Chicks and Bunnies and Eggs... Oh, my!

Whew! I made it! Once again, I'm down to the wire in trying to squeeze in two posts each month. In a few short hours it will be April, but at this very minute--it is still March! So, how have you been during this changeable month? I'm still (believe it or not) dealing with a bit of a cough which is hanging on from my bout with the flu. Nothing terrible--just annoying. Hopefully, in another week, it will be gone for good. It was a busy month for me with trips to both Florida (which you read about in my last post) and to New York to visit my mom last week (who is doing well, by the way--thank you to all of you who ask about her! She and I both really appreciate your kind thoughts!). 

I was able to finish up the bigger spring project that I told you about last time and I'm thrilled with how it turned out. This is a very old French chart called "Paques" (Easter) from Bleu de Chine in Paris. I've been trying to stitch some of these beauties from my stash rather than buying new things and I'm so happy to have this one stitched at last! I began stitching this with the suggested colors on natural linen, but didn't like the effect at all so I switched out all of the colors (except the greens) and stitched it on 40 ct. antique white linen. These changes gave it a brighter, springier look--much better! I wish my photos were better, but it has been four straight days of cloudy, gray weather (and even a bit of s-n-o-w this morning).

Bleu de Chine "Paques" finish

Thank goodness I learned to make colonial knots as I am a complete failure (90% of the time!) at French knots--they always seem to pull through to the other side or look way too large. But, the colonial knots were much easier and fairly uniform in size. Just look at all of those little brown eyes I had to make for the chicks and bunnies! Click here for the video that I used for the colonial knots--it might be helpful to you, too. I love the yellow chicks running too and fro, some of them falling right over their large orange feet!

Such darling chicks!

As mentioned above, I changed most of the colors in this piece, but I especially wanted to change the one suggested for the bunnies. It was charted as DMC 919 which is an orange color. What? The bunnies who hop through my yard (nibbling at my flowers!) are brown so I used Classic Colorworks "Stepping Stones." for their fur. Much more lifelike, I think, don't you?

Don't you love that gingham heart?

After I was finished with the stitching,  I pulled a frame from my Goodwill stash (which I had purchased for $1.99) and painted it white using three coats of Waverly Chalk pain in the "Plaster" color. I then distressed it with some fine-grade sand paper. I should have taken a "before" photo as it was a gold color and looked nothing like this. I'm so pleased with how it turned out with the green polka-dot fabric background and pale yellow ric-rak...The finished size including the frame is about 10" square. It makes a perfect addition to my Easter decor!

All ready for Easter!

Oldies, but goodies... I came across a couple of very old finishes all rolled up in a drawer last week and shared them with my stitching friends on Instagram. I was pleasantly surprised to find how much I still liked these even after all this time. I'm guessing I stitched them around 2002 or 2003 which is when I got back into stitching after a ten year hiatus. Who else has stitched one of these Told In a Garden Amish pieces?  I chose to stitch these because of the colorful quilts, the beautiful homesteads and barns, and the depiction of a simpler, quieter way of life. They still call to me for those same reasons... I think I will try to frame them myself and get them out of hiding!

"Blueberry Homecoming" is my favorite of all of the Told In a Garden designs

"Bird In Hand" captures Amish life in the quaint Pennsylvania town of the same name

Now, look at that Amish buggy above and just look at what passed in front of me (in the photo below) when I was visiting my mom in January! As you can see I took this from my car window--imagine riding in a buggy like this in the middle of winter... Brrrr!!! The horse and buggy were clip-clopping through the parking lot of a shopping area on a very frigid afternoon. There is a large Mennonite population up in that part of New York State (near the Finger Lakes) and many of them still use the horse and buggy method of transportation. I came across this very interesting article about how these buggies are built... If you'd like to read it, click here. They cost about $6800 to build according to the article--a lot less than a new car, that's for sure!

Waiting for a Mennonite buggy to pass on a snowy day in NY

Anyway--back to the Told In a Garden pieces. If I decide to stitch more of these, I certainly have some wonderful choices  in my own stash. The question is, should I stitch them on Aida again or use linen? They really are such sweet pieces... true comfort stitching! I've always loved "Grandmother's House" and "Grandfather's Barn" along with "Raspberry Homecoming" and "The Garden." (Oh, and "The Quilting," and "The Courting"--oh, who am I kidding, I love them all!)

More than enough Told In a Garden Charts to keep me stitching for years to come!

