Life, needlework and everything

Christmas Recovery

2011-12-27T15:36:00.002-05:00

It has been an exciting month and I finally have a chance to breath! My courses for the fall are done (2 exams and 2 papers due early in December), work finished for the month, kids finished university and high school, and then all the cleaning and cooking. But now the company has headed home, and the DH and DDs are doing the airport run and then off spending gift certificates, so I am home alone. My only responsibility is the laundry, which leaves me time to clean out my embroidery area. I've been working on a few projects, but not cleaning up afterwards so I have a huge pile to organize back into thread keepers and boxes.

The biggest excitement is one of my gifts from my husband - The Cabinet of Curiosities Course!!!

Like Tricia, I have always wanted to make my own, with stumpwork, so I can't wait to take the course, and then the second one as well with the stumpwork. As soon as Tricia announced the course I told my husband it was all I wanted for all present giving events for the next 18 months, but then he got me other things anyway. Two really neat fabric related things are a Harris Tweed book, everything from the sheep to the fashions, and a Harris Tweed purse to go with it. I feel quite lucky to be so indulged.

Part of my busy December was finishing this pillow as a gift for my mother in law. I took a Fabulous Fillings course with Joyce Lukomski back in October at our regional EGA meeting and used her filling designs to create this wavy pillow. I used Planet Earth Fiber Silk for most of the purples, yellows, and greens, and Opal for the dark gold, plus some Kreinik braid in purple and gold and Rainbow Gallery Silk Lame Braid in dark green. It was great fun and I finished with a backing of purple silk duponi. I'm really happy with the way this turned out.

I've managed a couple of smaller things that will eventually reside in my 'Cabinet'. I finished the Tulip Slip from Needlework Nibbles (please excuse the orientation of the photo but the new Blogger won't let me fix it). I love the Grecian braid used for the finishing and the silk velvet is wonderful to work with.

This pinkeep is from a kit by The Posy Collection. The silver ring and chain were a silver anniversary gift from my husband. Both were purchased in Colonial Williamsburg back in August when we went for our anniversary.

I have until January 9, when I start 3 new classes online, to get my workspace in order and get projects ready to go. I found an excellent Jane Austen knitting magazine with a couple of scarf patterns I want to try, and I'm thinking of a small embroidered purse to hold my phone when I'm at work and don't have pockets in my clothing. I think a sweetbag design with a long strap would be very functional and decorative and if I don't make it too flashy, it should go with anything. I knit my daughter a small purse out of a specialty yarn years ago and that would also work, so I'll have to think a little further on that one. I just want something small for keys and a phone so when I have to go to another building or even to the ladies' room, I'm not holding my cell phone (it is the emergency phone number for the high school so I hate to go around without it). And of course, we will continue to work on the coif!

I'm not sure how much I will be able to post once classes start, but this term finishes in March so I'll be able to catch up then, just like now. The 'Cabinet' course will start in May and luckily the first few months will be spend studying the history of caskets and their design, so I will be able to easily catch up when I'm finally done all my certificate work in August. I can't wait to make my own box!

Anniversary quilt and coif update

2011-11-22T17:47:00.006-05:00

I received a wonderful surprise in the mail today. A quilt made by my SIL as a 25th anniversary gift for my husband and I. As you can see it is absolutely lovely, and she made it especially with 25 blocks. Cynthia is an incredible quilter and sewer - you can see her work on her blog: Kryotime BTW, if I remember correctly, the name of her blog relates to one of her other pastimes, drag racing.

I've been incredibly busy with homework for 3 courses of an online graduate certificate course, so I've been forgetting to take photos and blog, although I've made sure to have a little time each week for stitching. I did manage to forget to take a good photo of the coif after some goldwork was added, so I just have the cell phone photo below. The in-progress coif is on display at Agecroft Hall as part of an embroidery exhibit, "Woven into English Society: Textile and Embroidery from the 16th and 17th Centuries". If you are anywhere near Richmond, VA, be sure to stop by and see the exhibit and Agecroft Hall. We will probably retrieve the coif in January to finish it off, which is actually hard to believe since it seemed like it would be forever to finish when we started.

It is really amazing watching the coif progress. First the fun of seeing all the colours come together as the flowers are finished, and then the excitement of adding the gold. I really can't wait to see the whole thing finished. It should be beautiful.

Wonderful Surprise - A Winterthur Gallery Guide

2011-09-17T11:49:00.002-04:00

I've been reading Tricia's blogs about the Winterthur exhibit and while there was no way I could get to the seminar, I'm making plans to get up for the exhibit. In the meantime, I had a great surprise yesterday when the lovely, little gallery guide came in the mail. It is a small 5.5 x 8.5 booklet with nice heavy paper and wonderful colour illustrations of pieces in the exhibit. The cover is the Plimoth Jacket. It was sent out to all those who sent in donations. Thank you Winterthur! Now I really must get there.

What a Difference a Year Makes!

2011-09-09T12:49:00.002-04:00

Sometimes you have to go back and compare to see how far you have come. So I thought I would show you the coif back in late August 2010 and today. Even though we still have a way to go, it is good to see how much has been done, just by passing the coif around to interested group members. Dare I say - the end is in sight?

Summer Projects.

2011-08-03T19:46:00.005-04:00

The addition of a horse to our family has changed my schedule quite a bit. Instead of going to the stables once a week for lessons and maybe a second time to excercise a horse for somebody, we are there 6 or 7 days a week for lessons, riding and work ( to help with the costs of board). I'm gradually getting used to the new schedule - I have been able to read a book I have to review as I was sitting around for the last week - but it is still hard to feel up to stitching in the evening when it is so hot and humid here, even with air conditioning! But I've managed to get some time to work on things this summer and the Pamela Darney sampler I started in my previous post is now done, including the framing. It is a birthday/anniversary sampler for my husband and I.

I purchased the canvas for this bookmark at The Stitching Studio, a new shop in town, and the only LNS nearby. The owner is in my EGA group and she is very nice and helpful. I actually went in because there was a Facebook post that they were going to carry Gloriana silks, but they weren't in yet. Instead, I encountered the new canvas work! Just like with cross-stitch, things have changed since I started stitching as a child ( of course it has been 40 years, what was I thinking).
Anyway, there were so many beautiful canvases and threads it was hard to decide. What I finally decided on was a bookmark, I think a Whimsy & Grace painted canvas but I've cut off the name. Don't blame the designers for the colours though because I saw a new cotton floss, at least new to me, in overdyed colours that I had to try. I used Sullivans floss, which has comparable DMC numbers right on the label. What is really fun is the overdyed colours have fun names like Blazing Bonfire (the orange flower to the right) or Rainbow Sherbert (the orange and pink flower to the left). Sorry, I can't resist a good name or a romantic classical music CD cover (not always a good idea with music, but you can see the colour so that is okay). The Sullivans floss seems a bit rougher than DMC floss, which isn't really a problem on canvas or aida cloth, but it could be an issue on fine linens. But there is a huge array of colours so it is worth a try if you see some. This isn't really a finish yet, because I need to put on the backing, but in this heat, the thought of the iron is too much for me.

My final project for July is the latest Needlework Nibble from Thistle Threads. This Tulip Slip was lovely to work and went much faster than I expected. Of course, now I have to cut it out and mount it on the silk velvet, but at least I've done this much.

The coif project for Agecroft Hall is moving ahead. Check out the Gentle Pursuits blog for our visit to Agecroft Hall with the coif. There will be an embroidery exhibit at Agecroft Hall in the fall to coincide with the Mid-Atlantic Region EGA meeting being held in Richmond in October. The coif and some of the practice motifs will be on display. More on that as soon as I know the dates. There is also a lovely sweet bag made by Catherine Jordan, and a blackwork handkerchief by Jean Connelley that will be donated to Agecroft Hall for their interpreters. The Director joked that he would need to have a special dress made to go with the coif. It is so great that they appreciate what out group is doing.

Measure twice, cut (or stitch) once

2011-05-04T15:38:00.003-04:00

I wanted to finish at least one of the things I worked on last month, so today I sewed up an ornament for DD the younger.

I had DD the elder draw our new horse on some fabric, and then I did some thread painting to fill in. As usual, I forgot to take a photo of just the drawing, but from this you can see it was good, and any issues with the finished product are because of my stitching skills.
So this is where the measure twice part comes in. My EGA chapter had a class with Pamela Darney (see here for the class write up and below for my work on the sampler) and she gave us graph paper and alphabets and told us to be sure and graph our names before adding them to the sampler. We discussed changing size of letters and space in between and abbreviations and such, and we all went away with a firm resolve to count things out. Well, when I went to do the name on linen for the back of the ornament, I didn't bother to check the linen count or the number of stitches. So of course things were too big for the square form I was using for the ornament, not once, but twice! I did finally get it right though.

And here is the finished ornament, with Jasmine in all her gray paint horse glory.

As for the Pamela Darney sampler, here is my start (and her web site).
I really had a good time in the class, and I must admit to being in love with Quaker sampler motifs now. I haven't done much sampler work recently but I did quite a few reproductions over 20 years ago and haven't really gone back. I've always admired the Quaker samplers and smalls done by my EGA chapter members, but have somehow resisted doing to much until now. But after devouring a table of Pamela's samplers, I must do some more. And after dealing with the coif on a very large frame, a bit of linen in hand is really relaxing!

Spring Break 2011

2011-04-26T14:56:00.005-04:00

While I did do some stitching over spring break, I thought I'd post a few photos of other things first, since it was an exciting time all around.

First we went to Cocoa Beach - we love beaches. It is a nice beach and generally not too crowded and has the advantage of being near Kennedy Space Center, which my DH loves. We had hoped to see a shuttle launch, but the launch was rescheduled and you can't change spring break at school. So here is the lovely beach.

And here is a sea turtle we rescued! It was floundering in the surf and I realized it wasn't well. We were able to contact the local sea turtle rescue group and they came to pick her up. I hope she is doing well now with expert care.
Then it was on to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Islands of Adventure in Orlando. We stopped doing theme parks back when the girls were in elementary school, but we knew we had to see Hogwarts and Hogsmead. It was worth the crowds and heat to go on the rides and see how well the village and school have been set up.

Inside the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom there are lots of cool things. In fact all the rooms you walk through to get to the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride are wonderful. Dawn French does a bit as the Fat Lady portrait as well.
Night time is a great time to see the village.
And meals at the Three Broomsticks are okay but fun for the atmosphere.
All in all a great trip and we have plans to go in a few years when they expand the Harry Potter area of the park.

Not your grandmother's crochet

2011-04-02T18:35:00.003-04:00

I have been working on the coif recently, and when the next flower is done, I'll post the progress. I've also been doing a bit of crochet. I've had to adjust the pattern because I used a different weight of yarn - the pattern called for mohair and I didn't think that would be a serviceable material for this:

It is a fly bonnet for my DD the younger's new horse, Jasmine. It isn't just for decoration, as my DH originally thought, it keeps bugs out of her ears and the tassels keep bugs out of her eyes. It is used mainly in the summer when the bugs are bad. I may have to try another in a thinner cotton to see if I can get the pattern to work properly.

Send a heart

2011-03-01T14:49:00.001-05:00

Hearts for Christchurch is organizing the donation of stitched hearts from around the world to show concern for the people of Christchurch.

Lion Roundel final steps to FINISH

2011-02-26T18:24:00.006-05:00

So last week I was so busy stitching in the evening, so all my stitching is in one big blog post.
Here is the sun, made with gilt strip and crinkle gilt strip with an outline of gilt 1 1/2 twist, all couched down with TIRE silk.

The grass is Soie Ovale stitched over a large paperclip. In the historical pieces and the sample from Tricia, they cut the loops to form a fuzzy surface - much easier than Turkey work but very susceptible to pulling. One of Tricia's hints was to wait until all the stitching was done before cutting. But when I had it all done, I was rather fond of the looped look. I'm also not sure of my ability to cut the loops evenly. So I'm leaving my grass as loops. Maybe I'll try the cutting on a smaller area some day.

So, here are the sun and clouds and grass all done.

Next up, the mane and tail. Tricia used a combination of purl left as is and pulled, and twisted silk gimp. As I've mentioned, I love the silk gimp, but the purl curls made me think of the Cowardly Lion after his makeover in the Emerald City, so I started thinking of something different. I looked through all my books to see how the various manes looked and then I though of a technique used for the mermaid. We threaded Soie Ovale through purl, then pulled the purl, then twisted to purls together to mix the colours. You can see this in the rock below.

