New Project, As Promised!

So, evidently, there is a bit of interest in what exactly I am up to at the moment, so I feel a little bit sheepish in announcing that my new project is spinning off from Monarch (which, as most of you will probably recall, was a design generously gifted to me by Jeanne Dansby at WyrdByrd Designs, and is now available for purchase at Ant of Sweden!). Remember when I said I thought that Monarch might be nice finished as the cover of a treasure box?

Well, I've decided to do it! One of the unfinished boxes I had in my stash is square, with the perfect sized opening to insert Monarch into! I've never actually done a box finish before, but I am looking forward to trying my hand at it. I'm going to paint it black, but am unsure of the finishing as of yet. I have been looking for a fabric to line the box bottom and top with, but although I found a few possibles, I haven't found anything with my colours in a pattern (or even a solid, unfortunately) that I love. But I do know what I'm putting in it!

I'm making myself a set of stitcher's tools!!!

Don't know what I'm talking about? That's perfectly okay, as I really hadn't heard the term either until I started reading stitching blogs regularly. Mostly, it refers to very small finishes, also known as "stitcher's toys", of the sort featured on the popular gallery blogs The World's Largest Collection of Smalls and The World's Largest Collection of Smalls, Too. Often, these are made and given as tokens of friendship, and are very popular in stitching exchanges (or so I've heard, having never actually participated in one).

Stitcher's tool sets can vary, but most follow the general form of this jaw-droppingly gorgeous set from Victoria Sampler, stitched by blogger Anna-Zont and featured on TWLCOST on March 30th, 2011. This set has a pincushion (in the distinctive French tufted fashion known as a "biscornu"), a scissors' case and scissors' fob, and a needlebook.

Honestly, despite my admiration of stitchers who work with smalls, I've always thought them to be a bit fussy; great for decorations, or keepsakes, but not really practical for the everyday. So, I have decided to basically meld form with function and attempt to assemble a practical set of stitcher's tools to help me while I work. It sounds strange, I know. I have never seen a stitcher's set actually made to work with and stand up to use. But my Great-Grandmother had a maxim that 'just because something is useful, it doesn't mean it can't be pretty', and my Mother has taken it to heart over the years, resulting in many lovely things in unexpected places throughout the house, much to my ever-lasting horror and protest ('It's too good! You can't use that! It needs to be framed! All that beautiful work!').

And to my secret delight, of course. For I do so love pretty, shiny things :)

Therefore, I am going to make some usable stitchery! Right now, I basically work with a plain pair of scissors, a small magnet for my needles, a pincushion that hates tapestry needles and only works well with sharps, and my thimble. On whatever surface (usually my little lap desk) that is currently holding my stitching pattern. And although I have thought of making pincushions many times over the years - and in fact made two, for other people - I have never once thought of making one for myself.

And Monarch is so lovely that I didn't want to put it away until I could find a frame (my usual practice). I want to look at it every day and see the sun shine on all its sparkles! And when I started thinking about the stitcher's tools, I knew I wanted them to complement Monarch. I was going to try to adapt one of Jeanne's free designs, but eventually decided that since this is likely the only set I'm ever going to make (seriously), I might as well do it right, and so I have taken Jeanne's excellent advice about motifs to heart and have embarked on making all sorts of Monarch smalls to fit in my (yet to be made) Monarch treasure box! As of now, I've charted out a pincushion, a scissors' fob and a scissors' case.

And here is the Scissors' Fob Stitching Progress and Finishing!

I started by stitching the center Monarch medallion in inverted blackwork on two squares;

And then I filled in the blackwork, using the same metallics and stitches as in the original piece. I did make one change; instead of using the DMC Jewel Effects I used in the star for the corners (as I did in Monarch), I added the gold so that I could have the full range of colours represented. Here are some close-ups:

Before Fill -

After Fill -

As you can see, one side has turquoise diamonds, and the other has purple. I had initially meant to do both sides in turquoise, but really, where's the fun in having the front and back the same?! This way, to get a different look, all I have to do it flip it over. And I also know which side is the 'front' which turned out to be helpful in the finishing :)

