Cotton Spice Blog

Come by and visit me

in my own sewing room! Imagine!! Remember my post about the vintage notions I received in the mail? Well, there was this box, which I opened and looked at briefly.

It had some pearle cotton from long ago, which I thought was pretty neat in itself! But I never looked ‘under’ the pearle cotton. Today I DID! Oh My Goodness!!!!! Look at this -

Yeah… the pearle cotton…but can you read the first label, where you see ‘20′? Ok, here’s a closeup….

And there are 3 full skeins, 3 partial but not by much and 1 little bit left.

I’m thrilled with my find.

Many… MANY years ago, I did Needlework of varying kinds. Embroidery, needlepoint, cross stitch, crewel work…. I sure did enjoy doing it. I’m not sure why I stopped, but maybe quilting took over. I remember working on a needlework piece when I was just out of high school. I’m going to be 52 in October - yes, it was a long time ago

Well, I’m doing it again! You saw my biscornu, you’ve heard about the Stitchery BOM I’m doing in Ruby - well, now let’s look at some of the other things I’m doing.

This a practice piece I’m doing. the satin stitch outline. It starts with a running stitch, then you go over that with a split stitch, and then go back over that with a loose piece of thread, and satin stitch over the entire thing. It forms a raised line, that should be smooth That’s why it’s called ‘practice’ :))

This is a cross stitch piece I’m doing for a Christmas gift, so I can’t show too much of it

And this is the beginnings of a Christmas angel. A free pattern I downloaded HERE This is a small design, so it shouldn’t take too long, but it is very detailed, as are the majority of TIAG designs - that’s what makes them so beautiful!

I found this cleaning recipe on Tipnut.com for getting out laundry stains. And it works! But I’ve also used it as a general cleaner - it cuts through grease like you wouldn’t believe! I used it to clean our fridge handles. They are white and slightly textured. Just textured enough to get dirt into the texture, but you can’t clean the dirt OUT of it! Saturday I sprayed some on, used a scrub brush to just move it around a little, suds it a bit so it would stick to a vertical surface. A few minutes later I wiped it off… Snowy White door handles!!!!

1/2 C white vinegar

1/2 C ammonia

1/2 C liquid detergent (I use Dawn)

1/2 C water.

I put all that in a spray bottle and clean away! It’s pretty concentrated, so you could add more water to it. But it you’re using it for stain removal, I wouldn’t want it any weaker.(Don’t use with bleach)

I just happened on this site from a link, from a link, from another link. Isn’t it funny how that happens?

Cards for Heroes.org

They collect cards (blank cards) to provide to those serving in our military, often in out of the way places with no accessible card stores. No malls nearby.

Make some cards and send them. Birthday, Miss You, and especially now, Holiday related cards. I love this idea and I think I’ll make a couple of cards. Check out the site and see what you can do!

Yup Barbara was right. Ok, she knew I was making one anyway In fact, she’s the one who told me about them, I’ve never heard of them before! (and truthfully, I’m not all that sure how to pronounce it)

Ta-daaaaa…..

This is the side I designed myself

This chart can be HERE

There are several blogs that give excellent directions for making these, so I won’t repeat them here. Here are some links -

Biscornu Class - Finishing School

Own Two Hands

Merry Stitching  - lots of free patterns

Google ‘biscornu’ and you’ll get more than you know what to do with!

I am admittedly, in love with all things textile, all things fiber. I sew, I knit, I stitch. I love to iron my freshly washed fabric. I love to wind yarn into balls, I love to wind floss on those little cardboard/plastic doo-dah’s and arrange them in my box. Sigh…. yes, I’m an addict. So, what am I doing now? (again)

More later!