When is a Wall Hanging Really Finished?
“The painting isn’t finished until you label the slides,” said Gay Fay Kelly, a painter and my former business partner about 20 years ago. Artists sent slides when they entered their work in juried shows or contacted potential buyers or galleries.
In this digital age, we don’t send slides much anymore, thank goodness! So after the last decorative stitch of a wall hanging is embroidered and the last button sewn in place, when is it REALLY finished?
First, at the back of the work, I attach a 4-inch hanging sleeve. To hang the quilt, you slide a rod through the sleeve, which puts a layer of fabric between the rod and the quilt itself. At home, I attach wire or monofilament to the ends of the rod and hang the whole assembly from a nail.
Sometimes I machine-stitch the title of the work, a copyright date, and a by-line into the quilt’s backing fabric. But if not, I attach a label with this information. Some of my quilting friends make beautiful labels. So far, mine are plain.
Some time ago, my brother Van told me about American Textile Recycling (atrscorp.com), so now I save all fabric scraps and trimmed yarn ends for recycling. Part of my personal finishing routine is gathering the scraps, yarn bands, and empty plastic thread spools and other containers, and delivering them to their respective recycling sites.
Finally, it’s picture time. The west side of the house usually has bright shade that is perfect for photography. At the moment, this is my photo studio. I’m working on a better way to hang the quilts. A ladder isn’t really the best. Someday…
Today’s equivalent of labeling the slides is cropping the digital photos and saving them in various formats and resolutions for print and web-sharing. When that is done, the wall hanging is truly finished.
Christmas in July: Make an Ornament from Crochet Garden’s Poinsettia
The native poinsettias have been blooming this month, here in north central Texas, inspiring me to make a little Christmas in July!
Along with a few hints for crocheting the showier, everlasting Poinsettia in Crochet Garden: Bunches of Flowers, Leaves, and Other Delights, I’ll show you how I turned a crocheted poinsettia into a Christmas ornament.
For a very thorough Poinsettia photo-tutorial, please visit http://cache.lionbrand.com/faq/590.html
To make an ornament, you will need:
- Crochet Garden: Bunches of Flowers, Leaves, and Other Delights, pages 91-93
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Aunt Lydia’s No. 10 crochet cotton in your favorite red and green
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US 4 (steel) (2mm) hook
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4″ square of felted wool, 1 each of green and red
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Beads for flower center
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Sewing needle, pins, sewing thread in green and red
I designed the Poinsettia to be realistic, so it isn’t symmetrical. That means we have to follow the instructions very carefully and avoid making assumptions. (Yes, me, I’m talking to myself.)
When Rnd 2 is finished, you’ll see three small petals (marked with ‘s’ in photo 1). These are like the small petals in the hothouse poinsettias we can buy around Christmas time. The small petals are worked into the hdc sts. The other petals are worked into the ch-spaces. They are supposed to look like red sticks.
Rnd 3 is worked around the red sticks of the previous round. First work up the side, placing stitches in the ch-2 space (yellow arrow at right), then the free loops of the chain (yellow dots on the right). Several stitches go into the ch-3 loop at the tip of the petal (pink arrow). Work down the other side of the petal into the stitches (yellow dots at left) and into the ch2-space (other yellow arrow).
Photo 3 shows a completed Rnd 3. Every two leaves have a ch-1 space between them. You will crochet into this in the next rnd.
For Rnd 4, fold the petals out of the way to the front. Sometimes you will ch 3 behind a petal (yellow arrow in Photo 4). Then you’ll anchor the next petal in the ch-1 space between petals.
Rnd 5 finishes the petals in the outer round. For the ornament, you don’t need to leave a long sewing length of red thread. The leaf is crocheted separately and sewn on.
To block the cotton poinsettia, I held it under the running tap, then stretched and pinned each petal to the ironing board, and let dry (photo 5).
To make the ornament, pin the poinsettia to green felt, leaving at least a 1/4-inch overlap around the flower.