Also, I should mention here something that I forgot to talk about before; the Smyrna Crosses and Algerian specialty stitches I used to fill are the Eyelet Variations, which I stitched instead of the regular ones in my enthusiasm and, quite frankly, entirely by accident at first. When I realized my mistake (like halfway through the work *oops*) I was going to take them out. But then I decided that I quite liked the look of eyelets and how they sort of echo the eyelet naturally created in the middle of the star stitch. So I kept them :)

I am going to spare you the painful process of assembly. Oh, I had studied all sorts of tutorials, which I'm not going to link to here because none of them tell you how @#&)*^! hard it is. Sufficient to say, several unladylike words were uttered that day. And it was a "day". It took me a whole afternoon and a substantial part of one night. What the pictures don't show is that this thing is tiny. I only have one pair of scissors, after all, and they are rather small. And so I just didn't see the point of making some huge awkward quasi-pincushion to forever be elbowing out of my way.

The stitch count, to the border, is 18 across and 18 high. Even on 14 count Aida, it's small.

But the teeny-tiny nature of my fob was not the problem. No, it was the whipstitching. The evil, thrice-damned, utterly-impossible-if-you-are-not-an-octopus whipstitching. Which is unfortunately the prized method of stitching together smalls, if all these happily-whipstitching tutorial makers are to be believed. "Oh, whipstitching is sooooo fun!" they joyously exclaimed. "Oh, whipstitching is sooooo fast!" they exulted, smug in the fact that they were sharing all of the steps and none of the pain, thereby passing the torture onto other unsuspecting stitchers new to this whole "finishing" game. 

Nay. Whipstitching is not fun. It is not fast.  I now loathe whipstitching with a deep and abiding passion. And so, I will have to stress my creative thinking and come up with alternative ways of finishing the rest of my tools, hopefully less painfully. Nevertheless:

I finished it! It was a miracle. And I'm glad I got one, because I am never making another!

So much thanks goes to whatever divine being happened to take pity on me. Not only did I spend forever trying to close it, but I had to take it all apart - twice - and restitch the sides in an effort to get the ribbon to set in right (!). It's still a bit off, but oh well. I was not redoing it a third time. I know they say it's the charm, but by that point I was ready to burn the thing.

 This is how it looks when united with its proper mate, my stitching scissors:

Once I stepped away from it for a while, I could even admit it's pretty (try squinting a bit if you don't believe me, lol). I'm trying not to wince, even as I type this, at how bumpy, lumpy and unattractive my pitiful whipstitching is. And that's another good thing to remember: whipstitching, as well as being neither fun nor fast, is not pretty in the least. Not. At. All.

Here are some close-ups of the edging, just so you know I'm not being overly nit-picky:

So there you have it! My non-Internet hiatus was productive in the sense that I finially got something finished and have a great deal more somethings coming up soon! I am now the proud owner of a small stitcherly decorative finish that will hopefully be practical and enable me to locate my scissors better while I stitch (they tend to slip under the pattern pages, and slide off into my lap, and so forth)! It may be wonky. But's that's all right. Because wonderfully wonky things are most welcome wherever I am :)

Next up: my Monarch-inspired Pincushion! With no accursed whipstitching!!! *Whew*

Monarch, in all its Majesty!

Happy news! Last night, after much creative figuring, I finished my Monarch Variation!

First, I filled in the last border of the Monarch square:

As you can see, this fifth border is the last and final (following what I think of as the Blue Diamond Border, the Beaded Border, the Celtic Knotwork Border and the Blue and Gold Border). This one is really special, because it brings all four colours together, and has these awesome corner finials that have a diamond with one stitch of each colour! I really like these because I think the circular shape echoes back to the central medallion and the multi-coloured, eight-pointed star.

This is also where the filling stitches and colour suggestions stop on the chart, as Jeanne has, quite wonderfully, left it to the stitcher to fill in the Variation points of the diamond. So, I put on my thinking cap last night, and I tried out some different things.

One of those things did not work. At all. You see, I had this idea of where I would like to add some additional seed beads to reflect on and expand the lovely Beaded Border. My initial idea was a few here and there for highlights. But then, filling in the topmost diamond, I got bead crazy! Seriously! I had almost every free space filled in with a bead. So many spaces, in fact, that there was hardly any black fabric left to be seen! I was, in all truth, rather smug at my beading prowess. You see, it has also been a very long while since I've exercised my beading imagination on my (poor defenseless) cross-stitches, so more meant better.

