Happy Pi Day!

Happy π day!

This post is written for the Coulee Country Chapter of EGA.

So, what is π and what does it have to do with Coulee Country EGA?

π

Pi (π) is the ratio of a circle's circumference to it's diameter.  Its value is approximated to 3.14.  That is why we celebrate π day on March 14 (3/14).

Calculating the Circumference of a Circle

(Image source: Wiki How)

Coulee Country EGA

Our April project is about finishing a pin drum. Bring your stitched piece to the meeting and we will finish together.  A pin drum is a round pin cushion that looks like a drum.  Our technique will have the embroidery on the outside edge of the drum.

You can purchase a design especially for a pin drum, design your own, or adapt something you already have.  Your pattern should be a long and narrow rectangle.  Some of the designs I've seen  have a finished stitched area which is 12" wide and 2" tall.  As long as your fabric is wide enough the entire area need not be stitched.  The final dimensions of the drum depend on the size of your piece.

There is where π comes in.  If your piece is h tall and w wide then your drum will be about h tall (the top will be a little puffy) and w / π across the top.  So, if your pattern is 12" wide, your finished drum will be about 3 7/8 across.

Pattern Ideas

If you want to design your own pattern, here are some ideas:

• Repeat a small design such as a flower, ladybug or bee.
• Chart a single word, or short phrase such as your name, "Believe", "Christmas", "Give Thanks"
• Make a sampler with rows of your favorite stitches
• Make a sampler with blocks of your favorite stitches

If you are thinking of adapting a pattern you already have, but wasn't originally designed to be a pin drum here are some ideas:

• Take a small chart 2-4" tall and center it on a 12-14" strip of fabric.
• Repeat the design more than once along the strip
• Center the design and flank it with small motifs taken from the pattern

To help you along I've designed a simple pattern with some tulips.

Tulip Pattern

Here's the update for the week:

Alien Schoolgirl:  I have my fabric prepped and all my threads arranged.  We are ready to go.

Kit for "Alien Schoolgirl"
Weeks Dye Works thread
36 ct linen

I am still waiting on my kit for the EGA On-line class.  I'm getting a bit nervous that will arrive on time.  The class starts next week!

I am wrapping up a few little things I started last year so I can begin these new projects on kind of a clean slate.  There are still many UFOs....

Here's a little Christmas ornament I finished this week:

Gingerbread house ornament
28 ct linen, finished 2017

I am almost done with a small kit I picked up - a Halloween one.  I'm not sure why I got it.  I'm not into Halloween, and the brand of the kit is one I have done before and I don't care for the brand of thread.  I'll probably add it to my guild's boutique fundraiser.  That picture will come next week.

I started another tatted bookmark with the rainbow thread.  It didn't stripe up like the first one, but as  turned the corner at the end there are some subtle stripes if you look.  I'll post the finished one here next week as well.

Pretty sunrise from the other morning

I'm back? Maybe

Well, three years and here I am again.  Life gets busy, I suppose.

I find myself newly invigorated about my embroidery, so here I am to keep track of my next few projects.

I signed up for an on-line course through EGA called "Time to be Happy".  It is a fun and colorful sampler.  This starts up here in a few weeks.

Heartland Region Spring Seminar (also EGA) is next month and I signed up for a "Snowflakes" class.  This is a course where we paint on our canvas, stitch snowflakes using pulled stitches, and then embellish.

Lastly, I had bought a sampler pattern "Little Alien Schoolgirl" a while back, and just bought my fibers.  I'm looking forward to working on that too.

Hopefully this will keep me out of trouble when I'm not working, running the boys around or tatting!

Where have I been?

Spring and summer have been busy, and the summer just flew by.  Boys had baseball and camp and the next thing you know, it was September, and school was starting.... so here's some of what I have been stitching on.....

Button Bracelet I made in Sinsinawa at retreat (March 2014)

What I worked on while on retreat (March 2014)
My To Do List - Lizzie Kate

Humming bird

Hummingbird, turkey, and hanging flowers

How the garden started out :)  2014

Spinach!

I think this was a graduation card. (May 2014)

Green beans!

Garden bounty 7/12/2014

Huckweaving bookmarks (June 2014)

There was much more from the garden.   The tomatos did well, and I got one zucchini.  The cucumbers didn't do well.  Beans and peas were good.
I did a few more bookmarks, and worked more on Lizzie Kate, as well as the Wedding Quadrille.  I just don't have pictures right now.  I'll try and get caught up with current pictures.

