Blast from the Past

I believe I began this piece back in early 2008. It's from the Fall 2007 issue of Sampler and Antique Needlework Quarterly. Designed bt Martina Dey in response to the 2004 tsunami that happened in southeast Asia.

I was looking for a Quaker sampler when this was published. And I remember agonizing over threads at the Scarlet Thread every Thursday. 

It was designed for Hand-Dyed silks, but I chose Crescent Colors overdyed cottons.

I worked on steadily in the beginning. And sporadically over the years. But I hit a motif that I just couldn't find a rhythm for and eventually I tucked it away in a corner. 

I'm not quite halfway finished. And if I can just put a couple of threads in every week, maybe some day this will be done. 

Colorfast - a Word that Caught My Eye

Today at work I was putting up an order of Gentle Arts threads when I noticed the word "colorfast."

See. I always thought that overdyed threads were not colorfast. But apparently that has changed. 

 Looking closely from left to right: 

No mention of Colorfast on the left. Middle thread says Colorfast. Thread on right says Colorfast (and then in teeny tiny letters) by industry standards. 

Edit:  left to right, oldest, older, and just arrived 

 Random pile to hang up because who doesn't love a lot of thread?

According the Gentle Arts website, we can wash our overdyed threads. See their care instructions here:  Gentle Arts

And turns out Weeks Dye Works has been doing the same. See their info here: 
Weeks Dye Works  

Now I don't want to alarm anyone, but in another trend I've seen, it's that some needlepoint threads are arriving with a dry block only notice on them. I've seen this on both DMC pearl cotton #5 and Vineyard silk. Not on all the threads, just certain ones. 

Really? What's a person to do?

Wash your hands frequently. Use a frame of some sort. Keep your work covered when not stitching. 

I'm not going to let this bother me.

A Little Fun

 I have these canvases that I inherited from a friend. I have a few of her works in progress that she didn't get to finish. So I will finish these for her. Because it would make her happy to know someone got joy from what she got joy from. 

So this is the back so you can see that all she had done was the start of the bow.

 I looked at the threads in the bag and decided I needed a darker pearl cotton to go with the overdyed pearl on the bow. By the way, this is a Kathy Shenkel design that has a little felt dolphin that will go in the stocking. These designs are adorable. And kind of addicting.

I slowly started figuring out what to do with her thread choices when I decided that none of the stitches I was trying to do for the dolphin were working. My brain kept telling me packed stem stitch. But my thread was a bit heavy for that. Well, fortunately for me, the House of Embroidery was at the Fredericksburg Quilt Show so I bought some overdyed gray #8 pearl cottons. That's more like it. 

Hope JoAnn likes it. 

Wait. What?

Trying to post from my phone and laughing at myself. Maybe I need to drink some coffee first?

See? This is ridiculous.

Phew. 

And now.

Oh my gosh.

I am not changing the font size. It's just happening.

Anyway, this is a Lee canvas. A little ladybug all in tent stitch. I've sent it off for professional finishing.

And from deep in my stash this is a Guild project called Knots on Rocks. 

It's an actual rock covered in felt. We had traced an outline of our rock onto some pretty gold silk and started making French knots with a variegated thread, in my case Watercolours. This sat in my studio 60% done for a long time. 

And finally a little Deborah Tirico project in a tin. It was just waiting for me to do a Colonial Knot and the finishing.

I have plenty more blasts from the past awaiting my attention. You'll see them eventually.