Trouble with my thumb

It's definitely going to be Christmas by the time I get this project done. I've been having trouble with my thumb and had to go buy a stabilizer that I can wear during the day when it's bothering me. I haven't tried to see if I can do any of my crafts with it on yet. Since she's leaving in 2 weeks, I don't hold much hope of finishing it even if the brace does make it easier to work on burying the threads. Oh well, since she doesn't know about it, she won't be disappointed.

Running late

At this rate it'll be a birthday (October) or Christmas present! I forgot how hard it is to get the threads buried in the cord. I'm working on the bookmark test to practice stitches and using colors.

Mom moved from her house to the empty trailer on my aunt's land. I was a little disappointed that she packed everything I made for her and put it all in storage, even bookmarks which I would have thought she might need at school. (For any non-family members that might read this, she's studying to be a Methodist pastor at the Wesley Theology school in Washington DC and will be there from June 20 thru December.)

It would be better if I could get out of my own way. I'm so tired all the time that I haven't been working on much of anything. My doctors are at a loss because the usual blood tests come back normal. I still haven't found a job so that is stressful, too. It's a good thing mom doesn't know to expect this since I'm not sure when I'll be able to get it finished.

Here's what I have done on the bookmark so far.

Life happens

Well, I haven't accomplished much on the project. Life happened and 4-3-08 I was laid-off from my job doing accounting at a transportation company. Rising gas prices forced cut backs. I've been doing the job search thing and haven't felt very creative lately.

I'm thinking of trying to get this done for mother's day (5-11-08) with the fall-back as a going away gift when she leaves 6-20-08. So, I suppose I need to get going on it. The next part is to finish tacking on the cording and start stitching the joins. It's a beautiful day and the bugs aren't out yet, so I think I'm going to go sit outside to work on it.

Here is the close up of the butterfly and 3 yard leaf.

I think I'm going to do one of the pretty bookmarks in the book Romanian Point Lace to test that the dyed thread isn't going to run off into the white cord before I use it on the picture frame. I just dyed some cranberry red and violet, very pretty!

Still Dying threads!

I've done some red, too much in fact. It didn't come out even. Then I did green. Still not quite as even as I had hoped. The yellow came out the best but there's a tangle that I have yet to get out. In reading the book on Romanian Point lace, the threads for the filling stitches are used in approximately 1 yard lengths. I think from here out, at least for threads to use in fillings, I'm going to do no more than 3 yards at a time. That should make it much more managable. I'm still going to use this green and I definitely have enough yellow that's not tangled.

I'm going to re-do the red, tho. I had also done some #20 red and that worked ok for the padding cord which I was able to cover well so you couldn't tell that it wasn't evenly colored and didn't quite match the working thread.

Here are some of the motifs that I've completed. I'm not sure I'm going to use them in this project. I'm going for a more delicate look. The butterfly is definitely a keeper, tho. I just have to block it and hopefully shape it some more. I'll do some smaller roses instead of the wild rose next.

The blogger isn't letting me add any more pictures right now. I have a close up of the butterfly and the leaf in the middle.

For that leaf I measured out 3 yards and put a slip knot at each yard. I was right, it took just less than 3 yards. You can tell by the quarter how tiny it is in #70 tatting thread with a .60 hook.

The yellow is for the flower petals, the red for the heart border pattern and the green for the flower leaves which I haven't tacked down the outline for yet. The angel will stay white. I asked my son for suggestions so that he would have a part in this project as well, he suggested the colors instead of the traditional white lace. He also picked out the braid I made for the outside of the frame.

Time to go play with more thread and dyes. It's rather fun!

Dyeing fibers

I started a wild rose in red and needed some red #20 for the padding cord around the outside. My first attempt was with the microwave dyes I bought at Ribbonsmyth a long time ago to dye silk ribbon. That didn't work on the mercerized cotton. I called my friend Alanna who does lots of dyeing and she suggested the Dye-na-flow that she had suggested before for the satin cording I use for Celtic knotting.

Since I also want some #30 for the heart border of the RPL to be red, I wound several yards of the #30 and a couple yards of the #20 around a piece of plastic canvas. I used a paint brush to paint on the red dye and let it dry. Well, it didn't come out as well as I had hoped. I didn't quite get it even and it's a little stiff.

Today I tried to do some green pulling it off the ball into a glass dish with some green dye in it. Then I pulled it thru my fingers using a plastic baggie since I couldn't find my disposable gloves. Definitely have to get some tomorrow since it would be much easier. I'm hoping that by pulling it thru there it will be even and there won't be any excess dye so hopefully it won't be stiff. I wrapped it on a piece of plastic canvas as I went to keep it from tangling. We'll see what happens when it dries!

Pictures

I'm half thru with my second attempt at the Irish crochet (IC) butterfly for my lace picture mat. The only problem is, I think I made so many errors and changes that I'm not sure I can make the other side symetrical! There is another problem, it's too big for the corner using the size thread I used (size 30 thread over 4 size 10 padding cords). For anyone not familiar with IC, it is a form of crochet that has a 3d effect often using padding cords (pc) under the stitches to help them pop out and also to add shape. I think my next attempt will be with a size 70 thread and 3 size 30 pc). I'm done for today, tho.

Butterfly

Well, my first attempt at the butterfly was a bust. Trying to read the old patterns (it was written in 1912) is sometimes challenging. The head came out surprisingly well considering how much I don't like doing rings, the first part of the body was good, after that, not so much. I think I'm going to scrap that attempt and start fresh. Now I now a little better how it goes.
I also have most of the braids tacked to the pattern for the RPL. I want to figure out a way to sign and date it in the pattern somehow. Not exactly sure how quite yet, tho.

My son has gone over to help mom pack some more, so I have some time to turn on LiveIreland.com and listen to Irish music while I do some more Irish crochet!

My first blog post.

I'm going to use this blog to document my progress on my largest lace original design. I'm using a combination of Romanian point lace and Irish crochet lace to make a picture mat for my mother's going-away gift. (I hope she doesn't find this!)

I created the pattern a couple of weeks ago using templates from the book "Romainian Point Lace" by Angela Thompson & Kathleen Waller. I also made my own flower with some polar graph paper I found at http://mason.gmu.edu/~mmankus/Handson/polar.htm. The angel in the corner is from a pattern in the files at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CrochetLace/. I'm also involved in http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Irish_Crochet_Lovers/ where I found a pattern for an Irish crochet butterfly that's going to be in the blank corner.

Speaking of the butterfly, time to go get started on it!