A stitch in time

Hello everyone!

First, welcome back!  I hope you have had a good week!  My week was crazy...work is crazy, local family issues are crazy, and doggone it, I'm tired!  It was no rest for the weary this week, but no matter.  I am here, you are here, and all is well.  Thank you for being here!

I feel I must apologize for my less than complete entry last week.  Lots going on in my life outside of my studio caused me to be less than focused on my blog entry.  So, I'm going to fill in a few gaps.

The extra hearts I added to my start to finish project were done with tiny stamps:

Here are the stamp pads I used ("wild hare" [fun name :-)] and "black" [boring, but effective :-) ]):

It was a simple matter of stamping the stamp on the pad I wanted, then stamping the stamp on a paper towel to remove some of think, and then stamping the stamp on the piece.  I wanted the hearts to be subtle and that is why I used the paper towel.

So today, I wanted to take the next step.  I wanted to sew the words "you" and "me" by the center ampersand, as the focus of the piece is about love between two people.  I am very much in love with my fiance, so love is never far from my mind.  I thought the ampersands could represent things about love ("you and me," "love and affection," "cherish and honor," etc.).  To sew them on, I needed a guide, so I used my own handwriting for the words "you" and "me":

It took a few tries, but I finally got what I wanted.  I cut them out and then put them on the piece:

I used black cross-stitch thread (I do that, too, so I have tons of it laying around :-) ) and sewed over the paper to get the words to look right:

Then I took very pointy scissors and carefully cut away the paper to get the final look:

I like it!  This was not an easy process.  I stabbed myself multiple times and had a heck of a time pushing the needle through the canvas.  I had to use a needle that was very fine to try and not leave a lot of large needle holes on the piece.  This caused me to struggle with the needle going through the canvas, as the needle almost wasn't strong enough to make it through.  Oh well...it was effort well-spent in my opinion!  :-)

I want to add some of those other words (like "love" and "honor") to the other ampersands but I'll be using a different method than sewing.  See, those other ampersands are too close to the wooden edge of the canvas on the back, making it next to impossible to sew anything there.  That's okay...I have a fun idea for how to add those.  Hopefully I'll have something to show you soon!

So, until next time, be grateful for the wonderful things in your life, even if it is the simple things like food, shelter, and love.  It's the simple things that are the best.  Take care all!