The BP Border and Confusion

Now, I told you from the very beginning that I’m new at this! I really didn’t expect to confuse myself, but honestly, it happens more than I’ll admit. So, tonight, I thought – I’ll get the Bookplate Border on fabric. That’s easy. I’ll be stitching it on white cotton lawn – certainly thin enough to see through… I oughtta be done in 15 minutes tops. 20 minutes if I’m really careful, which I promised myself I would try to be.
I divided my fabric into 4 quarters (since I provided a quarter of the design). Now, keep in mind – I drew this design. So, I traced off 1 corner. Lovely! I turned my fabric to trace the next corner…. it doesn’t match up. (I drew straight lines approx. 3/8″ from the outermost of the design, on the paper – in my mind – to make it easier to line up on the fabric.)
It didn’t.
I had to turn over the paper, and do the lightbox thing and then it matched perfectly. So, 2 corners are done straight tracing and 2 corners (opposite, of course) are done lightbox.

Anybody know why?

Bookplate Borders

I love the old fashioned bookplates. Books were like works of art before you ever got to the story! So, I use a lot of bookplate designs in different things, when I design. I designed a border, that will be lovely when stitched and thought I’d share it with you. This is just the border, you can come up with your own content I’ve provided a quarter of the border, you can construct the full border from that, or use a quarter, or a half border! I also included some extra ‘scrollies’ in case you want them Here’s the sample of what it will look like (full size is about 12 1/2″ square)

 Download the PDF HERE It has one corner, and a few extra scrollies if you want to add them. It will look like this -

Knitting Update: GAAA (Great American Aran Afghan)

Back and forth, back and forth. I start the GAAA and then I quit. Then I have to try again and then I decide it’s too hard. Then I decide to try again. sigh. So, in the last year I’ve managed to make 2 squares for this afghan.

And yes, they are slightly different colors. Oh well – they will go on opposite ends of the blanket. The rest of the yarn is the color of the top one. Another reason to buy enough yarn in the same color lot.

New Book: Beginners Guide to Crewel Embroidery by Jane Rainbow

I received this book in the mail the other day and dove right in! It’s recommended by Mary Corbet on her excellent blog Needle ‘n Thread, so how could I go wrong? Well, I didn’t! This is just what I needed to refresh my skills and get my fingers accustomed to these movements again. I’d say it’s been about 25 years since I did any kind of serious embroidering or crewel work. And these fingers aren’t as young as they used to be!

So, the author – Jane – provides projects to practice our stitches, and starts with the easiest ones. Thankfully! I have a mish-mosh of needlepoint yarn and crewel yarn that I got in the mail the other day. One woman’s destash is another womans treasure! So, I picked out the yarn colors as best I could and I’m going with that.

I transferred the design to a heavier piece of white cotton. It’s not exactly the Linen/Cotton that’s recommended, but it will work just fine for my practicing. And I’m stitching! So far – chain stitch, split stitch and satin stitch.

Looking at these pictures and the close-ups I can see where I need practice. But this is a good thing, it doesn’t discourage me! It shows me where I need more practice.
I’ll keep you posted!