The yellow marks in Photo 7 show how to sew the flower to the felt: sew invisibly (matching sewing thread helps) around the outside first. Gently sew down the sides of the top petals. Take one stitch in the tip of each small petal.
Add beads or other decoration to the center of the flower.
Cut excess felt away, leaving about 1/4 inch showing around the edges of the flower. Start by leaving too much felt showing. Cut away tiny slivers of felt until the border around the flower looks good.
This is how the ornament looks from the back. Ew, messy! But don’t worry. Use this piece as a pattern to cut a piece red felt. Now, go to “How to Make an Ornament Hanging Loop from Embroidery Floss or Crochet Cotton,” and follow directions for making a hanging loop.
Determine the top of your ornament and sew the hanging loop to the wrong side, with the loop emerging beyond the top edge.
Pin or hold green and red felt together, with red in back to hide all those stitches and the end of the hanging loop. With No. 10 crochet cotton, sew the layers together with a whip stitch or a buttonhole stitch (my favorite).
The oak trees around here look like they’re celebrating Christmas in July, too. See their bright, round ornaments? Oh. Never mind. They are oak galls.
How to Make an Ornament Hanger with Crochet Thread or Floss
This thread ornament hanger is for felt or crocheted ornaments with front and back pieces, which are to be sewn together.
You will need
- 10-inch length of embroidery floss (all six strands) or No. 10 crochet cotton
- Pin and surface to pin to
- Felt or crocheted ornament with front and back pieces, which you will sew together
Tie an overhand knot at one end of the 10-inch length of thread. Pin knot to ironing board or other suitable surface as in photo a.
Holding thread gently taut, twist thread until it twists back upon itself when you let it go slack (b).
Bring ends of 10-inch length together, and let thread twist smoothly (c).
Pinch cut ends, remove pin from knot, and knot ends together to prevent untwisting. The yellow arrow points to this new knot in photo d.
Tie new ends together, preferably with a square knot (it’s flatter), to form a loop (e).
Sew loop behind front side of ornament, with loop showing over the top of the ornament.
Sew front and back of ornament together, hiding hanger knot inside.
Find help making a felt-backed ornament with the Poinsettia from Crochet Garden here.
Find hints for making a two-sided crochet motif ornament with the Gingerbread Kids from Cute Crochet World here. COMING BEFORE CHRISTMAS 2015!
A Good Day for Mail
The box on the front porch was from Sterling Publishing. Probably copies of Cute Crochet World in German. I was expecting them at some point. But there was more!
The Russian Crochet Bouquet was a total and happy surprise! Long ago, I took a semester of Russian, but the only thing I remember is pronounced “lyoo-blyoo”–“I love you.” I certainly love crocheters, whatever language they speak!
Crochet Poetray
A work of Crochet Poetray by Suzann Thompson, author of Cute Crochet World,
where you can find instructions to make the “turtle of crochet.”
Here are teeny
Turtellini
With a turtle
Of crochet.
Or pray,
Are they two
Tortellini
With a crochet—
*chortle*—tortle?
Crochet Poetray about a Turtle and Pasta
A work of Crochet Poetray by Suzann Thompson, author of Cute Crochet World, where you can find instructions to make the “turtle of crochet.”
The Turtle and the Pasta
Here are teeny
turtellini
with a turtle
of crochet. Or
pray, are they two
tortellini
with a crochet
*chortle* tortle?
Happy National Ice Cream Day
I hope you’re enjoying National Ice Cream Day! Here are some holiday-appropriate treats to crochet from Cute Crochet World. Enjoy!
Thank You, Lion Brand
This is Mama Lion, one of the baker’s dozen of art quilts in my TextileFusion exhibit at the Quilt! Knit! Stitch! show in Portland, Oregon, next month.
Mama Lion was made specifically to honor Lion Brand Yarns, the sponsor of the exhibit.