So I twisted various colours of brown purls threaded with various colours of brown silk and then couched it down with light brown Soie Ovale. I am very pleased with how it looks. I added ears done in detatched buttonhole on wire so I could shape them. DD the younger says they look like rabbit ears, but I think she is trying to push my buttons.

The face came next and then the covered parchment around the lion. I spent time watching football and hockey twisting 3 shades of Soie Ovale and one shade of purl around 1/8 in by 5 in strips of parchment. You can see the face and roundel below.

The final step was adding spangles at the corners. I think it is very interesting how a few little spangles can really finish a project. The top photo below is a plain corner, the bottom has spangles. I makes a difference.

Framing is a bit of an issue. I didn't use glass on the mermaid, but with the parchment and purl mane, I really felt this one needed glass. I found a memory box type of frame, with a front that opens, but the 5x7 frame was deep and dark inside so it didn't seem like the best thing. So I picked up an 8x10. I'm not sure about the amount of space around the embroidery, so this may change. There is some glare, but you get the idea.

Here is the close up, no glass in the way. I'm pleased with my final product, even if the lion is neither scary or fierce looking.

Florettes and Cloud 1 for Lion

2011-02-19T19:56:00.003-05:00

I've been having some very productive evenings this week. I've been watching episodes of Last Chance to See, on DVD, with Stephen Fry following in Douglas Adams footsteps to view endangered species. And stitching at the same time. I have thoroughly enjoyed myself. I did the florettes in the 4 corners of the piece using purl cut in small pieces and looped into petals. It is fun and looks really neat.

Then I went on to couch down blue gimp and blue and cream gylt silk twist to form clouds. The threads are couched down with Tire silk, which is a nice shiny gold silk.

So this is how it looks so far.

Lion progress

2011-02-15T12:51:00.002-05:00

I have not been able to do much stitching because of a stye in one eye that has finally cleared up. There is nothing more frustrating that being home from work but not feeling well enough to stitch. My lion is slowly progressing though. I've been working with a new stand lately - an F.A. Edmunds Adjustable Craft Floor Stand. I purchased the stand at a Hobby Lobby opening sale because I needed some help managing the coif frame. Well, it is okay for the coif frame, it does help hold it steady, but for something that big, you really need the two legs slate frames normally have. On the other hand, the small scroll frame I have the Lion Roundel in fits the stand very well and really helps. There are mixed reviews for the stand on Amazon, but for the right project, it is very good.

So here is the lion's body with all the silk gimp couched down. I must say again, I love working with silk and I love the silk gimp. It is worth getting some and trying it out.

Here I've done detatched buttonhole for the lion's face. Tricia used the Soie Ovale to do a satin stitch face, but one of her personalizing suggestions was detatched buttonhole. I've been doing lots lately because of the coif so I thought I'd make less of a mess this way - since I tend to snag Soie Ovale constantly and I just happened to have the right colour of Soie Perlee. The corner florettes are couched gilt 1 1/2 twist - I've sunk the gilt but haven't pulled back the tire silk ends to catch the gilt ends.

I wanted to mention a couple of my Valentine's gifts because they are very special. First DD the younger made me two watches with beaded straps. I think I may be getting her to make more so I have lots of wardrobe options.

The other gift is chocolate and coffee from Full Circle Exchange which is a group that supports CARE and other groups. I received the Name Your Love CARE chocolate that allows you to put your own message on a box of really good chocolate, plus the coffee and chocolate send money to CARE as part of the Wake Up To Justice project. I hadn't realized it, but CARE is focusing on girls and women because they have found that the best way to help a village is to take care of the girls and women, isn't that wonderful.

New Family Toy

2011-02-09T20:27:00.002-05:00

While in Williamsburg last week, there was talk of tools as well as fiber. One woman had a pair of magnifying glasses with lights at the temples that everyone was interested in. The other day while I was in the drug store, lo and behold, there they were. Foster Grants at that. I was laughed at by DD the younger when I wore them the other night, but last night the power went out and suddenly she wanted my glasses, as did her sister. And when DH saw them, well of course, there are several steps in violin making where he could use them. I may be going back to get a couple of more pairs.

The nice thing is, the light is at the white end of the spectrum so the colours look very good. The top photo is the light from the camera and the lower photo is just the light from the glasses. I'm very happy with my new tool.

BTW that is a Betsy Morgan needle roll sewing kit I did a few years ago.

Metal Stitches for the Glittering Floral Lattice

2011-02-04T19:01:00.003-05:00

The silks I picked up yesterday. No plans, just like the colours.

Except for some basic instruction from my mother early on, I have spent most of my life learning stitches and techniques from a book and a couple of Erica Wilson videos. So it should be no surprise that my stumpwork class in 2006 was a revelation and my technique improved dramatically. And going to work on the Plimoth Jacket did wonders for my detatched buttonhole stitch. All the classes I've taken with my EGA chapter have helped as well, and now I have a new respect respect for blackwork and metal stitching.

The blackwork class was a chapter program tied to Agecroft Hall - we are now working on a couple of blackwork edged handkerchiefs. You can see the class photos here. I had tried following instructions in the past, and some of it looks like it should be easy, but I never could get it right. Jean made things very easy so now I'm ready to work on a handkerchief.

Today's Glittering Floral Lattice class was the same. I've tried a couple of the stitches from diagrams in a stitch encyclopedia, and it was never quite right. But today, with lots of explanations and hints and Tricia's great diagrams, I think I got most of them. The big part of this kit is the two very large spools of real silver and gold thread. I've been practicing with faux silver, but I did try some of the gold and it is wonderful. The two boxes of Grecian twist and the yard of gold lace ribbon are extra purchases that will frame my work when I'm finally done.

So here are my stitch trials. I used a .o5 micron marker to label the stitches because I'm not likely to remember the look without a label. As the day went on my stitching got better. Just like everything else - practice, practice, practice.

Here is Tricia's almost finished sample for the class. I've just realized the photo is upside down but being a basically lazy person, I can't be bothered to rotate it since I don't think Blogger will let me do it in the post. I'm sure you can see it is lovely.

Tricia gave us lots of hints for combining gold and silver or different sizes of gold or adding coloured silks. She also suggested doing the motifs (which aren't that large) as scissor fobs or other smalls. I'm thinking of a small box with a motif on each side. I've been contemplating making a box for a while now and testing different techniques would be perfect. Don't hold your breath though. What with the coif and a second one to start and handkerchiefs and life in general, I'm not sure when I'll get there.

Stumpwork Lion Roundel Class

2011-02-03T18:44:00.007-05:00

It was great to see so many familiar faces in class today as we listened to Tricia explain the new threads and stitches we needed for the stumpwork lion and the surrounding roundel. As always, the kit is like Christmas all over again, and the slides of pieces in various collections are inspiring.

It was also fun to hear all the stories of the Jacket Trip. I would be extremely envious since I really wanted to go but it was a bad time of year and I don't think my DH wanted me going to England without him; but since I didn't go, I was able to go to Italy with DH when he was invited to speak at a meeting Sicily held at the same time, and it was an exceptionally wonderful trip, so I'm not that envious. As it was, Tricia had lots of slides from the pieces they saw on the trip. Be on the lookout for a possible kit from Thistle Threads to support the V&A Museum textile collection, just like the snail from the glove in the Bath Costume Museum.

So here is a view of the kit from today. The square cream coloured paper is actually parchment! Real parchment! It turns out the roundels on stumpwork or on framed pieces are strips of parchment wrapped with silk or silk purl ( have I said before how I love that the purl coils seem alive - they really are neat and I have 8 boxes of various colours!)

As well as brown colours of purl, the other new thread is the silk gimp - the tan in the top of the photo below. It is a silk core wrapped tightly with silk and so it is heavy enough to be couched with rather than stitched. Tricia made some for the mermaid project last year, but this year it is actually in production and should be for sale soon. Get some if you can!!!

The gold is crinkle gilt strip that is used for the sun's rays and there is flat gilt strip for the sun itself. So much fun.
I went to Haus Tirol - The Stitching Well (see info below since they don't seem to have a web site) at lunch to get stitching frame since I forgot mine and I need it for tomorrow's and just happened to look around at the threads they had and while I did get some silk threads (how could I not) none had the heft of the silk gimp. It is really excellent for a nice couched border or for couched fill, as you will see with the lion.
BTW: the ladies at Haus Tirol are wonderful and they have a great stock of patterns and threads and so many colours of fabric I nearly swooned. Be sure to check out the shop if you are near the area - especially if you visit to see the costume exhibit that I'll report on when I visit on Saturday.

Here is Tricia's model for the class. As you can see, I have a long way to go since I've only put down some felt padding, done a tiny bit of outline, and started the grass (with a neat technique that involves a large paper clip).
I was reading Spinster Stitcher today and she mentioned a designer, Orna Willis, who encourages students to change and rethink her designs. Well, Tricia encourages us to try new things as we create her designs as well. We looked at at least a dozen lion heads in embroidery today and each time she said we could try it that way. The mane and face are going to be fun.

Haus Tirol: the Stitching Well: 1915 Pocahontas Trail Suite E6, Williamsburg, VA 23185. The winter hours are 10AM to 4:30PM Monday through Saturday, during the summer they may stay open a little later. The phone number is 757-220-0313 and the e-mail address is haustirolstitchingwell@verizon.net

Getting Ready for Fun!

2011-02-02T22:10:00.003-05:00

So, here I am, sitting in a lovely hotel room in Williamsburg, VA, getting ready to start stitching tomorrow. This trip is one of my big gifts from my DH at Christmas. (the other an amazing giclee of Jane Goodall in Gombe that is being framed). I don't know if all the participants will make it through the snow, but Tricia Wilson Nguyen, the instructor, came down from Boston by train yesterday to be sure we could have the class.
I'm very sorry for those of you trapped in the storm (having been through many while I lived in London, Ontario, Canada) but I'm very glad I live in Virginia now where it was 67 degrees while I walked the dog today.

Anyway, a coif update before I get wrapped up in the new projects I'll get over the next couple of days.
Some leaves for the coif. There are 3 shapes that will be two tone, the rest will be one colour. I'm not sure if we should actually assign colours for the solid leaves or let people choose, we'll have to see how things look. Maybe if there are 3 close colours it would work.

And this bud will be on either side of the mystery flower.

So here it is so far. It is really quite wonderful how every flower or leaf changes the piece. Can't wait for the gold!

P.S. I've been experimenting with my cameras to see what combination of zoom, etc. gives the best photo. Unfortunately, I've neglected to write down what I'm doing so I have no idea what is the best way to take the photos. I think that may need to be a priority soon.

Colonial Williamsburg costumes online

2011-01-26T17:23:00.002-05:00

Just a quick note to let everyone know they can see some great photos of clothing from the Colonial Williamsburg collection online now.

What's even better, there is going to be an online exhibit of their reproduction clothing as well.

I am very pleased that I decided to add an extra day to my Williamsburg visit next week. I haven't had a good look at the Colonial Williamsburg textile collection in a while!

Coif progress and travels

2011-01-11T14:03:00.003-05:00

This is the latest coif photo - as of January 10, 2011. I'm working on stitching the motifs that don't have instruction sheets yet. I've been alternating between writing about the coif here and on the Gentle Pursuits blog, but since I just posted there about our upcoming events, I thought I'd cover the coif here - just to keep you all on your toes.

So here is the borage. I started doing this flower in a very dark blue - scroll down on this post to see what we had decided on. A strange thing happened as I started stitching the dark blue on the coif. It looked awful! So I hunted around and found an Embroidery Motif wiki with just what I needed. It was created by a couple of bloggers I follow - quite a coincidence! It was a great help and I was able to find a really nice borage. However there are only 2 whole ones on the coif, so only one other person will have the fun of stitching a whole one.

The Mystery flower also needed to be stitched. I've done this one several times, so it was easy.
The pomegranate is not complete, but the rest of the filling and the bits at the top will be gold, so this is it so far.
Finally, the carnation. This was another problem. When the silks came, the new dye lot of the pink was totally different than what I had practiced with, but I thought I'd just work with it, since there was no way of knowing if I could get the old dye lot. I was also unhappy with the large block of solid colour in the center section, and since most of the motif photos showed a colour change I decided to do that. I couldn't find any two pinks in the selection I had that worked together well and so I used a mid-range pink and white.
When I first looked at this I thought it was too bold or something. But strangely, as I've been stitching the motifs around it, it is looking more like it belongs. There are only two other whole carnations on the coif, so I think it will be fine. But I'm stitching a few other things around it, including some leaves, just to be sure.

