Tuesdays With Miss Lila

Or Revisiting the Whole Rotation Thing

I'm not much of a rule girl. I follow them because that's what one is supposed to do and it only took one ticket for not wearing a seatbelt to make me buckle up(but it still annoys me that in Florida people on motorcycles can choose not to wear a helmet but me, in a car surrounded by metal, am forced to wear a seatbelt and I don't want to hear all the benefits, I get it but I think helmets should be required on motorcycles if I have to be attached to my car, just sayin'). Anyway, I have started a new rotation that I don't expect to last very long because I'm a rebel at heart but if I can get some time in on each of these projects for a just a little while before breaking my own rules I might see some genuine progress.

Tuesdays are for CHS Miss Lila's House. I have an Aunt Lila and you'll be hearing more about her later on. Yeah, I know you are all on the edge of your seats!

Miss Lila's House

Carriage House Samplings

32ct black linen dyed by moi

DMC

I'm so very ashamed of the stitching you see below:

I have frogged this area four times. I have changed hoops, tried stitching in hand, used a Qsnap. Nothing will make this area look nice. The little X is going funky on me here. I am now referring to this house as the Amityville house. I'm pretty sure I'm going to wake up any morning and find it surrounded by flies. Check out the Amityville Horror movie if you don't know what I'm talking about.

I will admit that this linen is a cheap 32ct that I dyed myself, it's obvious that I got exactly what I paid for. I plan to frog one more time and also switch to DMC that hasn't been bobbined, just in case that is the cause of all my woe. I do love this piece, because as I mentioned I have an Aunt Lila, my Mamaw's oldest sister, so she is technically my great aunt and I loved her a lot.

Has anyone else ever had this problem when stitching 2x2? I can't remember a time when I have struggled this much trying to get the little X to cooperate.

From the Workbasket

Things have been busy around here lately. I hate it when life gets that way! I have been feeling more creative than I have in a very long time so I'm going with the feeling. I'm not really sure what will be created but it will either be awesome or a total fail but as my South Park would say, "I learned something". That's not a bad thing. Below you see my slow start on CHS Miss Lila's House. The fabric was originally an antique white linen. I dyed it myself with some good old RIT dye. I was hoping for a true black. As you can see I got nothing close to a true black, but I think the design is working up well on this color. My first attempt was a very light charcoal, so I soaked the fabric overnight, rinsed the heck out of it the next morning and still ended up with a deep charcoal instead of black. The dark fabric was a bit frustrating to stitch on at first, the tree in the center there has been frogged not once but twice because I was apparently just sticking the needle in where ever it felt good. I mentioned that I am feeling creative. I pulled out my Jenny Hart Sublime Stitching book, found the practice sampler, and worked on it yesterday. I think I like embroidery. A few years ago I don't think I would have written those words. I've been taking my time, trying to get comfortable with the stitches, stitching on muslin instead of evenweave linen and basically enjoying the process of learning. I think we forget how fun learning can be. I'm one of those people that wants to be able to do something correctly from the beginning, to start out an expert and that's such a joke and only leads one down the path to craft disaster. So I'm taking my crafting slow these days, embracing the process. If I spend a few days learning something and it's a big old fail, then it's a big old fail and maybe when I try again later, I'll get it. I have to remember to love the process.

I am seriously digging this Clover hoop. Sorry I'm not adding links, my computer is being a butt and I'm just hoping to get this posted before the post goes "poof" into cyberspace, anywhere but my blog!

My stitches are not perfect, a few of my French knots are questionable, some of my flowers are wonky, but isn't that what makes it handmade instead of machine made?

Hope this post finds everyone doing well and enjoying spring!