Create: To Be the Cause Of

Posted on June 25, 2012 by TheJessicaness

just the beginning

After reading the ‘easy to follow instructions’ I will begin to create my version of this counted cross stitch creation. I was to use two threads, but used one twice instead. Pictured above is back-stitch – make a stitch (colored thread appear between two holes in the fabric) and then insert needle into the same hole as the previous stitch for the next.

the outline

I finished one piece of blue thread and moved on to another color. It took two pieces of black thread to complete the outline. I had to pull the thread slowly as it has a tendency to knot so tight that the needle could not undo it. Then I continued either pulling knots through the fabric or cutting it and restarting on the next stitch. The outline is also done in back-stitch. The heart is cross stitch – make angled loops one way and then cross them on the way back across the pattern. I instead did both loops on each stitch as I went.

filling with color

halfway done

I wish the thread-makers would have lengthened the thread by an inch or two. Many times (the F, the heart, the blue collar) I would need 4-22 stitches more and it was knotting a new thread to the needle that was the most difficult. The designer gave me enough fabric to not worry about counting stitches, go with my design, use all the thread, and still have enough room for all the mistakes I made – though I did try counting.

complete cross stitch creation

The eyes are of my design. I couldn’t grasp the french knot concept – bring thread up, twist, and put back down the same hole. I attempted a back/cross stitch going through unmade holes in the fabric to have small eyes instead of X’s making them look dead. Three evenings later and my project is done. Now I can attach it to the hanger that was included with some tape or perhaps a bow-shaped stitch.

Question of the Day: What have you created lately?

 

Posted in Art, Education, Entertainment, Fiber Arts, Inspiration, Photography, Project, Things | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Writer’s Workshop: Words of Yearbook Past

Posted on June 23, 2012 by TheJessicaness
yearbook photo - 2001

yearbook photo – 2001

4.)  Dig out your high school yearbook and share a message a friend wrote that stands out to you. – A writing prompt from Mama’s Losin It!

I couldn’t pick just one.

Hey Jessica, Don’t forget that you are supposed to send me a hottie from the Navy for Christmas. Tell him I have been a good girl, lol. You have been a great friend. Stay awesome. Don’t let the navy change you. Remember keep your head high and stay strong-willed. Don’t let anyone break your spirit. You are a free spirit and a great friend. I will miss you a lot. Remember the best boyfriends to have are the ones in the navy.
C/O ’04 Love Ya, Peace Out
Love Always, Danielle
Rock on Hottie

JESSICA
hey girl. You know this is hard. We’ve wanted this forever and now it’s finally here and it’s scary. Why? Because I’m gonna miss you a lot, and I know that after next Friday it’s going to be a long time before I see you again. But anyways, I hope you always remember me. I know I will cause all those elementary memories we have. Gosh, those were some dumb games we played but we were young. Right. Well anyways I hope that you have LOTS of FUN in the NAVY. Party hard!!! ok I also hope that you fulfill your dreams and remember to be safe. I wish you the best of luck in your life. Hopefully we’ll stay in touch. I’ll miss you a lot especially telling you my weekend stories. Well anyways, Good Luck, Have Fun. I’ll Miss You! Take Care.
Love you, Ali
Srs ’04!

JESSICA (Jessica Enjoyable Sassy Sophisticated Irresistable Caring Amazing)
the time has come, yeah! I’ll see you a few more times after this day hopefully. I hope you have fun in the NAVY and find a hot boy. Well I hope you the best of luck in the years to come. I will miss seeing you and your rocking booty self. I hope we stay in touch. I will miss seeing you and hearing your little wild stories. You are an amazing person inside and out! TAKE CARE
MAY GOD BLESS YOU
Love, Bibi

Hey crazy girl! You’ve got 2 be the craziest girl I know! But that’s cool! But anyways…yeah, it’s been real fun hangin with you! Like that one time like 2 years ago at Lakeline (when we saw Spiderman) that was crazy. Or prom night. That was great!! 🙂 If we wouldn’t have taken that pic with Marcos & Omar, I probably wouldn’t be talkin 2 Marcos now, so THANX (muchas gracias) But anyways GOOD LUCK! Don’t talk 2 too many guys. If you do hook me up girl! (naw I’m just BS’ing!)
Be careful & take care of yourself!
DON’T GET 2 CRAZY IN LIFE! 🙂
SMILE 4-EVER!
Love you always, Erica J.