Speaking of stitching, do you want a chance to work on the coif? I'm going to be in Williamsburg, VA for A Gathering of Embroiderers from the evening of Feb. 2 to Feb. 5. I'll have the coif there if you are going to be there for classes or if you live nearby and want to stitch. There are lots of leaves and buds that won't take too long if you want to sit and stitch for a while.

I can't believe how fast the summer went - and the fall!

2010-10-17T18:05:00.002-04:00

Now that the DDs are old enough to be home alone during the day, I spent much of the summer working. But I also had family trips to Canada and West Virginia to fit in. And a wonderful visit with some old friends. Needless to say, that left little time for stitching. But, I did end up doing a piece that will be coming up in an issue of NeedleArts as a companion project to an article on our chapter coif project and an article on the embroidery in the Agecroft Hall collection. This is the mystery flower (shown back in March when I was testing colours). I still don't know what the flower is, but here it is stitched up using Gylt Silk Twist. Lots of fun.

The coif has been with a couple of other chapter members since June, but I will get it back this week to work up the motifs that have no instructions yet. That will be a fun project.

I've also just received confirmation that I will be in two fun classes at The Gathering of Embroiderers in February. I will be taking the two classes given by Tricia Wilson Nguyen - the lion and the floral lattice - the top two classes on this page. Just in time for working on the goldwork in the coif!

Notebook cover challenge

2010-07-02T13:06:00.003-04:00

Just because The Mermaid in Her Grotto is done, doesn't mean I've stopped stitching. Next up was my EGA chapter president's challenge. We had a small hard covered notebook to cover for this challenge. I love little notebooks and have lots around so I wanted to do something a bit different with mine. After thinking of all sorts of uses and themes, I decided on a sort of photo album. I say sort of because I ended up doing an altered book technique on the inside. I glued all the pages together around the edges and then cut a recess in the center of the stack, and glued around that. I was going to stitch some sort of 3-D thing to put inside but realized that the book and the depth was rather small and I would just get frustrated. So I ended up using vacation photos to create a scene of our latest trip to Costa Rica. For the outside I used many of the leftover threads from the Mermaid to create a stumpwork cover.
The back is a mountain waterfall, not to much depth since it is the back. The rocks are made of the boucle threads I made for the grotto rocks.

The front is real stumpwork. A couple of the leaves are wired and the toucan (with the badly shaped bill) is a slip. I used the real pieces of peacock feathers from my Mermaid kit for the body of the toucan - it seemed appropriate. The short palm tree in the lower left has fronds made of the purl purl with a silk core that is then pulled and twisted with another colour. The wire allowed me to bend back and forth and then fold to create a fringed frond. The bush in the lower right is made with GST threads.

All in all, lots of fun.

The photo below is a collection of what was in my purse!!! As I prepared to go away at the end of May I decided to clean out my purse to be sure I only carried what was needed. My husband was amazed at all that came out of my purse and decided to lay it all out for a photo. As it was, I didn't weed enough, or maybe soon enough, because the strap on my purse broke while I was away. And it wasn't really a purse, it was a small bag from Ariat normally used for horse grooming tools. So I guess that means I'm hard on purses and my shoulder.

The Mermaid Is In Her Grotto

2010-05-10T17:31:00.003-04:00

I had a lovely Mother's Day weekend, getting to do just what I wanted, so now I have my finished needlework to show you.

Here is the mermaid, with garnets in her hair and a rather fancy mirror.

Here she is in her grotto, but not quite done.

And here she is in the grotto with fish, shells and semi-precious stone chips. I am especially please with the freshwater pearl in the shell - that is a real shell from a family vacation that actually stayed joined.

I am very happy with how it has all turned out. And it was so much fun. For the final bits I was able to consult my own copy (as opposed to the university library copy which I have returned) of "English Embroidery in the Metropolitan Museum, 1580-1700:'Twixt Art and Nature". My DH got it for me for Mother's Day and found it online at list price still in the shrink wrap!! If, like me, you missed getting this book and now can only find it for over $100, you will appreciate the find. I was able to look through the pieces in the book that had water to decide what I wanted to do with the purl since the instructions gave a couple of suggestions for variations.

Now I have all the amazing leftover threads to hoard. I've always had a problem using my best threads for small or experimental things, and these threads need something really wonderful. So I have some thinking to do. In the meantime, I have a coif to work on and the president's challenge for my EGA chapter to start (and finish by our June meeting!).

A Little Bit of Tail

2010-05-04T14:45:00.003-04:00

I'm alternating my time between the coif and the mermaid, doing a 2 week each rotation so there is some consistency in my work. I've already let the family know that I want to stitch the whole of Mother's Day weekend except for a trip to the art museum to see the new wing and have lunch in the new restaurant there. If you want to see the latest on the coif, hop on over to the Gentle Pursuits blog.

That was before the meeting, this mermaid work is from the past weekend. I finished the fins for the end of the tail a while back. There is a gilt strip worked into the buttonhole lace that is really nice. The skirt is done with a new thread - a silver silk twist similar to the gilt silk twist from the Plimoth jacket project. The silver is a little harder to work with than the gold. I think the twist is a bit tighter so it doesn't flex the same way. According to Tricia's remarks in class, this was just a trial run and it should be fine once they get it to the point where they are producing enough quantities to sell. The kit included some peacock feathers to put around the edge of the skirt, but Tricia encouraged us to be creative with our mermaids, so I did something different. I'm fond of pearls so I used some tiny white beads to edge the skirt to keep things in scale. I have some small, cultured fresh-water pearls and some mother-of-pearl beads as well, but they were too big for the edging - I'm thinking of putting one or the other in the mermaid's hair.
Next I went to the fish since the head and tail were on the same needlelace pad as the mermaid's tail pieces. The head and tail were stitched onto some felt and then I carefully sewed down the spangles to form scales. The sample had a mix of gold and silver covering the body but having studies zoology, I felt the need to be a bit more realistic. So I carefully covered the body in rows of gold, and then used the silver for some fins. The fish is just over 1 inch long.

Grotto rocks done - on to the mermaid

2010-03-26T21:55:00.003-04:00

Things have been fairly quiet in the evenings lately, so I've been able to finish all the rocks in the mermaids grotto. Most are similar to the ones already done, bouche threads, silk gimp, French knots and purl purl variations. The one new rock is the front rock on the right side made up of lots of loops. The loops are small bits of silk wrapped purl - the silk wrapped wire that is then coiled. Tricia suggested it in class, and since I am in love with the purl, I just had to do it. I put one layer of felt under the loops just to bring it a bit forward, and it also helped because it gave something for the wire to hook into to keep the loops in place.

Here is a close up so you can see the loops of purl.
I still need to finish the bits of coral in satin stitch in the background, but in the meantime, I'm working on the mermaid. I have been questioning the body of the tail that I did in detached buttonhole lace using GST. As I did it, I didn't make the stitches very close or dense thinking it looked more like scales. But as I looked at it further, I realized that part of the reason it looked okay was because it was on the blue plastic that was the base for the needlelace pad. So, today I decided to remove the piece and see if I needed to do it again.

Here it is placed over the wool padding, and I really don't like it with the white background.
But then I remembered Tricia mentioning in class that she wished she had used the flat gold thread that she put in the end of the tail into the whole tail, so I found some gold ribbon that I could cut to put behind the buttonhole lace, and now I am happy with the look. Now it looks more like gold and green scales. I was also worried that the piece was too small, but it turns out the size is fine. So on to the tail fins!

Busy, busy, busy

2010-03-22T15:39:00.002-04:00

I know it is hard to tell, but I have added two more stitched rocks to my grotto! During class, we did rocks all over the place depending on technique so we could try each one. As I'm finishing them off, I'm trying to start with the back and work forward so there is a natural sort of overlap. I did the blue and green bouche thread rock second from the left at the back. I had to make a couple of more mixes for that one, which helped to reinforce the twisting technique. Then I did the yellow/orange silk gimp rock in front of it. I actually did two layers because the one layer - like the blue and orange silk gimp rock at the back left - is very flat. I was please with the texture, although in hindsight, a layer of felt would have used less gimp - so I would have more for other things. The gimp was made by Tricia, specially for the kit, and it is really spectacular. But them I'm a sucker for silk of any sort.

Now to the coif. I'm still doing tests as some new colours of Soie Perlee have arrived, since there were a couple of places where I wasn't getting quite what I wanted. This daffodil is a case in point. I didn't like the gold and yellow contrast and the green was to bright when compared with my photos of the demi-lune purse at Agecroft that I took the daffodil from. So, I did some stitching tests to see what really when together because it was really hard to tell with the spools. Turns out it was a great idea, because two of the yellows look totally different than what I expected. When I have time (yes you can laugh here) I want to make up a whole sampler of the colours of Soie Perlee stitched up since that is really the only way to see how things will truly look. So, I'll show the final dafodill when it is done on the coif, you can see the start in the last photo. Here is the tudor rose - on the coif!!! Yes, I've finally started the stitching on the coif. Nobody wanted to take it home at last week's meeting - several people want to eventually, but they want to practice a bit more. I'm not completely happy with this because of the straight lines, so I'm going to play with things a bit so see how to fix it and add that to the instructions. It may be I need to work the petals from the inside out to the edges, rather than the tips in method I used. I just find it easier to get the outer edge looking nice if I start there, but the inside to the outer edge is actually the method used on some of the petals on the demi-lune purse - I had help when I looked over the photos.

So here is how it looks as of March 22, 2010. Stay tuned.

More coif practice

2010-03-10T17:29:00.004-05:00

I've never had such a hard time trying to decide what to do. Mermaid grotto or coif motifs? For now, the coif is winning since I have to hand it on to the next person at our meeting next week.

Here is the mounted linen with the pattern drawn on it.

I've done some more tests before actually working on the real thing. This one was to figure out which direction was best for the detatched buttonhole. I know that when you look at historical photos there is a preferred direction to some motifs, but for the coif we are being relaxed and letting people stitch in whatever direction works best for them, as long as the whole motif is the same. When it is being worn and people see it moving, they probably won't be able to tell which direction the stitching is going.

This is a motif from the demi-lune purse at Agecroft Hall. We have no idea what flower it is (any suggestions?) The yellow cup will not be the shades you see. The petals will be like those on the right. I'm not sure which bud colouring is best. Maybe we will use both.

Sorry this is in sideways but I'm too lazy to do it again. This is the borage, unfinished so far, that I was using for a colour test. You can see the lighter colours to the left in small squares. Comments indicate that people like the dark blue best, so we'll go with it. Now I need to decide the best way to do the center.

Here is the honeysuckle.

And here is the pansy. The colours are quite striking and I like the gold leaf veins.

So now I need to make up a book to give everyone guidance on each flower and the colourways. We'll do the goldwork last.

Mermaid day 3 - final day of class

2010-02-26T21:19:00.003-05:00

So today we stopped with the rocks and started on the mermaid and fish. Much of the day was spent going over historical stumpwork slides to see the faces and grottos and fish, and even a frog that everyone loved. Tricia even had an x-ray of one mermaid so we could see the padding underneath. There was lots of discussion about how well endowed the mermaid should be.

We made muslin pads for needlelace. One great technique, that I didn't know about, was to put contact paper over the muslin with the needlelace outline. Then you don't have to worry about catching the fabric as you stitch. This is the lower body of the mermaid, the tail outline is to the left, the skirt to the right. I will also be doing a fish head and tail in needlelace - the body will be sequins stitched onto the felt form.

Then we started on the mermaid form. We will stitch the mermaid on the muslin and then cut her out to place her on the grotto. Here is the mermaid with padding for her tail and arms and such.

Next was her face in the mirror she is holding. Another piece of mica will go over this. I've stitched the comb in her other hand but haven't taken the photo yet. Tricia had a wonderful photo of a period comb, a huge double sided thing made of boxwood with intricate carving.

We then went over the technique to stretch the Purl Purl to couch over the mica to form the water once our mermaid is mounted in her grotto. And then we discussed various embellishments that were used. Some of the grottos are filled with tiny pearl and tiny coral beads. Others have huge stones that don't fit in, but I'm sure it was a sign of status to have fancy stones sewn onto your stumpwork. I'm going to wait until I have my rocks done before I decide what to do. Go natural with real shells and tiny pearl-like beads? Or go over the top with lots of semi-precious colourful rocks? We'll see.

So as you can tell, there is still alot to do, but I'll post as I get more done. Probably not for a couple of weeks though, since I have the mounted coif for Agecroft Hall and I need to get some flower motif instructions done so it is ready to be passed on to the next person at our March meeting.

