Sneak Peek

I am sorry for my recent absence from Blogger.  My mother was having issues with her health that required she be hospitalized for a few days.  Though I do enjoy blogging, it quite suddenly became the least important thing in my life.  She's home now and doing much better.  With some luck she should be fully recovered in just a few weeks :)

I did promise a sneak peek at my latest sampler.  It's almost completed and should be released next week.  I took these photos earlier today.  That soft glow isn't a photo effect.  It is so humid outside that my camera lens kept fogging up.  It does make the photos awfully pretty, though.

Hopefully things will quiet down here for a week or two before Summer Recess begins and not only will I be able to finish this sampler but begin the next.   I already have the threads and linen chosen and I'll be sharing that with you soon.

I hope all of you enjoy this holiday weekend.  I, for one, am hoping for a good, strong thunderstorm to dispel at at least a little of this humidity.  I'll be sure to enjoy our picnic much more if I'm not sweating all over my food :)

xoxo

Jennie Lynn

Happy Mother's Day

     

My Great Grandmother Charlotte and my Grandmother Alice

 My Mother Loretta

Women know
The way to rear up children (to be just)
They know a simple, merry, tender knack
Of tying sashes, fitting baby shoes,
And stringing pretty words that make no sense, And kissing full sense into empty words.

~Elizabeth Barrett Browning

xoxo

Jennie Lynn

Peace(ful)work

I tried piecework first years ago, right after my husband and I were married.  I'd never done it before and realized quickly that I did not enjoy it.  Rather than being the peaceful retreat I had hoped for I found it downright infuriating.  I'm a bit of a perfectionist and lacking the skill I was always disappointed in my efforts.  So I packed away the little collection of quilting tools I had acquired and re-acquainted myself with cross stitch.  An early love, I found this to be my perfect companion and never gave piecing another thought.

Since then I have never wavered from my stitching but my tastes have changed.  Discovering the world of primitive work and antique reproductions has provided me with a small corner of my life where I am free from my perfectionism and without that I am quite sure I would have gone mad years ago.  I have applied this principal to my stitching, sewing, decorating . . . it has extended its' reach throughout my life (thankfully).  It occurred to me a few months ago (I'm not sure what took me so long) that I might extend that philosophy into piecework as well.

It took longer than I had planned (as do most things) but I couldn't be happier with the results.  I chose colors and placement based on what I had in my stash and what pleased my eye and forgot all those rules I'd read about years ago.  The borders are pieced because I had strips left over from making the squares and saw no reason to let them sit unused.

My seams don't line up.

My points aren't perfect.

You know what?  I don't care.  Say it with me.  I DON'T CARE.  That felt good :) 

I am pleased with it.  So much so I believe I will quilt and bind it (first time I've ever been happy enough with a piece to invest that much additional work into it) as soon as I'm caught up on some of my stitching that is.  I did promise you progress on that sampler . . .

xoxo

Jennie Lynn

P.S. I forgot to add the photos when I posted earlier . . . that's what I get for bloggin and cooking at the same time :)

Stress, Sun & Stitching

Stress certainly has a way of seeping in all areas of one's life, doesn't it?  At least for me if I'm really stressed about something I tend to enjoy everything else less.  The car (thankfully) is due back by the end of today and it might actually come to less than expected (hooray).  There was even sun yesterday, if only for a day.  In an attempt to lighten my mood I headed outside with Mina to select some floss colors.

There really is nothing like natural sunlight to make everything seem brighter :)

I've had this particular sampler design sketched out since last summer but just can't seem to commit to a color palette.  I've narrowed it down some but still have a ways to go.

I think I might just have to go ahead and begin stitching through my doubts.  I think it's one of those situations where I'm talking myself out of believing I've made the right choices.  After this past week a little lack in confidence is to be expected and it may have slowed me down a tad but I refuse to let it stop me all together.  So keep an eye out for the first few stitches of this (as yet unnamed) sampler.  With any luck you'll be seeing them soon.

