Heres my first attempt at hardanger.
I am taking a class at my stitch shop. Kloster blocks was the first lesson, the stars and border were our second lesson. After I got all the way around with the kloster blocks- I found that I was ONE STITCH OFF and needed to rip out about half way around.. uggghh. Thats when I decided to draw lines all over the place.

Wow!!!! Beautiful work already Maggie. This is going to look fantastic!! So sorry mr visited you but it looks like you are doing great with it now!!

Looks very good And how lucky you have a class near you. I almost thought I did and then discovered they only do needlepoint. I have one more place to check out after the holidays, I think. so in the meantime I am looking forward to seeing the other things you learn. I guess mr is always lurking somewhere. I'm glad you found a way to avoid him in the future.

Carole

Looks really good Maggie - I feel for you with the I hate that panic and horrible cold sinking feeling you get when you realise you are a stitch out .

Wow that looks super!!!!!!!!

looks nice, mags !

so glad you have a class nearby. you are so lucky...

For some reason I can't see the pic, but I hope you're enjoying the process!

It's looking great. Shame about that pesky though.

I always stitch a T at the very top of the fabric now after a wee mishap a few projects ago

Shame on Mr for coming to visit you! But the reworked piece looks great, and how wonderful to have a course near you!

Great start!!!
Faith

*(@^&$#&*(!()_!$#&^$%Q@#=)!

So tonights hardanger class was not really class. Instructor was there but just to help us with any areas if we were stuck. And stuck I was.. trying to figure out how to start and finish a thread when doing the outside blanket stitch.. It is a visual I cannot wrap my brain around- even after trying 3-4 times tonight. So it was good she plans on a "free week" for helping us get unstuck- I certainly needed it.

This story however has nothing to do with hardanger. It starts back in the summer when I submitted my AAN Christmas Cardinal Ball cross stitch project to our State Fair.
Last week my instructor said that she works with the Fair. The ladies at my shop knew I submitted a piece and had seen it while I was still working on it but I hadn't brought in in all finished and framed.
So this week, I brought it to class with me. I gave the piece to one of the shop ladies. She commented on the framing.. how it was a nice choice for the piece (they know the framer- the stores are about 4 blocks from eachother) That was one of the areas where I was marked down points.. and the critique I have never agreed with nor understood. It was my framers suggestion to go with green frame. Its a Christmas design- green frame, red fabric, white thread.. it sort of makes sense. Well, in looking at the score sheet.. shop ladies recognze that its my instructors handwriting.. she was my judge!
So I ask her for more clarification.. what exactly was distracting about the frame? She had no answer.. sort of hemmed and hawed.. ahhh well geee.. I see so many in those 3-4 days.. I'm really not sure. WHAT?? I get it that shes seen a bunch in a short time.. and obviously shes not going to remember every single project she judges.. but she should at least be able to explain what is distracting about the frame. Should it have been white? Should it have been silver to match the beaded insert? We tried those options and they didn't look right. I thought she should have been able to defend her position.. and explain it. (I promise.. I wasn't aggressive or acusatory.. promise promise promise)
She also said my tension wasn't consistant.. and I tried to get her to explain that better. She sort of pointed some spots out.. but didn't give me any tips about how to keep tension more even.
I got a 2nd place on the project.. which I am still absolutely thrilled about. I didn't deserve a 1st place finish.. I noticed some big things that were wrong with it after I got it back from the framer. And I said before I brought my things in that I was doing it for the evaluation by someone that knew stitching. But come on.. never in a million years would I think that my teacher was the one that judged my piece. And then to not be able to explain the reasoning behind her comments... grrrr.

Blimey Maggie like they say it's a small world isn't it? Surely, being an instructor, she should've suggested how to keep tension consistent at least it's just something that would come naturally to a teacher isn't it; critique then advice on how to improve? I admit I feel your frustration because I would be pretty miffed too in your place.

PS green frame sounds perfect to me for a Christmas project

Very frustrating, and also very unexpected -- even if she couldn't quite remember why she wrote exactly what she did back then (excusable if she's seen a lot of pieces since then), she should be able to look at it now and refresh her memory. And as a teacher she should definitely be able to give you constructive feedback with advice on how to improve what wasn't perfect. Because if she can't tell you how to do it well, or improve on what you did, it almost suggests that there is no way of "doing it right" and it's luck of the draw! Hope she'll have another think about it and give you more and better feedback next time.
And good luck with the blanket stitch!

This is why I would never ever ever ever put my work up for judging. Having seen some of the comments written against work submitted in very local village shows - I have often thought who are these people and how dare they say that and what do they know and how are they qualified to judge in such a way. It is a shame because it probably puts a lot of people off

that is very frustrating, I am sure and also very surprising. Not so much that she couldn't exactly remember the piece, but that she couldn't now look at it and give you some constructive criticism and tell you how to improve, whether it was in the tension she mentioned or why the frame should have been different (sounds like it was perfect for Christmas) etc etc. My goodness, she is a teacher after all. Maybe on looking at it now she didn't see the same things but was embarassed to say so.
Good luck with your stitches. I know you will figure it out eventually and have some fantastically lovely pieces for us to enjoy.

Carole

Buttonhole edging can be fiddly. Let me see if I can explain. Firstly, open up this URL in a separate window and scroll down to the bit about buttonhole edging: http://www.needlework-tips-and-techniques.com/free-hardanger-pattern.html

Now. This is what you do in words (mostly Mary Hickmott's words, to be precise): when your thread is getting short and you need to change to a new thread, stop at the stage of the stitch when you've just come through the loop. Set this thread to one side on the needle.

Thread a second needle with a new length of thread, fastening it behind the existing stitches. Begin your blanket stitch as if you were totally starting again, coming up in the hole right next to the one your old thread is currently occupying.

Do a couple of stitches, bearing in mind that, at the moment, you have a stitch "missing".

After a couple of stitches (mostly to get the new thread out of the way!), go back to your old thread (and needle). Take your thread down through the "loop" of the starting stitch of the new thread and take it down the four threads to line up with the rest of the stitches. (This is F-G on the diagram).

It should all look neat and tidy.

Fasten it off behind, and carry on with the new thread.

Yes, that's what I do to, but that's a really clear explanation Serinde, thanks!

First off.. thanks Serinde.. With that link and my project in front of me- I FINALLY got the hang of starting and finishing thread for the button hole edging.

Here's my piece by the end of class. Its not finished. I am not sure if I will finish it. I'm bored of eyelets for now. Second level class starts the last week of January. So I'll get a little break- then its back to kloster blocks and eyelets.

I am impressed if that is level 1. It is really lovely. There is an elegance about the Hardangers that I enjoy seeing. One day I will set aside the time to practice what I have.

Carole

Your work looks absolutely lovely. Well Done!
I'm sorry what happened with your instructor. It sounds as though she was taken off guard -- suddenly having to face the owner of a work she had critiqued. But, I agree she handled it very badly. I hope this hasn't made things uncomfortable for you at the class.