Gobble, gobble, Canadian friends! May your turkey be moist, your stuffing fluffy, and your life full of all manner of things to be thankful for.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Thank you to everyone who commented and emailed me about the proper way to do kloster blocks. I’m sure no one is surprised that there wasn’t universal agreement. That is why I love the internet. 😉 So, I decided to look up Meg Shinall’s hardanger course in some old issues of The Gift of Stitching. In the April 2010 issue (pg. 28), she shows her klosters being done by coming up at the far side and down where you cut. So, that’s what I did.
Trick or Treat, designed by Victoria Sampler — close-up of basic hemstitching band
I think the little basic hemstitching band turned out quite nice. I’ve done a little bit of hardanger in the past, but I am always pleasantly surprised by how easy it really is, and by how much of an impact a few cut threads can make.
It is that time of year again: Creativ Festival time! October is such a great month because the weather final cools down; there is Thanksgiving turkey and stuffing to eat; the Creativ Festival happens; and then Halloween rounds it all out. Scatter in a few family birthdays, and that makes October pretty wonderful.
I’ll be heading downtown for the Creativ Festival next week, where I will be taking sewing, crochet and needlework classes. Sadly, Jennifer Aikman-Smith of Dragon Dreams won’t be there again this year (she is always a highlight of the festival for me), but I’ve still managed to book myself five very full days of classes. I’ll be sharing pictures and progress both here and through Twitter. Unfortunately, you will have to put up with some bad pictures taken with my phone. I hope you will forgive me. 😉
Please join me next week for owls, biscornus, broomstick lace and more. And if you’d like to follow along on Twitter, you can find my feed right here.
Hello again, stitchy friends! Unfortunately, I’ve had a few blog issues behind the scenes, which prevented me from posting properly for the past few days. Things are fixed again, and hopefully moving towards a small site renovation sometime this winter. Yay!
Of course I’ve been filling up my time with lots of stitching. The other day I dug out a project I kitted up last year: Victoria Sampler’s Trick or Treat. It is working up very quickly.
Trick or Treat, designed by Victoria Sampler (WIP)
I’m stitching it on some sort of 24ct stitch band. (Why don’t I take better notes?!), and using the tread pack which is full of all kinds of lovely silks.
Oh noes! Which way do I do these satin stitches?!
I have run into a small snag, though. Which way do you do satin stitches when you are going to cut for hardanger? Do you come up on the far side and down where you cut, or up where you cut and down on the far side? I can’t remember, and my (admittedly very cursory) Googling hasn’t provided me with an answer. Can someone let me know so I can move on? 😉
Is anyone else stitching for Halloween? Let me know (and leave a link to a blog post about it, if you have one).
Thank you very much to all of you who entered into my Autumn Colouring Giveaway.
I really enjoyed reading about all the things enjoy you colouring and about what you used to colour when you were little. Both Lynda and Catherine mentioned colouring in paper dolls, which brought back all kinds of great memories! I used to do the same with my grandmother and had forgotten all about it.
And now it is time to announce the winner. Thanks to the help of the Random Number Generator, the winner is:
Again, thank you so much for entering my giveaway. If you didn’t win, don’t worry. I promise there will be more giveaways in the future!
It is nearly time for turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and all those other tasty Thanksgiving foods. I can’t wait! While Thanksgiving isn’t my favourite holiday, it does rank up there pretty high. I mean, who doesn’t love good food on a cool autumn day?
Since I’m looking for ways to embroider all the things, I decided to make some napkins for Thanksgiving dinner. I picked up some plain napkins from Home Sense and prettied them up.
Happy Thanksgiving Napkin
The pattern is Happy Thanksgiving from Embroidery Library. I stitched it using Brother rayon embroidery thread, and floated the napkins on tearaway stabilizer. So far, these are my favourite finished items. I think I need to start planning my Christmas napkins!
Don’t forget about my Autumn Colouring Giveaway! It ends at midnight tonight. Head over here to enter. I’ll be announcing the winner tomorrow.
Hello fellow Smalls Stitchers! We are just about into the home stretch of our stitch along. Only a few more months to go. (Want to keep stitching along with me next year, please let me know.) Not sure what the Smalls SAL is? Check out all the info here.
Even though Halloween is almost here (yay!!), I went back to Christmas ornament stitching for this month. I stitched another ornament from Mill Hill’s Holiday Harmony series: Violin.
Violin, designed by Mill Hill
I think that this one is my second favourite of the series, behind the harp, partly because a million years ago I played the violin. I wasn’t very good, and I gave up before I started high school. But, now, like my parents said I would, I kind of regret giving it up. I keep saying that I would like to take music lessons again…
So, what did you stitch this month? I can’t wait to see! Please leave a link to your Smalls SAL post (not the main page of your blog) using the form below. (The list with close to new entries at about midnight Eastern time on October 6th.) For every month you share an link your finished small, you get one entry into the end of the year draw. Also, if you have some time, please visit some of the other Smalls stitchers.
Next month: October’s check-in will take place on 28th, just a few spooky days before Halloween. I’ve got a pretty full month, but I will make sure to find time to stitch up something appropriate and I hope you will too. If you need a reminder, you can sign up for my monthly newsletter right here.
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Needleworker, Knitter, Crocheter, Sewist, Paper Crafter, and more!
Also known as Silverlotus & Stitchinglotus
Located just outside of Toronto, Canada.
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