Needlepoint - I need a break

I have finished the bottom half of my needlepoint piece.  

 Initially, each square took about 3 hours.  I have improved my stitching technique and now it's only 2 hours.  Times 36 squares...

The top half 

will have to wait.  

 You can see that the yarns have tags on them.  These tags determine their place on the grid.  You can't really see the grid because I only marked one column and have been working off of that.

This is a diagram of the grid to which I attach the corresponding yarn as I work.

 OK, so I need a break, not because I'm not enjoying the stitching (except for neck and back pain for prolonged sitting) but I have other projects to work on.  Next - preparing materials for my fabric book presentation to POM.

Mazal continued

There isn't going to be a whole lot new in this endeavour until I finish stitching the grid.

This morning at 9 am it looked like this:

 Now at 11 am it looks like this:

Not a good photo but it takes about 3 hours for each square and I wanted to see how the colours look a little so I'm working on two at the same time.

What I have learned is that not all the yarn I "inherited" is the same thickness.  The burgundy and purple were thicker and harder to stitch.  I have no intention of unstitching them but the orange I will.  I will replace any colours I chose of the thicker yarns with the thinner, but sticking as close to possible to the original colour chosen.

Off to do something else.

Needlepoint and Mazal

 So we made the drive out to The Enchanted Needle, a needlepoint/embroidery store a fair distance from us (not exactly out of town but not exactly near us) and they had a needlepoint canvas I could work with.  Back to part one of the original plan.

Not related to either needlepoint or mazal, but from there I took the subway downtown to go to the Koffler Gallery to see an exhibit.  More about that in a minute.  I was on the University Line and needed to get to Queen Street.  Got mixed up in station names and ended up at Dundas Street.  I know the distance between stops is not terribly far and it was a nice day, I figured I'd walk.  Then I remembered that the Textile Museum is close by.  I stopped in and got a membership - they have a reciprocal agreement with other museums so I may finally get to the Bata Shoe Museum...).  There was an exhibit of quilts from Nova Scotia.  I am assuming the theme was related to black history month (underground railway quilts, etc.)  I wasn't overly impressed but I did get an idea or two.

Then I again got mixed up and got on the Dundas streetcar instead of going to Queen and catching the Queen streetcar.  About half way to my destination, I realized my mistake, got off the streetcar and walked down to Queen, caught the streetcar to Shaw.  Google directions showed the Koffler and Queen and Shaw.  On Shaw but not at the corner of Queen.

Let me just say that I got my steps in...  The Koffler exhibit was quite nice.  It was an exhibit of the makers who have studios in the Artscape locations where the gallery is.   Laya had mentioned that there were several textile artist exhibiting.  I especially liked the gigantic quilts of Carolyn Murphy and there were silk weaving panels as well.  But I was surprised that I liked the work of a painter who painted small pictures based on home photographs.  I initially thought they were photographs which were painted over but they were actually paintings of the photographs.  I did take photos but havent transferred them yet.  Maybe later (maybe not).

From there I walked to Ossington and took the bus to the Eglinton Station.  I haven't been on Ossington, Davenport, Oakwood in about 50 years so it was interesting.

That was Friday.  So today, I finished the first of 36 needlepointed squares I need for the Mazal project..

Oy.  It will be a time consuming process but since I'm not going anywhere, the stitching is meditative and gives me time to think about the next step.

I had originally thought to roll the dice to determine on which 18 of the 36 squares I would add stitching or beading.  Then I thought, game board - snakes and ladders.

So I will roll two dice to determine location X and again to determine location Y then flip a coin (on which one side will be marked snakes and the other ladders) to determine whether the connector is a snake or a ladder.

Still thinking - things may change.

 

Batting revisited

Since I can't needlepoint until I pick up a new canvas (there may be a field trip tomorrow to Knit Cafe on Dundas West and perhaps a visit at the Koffler Gallery on Bloor at Shaw), I am thinking about quilting some of my scrappy quilts, I will need batting.   Fabricland is having a sale - I have to go there to see if their prices are worth it.  I have to compare by the yard and packaged batting as opposed to something I saw at Kawartha Quilting - a roll of 96" wide by 30 yards for $218.99.  It may be worth the drive to Kawartha or shipping fees.  Or not, I have to check.

