Since my last post, I emailed Scarlett Letter and ordered the au ver a soie for Mary Burgess from Wyndham Needleworks. It appears that my silks shipped yesterday so they should be appearing in my mailbox shortly. As I hadn’t heard back from SL, I followed up a phone call. She wasn’t sure what it was I wanted, so she hadn’t gotten back to me. I thought it was clear that I wanted a new piece of fabric, but in any event, that was finally made clear and she is shipping out a new piece today! SL also said if I run out of silks to let her know, so it is a happy resolution, even though she told me that my 19″ square piece should have given me 1.25″ of margins for my piece. I had given myself 2.5″ at the top, which I thought was thin at best. A way long time ago, I worked for a needlework shop in Connecticut (18 years ago!) and our practice then was to give 3″ on all sides for a piece that would be framed without a mat and 6″ on all sides for a piece to be matted. But that’s just my opinion, and now I know going forward to measure my linen beforehand and not just assume that what comes in the kit will be adequate. I have never (in my 25 years of needlework) not had a large enough piece of fabric. Has anyone else run into this?
So, while I am impatiently waiting for linens and silks to arrive in the mail, I have been knitting
on an afghan my library knitting group started well over a year ago. It was my grand idea that we knit this and raffle it off to benefit the library so we all did 4″ squares, although some came in at 4.5″ 5, or even 6″ square. Then I seamed them up and it looked like crap, so I stuffed it all in a bag and hoped no one would remember, but of course someone did and as our big annual fundraiser is in May, wouldn’t it be a great idea to finish it up? Oy. I dragged it back out, cut it apart and decided piece the squares together in blocks of four and knit a border and sashing like a quilt. How do I get myself into these things? This is what it looks like now. I’m going to hand it off to the group to weave in the ends. : )
I know the first project I did with a SL kit, I never finished, partly because I think I’m going to run out of fabric. And I’d left 2″ margins as instructed. I do think sometimes the fabric Marsha sends can be skimpy! Hope the new fabric and fibers come soon for you. The afghan is quite pretty! I hope it all goes together ok — bummer about all the pieces being different sizes. 😦 It’s so nice of you to do this for the fundraiser.
I’m glad that you are going to get another piece of linen – I think 1.5″ is *very* skimpy – like you, I always leave at least 3″ on every side; I think only once have I run out of linen, and that was at the bottom of a long piece – I know it was my fault that I miscalculated.
I hope your silk arrives soon!
I tend to just order the chart and kit SL pieces myself, the linen is skimpy and I can get the silks from Needlecraft Corner at a discount.
Love, love, love the afghan!!! The colors are so pretty.
I ran across your blog while looking for information on A is for Archer by Nan Tyson Euler. I started the piece when it came out but put it away for a few years (about 10 !) cannot find my instructions and wondered if you could send me a picture of the front of the instructions so I know what to look for. I have the box, threads, and the piece is half finished, and I would like to finish it.
Sorry, I sold my kit last year!
Sent from my HTC
Thanks for your reply. I have called Nan.
I found your blog while searching for Joanne Harvey’s A German Band Sampler – have you done yours or would you consider parting with (selling) it? Thanks, Kathy