Metta at the Mudflats: Or, How to Take your Heirloom Project to the Beach

she gets out of the box!

We've had a stretch of unseasonably nice weather and my fantastic husband gave me the gift recently of a the day off.  So I did!  I went shopping, and toodled around a bookstore or two, and found a little corner of the world nearby where I've never been before.  I serendipitously found myself at Mud Bay, the southernmost extent of Puget Sound.  Mud Bay is aptly named. 

See?   Muddy. 

But, since I couldn't find my usual travel project on my mad dash out the door, I decided to take Metta Putfarken with me. She's my favorite right now anyway, and even though she's a big ol' broad, she travels ok if you treat her right.

What you see there is only three pages of this huge, 35-page Vierlanden sampler.  So I might still be at this one a while and if I don't bring her sometimes she'll never get done.  Even though the pattern is a reproduction, I can't leave well enough alone so I'm doing my version in shades of green rather than the original red.  With Metta's seemingly-infinite variations to the pattern, you can't tell me she wouldn't have liked it this way, too.

Unless she hated green or something.  But she is long since gone and *I* like green so that's good enough for me.

Those seven spools are different shades of solid, variegated, and "twisted" dark green HDF single-strand silk.  The linen is 40-count Sassy Fabric linen in a color I can't recall right now but it's a pretty, warm-toned off-white. 

I admit to some initial trepidation about shlepping this big, heirloom project all around creation, but to me, something I spend this much time with on the couch should share the rest of my life, too.  So this is how I am careful to manage it.  Turning around at taking a picture of the work space I found here in the muddy environment, you'll see it is relatively mud-free:

This is a perfect stitching-in-the-wild spot.   Relatively sheltered logs and roots over coarser gravels with less sticky mud.  And a view.  I find the best style of travel projects are geometrics and those which I don't need to refer to the patterns too often; if the second half of a sampler element or a rosette is a mirror image of a first half already completed, I might not need to pull out the pattern at all while I am sitting in a spot like this.  Less bobbling about = smaller chance of slipping and dropping something in the dirt.  In this case, the pattern is still safely in the project bag propped up on the right. 

A pouch to manage the threads is also important, of course.  Many of my projects use little 'floss-a-way' bags on a ring, with a hole punched in the corner to feed thread through from a spool, and in my opinion good travel projects are monochromatic or often use only a handful of colors.  But because this isn't my first rodeo, when I travel with Metta I still travel with the handmade pouch I made for this project, though, because I just get so much satisfaction from using pretty things.  And look, this one matches the mud!

You might also notice that I am managing all the excess fabric by loosely rolling it up.  I really like these little stitch clips for that.  I only use them when I am actively stitching in a setting like this and otherwise they live in the project bag or floss pouch.

And, my final tip: always remember it is just fabric and thread.  A little sand is just going to brush right off. Worst comes to worst, it can be washed.  

For me, stitching in nature is even more therapeutic and meditative than stitching in front of the tv.  And if you're spotted, good!  The handcrafts can use more visibility.  And if you get a little mud on the corner of your linen, oh well.  Think of the stories that piece of cloth can tell, someday. 

If you ever stitch in the wild, take a picture and show me!  I'd love to see where your creations have gone.  Maybe we can start a movement.   Or just get a lot of satisfaction from fresh air and fine linen, at the same time.  Ahhhhh.

Thoughts on 300 years

For mother's day this year, we went to a ghost forest.  It was my favorite kind of day.  Serendipetous, relaxing, interesting, and inspiring. 

This particular forest, now just a bunch of stumps on the tideflat, was a true forest 300 years ago.  An earthquake in the year 1700 lowered the shoreline in this area, drowning this little copse of trees and causing a tsunami across the ocean in Japan. 

Along with exploring the tidepools and the sea stacks and finding agates, I was able to sneak in a few stitches while leaning up against some driftwood. 

Start of Essamplaire reproduction sampler, "Aagie Jans, 1732".  Stitched with substitute DMC colors on 40 ct linen.

The choice of pattern seemed appropriate--it's also about 300 years old-- a reproduction sampler from a girl from the Netherlands named Aagie Jans, who stitched the original in 1732.  Aagie lived on the isle of Marken, famous for its boldly-colored and heavily patterned samplers, filled with geometric and nautical motifs.  As you see, I'm not too far along yet, but astute readers have probably figured out why my stitching-related posts have become so scant.  Such is life, filled with big and small earthquakes. 