xoxo

Jennie Lynn

My little silver lining

I've gotten very little done in the way of stitching over the last few days.  Thursday evening, on the way to Emma's dance class, our car wouldn't start.  Our neighbor was kind enough to give us a jump but it just wouldn't hold.  Friday morning we had our car towed to the local repair shop (some $$ but not much).  By Friday evening it was repaired (some more $$ but no more than we expected).  On our way to the shops Saturday morning, again the car wouldn't turn over.  Come Monday morning (the repair shop is closed on the weekends) we had the car towed (more $$).  By Monday evening they informed us they couldn't tell what was wrong with our car and that we had to have it towed to another repair shop (more $$) and of course we were still charged for the time they took not repairing our van (even more $$).  We thought we could make do without a rental vehicle but there were torrential downpours both yesterday and today and forecast for tomorrow.  So off to Enterprise (more $$).  Now our van sits at the second repair shop awaiting its repairs (the most $$ yet).  I have to admit, yesterday while standing at the first repair shop waiting for the tow truck to arrive I was beginning to get more than a little grumpy.  I was having a moment of self pity, sighing to myself "Why do these things always happen to me?"

Then I look down at Mina who had previously appropriated her father's sunglasses and was modeling them for me.  Looking cute as always I get my phone to snag a photo of her and this is what she does.

"No paparazzi, please."

Of course she didn't say that, but that must have been what she was thinking, right?  Mina must have known her Mommy needed to smile.  No matter what there are always reasons to smile and mine are named Emma, Jeremy, Ben and Mina and (sometimes) David :)

xoxo

Jennie Lynn

All To Pieces

Fat quarters, not too carefully selected.  A favorite pink, a blue that can't decide between grey and green, some browns in all shades and a little muslin to rest they eye.

Cut into so many pieces, scattered on the table, waiting for my daughter's nap tomorrow to be sewn  together anew, even prettier than they were before. 

When said aloud the idea of cutting whole pieces of fabric into smaller pieces just to sew them back together again into another whole piece seems a bit ridiculous but oh the joy that can be found in doing just that!

xoxo

Jennie Lynn

Color Bind?

Forgive me for using such a common pun but I just couldn't come up with another title for this post :)

Anywhoo . . .

I seem to collect thread. It's not intentional, at least no more intentional than simply and uncontrollably being drawn to something that you love. Forgive me for using such a common pun but I just couldn't come up with another title for this post :)Of course I collect more than I should. I will "temporarily" misplace a thread, being absolutely convinced that it is the only color that will work for my project, I hastily order it. Usually, by the time the replacement thread arrives in the post, I've already located the original thread and dismissed it as not being quite right for that project. So now I have two. When I shop at my LNS I go there with the sole purpose of selecting linens, because I have more than enough thread. Of course, I use the thread there to guide the color selection of the linens and then when I find a combination I absolutely love I convince myself that I don't already own whatever skeins I've chosen so I have no choice but to buy them along with the linen. So again I end up with two skeins of the same color and in some particularly embarrassing cases, three skeins.

Having multiple skeins of the same color has led me to a bit of a problem this morning (yes, too much thread can be a problem).

I adore hand-dyed threads, especially Gentle Arts. To each his own, but for me the color and shading cannot be matched by commercially dyed threads and I rarely stitch with anything else. Anyone who has stitched with hand-dyed threads knows that there are differences between dye lots. Usually these differences are very subtle.

Two skeins of Gentle Arts Old Hickory. One I ordered online and one I purchased at my LNS, scant months apart. The skein on the left is just slightly darker and more brown than the skein on the right. A set such as this is wonderful for shading or for making a part of a sampler appear stained with age. At least that's what I would do. The difference is barely noticeable, as my husband couldn't see any difference at all. Do you see a difference?

Two skeins of Gentle Arts Harvest Basket. Similar method of acquisition of as with the Old Hickory thread. The skein on the right is certainly more yellow whereas the one of the left just appears brown (at least to me). More than a subtle difference but certainly nothing to get all worked up over, right?

Finally, two skeins of Gentle Arts Walnut. To be honest, these were most likely purchased years apart but when I purchased the most recent one from my LNS there were skeins there of both shades. Even my husband noticed the difference between these two skeins. The skein on the right was bought specifically because it was such a different color than what I remembered it being.

This post does have a point to it, I promise. I'm beginning work on a few samplers and I have chosen one of each of these skeins to use, two on the same project. Obviously thread suggestions are just that . . . suggestions . . . but do you ever purchase a pattern intent on achieving the same look as in the model? Does it bother you when you go to purchase the threads or gather them from your stash and realize that one or a few or none of them look as they do in the photo? I would hate for anyone to be disappointed after purchasing one of my patterns and was hoping all of you could give me your input into this little color conundrum I seem to have created for myself.

xoxo

Jennie Lynn