But before I do, I have leftover batting pieces.  I have learned not to mix the batting types, so I have three different types.  Not sure of names but I stored them separately in three groups.

 From the 1st and 2nd photos, I have less than the 3rd.  So I'm starting with it.

I roughly laid out the pieces on a double bed to get an idea if I have enough for one of the larger quilts.  I do.

 I have to trim them so they will sew together smoothly.  And I have more of these strips so I'll have to see how much there is after I join these together.

So if I can get my act together, I will sew batting and/or visit Fabricland.

 

Needlepoint - continued

So I started the needlepoint and it was going very slow.  Probably because I am using too small a mesh for the type of yarns I am using.

My second attempt was using plastic mesh.  The holes are larger and the stitching much easier.  But it is plastic mesh and I'm not sure I like the plastic.

So I called my local needlepoint store - they don't have the mesh.  It is back ordered.

So I'm back to square one.

I may rethink the project entirely, perhaps weave the yarn, or crochet the yarn, or something else.  I'm thinking. 

Needle felting

So I bought felting needles.

 Two kinds, three for "medium" and three for "coarse".  Not sure what it means yet.

 And then I thought what would I felt with and onto.  So with is the tapestry yarn and I am saving the cut ends for this purpose.

 

Onto is a different matter.  Then I remembered that I have the necktie "kishkes" (innerds).  So I pulled out my bin of kishkes and found these:

 

Turns out I had started using scraps on the kishkes sometime in the past two-three years.  Perhaps I'll continue with that too.

 

This is another one of the kishkes (what is the singular of kishkes?)  I like that it has frayed edges.

Started Needlepoint Stitching

 

I started needlepointing in D3 which is an orange colour.  I had forgotten how slow needlepointing is...

But I enjoyed stitching.  A few blips on the back until I remembered to check every few stitches...

I quickly realized also that the skein I pulled out will not be enough for the full square.  There is more orange, but nothing with documentation (i.e. the lot number paper) to identify it as identical.

So I will have to chose one or more of the following and try to match as closely as possible.

This is also mazal only mazal bish (bad luck).  But the varying shades of orange may make it more interesting which is mazal tov (good luck).

My Mazal Finds Us Project

So if you read my previous post about Mazal Finds Us, it outlined the concept of our POM challenge.

I have started mine.

I inherited a piece of needlepoint canvas which was marked with a pattern but never done.

I marked on the flip side a grid of 36 3" squares, six rows by six columns.

I designated the rows by letters A-F.

I designated the columns by numbers 1-6.

I also inherited a bin of tapestry yarns of many colours.  I chose 36 different colours and put the skeins in an opaque shopping bag.

I numbered slips of paper from A1 - F6 and mixed them up, placing them face down.

I then randomly picked a paper slip and pulled a skein from the bag (without peeking at the colour).

Here is the result:

I will now needlepoint the yarns on the corresponding grid location.

I am using a simple tent stitch.

When the grid is completed, I will move to part 2 of the project, the throwing of dice.  That will follow in a separate post.

Scraps - OK, now I'm really finished for a while...

 I took a hiatus from posting but not from sewing.

My last post was for a presentation I gave to the POM Guild about my scrap adventures.

Since then, I have completed these:

5" scrap blocks:

Some of the blocks are leftovers from the piano keys.

And this one, made from the 2" squares sewn into 16 patches:

And then I had some 5" squares which I sewed into 9 patches and then cut into disappearing nine patches:

And finally, I had some 16 patches made from 1 1/2" squares which I sewed into 9 patches and then disappearing again, but I left the 16 patches in the corners so they remained whole:

And that's all folks, for now.  I have very few scraps left from the original pile I started with.

I have a small containers with reds, blacks and greys.

And another with browns that I may put together for part of a backing.

But for now, I'm onto other projects - i.e. Mazal Finds Us.