By request

For Karen:

Proof I read all your comments!  Karen wanted to see a photo of the fibers for my newest canvaswork project, so here's an up-to-date WIP photo and fibers for Tuscan Midnight.  Click to see larger version.  YUMMY.

I've been scarce the past few days, more sick kids and heavy workload around here...BUT good news, I've been getting lots of wonderful new (or new-to-me) books in the mail the last few days.  Look forward to reviews this weekend!



Hanging Gardens

I am thisclose to finishing the rock wall/hanging garden portion of the DK Designs Enchanted Forest scene.

That detail above is a finished portion.  This is one of those many pieces that look like nothing close up, you don't get the full effect until you stand back a pace... which you will still have to wait to see, I am SUCH a tease! 

I got a lot of it done yesterday during the football game, which was an epic underdog win of a game.  GO SEAHAWKS!  I think our yelling added to the 12th man effect, an hour away at the stadium, for sure. 

Anyway, as I work on this I've also been walking through our memories of the hanging gardens at Zion National Park. 

And the lush, vertical jungle vegetation in Hawaii.

OK so that picture isn't of the vertical vegetation, but trust me, it's there!  I couldn't find a good picture of it of my own, but if you ever get a chance to go to the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden on the Big Island, don't skip it.  They have a gorgeous photo album on flicker if you'd like to see some gorgeous lush jungle and exotic plants.

Anyway I wandered off-topic again, didn't I.  No matter.  I'm currently working on these tiny little "comma ferns", which are quick and easy compared to some of that larger hanging stuff.   I <3 them!

A Fun Fern!

I had mentioned that I wanted my Brazilian Embroidery DK Designs forest piece to be the last finish of 2010.  That didn't happen...there was more to finish and less time than I had anticipated...but I am still making progress!  Overall, the section I'm working on doesn't look like much right now, but I love this little fern so much I thought I'd share.

It is made using a two-needle cast-on technique, and was really fun.  Made me want to put these ferns all over the place, but that's probably not the best choice design-wise. 

Happy New Year!

This:

Is why my 1-1-11 start looks only like this today:

It is Laura J. Perin's "Malachite Maze" pattern, not that you can tell that yet, oh, well!

We took the kids for their first time skiing yesterday, it was a beautiful perfect day, all day, from the car ride in the morning on the way up to the mountain, which you can see in silhouette:

To the car ride home, and the gorgeous sunset looking down the valley:

And all the fun times in-between. 

The kids are naturals.  By the end of the day, the boy was skiing by himself, and going off little jumps with Dad's help, and the girl had tired herself out yelling "go faster" from her short little skis between my snowplowed thighs (my legs hurt BAD today).

My only goal for today is to take down the Christmas decorations, other than that, the Dude has decided he will take most of the kid-entertaining duties today so I can have a stitchy day.  Awww. 

Happy New Year, everyone!

51 down, one to go

Whoo.  We had a wonderful, low key weekend that I sorely needed. I hope your holiday weekend was just what you needed as well!

 I've got a little work to do this week, but I've told the office that I'm trying to take vacation and I'll see out the few things that need done by the end of the year, but otherwise I'm not going to take on anything new or respond to requests that aren't urgent or essential. 

We'll see how that works out. 

So other than that, my main plans for this week are playing Lego with the kids, internet shopping for the things I didn't get for Christmas, and stitching.  I still want to finish at least one more WIP this year, and I should whip up a couple thank-you cards. 

This is part of one of the pieces I want to finish this by the end of the year, but I don't know if I'll quite make it, what do you think?

This is the almost-finished bottom piece for DK Designs' hanging garden Brazilian Embroidery pattern.  I've got the top piece about half done, but not ready to show it to you yet.  I think I can finish the stitching, but the assembly is what I'm not sure about...

Working on a Sunday

WIP, Renato Parolin "Bosco di Bengtsson"

I had no choice, it had to be done, *someone* had to go do that site visit at the ocean.  Because the husband was too sick yesterday to take care of the kids, and the site in question was thankfully not an industrial site or some other unsavory place, I packed up the three of us and off we went. 

I will spare you a picture of the actual site in question, it was just a foreclosed hotel building, vacant and paint-by-numbers.  But the kids did have a good time helping me look for "mystery pipes", and this was the view from the top floor.

Not too shabby.

And of course once we'd seen what was just around the corner, off we went.

It was gorgeous, sunny but freezing wind.  You can see how the kids are bundled up.  But I have to admit, I think that hour or so running around on the beach with that brisk wind did more to recuperate us from our various illnesses than the whole previous two weeks of house-bound quarantine.  Amazing how that works.

