New Series

Good Sunday to everyone!
It has warmed up some here in south Texas!  We had about 3 days that were in the 70's and 80's...more like our seasonal temperatures.  It has been chilly for the last month and a half...not anything like the rest of the country has endured!  But cool for us!  Tomorrow it is going to get chilly again so I am going to just work on my designs and stay warm.  Not complaining...we are blessed.

I am working on a new series that will be released at the Nashville Needlework market in February.  I don't have pictures yet since they will be off to the framer and finisher tomorrow.I designed this series so it could be finished or framed individually or stitched as one piece.  The pieces are just 5 inches by 5 inches or 75 by 75. A quick stitch as a weekend project.  I will release the first three with the chart placement design in the first packet and then release the remainder of the series (9 pieces in all) one per month.

I am looking forward to this evening as I am a Downton Abbey fan!  Last week"s first episode of season wasn't as exciting as I hoped...still wishing Matthew hadn't been killed off...but hoping new and interesting plots will develop this season.

And thank you everyone for the kind comments I have received on the release of Blue Manor.  My inspiration came while re-watching previous seasons of Downton Abbey.  I loved working with those colors...they were so soothing!  Another thing I have been doing lately is coffee dying my own linen. I usually use a 30 count linen...no eye strain with that count for me.  I purchased several yards of white linen last summer and hand dyed about a yard of it myself.  I use a large flat plastic storage tub to dye larger pieces.  This is what found works best for me.  I brew good ole Folgers about twice the strength as coffee you would drink.  While the grounds are still warm...I rub them into the fabric for a staining effect.  Let it sit for about 30 minutes, then go back and pour the warm, not hot coffee ( it will shrink your linen) over the entire piece of linen, then put the lid on the tub and let set for about an hour. I take it out and rinse with cool water to remove the grounds.  The more you rinse the lighter it gets so don't rinse out all of your work!  The remainder of the grounds will come out after it is dries. I then iron it with a hefty amount of spray sizing.  I've been getting the results of probably an equivalent to R&R's Creme Brûlée. Another hint...when you rub the coffee grounds into the linen, do it before you add warm coffee. For some reason, if you do it the other way around you won't get the staining effect!  I also purchased some walnut grounds and I'm going try those soon!

Anyway...if you have some extra white linen try it. Less expensive and you don't have to wait for your hand dyed linen.

Hope you have a greet week!

Happy Stitching!

Gayle