But, as I pulled back a little, and put it down for a few minutes, I wondered what I was thinking. It was too much. Far, far too much. And it really obscured the beauty of the arch. Thankfully, I had only done the one, so I spent a good half hour sheepishly taking it all out. My smugness had evaporated. But this turned out to be for the very best, as I then took up my beading needle with renewed determination and added (much fewer) beads in the (much plainer) pattern I had initially intended, and was (much more) pleased with the end results.

Behold! My Magnificent Monarch Variation (yes, I am quite humble, aren't I? *wink*):



And a close-up of the topmost arch of the diamond:

You can't really see much of the archwork in the photo of the whole work, and I apologize for that. It was hard to take a good picture, as it is a good-size piece. But, all four arches of the Variation were stitched the same. As you can see, I put a trio of staggered beads on a diagonal between the fourth and fifth borders, and then a small sprinkling of beads from the bottom to the top of the arch, three on each side. After much debate, I decided to leave the sides of the arches and the lattice work beneath each arch medallion white, to better set off the colours elsewhere. The sides of the arches are a repeat of the fifth and final Monarch border, but as they are diagonal, the diamonds are much smaller and not really conducive to the upright crosses.

The finials of the Variation arches reflect back on those of Monarch, and really tie the motifs together. As the finials on the fifth border on Monarch are mirror images of each other, I wanted to make those at the top and bottom, and right and left, reflective of each other as well. I decided on a sort of harlequin-esque mix, in which the main two colours stay the same (the jewel mix and the turquoise) and the two supporting colours (the purple and the gold) are placed opposite. You probably can't see that, but I like how they turned out.

Actually, I quite like how the whole thing turned out, and that makes me very happy :)

I haven't decided yet how I'm going to finish it - with a traditional frame (which is what I usually do) or by making a sort of keepsake box. I've seen some interesting tutorials, and have two wooden boxes I bought a while ago for that purpose but didn't use (as I framed the piece instead), so I may try that. The geometric nature of Monarch would lend itself beautifully, I think, to being viewed from all angles, and that - to my mind - would make it great for a special treasure box. So we'll see about that.

For a stitching review, I'll quickly talk about what I used:

I worked my Monarch Variation on 14 count black Aida (from Charles Craft) in an 8" wooden hoop. For the blackwork, I used 1 strand of DMC pearl cotton (#8 - the size on the spool, not the more common #5 in the skein) in white. I chose pearl cotton for its wonderful sheen, but it had an unexpected advantage - as one strand is roughly the thickness of two strands of cotton floss, you get the coverage of two strands without any splitting of the strands or need to keep the threads even. You get really good tension, and the slightly thicker pearl cotton is a good match for the metallic floss, which tends to be a bit thicker than cotton. It fairly glows agains the black, like opal or moonstone.

Further enchancing the gemstone feel, I chose to use metallics for my specialty stitches. The reason I inverted the traditional white fabric/black stitches look of blackwork was so that the darker fabric might show off the sparkle of the metallics flosses better. It worked even better than I had intended, and this is definitely a combination that I'll be trying again. 

You can view the original colourway here. I used two strands of each metallic. I've mentioned the colours before, but here is how they coordinate to the colours of the pattern: for the Yellow, I substituted DMC Jewel Effects (Light Effect E130); for the Green, I used Janlynn Turquoise (no colour number); for the Red, I used Mill Hill Antique Glass Seed Beads in 03003 (a metallic red) for the Bead Border and as additions to the work, and used Janlynn Purple (no colour number) for the red specialty stitches elsewhere; and for the Blue, I substituted DMC Gold (Light Effects E3821, formerly Metallic 5282). To attach the beads, I used one strand of Guterman 100% Polyester Thread in White (colour #20), using a size 12 beading needle. I anchored each bead with a cross (just like a cross-stitch, only going through the bead) to keep them fair. I find that if you use a tent stitch (bascially half a cross-stitch), as many suggest, the beads skew a little, so this little trick prevents that.

The chart, designed by Jeanne Dansby from WyrdByrd Designs, was incredibly easy to read, which I really appreciate, and included a page with helpful stitching diagrams for the blackwork. Even though I have been stitching for a while, I really appreciated stitching diagrams when I first started, and I still enjoy them as 'memory refreshers', especially when working in a technique - like blackwork - which I haven't used for a while. Although this design isn't yet available on her site, there is a large collection of free blackwork designs that Jeanne generously provides that you could adapt to try out this technique (note: I have added the link to my new Free Patterns page, so you can visit from here at any time).

I immensely enjoyed working this design, and very much recommend WyrdByrd Designs, as I will certainly be doing more of Jeanne's charts in the future. I can't wait to dive into her wonderful archive of free patterns! There may be some specialty stitches worked in too ;)

And finally - My Superly-Superiorly Skillful Secret to Specialty Stitches:

A sharp needle.

Yes, really. Have several sizes of sewing needles with sharp points at hand at all times. I discovered this a few months ago while working on a large design that used fractional cross-stitches extensively. I can't believe that I never thought of this before, but I used to patiently (and not-so-patiently) try to tease apart the weave at the center of the Aida square with the blunt tip of my tapestry needle in order to pass my floss through. And then, in a fit of flash-bulb inspiration (brought on by a great deal of frustration), I picked up a sharp-tipped sewing needle from my pincushion and used that to open up the weave. Simply poke the tip into the center where the threads are tight, and wiggle it a bit as necessary. And then use your tapestry needle to pass your floss through. And voila! A nice, neat fractional!

I have since found it very helpful to keep a number of different sizes at hand, to use depending on how large or small an opening I need. You can buy sewing needle packages with assorted sizes inepensively at most dollar stores or anywhere where sewing notions are sold. It has changed my attitude about fractionals completely, from nigh-on-impossible to surprisingly-possible. And you can stick your sharp, when not in use, in the corner of any extra fabric in your hoop! Or your own shirt, in a pinch, but be careful - sharps are sharp!

This little technique is immensely useful for specialty stitches as well, as most contain fractionals (whether 3/4 or 1/4 or 1/2). Monarch, for example, uses fractional stitches in several places, even in the blackwork. The Celtic Knotwork border, for example, uses them to form the delicate overlapping effect. So this is a very helpful hint to add to your personal Magical Bag of Stitchy Tricks :) I hope I've explained it clearly. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask!

Thank you very much, Jeanne, for making this project possible for me.

I'm going back to my Twilight Angel, as soon as I've finished gazing at all the sparkle :) This, in all honesty, may take a while. Like, a few days. There's that much shimmer and shine!

But I can't guarantee that there won't be some more blackwork in the evenings...

And Suddenly! Sparkly Threads!

I've finished the (white) blackwork stitching on Monarch:

Isn't it pretty? I think the pattern would look lovely left like this as it is reminscent of lace.

But the really exciting news is that I've started adding in the specialty stitches.

And lo, the sparkles magically (ha!) appeared:

You can see them better in this photo:

As you can see there are some seed beads in there as well, in the second border, which substitute for the original French knots (I loathe French knots, with a deep and abiding passion borne of long experience with trying - and failing - to like stitching them and so I substitute them all the time).  There is also a minor change in the colour order of the third border, the Celtic Knotwork, but there is good reason and I'll explain about the metallic thread conversions in my stitching review when I finish, as it's rather pointless trying to talk about that without context, and I did not intend to do so today.

No, today I wanted to talk about something altogether different - Specialty Stitches!

You see, I haven't actually worked specialty stitches in a long time. In ever, effectively. I have tried to incorporate them into designs in the past, but always felt that my stitches were too messy and never looked quite right, so I ended up taking them out again. I have fallen in love with designs that used them extensively in the past, and I always meant to get around to trying them, but I always put it off. I did add a sort of star stitch to several Christmas ornaments I did in December this year, but that was more by accident than design.

