10.29.10
Posted in General at 7:00 am by deRomilly
The center of the curtain-- almost done!
In the small spaces between panicking about getting everything done, and actually doing it, I’ve been working on the cafe curtain for the bathroom set.
It’s almost done, and I’m really happy with how it’s coming out. It was a really good dry run for the shower curtain, and now that it’s almost finished I will start putting together the prep work for the big project in my little down time, including hems and grommets before I start the stitching. i’ll have to find a couple hours straight to transfer the pattern, because that really needs to be done all at once.
Stitching is different — I can stitch in the small spaces while the help file compiles – the 1o minutes where I have to sit down when I’m ironing. If it’s a small project, it can come with me and I work when I’m waiting at the doctor, or before I go on at a show. Planning and even some choreography can happen when I’m in the shower or bathroom. The small spaces in my life are where the creativity happens.
Flower detail
October has been very very tight. Lots of things going on, from health issues in the family to meeting new friends! (YAY!) to TWO belly dance shows, one that required traveling alone because my travel partner was ill…for me it felt like even the small spaces had shrunk to almost non-existence. And yet… even with all of that, I got the cafe curtain almost finished. I have got to do the last few petals, and I won’t be able to finish the center until I order gold yarn, but I’m there, really. Small spaces, no matter how small, really do add up. If you pick up the project and make just one stitch a day, you will eventually finish it, even if you don’ t think you will. I’m proof.
The second show is Saturday. Hopefully I’ll have photos.
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10.22.10
Posted in Stitching Genres at 3:25 pm by deRomilly
5. I can do it on anything. Shirts, loose fabric, paper, yes, even on my knitting!
4. Using multiple colors doesn’t make it smaller.
3. Beads don’ t have to have big holes to use them.
2. In general, my thread stash takes up less space than the yarn stash.
1…. No gauge issues. If something is 14 stitch to the inch, 140 stitches WILL be 10 inches, give or take a millimeter for thread thickness. An 8 X 8 inch design drawn on my fabric will stay 8 X 8 inches, no matter how I stitch it. If I use a thick cord around the outside, it MIGHT add a millimeter or two. Maybe. I drew my curtain to fit my window. The embroidery will fit my window. (The curtain now… that’s sewing. That’s another story… seams can migrate like gauge, if you’re me.)
So…
Why have I spent the last week with knitting needles in my hands instead of an embroidery needle? Especially since today I literally threw out the project and gave up after three tries when the multi-colored sock STILL doesn’t fit over my heel to get it to the ankle… despite making gauge. Despite everything. Yeah. I think I’ll stick with socks made out of one thread and no fair isle. Multi-colored knitting… Well, I’m considering buying this sweater pattern and knitting it. If I do, I’ll make a ruling on more than one color in my knitting after I’m done… and, if it doesn’t work, the designer has a cross stitch pattern to match it!
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10.18.10
Posted in Stitching Genres at 7:00 am by deRomilly
The "unfiled" thread stash drawer #1
Now that I have your attention. 
Let me start by saying that I LOVE Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. I wish very much that I could write humor like her. Cute I can be. Whimsical, yes. Drop dead laugh out loud funny I’ve never managed. Durn it. I think the embroidery world needs someone like her. It probably ain’t gonna be me, though, sadly. Though who knows? Writing styles evolve.
I’ve been rereading the book Stephanie Pearl-McPhee Casts Off. And rolling off the couch laughing, especially if I’m reading it out loud to my heart-sister, who is… knitting. I’m not a Knitter (with a capital K), but I am a knitter. I say this because I am not obsessed forever with knitting. In 30 years of knitting my stash has not really grown bigger than two bins, and I’m getting rid of one of them this month! In fact, I started knitting up a sock this week and I hadn’t held knitting needles (except to stick them in my hair to hold it up) for a year (I often find my laying tools there, too… but that’s another story).
Anyway. There’s a chapter on geography of the land of knitting, and she includes these words:
“You may find knitting’s geography all over the planet, but some geography you can find only [emphasis mine] in Knitting. Of all these features, the most significant is the phenomenon of stash.”
As all embroiderers know, this is completely untrue. I first ran into ALL the terminology knitters use in the embroidery world: frogging, stash, SABLE (Stash Acquisition Beyond Life Expectancy). The only things missing were “knit” and “purl” (embroiderers have needles, too, they’re just slightly different!)
Some of the thread/accessory boxes for the Stash. Yes. The one on the bottome DOES say "bunny fur." I swear I'll find a use for it someday!
So I would like to propose a slightly expanded geography of this world of ours. We all live on the continent of Fiber Arts. Lacers, Embroiderers, Knitters, all. Me, I live in the county that’s the equivalent of Alsace-Lorraine. Always being fought over. Never sure if I’m part of France or Germany (or Lace, or Knit, or Embroidery). Most of my life I’ve been more a part of Embroidery (and I migrate among ALL the counties – Cross Stitch, Stumpwork, Goldwork, Crewel, etc.) than the other two, but I do make quite regular forays into the others. Beading is an island off our continent — like the UK with Europe, it shares some of the same geography, such as stash, but has a very different view of culture and life.
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10.15.10
Posted in Dance at 8:42 am by deRomilly
…or why Workshops are Good Things
You really CAN go to Farmville in NC! But I *didn't*.
I spent last weekend at the beach. Well. Sort of. Despite the picture at the beginning I did NOT stop at Farmville… Either the real town (LOL!) OR the computer game. 
I spent last weekend at Beach Blanket Beledi, which is a lovely and FUN (1st rule of BBB – Have Fun!!!) bellydance workshop that takes one day, (well, three if you count travel time from my house!) and features three wonderful teachers every year. This year was Dalia Carella, one of my favorite dancer/teachers of all time. I could watch that woman dance for hours. Class is to die for, sometimes I think literally… keeping up is always hard work. But I wish I could take class from her at least once a week… I know I’d be in better shape at the end of a month! The workshop she taught is available online as a download in two classes. It was the Ghanalli choreography. Also teaching were Riskallah Riyad from Connecticut, and Chelydra, who taught us a “Dash of Debke”. Apparently our troupe choreographies from last year were well received, as they kept being referenced all day by the teachers, much to our embarrassment. I came home with a notebook full of new ways of putting steps together into combinations, ways of integrating my modern and jazz dance background with my raks sharki, and some great ideas for getting my students to be themselves when dancing.
So from a learning standpoint, workshops are great, no matter what your level is. Saqra of Washington state once said to me that if you don’t remember everything in a workshop, it’s all right, because you’ll remember it when you need it — it will bubble up over time, so don’t worry about getting overwhelmed. She’s been right, although I find that writing down combinations as I learn them helps immensely in the remembering arena!
Needlework workshops are the same way… you learn new techniques for things you thought you already knew how to do! And sometimes you can share a tip with an instructor as well.
But the most important thing about workshops to me is that they inevitably remind me that I’m not alone in whatever endeavor I’m doing. Both needlework and dance can be very solitary pursuits, especially if you find yourself dancing in your living room because of a lack of classes at your level that are convenient! Going to a workshop is a way to find new friends that you already have at least one thing in common with – it’s an icebreaker.
I never had good experiences at summer camp growing up. But now, going to Beach Blanket in particular, I start to understand the girls who loved it. Leaving is bittersweet. “Drive home safely. Have a good flight” (people come from everywhere), and most importantly “see you next year!” ring. As we come back year after year, we start to see the same women, and slowly learn names. We start to communicate by email and get invited to their hometowns for workshops. Workshops in the arts are how we build community and learn from each other. It’s neat. (Oh, and there’s usually partying at night, too. )
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