This I was taught very young along with playing the piano. It was considered requisite to becoming a young lady, along with being able to discourse on any subject your partner brought into the conversation. I play the piano barely adequately, hand sew nicely, and converse...well, you may dicide that for yourself. (And yes, I do know how to spell embroidery...sigh)

i learned to embroider as a child but can't do it now to save my life (i really wasn't a great student). but, have taken up learning crewel and embroidery. but what i really love to do is cross stitch and i have several pieces in my home adorning the walls. the pieces i pick take a year or so to finish and don't give me any of the cutesy stuff to work. do mostly wildlife and am particular about those pieces as well. there's nothing like hanging a piece of handworked stitchery on the wall! (ok, maybe a couple of things better)

Are you doing plain cross stitch or counted cross stitch? On is a very fine art akin to needlepoint and the other tapestry arts. (Yeah, but you cannot hang THAT on the wall *grin*)

i do counted cross stitch and am working a sampler on 25 count linen. it's more like tapestry, which i love anyway and needlepoint is much closer to tapestry.

That is really an artform. It should not be called anything "cross stitch" since it is often mistaken for the crude form little children are taught as their first use of needle and embroidery thread. Your sampler should become a family heirloom for your daughter and so on. Don't think David needs my stuff, though when I looked at the photos of their Christmas tree, there were plenty of things on there I had made *grin*

My daughter is a beautiful counted cross sticher, she has done some truly lovely work. i don't have the patience. I prefer varied embroidery and was delighted to see one I did a long time ago framed at my friends house recently.

What a huge compliment to find your creation framed and displayed in someone else's home. I am very impressed. I have done entire tea sets (tablecloth, serviettes and teapot cozy matching) but they are mildewing just like everything else.

I was impressed with it too!!! coldn't believe I'd done that. It was based on the Diary of a country Lady and reperesented the seasons. One day I'll get into design. Oh I have all these great ideas for when I retire in umpteen years time!!

maybe i can scan some of E's work for you to see, it really is impressive.

I taught my girls to sew in the evenings while their Dad read aloud to us. Very cosy!

Please do scan it whatever size you can do it and I will resize it for you. We did some other scanning and resizing of live embroidery in Collecting conference and it came out just fine.

I taught my son to sew on buttons and to repair open seams and such...He is no artist when it comes to this skill. It is good he needs us for something!

I taught T to do the same, by refusing to do it for him. I may not always be here .... How do I scan things that are too big for the scanner? Do I do it in parts?

yes. do it in bits. unless you have a digital camera or instant camera, you can just send that. i'd love to see the piece!

I took it out of its frame and sent the scanned pic to Marcia to put in for me. I had to adjust the brightness etc as it's on a black background, but I think it came out OK. (it fitted on the scanner oK) How do you put the bits together again if you do it in pieces? I haven't figured out how to scan my painting in. (I have taken a photo and will see if that can be scnned in OK)

you'd post it one right after the other without spaces inbetween. like this: (note substituted the { for <) {img src="img.gif"}{img src="img2.gif}{br} {img src="img3.gif"}{img src="img4.gif}

whether or not the images appear side by side will depend on the size of each image.

can't wait to see it btw!

I will post it...Hold your horses!

Esther's needlepoint

Maggie, you sent it at 128KB which was fine, but far too big and wasteful of space on Terry's Hard drive. I reduced it to 44KB. Do not like to go much above 32KB, but his come out very well. Thanks. I'll be happy to resize and post your things when you get them scanned.

Thanks. The colours are a bit disappointing, but I couldn't get it any better. It's called Dragon Isle and is counted cross stitch on black Aida.

isn't it hard to cross-stitch on black? i had to make sure the light was just right in order to see the holes. and it's especially tough when trying to stitch in darker colors, esp. black. the dragon is excellent and intricate. it must've taken her a while to finish this one.

It is very hard to count rows and stitches in very dark yarn, too, even using magnifiers and arc lights... I particularly love the temple/palace in the background.

