Susan Standley Stitch in Time :Floss Tube #1-Introduction and current projects, future plans

my hello flosstube my name is susan stanley and i am not new to youtube but i'm definitely new to flosstube um i have gotten i've become caught up in watching all these fantastic flosstube videos and traveling the world really in this time where we can't get out of our homes i've been to the netherlands with modern folk embroidery i've been to the uk with hands across the sea i've been to australia with nikki noodle i've been to canada with ellen's maximum cross-stitch power hour and i've been all across the united states i think i started when somebody suggested brenda and the cereal starter and i've just enjoyed every minute of it and i think i have this high need to talk so here i am i'm just talking and if anybody's interested i'd love to chat with you back and forth about the things that make my heart sing um mostly i have been a collector of antique samplers and a quilt maker don't ask me why i have no idea that's just how i've operated for so many years i have done cross stitch and now i feel like cross stitch is calling my heart and i've also been an avid student of history and textile history and history of quilts and of course now with my antique samplers i'm always very interested in finding out their history and then lo and behold i see that there are people in the world who also love to study that as well and so i just feel like i've found a little niche in my world in my life and i hope that you'll indulge me and if you're interested i hope you'll hang hang along and join me um i also love studying sewing notions i love collecting sewing notions so i'm hoping to just share some of the things that i learn along the way and some of my projects and progress and connect with some of you i have i can't tell you how much joy it has brought me to listen to you it's like having a stitch group in my home which i have sorely missed these this last year so anyway i have been keeping record of my progress in this quilt diary but now i see that there are stitch diaries out there but this has served me well and it keeps me accountable because i tend to be a little bit all over the map this just helps me keep track of what i've done and i haven't gotten into the sticker thing yet but that looks like a lot of fun as well so i'll just show you some of the things that i have in progress and some of the things that i've collected maybe i'll share later but anyway the project that kind of brought me back and i've been using these bags for my quilting and for my applique and they just work really well i think nicole's needlework uses these and anyway they work really well so the project that kind of got me committed this year it was the beautiful sampler that ggr reproduced and that was going to benefit charity and it's called julia l fuchs 1869 i'm sure others of you are working on it it's it's done in a beautiful raspberry color on a very rustic thread uh linen excuse me and i have to say i'm a much faster quilter than i am cross stitcher i am so slow painfully slow but i'm working on it and of course my first project i was off by a thread anyway so this is how far i've gotten um this is on butternut 36 count by seraphim and it's it's a very slubby linen and so that's been part of my problem is i've missed some stitches because behind a slub is this hair hair sized thread and so a couple times i caught three instead of two and it's two over two with the silk thread you all are so much better at this than me dinky dies and the color is rose bay it's beautiful i'm enjoying the warmth of the butternut linen it's it's different and probably not classic i don't see a lot of people using it but i'm really enjoying it um anyway this is the red thread that i stitched down to see where i had where i was off i just pulled it out it just accidentally pulled out when i pulled this anyway i know i'm off and i i'll fix it i think instead of ripping the whole bottom border off i'm going to um be creative take some creative license i am in quilting i know a lot of your quilters but in quilting there's a common thought and i think it started in the amish community that no quilt should be perfect because only god in heaven is perfect and nothing on this earth can be perfect and so they would intentionally make an error well i never have to intentionally make an error in any project i do they just come naturally so all right that's the first project i think you can still get this if you're interested it was a downloadable pattern and i believe ggr and needlework press were in some kind of a partnership on it and if i if i get really fancy and can do some links below i'll try to research that and make sure that you can find it if you're interested so that's kind of what brought me back uh and then i started digging through my supplies which is not always it's you know i've done a lot of cleaning and purging during this time time and i'm sure many of you have as well anyway i found some projects that have just been so lonely in there um for so many years and this project i bought i purchased this several years ago um when i lived in arizona ooh that's really bad glare it's called ann robinson 1800 and like i said i'm drawn to antique and very primitive kind of cruel i don't know i like i like i don't know exactly why something hits me but this one hit me because of the kind of naive nature to it and the dark background linen and just i don't know it just sung to me um it's a pattern by the traveling stitcher