Hi Blog Buddies,
How has October been treating you? Today near the Big City we're experiencing some of "October's bright blue weather," with temps in the upper 70's. I'm not complaining.
The big stitchy news here is my hardanger table topper. Can you believe it's done?! I got the woven bars finished a couple of weeks ago, and I've been futzing with the hemstitching since then. There's a lot of prep work involving with hemstitching. The instructions called for three rows of basting, but I got by with just two:
The basting lines perpendicular to the border were my idea. I did them in each corner to help me count threads, but fat lot of good it did me. Four threads were withdrawn for the hemstitching row. I actually cut two (yes, two!) incorrect threads. I then had to withdraw the threads cut in error, take a thread from the edge of the warp or weft of the fabric, depending on where I was, and reweave those in. I didn't see any other way around it. After those little episodes, DH started calling this piece the Devil Project.
But all's well that ends well...
This past weekend, we went to the Knox County Scenic Drive here in Illinois, as we normally do each year. It takes place on the first and second weekends of October. Most of the action takes place in and around Knoxville and Maquon. There are folks selling crafts, flea market items and food. A lot of the items are unusual:
I passed on this quirky lamp, but further down on the same table, three items did come home with me.
These wooden Shaker boxes are not quite as fancy as the very, very expensive ones that are for sale in my LNS, but I got all three for $8. If there had been more of them, I believe I would have bought them. I was ecstatic! As soon as I got home, I went stash diving and pulled out this chart:
How has October been treating you? Today near the Big City we're experiencing some of "October's bright blue weather," with temps in the upper 70's. I'm not complaining.
The big stitchy news here is my hardanger table topper. Can you believe it's done?! I got the woven bars finished a couple of weeks ago, and I've been futzing with the hemstitching since then. There's a lot of prep work involving with hemstitching. The instructions called for three rows of basting, but I got by with just two:
The basting lines perpendicular to the border were my idea. I did them in each corner to help me count threads, but fat lot of good it did me. Four threads were withdrawn for the hemstitching row. I actually cut two (yes, two!) incorrect threads. I then had to withdraw the threads cut in error, take a thread from the edge of the warp or weft of the fabric, depending on where I was, and reweave those in. I didn't see any other way around it. After those little episodes, DH started calling this piece the Devil Project.
But all's well that ends well...
Cindy Valentine's Pristine
Started in April, 2006
Finished on October 4, 2015
(I didn't want to take it into the double digits, yearwise.)
I am glad that this is finally done!
This past weekend, we went to the Knox County Scenic Drive here in Illinois, as we normally do each year. It takes place on the first and second weekends of October. Most of the action takes place in and around Knoxville and Maquon. There are folks selling crafts, flea market items and food. A lot of the items are unusual:
The piece will look fabulous
mounted on top of the smallest box!
Knox County is really pretty in the fall.
Here are some photos:
This is Wolf Covered Bridge.
And just north of Knox County is
one of my very favorite Illinois two-lane roads,
Henry County 5.
It's a lovely stretch of rolling hills and farms.
That's it from here.
Thanks for dropping by.
8 comments:
Your table mat is stunning. A wonderful finish, well done.
What a bargain those shaker boxes were. I'm looking forward to seeing your new project mounted on one.
Lovely pictures of your journey, it's lovely to see other areas in the world.
Wow that table mat looks amazing. Sounds like you had a fair bit of trouble with it, well done for sticking with it. Those shaker boxes look great, can't wait to see what you do with them.
What a truly gorgeous piece of work, Pat!! I would never know you had to weave any threads back in. I am so envious of the great deal you got on those boxes--the BBD piece will be perfect on one of them.
Such pretty scenery in Knox County--perfect pictures for this beautiful October we've been having :)
Lovely stitching and finish.
Linda
Your table topper is amazing to say the least. It was a LOT of work and turned out gorgeous. You choose such stupendous projects and every one is a work of art! Love the find from the flea market. Those boxes will be beautiful when finished with your lovely needlework! The photos of the scenic drive are really pretty. It was a really nice day that day. Congrats on that super tablecloth finish!
I recognize your pictures. :-) Especially the ones of County Road 5. I'm glad it's one of your favorites! What a great find on the shaker type boxes. I'm so sorry I missed meeting up with you last weekend. I am glad you found the library tho. I hope we can connect the next time you make it downstate.
Your hardanger piece is beautiful! Congrats on the finish!!
Congratulations on your stunning hardanger finish! What a lovely drive and outing you had! A very nice lot of boxes that you scored; good for you!
Robin in Virginia
Hooray for finishing the centerpiece, it looks amazing! Great find on those boxes too and how excellent you already had the right chart for the top one. :)
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