A Year of Thread Stash Credits 2010 (293)

Last August 25 I started keeping track of just how many threads I used.  Since today is August 26, 2010, the first year is over.  Just how many thread credits did I accumulate?  Two hundred and ninety-three!  In the last year I've worked on thirteen projects:

South Seas Fiji Dynasty Ornament
Rabbit Geisha
Cameo Ornament
O'jishi
Stars for the New Millennium
Surfin' Santa
Camouflage Bra and Tap Pants Set
Candy Cane Dog Stocking
Tardis Ornament
Stuart Plaid Lion
Blue Bow Gift Tag
Nordic Snowman Stocking
Brazil Cha-Cha
Skulls Cell Phone Case

That's a lot of thread and a lot of projects, but remember, many of the projects were small and I am a threadaholic. There is no reason that you shouldn't stick to one type of thread or brand if that's what makes you happy.

To bring everyone up to speed, every time I use a new thread on a project, I give myself one point.  If I use up all the thread in a skein (or on a card or spool), I give myself five points.  If I buy a new thread, I subtract one point from the total I've accumulated so far.  I didn't count beads in the total above or I certainly would have broken 300, but I did count silk ribbons.

I had fun with this.  I think I'm going to restart the counter now and keep track of anything new I use on Stars plus count the threads I use on future projects.

Hope you enjoyed watching the numbers move as much as I did.  Wonder if I can break 300 this year?

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Stars: Cary's Corner

Cary Grant has a completed corner now!

I think the corner is particularly beautiful.  Actually, I spent so much time admiring it, that I didn't progress beyond Step One in stitching the other corners.  Yesterday was hectic, anyway.  I am lucky that I didn't find an error this morning that had to come out.

This photo shows the seams where triangles meet between the black legs. This is covered by long stitches as the last step before finishing Cary Grant by putting a line of black sashing below the block.

I hope to do the rest of the corners tonight but it's another hectic day so I won't promise.  I want to finish Stars by the weekend so I can do my Skulls cell phone case finishing over Saturday and Sunday and be ready to start my new project on Sunday night.  Wish me luck.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Stars: Cary Grant Grows

Yesterday was hectic so I didn't get as much done on the Cary Grant block as I had planned but you can see how the corner square develops from the above.  The copper areas are supposed to be C (terracotta) instead of D (copper metallic) but I wanted to add more of this very strong color on the opposite end of the row so I switched what I used.  The next step is to weave my purple threads over the center area, then fill in the last open areas with laid threads.  Then I'll do the other corners like this one.  After that, the final touch is to lay long contrasting colored threads over many of the areas of this block where they touch other areas.

I picked up snaps yesterday.  Once I finish Cary Grant and his piece of sashing, I'll be able to continue assembling the skulls cell phone case.  I don't want to stop now since I'm on a roll with Stars.  At least that's my excuse for not immediately picking up the finishing again!

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Stars: Cary Grant Appears

Frustrated by the lack of snaps or sewing items in general at the local hardware, drug store, grocery or Dollar Store, I turned to Stars for solace last night.   The next block is called Cary Grant.  This is the 6th block and the final one on the second row.   Of course I have decided to not do the outside borders until all the blocks are done in order to protect the borders from my arm resting on them during stitching the centers, but still, I am getting close to being half finished, which is nice.

As a reminder for those stitching Stars themselves, my colors are A violet, B black, C terracotta and D copper.

Cary Grant looks most like a quilt block star to me of all the blocks so far.  In the photo above, the star-on-a-diamond center is finished and I have worked five more steps around the center, leaving just the complex corners to finish.  There are four steps to the corners and I also have to do the sashing underneath the block before I can put Stars away and pull out my next painted canvas.   I have another night or two of stitching on this, in other words.

Cary Grant doesn't introduce any new threads but the black legs you see above were quite interesting to work. I used Neon Rays in black to do the lower layer.  This is a ribbon-like thread that didn't quite cover the canvas.  I could see little specs of canvas "dandruff" beside the stitches.  I was thinking I might have to pull the Neon Rays out and try another black thread to get better coverage but I discovered that when I added the little copper lines on top of the Neon Rays that the specs disappeared.  Now they look like part of the metallic that crosses the vertical stitches of Neon Rays.  Interesting effect!

