~*Linen Quality*~

Hello Dear Friends!

Thank you for all the kind comments regarding the latest FREEBIE!  I do hope you all have a fun time stitching it up!  You are all very welcome!  *SMILE*

This morning at the bait shop I kept my fingers busy again!  So busy, in fact, that the tip of my middle finger, on my right hand, has a slight puncture wound!  Oops!  Maybe it is time for me to change mediums for awhile so it can heal?  It is so nice that I'm not actually busy 'working' at my job!  ha ha ha

I started by stitching the missing crow on my latest freebie... then grabbed some scrap linen and threads from the plastic baggie (no, it isn't pretty) that I carry my cross stitch supplies in... back and forth from the bait shop... and stitched a beautiful pattern by Beth Ann Seal of Summer House stitche workes.  This is a free pattern titled Pennsylvania Blossom that she gifted the members of Prim Stitchers Society on Facebook.  Thank you Beth Ann!

Are you a member of the group?  You should hop on over to join if you aren't.  It is a great, supportive, addictive group!

Here is my finished Potted Jacks N' Crows... along with the start (almost finish!) of Pennsylvania Blossom.  I only needed to finish the '9' before leaving 'work'.

See the missing crow?  I didn't even notice until after I posted this photo below on my blog a couple days ago!  This was even after a good coffee bath!  

ha ha ha

Now onto the title of this post... Linen Quality!  I have tried to NEVER be a linen snob.  I have used all sorts of linens, aida cloths, osnaburg, and other fabrics.  Whatever is available at the time... I will give it a try.  This morning I realized something... something I had not paid attention to before.  Maybe I came to this realization because I am a more experienced stitcher now... after over 25 years of doing it!  Maybe my eyes are getting worse.  (Oh... bifocals I know you are getting close!)  Well, whatever it is... I will deal with it and just give my normal explanation... "It is primitive, and I won't stress about it being PERFECT."

What did I notice? 

Well, the linen that I grabbed from my baggie this morning is a linen purchased several years ago from a large, big box, craft store.  I remember it costing about $8 for the 'bag' of it.  I don't believe it was a full yard.  Rather it was just a hunk-cut of fabric.  This linen is thicker than the quality stuff available from the fine cross stitch suppliers and shops.  Also, the threads are not consistent in thickness.  On top of that, there are thick 'spots' here and there.  

I worked with it.  However, I am sure I missed some stitches and picked up 3 threads, here and there, when I was stitching over 2.  Oh this finish, as beautiful as the pattern is... would be criticized drastically by the professional, by the book, stitcher.  Well... I don't care.  I still think it is lovely!  And like I said above, "It is primitive, and I won't stress about it being PERFECT."

I will continue to work with this fabric.  But, after the difficulty trying to 'see' the threads this morning (and my light was good)... I will probably reach for the finer quality linens in the future when I can.

Look at the photos to follow closely.  You can see my errors... you can see the fabric errors.  Would you use this linen?  Honestly, for the price and primitiveness of it... I do think you should try.  But remember, it is a little difficult to work with.

 

My afternoon has not been as productive as my morning... but the evening is still ahead of me.  I have the house to myself... so I'm sure I will find something to do.  Yes, probably continue to research the pdf file thing... by maybe I'll craft some more.

Wishing you all warm smiles...

Betty