Is there a prize for micro-stitches? 

I used to do silk petitpoint work (about 30-35 years ago). I also did fine linen counted cross stitch. I am dazzled by your fine work.

judyinohio said:

I used to do silk petitpoint work

 

Do you still have your petitpoint needlework and counted cross-stitch projects?   I loved doing counted cross-stitch on a blank foundation.  It was mesmerizing seeing the picture emerge as if by magic, stitch by stitch.  I especially liked designs where there would 1/4 and 3/4s compensating stitches to complete the designs at the edges.

ah, yes.   Also about 35-40 years ago (because this was before my oldest child was born), I did silk gauze needlepoint.   You might remember that silk gauze starts around 25 stitches/inch and goes up from there.  

My project at the time was a Victorian house, viewed from the street, done on 18 count canvas.  The weave in the window areas was turned back (i.e. I cut the weave so that the individual threads could be folded back onto the back) and needlepointed silk gauze would be stitched behind the open window frame.  OH!  Kinda like reverse applique!  LOL!  The window scenes were of vignettes of what the room was ... a living room, a bedroom, a baby's room .  

I got the VIctorian house done and several of the silk gauze window scenes.   And then ..... it occurred to me that, as pretty as these projects were, it wasn't a good use of my time since I now had small children in the houses.   When the project was finished, I'd have a pretty picture to hang on the wall (along with all the other projects and pictures).

So, I shelved my needlepoint in favor of sewing children's garments ... a whole other venue for creativity!  Since I had 3 girls, I got to sew delightful Daisy Kingdom dresses for special occasions, play clothes, jammies, all sorts of clothing for school (involving smocking, tatting, French handsewing, counted cross-stitch embellishments using waste canvas) ... if it could be done on garments, I surely did it. :-)     Gosh, I loved sewing clothing for them!

I still have that Victorian house project ... still unfinished.  I still have the chart pamphlets for the window scenes .. someplace. :-)   I rediscovered the silk gauze part of the project some time ago and gave a very brief thought of continuing where I left off.  Then I really LOOKED at the gauge of the gauze.  HOLY MOLEY ...  was that stuff tiny!  Heh ... I put the project back in the bag and back in the closet.  :-)

So, yeah, I can do small stitches. :-) 

Judy I love your flower. I really like the spagetti stuff at the top.

your Red-headed Judy bloom is very attractive!! It's fun watching your garden grow!

Ever heard of Terial Magic? I had no idea it could be used in so many ways...I bought a bottle at a quilt show a couple of years ago..and have used it for stabilizing for hand embroidery...but this video shows MANY more ways it can be used!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHuMmMdfpMM

no more stabilizer on T-Shirt quilts...I have been wanting to do one and this may be the push I needed!

I love your red headed, Judy!  Several of them in a pot would look like you were a master gardener.

Beautiful, Shelley!  I could never have the patience to do that.

Pirate (PIRATE_SR) said:

I loved doing counted cross-stitch on a blank foundation. It was mesmerizing seeing the picture emerge as if by magic, stitch by stitch. I

I totally agree.

Here is a photo of one linen counted cross-stitch that nearly sent me around the bend in 1985. (Those curly things on the large alphabet letters .... shudder!  Note that there is no "J" in the alphabet.)  I found the kit with linen, floss and instructions in an advertisement in a needlework magazine and had to buy it because it had my DH's name in the design. This pattern claimed to be a copy of a sampler in a museum in Vermont or New Hampshire or some east coast state and while it was not the style of our home I had to buy it because of that name in the middle of the top row of the design.  I substituted "1985" for the original date that was in the design and put my initials next to the date. 

I just checked my needlework notebook for notes on this project:  I worked on it from December, 1984 until April, 1985 and commented that I thought I would never get it done.  The kit included pink floss and I substituted rust.  (HAH!! Those large letters and small building would have been pink but I have always disliked pink so I did a switcheroo.)  This was the first project I made using my new magnifying lamp.  (I was 43 years old and ready for bifocals.)

Judy, I really like your orange/red coneflower!  Those are neat things to be making!  Lol, I need something like that in my hot yard in the August!   

I bouht Terial Magic to stiffen fabric so the fabric could be used with my Scan-n-cut .

But for t-shirt quilts instead of using a lightweight stabilizer?? Hmmm.  The thought that first popped into my mind was that the stabilizer also allows you to sew and quilt the t-shirts without needing a ballpoint needle. 

Now, I do have ballpoint needles for my home machine but don't for my longarm. Off the top of my head, I don't even know if there are ballpoint needles for long arms. 

Wouldn't a regular needle (in the longarm) tend to tend to promote the knit t-shirts to run because the knit had been pierced/split?