If that's level 1 ....level 2 scares me! It's looking gorgeous!
Faith

I am quite impressed!!!!!!!

That is an amazing project--and it's only a level 1?? I love it and hope you will be able to find time to finish it!! I can't wait to see the next one!

Well.. because I couldn't wait for the second class to start working on a new project.. I started the one I bought as my reward for finishing the first class.
I brought this project with me on a flight from MN to TX last week. The only thing I had done before getting to the airport was to work out where my first kloster block was placed.



This is about 1 week of stitching- in between playing with my sisters now 1 year old. Modified the pattern.. of course. It is charted to be square- but I added an extra block in the middle. Haven't quite worked out what I am going to do with the inside of the rectangle.. original design has just a running stitch diamond. Never really liked that- I might do some version of the corner pattern. Or maybe a intersecting double diamond. Oh who knows. It will be a while before I get around to being ready for that part. The most important part is done.. and I think its all lined up properly. At one point, I had lines drawn all over the place. But I was getting confused so I had to wash them out.



And this is what I realized yesterday that I have to rip out. See counting to four has proved to be quite difficult (or perhaps I wasn't quite paying close enough attention while stitching on the plane) These are supposed to be 4 spaces away from the kloster blocks. One side its 2.. the other side its 3. As I told a friend.. counting to 4 is hard! Also noticed that one leg of my star is short so while I am perfecting my frog stitch.. might as well frog that spot too.

I think that for your 2nd project you are doing really well (I haven't even gotten through my practice one). and to change the design and come up with your own is so cool. Sorry that you have to though. From what you describe it is going to look really good.

Carole

That's very impressive already and too bad that you had a visit from I hope it won't be too painful to redo it! Love the colors!

Queston for Mabel and others that do hardanger.
In the instructions.. which are only about 5 sentences long.. it says "Remember to machine stitch a line through the area to be covered with the buttonhole stitch. This prevents the waving edge problem."
What exactly does this mean? My instructor never mentioned machine stitching under buttonhole edging. I don't have a sewing machine- but can track one down if its an important step not to miss. Also.. any other tips on how to keep that long line of buttonhole stitches even?

The edging on this is a double line of solid satin stitching and button hole edging- seperated by a zig zag. I can try and take a better photo of the edging- I'm probably not using the right words.

Good luck with redoing that section, there is a lovely look to all your stitching.

The problem is that a long straight line of buttonhole stitch as an edging isn't very strong. If you pull it, it may separate from the main design. For this reason, many designs of this sort use a buttonhole stitch with a variety of lengths to form a pattern, often a chevron. Making the design rectangular instead of a square exacerbates this problem. (Although it is good looking.) That's why the designer has suggested you have a line of stitching to strengthen the fabric.

If you aren't planning for the piece to be handled or washed very much, you could probably do without the extra stitching beneath the buttonhole stitches.

Ahh.. that makes sense. Thanks. I'll have my mother dig out and set up her machine. I plan on this going on my kitchen table in the fall (which is why I elongated it- square looked too small when on my table)
I thought elongating might give me trouble with the edging. But, no more than if I had kept it square. Would have had troubles either way. Or are there other edgings that would be more secure?
My first project has the zig zag pattern edging- haven't finished it yet so its still on the full piece of fabric. I think the project for second level class has a zig zag edging too.

I like your rectangular version! The first thing I though when I saw it was that it would look great with a quotation or saying in it -- any favourite verse you would like to capture in stitches?

I'm glad Serinde came up with the goods about buttonhole edging, as I hate it with a vengeance and try to avoid it whenever I can (it's one of the reasons why the Alexandra bell pull hasn't been started yet...). If you're not too fond of it, you could try four-sided edging which is strong and decorative and to my mind much easier. There are several ways of doing it, give a shout if you'd like more info.

By the way, what is the filling in the cut areas? From the picture it looks more like a hemstitch of sorts then a Hardanger filling stitch

I think it looks great in the rectangular form... spacing can so hard sometimes.. it happens to the best of us
Faith

It looks very pretty. I'm sorry you're having a visit from the
But you are doing really great. It'll look beautiful on your table.

Thanks everyone


I've been meaning to take a trip to the library and look at some books on different edging. I've seen the 4 sided stitch but haven't tried it. Also, saw a few books in my new Nordic Needle catalog too. Next week my second level class starts and I plan to bring this in and see what they options they give me.


It is just a gathered hemstitch- which she gave absolutely no information on how to do it. So, since I am looking at different edging books- I am assuming I'll come across one that will also explain how to work this hemstitching. Also, I am thinking about switching out the design for the end blocks to an intricate filling stitch she used in one of the other charts of the pack. The size of the opening is the same but the filling stitch looks complicated! (of course it does.. thats why I want to tackle it for my second project) What now concerns me is if the line of satin sitches is strong enough to have cut work on both sides. *sigh* Yet another question for my instructor- good thing class is next week.

Maggie, I have on several occasions used Kloster blocks (i.e. satin stitch) that were cut on both sides (for example in the dragonfly) and haven't had any problems withit, although poking in the cut ends is a bit of a nightmare

Great project

Well ladies and gents. Here is the project for my second level class.
First class was last Tuesday and they will continue through February.
Last weeks homework was more kloster blocks and a new type of blanket stitch edging- you leave out the corner stitch so its rounded instead of square. And it has a staggered bottom. Each of the squares in the corners will be a different type of filling stitch.
There are 5 ladies in the class. Myself and two others from the class that just finished a few months ago, and two ladies that had taken Hardanger 1 about a year ago.
I am stitching with DMC 3347 and WDW Ivy? Holly? I can't even remember- my thread is all gone so its good class is tonight. (I know, I know.. should have bought all variegated from the same dye lot- but I really liked it and class was starting so I had to grab something) I'm going to frog the variegated edging- that was just a test and I like the solid color edging better.





Not much progress on the project on the terra cotta fabric. I have done all the corner stitching- but have not had time to do the machine stitching to strengthen the edges. And well, I've focused on working on my class project so I don't get behind. I'll get back to that one.. eventually.

Looking very very nice!! You are doing great with this!

Such beautiful work! This last one looks very St. Patrick's Day. Love all the greens!