Mermaid day 2

2010-02-25T19:20:00.007-05:00

(Note: This is posted a day late because I was busy watching the Canadian women's hockey team win the Gold medal in the Olympics)

Today we played with dangerous equipment - awls and needle felting needles. Here is where I started the day. After posting my first day's progress, I worked on the techniques from the day and finished a rock in each technique. Except the drizzle stitch rock - I wanted to have it checked to make sure I was doing the right sort of thing.

We learned several new thread making techniques based on stumpwork pieces that Tricia has been able to study.
One fun technique uses Purl Purl. We threaded some Soie Ovale through the coil, then stretched the coil, then twisted two of these threaded coils together. Tricia showed us wonderful slides of stumpwork using this twisted technique.This is the threaded Purl Purl. The kinks are where the needle came out and went back in.

Here are the stretched coils being twisted together.

Here are the two colours for a couple of the rocks. The 'threads' are couched concentrically around the rock outline, moving to the center.

Then we had to create our own Purl Purl with Gilt Sylke Twist - actually, this was some silver twist that we were lucky enough to work with!! We twisted the GST around a fine wire, then twisted that around a needle. It is really fun. This time we used it in the coiled form and couched it down. You can see this give a really rocky granite like look.

We also made Bouche using Soie Ovale. We clamped a block of wood with a hole to hold an awl to our tables. This acted as a holder for the thread we twisted using techniques similar to those used to make threads for Japanese embroidery.

First we twisted 6 strands of Soie Ovale for the core, then in a second colour of Soie Ovale we twisted one strand in the opposite direction, then a second strand twisted in the same direction as the core, making a nice kinky thread to further the rocky texture. The top spools are rock colours I've made, the bottom is for mermaid hair, with only a single outer twist.

After all the thread making, we ended the day by needle felting a fish form. I didn't need any band aids.
So here is the left side of the grotto with the new threads. Along the left side, the top is the silk gimp couched down that was done the first day. Then the stretched Purl Purl, then the red and pink purl purl I made, then the blue and orange bouche couched down on the padded rock to bring it forward a bit. And you might notice that I finished the drizzle stitch rock in the center, using two more shades of the Soie de Paris. I found that if I twisted even more than I thought I should it looked even better, although it is rather knotted on the back.

Thanks for the comments, I hope you find my notes helpful. I didn't take notes in class so these notes are for my reference as well. I highly recommend Tricia as a teacher - not only do you learn the techniques, but you learn the history and you find out how the threads are made. Very interesting.

The Mermaid in Her Grotto class

2010-02-24T19:13:00.003-05:00

I am in Williamsburg taking a 3 day stumpwork class - a perfect Christmas gift from my wonderful husband. The class is part of a long running seminar, A Gathering of Embroiderers. I've heard fellow EGA members discuss the class but never remembered to look it up. This year it was mentioned on the Thistle Threads blog, and this particular stumpwork project was shown, so I just had to take the class.

It has been a wonderful experience, at least on my first day. The hotel is wonderful, all the people are great, and Jeannine Koons, the organizer, and her husband and son who help her are the nicest people and really make the event a pleasure.

Tricia Wilson Nugyen is the instructor and the historical background and detective work is as interesting and fun as the actual stitching and using the new/old threads she has brought for this kit. We all had so much fun unpacking supplies this morning. I could have spent all day just looking through all the threads and supplies. But it got better because I was able to stitch.

This photo doesn't look like much, but it was fun. This is the rocky grotto that will hold a mermaid and fish. In the bottom center is a sheet of mica - yes the rock! It will give shimmer to the water. We had to learn to split the layers to get it thin enough to stitch through. The lower left rock is just padding so far. Moving clockwise, there is a small rock of drizzle stitch in Soie de Paris, then a Soie Perlee French knot rock, then a French knot rock using some hand made, by Tricia, silk gimp. And finally some padded satin coral.

On top of the threads and stitching, there is a boutique with amazing supplies for sale. So I bought a few things to enhance the grotto. I'll point some of them out when the appear.

Now I really must get stitching to fill in some of the rocks. Some industrious class members have one or two rocks done.

Our New Family Member

2010-02-03T09:14:00.002-05:00

No stitching photos today, although I have been testing colourways and silk amounts for the coif motifs. I haven't had time to photograph and upload them all because of this:We all fell in love with this puppy when we saw her in the SPCA mobile adoption van that was visiting the greenhouse - we were getting gecko plants.
Abby is already quite spoiled - after 2 1/2 weeks - and loves to sleep on the couch or a lap.
She is great at fetch and often tries to get two balls at a time, one in her mouth and one that she bats around with her front paws, like a cat.
Of course, house training a puppy in the snowstorm that just went through has been a challenge!

Testing, testing...

2010-01-16T14:51:00.005-05:00

Here are the thread tests I've been doing for the coif. More info on the Gentle Pursuits blog

My previous post had the silk and cotton floss test, which was okay, but here are the cotton perle tests.

This is size 5 - too large and clumsy.
This is cotton perle 8, which is okay but it was hard to do the points on this cornflower. However, the faux gold from Thistle Threads is great.
The petals and strawberry are Soie Perlee - really lovely. I love the gold on the strawberry - you will see that combo on the coif for sure. The rose center is spiral trellis in the silk. While I found the regular trellis too hard to use as a fill, the spiral trellis seems easier and looks nice as a center. There a several different motifs with round centers or bases so it may be that the flower centers are French knots or some other round stitch - we'll see.I didn't have any green Soie Perlee - at the time - so I used some of Catherine Jordan's overdyed cotton floss for the leaf. I actually like the effect and I can see using it for a project where you want a slightly mottled old look - it works up nicely.

I now have a lovely selection of Soie Perlee from Hedgehog Handworks. I talked with a very helpful woman on the phone who helped with getting shadings right since I couldn't find a good online colour chart. I will test the amounts now and order the threads for the project soon - since Hedgehog Handworks is having a sale until the end of the month! Isn't all this colour enough to make you want to get off the computer and stitch! So that is where I'm going...

New Projects!!!

2009-12-02T19:52:00.003-05:00

I'm very excited to be part of a new outreach project with my EGA chapter - Gentle Pursuits of Richmond. We will be making two Elizabethan style coifs for the interpreters at Agecroft Hall. You can read all about it on the blog I write for the group . We hope to post regular updates as we work on this project. Let us know what you think!

Here is my practice motif. I think I'll need to try another!

My other exciting news is that I will be taking the class The Mermaid in her Grotto in February. I had originally been planning to take Tricia Wilson Nguyen's Goldwork Masterclass through her Online University, but then I saw the mermaid!

Reading to Save the Planet

2009-09-11T13:22:00.002-04:00

One of the collections librarians at my public library must be interested in "green" books because I always find something new and interesting on the shelves. This summer, I've read three of the many books I've seen there, and I can heartily recommend them. Of course I've been frustrated, embarrassed, angry, and hopeful by turns as I've been reading these books. Despite thinking that I'm living carefully, I've realized how little I do to help and how much I do that can hurt, but I think I've got some ideas about what more I can do help people and the planet.

Early Spring: An Ecologist and Her Children Wake to a Warming World. by Amy Seidl, is an excellent book on global warming and climate change. Rather than quoting lots of climatological data, she makes things real by looking at how timing has changed for seasonal events. The change of dates for bird migrations and maple syrup gathering. The insects that appear early and late, out of sync with their bird predators. The lack of solid ice on many norther lakes and snow at northerly latitudes affecting ice fishing contests and winter fairs. It may be hard for some people to grasp the rise in temperature and sea level expected in 100 years, but most people can recognize a change in the seasons from childhood to adulthood. With lovely, sensitive writing about her family, home, garden and the woods around her in Vermont, Amy Seidl quietly brings people around to the problems of global warming and why we need to be concerned.

Along with global warming, I am concerned with all the chemicals people apply to their lawns, especially since we live next to the reservoir that supplies our drinking water. So I eagerly read 'A Weed by Any Other Name; The Virtues of a Messy Lawn, or Learning to Love the Plants We Don't Plant' by Nancy Gift. Despite starting out in a weed science program where she studied weed control in crops (i.e. pesticide use), Nancy Gift is now the acting director of the Rachel Carson Institute at Chatham University in Pittsburgh, PA. Nancy Gift lives in the suburbs so she understands the desire, and sometimes the need, to conform to the standard weed-free perfect lawns. But she is also a mother who worries about the effects of pesticides on her children and she loves many weeds and feels a green lawn can include them, along with grass.

I was especially interested in this book since our front lawn has been taken over by moss and a wonderful weed that is a perfect ground cover - it stops growing at about 3 inches, takes the shade, grows on the clay, and looks fine (I suspect this is mainly because the yard slopes down from the road and the strip along the road has some grass). I'm sure if my children were playing on it, it wouldn't work, and the backyard is not so great, but for the front it seems fine, and my DH has only mowed once the whole summer. So I'm all in favour of weeds.

I also have a fondness for small mammals - I did my honours thesis research on voles - so I like to see animal holes in the ground around our yard. And I'm happy our yard it filled with toads.

Anyway, Gift's book covers various weeds seasonally as she discusses ways to live without pesticides. She gives lots of ideas for ground cover and how to justify a weedy lawn to the community association and especially how children can learn so much from playing in a yard with a variety of plants. If you want to escape from the tyranny of feeding, watering and pesticide application, this book will help.

The final book I've had a chance to read is 'Confessions of an Eco-Sinner: Tracking Down the Sources of My Stuff' by Fred Pearce. Pearce has travelled the world to find out what really happens when food is grown and raw materials are harvested, and how things are really disposed of. It is frustrating that the fair trade coffee I buy to try and help is not quite a good as I hoped, although it is much better than regular coffee. And while some cheap cotton t-shirts are made by companies slaves and children, other companies provide women independence from their husbands and money to educate their children, despite the sweat shop conditions. It is all terribly confusing, but it also made me realize that we all need to be more concerned about where the things we buy come from. And as long as Westerners want cheap goods, Third World people will be exploited. Pearce also tells some more inspiring stories about people who are doing good things. WonderWelders (www.wonderwelders.org ) uses money from selling refurbished phones to support a workshop of polio survivors making beautiful sculptures from scrap in Dar es Salaam. Projects to green cities, especially with edible plants, are growing. So Pearce leaves us hopeful - although we all have to work at it.

I have more reading ahead. Jane Goodall's 'Hope for Animals and Their World: How Endangered Species are Being Rescued from the Brink' and 'Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide' by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. Both look wonderful.

A Happy Mistake

2009-09-02T17:19:00.002-04:00

A few posts back I showed the horse DD the elder drew for me to stitch for the top of another satin box. I used a nice chestnut silk I had in a few shades to give some dimension. I used the lightest to make the mane and tail using Turkey work, but then I had to stiffen the threads in some way to get them to go the way I wanted. Instead of looking in a book or checking the Internet for suggestions, I decided to make my own mistakes. I used hair products, reasoning that silk was protein like hair. So I sprayed a curl enhancer on, since it stiffens my hair. But, it was very wet and of course the colours in the silk bled all over the fabric. BUT, that was okay. It toned down the colour, which I wasn't completely happy with, and now the white fabric doesn't show at the edges after I cut the horse out. The curl enhancer didn't really hold the threads either, so I used hair spray in the end! So here is the satin box finished - only 4 more to make!

If it is the beginning of the month, there must be more geckos. Here is 6 - only one egg in this clutch. I've taken the photo with my new macro lens, but it is hard to work with a squirming animal.
This is the father Norbert. He has grown quite large - probably over 8 inches now.

Stumpwork Tudor Rose box done

2009-08-15T13:25:00.003-04:00

Once the rose and leaves were done, it was time for a butterfly - all the Elizabethan things seem to have a bug of some sort. I decided on a blue butterfly to be done in detached buttonhole lace. First I laid the wire, then I started the fill. I tried first with some filmy sort of thread from a kit I cannibalized, but it was horrible to work with as detached buttonhole, so I switched to silk. The bigger wings I did from the tip in, and the lower from the body out. I made sure there was enough separation between wings when I set out the wire so it would be easy to stitch, but later realized it might be a problem when I wanted to push them a bit closer. It actually turned out fine - though I'm sure there is a better way.

Here are the finished bits, ready to go on the box.
And here is my finished box. I'm rather pleased. Actually, it isn't really finished since I need to cover the wires with some material on the underside of the lid, but that will be easy (knock on wood - famous last words).

