Part Two of Done, Done and Done....

They're all clickable to embiggen if you'd like...

Today is a stay-at-home-and-look-outside day....this morning when we got up we couldn't see out our windows because they are totally covered in a sheet of ice.  Methinks that much ice on windows must translate into pretty treacherous conditions outside. Did somebody forget to notify the person in charge that it's SUPPOSED to be spring??  Good thing I planned to stay home and sew!!

DONE.....DONE.....and (are you ready for this????)......DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!

My white cloth is done!

My white cloth is done!!

Let the bells ring out!!!!!!!!!

This afternoon I put the final stitch into my white cloth

which has been over a year in the making.

A HUGE, LARGE, GIGANTIC

thank you to Karen Ruane 

who taught and inspired me

in the 2012 Embroider, Embellish, Create class

and on a daily basis on her blog.   

Here is the end result...

   (isn't that a HORRIBLE picture?  but the light is awful today)

And here are a few close-ups
(click to embiggen if you so desire)...

These pictures are all from the left side of the cloth.

Over the next couple of days I will show you more.

Now I can't wait to start another one!!!!!!!!!

Points of the prairie sort - and swelled heads

Today, after a week of non-stitching activity around these parts, I managed to find some time to get back to working on my white cloth and these pictures show the results...

There's a section of seven prairie points on one of the outside edges of my cloth and I'm working at decorating them.  For those of you who might (key word is *might*!!) be interested, the stitches I've used here include the Pekinese; Pearl;  Up and Down Blanket; Basque; and Armenian Edging.

As for the swelled head part of this post, I was just at the local library and was stoked to find that my book was shown in a special 'local authors' display.  I was totally surprised and feel quite honoured.  For those of you that don't remember, I typed and had published the daily diary of my 3xgreat grandfather and gave a copy to the local library in case some poor soul might happen to be interested in reading it.  I'm currently working on the diaries of my 2xgreat uncle with the plan of having them published too. 

Asking for help!!

I'm wrestling with a dilemma here and I need some input and hopefully some guidance towards what I'm looking for.  What better folk to ask than my loyal reader(s)???

Anyway....the issue is this.....I'm searching for embroidery stitch instructions.  Yes, I know....I have lots of books that have them BUT (and here's where I am running into a problem) I am unable to copy and use them because of copyright laws.  I have been asked to teach a workshop on embroidery in the near future and I really need to come up with a good, clearly illustrated handout to teach from.  There are plenty of places on the internet to downloud stitch instructions (some of them legal, and others not-so-much) but I want to be absolutely certain I'm not breaking any laws. 

I know there are great instructions from generous souls like Sharon B and Mary Corbett and I have no doubt they would willingly give their permission, however I want something that is concise (perhaps two or three pages of instruction at the most) and inclusive of the basic stitches.

Anybody have any suggestions??  Thanks in advance!

Edging on white cloth

The white cloth is almost finished, but I'm not going to reveal it all until it is.  In the meantime, here are some closeups of some of the edging I've been putting on...

It's a good day to stitch, because outside it's alternating between sun and huge and heavy flakes of snow...at times I can't even see the river for the snow.  It's the first of April so bring on spring!!

The reveal....

Remember yesterday I showed you pictures of some metal napkin rings and a wooden bowl that I picked up at the thrift store? 

This morning I fiddled about and this is what I created with them (with the addition of some denim scraps)...

I have the idea in mind that a sectional pincushion such as this would serve nicely to divide the different types of needles.  Total cost?....probably $2.

Happy Easter everyone!

May it be blessed and safe for all of you.

Studio pal and thrifting

It's been awhile since I posted a picture of my studio pain helper -

My cutting table doubles as his bed - so needless to say not much cutting gets done if Himself decides to take a nap.

His name is Cosmo - named after Kramer on Seinfeld.  Like his namesake our Cosmo delights in making a grand entrance into a room.














Yesterday we spent the afternoon moseying about our favourite thrift stores and I came home with these...

and this....

Now whatever do you suppose I might be planning to do with them??

A new ORT holder?

Today was our monthly CQTeers meeting and Sue taught us how to make these pretty little bowls...

Here's a close up....

Who knew that simple 'ingredients' like felt and buttons

could make something so pretty?

Mine is going to be my new ORT collecting bowl.

Thanks Sue!

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Almost....

Yes, my white wrapping cloth is ALMOST finished!!!  A few minutes ago I put the last embroidery stitch into the body of it and now it's on to the border embellishment and the backing.  I'm excited to see it finished (not because I want it to end, but because I want to SEE it!!).  I have had soooooo much enjoyment out of the making of this cloth and can't wait to start the next one.  I won't mention the fact that I probably have enough white goodies to draw from to make at least a half a dozen more - no, I won't. 

