Plaid & blackwork checkbook cover: Marjorie B. Berleur, designer

This morning, I am feeling like a "Queen" with my new checkbook cover. It makes such a big difference with the plastic one I have been using so far.

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First photo, above, shows the front of the checkbook cover.


On this second photo, above, we see the back of the checkbook cover with all its beautiful blackwork patterns.

This is an additional photo taken with the new checkbook cover inside its plastic cover. I was reading in Marjorie's instructions that this could also be used with a two-year planner, which is also an excellent idea. In my case I only use the big 8½ x 11 weekly planning At-a-Glance ones. I just love them and have been using them forever. I just leave it on my desk and refer to it daily.

This last photo here was taken just after cutting the fabric around the checkbook cover.

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I also have the lovely credit card holder that I made a little while back. Here is the link for it. I still have the checkbook with same bargello design that remains to be stitched a bit later.

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Pierrette =^..^=

Plaid & blackwork checkbook cover: All stitched

Just finished adding my initials to my checkbook cover. Will now do the finishing and will soon be back with the last photos of this project.
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Pierrette =^..^=

Plaid & blackwork checkbook cover: Plaid all done

Moving along with my checkbook cover as I have just completed the plaid section. All that remains to be done now is work blanket stitches all around to prevent it from fraying as we sure don't want that to happen anytime soon and add my initials. Still need to decide on a design for those.
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On another note, the other day I saw something pretty cute on a blog that I was visiting. Vintage photographs about Pierrot & Pierrette. There is an article about those two here if you want to know a little bit more about them.
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Pierrette =^..^=

Plaid & blackwork checkbook cover: Plaid step 2

Well, I just did it again. Yesterday I was talking about all this catching up I have to do with Persian Fantasy before I could go back to my other projects and this morning I could not resist anymore, I just had to go back to my rotation so I put Persian Fantasy aside for just a little while, not for long, and got my plaid & blackwork checkbook cover out and started working step 2 for the plaid section.

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Photo above shows what has been done so far on it. The bottom section on the left has the plaid motif completed. I am moving from left to right, so have done a little less than half of it.

This second photo is a close-up showing only the plaid section. I must say that this second step is much more fun to do than step one as you can see the plaid materialize under your eyes as you keep adding rows after rows of different thread colors.

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To recapitulate on this plaid a bit, what I first did are rows after rows horizontally, making one 1/2 stitch in every other stitch and I am now doing the same thing but with vertical rows, using the same 4 selected colors. Sizes of rows varies as you can see but replicate themselves at certain intervals.

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The colors that I am using are all DMC floss threads: 224, 504, 932 and 3041.
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I have just installed and tried a new Google feature called "Search this blog". It is situated on the right upper side of my blog. For example if you are interested in looking at previous entries that I have made about this checkbook cover, you may enter in the "Search this blog" the word Blackwork and you will get the following results: April 09/09, April 23/09 and also May 02/09 with titles relating to Plaid & blackwork checkbook cover. All you have to do is click on them and you can read all about this particular project. You may be able to find it using other words too but have not tried it yet. That is pretty neat, I think.

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About rotation, I find it so interesting that I used to work on one single project at a time and now I just can't do it anymore no matter how much I love a project. This girl needs variety so I will also bring Hollyhock House back and start working a little bit on it. I know that Anne will be happy about this as it is one of her favorite current project of mine. I also enjoy it very much.

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I figure these projects will all get done in the end, so who really cares if I don't finish any of them by the official deadline. Not very important in the grand scheme of things, that is what I think :-)

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Pierrette =^..^=

Checkbook cover: Plaid first step completed

Oh boy, do I need a break from this plaid as I feel all dizzy and am now cross-eyed, not a good feeling nor a pretty sight :-(
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I have just completed the first step for the plaid with multiple horizontal rows of stitches of different colors working one stich in every other stitch. To make this worst, I had to use 3 strands of floss and use my laying tool for each one of them. It does take a lot of time to fill that space.
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The next step will be adding rows and rows of vertical ones using the same four color threads, filling in the empty spaces created while stitching my horizontal rows.

This is a close-up view. Don't you agree that this is dizzying?
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I will give this project a break or rather give myself a break and will work on something else at least for a few days before going back to it.
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Pierrette =^..^=

Plaid & Blackwork Checkbook cover: All Blackwork patterns completed

This morning I have picked up where I had left off on my "Plaid and Blackwork Checkbook cover", a Marjorie B. Berleur design, and completed the remaining Blackwork designs.

I will now start working on the "plaid" part of it, using some DMC floss threads in blue, lavender, green and peach (color used for the blackwork and borders).

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I have been wanting to stitch some plaid for sometimes now, but somehow never got around to it before today.

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Be back soon :-)

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Pierrette =^..^=

Plaid & blackwork checkbook cover: 2 Blackwork patterns stitched

A few weeks ago I have started working on a checkbook cover. You can see the outline here on this post.
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This checkbook designed by Marjorie B. Berleur contains both Blackwork and Needlepoint elements. Since I have been doing a lot of needlepoint projects recently, I have decided to start with the Blackwork patterns and here are the first two.


This photo shows gives you a general idea of what has been stitched so far.
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Some of you may laugh at this, but before I started looking for some Aida fabric for this project, I had no idea that Aida came in different count sizes. After my initial surprise at this, I started wondering why I had come to that conclusion as it does make sense that it does just like any other fabric.
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I so do enjoy stitching Blackwork so am enjoying myself with this one and just at the thought that I will end up with a beautiful checkbook cover instead of those plastic ones that the banks provide us with is a sure incentive for me to want to finish this project as soon as possible.
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Pierrette =^..^=

Plaid & blackwork checkbook cover: Marjorie B. Berleur, designer

This is a project that I have been wanting to start stitching for a little while now, well ever since a friend showed it to me. She has made a few for herself in different colors and graciously offered it to me and I can't thank her enough for doing so. I am pleased to no end to have the opportunity to stitch this.
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When I saw the stitched design, I knew it would be perfect for me for a few reasons. First, the overall design is just beautiful. Second, there are blackwork patterns in it and I love doing blackwork. Third and not last, I have always wanted to stitch plaid and up to now never had the opportunity, so finally I will be stitching some .............. and I want to have a nice checkbook cover for a change instead of those cheap plastic ones that the bank gives you.
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This is a beautiful design by Marjorie B. Berleur. The front of the checkbook cover (bottom part) is a plaid using 4 different colors and the back (upper part) is composed of 5 different blackwork designs.
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The first thing I had to stitch on this project are all the outlines. For this I have used a DMC Perle cotton #12 in one of my very favorite shade of pink called Shell Pink. I have never thought of myself as being a pink lover but if I look back at my latest projects, there has been lots of pink in them. I love it when a project has more than one stitching technique. I think it makes it so much more interesting.
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I always say that I love all colors but not all shades, but I sure love that shade of pink so that will be a real pleasure for me to stitch it.
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The first photo above shows you a close-up of all the little Smyrna stars all around it and also to separate the different pattern areas.


I have taken this photo above so that you can see the entire checkbook areas. The little rectangle at the bottom is for my initials.

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Unfortunately I will have to put it aside for a few days while I do a bit more on Superstition and also on Hollyhock House.

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Projects are just piling up for me these days so I took some time last evening to write myself some kind of schedule for them, which I will probably not follow knowing myself, but at least I am hoping that it will serve as some kind of guidance for all the stitching I need to do.

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See you all very soon :-)
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Pierrette =^..^=