Stumpwork sepals close up

2009-08-06T16:23:00.003-04:00

I think I chose the wrong photo yesterday, so here is an in focus photo of the bullion picot edge on the sepals, and the long buttonhole I'm using to fill in the inner part of the sepals. You can see the material showing through in the center - I've since poked through it to put the flower together. Paula is mainly right, bullion picot and buttonhole, but the ends are buttonhole as well, since I wrap wire very poorly. Since I can't find bullion picot instructions online, I'll have to direct you to sharon b's bullion stitch instructions, but make it a very short distance between the in and out points on the stitch, and add lots of wraps. Mary Corbet has a video that might help as well. I've looked through my books and can't find the one where I learned how to do it, of course. Hope this helps.

Stumpwork Tudor Rose instructions - part 2

2009-08-04T21:52:00.004-04:00

A quick hint on tools for wire bending. I started out with the red handled size - a cheap kit for beading from the craft store - and then moved up to real tools from Home Depot. They aren't great tools, they came in a box with lots of hand tools and most were bigger, but the whole set was only $12 (around Christmas) so it seemed like a good deal to me. The larger pliers are much easier to use, so treat yourself to decent tools.So yesterday, I had a lovely stretch of time after work and completed my Tudor Rose. For the sepals, I used green paper wrapped florists wire. In this case, because of the sharp tips, I bent the wire first.
Then I tacked down the wire and started doing a long button hole over the wire to form the sepals.
I had to stop in the middle of it all because two more baby geckos were born. We are up to 9 babies, 2 adults (in separate habitats) and one egg, due to hatch in a month. The female seems to be gravid again - we found out they can store sperm for a year so who knows how many more eggs will appear.
Back to the stitching. I used bullion picot along the tips of the sepals to simulate the jagged edge of the sepals.
The cutting out was easy and it was no trouble getting close. I am very happy with the neat edges formed by my non-woven material, whatever it actually is called. I'll have to carry a sample with me so I can check whenever I go to a fabric store. (or I'll have to change the brand of sanitary napkins we use in the house) While you do have to be careful not to create huge holes in the material, it did form the nice edge I expected.
And here is the completed rose on the box top. Not the final placement, just a test, since I plan on adding more decoration and the rose would get in the way. I just poked a hole through the material, padding and cardboard base, for those who wonder how it got there. I'll glue a piece of felt to the underside of the lid to hide the wires when it is done. DD the younger pointed out that it was off center, but I actually meant it to be, part of the design I have planned, so stay tuned.

Stumpwork Tudor Rose instructions - part 1

2009-08-03T19:18:00.006-04:00

There was some interest in the Tudor-style rose I did earlier this year as a pin. So this past week I started a new one and I've documented the steps. It is also a bit experimental because I did it on an odd fabric. I have been hearing and reading about using dryer sheets for various stitching and craft projects so when some sanitary napkin samples came wrapped in some really neat non-woven material came in the mail, I saved the wraps. As I was starting the rose, I thought, What if you do stumpwork with a non-woven material so you don't have to worry so much about cutting the shape out? Well, here is where we find out.

It was very easy to trace the design onto the material. I put the wire down for all 5 petals with one piece of wire. I did this because I wanted 10 petals in total, but I didn't want 20 or even 10 wires for the stem to go in the posy holder. So I tried this. The one drawback is you can't overlap the petals very well, like you can in this single rose I did a while back. So here is the wire placement.

Then I buttonhole the wire down. I try not to make all my stitches the same length so it blends better later when I do the needle painting on the leaves

Then I use satin/long and short/whatever works to sort of needle paint the petals. I usually make at least a couple of passes because I like the depth it creates and I don't feel compulsive about filling in every space the first time - since that leads me to build up too much in one place and leave others blank. This way I take my time and fill in what needs.
This is the back of the piece because I wanted everyone to avoid an early mistake I made. If you carry your thread from one petal to the next, go down to the center and then up the next petal or you have threads crossing the area you will cut out. Obvious I know, but I did it the first time.
So here are the petals all completed. You might not notice in this photo since there is a white background, but, the material in the center is barely there. While I had no problems with the buttonhole and satin stitch in the petals, the large number of pokes in the center almost removed all the center material - which could be a problem depending on what you do.
So, I had to get creative with the center and put bullion stitches across the center hole and then put French knots around and through the bullion stitches. Once I have the second set of petals in behind, I may add the beads I used in my other roses.

Hopefully I'll be able to post the rest of the steps later this week or next. The DDs get their wisdom teeth removed next week so I'll have a day at home nursing but I suspect the TV will be a better nurse. I'll just make milk shakes now and then.

Round Robin done and other fun things around the house

2009-07-23T17:53:00.005-04:00

I actually have some stitching to show today. I finished my band on a Sampler Round Robin. It has really been wonderful getting a close look at the lovely work of everyone in the group. And it has been a great challenge to figure out the best design to add to each sampler. I used a pattern from one of my Hungarian books, but I used overdyed floss for the flowers to spice it up.
The curls fit with several of the other bands, which I would like to say was on purpose, but I didn't realize it until I actually stitched the band and had a good look at the whole thing.

My next project is a needle painted horse for the top of a small satin box I picked up at Michaels for $1. The last time I saw satin boxes at Michaels I only picked up one and they were all gone when I realized their potential and when back. This time I bought 3 green and 3 white. The horse will be cut out like stumpwork and stitched on a green one. DD the elder drew the horse so I thought I would get it photographed before I covered up her lovely design. I'm not sure if my stitching will do it justice.

This is a mosaic table top make by DD the elder. She did it at school year this year and finally got the table spray painted. It was a glass tabletop so it make a good base for the mosaic and it is very nice the way the light under the table warms the colour of the mosaic.

The spoils of a plastic horse convention - DD the younger went off to Breyerfest in Lexington, KY on a father-daughter trip. They had lots of fun, ate lots of junk food, went on two trail rides, and came home with lots of horse models. Now we have to add new shelves to her bedroom to fit these in.

Telephoto at the Zoo

2009-07-20T21:00:00.003-04:00

I love taking nature pictures but I often get comments about them from my family - usually "Where is the animal?" It is a longstanding joke and I keep trying. Well, thanks to a lovely Mother's Day gift I have a very nice Canon camera with two lenses - a regular zoom and a telephoto zoom. I've used the telephoto a little at horse shows so I know it is nice. But today was the true test. DD the elder and I went to the National Zoo and I finally have some nice close-ups of the animals.

I love orangutans. (be sure to click on the pictures and get the full screen view)

And gorillas - this baby was born in January and the mother seemed to know the best spot to hide her from the view of the zoo visitors. Of course babies won't sit still so she peeped out now and then to the delight of everyone.
While not terribly impressive, this panda was at the back of the enclosure so it really is good - usually I just get a black and white dot.
And the telephoto is great for zooming in on elephant parts, because you really don't need a zoom to get an elephant.
I love otters too!
Now, I think I need a macro lens for the flower close ups!

BTW while we were in DC we went to some other museums (how could we not) and we saw a small but excellent exhibit Picturing Words: The Power of Book Illustration and the link is to an excellent online version - better in some ways because you can sit and really drink in the illustrations. Of course it is wonderful to see the original. Just like seeing some of Alan Bean's original space paintings at the Air and Space Museum is exciting.

Ginkgos and geckos

2009-06-23T22:18:00.004-04:00

There must be a warp in the time space continuum of my life because I can hardly believe that it is nearing the end of June. Despite reducing my expectations for what I want to accomplish this summer, I suspect I need to reduce my list even further. But I have finished a pillow. After getting the squares stitched down I decided on a palette of threads to embellish the pillow.
Here is the final pillow all sewn up, but without the pillow form inside so you can see the squares. It is not heavily embellished since it must cater to all the tastes of the household. DD the younger doesn't like it, but she may just be trying to bug me. I carried the ginkgo leaf theme to the middle left burgundy square.
I was really pleased with the way the burgundy outline worked on gold in the corners
Because I mixed up ginkgo and gecko one time while trying to explain the design, I decided a gecko should go in the plain square, but then it needed some background so I used more ginkgo leaves.
As it turned out, the pillow was too small and the colour not quite right for the couch it was meant for, but it looks perfect in one of our chairs. Of course, I make the girls take the pillow off the chair before they sit in it.
Here is our collection of baby geckos by the way - Baby 1, 2a, 2b, 3a, and 3b. Clutches 4 and 5 are in the incubator and we will soon find out if New Caledonian crested gecko females can store sperm!

Just when I thought I had decided

2009-06-09T12:27:00.003-04:00

I have a bit of a break from going into the city for work this week because of school exam schedules and early release. So I'm puttering around the house doing all sorts of things. Today I decided to reduce my stash of fabric by actually making something. I mentioned to DH a while back that I should make pillows for the couch because it might detract from the dingy old couch - it is over 17 years old but it is still sturdy and it is a sofa bed. I'm not quite ready to try my hand at recovering the couch, but colourful pillows I can handle.

So today I pulled together a pile of fabric that seemed to go with the living room and started a pillow. I decided to use some green velvet from old curtains as the base for the front and also the back of the pillows. So after some playing around I came up with this.

With the help of DD the elder, we decided that the greenish pieces in the middle of the top and bottom would help tie things to the back fabric. But then I decided that I really liked the side pieces and tried it with all four center squares the same, but with a brown back.

I really like this one! I like the original as well, but I love the burgundy and gold batik fabric so much that I think I'll stick with the second colourway. Of course that means I've totally covered the green velvet, but maybe it will survive in the second pillow.

The ginkgo leaf piece in the center is a mystery to me. I purchased a huge stack of fabric squares at my EGA guild silent auction last year so DD the younger had some interesting things to quilt with. Well, since that hasn't happened yet, I went through the stack and found the gold leaves. So I can't tell you anything about how it was made. But it is really nice.

Altered tin ta-da

2009-05-01T15:02:00.003-04:00

I've finished the president's challenge for my embroidery group - early! Somehow this past week I had a few quiet evenings (don't ask me how) so I glued the top and finished the inside pillow for my Elizabethan embroidery altered tin.

Here is the top, done mostly in silks and gilt silk twist.
Here is the inside. As mentioned in the last post, I chose flowers based on a Shakespeare verse, so I stuck a copy inside the tin lid, using a lightened flower photo as background. The bottom embroidery is made up as a very thin pillow to set the pin on, to keep it from sliding around.
And this is the finished rose pin. I will be making another rose, in a different colour, although I don't know what that will be. I'm going to take photos for those who are interested in the process, since I forgot this time, I was just so keen on seeing if it would work.

All in all, I'm very happy with how things turned out and I think it will be appreciated by the recipient.

I still don't have a photo of the science fair project. It hasn't come home yet and I couldn't get a good photo at the science fair. But DD the younger seems to have explained it all well, despite her blase attitude going in, and received a 3rd place in the chemistry division. Which I figure is good for somebody who says she hates science. I was personally quite amused by all the 'specialty school parents' - a subset of soccer parents - who were trying to outdo each other with stories of applying for the various specialty schools offered in our county and state. Neither of my girls was willing to give up horses in order to deal with the longer bus rides and mounds of homework - which I'm actually quite happy with since it means they have a life and I do too - because who do you think would have extra work driving and supervising and buying supplies?

This and that and the other

2009-02-24T17:31:00.004-05:00

This, is a wonderful mini reef embroidered paperweight from Paula at The Beauty of Life. She sent it to me as a Pay it Forward gift. I will decide soon how best to pay it forward. In the meantime, if you want to make an undersea garden of your own, check out Paula Embroidered Paperweights post.

That, is another needlefelted creation. I forgot to include this in the last post. DD the elder made it for their riding instructor. It is made to look like the filly we saw born last spring.

Finally, the other is another altered tin, this time for the president's challenge for my EGA chapter. I'm not done with this, but it will be the top. I've based the tin on a quote from Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream. "I know a bank where the wild thyme grows...
The top has thyme and oxlips.
Inside, are violet and woodbine (aka honeysuckle). I will finish this as a cushion.

And the cushion will support a rose/eglantine pin in a posy holder. I tried a new technique with the rose. There are 10 petals and I didn't want 10 or 20 wires, so I worked around all 5 petals in each whorl at one time, leaving me with only 4 wires. This had the added advantage of making it easy to embroider and bead the center of the rose.
DD the younger is still writing up her science fair project, but I think I can safely say it is not a good idea to dye anything with koolaid unless you won't be washing it. I'll post more later.

Needle Felting Dogs

2009-02-04T08:40:00.002-05:00

As promised, here is some artwork from my daughter. DD the elder has been slowly refining her skills at needle felting and we finally got her some glass eyes so she can really get creative with felted animals. This is our dog, made with real hair from the dog.

