Now, sometimes I say I’m in, but I don’t really mean it. Like last year. I knew I didn’t have time, but I said I’d give it a shot, and I did so only half-heartedly. I set myself up for failure and succeeded in failing. (Way to go, me!) I didn’t even download a 2010 NaNo badge for the sidebar. The 2011 badge replaced a 2009 badge.

This year, I’m all in. I’ve told Mike I plan to participate. Last night, I made Salmon Nuggets for dinner and froze a second batch for a November meal. I’m going to make and freeze chili. I put lasagna noodles on the shopping list for next Thursday and will make two pans over the weekend. Do you know how many meals we get out of two pans of lasagna? I’m sewing holiday gifts this weekend. All this in preparation for NaNo.

As for what I will write, well, I have no idea, but that’s the way it’s supposed to be. I’ve never been so prepared as I am now, what with one meal in the freezer.

So, who else out there wants to give NaNo a go-go this year? What—are you afraid? Everybody’s doing it. Chicken, bwak-bawk-bawk!

All right, if you don’t want to write, will you stitch a bookmark? Harriet and I will accept any efforts to stitch bookmarks as acts of solidarity and support, and, believe me, we can use all the support we can get.

We will also gratefully accept casseroles and cookies if you care to deliver them to Alaska and Norway.

Who’s in?

Events are scheduled for major and minor league games across the country. Think: a big stitch-in at a baseball game. Check the schedule to see if there’s an event near you. You can purchase tickets through links on the Stitch N’ Pitch℠ site, or maybe a local shop or stitching group is selling tickets. Then pack up a portable needlework project and go out and enjoy the game with family, friends, and other stitchers.

Now, if there’s not an event planned in your area, you can host your own minor league event! They provide a pamphlet with tips and suggestions for hosting. We don’t have a minor league team in Alaska, but we do have the Alaska Baseball League. I wonder if Stitch N’ Pitch℠ would add an Alaskan event to their roster if I get my act together and organize one? I suspect they will.

Funk & Weber Designs and Needle and Thread: Stitching for Literacy now offer two baseball bookmark patterns, wonderfully portable and perfect for stitching in the stands. Play Ball! was just released during The Needlework Show. It uses a Charles Craft Bright Ideas bookmark form and DMC 6-strand embroidery floss.

The pattern offers ideas for personalizing your bookmark, such as using your team colors instead of the red and blue in the model, and swapping out the right-hand glove for a left-hand one, if your recipient is a leftie.

We’ve also just made the Going, Going, Gone! cross stitch bookmark design available as a downloadable pattern as well as a kit. It uses a Tokens & Trifles Trinkets Star stitching card, DMC, and Kreinik fibers.

If you’re giving your baseball bookmark to a young reader, why not present it in a book? We’ve assembled a list of fiction and nonfiction baseball titles for a wide range of ages here on the Stitching for Literacy site.

Happy stitching summer! Let’s all stitch in public—and at baseball games.

When I began the Needle and Thread: Stitching for Literacy program, I looked into the history of embroidered bookmarks and discovered they had a heyday in the mid-1800s in Victorian England. They were called “bookmarkers,” and it was trendy to stitch them on perforated paper or “punch paper” with holes punched by a mechanical press. Patterns were printed in popular ladies magazines of the time, like Godey’s Ladies Magazine and Peterson’s magazine.

Don has a number of antique perforated paper bookmarks in his collection. I find it amazing to think how old they are. In the one we see today, the pattern is printed on the paper, and the embroiderer stitched over the pattern. If you look closely, you can see the printed blue lines: the border around the edge and some lines peeking out from some of the letters.

Stamped embroidery. This remains a way we stitch today!

We can also still use perforated paper, although I’m not familiar with any stamped patterns on perf paper. Are you? I’m not sure if we have a wider variety of perf paper today or not. Wichelt Imports, Inc. offers an assortment of colors and patterns.

And Gayle at Accents, Inc. offers perforated paper pre-cut for bookmarks along with a protective vinyl sleeve and a card for backing.

We even have fancy die-cut shapes. Tokens & Trifles sewing cards are reinterpretations of Victorian perforated paper products. They come in a variety of shapes and sizes and are available through Kreinik Manufacturing Co., Inc.

We, Funk & Weber Designs, used the star card for the Going, Going, Gone! baseball bookmark pattern to celebrate the partnership between Needle and Thread: Stitching for Literacy and Stitch N’ Pitch, a program sponsored by The National NeedleArts Association.

The Going, Going, Gone! pattern was available only as a kit until last week. Now, the pattern is also available all by itself as a digital download.

Don points out a great article about the history of perforated paper needlework written by Diana Matthews and available on the Victoriana website. Check it out.

