First project done

I have not been here to blog for a few weeks.  We had a very busy Spring break and I have not done much of anything but run and rest.  My husband's granddaughter just turned nine and was thrilled when her mom told her she could visit Papaw for Spring break.  Gene drove from Tennessee to Indiana, stayed two nights, then came home with Lexi.  We did something almost every day, and to say I was wore out is an understatement.

I did get a chance to begin her on her own needlework adventure. I had purchased a few beginner cross stitch kits for her, and she picked it up very quickly.  She had some trouble with her backstitching, and I made the quarter stitches for her, as we all know quarter stitches on Aida cloth is next to impossible.  I could kick myself for not taking a picture of her finished piece before she left, but it said, "Love you to the moon and back" with love being a pink heart.  I know her mom says this to her kids all the time, and I knew Lexi would want to make it for her.

So, after visits to Sycamore Shoals, Pigeon Forge, the Gray Fossil Dig Site and Museum, and other assorted day trips, I was finally able to get back to stitching with my poor achy feet propped up when Gene left for the return trip to Indiana.

I had been working on a small butterfly pin keep for my Cabinet of Curiosities class.  It is done in continental tent stitch on 26 count material and was fairly easy to do. 

 

First thing to do was to trace the design onto the fabric.  There are many ways to do this. For this piece I used a light board.  I taped the design onto the lighted surface of the board, then I centered and taped my fabric over the design. Using a very fine tip marking pen, I carefully traced the design onto the fabric.

Once this was done, I sewed strips of fabric to the two sides of the material.  I use quilt binding.  It is the right width and it is easy to work with.  I simply used a basting stitch to hold it in place.

 

I use Velcro with sticky backs to attach my fabric to my rods.  It is very inexpensive. The soft fuzzy size is permanently attached to the rod, and the hard bristly side I apply to the top and bottom edge of my fabric. When I done stitching, I simply snip the Velcro off and I am ready for finishing. 

 

Because this piece was so small, I chose to roll the fabric so the front of the fabric is on top of the rods. Usually I roll the opposite way, so that the back side of the fabric shows on top of the rods.  For larger pieces this helps keep the front of the fabric clean.  Any dirt that may be picked up along the rods will be on the back side of the piece, so if it doesn't come clean when washed, it wont show.

Next I used a heavy thread to lace the sides of the fabric to the side bars.  You can use any kind of thick thread, but in this case, I had a #5 perle cotton ball handy and I used that.  Lacing the fabric allows you to get a much tighter drum-like fabric so there is no sagging when you begin stitching.  The binding I basted onto the sides keeps the threads from pulling on the fabric, and gives a firm support to allow you to pull as tight as you want without damaging the actual fabric.

Once you are set up with framing, use a dark color thread and begin to outline the design, using your own judgment which side of the line to place your stitches as the design curves.  You can see here I am almost finished with my outlining. 

 

I ended up pulling the body out once or twice because I didn't like the shape I was getting.

 

The line to each side of the butterfly is the horizon line.  I had originally stitched this line, but decided I didn't want a hard line dividing the sky and ground so I pulled it out.

 

 

Next I did the color fill inside the butterfly.

Next

I then moved to the ground.  I started with a darker green and followed the horizon line for each row.  About a third of the way down I began to stitch every other stitch for three rows and finished off the dark thread.  I used a medium color in the middle, filling the spaces in the previous rows, then continuing with solid color until I got about two thirds down. Again I stitched every other stitch for a few rows to achieve a blending effect. I then finished off the bottom with the lighter color. I repeated this with three shades of blue for the sky, but doing straight lines beginning from the top with the darkest color.

 

 

 

I finished the piece following the instructions given in the class.  I was NOT happy with the finish, as this was my first time trying to finish something like this.  I may redo it once the class is finished and I know I don't need the extra fabric for other projects.

 

And this is my finished butterfly pin keep.  I have already begun stitching the next piece, which has a metal thread which is used in the background.  As soon as it is finished, I will post about that experience.