For the corners of my block, Carole Samples has graciously given me permission to use some of her fan designs. I’ve chosen the ones shown in the corners of her block design on page 219 of Treasury of Crazyquilt Stitches. Here’s how I’ve used her designs. First, I copied the page and cut out the fans I wanted to use to make sure they were the right size for my corner patches. I think maybe I could have enlarged them a bit to fit the scale of the rest of the block, but I didn’t want to completely cover the lovely silk brocade fabric.

To transfer the designs I used the “prick and pounce” method. Here is one of the fan designs with my tekobari, ready to prick it.

Instead of pounce, which is a powder, I used my water-soluble pen to get these dots on the fabric.

Here’s another corner fan, stitched but not yet spritzed.

I should also point out that the nice squares stitched around the tiny seashells you can see in the first photo were done using Pam Kellogg’s waste canvas method.

Here’s a glimpse of my preparation to stitch another seam using waste canvas. I will definitely be using this method to enable me to get more elaborate stitches, perfectly spaced.

The curved chain stitch seam treatment was done using one of Carole Samples’ templates. I’ve replaced the flower motif above with the one you see here ….

and made some more additions to this seam and patch. But you’ll have to wait to see them. No shots yet. Unstitching this kind of work is more laborious than putting the stitches in!

Since I am unable to make perfectly placed stitches, no matter how hard I try, I really need a little help from my friends. If you don’t know Carole and Pam, I hope you will check out their websites.

Thanks for the encouraging comments. That’s help from my friends, too.

Mary Corbet and I have been talking about sadi this week. Sadi refers to gold and silver metal threads, used extensively in India and other parts of the world. It is coiled fine wire that comes in smooth tubes, faceted tubes, and pearl. You can read about it in Betty Luke’s book:

Here’s a close-up of her sampler.

I used bright check sadi, the faceted kind, in this seam treatment. The sadi threads are the gold bars.

Sadi is much like the gold threads used in English and European goldwork, but it is not as fine, a little heavier and therefore a bit easier to work with. Judging by the comparative costs, I doubt that sadi has any real gold content, unlike English metal threads.

I used it also in this graduation gift I made for grandson Matt:

Here’s a close-up of the Case Western Reserve University, where Matt is now a rising senior, that I used as the central motif, worked in sadi smooth and bright check over string and felt padding.

The detached chain stitches in the matrix are fine smooth sadi centered with a red cross stitch to represent the influence of his Friends High School.

I’m making progress on my S block, but now I’m reluctant to show it, so near completion. I hope! I’ve really struggled with this piece, and I’m about to unstitch part of a motif I’m not satisfied with.

You may remember this sadi S I did for practice. Just one of any number of details I’ve done more than once.

What with sickness and catching up after sickness and unstitching bits I was not satisfied with, I have not made much progress on my S block. So, instead, I will show you something I did before I got into needlework.

Because of my ME-CFS, I could only engage in quiet activities in my room for brief visits with grandchildren. I conceived of the idea of making a dolls’ house with granddaughter Michelle. After looking at books from the library, I had some plans for using a cardboard box and making stuff out of found materials, very simple. Here’s a shot of Michelle, about age five, when we were working together on her dolls’ house. (From the time she was two years old, Michelle and I always made things together during visits, but by this time, no more kite-flying for me.)

[Do click on the images to see enlargements. There are lots of little details. And you can enlarge again at Flickr by clicking on All Sizes above the image.]

It wasn’t long, though, before I got hooked and began making more sophisticated (relatively speaking) furnishings and figures for the house. As Michelle’s visits were infrequent, it became my project, instead of ours. When it was finished, I presented it to her. Here she is with her dad and her brother Luke, about whom some of you have read. This picture must have been taken 14 years ago.

And now for a closer look inside the house. First, the whole interior:

You will notice a lot of people in this house. I told Michelle I hoped they were only visiting. Okay, room by room. Here’s the kitchen:

Next the dining room. I had so much fun making all the house plants.

Here’s the nursery, with grandma putting baby to bed with a bottle.

Upstairs there’s a bedroom, and, oh my goodness, there’s a NEW baby! Well, let’s hope one of the babies is just visiting.

Next door is the bathroom. Its wallpaper was once my flannel nightgown.

In the living room, the picture over the piano is a reduction of an actual Mary Cassatt print. The carpeting was once a place-mat. That’s a kitten the little boy’s holding. I’ve never had pets, but Michelle and Luke had cats and dogs, so I had to put some in the dolls’ house.

They could even celebrate Christmas at Michelle’s house. It was such fun decorating the tree and wrapping gifts, especially as that was the only way I could celebrate Christmas at that stage of my illness.

It’s only taken me most of today to get this post up. First, editing the pictures which had to be scanned into the computer. Then finding out through several trials, that Word Press would not upload my saved-for-web pictures. Uploading the pictures to Flickr, then transferring them, one at a time, to my blog. Then copying the individual pictures and pasting them into one post. What a way to spend the day! I could have been stitching!

This week I’ve met Megan from Australia who has a blog about calligraphy, illumination, and historical embroidery. Do go visit her. She features a wealth of resources, having done a lot of research and stitching of her own. Especially don’t miss her book cover posts.

Yesterday the book, Creative for a Second, was released online . Conceived, compiled, edited, and designed by Kirrily Anderson, it is a collection of art, both written and visual, created by people with ME-CFS, people who often can not do anything. Each contributor has included a statement about what creativity means in his or her life. Kirrily herself has had ME-CFS for several years. That she could create such a work is a wonder.
You can see the whole book here. By clicking on the pages, you can enlarge them. It is beautifully designed, with many moving works of art.

And you can see my contribution on page 29. It’s funny, as this was just a practice piece, never intended to be a finished work. However, I was unable to get a large enough photograph of any other work that could be used in the book.

The book is also being published in print.

Here’s where I am, now that I can get back to work.

Last month my grandson responded to my post about the counter-culture with this message:

“In your post on the 60s counter-culture in your blog, you mentioned the feminine point of view. I talked to a couple of my female friends from school a few months back, asking what they thought it means to be female. I thought two of my more staunchly feminist friends would have a good idea, but I got the impression that they denied gender differences rather than embraced them. I suggested that they might come to a new answer once (or if) they became mothers, but I was just speculating. Gender roles are what people make of them, but, in my experience, the idea of masculinity is a meaningful one. So what do you think the feminine qualities are?”

I responded with a brief essay to which Luke sent this response. When I wrote back to him (my-response-to-luke), addressing some of his points, I said that I wondered what his female friends think.

He gave my essay to a young woman friend of his and she has written her response.

If you have been following this discussion, you will want to read what Stephanie has to say, and you will not be disappointed. Her brief essay is brilliantly written and passionately thoughtful. I was excited to find a young woman who identifies herself as a feminist and explains why other girls dissociate themselves from feminism. Her response is here.

stephanies-response

After reading what Stephanie had to say, I couldn’t resist letting her know my thoughts, which you can read here.

answer-to-stephanie

It has been a delight for me to have this conversation with Luke and Stephanie. I hope some of you will enjoy our exchanges, too.

By the way, the book by Doris Lessing that I referred to in my message to Stephanie is titled, The Cleft. What an image, eh?

Okay, now that I’ve taken care of that, I really can get back to stitching.