Tuesday, March 31, 2015

A gardenia bush

After some asking around I discovered that this beautiful flower is a gardenia. There are many more buds on the bush and I will take a photo when the bush is in all its glory.
Today I go back to my Mystic Stitch piece. I have finally broken down and  am trying "parking" my needle as a new technique for me. I will decide if I like it or not. Thòse are just water spots on the fabric, nothing serious... Not dirt.
Dear Jane is progressing. It is enjoyable because each motif represents a little finish and, let's face it working with only one colour is easy. My little fortune cookie waxer gets a good workout when I am working on this design. Did I mention in my last post that I have ordered 3 dozen of these little waxers for the shop. They come in a wide variety of cool shapes.
I just finished my 4 days on Ella's stocking. This time  I did neglect the back stitching so  I will have to hope I am in the mood for it the next time this piece comes up in my rotation. I do feel that I have been quarter stitched into oblivion though.

Thursday, March 12, 2015

WAXERS

The title of the previous post should be WAXERS!
LOL

Waders



Here is my progress on Dear Jane. I actually have one more day to work on it in my rotation and I am going to get at it just as soon as I have finished here. 
The little fortune cookie shaped thing in the picture is a waxer which I purchased from Janis at Noteworthy Needle  at the Nashville Show. 
Waxers, made from beeswax,  soothe the thread and make it more manageable. I wanted to try it for myself before I bought a bunch of them for Knowledge and Needles.
My verdict.. A good product! I used it on my DMC variegated thread on this piece all three days and it does everything as advertised. Where I found it particularly useful was when I had to do some " reverse stitching" , nobody's favourite task, especially when you are stitching one complete stitch at a time!
It made the ripping out a little less onerous.
I have not tried it when working on my Mystic Stitch piece because I think waxing a thread for the two or three stitches you get to do with each colour at a time, might prove more bother than it is worth but for when you can use up the whole length of thread it is worthwhile.
I will be ordering some for the shop...the next big decision will be which of the many, interesting shapes shall I order?
And lastly,  I have finally posted photos on my website of many of the new items I bought in Nashville. They are located on the pages of many of the designers and also, for the designers who do not have their own page on the Knowledge and Needles website, on the New Items page.
Www.knowledgeandneedles.com