What was especially nice about this, aside from it being a wonderful tribute to our dog Candy who died back in November, is that even though I knew she had made the dog, the girls kept the whole gift a secret. DD the younger sewed up the dog bed, and DD the elder used micron pens to add the pawprints, just like the real bed. DD the elder made the book they used as a photo album at school, but said she had to leave it there so I never knew what it looked like. They printed the photos and card while DH and I were at a Christmas party, after asking for dog photos on the pretense of needing a couple for a school project. You can see the complete gift below. I purchased the leather dog collar that holds the album closed but DD the elder said it was for an art project. My SIL took them out to get the engraved dog tag though, so I didn't have the wool pulled over my eyes on that one.
DD the elder also made a felted basset hound for my SIL. This one is wearing a t-shirt that says 'bad to the bone' because the real dog loves wearing dog clothes and she is rather bad.

Terribly cute post

2009-01-30T09:37:00.003-05:00

I finally came up with something to complement my woven baby blanket, which is a good thing since the twins are due any day now.

I tried to knit a blanket back in December but my heart was never in it. I don't mind knitting, but I don't love it, and the knitting never really took off. Then one day I was in Michael's with a 50% off coupon and I saw some baby afghan cloth for cross-stitching on and it was perfect. I went through my various pattern books and pulled out 8 designs. I simplified the colours and changed a couple of things - a zebra pattern became a horse motif. I had lots of fun, and finished fairly quickly, so now the blankets are ready to send to Canada.

Here is the blanket:

And here are all the motifs close up:

I did make a really lovely ornament for exchange at my EGA chapter holiday luncheon back in December, but forgot to take a photo. It was our Gentle Pursuits hand logo, with holly and mistletoe at the wrist, holding an angel charm - like a hand ready to trim a tree. But I didn't take a photo so you'll have to take my word for it.

I have a couple of things my daughters have done to show you soon. Some excellent needle felting and a science fair project testing the colour-fastness of food dyes on wool - which should be of interest to those of you thinking of doing your own dyeing at home.

And I'm the recipient of a Pay-It-Forward project, so I'll write more when the package arrives and I decide on what and how I will send on to others who want to participate.

Family Gatherings

2008-11-26T08:31:00.003-05:00

Being Canadian, I don't have the same baggage about family gatherings at Thanksgiving as my American friends. But I do enjoy family gatherings and we will have some extra company as well. One friend from Brazil and 2 from Malawi.

One of my favourite Thanksgiving memories is from my time at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York - a while ago now, since I was pregnant with DD the elder at the time. I was put in charge of the Lab Thanksgiving because my husband and I had no family around so we were the perfect people to organize things. It was a communal feast for all those who were far away from home, or in some cases, who didn't want to cook. The food services people provided turkeys and pies and a few other dishes, and everyone brought food, usually dishes from home, so it was an international feast. Imagine if you will, a nice, large dining room (the building had been recently renovated) looking over the Harbor. Lots of food and talking and good smells. Everyone gathered around loading their plates. My husband was in charge of carving one of the turkeys. At one point, he looked down and realized he was about to cut somebody's fingers because they were picking out a piece of turkey! He was horrified to think he might have cut somebody and looked up to see it was James Watson - the Lab director and Nobel prize winner for his DNA structure work! The turkeys were carved with no injury and no further close calls, but I still remember that day.

With our closest family member 7 hours away, we do sometimes miss going to family gatherings. I especially like the time after a meal when we can all sit around and talk, since before the meal, somebody is in a panic getting all the food out. But it seems to me that with computer technology, I can get some of that time back.

It all started when Candy died and my husband put an album of photos of her on his Facebook page. My mother joined Facebook to see the photos and she started having fun checking things out. Then she found my niece on there - I had only been using Facebook for work and never thought to look for family - what was I thinking? And then we got another family member to join, and found another one online, and so on...

So now we are leaving comments, sending gifts, and playing Wordscraper (very addicting) and now I am enjoying family gatherings online, albeit over several days. I agree that sometimes and hour long phone conversation is great, but some days, a stolen few minutes here and there to add a comment or view a status report or play a word are all I can manage, and those moments keep us in touch. I remember reading an article a while back* about texting and Twitter sustaining long distance relationships, and my husband and I have discovered that texting during the day is a great way to keep track of things, and I guess using the same tools to keep up with family on a day to day basis is a good way to feel a part of their lives. And when you know some of what is going on in a person's life, you can ask more questions when you do talk on the phone.

So this year I am thankful for all sorts of family gatherings.

*yes I am a librarian and I should have a citation here for the article, but at this moment I can't remember where it was at all and I have to get back to work, so maybe later I'll put it here, but in the meantime, you'll have to trust me.

Photo: see the original post

The best dog in the world

2008-11-17T14:31:00.004-05:00

Our wonderful and much loved Candy lost her battle with cancer over the weekend. She really was the best dog, both as a companion to the family and a playmate for our daughters.

Here she is, starting as a puppy in 1999 'til just this past fall.

Libraries and needlework

2008-10-27T17:02:00.002-04:00

As you can see, last week was a great time to visit West Virginia. This is the view from my hotel room - don't ask me to spell the name of the river - but it was flowing through Morgantown and starts with M.
This is the view from the new medical library. The library was really great as well. I had a bad case of library envy. I did not expect to encounter any needlearts on the trip, but this amazing set of quilted panels was hung in the medical science building.
Of course, being a librarian, I had to ask for information so I could tell you about it properly.

Here is what the plaque says:

"A quilt of mountain colors created by Sally Rowe, Cottageville, West Virginia, for The Health Science Center at West Virginia University to celebrate Research, Education, Health Care and Service to West Virginia, 2007"

It was commissioned for the space - a large two story atrium and the panels must be at least 8 feet high. And the pieces that make up the quilt are small so it was an labour of love for sure. There is lots of lovely natural light which highlights the beauty of the quilt. The door to the library is opposite the piece, so you see it every time you leave the library. Lucky people.

Amazing videos

2008-10-13T17:01:00.003-04:00

I'm afraid there isn't much stitching going on here. I've been applying myself to work and so far I'm happy with the results. My genetics wiki is up and running, and I almost have my poster ready for next week. After the meeting in WV, I should have some time to stitch again - notice I say should, not will. I don't want to jinx myself. We've also been busy looking after our very ill dog. She is in the middle of chemotherapy treatments and we're all hoping she'll go into remission for a while. Here is her shaved belly for ultrasound.
I also have something to share with you. While not needlework related, I think it is art and really cool.

Beached from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.

What if ...?t for life

2008-09-15T08:17:00.004-04:00

I jumped back into work at the university right after returning from a visit to family in Canada, so I never really got to enjoy the end of summer. I was thinking last week that I really wasted my summer, but then I actually sat down and listed what I had been working on and realized that while I may not have done what I thought I wanted to do, I have done many, many things. I have woven a baby blanket and two linen table runners, I have taught a couple of groups (ornaments and mini-memory tins), I have written an article on the mini-memory tins, I have altered a wedding dress, I have attended a wedding in WV, I have visited family in Canada for a week, I have had carpet installed, I have kept up with the laundry, I have worked at least twice a week at the barn, and most importantly, I have supervised the girls all summer. It doesn't seem so wasted when I review it all.

For photo relief, here is the dog going to the wedding. She is not a great traveller, but she does like fast food.
The summer has also been a time for me to contemplate how I spend my time and energy. As much as I love needlework, I also love being a librarian, and I have opportunities now that allow me to be home for the girls while seriously pursuing professional goals.

On one hand I am inspired by Spirit Cloth and The Beauty of Life, especially Paula's fruit book ( I have been contemplating a cloth florigium book for a long time). I want to stitch like crazy and make wonderful new things.

On the other hand, I also keep up with the science and library blogs, and I'm very excited by all the innovations in teaching using web 2.0 and the ideas of open access for all research. I like to test all the new interfaces for MEDLINE and other geeky sorts of things.

I realized the other day that I haven't felt compelled to stitch every night. And I realized that the work I've been doing, creating teaching materials and wikis and presentations, has been fulfilling so I don't feel the need to stitch. Back in August, I had already cut back by finishing up at the weaving studio. I could see the dates for lectures and meetings piling up in my date book and knew I had to start focusing on work.

So what should I do with my time? It came to me yesterday, What if...I put the same creative energy into my library work as I have with my needlework? What if I threw myself into each project with the same excitement I have for a stitching project? What if I looked at my materials (computer programs and reference sources, say) and thought creatively about new projects? What if I started a library blog to share my ideas and get feedback and reach out, just as I have with my needlework blog?

So that is where I'm going now, to focus more on work. I will still do needlework and blog my progress, but there won't be so much going on. But I will keep up with all the blogs I've been following, because I enjoy seeing how all my stitching friends are doing.

This is my current project, the Tanja Berlin mouse I picked up at auction. It was started by somebody else at a class so there are lots of starts where there were special instructions. But I have gone back and started at the beginning. I've learned so much about this type of work from watching Elisabeth. I commented one time that I would have just started the animals in a piece she was working on, but she patiently explained that she was following the order in the instructions because it was important to the look of the piece. (I'm not sure the exact phrase, the message is on the old computer). So I have done each stem and leaf and now wheat-ear husk in the correct order and I can see the layers starting to show. By the way Elisabeth, best of luck going pro - your stitching deserves to be seen by a wider audience. I can hardly wait to see your future work.

Finished table runners

2008-08-13T10:51:00.003-04:00

Last week I was able to finish my second table runner and take the warp off the loom. I'm especially pleased with this project since it is really the first weaving that was totally my style. The first two projects were made with materials provided by the Visual Arts Center, so I was choosing from a limited pool of colours and materials. My third project, a baby blanket, had appropriate colours for a baby. But this time, I was doing exactly what I wanted so I chose a wonderful linen, Louet 20/2 variegated linen in lichen, and a couple of huck lace patterns from Anne Dixon's book, the Handweaver's Pattern Directory.

Here are the two table runners, hemmed and wet finished and ironed.
Here is the close-up of the two patterns. It is so hard to get a photo to show how really nice these look. The depth of colour just doesn't show up.
Despite the selvage flaws and the odd mis-treadle here and there, I'm pleased with my work and I loved doing it, which in the end, is how it is supposed to be.

We had a laugh over that in the class I helped teach over the weekend. We all just do embroidery for fun, and yet sometimes it can be very frustrating. One woman mentioned how her husband reminds her she is doing it for fun when she gets upset with a piece. Of course some people are able to recognize when it is no longer fun and give up. I have a wonderful Tanya Berlin needle painted field mouse to work on because somebody in the group decided it wasn't for her and put the whole kit in our silent auction. Little did she know that I have been dying to work on a Tanya Berlin embroidery. And yet there is such a fine line between giving up too soon, and recognizing that you can't really do something. When DD the younger was doing the metalwork jewelry she wanted to quit after the first day. I encouraged her to give it another chance and she tried again and really enjoyed it, although she loved beading from the moment she started it. Of course if your embroidery/weaving/painting, etc. is your work, that is another story.

White or red background?

2008-07-30T14:29:00.005-04:00

The carpet is in, the computer is back up and I'm getting used to the new keyboard and operating system. I was able to finish up some ornaments I'm making as samples for a Christmas in August program I'm helping to teach for my EGA chapter. But I need some opinions on the backing for this stocking. I've used the needle card blank from Tokens & Trifles but used my own designs and a couple of other motifs from various ornaments. I can't decide if this should have white or red backing. What do you think?

I also need an opinion on this piece. It is weighing me down. I charted out some motifs from the ballroom rug in the Governor's Palace in Colonial Williamsburg. Somehow I slightly miscalculated so the ribbon that joins the motifs doesn't fit. I'm also tired of the cross-stitch and colours and I now hate the light blue linen I purchased for the ground fabric - this was going to be a pillow by the way. But I love the center motif. So I'm considering cutting things up for crazy quilting. What do you think?

By the way, this is the other ornament for the class. This is actually the shape we are using in class but not the chart. I used the blank chart on the web site to take another chart and adapt it to this shape - again just to show the group how it could be done.
Finally, another Tokens & Trifles project. I've just written an article about this one (and other tins like it). I call it a Mini-Memory Tin. It is an Altoids tin decorated up - in this case as a vacation memory with pink sand and shells inside. I'm really pleased with the top design.
Off to attend the wedding I fixed the dress up for. I'm hoping West Virginia is cooler than Virginia or I will be a puddle of sweat at the end of things!

