Saturday, November 08, 2008

A few changes here

I've been telling you for the past 3, maybe 4 weeks now all about this tablecloth I've been working on -embroiderying- and I promised when I got it finished, I'd post a picture -or maybe a couple -of it, so you can see what I've been slaving over.

Well Friday morning -yesterday that would be -at about 4 a.m., I finally finished it! Phew! What a relief! So now, as promised, here's some pictures of my latest completed "masterpiece."
Here's the best I can do -with limited layout available here -to show you almost every bit of the tablecloth. It measures 50x50 -not 52x52 as I had previously been saying.


This is a shot of the inner four bouquets on the tablecloth. Lots and Lots of satin stitches in that baby!

And below here -just another view of as much of the tablecloth as I can squeeze into my viewfinder.
And here's a picture of half of what I am working on now! I started in on a set of pillowcases late yesterday afternoon and already now, have one completed and I am half-way through finishing the other to make the set done.
The pattern on the pillowcases is easy enough to do -just simple cross stitch which would work up really fast if I didn't have to blend a strand of a filament, sparkly kind of floss with each two strands of pale, pale blue floss. Let me tell you too, that filament floss is a royal pain in the behind to work with! Keeps tangling up, knotting on me and it's really wicked to untangle then too. It probably doesn't show up all that well in the pictures, but the filament floss is supposed to give the snowflakes that tiny bit of sparkle -and, in person, you can see it. Hope you can pick up on that when you view it too though.
Here's a little bit of a closer look at the snowflakes on the pillow case set!

Here's a couple of pictures too strictly for the cat lovers among you -like maybe Fermicat, Magnetbabe, Dianne and Raven! Oh, I know there are probably a lot more who are a bit barmy over the cats -Hammer, perhaps -but those are the ones who come to mind right off the bat! Here's our sweet little Chino Cat -and trust me, she really is one of the nicest, calmest, sweetest cats that's ever been our pleasure to have in our house! She's never once hissed or clawed at either of the kids -regardless of how rough they might get with her. Always up for Maya to lug her around, risking the possibility she may never breath right again afterwards from Maya's squeezing poor Chino so tight!

Anyway -here's Chino!
I'm not quite sure how Mandy took this shot -but it's Chino sitting on our Halloween floor mat by the front door -looking outside. All kinds of reflections going on here and it almost looks like it is a double exposure, doesn't it? But if you look real close, there in the middle, you'll see Chino watching the action outside.

Here's Chino -same spot, different angle though -in her "guard cat" pose!

And then, here's Chino relaxing a bit after all that hard work on guard duty!






This was Maya yesterday -and the look is one she often gets especially after she's been messing around with something -like oh, maybe Gram's embroidery work -and been caught! Little imp that she is, ya know!

And this is what Maya looks like today now -after watching marathon sessions of Jon and Kate Plus Eight and the video of that show that includes a segment on taking the kids to get a haircut. Apparently Maya was so impressed with that particular show that she decided to snap Gram's embroidery scissors and take several chunks out of her hair! LOVELY! Well Mandy wasn't all that impressed but I think she did a pretty decent job of trimming it up, don't you?
Here's Kurtis too -yesterday -sitting on the sidewalk out front. Pretty warm for early November that he was able to be outside with now sweater or jacket on, huh?
This is Kurt and his TSS (aide) Renee -who he really, really likes too! He sees her here in the morning when he wakes up and boy, his eyes just light up! Almost always brings on a great big smile from him.

There's lots more pictures that Mandy took yesterday but I'd have to use just about all the space I have if I were to post them. So for now anyway, th-th-th-that's all, folks!

15 comments:

SuperCoolMom said...

Gorgeous tablecloth! That is some beautiful embroidery. I picked some up with a design already printed on them and hemstitching around the edges last week at .... Goodwill! For around $1 each! Hello! Awesome! Of course, I will probably never get around to embroidering them. Someone must have died because there were a bunch of them and they had stickers on them from a store that's been closed since the 70's.

terri said...

Wow... you have such patience! Your embroidery is gorgeous!

And Maya... with her new haircut... looks SO much like Mandy! (At least it seems so from the pictures you've posted of Mandy now and then.)

Travis Cody said...

Congratluations on the table cloth! And the cat is very sweet!

Dorcas (aka SingingOwl) said...

The tablecloth is lovely! As for Maya's hair...oh dear...fingernail sissors? Eeek...

Sandi McBride said...

I love the tablecloths, reminds me of the ones my mom used to do. I have one of them...I save it for Christmas. I also love Maya's new look...she did it herself? I think she has a calling!
hugs
Sandi

Michelle H. said...

The embroidery is beautiful. I haven't seen stitching quite like it. Chino does have his guard cat pose down really well. A beautiful cat. As for Mandy's haircut, her inner stylist was very busy.

Smalltown RN said...

Holy cow girl....that embroidery is amazing...and it only took you a month...that would have taken me for ever...mind you I don't embroider...I love the cross stitch pillow cases and I can only imagine how difficult working with that thread would have been....I like cross stitch...I did a lot of it about 8 years ago when i quit smoking...it was great for keeping my hands busy......great work girl!

Rick Rockhill said...

oh my gosh, that is so beautiful, I am quite impressed!!
btw- chino is a cutie

Linda Murphy said...

What beautiful needlework-I am always impressed by those crafty ones who can sit with needlepoint, cross-stitch and embroidery, as my eyes get very, very tired from a few minutes on it! (probably should wear my glasses once and a while!)

I love the pictures of Maya and Kurtis and I chuckled that Maya gave herself a haircut. My friend's daughter just did that and now has a lovely bob to correct the chopping she gave herself.

Those therapists are amazing! Connor has learned to say "Julie" for all of our therapists-which only one is named Julie, but it is progress indeed. :)

david mcmahon said...

Jeni, my mother would have enjoyed seeing your work.

dr sardonicus said...

Cat pictures are cool!

Hilary said...

Lovely needlework. I wish I still had the patience for it. Cute kidlet and kitty.. luckily I still have the patience for that. ;)

Berni said...

Wonderful tablecloth, shows all you patience again. Love your kitty I wish we could have one but it just wouldn't work.

Anonymous said...

ur comment abt not knowing how mandy took tht shot of Chino Cat had me in splits, but I like the bhuturey effect(surreal it looks)
tell Mandy she ought to be proud of that photo :) take care Jennifer

Michelle said...

Hi Jenni

I came to say thank you for replying so kindly on my blog for Peace last week and had to add - that table cloth is GORGEOUS!

It reminded me of a story my mom often tells me. My gran made her a dress during the war. It was a party dress - white with bunches of red cherries embroidered (by my gran) on it.

The way I pictured that dress in my mind is exactly like that cloth. It's really beautiful. Oh, the blue is lovely too.

Here's a picture I put on my blog last week of an embroidery I did for my sister-in-law. I copied a Japanese print. Traced it with a pencil then did the feathers with a thickish black crochet cotton.

http://crows-feet.blogspot.com/2008/10/creative-urges.html