Meadow grass Biscornu

Completed!!

Meadowgrass Biscornu
EGA Project Jan/March 2014
Completed March 2014

Also worked on the cube thingy

Wedding Quadrille
March 9, 2014 progress

Winter blahs

Can't seem to muster up much energy to stitch lately. Work has been busy and it been to very very cold. I did get the stitching complete on the Biscornu in time for the next guild meeting (time for finishing).

Bottom of Meadowgrass Biscornu

Teardrops

Teardrops

EGA Needle Arts

December 2012

Biscornu update

I did get the top stitching complete and started on the bottom. I am sad to report that despite my best intentions I have not picked up a needle all weekend. Tomorrow is EGA and time to start another new project!

Bookmarks and Drawn thread and a lot of old stuff

Summer is flying by. I was able to complete the Rosebud Trellis, and it's off at the framers.
I have two more boutique items ready - both bookmarks and will start another one tonight.
I also did a quick punch needle project which I'll send to a friend before school starts.

Pictures... it's time for pictures

Bookmark pattern, stitched using a double running stitch

Finished bookmark

Another bookmark

Here's the punch needle box:

Sunflower box, punchneedle

 Here's the rosebud trellis

Rosebud trellis

I added an inscription on it for my sister.  I got the idea from Ellen Chester (With my Needle), when she stitches a reproduction sampler she adds her information in block letters outside the border so it's on the fabric, but hidden in the frame.

Here's my first "harvest" from my garden.  

first beans of 2013

Last spring I took pictures of things I'd stitched that were at my mother's house.  Here's some of my older things that are around my house.  Most of them pre-date digital pictures and blogs...

Dogwood flowers, stitched on aida

Birds at Wheat.  I had found this one in my grandmother's stash after she'd died.  I finished it.  Stitched on congress cloth

Dragonfly

this was from a very old dimensions kit

I sent away for a free chart from DMC  go figure it would use a million different colors.  It did turn out well though

Angels, a Mill Hill Kit

Assorted pillows on the guest bed

Keepsakes

Free chart I got in Cape May, NJ

More punchneedle boxes

Class at Sinsinawa - stitching over 1 thread

My first really big piece.  Started when I had mono in grad school

quilt - it was fun to do, but I don't remember much else about it

Rosebud trellis - update

Of course, I took these pictures over the weekend, then kept on stitching.  I have completed the second and third drawn thread rows, and a row of rosebuds underneath the third row.

I put aside my drawn work piece for the weekend and picked up the phone case I ordered a few months back.  I had been picturing what I was going to do for a while now.  I have a purse that is turquoise with big white daisies on it.  I thought I should mimic that pattern for my phone case. So, I went through the threads and opted for color fast DMC rather than the abundance of over-dyed I seem to have now.   And with only an idea in my head I put the yellow on the needle and picked a spot.  This is for certain not my general mode.  I am a planner, and I usually would have gotten out the graph paper, and maybe even fought with some software to chart this out, but not this time.  I made a Rhodes Octagon for the center of the daisy and went from there.  The petals are far from perfect, but I like them.  Once I had a daisy done I started on the background.  I was working on it and realized I was going to run out of thread.  I had chosen some of the thread that came with the case, and had no real reference or match.  So, the bottom part of the case is a slightly darker shade.  I did add the second daisy in an attempt to save on the background thread.

Phone case

 I think it turned out pretty cute.  It doesn't lay flat on the stitched side since those Rhodes stitches are so thick.  It's fun and I had a fun time stitching it. 

I also pressed the Summer Garden. 

Summer Garden

Back to the Rose Trellis for me.  The border work is getting tedious, but it will be good to get it out of the way so I can do the fun parts.

Finished summer garden.

Here's the finished summer garden drawn thread piece.  It has yet to be pressed.

Summer Garden, drawn thread, Spring 2013

Summer Garden, detail

And this is the rather humble beginnings to rosebud trellis. 

Rosebud Trellis, started

Rosebud Trellis - book

Brief update

Some quick notes. My son's Teddy needed some repair. So out came mom - stuffed animal vet.

Teddy's Stitches

In more "fine needlework" news I finished my drawn thread piece for EGA and promptly started another. The photo is the first piece just before I finished it. 

Summer Garden - almost completed