Waiting for carpet

2008-07-29T08:15:00.002-04:00

I realize that I should be doing something more substantial than a blog entry today, but I'm waiting for the crew to come and install the carpet so I don't feel that I can start something big since I'll have to unhook the computer when they come. I also have the excuse of needing to practice on our new computer. I needed to upgrade for work and since my DH is a Mac person we went with this lovely new iMac. What swayed the balance for me was the huge number of cables and the two pieces of computer hardware under the desk, as compared to the photos of this iMac on the website with just two cords! Of course I have to learn a new operating system but I've used Macs before (our first computer back in the 80s was an Apple with a 5x7 screen) so it hasn't been bad. I'm finding some things much easier, once I figure out where everything is. My address book is another thing, but since I get to use the iTouch that we end up getting free once the rebate comes in, I figure I can live with that.On to something more substantial. DH the older chose stained glass instead of jewellery making for art camp last week and this is her first attempt. She made some really nice choices for the glass so there is lots of texture and movement.

With all the time I had to weave while the kids were at the arts center, I was able to finish my first linen runner. I'll hemstitch then start on the next one, after leaving some length for fringe.

And their are some new additions to the family. DD the older now has two crested geckos. We went to a reptile show, which was fascinating, and she finally decided on these two, about 3 and 4 months old. This is the older gecko - we think it might be female.
This is the younger one. It has a really nice flame pattern along the back.
They hide for much of the day but their tongues are so neat it is lots of fun to watch when they do come out and so far the cricket colony has not been noisy!

Some More Stitch Along and Weaving

2008-07-24T11:02:00.004-04:00

I received the book Wessex Stitchery by Gay Eaton a while back from a friend and I've been contemplating what I could make using the patterns. I first saw Wessex work done on a band round robin piece by Christine. When you look through the book you realize what a huge range of patterns there are. I worked this biscornu for a larger project but I thought I'd include it here because the center of the flowers is Algerian Eye and the petals are really a form of eyelet stitch - 5 straight stitches coming from a single point. The border is the next stitch in the alphabet of the Stitch Along - the Arrowhead stitch. There is arrowhead in many of the Wessex stitches, including a border stitch where it is called a 'stacked wave stitch'. I plan on doing a sample of some of the more complex Arrowhead stitch patterns for my stitch book.
I was able to get my loom up and running so I could start weaving in class last night. I love the look of the linen warp!

Here is the tabby start with hem stitching - please ignore the blip where I stepped on the wrong treadle.
Here is the huck lace pattern I'm doing. This is really one of those things where a photograph doesn't do justice to the texture and colour of a piece. Again, there are a few places where the pattern is a bit off because the linen threads stick together and the shed doesn't open fully in some places. I've slowed down a bit and I'm being more careful. This will be a table runner for my home so I'm not worried. Hopefully I'll have everything perfect for the second one which will be a gift.
I wonder if every weaving project is a learning experience no matter how long you weave. This is only my fourth project, but this time I've learned about working with a high epi (ends per inch) piece, adding heddles to a frame, fixing a misthread and weaving with linen (lovely but challenging). I'm sure I'll learn another lesson soon, something is bound to happen!

Keeping Busy Despite the Heat

2008-07-22T20:39:00.003-04:00

I thought I'd start with some bling. DD the younger is taking metal jewelery design and beading in art camp this week and these are her Monday creations.

It is funny how she has no patience to do cross-stitch but was able to create and join all these swirls into a bracelet. I guess we all have patience for what we really like!

No photos of DD the older's stained glass or graphic design because nothing came home. Maybe later in the week.

I love the new linen I'm dressing the loom with. I'm making a table runner and it will look so good on the black table we have in our living room. This is really a peaceful green. I've had lots of time at the weaving studio. The girls art camp is near the studio so I have some extra weaving time this week. I threaded all 420 heddles yesterday and sleyed the reed today and tied up the pedals. I will wait now to see if I did everything right before starting the weaving. I'm doing a huck pattern using the same green as weft.

I did have some excitement while starting yesterday. I had to add 50 heddles to two of the frames. Cherri tried to show me a way to thread them on but I hadn't paid attention to the direction the heddles were facing well enough so it couldn't be done, so I had to put heddles on by hand. I mention this because even though I couldn't get the threading technique to work at first, I had to use it later because I didn't do a good job keeping the tops and bottoms of the heddles straight as I put them on. As I started threading heddles I discovered that some were crossed. I should have realized that it must be me because I had used the same frames for the baby blanket, but at first I wouldn't admit it. After finding three crosses and realizing that I wouldn't have enough heddles if I had to skip all the problems, I decided I had to fix it. For those who might find themselves in the same predicament, here is what I did. I tied together all the heddles I had threaded so they wouldn't slide off. Then I tied one end of a piece of yarn to the frame and after pulling out the top heddle rod, I started sliding the tops of the heddles off onto the thread until I had removed all the crossed heddles. I put them back on a few at a time to be sure the were straight, and when I reached the good part, I was able to easily slide the heddles on with the thread next to the rod and then pull the thread out. I wish now I had taken pictures, but at the time I was embarrassed that I had been so careless. The main thing is, it worked, and now I have even more appreciation for how the loom works!

Sunday, DD the older and I finished her bedroom painting. She really wanted to get rid of this peachy colour. So here is the room all taped up and ready to go. We had to start with primer so the peach wouldn't affect the blue. After the first coat of blue DD was agitated by all the spots that weren't perfectly covered so I told her to put a bit of blue tape by the bad spots after the paint had dried for a day, so we would be sure to get them with the second coat. The room looked diseased! My husband thought she was maybe trying to see what it would look like Dalmatian-style, since that was her favourite movie as a child. I never realized what a perfectionist she was. I don't recommend anyone doing the same thing by the way. It took some time and was occasionally awkward to get the tape off, and a couple of times it pulled off the new paint!
And here it is done, but without the new Roman shades that are on order, or the furniture back where it belongs. The main thing is, the painting is done and she is very happy with the colour.

Another eyelet and some finished work

2008-07-11T09:22:00.003-04:00

I started the stitch along with Algerian eyelet stitch and late last week I found another variation on Jenny's blog. It is called a single cross eyelet from Mary Fry's Pulled Work.
I think Jenny's have more threads around than mine do, but I like the floral look of these two.

Here is my big finish! The baby blanket is almost done, except for some hem stitching, which I must do soon since things are unraveling!
This is my mini-tapestry done. Rather meager but I do have a better feel for technique and where things can go wrong - lots of places actually! This will soon be a lavender sachet. I will be sending it to my MIL. It was going to be an ornament, from the Just CrossStitch ornament issue, but I didn't have it done for Christmas and I don't want to try to find (and pay for) the special holly leaf beads that were supposed to decorate the ornament. So it will be sewn up and sent of just plain. Don't be too impressed by the blackwork. The back is horrible but because the linen is dyed and I've used dark brown rather than black, the errant threads don't show. I have great respect now for those who can create perfect front and back blackwork!

And now for something completely different...

2008-07-08T13:58:00.003-04:00

..well maybe not that different, it is still in the realm of textiles.

Inspired by Annie's Crazy World and Spirit Cloth and of course all the TAST and Stitch Along challenges of Sharon B, and all the blogs I have read, I have decided that now is the time to make t-shirt memory quilts. There are piles of t-shirts from all members of the household in various nooks and crannies around the house that have been waiting for me to do something with them. But I've never been inspired until now to start the project. I've been making excuses about space for a large quilt, but I see that I really don't need lots of space for a long period, I just work on a block at a time. And I don't need a full size quilt for a bed, just a nice comfortable quilt for an afternoon nap or something cosy for reading time. I guess as I looked at the great fabrics of the old clothes that were too worn in places to be sent to Goodwill, and as I enjoyed the feel of the old fabrics I used on the horse CQ pillow, I realized that I wanted to hold all that fabric in my hands and work with it. So I'll do a bit of planning to decide on block sizes, and pull out some appropriate fabric to surround the important bits of the t-shirts and see what happens.

Stitch Along and weaving sampler

2008-07-02T16:26:00.005-04:00

As I gazed at the list of stitches sharonb collected for the Stitchin Fingers Hand Embroidery group Stitch Along, I couldn't figure out where to start so I decided to work alphabetically - not particularly creative, but some days it is easier not to think too much.

The first stitch is Algerian Eye. I worked on Algerian Eye last year during TAST but my goal with the Stitch Along is to fill in gaps with the way I used stitches. Last year I did a ribbon picture which I do like, but it doesn't help me visualize Algerian Eye as a seam treatment. I have a basket where I store all the ends and extra strands from projects for small things, so I'm using those threads in this project - unless I want to test with something in particular.
In this case I used cotton floss, the gold and rainbow are overdyed, some very light blue silk (3 strands) and a bit of ribbon.

The ribbon doesn't do anything for me, but I really like the single strand of rainbow floss. I used the sequencing technique taught by Catherine Jordan at my EGA chapter back in January. It was a departure for me to use a single thread in something like this because usually I like really full coverage in a stitch, but I like the delicate look of a single thread in this case.

As you can see, I didn't do much stitching, but I've been reworking a gown that my SIL will be using as a wedding dress. I had to remove 3 full length lace panels and sew on a ribbon with pearls and beads.
I've also been weaving. I'm up to 30 inches on the baby blanket, no photos since it really looks no different than my last post, just more on the front roller. And I've added a bit more to my tapestry sampler. I'm working from 'Tapestry Weaving' by Kirsten Glasbrook. I'm not doing all the rows, just a quick test, and my colours are totally different, but it is helping me get a feel for the technique.

Finishing and starting

2008-06-27T22:23:00.004-04:00

I'm trying very hard not to take on too many things over the summer. Since I stopped working full-time nine and half years ago, I've had this awful habit of thinking that I'll have lots of time in the summer since the kids are out of school and I stop leaving the house for my part-time job (i.e. I still work on the computer from home, but I don't go to the library every day). Somehow the time never materializes and I'm frustrated. So this year I've set very modest goals - work on the Stitchin Fingers Hand Embroidery Group Stitch Along, do some stumpwork, and do some weaving.

But first I thought I'd get a few things out of my done but not finished pile - you know the stuff that has the embroidery done but needs sewing up or framing. I started with the little topiary piece by Catherine Jordan that she taught at my EGA chapter. Catherine's kits included cute little metal finishing forms, which I found quite easy to use. The project was originally finished as a pin keep, but I have a large pair of scissors I'm using in my weaving kit so I made a scissor fob - it would be too big and heavy for embroidery scissors.

These photos are before framing, but I did frame these two pieces from Colonial Williamsburg that I stitched up for my SIL. Quick and easy, which was good for evenings watching mysteries on TV. I've discovered you can't do extensive counting while watching a good mystery - maybe while watching a bad one, I haven't tried that.

This project is from way back in September 2007. I decorated the flap of a neat, fold up embroidery blanket. You put it on your lap or table to provide a clean working surface and it is white or dark (green in my case) depending on what sort of background you need to work on. I've had the stitching done since last year and finally stitched it up on Saturday. You can see the fancy topstitching I did with the machine - I haven't used it much so the fancy stitching is still fun. It folds up into a neat little packet that easily fits in an embroidery bag.

My starts are weaving projects - although I will be starting some embroidery soon as well. I was able to get to the weaving studio this week and got a good start on the baby blanket I'm making.
Of course it didn't turn out quite as I expected - I thought the coloured weft crossing the white warp would be lighter, more like the white weft crossing the coloured warp. But I am happy with the result and it will be a soft, washable blanket in the end. I am doing double weave so there are two layers, one side open, so when I'm done it will open up to a 48 inch wide blanket. Because I am just doing plainweave, I have a chance to concentrate on my edges this time and work on tension. In retrospect, I should have done some practice weaving to get comfortable with the tension of this particular yarn, but after over a foot of weaving, I'm not starting again.

I also found a small wood frame loom that belongs/belonged to DD the younger. I've taken it over and I'm working through techniques in a tapestry book I have out of the library (sorry I'm too lazy to walk to the other room to get it right now, I'll tell you the title later). Eventually I want to do real tapestry weaving, but I'm learning from my TAST experience and making a sampler to practice things first. The pale blue is the header so it isn't part of the piece - although I have been know to make some poor colour choices. Not much yet, but I'm learning, which is the main thing.

CQ Horse done - for now.

2008-06-18T09:04:00.003-04:00

I was working right up to the end yesterday, and still didn't have a chance to fix the blue tinted bits on the horse, but my pillow was ready for last night's meeting! Ta-da!

