery, so it was perhaps inevitable that I'd be a bit obsessive about it....

I realised from the outset that I needed to keep a record of what I'd got in order to avoid too many duplicates (and be aware of the duplicates so that they can be kept together). Initially the record was just ticking them off on a print-out of an Anchor colour chart but then I looked - in vain - for a spreadsheet or checklist to download.

As I didn't find one I've spent some time creating one (which I'd be happy to supply to anyone and may upload here once I find out how). It's got approximate photos of the Anchor colours, all the colour numbers (and a column to add the old ones if appropriate) and the names of each group of colours (eg my favourite name, Gobelin Green) - each with an appropriately coloured background for ease of reference.



As an at-a-glance accurate colour record for reference in picking colours, I'm also sewing a piece of canvas with just 25 stitches of each of my 200 or so colours - there'll be an accompanying chart of numbers.



Most of my wool has come in lots of 10, 20, even 50 full or part skeins from ebay - typically at less than 20p/skein inc postage. Mostly I haven't known exactly what colours I'm getting, which can make for a nice surprise when they arrive. But a special treat was to go to John Lewis in Norwich and spend a happy half hour choosing 15 or so actual colours from a big display. I've spotted some good online shops too - I'll be trying them for canvas.

Searching ebay for tapestry wool, I use the search string
(wool*,skein*) (anchor,tap*) -cotton -silk
in the ebay crafts category to find what I'm looking for.

I make a great deal of use of the advanced search capabilities of ebay - the * wildcard in particular is very useful - in this case it ensures that Tapisserie and tapestry are found as well as the plurals of wool and skein.

I think it's about time I gave up buying though - it'll take me a long time to use up the wool I've bought already at a rate of maybe 8 skeins per cushion and one cushion per two months...

Using up bits of tapestry wool

I had every intention of the colours in the cushion being in a random order but found myself always wanting to pick the next batch to add some interest to a repetitive task. The result is groups of about 5-10 colours, chosen on various whims - the colours of my favourite duvet cover, a muted rainbow, a splash of garish colours after a beigey patch etc.

The other thing that made the project more interesting to do - and something I'd highly recommend - is having some little bits of canvas available to use up the leftover inches of wool.

This resulted in three little patches that will become specs cases.



Purples and mossy greens went into the boxes one...




bright colours to the stripes...



...and everything else was used for the one I've dubbed barcodes.

Finished at last

At last...I've finished my first needlepoint cushion cover. Or more precisely, I've finished the needlepoint bit and it will no doubt be months before it becomes an actual cushion cover.

I started it in September and have done a few rows most days - finishing it so quickly is something of a record for me as my previous needlework project took me 22 years to finish (and four more to frame)...more of that anon.

In the course of doing this cushion cover, I've come across various good sites and books and so thought it would be of use to resurrect this abandoned blog to celebrate this milestone and keep track of my discoveries.

It has 110 rows and is on what I think is probably Zweigart Magic Canvas with 14 holes per inch. Each row is a different colour of Anchor Tapisserie wool. I haven't tried to learn any fancy stitches yet - I've treated this as something to get me into the habit of sewing and to see which colours I like - but I want to attempt something more advanced soon.