How I Attach My Cording:  On to a few tips that may help when you attach your cording. I've had several Instagram and blogging friends ask me about how I attach my cording so I came up with this little tutorial back in 2015 to help them. This is not how to make cording (but, here is a great video of a woman making it and using the exact method I use: cording video). In her video, Kathy only uses one length of DMC and doubles it over. I use three or four lengths of DMC and do not double it over. She and I both use the Kreinik Custom Corder, but you can make cording by using a drill, an electric mixer, or even a dowel or long pencil. There are a lot of YouTube videos on these various methods. I do highly suggest the Kreinik Corder, though--it is fun and easy!

This is how I attach my cording--yes, I use glue so if you are anti-glue, there is no need to read any further. I have never had a problem with gluing on cording, buttons, bows, etc. in all the years I've been finishing. I use a teeny tiny bit applied on the end of a toothpick so it never oozes out. In my opinion, it gives a smoother look to a final finish than if it is sewn on. Just my opinion. However, I know there are some stitchers out there who would never allow glue to come in contact with their stitching so, if you are one of them, this method is not for you... You can click on all of the photos to enlarge them for more detailed views.

I start with the finished stitching and cording (of course!):

Then, I take the cording and tie a piece of the same colored DMC to one end and wind it around and around like the end of a shoelace and tie it off: 

Here is a close-up:

I then snip off the knotted end close to the thread that I just wound up:

Your cut end should look like this:

Then you take the wound up, cut end and start gluing it to the top of the ornament. I use just a bit of Aleene's Tacky Glue on the end of a toothpick--go slowly. DO NOT glue the entire ornament at once!

Keep applying the glue and winding the cording around until it almost meets the beginning of the cording, but stop before you reach the meet-up point: 

At this point, you want to determine how long you want your hanger to be. Then do the same thing that you did in the beginning with the thread wound around the end like a shoelace end: 

Glue the last bit of cording, matching up the two cut ends, after creating a loop (see where scissors are pointing): 

Adjust the loop so it is centered and the ornament will hang straight. You can either glue the loop's cording together or tack it with a matching DMC thread: 

This is what it looks like on the back:

At this point, add a little ribbon or whatever embellishments you want to add:

This is just the way I do it--I sort of made it up as I went along! I'm sure there are other ways of attaching cording that work, as well. This is simply what works best for me. I am not a professional finisher by any means!

Most of the time the "meet-up" spot of the cording is covered by a bow or yo-yo or something, but there are times I just have the two ends meet up at the bottom like in this small pillow. 

Here, the cording meets in the middle at the bottom of the pillow

Or you can tie it into a knot in the corner like I did in this little pillow. This is very easy--just tie the end of each end of the cording into a knot and cut the threads evenly to form a little tassle:

Cording tied at the side and embellished with tiny spools

Or you could even tie it into a bow at the top of the pillow like this:

Cording tied in a bow at the top

I hope this has helped--even a little bit! I am not going to get into the habit of doing tutorials--there are so many wonderful ones out there already including those that Vonna does and also those by Pinwheel Ponders. This may just provide a few tips that might make it easier for you. Give it a try--cording does finish off ornaments and pillows in such a lovely way! But, you must be patient--good finishing takes a ton of time so do it on a day when you aren't feeling rushed or anxious.

Cording Giveaway... Now, who would like to win some of my cording so you can get started embellishing your own pretty ornaments and pillows? I've put together a little giveaway of eight pieces of cording in some pretty spring colors. All are at least 2 feet long... I used three 6 foot lengths of DMC to end up with the 2 feet of cording for four of them and four 6 foot lengths to end up with 2 feet of cording for the other four.

To enter the giveaway, you, 1)  must be a follower, 2) need to leave a comment and tell me you want to enter and what your favorite thing you've stitched for spring or Easter is, and 3)  must leave your email if I don't already have it.  One winner will be sent all eight lengths of cording... Good luck to all--I will announce the winner the next time I post so you have until April 13th to enter... 

Giveaway for eight lengths of cording

It's a standoff... I'll leave you with this funny sight that I encountered while driving to get my hair cut a while back:  a real stand-off between some giant turkeys and some even bigger cars... Traffic was stopped for quite a while in both directions as the turkeys did not want to be the first to move!

I don't think the turkeys are very happy with me!

The turkeys finally conceded and the cars moved on--aren't they huge?! Such funny looking birds!

Doing the turkey trot!

This post took an awfully long time to put together, but I hope you've enjoyed it and, perhaps, learned something, too! Wishing you all a joyful April--I hope the flowers are blooming and the sun is shining wherever you are... Thank you again for being such supportive blogging buddies--I treasure your sweet comments and emails and so appreciate the time you take to stop to say "hello!" Bye for now...