Do you stitch on perforated paper? I do, and I really like the paper look and feel. In a hundred years will another Diana Matthews write an article about the revival of perforated paper bookmarks in the early 2000s because of a program called Needle and Thread: Stitching for Literacy?

Edited for Shelly and others who want to figure out what Don’s bookmark says. It took me a while to get it. I’m putting the answer in white text under the image. When you’re ready to peek, highlight the space under the image to see the text.

Sweet Rest in Heaven

I’m going to take a stab at identifying how this bookmark was made, based solely on images I have from Don and my not-at-all-extensive embroidery knowledge.

For starters, I’m fairly certain the fabric is linen. The fiber is probably linen, too, or I suppose it could be cotton. White fiber on white fabric, or “Whitework,” encompasses many different techniques (reticello, schwalm, Hardanger, Hedebo, etc.) developed in many different places (Greece, Italy, Norway, Denmark, France, etc.).

Clearly, this is some form of cutwork: all the fibers in the circles have been removed, and the open areas are decorated with stitched fillings. Because the shapes are circles and because so much of the ground fabric remains, I’m going to call this Hedebo embroidery.

Hedebo was developed by Danish peasants in the middle of the 18th century. The name “Hedebo” is pronounced “HAY-the-bow” or “HAY-ta-bow” and means “Heather-born,” or people who live on the heath. As the Hedebo style developed, it was influenced by lacy reticello techniques.

This circle is edged with what is commonly called a buttonhole stitch. We’re not going to get into the buttonhole/blanket stitch debate right now. The Hedebo buttonhole—and I can’t tell if this actually uses an Hedebo buttonhole—is closer to a knotted buttonhole than the blanket stitch buttonhole.

See how short those buttonhole edge stitches are? I’m going to guess the fabric in the center of the circle was snipped into wedges and folded back before being stitched in place with the buttonhole and subsequently trimmed.

That’s unlike Hardanger where we stitch the buttonhole first and then remove the internal fibers, cutting them flush with the edge stitches. I have never come to thoroughly trust the security of Hardanger edges despite repeated assurances from those who know way-yonder more than I do. What can I say? I’m a skeptic. I can get on board the folding back of hems, though.

Once the circles are open, they are filled again with lacy designs. With the working thread, we “throw” some base stitches across the open space and then wrap, weave, loop, and knot the fiber to make all sorts of interesting patterns.

The edge is hemstitched.

Anyone want to try duplicating this or making a similar one? I do! Have any of you done Hedebo embroidery or seen other samples of it?

Thanks, Don, for sharing this with us. If you remember where or how you got this, please let us know.

My mom has a group of stitching friends that she has lunch with once or twice a month. Well, a few of them have been cleaning out their stash and passing it on to me. I have received frames, a lot of fabric pieces (which will be great for bookmarks), patterns, etc.

This case which opens on both sides is filled with all kinds of floss and beads. My head is spinning with ideas of what I can do with all of this. Also, in this case were three needlepoint squares. I finished them off and made them into bookmarks. Here is a picture to show you. Aren’t they cute?

They have given me so much stash that I have to share the wealth. I have a box ready to be mailed to a stitching friend. She’ll love it. I don’t think Mom’s friends are done cleaning out yet. My mother has also informed me that she is almost ready to clean out her stash as well. What am I going to do with it all? Any suggestions?

Jen chimes in:

What a haul! That’s some good stash.

I love getting stash surprises because they always include things I wouldn’t buy on my own, which presents the opportunity to create things I wouldn’t normally create. New-to-me stash also has a way of making me look at my old stash differently, inspiring new ideas and combinations.

Inherited stash challenges us to find ways to use it. I can imagine those orphaned needlepoint squares looking up hopefully at Mo asking, “All right, what can you do with us?” And now they are oh-so-proud bookmarks ready to serve a reader. What a great lonely-orphan-gets-adopted story!

Harriet has a wonderful story about trading unused stash with friends: Once upon a time, she received in a stash swap something she herself had off-loaded years earlier. No one had used it. This time, however, it spawned a Brilliant Idea, and Harriet put it to use at last.

Do you have a fun stash story?

This week’s bookmark is kindly shared by Lauren Roberts, Editor-in-Chief of BiblioBuffet, an extensive website on Writing Worth Reading, Reading Worth Writing About®. I love that tag line. I recommend making a cup of tea before visiting that link because it’s easy and fun to spend some time there.

I love this bookmark! It’s a brilliant design idea: the pair of mittens connected by a string. Did any of you have your mittens connected by a string threaded through the sleeves of your winter coat? I think the purpose was to keep the wearer from losing them. I didn’t have mittens on a string, but I’ve always thought it a great idea, and the design translates beautifully and creatively into a thong bookmark.

