Did you realize that your Stitch Sampler Notebook is not limited to what I send you each Wednesday? I provided an extra sheet in the Files section for you to be able to print out and use for times when you want to add something.
Every time you come across a new stitch, be it on the internet, stitch guide, class, stitch-in, etc., stitch a sample and keep it in your Notebook. Try to carry a few extra canvas blocks in your stitching bag (and don't tell me you do not have a hundred stitching bags!). This is a tool for you to use. I am in my Notebook almost every day. Maybe you see someone execute a stitch for hair and you saw it entirely differently maybe as a shrub. Make a note, stitch a sample and place in the major category of your choice. No category comes to mind? The Stitch Sampler Notebook police are not going to come carry you away! Don't lose the opportunity to document a stitch that you find interesting. I keep a page in the front of my notebook for odds and ends until I decide on exactly where I want to place it and the categories I feel it might fit. Remember I told you the other day that I just added two new categories to my Notebook? Be mindful of the thread used and the canvas count as well. We think we are going to remember but take my word for it, someday we lose that ability for that precious recall we all take for granite.
Now, I may eventually add the stitch you just picked up and it might be diagrammed differently and it may have different suggested uses. Guess what? That is wonderful. You have just expanded that stitch's possibilities even more. If you have a Nobuko, for instance and I provide you with a different stitch diagram for Nobuko (which I will later), call it Nobuko II or Nobuko Variation. Just keep it!
You are going to find that a stitch can be called many, many names. We designers are constantly trying to identify a common name for a stitch. Sometimes it has so many names it is difficult to determine which is the proper one. If I am so inclined, I head for my library shelf and pull down the oldsters such a The Encyclopedia of Needlework, 1884, by Therese de Dillmont. But, unless I am writing a stitch guide the name by which the stitch is called is not critical to me. I'm just filling a space with something I like.
Well, this post is kinda boring and void of color isn't it. Okay, I'll share a picture of Puff as he assists me with my stitching. As you can see, he is miserable (? right!). Notice all the space he allows me to have between him and my work! Puff will be 23 this summer and he is starting to show his age. He has been with us since he was nursing. His momma brought him to us when she decided that she wanted to live here and she would let us share their house. We lost his momma this past Thanksgiving. She was barely a kitty when she brought him to us. I guess someone dropped her off but it was their loss. Now, the ironic thing is that I am a dog person through and through. My husband and kids, however, are cat lovers. But, I would not deliberately be mean to an animal and can't stand for them to be hungry cold (well, since snakes are reptiles I think I can still make that statement as I hate snakes!). Even though I was raised on a farm, heck, I'd brought the cow in the house if Daddy would have let me.
Okay, I'm off to work - the animals don't stir this early so I can get a little done.
Have a great day.
Sandy
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