I also switched threads around on the pairs of triangles that flank the overdyed triangle between the black legs.  I used Trebizond silk in pale peach for my C thread and then outlined the stitches with one ply of violet Splendor as my A thread.  This is not the thread type Tony used but I wanted a slighted raised stitch that was shadowed by the outlines so I changed things a bit and am happy with the result.  I did stick with his color scheme, just switched thread types some.

In other Stars news, Theresa wonders if Genny Morrow's Twelve Patch Sampler influenced Tony's Stars. It wouldn't surprise me, but the general outline with the offset corners and the sashing around each block, plus the use of star motifs is a common quilting pattern.
http://atwillowtreepond.blogspot.com/2010/08/genny-morrows-12-patch-sampler.html

Donna's been working on her Stars.  The first link has a photo but she's been too busy to photograph her progress in the second, more recent link.
http://majtravaux.blogspot.com/2010/07/back-to-regularly-scheduled-programming.html

http://majtravaux.blogspot.com/2010/08/stars-update-sans-photo.html

Sara Leigh is working on her Stars also.  I just love her happy colors!
http://remedialstitcher.blogspot.com/2010/08/okay-julys-gone.html

There are other Stars stitchers in cyberspace.  If you know of any more, let me know.  Half the charm of this project is watching the colors develop on each block so it is a great deal of fun comparing each version of Cary Grant to see how it looks in various colorways.

I should have snaps today as I have to run an errand in the next town to the east not very far from Ben Franklin's, my preferred crafts emporium, and they carry sewing supplies.  Oddly, not every crafts store does.  What on earth are they thinking?!


Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Finishing the Cell Phone Case: Part One

Yesterday I worked on the cell phone case. The first step is to put your needlepoint face down on top of your fabric (with the fabric's front side touching your needlepoint front) and cut out a piece of fabric the same size.  In the photo my lining is a little bigger so you can see there is fabric under the NP.

Next I turned under the margin along the top of the needlepoint and the top of the lining fabric...

...and pinned these down.

The next step is to fold the NP into a pouch form, right sides together.  Sew around the bottom and side, but leave the top open.  The top is where you turned the margin down and pinned it.  Note that by now the raw NP edges are fraying a bit. This is why you leave a big margin of bare canvas. Once everything is secure you can trim it a bit, but I think wider margins are better to start with.

Repeat this step with the lining, right sides together.   Sew around the bottom and side again but remember to leave the hemmed top open.

Trim around the side and bottom raw edges nearer the stitching for both the NP pouch and the lining pouch.  I trimmed everything to about 1/2 inch away from the sewing.  As you can see, there's just a little free room around the cell phone case I borrowed to test but there will be more without the plastic ribbed cover, so I'm ok here.

Turn the NP pouch right side out.  This takes a bit of gentle pushing with your fingers until you can't reach to push any more, then use the eraser end of a pencil to push more.

Use the eraser end especially at the bottom corners.  Remember, you are only turning the NP pouch right side out.  Leave the lining pouch as is with the wrong side out.  After all, your phone will slide inside and you want the right side to touch the phone.

Now I attached the jump rings to the lining.  These rings are where the detachable chain handle will go.  Below is a close up so you can see the left ring being attached and how the detachable shoulder strap slips over the jump ring.

I didn't go any further with the finishing because I realized that the snaps I have here are the wrong kind.  I can't stitch them to the lining to close the pouch.  The finishing will have to wait until I get the correct type of snaps.

The sharp-eyed will realize that I didn't follow much of Summer Truswell's finishing after all.   I realized when I got started that her mini sock finishing technique will work better for a cell phone case that has two separate sides instead of being in one piece.

Hopefully I'll be able to pick up snaps today.  If not, I'll work on Stars until I can get the proper hardware to complete the finishing.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow