Friday, January 13, 2006

A Little "Ta-Da"!

First things first, I need to post a picture of my Miss Mary Mack progress. Unfortunately I haven't picked it up since the night I started it. 40 ct over 1 requires a good light, magnification and no interruptions! Here are the few rows that I completed. Sorry it is a bit blurry, I used the camera instead of scanning it.




















Yesterday I found the trim I was looking for so I finished a little experimental project. Honestly, it turned out much better than I expected for a first attempt! For a little background info, last summer I found Tomoneko's site and her detailed pictures for covering a tape measure. The tape measure instructions are here. (I used Google to translate the pages from Japanese to English, but the links are direct so you can used the translation site of your choice.) It looked pretty simple to do and I finally found the courage to try it! Here are pictures of the front, the back and two different side angles:

























































The tape measure is a Mainstays brand from Walmart, it comes with a flat tape measure for $.88 - cheap enough to experiment with! The watering can is part of a much larger design by Needle Rose called How Does Your Garden Grow. The trim is from Jo-Ann Fabric & Crafts. The rest of the supplies were from my stash or purchased at Walmart. As you can see, I didn't get the watering can centered very well. I should have chosen something more symmetrical. I did spend time fussing with the mounting tape, but otherwise it was easy to put together and I am very happy with the way it turned out. Huge thanks to Tomoneko for posting the how-to information and awesome photographs on her site. Without her help I would not have attempted this project. Now I'm planning to make more!

8 comments:

Anna van Schurman said...

First, I love your little experiment. It came out very nice.

I think that we're all finding Merry Mack a little tough going from the blog reports! We're all seem to be using extra light or magnification which we don't need regularly! But I still love it. The difficulty of doing the 40 ct over one is just gearing me up for what smooth sailing the project will be when we do it over two. :)

Anna van Schurman said...

Did I write Merry Mack? I meant Mary Mack. Must have confused her with Merry Cox.

Anonymous said...

Your tape measure looks fabulous, Chelle! You did a perfect job; congratulations! :)

mainely stitching said...

Oh, Chelle, that is just adorable!!!

MMM will have to wait for a sunny day next week - I'm going for my neighborhood RR piece this weekend. Your start looks super!!

Shelleen said...

I love the tape measure, came out awesome. Good luck with the Merry Mack design.

Joanie said...

Beautiful tape measure!!!

Question about MMM...full crosses or 1/2? I'm having difficulty stitching her over one on 40 ct, the fabric is tightly woven...any suggestions?

Cathy B said...

I stitched a few more rows on Mary Mack on Thursday night and hope to put a few more in today or tomorrow. I think they are going to be really cool when finished!

Your experiment is great - I've never seen a tape measure like this!

Anne S said...

Your tape measure cover is exquisite! I really love it!! Way to go :))