It's just that specialty stitches always seem so, well, complex. And more like embroidery than cross-stitch. Logically, cross-stitch is a form of emboridery, sure, but specialty stitches seemed, to me at least, to be denizens of the world of pulled-thread work, hardanger, and free-form stitchery, and didn't seem to have much place in the rigidly charted world of counted cross-stitch. And, truthfully, I've always found them a bit intimidating.

So, when I fell in love with Monarch and was generously gifted the chart, I was a little alarmed that I might be in a bit over my head. I loved the look of the specialty stitches that Jeanne used, those being Algerian Eyelet, Smyrna Crosses and Upright Crosses (as well as the substituted French knots) and variations thereof. The stitches themselves go by many different names, but the form will likely be familiar to you. They certainly were to me.

Instead of panicking about it, while doing the blackwork I sort of pushed it into the back of my mind and mulled it over. I thought about ways to fill in the colour using regular cross-stitches and fractionals, and had pretty much resigned myself to doing so. But the longer I looked at the chart, the more I wanted to at least try the specialty stitches, until - at last! - something clicked.

When I was young, I wanted to draw stars. I could draw every other geometric shape, but I couldn't draw a star. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get the connection and my points were not only wobbly and all over the place, but I could not manage to even get the right number of them! This went on for, what seemed to my younger mind at least, a long, long while. I wasn't used to not being able to do something I wanted, with enough practice, and it frustrated me greatly. It wasn't until I was sitting and drawing with my Grandfather one day, and he noticed my plight, that things turned around. He listened to my problem, and then he thought a while.

Finally, he asked me if I could draw triangles. Well, of course, I could draw triangles (obviously). He drew one on his paper, and told me to draw one on mine. I remember being very dubious at the time and quite upset that he didn't seem to understand that I wanted special stars, not plain old triangles. Then, he said to me something like "A star is really only two triangles, that go in opposite directions, laid one on top of the other", and he demonstrated by drawing another triangle - this one point down - over the one already on the paper that had its point up. I copied him, still uncertain. But then - I had my star!

Once I saw the connections, it was ridiculously simple.

I made all my stars like that for years, and even when I learned to draw them freehand, I always remembered the overlapping triangles and could always see the connection. I still do, all these many, many years later. And when I looked at the specialty stitches on Monarch, really looked at them, I saw a form that looked familiar. The Upright Cross-Stitch, after all, is only a Cross-Stitch tilted at an angle. And from there, it wasn't hard to see that a Smyrna Cross was only actually a regular "x" cross-stitch overlaid by a tilted "+" upright cross-stitch! And from there, well, the Algerian Eyelet was much the same, only with the ends of the stitches going down into the common meeting point of the center so that the stitches, when all put in, pulled the center out leaving a small circular opening, or the 'eye' of the eyelet.

And with that in mind, I enthusiatically threaded my needle with my metallics, and started in on the specialty stitches, slowing filling the lacy white frame of Monarch with sparkling, shimmery colour. I will not lie - the first few stitches were a bit difficult, especially all those oblong diamonds that are turquoise in the picture, as the tips of the elongated Smyrna crosses ended in fractional stitches and it took a bit of figuring to arrange how to place the fractionals without piercing the blackwork (I developed a useful trick that I'll be sharing later on in detail in another post).

So - they may not be perfectly formed. They may, indeed, be quite a bit lopsided. They may even be not quite rightly executed. But, they are, quite finally, my very first attempts at making the shiny stars of the stitching world, and I couldn't be happier with how they have turned out. And I hope that if you have had reservations about specialty stitches that are similiar to mine that this little epiphany might inspire you to take out your needle and stitch them with a new perspective. Because right now, my only regret is that I waited so long.

In this instance, I can honestly say - Thank You, Grandpa, you taught me everything I know ;) I just won't say it loudly, because I'll never hear the end of it. *rolls eyes*

Happy Specialty Stitching and Beading to All!

I'm off to add more sparkly threads.