Sorry about the pictures appearing to be blue but, trust me, they ARE white.  In the picture above you can see a lovely little embroidered flower section - they were done by my maternal grandmother, probably in the late 1950's.

Back to white

We took #1 son home yesterday after he'd been here for a few days of R & R, so today I went back to stitching on the white cloth.  Here's some of the results...

The seam treatments on the cloth are rapidly drawing to an end, and then it will be on to creating something for the outside edge.  I really like prairie points, so I know already that there will be some of them involved!

And now for something REALLY different!!

We have our #1 son (the chef) home for a few days R&R and here's what went on in our kitchen today....

stirring the pot..

a watched pot....

see???.......

and we strain it....

and we squeeze it.....

and after awhile.....

IT BECOMES CHEESE!!!!

another bit...

I didn't get much time to do any stitching today but I did manage to create this...

Inside this crocheted flower is a penny, one of the last ones to be minted here in Canada.  It will be stitched to my white cloth to add to the memories it holds.

Another white section....

Are you sick of seeing this white cloth yet??

If you're not, and REALLY want to look at more

aspects of it, click on 'White' in the 'labels' 

section of the blog and you can explore the rest.

In the meantime, today I added this section...

Now I'm working on these...

Little crocheted bows that will be added to

the section shown above, 

and will look something like this...

As usual, you can click to embiggen!

The last piece of white!

Today I finished stitching the last piece of white that will be included in my cloth.  I'm not at all sure how I feel about it - glad that it's almost done and I can sit back and admire it, or sorry because it's nearly done.  Definitely some mixed feelings!   Oh well, I can console myself with the fact that I have a second one rarin' to go, and maybe another one to come. 

Here's the final block...

I still have a lot to do with this cloth because I still have a few small seams to embellish and then it's deciding what to do around the outside edge. Decisions, decisions!!

TUSAL and Knit

Oops, almost forgot to post my TUSAL results for the month (thanks Arlee for the reminder!!)...

Above is my pile of ORTS,

and below is my ORT jar to date...

If you embiggen the jar picture, you might be able to see the little pieces of paper that are tucked in with the threads.  I decided that, this year, I also wanted to keep track of the projects I finish and so I'm writing each thing onto a little slip of paper and including it with my ORTS.  At least then I won't come to the end of the year and wonder what I've done with my time!

and.....I've been knitting too.  This is one of the two hot water bottle covers I've done in the past few weeks....

A little bit of white

Here are a couple of little 'bits' I've added to my white cloth. 

 

Exciting morning!

Normally our days here at the House of Magpie are relatively un-exciting, with only occasional small blips in the radar.  Well this morning topped all the blips in a large fashion.

First of all, my friend Carroll arrived at my door for our usual Thursday morning coffee bearing this...

Here's a closeup...

 

Apparently I am on the receiving end of these because I have reached the ten-year mark of visiting the chiropractor (who just happens to be her husband) on a regular basis.  Wow!  They are absolutely gorgeous and the pictures definitely don't do them justice.  Thank you Phil and Carroll!!

Part Two of the excitement...

We were sitting, drinking our coffee and minding our own business when we heard a lot of yelling outside.  Some of you know that our apartment building overlooks the local river.  When we got out onto the balcony to see what was happening, it turns out two people had managed to end up IN the river.  You have to remember that the river is covered in ice still.  Of course there was a great deal of police, fire and rescue people running about.  The people got out on their own but we aren't quite sure WHY they got in there in the first place.  Perhaps they thought it would be fun to go polar dipping....or did they fall in....or did one try to drown themselves and the other jump in to save them?  Were they high on something and for some reason thought it would be fun to go swimming in the dead of winter?  Who knows.  It did add a certain element of drama to our usually rather uneventful coffee dates!!

And now...for something a little different

I did very little on the stitching front today, so I thought because Easter is rapidly approaching that  you might be interested on learning how to embroider on eggs. Mary Corbet is running a series of how to's and the beginning posts can be found HERE.    I must admit that this fascinates me!

Lace knitting

If anyone had ever said that I would attempt to knit any form of lace, I would have scoffed and say no way, never, not gonna happen.  Well, never say never...

Above you can see Mr. Bird modeling a lace knitted scarf that I actually completed.  I won't mention the fact that there are a few teeny-tiny mistakes that hopefully won't be noticed.

Here's a close up of the pattern...

 

Today's white

I haven't had a whole lot of time to stitch today, but I did finish one more section for my white cloth.  Currently it's being wet blocked and once it's dry I will show you a picture.  In the meantime, I've been working on this, which is another section of the cloth...

The fingertips are left loose as well as the cuff so something can be inserted inside.  Not quite sure what I will do next with it!