• Finishing Instructions,  Nautical,  New Designs,  Stitching,  Summer

    My First Drum!

    May 10, 2017

    I've never designed a "drum" before, so at the urging of a couple of sweet friends, I've come up with one as a sort of spin-off of Cape Cod Keeps. This was such a fun little pattern to design, and I hope you like it! Joy of Finely Finished did a gorgeous job of transforming three pieces of stitched linen into the actual drum, and I've included her brief finishing instructions at the bottom of this post.

    Here we go!

    Mariner's Drum COVER

    The drum was stitched on R&R Reproductions' 36 ct. Patriot's Brew by my good friend Pat Ryan.

    The colors used are all by Weeks Dye Works, but the chart does include a conversion to DMC in the key. Here are the Weeks colors you'll need, if you choose to stitch it:

    Onyx, Adobe, Dirt Road, Sandcastle, Gunmetal, Pelican Gray, Light Khaki, Deep Sea, Dove, Garrison Green, Confederate Gray, Tatanka, Teal Frost, Cinnabar, Cayenne, and Cocoa.

    You'll need three pieces of linen in the following stitch counts:
    For the side: 217w x 57h
    For the top: 72w x 67h
    For the bottom: 60w x 60h

    There is a tiny bit of long-stitching on the comb, and a small area of over-one stitching in the mermaid's mirror. 

    Tp 3

    The top of the drum features a pirate who has dropped his anchor in place to search for sunken treasure. If you look carefully at the photo above, you'll notice the seam joining the top of the drum to the side of the drum meets so that the chain links connect the anchor to the ship!

    The verse I used for Mariner's Drum comes from an old sea shanty, that goes like this:

    Cape Cod Girls ain't got no combs;
    They brush their hair with codfish bones. 

    There are actually more verses (and other variations) to this shanty, but I liked this one the best.

    Tp 1

    Tp 2

    The bottom of the drum has a little mariner's compass stitched on it. But of course, you could choose to use a piece of wool in place of the compass if you'd like to be finished with it faster. 🙂 (By the way, it wasn't until after I uploaded the photo below that I noticed a little green leaf in the center of the compass. I tend to make sure there are no stray fibers anywhere, but I'm not accustomed to looking for stray greenery!)

    Tp 4

    And speaking of finishing, the lovely Joy Hayward has provided brief finishing instructions for the drum. If you are not an experienced finisher, be sure you read all of the instructions before you attempt any cutting. This is not a difficult piece to finish, but you want to be in control of each step! I always "walk things through" in my mind all the way to the end before attempting any of it with my hands!

    Download BRIEF FINISHING INSTRUCTIONS FOR MARINER'S DRUM

    I truly thank you for visiting my blog today, and I hope you're having a wonderful week!

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  • New Designs,  Patriotic,  Summer

    New for May

    May 8, 2017

    Happy New Week to You!

    I've been working on four new releases for this month, and I'll be shipping them out soon to your local or online shop. I'm so excited that summer stitching is almost here!

    Here is a little sneak peek of the first release, which is a follow up to Hello Spring that was released in March.

    Hello summer tp

    Stitch Count: 150w x 83h

    Linen used: 36 ct. Patriot's Brew (a brand NEW color!) by R&R Reproductions.

    Threads used:
    Weeks Dye Works in Sanguine, Parchment, Grits, Oscar, Bark, and Grapevine;
    Classic Colorworks in Milady's Teal, Used Brick, and Ye Olde Gold.

    Trims used: Lady Dot Creates in Vintage Mini Poms and Vintage Silk Ribbon (hanger).

    My dear friend Pat Ryan stitched the model beautifully (thank you, Pat!), and Joy Hayward from Finely Finished did a stunning job on the finishing! (Thank you so much, Joy!)

    I hope you all have a lovely day, and I'll be back soon with more releases! Please let your shop owner know if you'd like she or he to reserve a chart for you. 🙂

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  • Critters

    A Note from Me

    May 3, 2017

    Dear 2017,

    I may be starting to like you after all.

    Sincerely,

    me

    ****************************************************************************************************************************************

    Do you know how often I think about writing something here? Every day. Every day!

    But then the evening comes, and I sit down on the edge of my bed, setting my slippers on the floor at just the right distance from my feet so that I can find them when the dark morning comes. 

    After that, I wonder where the day went. It seems like I was just putting those slippers on my feet and trudging down to the coffee pot. And now here I sit again.

    Twenty-seventeen has been a disjointed blur to me, but it feels like I may be settling back into the nice, steady rhythm of work. I love my work.

    Thank you so much for all of you who have been so incredibly supportive of it. I truly feel God has given Plum Street Samplers to me, and has allowed me to meet so many of you through it. I hope I can be better, once again, at staying in touch (so to speak) through my blog. 

    I'll leave you with a little bright spot in my day… the new Jingle Family, which has settled themselves quite comfortably in the Christmas wreath on my front porch. (I fell in love with a wreath on Etsy, so I ordered it, not taking time to measure it. When I received it, I found that it was much more enormous than I had planned for, and was far too heavy to hang on my front door. I had to hang it next to my door instead, which proved to be a nice, inviting spot for a little finch mother to build her nest. So if you happen to be in the neighborhood, you'll know why it still appears to be Christmas at the Stewart house.)

    FV4A3804 small

    Thank you for stopping by!

     

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