(There are many sites on the web that provide tutorials about working specialty stitches. For some simple and clear stitching diagrams, I like the extensive archive at Johanna's Needlework Stitches, particularly the Cross Stitches and Variations, which includes the Smyrna Cross and Star Stitch, and the Pulled Thread Stitches that include the Algerian and other Eyelets. Designer Ellen Maurer-Stroh also has a useful list of Stitching Diagrams)

The Beauty of Blackwork



Image by Nuchylee / FreeDigitalPhotos.net


I love stained glass. On vacations and visits to new places, I like to stop in to any old churches in the area - preferably while the sun is shining, so I can get the full effect of the colours - just to see the stained glass windows. And I love sun catchers made with stained glass. There's just something about the way the sun shifts through the coloured glass and makes these wonderful prismatic designs that amazes me :) The craft is one I'd like to try my hand at one of these days, although I know it's far from easy.

What does this have to do with cross-stitch, you may ask?

Everything, because I recently fell deeply in love - at first sight, no less :) - with a beautiful stained-glass inspired blackwork design over at the Byrd's Nest, home of designer Jeanne Dansby and her wonderful WyrdByrd Designs line. Regally named Monarch, this elaborate geometric design uses specialty stitches with coloured floss to transform the black lines of a traditional blackwork into something altogether different and very special. You can view the design and the original post here, and I suggest you do, as you'll better understand my enthusiasm if you can see how very innovative and beautiful it looks. 

So, I left a comment on that post, telling Jeanne how much I liked it. And I started following her blog. What I didn't realize was that Jeanne had a generous reward for new followers that week, offering them a choice of four lovely patterns from WyrdByrd Designs for free. And, to my surprise and delight, Monarch was one of the patterns available!

Not only that, but Jeanne had added an additional extension to the original design, and this variation was included with the download! The variation can be viewed here. There is no colour added to this one, as Jeanne encourages stitchers in her pattern instructions to try their own colour combinations and materials. And that's what I've been working on all week!

In my defense, I didn't mean to start another WIP. I'm not usually able to juggle between different projects. I tend to get so absorbed in what I'm stitching that time away from that project feels more like a distraction than a pleasure for me. But I got inspired, and when I started pulling possible floss colours and combinations, I was so excited about it that I couldn't wait to start! That actually turned out to be a good thing, as my other WIP - Twilight Angel - has colours that are very close together (at least in the overskirt) and is better stitched in natural sunlight, which there hasn't been a lot of where I am lately.

Here are some pictures of my progress:

This is the center medallion and first three borders

This is the finished Monarch, with the first two sections of the diamond Variation

And this is where I am right now, with three sides of the Variation done!

For my work, I am using 14 count Aida in black and 1 strand of DMC Pearl Cotton #8 in white. While it might seem strange to invert the traditional white background/black stitching, I am intending to use metallic flosses for the specialty filling stitches, and I hope that the dark fabric will show off the sparkle and shine a bit more.

These are the colours I'm thinking of using for the filling:



From the top: Janlynn Purple, Janlynn Turquoise, DMC Jewel Effects and DMC Gold.

I have the two Janlynn colours left over from an old project, and decided to use them since they coordinate well with the Jewel Effects, which is the darker of DMC's two variegated metallics, having hints of red, gold, silver, turquoise, purple and lime green in its strands.

The Monarch Variation is a pleasure to stitch, and it's been so long since I worked on a blackwork design that I totally forgot about the near-instant gratification factor, as it stitches so much faster than whole cross-stitch! For other stitchers who would like to try their hand at this technique, Jeanne offers a large collection of beautiful free blackwork patterns at WyrdByrd's Nest - direct link here. All are downloadable instantly as .PDFs, and there is a slideshow that enables you to preview the designs before selecting. Also, there is a "View" option next to the download link which will bring the pattern up in your browser quickly so you can see what it's like before you download, which is great.

As I try out the colour filling, I'm hoping to post more regular updates. So check back for more Monarch! I'm very excited to see how this experiment turns out!

DISCLAIMER: When I logged in to write this post, I learned that Jeanne had posted a lovely recommendation for the Cross-Stitch Resources section of my blog (the post is here).

Thank you very much Jeanne! I love your site and your designs, and I greatly appreciate your post! I am hoping to expand the content of the Resources page in the near future, and it is an ongoing project, so there will hopefully be more interesting sites soon!

Please note that this complimentary review of my site does not have any bearing on my comments about stitching Monarch, nor does it influence my enthusiasm for this project.