~ A Handy Tip ~

 Good Morning Friends & Folk!

a glorious Tuesday on tap for us here at the Farm ~

...sunshine and warm temps, along with a subdued breeze 

will have me stitching on the front porch swing after my chores are done.

as you may know, I am stitching a new design that is entirely made up as I go ~

I sometimes feel this helps my work look more primitive, and...

well this one fits that bill completely!

the border hasn't met up at all the way I had hoped for,

as you can see on the bottom left under the yellow house I am stitching:

no worries, 

as I said before I will embrace this as a happy accident and roll with it.

 Look closely at where my needle is below:

you can see that I am stitching the windows on this tiny house ~ but ~

I am stitching them over the already-filled in house!

the threads by the way, 

of this fabulous tiny dwelling are WDW;  Schneckley, Confederate Gray & Terrapin

SO beautiful together!

I find that by filling in all of my stitches. especially on a house ~ 

then going back in and stitching the doors/windows/details 

helps keep me from making a counting mistake...

~ you all know I love frogs, but not of the cross stitch variety!!!

my stitches may look a bit different than yours, too

as I like to wax my threads before I stitch ~ the wax keeps the threads tight and neat-looking.

also, I am a 'backwards' cross stitcher...meaning, I work from right to left when I stitch,
and turn my work upside-down to stitch row-by-row. 

Sounds confusing, but

~ being dyslexic, I have to find certain ways to do things 

so my brain and hands can communicate my thoughts into what I want as a finished product!

I think in my next post I'll will show you what I mean by 'backwards' stitching...

~ or ~ perhaps a short video will show better what I mean.

♥️

So, how many of you have stitched over your work like I mentioned above?

and how many of you will do it now that I mentioned it?

inquiring minds....

Blessings from the Farm

 ~ Lori

~ Counting Days & Stitches ~

 Good Friday Morning 

Friends & Folk!

We are busy as little worker bees here on the farm,

getting ready for the much anticipated ~

in only 27 more days!!

 just check out this FABULOUS list of Merchant Mall Vendors ~

~ By My Hands Needl'werks ~

* Carolina Stitcher *

~ the Craft Gallery ~

* Dames of the Needle *

~ Dixie Samplar Hand Dyed Fabric ~

* Homestead Needleworks *

~ Kathy Barrick Designs ~

* LeHay's Shaker Boxes *

~ Lela May Designs ~

* Lucy Beam *

~ Nebby Needle ~

* Nikyscreations *

~ Notforgotten Farm ~

* Samplers of Memories *

~ Summer House Stitche Works ~

* Teresa Kogut Designs *

~ Teresa's Prim Treasures ~

* Tree of Life Samplings *

~ Truffle Pigs ~

* Willow House Samplings *

!!!!! WOW !!!!!

 

aside from being a vendor again this year,

 I will also be teaching a class on punch needle :)

 

a combination of punch & stitch

I have been working on new cross stitch designs in between rug hooking, 

punching, appliqueing and painting!

I have been so busy in fact, that my little kitchen garden is full only of weeds ~

buttercups and chickweed mostly!!

 

to me, even a humble buttercup is most beautiful ~

 

 Hoping your day is filled with simple beauty and creativity ~

Blessings from the Farm

 ~ Lori

~ Free-Styling ~

Happy Sunday Afternoon

~ friends & folk ~

what a beautiful day!

4 loads of line-dried laundry

farmhouse has been swept

windows are open

chicken dinner in the oven

and now it's time to stitch a little ~

I'm working on a couple of 'free-hand' cross stitch designs at the moment...

you can read more about this fun type of stitching I do

on a previous posting

HERE

I begin by drawing out my motif onto my cloth.

I am using osnaburg {Cupboard Cloth ~ available in my Etsy shop}

this will be a sweet & primitive girl...

you can see my wonky stitches below ~

being that the stitches are not counted, some are large and others small ~

a few are stitched over 3 threads ~ perhaps even four, 

using 1 strand in areas and two strands in others

to achieve this extremely naive look I love.

my threads are DMC and are always waxed 

with sweet & smoky scented beeswax just like in the old days...

I'm working on her skirt now, 

and below you can see her pantaloons and feet ~

 a favorite needle-minder I made from a rather large antique mother of pearl button

keeps my needle handy for me while I choose thread colors...

my 'witchy' scissors-fob is simply made up of many items that I treasure:

a hand-stamped antique silver spoon that was gifted to me, 

a diamond pinky ring, beads, silver findings and antique bone rings

along with a tiny silver skeleton key charm and more shell bits.

{I especially love the chime-like clatter it makes while using my beautiful Bohin scissors!!}

these are the thread colors I've chosen ~

640, 869 & 611

sitting out on the porch

with needle in hand

listening to Roxy snore nearby...and the hum of bumbler-bees.

you can see where I pencil-in the motif,

~ then just simply stitch my X's to fill in...

I do continental stitch even though I'm not counting my stitches - but merely 'eye-balling' them.

{all 1/2 stitches going one way first ~ then coming back to cross over them}

I'll be framing this under glass, in one of Peter's wooden frames ~

think I'll paint the frame black & distress it heavily.

...love that look too :)

Hi Roxy ~ sleepy face

Well folks, the timer just went off ~

which means our supper is ready.

I'll stitch again later on this evening and hopefully finish this to show you tomorrow.

OH!

 TOMORROW!!!!

please don't forget to join me over at 

Pat Sloan's Creative Talk Network

where I will be a guest around 4:00 pm EST

{can you hear my knees knocking?}

http://www.creativetalknetwork.com

have a peaceful evening my friends...

~ Blessings from the Farm ~ 

 Lori

~ Progress ~

Holy Moly 

~ get out your long-janes & warm woolies!

it is C O L D here in VA this morning!

poor chickens are laying ice cubes again, and the donkeys & sheep won't even come out of the barn!

thank goodness for the sun

Last night I was able to pull a few stitches on the "Pin" project, 

as we shall refer to it ;)

I must say that I do love working on my 30ct Ironstone linen!

I like the splotching & staining and how the base linen that I use takes the staining, 

with little halo-ing.

I don't even need a hoop as it has a good 'hand', or is a stiffer linen.

I prefer a coarser linen than a floppy soft one.

I'm working this project 1 over 2

or one strand of DMC floss over two threads of linen.

and I am waxing my threads lightly.

I love the smell of pure beeswax & how sweet and smoky the scent is ~

I cannot wait until Spring this year ~

Peter & I are hoping to begin keeping a hive of honeybees again!

waxing your threads helps keep it from knotting up as you stitch ~

it also helps protect the thread color if you were to stain your finished project…

{which is really good for protecting specialty over dyed threads such as Weeks or Gentle Arts}

for whatever reason, I have always waxed my threads.

I prefer natural pure beeswax to the commercial 'stuff' on the market.

…the old ways are just best for me I guess :)

so below, you can see that I've stitched the border of the project

and have begun the wording.

the finished stitched portion will be approx. 5" x 5" 

… but the finished project will be around 6" x 6" or a hair larger.

I'll share more progress tomorrow ~

keep warm everyone!!

Hoping you all have a honey of a day!!

~ Blessings from the Farm ~

 Lori