HAED Seasons

[rcperryls]

I think if I had the whole cloth( or at least as much as you have now) facing me I would feel almost intimidated getting started. But as you finish the pages it is going to be awesome. One of the things I love about stitching these is the feeling I get when all of a sudden what seemed like a weird collection of stitches and colors reveals itself to be a face or an arm or a leg or a piece of furniture. Best motivation for keeping going!

You have made a great start!

Carole

[Mabel Figworthy]

I've been teaching a lady one-on-one and we're doing goldwork at the moment; she has a roller frame and we got it as tightly wingnutted down as we could, then laced the sides, but although the sides ain't going nowhere, the top-to-bottom tension doesn't stay.

It's made her decide that she will geta slate frame, because there the vertical (top-to-bottom) tension is set with split pins that go through holes in the uprights, so the top and bottom roller simply can't unroll. The Millennium frame and others on the same principle (with big wooden screws inside the side bars, pushing the top and bottom apart) have the same effect.

I realise that you are not going to change to a slate frame after all this setting up but for future reference it might be something to consider?

[Steam.Jo]

The dowel pivots rotating and slowly slackening off is a problem I have had myself.

My efforts at roughing them with coarse sandpaper and increasing friction didn't work. I did briefly toy with the idea of an index plate screwed to the end of the dowel and a pin into a hole in the side bars but came to the conclusion it wasn't worth the effort. In the end I put on m5 hex nuts and used a spanner. I suspect if I do them up much more, I'll need to repair the side bars when they snap.

Regards,

Richard

Thanks Richard for confirming it is not only me that has these problems.

Analysis: The new frame came with side bars that are 22mm (7/8") square, my old frame sides are 25mm (1") square: so there is less clamping surface. With 12" long side bars there is more force on the two rollers when you tension the fabric than if the side bars were shorter.

Possible solution: Use 25mm square shorter side bars.


I have one pair of old Elbesee 9" long side bars which are 25mm square so I have just swopped over to these to give it a go

Jo

[Serinde]

Re tying threads off, this is a technique I use when working on my huge Cluny tapestry. Instead of tying off each thread as I finish it (or even when I change colour), instead I pull the thread through to the front a few holes from the last stitch. This is rather like what you would do if you were using the parking method. Then start a new thread from the front (loop method) and just continue stitching, which will secure the old thread without you needing to move the frame. Snip off excess from the front.

I would guess that the 40" frame needs support at the other end of the working edge where you are sitting, so that gravity can't drag at it so much, loosening bolts and all that sort of thing. This tying off method has the added value that you might then be able to find something to support the far end of the frame, since it won't have to move very often.

Just an idea. And I could very well be teaching my grandparental unit to suck eggs.

[Steam.Jo]

I've been using the frame with the shorter side bars:



These are both clamping better and the whole frame isn't so over whelming. Shame they don't sell them with 9" side bars.

Onward...



With a old table cloth covering the end of the fabric to protect it I found that a cheap tablet sits comfortably in the pocket of the frame to follow the charts along. Sadly the pdf program I have on the tablet does not support editing (without paying for it) so I am tracking progress on my PC and uploading daily updates of those blue rectangles to block out the bits I have completed full squares of stitching.

Its easy to miss count these small stitches and unpicking is not going to be easy. Luckily this top corner is just a bit of sky and the fact that a few of those blue stitches are a row down from where the chart says is irrelevant. But the ease of getting it wrong is changing my stitching order: If you look at the blocks 20,40 to 20,60 you can see I have added in the grey stitches before adding the bulk background colour which will hopefully discourage feature stitching

I think it might be time to stop posting so regularly and move over to longer timeframes or at least delays between postings so that there is actually something noticeable in the progress.

Jo

[wendywombat]

You've found a solution for the frame problems.

I've never understood why when something Works why it gets changed

My Grandad always said "If it ain't broke...don't mend it"

[Mabel Figworthy]

Serinde, thank you for that way of fastening off, very useful!

[rcperryls]

I'm glad you found a solution to your frame problem. The program I use is Goodnotes 5 for iPads. I did pay for the full version so I can edit as I go along. I usually mark a path for stitching and highlight the completed area as I go. It makes sense for me as all my active (sort of active) and less active (in waiting?) are there. But even if I couldn't edit, using the tablet and being able to enlarge the chart is really important. I'm not sure I could stitch directly from a paper chart any more.

