I Am Thankful...

 

For So Many Little Things...

And So Once again it is Thanksgiving here in America, Dear Readers, and it is later than usual this year. The Holiday is tied to the fourth Thursday of November.... whatever date that happens to be! This produces some panic in my "timetable" for the next few weeks, for when it is Late in November that just means Fewer days to accomplish ALL those Christmas tasks... and we all know I have a few of those I assign myself every year that never seem to be done in time. But that is all for next week.... for now we are focusing on the blessings of Family, Food, and the freedoms of being able to gather and celebrate as we wish. The Pandemic is over (what pandemic?) and the world goes speeding onward, but for now we take a few moments to count our blessings. And In the Lovely Old Dollhouse kitchen, Victor is thinking that one of those is Pies..... the aroma of fresh baked Thanksgiving Pies! Joanna has just pulled them from the oven! 

 

 "Darling...." he said appreciatively... 

"No-one makes a pie as well as you do!"

"I can second that... !" said Pollyanna as she entered the room.

 "Those smell, Divine, Mom!" she added with a smile.

"Are you ready to take those to Sally May's?" she asked.

"I think Grandma Helen is worried about the weather..." she added.

 

And meanwhile in the Living Room,

 that was exactly what was being discussed...

"I hear it might snow today..." said Helen anxiously.

"It is already starting to rain... what if we get stuck?"

 

Arthur had overheard the discussion and had an idea that might help.

"Perhaps we could wait a bit and not go over

 until the dinner is almost ready..." he said. 

"Pollyanna and I could go with you, while Victor and Joanna 

can take the pies now and help them get ready."

"That way they can let us know if the driving is bad..."

(Arthur was confident it would not be bad at all!)

"Maybe you should go ahead with the pies

 and be there to help Sally May" said Pollyanna.

"Arthur and I can bring Grandma And Grandpa later....

 just in time for dinner."

"And you can let us know how the roads are

 so we can reassure Grandma Helen..." she added.

"That sounds like a great idea" said Joanna cheerfully.

(She knew how much her Mother fretted the small stuff!)

And over at Chip's and Sally May's house 

Sally May has been worried too!

(What if they all decide not to come?)

"I just heard from Pollyanna..." she tells Chip.

"Mom and Dad are coming over now 

and bringing the pies" she said with relief.

"Pollyanna and Arthur will bring Grandma Helen

 and Grandpa Charles later."

"That way they can be sure the roads are okay" she added thankfully.

"Sounds great!" agreed Chip.

"I think the snow isn't supposed to start

 till tonight he added. It shouldn't be a problem."

Victor joined the "Guys" in the Living Room. 

He knew to stay out of the way of the kitchen crew!

 

 

Chip's father Ernie, was watching the old TV...  

it sounded like he was watching cartoons!

(Although he was sometimes just "lost in thought..."!)

 

 Victor had his eyes on the refreshments... he was getting hungry!

Joanna started to get the table ready

 and called Pollyanna to let her know

 it was time to come over!

It took them almost no time to get there... 

the roads were only wet... no snow yet!

Helen and Charles joined the folks in the Living Room.

"I'll turn down the volume for you..." Chip said to Grandma Helen.

( He knew his Dad liked it to be sort of loud.)

"No need to worry about it, Dear...!" said Helen.

 "I'm sorry to be so late... we were worried about

 the driving conditions."

"It's supposed to snow!" she added not quite happily.

And then it was time for everyone to gather around the Table.

The whole family barely fit in the room. 

They would need to carry their plates

 and sit in the Living Room to eat.

 But no matter, at least everyone was here!

Ernie said the Grace.

And then he looked over at Sally May and said

 "I am Thankful for such a wonderful and

 accomplished Daughter-in-law! 

 

 

Thank you for preparing this feast for us all!

 

"I'll second that..!" said Victor 

smiling at his blushing daughter.

"Oh, Heavens... " said Sally May 

"You're making me blush!"

 

And Meanwhile, Dear Readers, 

the kitchen was forgotten for the moment.

But Honey and Oreo stood guard.

"Don't even think of it..." growled Honey.

(Oreo had a lot to learn still!)

"But they're on plates.... he whined... 

why can't we lick the plates now...?"

Well, Dear Readers, I will leave you here

 to wonder about the outcome of the pies.... 

but rest assured... they were thoroughly enjoyed!

 

And I hope all of you are enjoying your Thanksgiving...

 or if you do not celebrate this Holiday, 

I hope you find ways and times

 to Count your Blessings!