and i pulled it out after probably a lot of years and all all i have done so far is that little line but it's one over two and it's so delicate and beautiful i do need magnifiers to to do this now i when i started it a long time ago i could see it without that but anyway i love this color linen i it's a weak style works it's the old weeks and i know that a lot of people like the denser weave the little tighter new weeks but this fits my primitive antique i don't know love here are the threads so it's very it's just very antique and rustic looking and you almost don't even know that this is in there um just pops up so that's kind of my that's part another project i'm working on and i'm really hoping i don't get too crazy and start a million projects but it's really hard when i watch all of your videos and then go online because there's so much fabulous stuff out there i had no idea was out there because i've been super busy uh with a lot of you know with life and doing other things so the next one i purchased since this new start in my life is um ann got 1848 and i purchased this through attic needleworks in phoenix arizona and i used to live in tucson and i was i was very familiar with the shop i went there and i did purchase several charts because you know why not they're just gorgeous designs how can you not how can you not purchase them even if you don't touch them for years but they're there and that's the beauty and the wonderful thing about cross stitch i'm finding is a lot of patterns stick around a long time um quilt patterns seem to turn over quite frequently but so this one i'm just is so beautiful i just had to start it as soon as it came it's just this delicate almost lace like stitch and i did get the i got the classic color works so it's in cotton and it has it just has that same kind of rustic antique feel that i really like but of course it has pops of red um i do seem to be quite drawn to the needlework press designs they're very they make my heart sing and i love them so anyway this is one thread over two and it's just really delicate and i'm really enjoying this so i've got a lot going already and i've just barely gotten back into it so anyway love that one um and then of course because i'm just craving the connection and loving uh everything about everything in the cross stitch world right now i joined a the orange coast sampler guild and it's a lovely group of sampler makers and i'm just getting to know them i went on my first zoom meeting and it was delightful but i signed up for a little workshop that they're having to make this beautiful sewing set and i'll show you it came all all wrapped beautifully and i don't know if you can see the patina on this wood but it's really nice so i i do collect antique needlework tools and things so this just it's not antique but it's going it's going to be a an heirloom i think in my life i hope so anyway so that was interesting because when that kit came it came with this linen that i have not used before and you're you're to stitch one over one and i have to tell you i struggled like crazy the threads kept slipping but i don't know if you can see that i'm almost done with that medallion i use the wrong color in the middle of course i don't know if i'm gonna unpick it i'm not really sure what i'm gonna do i've done a lot of re-stitching um going back and fixing things that's all part of the process though it is in quilting too so um anyway i love i'm really enjoying comparing i love to study time periods so i've mostly done my studying my self-study you know i'm not a historian by by trade or a textile historian but i kind of wish i had been i love it um i i knew i had found a niche when i listened to jacob on modern folk embroidery and he was talking about the sleeve and the costume of the motifs in his pattern that i downloaded and i i didn't bring with me but i i'll show you in a future video that i've i'm starting because when i quilt when i've and i've taught quilt classes i love to research the history of the fabrics and the dyes and the patterns on the fabric and get to know where they were used elsewhere in the world besides in the quilt or in the fabric usually it was for clothing sometimes it was for interior design wallpaper on china you name it well there are a lot of similar motifs in cross stitch and quilting and i'm really excited to do some study and um understand the mindset of different time periods and why things were done the way they were done the schoolgirl samplers are so sweet to me because they're they're so young these young children and i have a few and i want to share my my antiques with you um and i'm learning how to chart them i might end up charting them and at some point but i'm just amazed um i'm amazed at the focus and the attention to detail of these young people um in the earlier century but it was you know people are the same but they're also different and the mindset and the way of life was was different and it's reflected in the work that was done by children and and adults as well so um quilt samplers were you know sampler is not just a word used for cross stitch sampler in my mind means a sampling of different um stitches with different motifs kind of like when you go to a restaurant you get a sampler platter you get a collection of a variety of different foods so quilts same thing i have a few quilts that i'll show you i can i'll show you them i'll do i'll do a little clip and pop them in here there's one quilt that i was bound and determined to make in my lifetime and