The temple shows more clearly in the original. We keep meaning to get round to designing our own pictures - she's a good artist too, one day I'll get the software. Haven't got any more of her stuff at home just now, they've all been given away to people. anyway, glad you like it, she was very surprised.

ok you veteran cross stitchers out there, i've got a project being worked on 25 count evenweave fabric. it's big and intricate so i've got it on stretcher bars to allow me to work on more area at a time instead of having to constantly readjust the hoop. how do i keep the thing taunt?

Wolfie, the tension (tautness) adjustment should be on the hinge - at least the enclosed ones are. If there is no othe place to adjust the tautness, hanging weights on the bottom of the piece works well. Has for millenia, as any archaeologist can tell you...

the stretcher bars are the kind with a slits on both ends (top and bottom) for you to wrap your cloth around, then you roll it and tighten the hand bolts on both sets. but it never stays taut. so there's no place to hang weights.

http://www.twdesignworks.com/Designs/egs.html is the site with a pic of my first teresa wentzler design that i'm presently working on.

Wolfie sweetie, you may just have to resort to a google search for "stretcher bar tension control" or some such. I have never used them... How frustrating!

it's ok, just keep having to tighten the bars over and over!

Try some rubber bands on them...

I'll ask Esther when she gets in - she uses a similar frame, actually come to that so does Tony for his tapestry ....I'll get back to you...

as if i don't already have enough projects to do, i ordered two more from thestitchery.com *laugh*

Pack them up, dear... If you would like I can send you the celtic needlework horizontal bars from here. The Spring can still not see my files on the net for rc functions, but they can see yours. I'll email them to you in any case if you have time to put them on.

Why am I unable to see the photo of Esther's piece? Is something wrong at my end?

marcia, send away!! where's esther's picture at? it was really big, i remember that much!

Here are two articles pertaining to this topic: Viking Embroidery Stitches and Motifs The Development of Embroidery Throughout Chinese History

thank you for giving us some more stuff to look at! (and add to our list of things to do!!)

Wolf, the Celtic stitch bars we orignially used here are on their way to you. If it works, I just might send you my buttons and bars for geo since my rc files cannot see where they are and you and I checked that out thoroughly. *Sigh* Only parts of Spring love me, I guess *;)

Great links, Anon. celtic embroidery can be done on anything from heavy damask to standard weight cotton. In each case it is lovely and adds so much class to what you are doing. Gold threads occasionaly added make it glisten quite amazingly!

I wondered about where Esther's embroidery was, as well. Probably on my old site. Wolfie, I'm going to send you my buttons and bars so I can post them since Geobuttons in my Spring files is invisible to my rc file. Perhaps it could see yours!

well, like all hobbies, we put them down and pick them up again later. i'm still trying to finish that sampler but have taken on a smaller project to give me some satisfaction. the sampler is really tedious but will be worth it once it's finished. i've also been asked to stitch something up for a neighbor of mine but haven't a clue what to do. she likes lighthouses so i think i'll find a nice one of those.

I haven't done hand work in a long time. My hands rebel at using clutching a needle for long hours. Either I do computer typing or needlework. For my own sanity, I have chosen the computer!

*laugh*

Of course there are other people to consider. HM wishes I would take up the needle again but think of all the kind people who say they would miss me. I would miss them even more! Besides, this keeps my mind occupied. Needlework tends to make it wander where it probably should not go. *;)

HM says that to keep you from us *HUGS*

HM has found the one place he cannot isolate me from the world. I will not allow him to gain that goal. I am now in the "driver's seat." More to come over the weeks ahead. I just wish the world was a lot smaller in some places and a lot bigger in other places. *sigh*

please do keep me posted sweetheart!! you are my twin afterall!!! *HUGS*

Both here and email, Sweetie!

ok, you know those 50% off coupons you get for framing? well, i had one for the entire project and it still cost $100!!

Wow!!! I am looking forward to doing more knitting, crocheting and handsweing when I am back on the mainland. It is too sticky hot out here to do it in Hawaii - and then it mildews. Paradise? Not for me!