When I went to start The Castle yet again yesterday afternoon, I went looking for the green between the rocks and the castle - as that is one of the few non-blended threads so I could start with a loop start and then have some stitches in place to run the blended threads under to start .....
Well I was out of that colour wasn't I! I knew I was going to start with the actual castle first so that's all the threads I pulled out of my stash before I started. So what to do ...
I used the pinhead stitch to start! First time ever! Now every start on this piece has been a pinhead start !!! Still not dexterous enough to do a pinhead finish, but I thought doing a pinhead start was worthy enough of a post!
See you can teach a new dog old tricks !!!!!
Well sometimes ... I stitched too late into the evening last night and I pulled the blended threads for one symbol and then used those to stitch a different symbol. Stitched three different sections of this symbol before realising my mistake and undoing it all ..... oh well!
Will get back to it this afternoon or evening. Need to do a bit more cleaning and a lot of food shopping first :)
15 comments:
Looks great Mel :)
Mel, what is a pinhead start, is it difficult to do. As I am new to stitching, am still learning some of the finer points. Your Castle looks really great on fabric.
Hi mum, the pinhead start can only be done on evenweave or linen - where you stitch over two - you basically use the side holes to do a figure eight to secure the thread and then stitch your x over the top of it. Because aida is over one, it doesn't have those side holes for you to use for this.
Its a new technique for me - but some of these ladies have been using it for ages. Have a look here: http://cs.millersville.edu/~katz/xstitch/pinhead.html
I've been using Mayte's variation.
Great Start
I've been using the pinhead stitch for years without knowing it had a name LOL.
Honey, it's a great start! Go you!!
O figured seeing as I had a couple of days off work - I might try and work steadily on it and catchup to restart 2 by the end of the weekend.
I still need to get salem in for a service and spend some time cooking for, then attending Raewyn's party (not to mention work on Saturday) so who knows.
I know I'm going to be knackered Saturday - working all morning, taking my bit of the cooking to Raewyns party and then driving home again the same night - so I suspect Sunday will be a very quiet day for me.
Steve brought the p/copies home this evening and all I have to do now is re-symbol everything and then go for it. Been out all evening so that will be tomorrow.
I *am* proud of you, Mel! You'll get the trick for the finish sooner or later, too! I actually started out using the finish first! I thought it made a lot more sense than the start, but now I'm comfortable with both!
I haven't done that much stitching over the weekend. Just a bit of progress on Alpine Seasons Garden, which I've loaded into my new Châtelaine album... Hope to get some more in the evenings of this week, if I can restrain from sitting down playing the Sims :-((
{grin} Strangely enough I've I haven't played a computer game all year! Oh that's so easy to say this week :)
I'll give the finish a go too today. I think part of [problem with that was I thought I had to come back up in the middle of the stitch - and I couldn't manoeuvre (Oooh I hope the spell check picks that one up) the needle well enough. When I looked for the instructions for mum I saw that you come up at the edges and go down in the middle - this seems a lot easier {grin} so I might try that today :)
{grin} Strangely enough I've I haven't played a computer game all year! Oh that's so easy to say this week :)
I'll give the finish a go too today. I think part of [problem with that was I thought I had to come back up in the middle of the stitch - and I couldn't manoeuvre (Ooh I hope the spell check picks that one up) the needle well enough. When I looked for the instructions for mum I saw that you come up at the edges and go down in the middle - this seems a lot easier {grin} so I might try that today :)
Off to check out Alpine seasons :)
Great job, Mel! I'm trying to be more conscientious (sp?) about using the pinhead with blends and such, too!
Great job, Mel! I'm trying to be more conscientious (sp?) about using the pinhead with blends and such, too!
Hey Paula - I started using the pinhead stitch, not because of a need to be conscientious - but because I had no idea how to *not* make a messy start any other way :)
And its such an easy way to do it :) I love my loop starts but I'll now do a pinhead whenever a loop isn't possible. I;m going to try a pinhead finish today too!
My backs will never look like Mayte's but I might get a little closer :)
I doubt anyone can ever get their backsides as neat as Mayte's! Even mine.....
I never will have a backside as neat as Mayte's - and I figure that I'll keep them as neat as I can and be content with that! :) Otherwise, I'll lose all the enjoyment I get from stitching!
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