Another thing I especially like is the easy, elegant finishing. I’ve peppered Lauren with questions to work out how it was done. The mittens are made of two layers of silk, wrong sides together. The layers are not adhered together. The flowers on the front are painted, and then the edges of the fabric are blanket stitched with a pearl fiber, possibly silk. The fabric edges are not turned under and hemmed; those are raw edges beneath the blanket stitch. I would guess that the cord that connects the two mittens is twisted cord.

Here are some more details from Lauren:

The mittens are 1 1/4 inches across at the “wrist” end, and not quite two inches across at the widest point (including the thumb). They are 2 1/2 inches from top to bottom. The flower designs are painted on. The string connecting them (and that goes around the outside of each glove) appears to be and feels like silk too.

I believe it to be a nineteenth-century piece work. I had originally guessed that someone made these who was learning the yarn arts, but who really knows? They are simply beautiful. I bought this bookmark off eBay, where it was being marketed as a bookmark. I think I may have been the only bidder, but cannot be sure. If there were others, I certainly outbid them because I fell in love with them and was determined to pay whatever it took to win. I don’t remember what I did end up paying, but it was a very reasonable price. Obviously, they are one of a kind.

I think I like it so much because it is beautiful, because it is unique, and because it is a fabulous take on a “bookmark.” Who would think of a pair of mittens as a design for a bookmark? And the workmanship is exquisite. Someone with a lot of talent designed and made this, and I find that bookmarks of this kind are more interesting than mass-produced ones, even antique mass-produced ones. I’d never sell it!

Who else is inspired by this? Does it give you any ideas you care to share?

Now you know why I so enjoy the Bookmark Collectors’ Virtual Convention! Lauren is one of the organizers. The 2012 Convention is being planned now. I think those of us Stitching for Literacy should take pics of the bookmarks we’re stitching for the Bookmark Challenge to share at the 2012 Convention. Or maybe we should all stitch one-of-a-kind bookmarks for an embroidered-bookmark exhibit.

Throughout the year, we’re going to follow Super Mo as she does her modeling things, and during the Challenge, she’s going to share her thoughts on and efforts toward Family Reading and Stitching every Friday.

Madison Learning to Stitch

Today I’d like to share a few pictures of my daughter Madison learning to stitch. She is working on a bookmark from a pattern that was on Stitching for Literacy for last year’s Challenge. I thought it would be the perfect pattern for her to learn on. Progress has been slow but, she’ll get there, no doubt about that.

We also started a Mary Kirby pattern by Brightneedle. I am putting the story and patterns, after they are stitched, in a little book for her. I thought it would be fun for her to read it for years to come. The picture shows her progress on that as well.

As you can see we need to get to work on it. Summer is coming and this will keep her busy. Maybe she can finish them all. Is that too much pressure for a 7 year old?

Great question! (Jen butting in, by the way. That’s what that change of color means.) While we want to teach and encourage kids to stitch, I don’t think we want to put pressure on them to do it or like it. We want to provide exposure and opportunity with no strings attached–pun intended, of course. Some will take to it; some will not.

I would say it’s only too much pressure if Madison feels pressure or obligation to do it; i.e., to put in a certain amount of time (like thirty minutes of piano practice every day) or to complete the project. Making materials and instruction available to her, modeling how much pleasure embroidery gives you, and supporting and congratulating her efforts are healthy and wonderful things to offer.

If at some point she decides she doesn’t want to stitch (perish the thought!), we all need to be okay with that. Ultimately, she needs to find her own passions. No one will be passionate about embroidery, though, if s/he isn’t exposed to it and giving the opportunity to try it.

What do you think are some dos and don’ts of teaching kids to stitch?

Keep up with all of Super Mo’s stitchy adventures at Maureen’s Mountain of Stitching blog.

Two collectors have generously agreed to share images of their fabric and fiber bookmarks here during the Bookmark Challenge. We’ll look closely at the bookmarks to see how they’re made and try to identify materials, stitches, etc.—whatever we can from the photos. I hope we crafters and stitchers will get some new ideas and be inspired to create.

Our first bookmark in this series is from Don. You can see much of his collection on his donmervin Flickr pages.

I asked Don where he gets the bookmarks in his collection. He got them one-at-a-time from old bookstores that he frequented as he traveled throughout New England and the Mid-Atlantic states. He says, “Since I was early to bookmark collecting, some dealers saved them for me. I still have one here in Iowa City who is doing that. Of course I buy plenty of books from him too!” Antique shops are another place where Don’s found bookmarks for his collection, and a few have come from eBay.

