Thursday, October 2, 2008

It's Christmas Time! Part 2

I have finally started on the Christmas angels! I'm doing two on the dark green:


And two on the Antique Green:


The first one is on the Antique Green. I can't say which one I like better, in case people feel they got the "inferior" one.

I'm also not going to post pictures till after they've been sent out, so the recipients (Lynda, Nancy, Mom) can be surprised. I'm working right now on a part with a lot of reds and it can be tough to tell the differences in colors when the lights not good. But I know that the designer (Marilyn Leavitt-Imblum) will have done another amazingly shaded project--they'll look really good.

My latest other big project in my stitching is to try to better store all my linen. When linen gets creased, it stays creased, which is why I don't understand why so much linen gets folded up by its sellers. I mean, I do, sort of--it takes up less space that way--but I have had so many projects with a fold down the middle of them that I can't get rid of. And I'm sure I will have more, as I have a lot of projects that have had the linen folded up for years. But from here on out, no more! I was taking my linens and rolling them up in acid-free tissue paper, and then storing them in paper towel rolls. But I've taken it a step further. Now, I'm ironing the fabric when I get it and attaching a label with a rust-free pin at the edge, and hanging it from pants' hangers. I did this with the angel fabric (obviously, from the pictures, not before I took the pix) and I'll do it with the ornament fabric. I have hung up the fabrics I got from the retreat, as well, but didn't iron them, as all the fabrics are hand-dyed, and I had started stitching on them with silks, neither of which likes steam. Perhaps I'll dry-iron them.

And to my two textile-loving sisters--you know who you are--I know that knitting and quilting retreats exist. You should check with your local stores and guilds; maybe they have one.