Feather Stitching

3^rd note to self …

“You must remember at all times that you have a head like a sieve right now – your blondeness is truly ruling the roost in your life, and you mustn’t forget it! For example, when you think to yourself that today is Monday you really really should check and confirm to yourself that it really is … shift work and blondeness are not a good combination. The outcome is that you will pack your car up with all your stitching boxes and computer to take them into storage … only to arrive at a chained up gate at 3.15pm. Yes that’s right … if you check what day of the week it really is, you would know it was Sunday and the gates close at 2pm. That would also save you from driving all the way home to unpack the car again … to just repack everything again the next day and do it all over again! So, check … check again … and triple check again … doh!!”

4th note to self …

“If you stopped doing dopey things, you wouldn’t have to keep writing ‘notes to self’ … ;)”

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I’m sooooo behind on answering the SBQ’s, so it’s time to catch up from before I moved out of my last flat:

10 May – This SBQ is from Ish:

“How do you choose a project for an exchange? Do you pick solely on what you know of the taste of the recipient, or are there other reasons you pick the piece you do?”

I try to get a feel for what the participant likes, then find something using that criteria that I would enjoy stitching – no point in stitching something that you’re going to hate doing. I always try to find out colour preferences, if nothing else, and work from there.

16 May – This SBQ is from Juls:

“If you could only stitch one more piece what would it be and why?”

That’s a really tough one … perhaps it would be Chatelaine’s Stitching Leporello, as I think it’s an exquisite piece when it’s all finished, and functional at the end of it all.

30 May – This SBQ is from Kathryn:

“How many needles do you use during a project? Have you ever loaded up a needle for every colour? Do you use a new needle for every project, or recycle your favourite needle?”

It depends on what I’m stitching really – for example with the Bordeaux Sampler because there were only three individual colours being used, I had one needle pretty much loaded up per colour, especially if I’d only used a tiny bit of the thread before finishing it off and moving on to another colour. I’ll also use a number of needles for TW designs, mainly for the blended needles – when I’m stitching one of those I use one of the needle park gadgets to keep track of them all. As for using a new needle for every project, I don’t honestly see the sense in that – I’m pretty hard on needles and chew through them pretty quickly due to the chemicals in my skin I guess, so I’d never have a needle long enough for it to be a ‘favourite needle’ 😉 As soon as the needle starts to ‘drag’ through the fabric it goes in the bin and I grab a new one out of the packet.

6 June – Today’s SBQ was suggested by Ish and is:

“What has been your most challenging project and why?”

Hmmm, this is quite a difficult one to answer, and I can’t narrow it down to just one thing – The Dratteds because stitching all that monotonous colour was truly boring, and it was a huge project to stitch; the CA Wells pieces purely for the challenge of the finishing methods as I’m lacking in confidence in that area; and Bordeaux Sampler for all those dratted over-one grapes I guess. Anything that teaches me something new is a challenge, but a rewarding one J

14 June – Today’s SBQ was suggested Jennifer and is:

“How do you store your WIPs and other projects that you have kitted up?”

Before I moved all my goodies into storage, I had all my rotation pieces sitting in the lounge by my stitching chair – all my scrollbars and stretcher bars etc with my WIP’s on them were stacked up against the bookcase, within arms reach of my chair, with each of the project ‘kits’ in project envelopes, sitting in a plastic tub. They’d sit in order of my rotation, and once I’d stitched a rotation slot the project envelope got put at the back of the pile, ready to select the next project from the front of the pile. Each project envelope holds the original chart, working copy, and threads/embellishments needed for stitching. As for other kitted up projects, I have them sitting in archive boxes now with the threads, fabric and charts in zip-loc bags – and the list of each box’s contents is in a Word document.

22 June – Today’s SBQ was suggested by Kathryn and is:

“When you start a new work do you look for something small, do you look for another huge project or do you consider your UFOs?”

I’d have to say it depends on the mood … if I’ve just finished a BAP I’m more likely to pick up something smaller for a while to give myself a break. Also, if the guilt sets in badly that I’ve been neglecting older WIP’s I ‘might’ eventually pick up a UFO and work on it … maybe 😉

3 July – Today’s SBQ is:

“Do you consider yourself a “floss miser?”

It depends on the thread itself – if it’s silks, expensive threads, or part of a kit, yes I am – I’ll stitch down to the very last bit of the thread. If it’s DMC, even though it’s more expensive here than it is elsewhere in the world, I have to admit I’m starting to change. I used to stitch with my DMC down to the last inch (and I still will if I’m stitching a large patch etc), I won’t save scraps anymore for ‘later’, unless it’s a fairly decent length of thread.

12 July – Today’s SBQ was suggested by The Wagon and is:

“What do you love to do that many people hate? What do you hate to do, but do anyway?”

I can’t say I “love” doing it, but I don’t mind doing backstitching – it quickly ‘finishes’ a project off and you can usually see a great impact on the finished design fairly quickly. I hate French knots, but I’m learning to master them so they don’t have me running screaming from the room now as much as they used to.

19 July – Today’s SBQ was suggested by Ish and is:

“Which project (finished or in progress) are you most proud of? Explain why.”

I’d have to probably say my stumpwork pieces – they were my first foray away from cross stitch, and I still feel quite proud of them to this day. They were a huge step forward in my stitching … nothing like jumping in feet first with something simple! 😉 (talking of stumpwork, Elisabeth your comment in my Webshots album about the Lorri Birmingham fob gave me a HUGE giggle!! LOL)