Tale of a Shooting Star…

Today’s SBQ was suggested by Carol and is:

Do you collect charts by one particular designer, yet have never stitched anything by that designer? If so, which designer and why do you collect the charts but have not yet stitched any of them?

Um yeah, I guess so! 😆 I have yet to stitch a Mirabilia (except for the few stitches I’ve put into Fairy Moon) or a Teresa Wentzler. I have all four of the seasonal carousel horses as well as the original full carousel chart by TW. Nowadays, I’m not sure if I will actually ever stitch them. Most of what I buy, though, is charts by designers that I like because I’ve stitched their designs before and really enjoyed it. I never really buy a chart without some intention of stitching it at some point. I just have so much stash that things tend to go out of style or my tastes change before I get around to stitching them. Hmmm… must stitch faster. 🙂

Here are a few questions to answer:

1. Do you enjoy backstitching?

2. Do you do it as you go or at the very end?

3. Does the amount of backstitching in a project influence your decision to stitch a pattern?

1. Ummm… no. Not particularly. 🙂
2. Usually I do it at the end, but it depends on the piece. If it were something with a lot of backstitching, I might be tempted to backstitch as I go.
3. Not really; at least, not consciously. I never really thought of it too much, but I realize now that the Mirabilia and Passione Ricamo designs to which I tend to be drawn don’t really have a whole lot of backstitching to them. I also like to do band samplers and other designs which contain a lot of specialty stitches, so the backstitching in those designs also tends to be fairly minimal.

Are the backs of your stitching nice and neat or a rat’s nest? Is the neatness or lack thereof something you even spend time thinking about?

Post a picture or 2 of your projects’ backsides.

Having been a model stitcher for a few years now, backs are important to me. My backs haven’t always been as neat as possible, but I’ve learned a lot about being very careful, not carrying threads too far, stitching in the right color order, etc. As a result, a lot of my backs look nearly as good as the fronts. Not as good as Mayte’s backs, but then I’m not sure I’ve ever seen another stitcher in the world whose backs look as flawless as hers! I don’t have a lot of photos of my backs, but I have done scans of the backs of some of the models that I’ve stitched.

First up is Lizzie*Kate’s 2005 Flip-It April Stamp:

And the second example is Crossed Wing Collection’s Blended Backgrounds: Chickadee No. 2:

I stumbled across a new (to me) site with memes for stitchers entitled (appropriately), Memes for Stitchers. To be honest, I ignored it at first because the questions didn’t seem to come very often, but apparently I hit Emily during an off period because there have been several since that time!

In an effort to catch up, I am going to start with the 6 most recent questions and answer them as I need material. Then I will try to keep up with the questions as they come out.

Working from the oldest to the newest:

Have a case of startitis?

What projects are you dying to start? Which would you start today if you “allowed” yourself?

Oh my, you have no idea how badly I would like to start a new project. At this point, I’m dying to just work on something other than this model! But, that’s what I get for procrastinating for so long. Now I have to work really hard in order to just get it done.

If, though, I really could start something, I would start the Chatelaine Stitching Leporello. If I could just work on something else, I would choose Bonsai and Buddha or Fairy Moon.

However, I still have two other stitching obligations to work on after the model is finished before I can touch anything else. I need to stitch and baste my round robin fabric and then stitch a panel for the Flight 93 quilt.

Today’s SBQ was suggested by Nancy and is:

What is your favorite specialty stitch? Which one is your least favorite? Why?

I never have just one favorite, but two of my recent favorites are the Rhodes Heart and the Diamond Eyelet. I really love eyelets, in general, but there is just something about the diamond eyelet that really catches my eye… let. 😉 As for the Rhodes heart, I use the stitch a lot and enjoy all of the Rhodes stitches. I’ve even combined the two into my own specialty stitch, which is a heart eyelet!

Now, what we really need is a good specialty stitch that looks like a star. Maybe I’ll have to think about that…

Whoops, I just realized that I forgot to answer the second part of the question. Right now, my least favorite is the buillon because it’s such a challenge for me!