Jessica: Hey this second semester was great! I am really glad we got to know each…
Bell rang
Love ya lots, Cheryl

hello Jessica, Well this is very saddening to me. This is your last day of high school. Must be nice huh! So these last couple of years have been good. I don’t want you to go. I’m going to chain you in my room so you can’t leave. Well anyways we’ve made some good memories and we’ll never forget them. So you had better keep in touch okay. I want to hear from you a lot. So I love you lots and I’m going to miss you a lots. So have fun.
Love always & forever, Holly Lynn

Hey Jessica, I hope you had a good year. I know I did. Have fun but don’t party too much! I hope to see you sometime.
Love, Kayla

Jessica, I still remember last year. You were the first and only person to take me in as a friend and get me away from the special ed table. Your friendship, wildness, caringness, and listening ear have always been there for me. Thank you so much for sparking my so-called popularity. I’ll miss you.
Love, Catherine

Jessica, Hope you had a fun year. Have lots of fun now that you’re out of school. Have a great time.
Corey

Jessica, We’ve known each other since 3rd grade. That’s a F** long time. Can you believe that after all these years we might not see each other again. I’m going to be in San Antonio and you’ll be all over the US in the navy. I still can’t believe our days at FHS are over. I hope you go far and do everything you want to do. GOOD LUCK!
Don’t Forget US
Love, Patricia

Jessica, I’ll never forget all the disgusting and stupid things that you have done over the years. But that’s why I’ll miss you. I hope that the navy won’t beat much of the crazy out of you. Too bad we didn’t hang out together at Six Flags but I’ll always remember our 7th grade trip to San Antonio. Good Luck and God Bless. We better keep in touch with each other or pay the price.
P.S. Keep this page forever and ever it may be worth something later in life.
Love, Deanna “Didi”

Hi! Bye! see you around!
Curtis

Jessica! Who’d of thought we would be entering the military? Just remember it’s a noble cause. I wish you the best of luck in basic, I tried to get you ready. 🙂 Keep in touch so we can figure out who outranks who. Ha! Ha!
God Bless, Pvt. Erica C.

Hey Jessica, Thanks for being my friend. It’s been nice knowing you. Hope to see you around. Good luck in everything you do.
Love always, Carolina

hey Jessica, it’s been a long rocky road, but we made it through. good luck in the future.
love always & forever, Jessica T.

Jessica –
Hey, thanks for all the great times in chemistry. I’m gonna miss you next year. Well good luck in the Navy and have fun. Good luck in all that you do. Miss you.
Love always, Courtney

Jessica, a dear friend that I will love and cherish forever. Mi Amiga por Siempre!
Love, Barbara

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Black and White

Posted on June 22, 2012 by TheJessicaness

In this moment my breath slows, my feet quiet

In this moment my heart beats calm as my soul moves on

In this moment the wind lacks the capacity to cool my back

In this moment the boards creak under my wet feet

In this moment the water knows the depths I will reach

In this moment I’m being watched by man and beast

And in this moment nothing can stop me.

Posted in Animals, People, Photography, Places, Plants, Poetry, Things, Water | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

The Magic of Paint and Folding

Posted on June 20, 2012 by TheJessicaness

dark avenger
with teeth and wings so large
save me

I see a mask staring at me. Could be a beetle, a man named Humphrey, or a snail on Halloween. What do you see?

