LHN Sailing, Sailing

And finally, it's done. I didn't want to show you Sailing, Sailing until it was all framed up. I don't know exactly why. Perhaps it's because my photo taking skills are primitive at best, and taking a picture of a flat piece of fabric is especially difficult for me. OH, well, here it is.

I had some trouble with the mast lines. I knew I needed them tight, but not too tight as to pull the fabric apart. But, tight. Linen does shrink a tiny bit when dampened and ironed, which is great because stitches seem to "pop" up. In this case, my threads came a bit loose. Ick. Okay, so perhaps padding the piece in the frame would help. I did that, and it did help, just not enough to keep those darned mast lines straight and tight. Or are they gibb lines? I know absolutely nothing about sailing, never even been on a sail boat. So, what is a person to do? Without tight lines, don't the sails fall down? Okay, I'm reaching now--but seriously, it wasn't looking that great with those loose lines/threads. I had the worst time with that really long one. Glue. That's the ticket. A tiny dab of glue (Aleene's) on the under side of the longest thread. If I'd been smart, I would have done that before framing and on the back of the piece, to tighten it and keep it hidden. But I thought the problem would resolve itself when it was all in place.

Now, the big question. What do you think of the frame? My son, who gifted me the chart, thinks the decoration above is "too much", and that it looks over done. What do you think? Honest opinions please. Personally, I love tarting up these frames, and I think it makes them look more "one of a kind" so to speak.

Moving on. My newest project is really an old project. I'm stitching CCN's The Tea Room on a tea cozy. It's one of those Adam Originals, all sewn up. Can anyone stitch on those? I tried, I really did, but could not stitch with it all together. I ended up taking the tea cozy apart so that I could stitch the piece. When I'm done, I'll have to resew the thing together again. Crazy, I know. I could have just made one of my own, and not gone through the taking apart. Does anyone know how to stitch on a finished piece? I have another tea cozy, cup cozy and several other items that need stitched on--I know, stupid. Should have tried stitching on the first one I bought before buying more. But, its so tantalizing to see something all finished up that just needs stitching.

While I'm starting new projects, I have another one waiting to be started: Mon bo sapin by Tournicoton. It's part of a SAL for a group I'm part of. Most of the others are stitching it monochrome so that's what I'll probably do. Now to find an interesting silk color that is full of color changes.

Here is the picture of our little Banshee, begging. I didn't get the perspective quite right--I was sitting on the floor so her nose is what you see the most of. I'll be trying again, because she's just the cutest thing.

Before anyone asks, yes, this is our kitchen and yes that is a scrap of carpet on the floor. We took the carpet up when we were remodeling (which isn't done yet) and found more carpet underneath. Since we needed to dry wall the ceiling or do something with the ceiling (right now there is some cheap kind of paneling up there)--I was voting for pressed tin ceiling tiles--we haven't put in the new floor tiling. I so can't wait for that to be done. This floor is the absolute pits!

Off to get a little bit of stitching going. The house is quiet, everyone's gone for now and I'm sure enjoying the time alone. I hope everyone reading gets a little of that, the peace and quiet. Stitch on, my friends, and thank you so much for all of your encouraging words. Things are getting a little better each week. Hugs to all!