FFO

I recently learned that in Cross Stitch land, an FFO is a framed finished object. I have another FFO, the cat head, or as the pattern is titled, Bright Eyes.

I got the frame at Michaels yesterday. I was hoping to find a square frame, but settled on the 8″ x 10″ one. I like the way the wood looks with the colors of the floss/design. I’m not sure if I’m framing and stretching my stitchery in the “correct” way, but they look okay to me. I’m sure there are hundreds of videos I could watch, but I got it done, and that’s what counts.

While at Michaels, I picked up the DMC floss I needed for the Heaven and Nature sing cross stitch. It was 62 cents, as much as I enjoy the beauty of the over-dyed floss, like Weeks, I have a bit of reticence with paying $2.50 a skein. I also picked up the scroll frame holder, I put it together and I am working with it, trying to find the best position. I think the fabric is supposed to be tighter, but I kinda like it looser, so I can stitch through only from the front if I like. I still have to figure out how to easily access the back, flipping the piece up is easy, but I need to lean forward out of my chair to reach it. It puts a strain, like doing sit ups – yuck, on my mid section, stitching is supposed to be relaxing.

I finished quilting my Unity quilt last weekend. as I was taking it off the frame, I noticed railroading on the back. Damn. Two entire rows are like this. I am going to take it out and re-do the quilting. I thought about washing it and seeing if the stitches would pull in, but I think the bobbin thread is too tight and it wouldn’t help. I want to finish the Farm Charm quilt on the frame, and hopefully the minky I ordered for the tee shirt quilt will be here soon and I can get that quilt done. Then I can work on getting Unity fixed, it’s not as difficult as it seems, just have to be methodical. I’m thankful that I chose a panto with no back tracking, so much easier to rip out.

Tomorrow I am planning on making two dog bed covers. A friend of mine commissioned me to make them, one is rectangular and the other is round. I got some rip-stop 600 denier fabric from Seattle Fabrics, along with some zippers and such. Simple sewing on a large scale. It shouldn’t take too long, famous last words, right?

Lastly, I discovered a new to me Floss Tube series. Craftie Emily is a British stitcher, with a lot of projects going at one time. She’s easy to listen too and does beautiful work. Craftie Emily showed a few Long Dog Sampler patterns she is stitching. I went and looked, now I want to do them all. They have one color pieces with so much detail, and samplers that are multicolors. The patterns are in PDF form, downloadable from Great Britain, at about $24.00 each. I really like this one, called Pilgrims Progress, after the book of the same name. Lots of detail, and tiny stitches.