it's um a quilt called dear jane and it is it is a true sampler samplers were really popular in quilting in the 1850s around that time period this one was made during the civil war era in america 1861 to 64. um anyway that was a life that was this was a long project project and a long process but each block is a different technique and a different a different motif and so therefore you get the idea all right so that was one that i that i made and um another one that i love is from this book hopes journey betsy chechen is a good friend of mine um i'll send i'll show a picture of that quilt down below for in a minute because it's also a sampler and each block has has a significance and a meaning and then this is a new schoolgirl sampler quilt that just came out so i am intrigued when i find quilts and cross stitch that share colors or motifs images and it just makes me curious as to why um one of my very favorite quilts that i believe was based on an antique cross stitch sampler is this quilt by a woman named dye ford and i'm sure many of you will know know it she has unfortunately passed away but the center motif is that really classic sampler image of a man and woman a house and some sheep and this one also has an oversized urn and so of course that got me really curious about samplers with sheep and there are there are a lot out there and i want to make them all um anyway but i'm trying i'm trying to be a little bit self-controlled i don't know that's possible um so for the quilt world samplers were sometimes for blocks were exchanged as as a means of friendship and sharing in the cross stitch world i from what i can tell these young people were learning to stitch sometimes especially for the young girls this was their way of learning to make their letters and learning to read so anyway i'm excited to explore the history and learn a little bit more and i'm sure many of you know all this and could tell me but um anyway i um i have two other books i want to share with you that i think are really really interesting most so most of my textile and history of quilt study has been in the americas some some in the uk as far as the historical nature of quilts and samplers i'm finding along with quilts are worldwide from that time period from the 1700s and 1800s and i'm fascinated by the discipline of the sampler for a young person and anyway so because of my interest in history i've i've had books in my collection that now have brought have become kind of new to me and this book i think is wonderful and if you are a sampler lover it might be something you'd like to add to your collection it's called women's work embroidery in colonial boston and it just has yummy yummy needlework images that that you know are in samplers that are available to purchase um clothing items a stomacher with some cruel work just beautiful i love the quality of detail and um there was no glue there was nothing no no special tools this was just all hand with maybe linen thread maybe silk thread later on cotton thread i've done a little bit of research on thread i'd love to share with you i think thread thread's pretty amazing beautiful images and then of course some gorgeous i don't know if you'd call these samplers but pictorial images of course there's this beautiful sheep again i like sheep so it doesn't bother me when they pop up i do have of course the classic adam and eve sampler so this is a lovely book and i i think if you are interested in knowing a little more of the history of your works that you're doing might be fun to have it is embroidery colonial boston and it is by pamela a parmal and i'll i'll link that below if you're if you're interested and then the other one i have that i find fascinating is um connecticut needlework and i think i just looked at a pattern today with uh well i don't know if it was a bee skeep or a beehive but anyway just classic images some more clothing with cruel work i find the costuming of the day really interesting as well and i'd love to talk about that gorgeous so i guess you can see why i'm drawn to these dark colors um my antique samplers are um they're not super high end i do have one really nice one but they're you know they're 200 years old sometimes 100 years old they're old they are discolored they're they're dark um so i kind of want my new work to complement my my old collection and there's that alphabet here's another one i love love the house such a central theme and then um some stump work i think no not stump work um candlewicking sorry i find it all fascinating anyway i recommend this book as well this is produced by the connecticut historical society susan schulwere is the author it's a great book so recently i had the opportunity or the experience of going down to san diego to help my parents who um who are elderly and have had to move and i couldn't connect my phone to the wi-fi on the plane so i couldn't watch a movie it's only a two-hour flight from seattle i live in seattle washington and so i just really the only thing i didn't have a pen or a pencil i was in bad shape i was ill prepared it was kind of a last-minute trip and all i had all i could do was um type in notes on my phone and so i started typing notes just things thoughts i'm a list maker i make lists of things i need to do anyway so i was thinking about this stitch world that i'm involved in or that i'm a part of and i was thinking about my needle and how much a simple thing like a needle and thread has brought me so much comfort this year and i wonder i'm i'm sure if you're a