I am thankful for so many little

 and not so little things,

 not least of which are

 My Dear Readers here in blogland!

Happy Thanksgiving!
 

Stitching Update...

 

Petit-point Variations...

Well, Dear Readers, Time has been Flying along and progress has been made on some of my various stitching projects since I last posted about them, but it has not been the sort of progress I had hoped for! The last I showed you the Chinese Dragon Carpet, I had just transferred it to a larger frame the better to be able to stitch the border areas. I am still not sure about my planned changes for the middle section, so I am starting to work on the borders now that I can access them. You can see above that I have been adding the gold to one side. But you might not be able to see the delicate pattern it makes!

Here is a closer view showing the Chinese version of a "key" pattern.

It snakes back and forth on itself making an 

interlocking positive and negative shape.

In order to see this pattern, there has to be enough contrast

 between the two colors for the shapes to be distinct.

This kit has you use the two gold thread colors 

that are so close in hue as to be

 almost indistinguishable from each other!

I wasn't sure this would work,

 and this size hole count is so small 

you really can't unstitch anything.

 So I did a couple of test patterns first.

I figured that if I was going to spend so much time

 carefully stitching this intricate pattern.... 

I was going to want it to be noticeable!

You can see the two test samples above.

The top one uses the colors recommended in the kit.

Even close up and looking to see a pattern,

 I can't tell what it is. It just looks slightly messy.

The lower test is done with the darker gold from the kit

 and a lighter one from my thread stash... 

the closest I could come to the gold color range but a good bit lighter.

Still, I can barely see that there is a pattern, let alone what it is.

I am on the verge of deciding to use the same white

 that the rest of the background will be.

But before I do that, I will go shopping 

and see if I can find a lighter gold.

Meanwhile I am stitching the darker gold

 in the border pattern... it is a slow process!

And the last time I showed you my stitching projects, Dear Readers, 

I had just finished the William Morris carpet.

Here you can see it in Sally May's and Chip's Dining room!

(With the flash so you can see it at all.)

As some of you will know, Sally May's and Chip's house

 is the slowest to get the improvements... 

Chip is so busy and so much needs to be done!

But Sally May's Mother-in-law saw the carpet

 in a used furniture shop and "snagged it" for Sally May. 

Blanche knows Sally May's fondness for pink... 

and well, the carpet does have some pink in it!

And heck, it fits in the room!

As for the rest of the petit-point projects, 

I had also just started to work on another of Janet Granger's kits,

 the last in the Medieval Tapestry series... "The Cluny Lord".

(By the way, I have just found out she has closed her shop and retired.)

This is what the Lord is supposed to look like.

And those of you who have been following this blog for a while

 might remember the other versions in this series I stitched a few years ago,

 making a few changes to the original kit designs along the way.

 The chief changes were making the clothes look

 more "ancient", Medieval rather than Tudor in design.

As with the previous Medieval Tepestry kit,

 I wanted to add a few more details to the design

 so I started the stitching off to one side of the cloth, 

leaving room to add figures of my own design,

 making the overall Tapestry larger. 

Why waste good cloth, Right?

But I had not gone very far before I admitted 

I was going to have to re-design the costume 

a bit more thoroughly than I had supposed. 

The Tudor style just would Not do! 

He needs a more Medieval hat.... 

the belt is too high....

 the cloth pleats are not distinct enough.... 

and so on!

So.... I have to work out a new chart 

for this like I did for the last one.... 

You can read about it in earlier posts!

But if you know me at all, Dear Readers,

 you will know there is always stitching to be done... 

and I had a brand new project just waiting for me to get started....

These are tiny little kits that Mary Corbet of "Needle 'n Thread" blog

 designed to be small jewelry pins or scissor fobs.

 They are stitched on 48 count silk and each one 

finished is only 1 and 1/4 inch across!

I bought the kits last summer and have eagerly started stitching...

I am amazed at just how much more difficult this size is to stitch!

I started with the flowers... 

but wanted to see how the cat would look...

The threads are silk... Soie de Paris and Soie de Gobelins 

and the colors are luscious.

The beasts are inspired by the "Mille Fuille" tapestries

 of the Late Middle Ages.

I use a magnifier and need very good lighting

 to be able to see where exactly I am putting my needle!

I can't quite imagine stitching anything on a higher count cloth!

Here I have begun to work the background.

 First you outline all the flowers and beast with the darker red.

Eventually I will fill all the remaining ground with the bright red.

