Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Take Good Notes

I had a finish today. It isn't much to look at, and requires a bit of explanation.

In 2004 I took a class at Rockome. Eileen Bennett was the instructor and the class was "Sampler Research 101 - A Notebook Class." Talk about a fascinating and informative class! The stitching project for the class was to create the above tool. Using the diagrams on page 13 of Eileen's "The Red Book of Sampler Stitches" we stitched 8 rows of cross stitches, one for each variation of the little x. We started with a knot to begin our row, made a solitary stitch, then a row of the stitches and ended with a few satin stitches so we had a way to end our thread. The purpose of the tool is to compare my stitches (front and back) to the stitches on an old sampler and determine which of the 8 cross stitch variations were used. Here's what it looks like on the back:
I love to take stitching classes, but I am a poor student. I always arrive exhausted and unable to focus. This class was no exception. By the second row of stitches I had several mistakes and was exasperated. I put the stitching down and just enjoyed the rest of the class time. This poor project has been sitting in my WIP basket ever since. Only 8 simple rows of stitching to complete and I haven't been able to find the time since June of 2004. Today I pulled it out, determined to finish. Unfortunately since the project was so simple, I took almost no notes. I think I was supposed to leave more space between the rows and when I frogged the second row it had been started from the right, not from the left. Wish I could remember why! When I got to row 8 I realized it could only be stitched from right to left. Perhaps the second row (or heaven forbid, all even numbered rows) should be stitched from right to left? Why oh why didn't I take better notes? Note to self... Note to self? Oh great, now I need to make notes to remember to take notes. Can dementia be far behind?

Speaking of Rockome, the show is back this year! To say I'm thrilled is an understatement. The dates are June 15-24. Need info? Check out the Rockome Gardens website here. This will give you location information and details about the Gardens. Stacy Earnst is the show Director this year. The show guide is available for $2. Another good source of information is the Rockome NCCSS group at Yahoo, owned by Adana. Get those entries ready! Get signed up for classes! June is around the corner and will be here before we know it.

In the wee early hours this morning I had another finish. My Prairie Moon ornament is all done. Yippee! Michele asked when I was going to start...oops I think I forgot to mention it was already in progress! Sorry Michele! This is my kit exchange ornament so it has to be stitched and finished and all of the kits pulled together in the next week or two. The stitched part is done, the rest still needs to be done. If only I could settle on a finishing technique! I'm posting the picture over on the Christmas Ornament SAL blog, so have a look here, if you are so inclined.

The "weird things" list is still in the works. I think I need another day or two.

13 comments:

Annemarie said...

Oh dear. If you have to think about your weird list for so long, is that good or bad?
I like your read stitches project, although I couldn't enlarge the pic and really couldn't distinguish the stitches. As for notes to self, all I can say is LOL.

Gina E. said...

I also tried to enlarge the pic without luck. I am intrigued by this project - are there eight variations of ordinary cross stitch? Starting from the left hand side of the fabric, I stitch a row of bottom left to top right, then back over those with bottom right to top left. I know some people start from the right side of the fabric and work to the left. And others stitch top left to bottom right...ah, now it begins to make sense! How fascinating - I never thought to make a sampler of this! Gonna try it! (One day...)

The Silver Thistle said...

Hey, a finish is a finish, right?!

Yay!!

Anonymous said...

Make yourself a note to bring that to Rainbow, eh? :)

Vonna Pfeiffer said...

Ahhhh...Rockome Gardens, beautiful place, wonderful scenery...not far from home :) I love to go there...never been to the needlework show however..Hmmmm...maybe I need to give it a go?!

CindyMae said...

Well I think it is a fantastic finish, especially since it has taken this long to finish it! LOL

Anonymous said...

I think you did a great job! Rockome looks so pretty. I love your prarie moon ornament. Very pretty!

Michele said...

lol .. I saw your finished ornament on the Christmas Ornament blog .. I'm still waiting for my fabric to arrive :( hopefull this weekend! It turned out really nice Chelle .. can't wait to see it finished :)

Michelle said...

I hate that. I think, oh I have the hang of this...and then I put it away and two years later have no idea what I'm supposed to be doing. What a pain! It looks cool though, glad you finished it!

Lelia said...

Hi Chelle: My problem was getting my 'wierd' list down to just SIX!

LOL

TGIF

Anonymous said...

I love seeing your ornament finished...it is marvelous Chelle!

Cindy said...

I went to Rockome the last year that the show was held, just to look around and check it out. I'm hoping to take some classes this time around!

Adana said...

YOU GO GIRL....next up is the Queen sampler from our class in 2005 right???? I still need to get mine ironed and framed. I have everything, but the ambition and time, but I hope to enter it this year. See you there.