Saturday, July 9, 2011

Making Progress!

I have a project that has been put on the back burner for some time. I have been a little afraid to attack it.  A co worker of mine brought this embroidered piano seat cover in and asked if I could clean it up and frame it or make a pillow with it. Her mother had embroidered it and she wanted it restored. I have been afraid because it is very fragile. She says she can remember as a kid riding down the stairs on it with her brother, can you imagine.

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So I finally attacked it, I took out the cushion and soaked it in water in the tub. You can see the stains on it better when it is wet. I have been to numerous chat rooms reading posts about cleaning and I have found more than not they recommend soaking in Oxy Clean. I believe the floss is colorfast, I soaked it for a couple hours and had no colors run. If anyone has any ideas I would love some feed back. I am going to have her get it framed I think, it seems to fragile for a pillow, or maybe I could use a fusible on the back. A lot of the stitches are out also, do you think I should touch up the stitches. I have “creative freedom”, I guess you could say to do what I think is best.

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I came down stairs this morning and my husband said, “Look at the counter, that is one sad sight.” I saw this:

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Funny thing is, we don’t really drink anymore. We cook with the Jack Daniels and only drink on a rare occasion. I had to post it!!

Here are the embroidered blocks for the baby quilt I am doing. They look so cute. The colors are vibrant but they didn’t scan as true to color as I was hoping, or maybe it is my eyes that are not true to color.

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I forgot to show you guys what my family brought me back from their beach trip to the Outer Banks besides laundry. This yummy bag of Dirty White Trash! It was so good. I am not a huge candy fan but I loved a little sneak of that stuff.

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I didn’t eat too much, I still lost 3 1/5 pounds this week – yippee!! Finally back down to my weight of last year. Now I have to work on the previous four years.

I have also been working on a Santa for a customer. She had a couple patterns she wanted done for Christmas. This guy is huge, he is about 22-33” so far.

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It is a pattern called “Santa Shepard” by Cheswick Co. I cannot wait to see him finished!

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Thank you for the well wishes about my allergies. They are a lot better today, usually it lasts about a day or so. I am telling myself I will make an appointment for it this week but I always say that.

I hope you guys are having a great weekend and finding a little stitching time!

~ Jennifer ~

4 comments:

Rachel said...

Looks like you've been busy!! Love the blocks for the baby quilt ~ very sweet! Hope you have a great day!

jennifer768 said...

Great baby quilt blocks ! I hope that you share the embroidered piano seat piece when it is framed. What a great treasure for her to have ,love the memories shared by your coworker.Can not wait to see that Santa finished.Have a great week! Hugs,Jen

moosecraft said...

I wish I could help with the embroidery restore... but I haven't ever been brave enough to try it myself. My eyes opened wide when you wrote the kids slid down the stairs with it! lol! The baby blocks are just too dang cute! I'm starting to feel that a quilt just ain't finished until it has some embroidery in it! ;-) lol! Great stitching on the Cheswick Santa too! Love those designs though I haven't ever tried one.

Love Bears All Things said...

When we finish a cross stitch pattern we always gently wash it with Ivory liquid. The floss dye doesn't run. I'm not sure about the stains. I think I would try a little baking soda on a tooth brush. What is the fabric? I don't think I would attempt to do any stitching if it were mine. The point is to preserve something her Mother made so even if the stitches are coming loose, it would still be something to cherish. I would definitely frame it. Most places that do that are very careful with hand work. I've used Michaels and Hobby Lobby for mine.
I was helping my daughter pack this morning. She had a covered dish that had been my Mother's. Have you seen the ones with the fruit cut into the glass? It is probably from the 50s are earlier. My grandmother had them. Anyway, she said she had cooked something and taken the lid off and laid it in water while it was hot. The lid was cracked in several places. I just taped it closed because she wants to keep it.
Hope your week is getting off to a great start. My sister was here last week and I'm busy with my daughter this week so not much stitching going on.
Mama Bear