It's up to you how often you post, but as far as I'm concerned, you most certainly don't overdo it and I look forward to seeing them. As I said before, I'm itching to return to my HAED (Dancing With the Cat) that has been sorely neglected, after my eye surgery next month. Watching your progress gives me motivation!

Carole

[Steam.Jo]

Sorry Serinde I missed your earlier post I like your technique for tying off.

I would guess that the 40" frame needs support at the other end of the working edge where you are sitting, so that gravity can't drag at it so much, loosening bolts and all that sort of thing. This tying off method has the added value that you might then be able to find something to support the far end of the frame, since it won't have to move very often.

I failed to show you there is another support at the other end:



The bottom of the vertical support rests against the table and the whole lot can tip backwards to let me get at the back for tying off. Best not look at where I have joined the two ends of the old table cloth underneath

Jo

[Serinde]

Didn't see a thing...

@Mabel: you are most welcome. You just need to be careful when you snip back the thread from the front...

[Steam.Jo]

This week I have been doing a bit more on this piece:



I have been trying to work out how far down the original I had reached because the colours seem wrong to me and I think it is the leaves. The colours seem a lot greyer than in the original picture - I expected the top corner to be a shade of blue .


12 large squares in about 7 days means I have reduced the stitching time from 9 years down to... just over 5

Jo

[wendywombat]

This week I have been doing a bit more on this piece:

12 large squares in about 7 days means I have reduced the stitching time from 9 years down to... just over 5

Jo

Aha, Progress then! This is another of those designs which will look at it's best when seen from further away.

[rcperryls]

This week I have been doing a bit more on this piece:

12 large squares in about 7 days means I have reduced the stitching time from 9 years down to... just over 5

Jo

Aha, Progress then! This is another of those designs which will look at it's best when seen from further away.

I often find that HAED designs it doesn't look right until I either take a photo or look at it from a distance. By large squares do you mean red outlined squares? The green outlined squares look like a chart page and if you can stitch 12 of those in 7 days you are clearly "The Flash". I think you have made really good progress and from what I see it is already looking lovely. There is a subtle shading in the background that l would guess will look more blue once some of the flowers come into focus.

Carole

[Mabel Figworthy]

New colours make their way into the piece!

[Steam.Jo]

Thank you Ladies,

By large squares do you mean red outlined squares? The green outlined squares look like a chart page and if you can stitch 12 of those in 7 days you are clearly "The Flash". I think you have made really good progress and from what I see it is already looking lovely.

The red squares are blocks of 100 stitches so 10 by 10 stitches. The Green squares are 10,000 stitches so 100 stitches by 100.

My order from China with the needle holders have turned up. So much for having three matching green holders. The new one is a different shade of green



The two carboard strips on either side have some pre-cut lengths of the colours which are needed in this area of the piece. The needle holders can hold a threaded needle and have spaces for the other two pairs of split thread as I start using that colour. The post-it on the chart is to remind me the DMC number of the current symbols to make them easier to find in the 90 different colours.

I am finding the need to work in multiple colours at the same time so I am needing to park the needles as I work:



Must get back to the Autumn Sampler and I should have a stash fondle to remind me what is in there and that might stop me buying any more

Jo

[Serinde]

It's clear where the Turbo Needle is these days. And what a set up you have!

[fccs]

I’m going to love watching this one and your needles are on fire!!!

[Steam.Jo]

I must have had a senior moment It was only as I was stitching along I realised that one of the vertical blocks of 10 stitches was not 10 stitches but 9



Lots of post-its started being written to remind me that the lines were out by one stitch. But someone smiled at me and I found the next block of 10 stitches is actually 11 So it looks like I hopped over a thread when I drew the lines on.

Jo

(Orange arrowed row is 9 stitches high, green one is 11 )

[Mabel Figworthy]

Glad to hear that resolved itself so beautifully - phew!

[rcperryls]

Glad to hear that resolved itself so beautifully - phew!

Which is one reason that I triple check when gridding my fabric. And because I don't have it on a frame with rollers I can grid only a few pages at a time. You are really making great progress!


Carole