Perfect Stitching Group

Time for the monthly SBQ from Lee:

Stitching is an activity that tends to be solitary. Sometimes I wonder if we choose stitching because we are more comfortable with pursuits that we do alone, or does our stitching cause us to be loners? So what do you think?

And you know that I can never stop with just one question or thing to think about, so here’s something else that’s been on my mind.

Since we’re stitching alone most of the time, it seems to me that we get great joy from coming together with other stitchers. It can be such a good feeling when we find a group of people who speak our language and understand our stitching excitement and passion. But since not all stitchers are perfect, not all groups can be perfect either. So…if you could create your own perfect stitching group, what characteristics would make it perfect?

Well, I take issue with the first part of the question. Crafting has generally been a group activity for me, and I rarely stitch alone. Now, I tend to stitch at night while DH and I are watching television or, in my case, listening to the TV while stitching. It's a way to keep my hands busy and away from the chips. :-)

But it is nice to get together with other stitchers, others who understand what you're doing and to some extent why you do it, although I think we each stitch for our own reasons. For a perfect group, you need people who could be friends beyond their stitching, people with whom you get along. And no one who feels she needs to be the center of attention or instruct the group in how to do things her way.

I've been fortunate to belong to both a crafting group and a book group in the recent past. The craft group started out as a Friday lunch thing at work and then moved to Sundays and has expanded to include other archivists and librarians. While we're all professional colleagues, it's our shared passion for creating that brings us together. The group is split between stitchers and knitters, with an occasional sewing project thrown into the mix.

The book group is sponsored by my college club. I actually helped start it with another librarian. What's really appealing about this group is that alumnae from the 1940s to the 2000s attend, bringing a wealth of diversity of perspective and experience. There's one woman who comes who drives me nuts. She's very friendly and means well, but I find her very grating. So I try not to sit near her.

I like being part of these groups. Now if I just had the time to attend more often than I do currently... I love my girls, but they do put a serious dent in my free time.

Happy 4th Everyone!

The girls had fun watching the fireworks from our stoop.

We hope you had a great day too.

Angel Update

Two years ago today, I showed you my progress on my Angel ornament for the Bride's Tree Stitch-a-Long. While I continued to make progress, this project was put on hold around November of 2008. Here's a photo of where it was then.

I'm planning on working on this some more over the next two months, as I have a fair amount of travel happening and will hopefully have some quiet stitching time.

On Libraries

Two articles about libraries came to my attention today. The first brings some joy.

4 Reasons Why the Library Should Affect Your College Choice

The second makes me see red and purple.

Libraries fading as school budget crisis deepens

The second is particularly maddening since public libraries are also suffering deep cuts in staff and hours, making access to information and resources even more difficult. Grr.

June SBQ

For the June Stitching Bloggers Question, Lee asks:

So many great things happen in the month of June. Graduations, lots of weddings, the First Day of Summer (for those of us in the northern hemisphere, anyway). Flag Day in the U.S. and St. Jean Baptiste Day for our Canadian friends. And for many of us, the third Sunday in June is Father’s Day and it’s a pretty big deal. We celebrate our fathers, or we remember our fathers or we try to treat our children’s fathers to a special day. So I decided that this month’s SBQ was going to have fathers in it in some way.

And here we go:

Tell us about something that you have stitched or plan to stitch for any father in your life. Maybe it’s for your father, your father-in-law, your children’s father, your grandfather, your godfather, or someone who was or still is an important father-figure in your life. Why did you choose this particular piece of stitching? Tell us the story behind it.

And because a simple one part question is never adequate, let’s go some more:

Often times we identify our love of needlework and our skills with our mothers or grandmothers or other women. It’s understandable because often they were are first teachers or role models. Now let’s think about our stitching life as it relates to our dads. Is there anything about our approach to stitching that we can recognize as traits of our fathers? For instance, does your dad (or any other important man in your life) have an approach to one of his interests that you can observe and think, “Hey….if I substitute the word “needlework” for “fly fishing”, we’d be pretty darn similar!” So tell us about it.

Coincidentally, today would have been my PopPop’s 101st birthday. He’s passed away almost 30 years ago, but isn’t it so odd that I always remember his birthday? And I can barely remember my own phone number some days.

~~~~~

This set of questions made me realize that I don't really do any significant stitching for the men in my life, or at least not the one's who are fathers. Sure, I've done a few ornaments here or there as Christmas gifts and that type of stitching, but nothing truly special. I don't think wedding samplers really count, especially not in this context. So, no stories.

Now, the second part of the set is more interesting. All the men in my family tree were handy. They were mechanics, electrical linesman, and those types of professionals. In general, they were very precise and methodical in their approaches to projects and could build or repair nearly anything as far as I could tell. I'm nowhere near as coordinated or practiced as they were, but part of why I've chosen the crafts I do is because the crafts offer the types of projects that allow me to be precise and methodical while allowing me to express my creativity. So, I cross-stitch, rubber-stamp, and basket-weave.

Useful Books

Last week's Booking through Thursday asked, "What’s the most useful book you’ve ever read? And, why?"

The first book that jumped to mind is When You're Expecting Twins, Triplets, or Quads, Revised Edition: Proven Guidelines for a Healthy Multiple Pregnancy by Barbara Luke and Tamara Eberlein. This book was definitely the turning point for me while carrying my twins. It had great information about what was going on without being scary and provided much-needed diet and nutrition information. My neighbor who's a doula lent it to me, and I read it in a weekend from front to back. I recommend it to anyone I know who's expecting twins or more. They can be a bit strict about bedrest, but that's the only thing with which I remember disagreeing (and so did my doctor).

1,000 backstitches

They should call this the pattern of 1,000 backstitches.

There's not a single cross-stitch in it anywhere.

I think I stitched every stitch in this twice.

The ripping nearly killed me.

And, then, of course, I decide to finish it as a biscournu and add the outlined border.

Sorry for the bad photo, but it's the only one where you can see the snowflakes and beads.

I'm glad I did this, but now I'm really, really glad it's done.

Sweetheart Tree Snowflakes in the Pines Platinum Cashel linen
I used the brown that the pattern used, the green that was one shade darker than the one used in the pattern, and the newer off-white, since the ecru just blended right in to the fabric.