Bellpull (almost) finished!

The stitching is done!

This thing is so long and narrow, it's difficult to photograph.  Oh well, the stitching is done!  You'll recall this is the TW fruit bellpull I am finishing for my grandmother.  Very glad to have this done.  Today I will do the bellpull assembly, and then off in the mail it will go. 

And then I will reward myself with more creative embroidery!  My currently love is a copper-and-navy fantastical garden based on an antique drawing, which I think is not too far from finished...now that the bellpull is done I doubt I'll work on much else until it's done.   A tease:

Trip to the Tree Farm

Yesterday was a beautiful but chilly day to be outside.  For hours in the morning the tiny tiny mushrooms had tiny tiny ice crystals.

And the rose hips glowed in the sunshine

And it was a great day to go to the tree farm to get our Christmas tree.

The girl likes the little ones.

But the one we took home was a more average size; it's all bedecked now and I'm sure you'll all see it eventually.  

 It's easy to forget to enjoy the view since the horizon is so often hidden by clouds, but it was a gorgeous gem of a day and the mountains were out in full view.     

What, you can't see them?  Look over there:

Which reminds me, I need to get back to that Chatelaine Designs project.

Red snowflakes

After yesterday's snow came wind last night.  Everything crisp and icy and the sun is out this morning.  Stitching pretty red snowflakes by the warm fireplace with a mug of hot cider?  That's a good day.

An apple a day

The old, old saying "an apple a day keeps the doctor away" has a grain of truth to it, and for me, that's also true for stitching.  So even though I've been busy with other things, I have not been neglecting the stitching entirely, even if it's just to put another length of thread into the border of my Grandmother's Christmas gift. 

Truthfully, working on this piece sometimes feels more like a chore, because the materials are not what I prefer to use and I do not enjoy stitching borders.  I do love the finished effect of the pretty satin-stitch leaves, though!

This is "Floral Bellpull" by Theresa Wentzler and is one of those projects that looks better when you can stand back a way, rather than close up.  Grandma stitched all the fruit panels several years ago-- she can no longer stitch so asked me to complete the boder and finish bellpull with the panels as individual pockets.  It has taken me longer than it should have, unfortunately, but now that I only have one more of the panels to stitch on and the border is nearing completion, I find myself moving faster on it because I can see the finish line. 

Won't be long now!

Stitch where you can

The traditional end-of-the-year upswing in business is beginning to hit for my day job so my posts may be getting shorter and/or less frequent.  Or maybe it'll be more photos of my stitching in odd locations like this one from a couple months ago:

Yup, that's a fighter jet.  Stitching on my lunch break in my car, before doing a site visit at the flight museum.  None of my currently scheduled work sites are quite this awesome, but that can change and you never know what might be found on the way!

My Scissors - Primitives

Bet you thought I'd finished with the scissors, heh heh.  "Primitive" style!

WIP: Carriage House Samplings "Frederick" with HDF silks on recommended linen

Plus you can see Frederick up there finally has a head.  Whoo hoo!

First, on the left, are 4.25-inch 18th cent reproductions from Cheswick Company.  I love the way this style looks with primitive style samplers like Fred here.  They are very solid and different in feel from most modern embroidery scissors, the blades are thick and obviously not intended for very fine work, but they do cut cleanly.   

The other pair was manufactured by Tamsco, I am a sucker for gunmetal finishes.  I primarily bought these to look at amongst the others in the collection, but in use they are a decent pair of all-around snippers. Could do with a tiny spot of oil in the action.

Both pairs are around $10, and while they are not the top of the line they are very photogenic, don't you think?

Green and Gold for the Tree

This year's ornaments-in-progress.  Old gold on green!  I know it's not a traditional color but we have several glass ornaments with this color scheme already and I think they give a brightness and glitz to a Christmas tree.  Especially if you use white lights like we do.  So pretty!  Better photos will follow when they get finished all the way, but I've got to find some matching trim and beads first (oh poor me).

These wonderful snowflake patterns are from a wonderful newish book "A Rainbow of Stitches" by several French designers including Muriel Brunet. 

The book has a wide variety of hand embroidery patterns as well as cross-stitch, all of which lend themselves to whatever colors you choose.  As for my snowflakes, I think I'll also work some up in alternate colors for gifts.  They stitch up pretty quickly.  See the more traditional red on natural linen up there in the first photo?  I'm also thinking silver or white on dark blue or gray could be wonderful, or any color on white...hard to go wrong!