 

 If you look carefully you will see there are lots of gaps still to be filled.

Of course, I have to change things.... 

I am going to make them into pillows for the Doll houses!

All I have to do is add stuff to the corners...

Here I am adding a small wren and some flowers to the Cat pillow.

I am actually needing to make the charts

 so I can be sure what color I am putting where... 

it is really easy to miss a stitch at this scale!

 

So you can see Dear Readers,

 I am making Progress with my stitching projects...

Just making Variations everywhere!

 

 

Not Just A Small Distraction...

 

The Enchanted Cottage Close-up...

Some of you, Dear Readers, might have Noticed the little Cottage in The Enchanted Forest in my previous post. First, let me say it is not a Dollhouse. But it is an Enchanting little cottage! It is actually a small sewing box, made entirely by hand by myself. I started it last year as soon as I had retired from my regular day job. But the Dream of making this cottage began many years prior to that when I first saw this project being stitched on another needlework blog (Janet Granger's Passionate About Embroidery) way back about 2015 or so. She had a Book called " Home Sweet Home" that was detailed patterns and instructions for making this and many tiny stitching accessories to go inside it, written by Carolyn Pearce, originally published by Inspirations Magazine, an Australian publication. At the time that she was stitching it, Janet informed us that the book was already out of print and the "kit packs" of supplies unavailable. She was sourcing her own threads and beads and charms, so she didn't mind that part. It took her ove a year to stitch all the parts and assemble it, and she posted her progress regularly on her blog. Well, I was smitten and added it to my "Someday" list, figuring that I could just copy what Janet did to the best of my abilities when the time came. Imagine my surprise when sometime in 2022 I learned that the book had been re-issued in a 10th Anniversary Edition with updated patterns and even a few new accessories! Well, I bought it as soon as I could and began to collect the supplies needed. This was my "Retirement Gift" to myself.... a no expenses spared indulgence in beautiful threads and materials to make this kit.... wool form Australia.... silk from France.... linen from California... beads and baubles and tiny sequins... I was in heaven just gathering the supplies!

                                          I started the stitching the day after I retired in 2023!

The windows are appliqued voile with an overlay of a Cloud Filling stitch.

After lacing the pattern the frames are stitched with a Portuguese Border Stitch.

In my eagerness, I decided to do all the windows for the house at one time...

 to save on having to re-learn the techniques months later!

It was at this point that I realized the back wall of the house

 was not designed to have any windows.

 

 This seemed a terrible waste to me... there was the back wall... 

looking out on a lovely tree and no windows?? 

So began my excursion into adding More all over the kit!

As you can see, I decided the back needed three windows!

 (I was really enjoying making them and loved the way

 the voile glittered in the light like glass!)

Alas, somewhere about now was when I injured my arm

 and had to do Nothing At All with it for about eight weeks!

This gave me plenty of time to slow dawn and consider the project as a whole.

And when I did start to stitch again... in tiny little increments... 

I decided to do as Janet had done and make the "smalls"

 (all those accessories) first.

This way I learned a Lot about the scope and details of the project

 starting small and making those inevitable mistakes in a small way!

 

Here you can see the beginnings of the Emery Block... 

a 1.5 inch by 1 inch little gem you use to sharpen needles.

The items being stitched were so small... they did not over tax my arm!

 

Here you see one of those "little mistakes". 

The visible dashed line was supposed to be done

 only in basting stitches for placement purposes.... not ink!

Thus I learned the hard way to pay close attention to those

 instructions about tracing the patterns onto the cloth!

I did "fix" the above mistake by adding a line 

of stitching around the border to cover the ink lines.

 

Here you can see the lines have been disguised. 

The box is only awaiting the emery powder 

to be inserted and then stitched closed.

And you might have noticed I had drawn the pattern

 for another of the "smalls" on this same piece of linen...

 

This too, was not a good idea!

 As you can see I made the same mistake with the dashed lines....

 using ink instead of basting stitches.

And because this is so close on the cloth to the Emery box, 

I had to stitch this before I could cut out the Emery box to complete it!

A small frustration... but another lesson learned!

 

Here you can see the completed Needle Book... 

and I used the same tactic for covering the inked lines.... 

just add more thread and gold!

And as you can probably imagine... 

it took almost an entire month just to stitch

 and assemble this little book!

I learned so many stitches and varied padding techniques....

 not to mention construction techniques... 

it turned out to be a really good idea to start with the "littles"!

