A New Year Already

An explanation for this header - I still haven't finished the January Crazy Quilt Heart for this month. I'm working on it, and trying to remember what I was going to do with it besides the required silk ribbon carnations. I'll have it up in a few days, hopefully - at least with the garnets and flowers.

Anyway, the header is from a plaid piece I started several years ago and had to put aside for lack of time and lots of other plaid things I wanted to do. I am a great fan of Emily Dickinson, and have always loved this quote of hers - which is why I named my Needlepoint Now article "Possibilities," and also my other blog - Possibilities, Etc.

She also said, "To live is so startling, it leaves little time for anything else." She might have said "to stitch needlepoint leaves little time for anything else."

I've been planning for over a month to do a detailed tutorial on my plaids - how to set them up for specific projects, etc., and how to stitch them freehand, as I do - very very simple. I already have the book, which I did about five years ago, but now am working on an update to offer as an e-book on my web page.

This close up of the upper left corner of the unfinished pillow shows the vertical stripes stitched already on the warp, which is always done first because of the strength of the weave - and you can see, where the arrow points, the background (pink) being stitched horizontally. this is what makes it so entertaining to do - it's wonderful to see the difference it makes to have it solid.

Also, see the yellow horizontal stripes. This is an unusual plaid, in that it only has the yellow elements, and not repeats of the verticals, as in tartans. (which composes a sett). I don't remember where I saw this plaid, but do remember loving the colors - so I manipulated it to fit around the quote. We'll deal with this another time.

In this shot of the lower right, you can see where the yellow stripes have started across the verticals, and where they cross the green, a new color is formed - this is also one of the delights in working plaid without paint!!

You can also see the marks I made for guidance in stitching. I have since discovered the joy of using paint pens for this step - it's much easier than making the black marks, and less confusing.

I plan to do several projects - in detail how to plan and set them up, and where to find good ones for inspiration. Even belts and dog collars! I don't use numbers for this - I developed my own way about 35 years ago, so that's a new one for me - never heard of it until recently. I'll also deal with Scottish tartans at a later date - wonderful things, they are!