Minis, Minis, and Yarn

As a consolation for David being gone so long this past spring, I had treated myself to two petit-point cushion kits from Frances Peterson, whose miniature carpets I have long admired, even before I joined the Petitpointers list and discovered that she is a member.  I was a bit daunted by the thought of working at 40 stitches per inch -- since the finest I have done before this is 28-count! -- but they are so beautiful that I thought I'd try a cushion, to get my feet wet, as it were.  And since I blocked my Shirvan carpet Wednesday, I felt entirely justified yesterday in starting one of these!

This design is "Repeating Diamonds" and as it happens it was a good choice for a novice, as the pattern is quite logical and I could just concentrate on the itti-bittiness of it.  I had to take out my contacts and use my Super-Microscopic Up-Close Vision^TM, but aside from feeling like the needle was the size of a telephone pole, it went very smoothly.  (I will say, though, to anyone who is tempted to work at this gauge in cross-stitch, well, as Jeeves would say gently, I couldn't advise it.  It's partly the gauge itself, and partly the way the twists in the silk lie nicely in one direction, and not-so-nicely in another I suspect -- it just didn't work, and then it took me twice as long to pick out the two strands I did in cross-stitch as it did to work them in the first place.  And as it turned out, at this scale the funny dashed 45-deg. lines read much better than they logically should.)

I worked the needlepoint all in one day, despite having to stop for boring things like getting dressed and going to the market -- which is not so much a compliment to my stitching as it is to Frances's design, which is a happy blend of detail and simplicity.

Here's the back, if you're interested --

but my focus was more on security than on neatness, since it would be a cushion after all, and no chance of flipping it over to look at the back, after it was sewn up.  I actually don't really know if this is considered messy or not, but I have seen some photos on the list that you can hardly tell back from front, they are so meticulous!

The only modifications I made were to add two extra lines of plain border all around, since I wanted a rather bigger cushion than one inch -- though to be honest, at 40 stitches per inch, four stitches don't increase it that much -- and to sew on the "piping" (which is perle cotton) instead of gluing it, as I trusted my sewing skills more than my gluing ones.  As you can see in the first in-progress photo, I decided to be clever and sew on the perle cotton before I even removed the worked canvas from the frame, which to my pleasant surprise turned out to be a good idea.  The ultrasuede backing was a bit of a challenge, and I might use linen next time just for ease of handling, especially around the corners -- my cushion ended up a bit wobbly, though that might just have been me.  I didn't fill mine very full (I used size 16 beads), since these are for my Elizabethan house-to-be, and I have the notion from somewhere that Elizabethans used cushions more for sitting on than for leaning against, so I think they'd be a bit flatter than what we like today.

I highly recommend Frances's kits, which have literally everything you need to make a cushion except stuffing! 

Ebay is kind of like the lottery -- you can't win if you don't play! -- but frankly, Ebay gives me the heebie-jeebies.  The second auction I ever tried my hand at, I lost at the last minute (by about two dollars), and was crushed to find in my inbox, only seconds later, an e-mail from Ebay taunting me with having LET IT GET AWAY.  Ever since then, my heart starts palpitating even as I'm logging in.  I've done a number of auctions since then, but really I just don't have the nerves of steel required for Ebay, so usually I just don't even look, willing to pay more on Etsy for not having to deal with the stress.  But last week for some reason, I found myself poking around to see what was there, and there were not one but two auctions I was interested in, both for pieces of miniature furniture, and bargains with it, certainly to my eye.

I won both, the only bidder each time.

The first is this charming bureau, a little wonky at the upper-right corner but with charming lines and a wonderful patina.

I was won over by those long spade-foot legs on the front, I must say.

The second arrived today -- with each leg carefully swathed in bubble wrap! --

a half-moon table with exceptionally pleasing lines and the most wonderfully delicate Hepplewhitey/Shakery legs.

I would have really liked this piece anyway, but this was a real bonus --

The maker? or the owner?  I don't know.  It just pleases me very much that it's there.

As for the "yarn" part of this post's title --

a skein of Blue Moon's Gaea yarn in "Say Nevermore" for the Baker Street Scarf from Knitty ..

Comments

[Sandie in Sydney]

Congratulations on your very successful foray into 40hpi silk gauze! Your cushion is lovely and you've stitched it beautifully. Great job. Warning though - it's addictive and I'll guarantee that you try other items in this finer gauze now too, once you've done the second cushion. Frances' designs are delightful and also look at Janet Granger's website: teapot cozies, traycloths, purses, Christmas stockings....Oh my, what a choice lol

[Mary Lou]

I want a half-moon table just like that for my upstairs hallway. Well, not just like that, a bit bigger. Nice haul!