needle worker you have these same thoughts and feelings that your needle is it's a comfort and so then i just started listing all the things that my knee the needle does for me and the needle calms me it's meditative it's almost like breathing if i'm having a bad day just doing a bit of needle work just really refocuses me it's a creative force for stimulating thoughts it inspires me it gives me a place to have a new beginning it also gives me a sense of completion when i complete a project it's a way of expressing myself and i and i really hung on that thought because i think these samplers were a way for these young people and older people who did beautiful stitchery it was a way to express yourself maybe pen and paper wasn't as available but you could express your thoughts and feelings with the needle and thread um it's a therapeutic tool a needle for me for sure and i don't mean i just mean stitching with the needle um it connects me to the past and it also gives me a voice for the future and i i'm trying to write down and document things that i uh that i'm thinking while i'm stitching or that or why i picked a certain project and what what's going on i'm hoping that it acknowledges my existence after i'm gone and so many of these samplers have messages on them about the the short the the timeless you know that life is short and we're not here that long um and they were very aware of that and uh i think sometimes you know i'm probably going to leave a lot of half finished projects behind but anyway and so it gives me hope and i i'm just so grateful really for this community um you know just being brave enough to get out there and put yourself on youtube and connect with people i did also come back from that trip to find a post um a post on the internet by from i believe need a work press it could have been someone else but i know she commented on it as well and uh she was talking about the festival of the broken needle and it's hari harikuyo it's a festival in japan and i believe it was on february 9th it was celebrated on february 9th it's a 400 year old tradition that pays homage to the humble needle and i thought you know the needle is humble but it's also hugely significant it was a way before mechanization to create clothing it was a way to express yourself as a way to produce beauty and so they put the broken needles and broken pins into a piece of tofu so that they can rest and and um and they are thanked for their service i thought it was charming and um very much bringing people back down to their roots and to the foundation of life um just a simple thing like a needle which in in early days was a necessity and i have done a tiny bit of research on needles and i do collect antique needle books and but not not i'm happy i'm hoping to show that to you at some point um but uh the very simple thing is also a huge necessity and for me right now during these times it's definitely a necessity but needles appear in ancient literature as one of the first tools possibly from things that i've read and i'm not i'm not an expert i'm just a novice uh just a self-learner and i love sharing it so in the 1600s they were made by blacksmiths and they were crude um they were pounded out of wire and then the eye of the needle was punched out and so it was very rough and i'm sure the threads broke like crazy they were treasured and very rare and according to what i read the the wire that was used to develop the the needles um in the 1600s was came from redditch england in 1639 now that's not the first needle that was ever used needles were made from yucca plants indigenous peoples all over the world have used bone um yucca plants spikes off of cactus and all kinds of things to make needles so there's a lot more there's a lot more to it but by the 18th century these wire needles in redditch were being produced at the rate of about a million a year which is for that time period that's a lot of needles um the colonies in america wanted to resist foreign goods to show their independence from foreign from needing to rely on foreign production and so in 1775 a gentleman named john white in salem massachusetts um he was bound for england oh i'm sorry he began um producing needles and by 1824 5 million needles were made by hand per week and 50 million oh okay so by 1824 the hand here needles in redditch were made at the rate of 5 million per week by 1847 john white in salem massachusetts was making 50 million needles per week because they were machined and this kind of the beginning of the industrial revolution in the united states and by the 1900s everyone had a needle they were a necessity now early on needles were rare and sometimes a community a small group of homes would share a needle they just weren't as pro plentiful anyway i thought that was interesting it made me again go back and appreciate the simple things and anyway thank you for joining me i hope to make progress on my samplers and i will continue to share videos with you of my progress just for my own documentation and also keeps me account it keeps me accountable and hopefully i'll share some uh history of notions and some of the things in my collection as well so anyway thank you for joining and take care be well and enjoy your stitching keep posting videos or enjoying videos all right

Channel: Susan Standley Stitch In Time

Views: 8,644

Rating: 4.9640179 out of 5

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Id: LyrlZZNROQg

Length: 36min 35sec (2195 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 20 2021