This one is card stock on ribbon. The design was probably drawn or traced on the card, and then holes poked through the card along the design lines. I have the benefit of a larger image, and I don’t see a lot of paper slubs on the front side, so I’m guessing crafter poked through the paper from front to back before starting to stitch. (We talked about embroidering on paper here.)

The fiber looks like some sort of pearl to me, silk, rayon, or cotton, maybe. It’s highly twisted and seems to have a luster, even in the image. It’s either a double-running (Holbein) stitch or backstitch, but it looks mostly like double-running to me. When you backstitch, each stitch is isolated because it’s a little circle or loop unto itself. With a double-running stitch, there’s often overlap where two adjacent stitches meet. I see overlapping, so my guess is double-running stitch. (By the way, Marion Scoular has a way of doing the double-running stitch that eliminates this overlap. Her double-running stitches meet end-to-end. I learned it in one of her Hardanger classes.)

The backing looks like a silk or satin ribbon to me. I’m not sure I’ve ever backed a paper bookmark with ribbon, but I might in the future. These days, I see paper bookmarks in vinyl protectors or backed with another piece of card, fabric, felt, or Ultrasuede.

I especially like how the card is attached to the ribbon with smaller ribbons on the corners.

I present this bookmark first because I hope at least one of us will make one like it–not the bell design, necessarily, but the self-punched paper on ribbon. Who’s up for it?

Any other thoughts on how the bookmark might have been made or the materials that were used?

Did you know that the Color of the Year for 2011 is Pantone 18-2120 Honeysuckle? Pantone says, “A dynamic reddish pink, Honeysuckle is encouraging and uplifting . . . instilling the confidence, courage and spirit to meet the exhaustive challenges that have become part of everyday life.” Bring on the Honeysuckle! My computer’s color rendering is not perfect, and I don’t have access to Pantone’s precise colors, but I’m calling DMC 891 and 892 close enough. If the color of the year were beige or tan or brown, I’d ignore it, but I’ll embrace Honeysuckle.

I’m not a trend follower. That is, I don’t adjust my wardrobe or home decor or accessories to match seasonal trends. All right…all right…those of you who know me well can pick yourselves up off the floor now: that laugh-drool is not becoming. Ahem. As I was saying, I don’t follow trends. I do, however, love looking at and playing with different color combinations, and color forecasts, like paint-chip cards, are a good source of color inspiration.

Fire Mountain Gems & Beads has a nice page with past and present color forecasts. If you click around, you can find various color collections, like the one on the right-hand side of this page, showing a spring/summer 2011 color collection called “The Seducer.” How much do you think I love that one?

I think it’s fun to interpret the color collections in embroidery floss. One of the fall/winter 2011-12 collections is called “Technical Guide.” It’s my favorite of the three fall palettes shown here, and these are the DMC colors I’ve chosen to create my version of the collection (3804, 470, 726, 3837, 3812, 806). I admit it’s not much of a creative stretch for me; although, left to my own devices, I would have gone for a brighter blue and yellow.

My goal is to make a bookmark with these colors. Can I persuade you to do the same? Find a color palette you like, interpret it in embroidery floss, stitch up a bookmark, and share it with us here.

Who’s in?

I am waving my hand around madly … any more of you out there?

Have you ever had trouble trying to interpret diagrams in stitching charts? Or sat in a class wondering what on earth is wrong with your brain because everyone else is busily stitching away at a new stitch and you just can’t seem to make your stitches work?

Well, for those of you lefties who struggle with new stitches that were obviously charted for the right-handed majority … salvation is at hand! (oh dear … sorry about the pun!)

Yvette Stanton of Vetty Creations (another left-handed stitcher, and fellow Aussie) has written and published a wonderful left-handed stitch guide called ‘the left-handed embroiderer’s companion’. With over 170 embroidery stitches explained in ‘left-handed’ speak it is the best book purchase I have made in a long time!

If you head over to Yvette’s website here and click on ‘lefthanded’ on the top navigation bar, you’ll even be able to flick through several pages of her book to see how amazing it is. Full of wonderful diagrams and photo examples of stitches, Yvette gently and efficiently guides even the most challenged left-handed stitcher through both easy and complicated embroidery stitches.

Now, I know all of you right-handed embroiderer’s are now starting to feel a bit left out. Well don’t feel down, because Yvette has thought about you too! Due to the success of her left-handed stitch guide, and the constant nagging of right-handed stitchers for their own version of this wonderful publication, Yvette has also published the ‘right-handed embroiderer’s companion’.

When I teach class I bring these treasures with me. I am now able to show stitchers, whether they be left or right-handed exactly how to execute the perfect stitch.

You don’t have to be a teacher to enjoy these books. You just have to be a stitcher!