 

 

There is not room in this post to detail any of the 

half dozen other "littles" I made before I got back to the main project...

 the House Box itself.

 

And if you look closely, Dear Readers, 

at this House Front and compare it with the one on the Book cover, 

you will discover that they vary in a few details.

I tried, at first, to make the project just as the Book described.

It was only after I had finished the other three walls

 that I decided I really did want to make some significant changes.

 In particular, I wanted the designs to "go around the corner....

 not stop neatly at the edges and leave a gap

 before starting again on the new wall.

And the other significant change was

 that some of the metal "charms" 

that were part of the original designs 

(the bunny was supposed to hold a carrot)

did not appeal to me, or were impossible to find.

So I either added charms to my liking (like the teacup above)

 or ended up making a stitched version instead of a sewn on charm.

And for the teacup above, I needed to invent a mushroom...

 my own original design Stumpwork Mushroom!,

 for the teacup to sit upon.

 Otherwise it would have dangled sideways 

off the box wall and looked ridiculous.

And at the very last, I wanted to stitch the Cottage's name...

"Cottontail Cottage" above the door... 

tucked under those rose blossoms!

 

The second side I stitched was the simplest and I made very few changes.

I couldn't find a charm for the salamander 

so I stitched a version of the Red Eft that is native to this part of the world.

 And I didn't like the charm for the lady bug....

 so I just didn't add one. The stitched one is part of the original design.

Also there were supposed to be small flower shaped beads

  to use right above the Red Eft... 

but I couldn't find appropriately sized or colored ones 

so I used ordinary beads.

 

The opposite side, or end wall, has a Strawberry blossom theme...

 and here I made quite a few additions to the original design.

For starters, at the top I have added a dew spangled spiders web... 

and a lovely black and yellow garden spider of my own design.

And because the spiderweb would only be dew spangled 

if the whole world surrounding it were also dew spangled.... 

so if you look closely... there are clear little beads everywhere!

And where I was supposed to add a little metal charm "bee skep"

 which I didn't like the look of... 

I added a "Dandelion Fairy" dancing upon another Mushroom...

 all my own Stumpwork designs!

And in this panel you can also see along the "corner edge" 

I have stitched ivy... because I added it to the back wall of the House!

 

Really I changed almost everything on this back wall!

For starters, the wool, a variegated mahogany and rust 

colored skein from Australia, was no longer available. 

So I pieced together different sections of stitching 

in various wool yarns I had from crewel stitching many years ago.

And then the original design was for an "Orange Tree"... 

but we don't have them in this part of the world! 

So I converted it to a "Pear Tree"

Using the same variegated silk thread

 but making them pear shaped and pendulous,

 rather than upside-down like the original design.

And the basket was supposed to have large "beads"

 masquerading as oranges.... so I stitched pears instead.

And for the Bee Skep... it was supposed to be

 one of those metal charms....

 but there was also one of the "smalls" 

(I haven't made that one yet!) 

that had a lovely stitched version of the skep....

 so I just used those instructions to make this one.

And the bee itself...! The one on the Emery Block ... 

all metallic and weird must be some kind of Australian bee.... 

I had to make this one a Bumblebee... 

using the "Ghiordes Knot" stitch to make

 the fuzzy texture for the body!

And of course... those windows looking out on the yard! 

And the ivy climbing up the walls... turning colors for fall....

 and blackberry canes on the right side....

As I said... about the only thing unchanged was the leaves on the Tree itself!

Oh, I had so much fun!

And then it all had to be assembled into a box..... 

with lining and an interior lift-out tray....

 

Another entire adventure 

in matching pattern across different pieces... 

fitting and stitching together the inner tray... 

which you see here holding a few of the other "smalls" I did make... 

a tape measure cover, a thimble holder, 

a Spool holder..... and the Emery block.

 

And here you can see the lower compartment

 with the Lift-out tray removed.

And the open roof panels with the elastic bands

 to hold scissors or a measure stick or seam ripper.

 

And at the bottom of each tray compartment I stitched a small symbol

 of one of the images on each of the items that fit that space!

 

And the roof panels open at the top, 

closed by loops over the bead "chimneys".

I just can't describe how much fun I had making this project!

 I learned so much about fine needlework in the process, 

stitched with treads like silk and very fine wool 

that I had never used before! 

And gained the courage to try my hand at

 inventing a few details like stumpwork mushrooms!

Yes, Dear Readers, making this Enchanting Cottage

 was way more than just a small distraction...

 it was practically a Master Class in fine needlework!