Going to the fair.....

Well yesterday was the day to drive to the fair and pick up our chapter member's entries. Thank heaven the weather was kind this year. There are some years that it is broiling hot in the dusty rural area of Missouri. But this year the weather was delightful. High 70's, sunny skies and a nice breeze. That doesn't mean that the horse barns didn't still have an "aroma." As is always the case, we made our way to the home ec building first. That is what I came for after all. Not a bad showing. I had four entries this year and came away with four ribbons. Three blues and one white. Two of my blues were best of show for their division. Not too shabby.

I will be real honest and say that the fact that both of my best of shows look as if someone slept in them. Aghhhh. I guess they had to be handled quite a bit for judging. It is just a killer when you spend so much time ironing it. I wanted them to be presentable when they arrived. I laughed out loud when I saw the ribbon looped over the bonnet of the pink linen set. I guess someone thought that was the way it was supposed to be. Could be a trend I guess.

In the top picture you can see a portion of the quilt that got the gold award for the home ec building. It was spectacular. It is a whole cloth quilt w ith millions of the tiniest hand stitches. If I had been thinking I would have gotten a picture of the whole quilt but here is a teeny portion.

On to the next thing. What you are you sewing these days?

Granito leaves, revised

Note: These are new pics and revised directions.

I am always looking for a better way to do a stitch. Not always does it have to be faster though. Sometimes I enjoy slow, detailed and some would consider tedious. In making the previous pink linen daygown over the summer, I enjoyed the embroidery but will admit that about half way through the 17,000 satin leaves I was about to lose my mind. I wanted to be done. I loved the project but enough already! So I came up with a way to do a quicker leaf. In describing it to some friends I conveyed how I discovered this half way through that project but wasn't willing to unstitch the first 8,500 leaves so had to finish them the original way. The consensus was that not all leaves are the same. True but since I had started down one front and was working my way around the other front, the two sides wouldn't have matched. Normally if you wouldn't have been able to tell, I would have switched methods and forged on. But I do believe you would have been able to tell the difference so I plowed on with the original leaf.

So here are the steps for a quicker yet sweet looking leaf I call a granito leaf. This may not be an original idea, but it was to me. Mirella Arroyo has a flower she calls a "Claudette flower" because the person who first showed it to her was named Claudette. This could be a "Martha leaf." Nah, probably not.

note: As always click on the picture to enlarge.

• To give granitos a uniform size and look, always use the same number of stitches. If you want to vary the size of your granito or granito leaf, then you would vary the number of stitches used. This granito is 8 stitches and then 2 "magic" stitches.

• I take my first stitch entering the fabric where my granito will lie, Point A. I don't use a waste knot for a granito. When you have this much thread piled on top of itself where you have entered/exited the fabric in the same holes it is not going to come out.

• I exit at what will be the bottom of my granito. Point B. I take a half space back stitch, exiting on the back of the fabric I split that thread to secure it.
  

• This is the bottom of the fabric where I am stitching back down from the top, you can see the needle splitting thread.

• I now begin using a sewing motion to form my granito. Exiting again out of point B and re-entering at point A each time. That thread tail I will snip off after a couple of stitches.
  

• Take two straight stitches in and out of the same hole,

• To fatten the "belly" of the leaf, for the next 4 stitches I will throw the thread off to either side. This gives the belly of the leaf a more rounded look. Alternate one side, then the next for the 4 stitches.

• I also use my thumb as a guide and controller. Below I have moved my thumb to the side, but as I am stitching I often will have my thumb on top of my stitches.
  

• Take 2 more stitches over the center of the granito. You should have a nice plump round granito made from 8 stitches.
  

• Now come the "magic" stitches to give the granito its leaf shape. For the last 2 stitches I move my point A, one to two threads above my granito. This one actually looks like it might be 1.5 threads above the granito. The stitches will go over the center of the granito.

• Completed stitch. I will take my thread to the back and tie it off by running under my previous stitches a couple of times. Kind of cute!
  

What are you reading?

I just finished a book by Paul Coutinho, SJ. "How Big Is Your God?" Fr. Paul Coutinho seems to almost have a cult following, he certainly has a fan club. :) He is a wonderful speaker and excerpts from one his talks that are included in this book can be seen on YouTube. Is there anything you can't see on YouTube anymore? I really enjoyed this book, it is an easy read. If you have ever seen or heard Paul Countinho in person you can certainly "hear" him in his book. I can hear the distinct way he says the word "Jesuit" every time I read it. He challenges you but in a gentle way to look outside of your traditional ways of looking at God and your relationship with Him. If you get a chance to attend one of his talks, do. If not read this quick book which also has a short DVD enclosed. A short excerpt from his chapter titled "Do you React or Respond to Life?"

...Situations in themselves do not produce feelings. It is our perception of the situation that makes us feel good or bad. Just as situations cannot make us happy or sad, another person cannot make us feel happy or sad. We choose to be happy or sad. If we seek greater freedom in our lives, we need to be objective and rational about the power of our beliefs versus the power of situations. We control our emotions. When we live in freedom, we choose the way we respond rather than let our automatic destructive reactions get the better of us.

Now you might ask, "Okay, but how do I do this? How do I choose to respond when I am under pressure, when I have been taught to fear or fight, when the situation seems 'bad' to me?" The "PQR formula" can help us live freely in stressful, anxious, or depressing situations. We pause to question how we would like to respond rather than react and live to regret our negative reaction. Let me try to explain what I mean by react: You push; I shove. Without thinking, I shove. This is my reaction. It is immediate and disconnected from my higher Self, the constant "I," and the meaning of my life. My reaction is an imprisoned effect. This is not freedom. By applying the PQR formula, however, I can respond. I pause (find myself in the situation), question (How does this situation relate to the meaning of my life? How do I wish to respond given a world of infinite possibilities?), and then respond (a freely chosen action -- not a reaction). Responding rather than reacting helps us live freely and in greater harmony with our true identity in every situation. It helps us grab hold of the freedom we seek in order to enter into the river of divine life.

Next on the night stand is:

And lest you think that I only read Jesuit authors, over the weekend I read,

a quick mindless entertaining book.

Haven't sewn in a couple days, but I am headed up to the sewing room now. Had breakfast with a friend this morning. I hadn't seen her since I had come home from retreat so we spent a leisurely two hours chatting over breakfast about retreat and what we are stitching on. You know I have to show that pink linen daygown to anyone that will look at it.

Daygown....FINISHED!

It is finis! For some reason this gown began to feel like it would never be done. But it is sewn, washed and pressed and will now patiently await some precious babe to fill it. They can bring one of those on just any time. :) Just teasing. There is something I am learning in the world of mothering, that some things are out of your control and out of theirs. And it is best not razzed about too often. I know they are more impatient than I. In the meantime I will keep sewing and praying.

I did alter the sleeve a tad from Mirella's original pattern. I made them a bit more full to get more of a puff sleeve look. And the tatting. For some reason attaching that tatting was a bear. It is not like I had never attached tatting before, but I didn't seem to be able to make this tatting behave. I am not a big fan of the loops at the top, though everyone assures me it is supposed to look that way. Well not in my world. Oh well. Least of my troubles.

The pleats on the back. I love how the weave of linen shows with the backlighting from the window. The simple things in life. And as a parting shot, as if you all haven't seen this embroidery enough. One more look. Of course in this picture it looks like the drawn thread squares aren't even, but in person they are. Must have been the camera taker's angle. Really must get her to do a better job.

I am off to dream up more projects. At physical therapy today came up with three or four. Now to remember them and better yet, get them sewn. Thanks for looking. A blessed summer evening to you.