Posted in Animals, Art, Holidays, People, Things | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Knitting is Addicting

Posted on June 19, 2012 by TheJessicaness

Photos by John Wise

In March 2011, I was invited to a beginners workshop for fiber arts focusing on knitting. I was able to have one-on-one lessons with my instructor, Caroline Wise. We set out some roving on the dyeing table (wooden bench covered with plastic), got out the jars of colors (food coloring, tea, kool-aid) in water, and a one inch foam brush for painting. I made sure my brush wasn’t too wet so the colors wouldn’t run. I was able to create three designs – two light multi-colored and one focusing on dark blue.

After the paint process, I wrapped each design in plastic, rolled it up, and microwaved it to set the colors. After cooling, the fiber is rinsed to remove excess dye. Then I was able to watch my colors dry on a rack – don’t need dripping water for the next step which is either using the spinning wheel or the spindle. I tried both. The wheel was fast and left my fiber in pieces. The spindle is a slower method, but the one that I prefer. You slowly pull the fiber to thin it and then spin it to strengthen it.

Photo by John Wise

The next step is knit. There are many fibers, some bigger or softer than others. There are a multitude of needles to choose from – metal, wood, plastic that all come in varying sizes from US 0-11, most common, and even up to size 50. These sizes will determine the length of the project – adult shawl or an infant beanie in which case you would need circular and double-pointed needles to complete. I attempted to learn with size 10 metal needles and had fun working with size 15 wooden needles. The bigger the needle, the bigger the stitch, and the easier it is to learn with.

I was able to take my new yarn and size 10 needles home where I would attempt the knitted paw print cloth by Rhonda White at knittingknonsense.com. I would attempt multiple times, but about the fourth row in I would notice a missing stitch or some other mistake. I would try frogging and end up undoing the whole project. Back I would go to YouTube to relearn how to cast on stitches. I had such a hard time remembering which side the needle went in or where the yarn went; I struggled.

Photos by John Wise

A year would pass and I was back in the home of my teacher. This time I was able to bring my husband who learned some of these crafts as a child. He was able to knit ten rows in minutes. I was impressed and suggested he do the paw print. It took him two nights to complete and then it was my turn. It took me six hours to knit and purl 36 stitches, 57 rows. Then I had to bind off. I thought this would be a cute-like-tying-a-bow-process. It’s supposed to be the opposite of casting on. It turned out to be a stressful, grueling process.

Luckily, Caleb had already made the pattern and was able to help me through my struggles the whole way. This time I didn’t stop for mistakes. I didn’t want to pause again this time and wonder how long it would take me to pick up these needles again. I forgot to eat and was getting cranky, but I finished and felt so proud and accomplished. Turns out that my paw print came out looking more like the picture than his did. Afterwards, we bought cookies at the local Relay for Life and walked some laps with our neighbor.

After a day’s rest for my tired hand I would use the yarn I dyed and spun. I wasn’t aware yet of how many yards it takes to make certain things. I had a scarf in mind. What I got was a saddle blanket for my rat terrier – 40sts, 80 rows. With this project I learned how to add yarn. Now I was ready to make a hat, or so I thought. I’m waiting for double-ended needles in the mail. This will be the next step, and it will try my patience, but this time – I’m ready. Not wanting to listen to A Tale of Two Cities doing nothing I grabbed some yarn and began another scarf. I’m about halfway done with 38sts, 160 rows equaling two feet. My gauge with the US 10, 14” needles is: 4sts (stitches) and 6 rows = 1 inch (roughly).

This has been a great learning process. There are a few people, so far, that have offered me motivation to make them something. I look forward to learning new stitch techniques and embroidery. Then I can relearn cross stitch and learn how to crochet. Caleb and I have a quilt in the making as well and I will try to post pictures, possibly videos, of the process and the end success. It is so much fun to learn new things and to make things with your own hands. Thank you to Caroline and Caleb for their patience that I know I can lack when wanting new skills to look like I have been doing them for years.

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