Since the early days of my design career in the 1990s, Lion Brand has purchased crocheted and knitted designs from me and displayed my Passionate Hear art quilt in their Lion Brand Yarn Studio in New York. I have also had the privilege of signing books and giving talks at the Studio.
I am pleased and honored that Lion Brand Yarns supports my textile art. Thank you again, Lion Brand!
Hope you can attend the Quilt! Knit! Stitch! show in Portland, OR, next month. It is going to be great fun!
It includes a market and exhibits of textile artworks. My own TextileFusion exhibit–knitted, embellished quilts–will make its national debut there.
I’m also teaching:
Full of Bullion (Stitch, That Is). The double bullion picot petal flower above is one of our samples for this class.
Pretty Picot-rama
What to do with Grandmother’s Doilies
Crochet Charm Lace
Please go to quilts.com for more information and to register.
Shop, See Art, Learn at Quilt! Knit! Stitch!
The Quilt! Knit! Stitch! show in Portland OR next month is going to be great fun! I’m looking forward to taking a folk embroidery workshop and shopping at the market.
In addition to lots of three- and six-hour workshops and the retail market, the event includes exhibits of textile artworks. My own TextileFusion exhibit–knitted, embellished quilts–will make its national debut there. Yay!
I’m the crochet teacher, offering these workshops:
- Full of Bullion (Stitch, That Is). The double bullion picot petal flower above is one of our samples for this class.
- Pretty Picot-rama
- What to do with Grandmother’s Doilies
- Crochet Charm Lace
Please go to www.quilts.com for more information and to register.
Hints for Crocheting “Picot Mexico” Flower
The colorful Picot Mexico flower looks happy and joyful to me, with its vibrant colors. It is on pages 102-103 of Crochet Garden: Bunches of Flowers, Leaves, and Other Delights. You can also make Picot Mexico in one color of yarn.
First a correction to the book: Rnd 2 of the Small Flower (center column on page 103) refers twice to a “ch-3 sp.” It should read “ch-2 sp.”
And now, some hints for making Picot Mexico successfully. The sample is the Small Flower. but the hints apply to the Large Flower as well.
To begin rnds 3 and 4, the instructions tell you to “join with *(BPdc around next dc…” This is almost the same as joining with a regular dc. Place a slip knot on your hook. Yarn over hook, holding the slip knot in place so the yo won’t twist away. (Photo 1)
For a Back Post dc, still holding the slip knot in place, insert hook from the back to the front of your work, between two dc-sts of the previous rnd. (Photo 2)
Passing hook in front of the next dc, insert hook to back again around that dc. (Photo 3)
Draw up a loop around the post of the previous rnd’s dc. If you’ve successfully held the slip knot in place, you’ll have 3 loops on the hook. Finish as you would finish any dc. (Photo 4) If the yo has twisted away, you may be able to get it back by twisting the slip knot around the hook.
In Rnds 3 and 4, increase by placing two BPdc-sts around one dc-post. Photo 5 shows the wrong side of the work, where the first two “BPdc around next dc and sl st-picot” are complete. The white arrow points to the next BPdc, which is the first of two around the same post.
The increase is complete in Photo 6. The white arrow shows the first BPdc around the post, and the pink arrow shows the second BPdc around the same post.
A friend on Ravelry (www.ravelry.com) asked for a photo of the back of a flower she was working on. That was such a good idea! So here’s what the small Picot Mexico looks like from the back (Photo 7).
Tips for Making Picot Mexico with One Color
- Don’t fasten off after Rnd 1. Instead, as you begin Rnd 2, ch 3 to replace the first dc of the rnd. At the end of Rnd 2, sl st in the 3rd ch of the ch 3 at the beg of the rnd.
- You’ll still have to fasten off the yarn after Rnds 2 and 3, so you can get a fresh start with the BPdc on the next round.
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Don’t fasten off after Rnd 5. You have already sl stitched into the first sc of Rnd 5, so that counts as the first sl st of Rnd 6. Ch 3 and tr in the same st as the sl st. Continue Rnd 6 as written.