There were four others who finished and of course they were wonderful and had so many great ideas I want to redo all sorts of things. I will probably add a few things when I pick apart the closing seam to fix the horse (which won't be until I have taken care of some of the things I have put off while rushing to finish this). The lower left corner, around the poppy, is not much embellished so I want to add to that, and a few other spots need something.

This is my favourite bit. It was fun to work all the swirls. DD the younger picked this out from my TAST collection - you can see my original sampler of the stitch in this older post.

Again at DD's request I did some buttonhole pinwheels because she liked the TAST sample.
I really enjoyed the feel of holding the fabrics to do the embroidery work. Each kind of needlework seems to have its own joy. With stumpwork it is figuring out how to get from 2-D to 3-D and have it look good. The cross-stitch work I've been doing lately has been nice because it seems to work up quickly, so you get gratifying results soon. But holding the various layers and weights of fabric yesterday felt wonderful. I guess that is why I've taken up weaving, I love the feel of fabric.

The photo below shows one of the requirements of the challenge - a spider. According to our president, it is good luck to have one on your CQ. I searched for a spider charm, though not too hard, and couldn't find anything so it is just a small black bead with thread legs. One of our prizes was a spider charm, so next time I'll be ready.

Also last night was our silent auction to raise finds for the chapter. I have added some spectacular threads to my stash, at an excellent price. I'm looking forward to thinking of something to make with them all! I also have the leftovers to use for children's programs, although I think the charts and books will be donated to the public library. I haven't looked through things yet, but I'm sure if nobody in a large group of ladies wants to pay 25 cents for a stack of patterns, they can't be that good.

On the weaving front, I'm off to class tonight to learn how to sley the reed for double weaving. Once that is done, I'm sure I'll have a baby blanket in no time.

Moving right along

2008-06-16T08:55:00.003-04:00

With suggestions from the future owner, I've been adding seam treatments to my block and it is gradually looking better. I am especially pleased with the orange/yellow ribbon roses, since this is the first time I've tried to made them and I suspect the ribbon wasn't really meant for the task, but they look nice. The felt flowers and butterflies were purchased - the local Ben Franklin has all sorts of felting supplies now. My stitch notebook, created while following TAST last year with sharon b, was most helpful. I wasn't able to keep up with the last couple of months of TAST but my book has been so useful, I think I'll finish it up this summer.
I should have finished photos on Wednesday, since I need to have the whole pillow ready for tomorrow night's EGA chapter meeting - this was our president's challenge for the year.

And now I must share a new to me blog with you all. I made the mistake of following a link in the Chilly Hollow newsletter, which is posted on the needlework guild newsletter editors list as well as Jane's blog. I guess I've missed this blog, Two-Handed Stitcher, because I've been concentrating on embroidery and fibre art related blogs, and this is needlepoint, but boy am I impressed by what you can do with needlepoint - the otter is adorable, the patterns in the Pacific Grove Collage are wonderful and the Pacific Tide Pool is to die for. I envy the people at EGA's Western Pacific Region Seminar at Asilomar who get to do the pieces Laura is teaching. I'm trying not to check out everyone on her blogroll and add them to my Google Reader because then I will get nothing else done but blog reading! Of course I had to check out one by Glenda, a fellow Canadian - Life, the Universe and Stitching.

Horse CQ progress and a new weaving start

2008-06-14T08:12:00.002-04:00

As always, I seem to be learning from my mistakes with this project. For some reason, I think because the material was at hand, I used a light tan fabric to stitch the horse on. So, when it came time to paint a background, which I had to do because I hadn't thought ahead and didn't know I would want to make a sort of landscape around the horse, the colours of the fabric paint took on different hues than they would have on white. That was lesson one. Lesson two was, no matter how careful you are, if your colours have lots of water, they will soak into your threads, which is fine if the threads are gray, but not so fine if they are white. This leaves me with some touch up work.

Lesson three, don't paint yourself into a corner, or rather, paint all the way to the corners so you don't have to be so careful when piecing your quilt. If you look closely on the right side, you can see a couple of non-blue angles on the center section.
I must admit, when I finished this at 11 pm I was not a happy camper. Nothing seemed right, although I did figure out which embellishments would cover my unpainted angles. Luckily, when I looked at this piece in the morning light, which was much kinder than the yellow bulbs in the craft room (which is really the garage) I started to like it. By the time I started embellishing seams (photos tomorrow) I was happy with it. And both my daughters like the fabrics used. The red flower in the lower left is actually from DD the younger's riding sock. She has zip up boots and regularly catches her socks in the zipper, which ruins the socks. But this pair was so colourful, I knew I had to use it for something!

My next weaving project (my third) will be a baby blanket and I will be doing double weave so it will be double width - 48 inches wide - plus there will be a checkered pattern. I chose to use acrylic baby yarn because it will be the most practical in terms of washing and even washable wool still has the chance of causing an allergic reaction. One couple in my family is expecting to baby via adoption any time this summer, so I thought this would be a nice thing to make for them. The variegated yarn is bright rainbow spectrum with nice mixes between the main colours. I like it better than the pastel version and if my placemat testing experience is any indication, the white and pastel would have been too close in hue (or is that shade, I'll have to read up) and the checked pattern wouldn't have shown up well.
By the way, here is the pillow I finally made from the fooling around I did at the end of my last warp. You can't see it well, but I left a fringe of warp at the top of the pillow. It seemed to fit with the fun yarns used in this piece. Posting this photo has made me realize I didn't post a photo of the finished placemats. I'll try to do that soon. Of course, during the final stitching I realized that I had made 7 placemats, instead of the expected 6! This doesn't say much for my counting skills while weaving.

Value of backstitch and a finished horse

2008-06-11T10:46:00.002-04:00

I have a few memories of embroidering as a child, but I really don't remember much of what I did until I started doing reproduction samplers about 25 years ago. When you stitch samplers, back stitch is usually for letters but usually there isn't much. Occasionally I'd do some cross-stitch pictures as gifts and there the value of back-stitch really shows. I've been working on a couple of baby-bibs and as you can see from this photo, a blob of brown is transformed into a bear with some back-stitch.

I've finally finished the horse for the center of a CQ pillow that needs to be done next Tuesday night for my EGA meeting where we need to present our president's challenge CQ items. The front half of this horse seemed to take forever. I never felt like I was getting anywhere. All the gray, gray and more gray! But then suddenly, it was done. I'm quite pleased with the result as is DD the older who did the initial drawing, and DD the younger who asked that the horse look like her favourite from the barn - she will be getting the pillow. I have a CQ landscape sort of idea and I will be painting the fabric around the horse - hopefully without staining the horse! But you never know with me and paint. Maybe I'll stick with the watercolour pencils?
Here are the two newest members of our family, Chocolate and Dude. You can't really see it in this photo, but Dude has a forehead cowlick which gives him this funny little bit of hair sticking forward. They can both climb out of the pen they get to play in, so they must be watched constantly
The girls did the photo session and had trouble keeping the boys in line. I find this photo very funny.

I've been tagged

2008-06-09T08:02:00.002-04:00

My weaving instructor Cherri has tagged me and since this is my official first day of summer (no daily commute until September) I am going to enjoy my lazy morning and have fun blogging and stitching.

Questions and Answers
What were you doing five years ago?June of 2003:
1. Working part-time in a research library & archives
2. PTA web site and other activities
3.Stitching reproduction samplers
4. Teaching myself classical guitar
5. Trying to learn to paint with watercolours.
(Note: I wasn't doing any of that by the end of the month because the kids were out of school s that became my main job. Now they can amuse themselves quite well - what a difference 5 years makes!)

What are five things on your to-do list for today (not in any particular order)?
1. Clean some of the garage craft room so I can get to the sewing machine to I can start my CQ pillow.
2. Finish horse embroidery for center of CQ pillow
3. Pick up DD the younger from school.
4. Make sure DD the older studies for tomorrow's exams
5. Try to stay cool!

What are five snacks you enjoy?
1. Mocha Caribou Bars
2. Frozen strawberry bars (or peach or coconut)
3. Chocolate anything
4. Ice cream ( which I really can't have often since I'm allergic to milk)
5. Scones with Double-Devon cream (I agree with Cherri on this one)

What five things would you do if you were a billionaire?
1. Make sure my family was living comfortably
2. Have a house by the sea
3. Give lots of money to environmental charities like the Jane Goodall Society
4. Travel the world
5. Get horses for the kids (and hire somebody to clean up!)

What are five of your bad habits?
1. Procrastination
2. Spending too much (just ask DH)
3. Drinking too much coffee
4. Eating too much
5. Ignoring the cleaning until company is coming.

What are five places where you have lived? I haven't lived many places so I have to itemize within my home province
1. Windsor, Ontario
2. London, Ontario
3. One summer in Alberta
4. New York
5. Virginia

What are five jobs you’ve had?
1. Education manager
2. Car assembly line worker
3. Lifeguard
4. Mother
5. Librarian

Which five people do you want to tag? I'm tagging more since I'm tagging all my Stitching Sisters
Bits of Beads and Fiber - Denise S.
Crazy Daisy - Mandy
Ever Embellished - Sarah E.
Jenny's Australian Needlearts Journey
Lady Jane's Journal - Christine M.
Made by Misa
Norma's Needleworkz

With any luck I'll be able to post some CQ pillow progress tomorrow, along with some other stitching I've been doing.

Minor Disaster and a New Friend.

2008-05-31T18:35:00.003-04:00

It was supposed to be a relaxing Saturday morning. No company, no commitments, my husband brought in coffee at 9 am and printed out a crossword puzzle for us to solve together once I woke up. Then the call from downstairs - DD the older " Daddy, the fish tank is leaking"

He races down, as do I, and then we send up DD the younger for towels and go to the garage for buckets. We fill the largest bucket with water but the fish and shrimps hide in the rocks so we need more buckets for live rock so we can capture the animals. After about 30 minutes and most of the towels in the house, we finally have the leaky tank out on the deck and various containers of things around the living room/kitchen. The wool Karastan carpets are rolled up and luckily only slightly damp, but the wood floor is wet with salty water. But no more water pouring out of anywhere.

Some readers may remember this tank we set up just over a year ago. Or maybe the TAST piece that it inspired. My husband and I both loved seeing all the beautiful fish in the coral reef movies and we both love the sea, and we thought this would be our little bit of the ocean. But I'm sorry to say that after a year, the honeymoon was over. We had gobs of green hair algae everywhere, most fish we had tried in the tank died, and after reading more and more about salt-water fish, I had become troubled ethically by having a salt-water tank since the rock and fish are mainly from the wild.

So as we sit amidst chaos, we ponder the future of our tank. Do we get a new one or give the whole thing up? I called the fish shop we frequented and they would take the fish and shrimp and coral and even the live rock back. So we decided to give it up. It was a hard decision because we had become attached to the animals, especially the banded coral shrimp, Jose. He was fascinating because he had 2 sets of small clear claws that he used to sift through the algae for bits of food. By the way, the description on the page I linked to for a photo says they are peaceful, but Jose was not. Every new thing we put in the tank, including anemones, was poked at least once by Jose.

Once the living remnants of our abandoned hobby were safely delivered, we were left with a mess to clean up. I have never done so much floor cleaning and vacuuming in one day. I do not recommend this as a reason to clean the house, even if it does look quite nice down there now! Our final job will be a donation to the Jacques Cousteau Society in memory of our tank. I think saving the coral reefs is more important than having a poor substitute in one's house.

On a happier note, when I finally had a chance to sit down at the computer tonight, I had a lovely message from Anne in France, both here on my blog and on my Stitchin Fingers page. Of course the first thing I did was check out her web site and I found that she has a lovely 3-D garden (jardin) in her 2007 Broderies section in her Galeries section (my Canadian French from 20 years ago is just enough to allow me to get through a site in French as long as there are photos!) Be sure to take a look.

Well, I have some baby bibs to get ready for this week for a friends first grandchildren who are due at the end of June. They know it will be twins so I get to make two bibs. Then I'm back on to the CQ horse pillow. So time to stitch.

Finally a rose garden

2008-05-26T18:41:00.004-04:00

When we moved into this house 4 years ago, I decided on this spot for roses, since it has the most sun. It is at the end of the driveway and in front of the fence we put in to enclose the back yard for the dog. As you can see, not a pretty site - and I learned early on that roses in Virginia always get black spot!

But I'm nothing if not an optimist, so after buying 4 new rosebushes in the last week, I decided it was high time to put in an actual garden. With help from my husband we decided on a basic plan then went off to a large home improvement chain store to get border and soil. And after several hours of work, I have my garden. We have yet to decide on an appropriate medium for the pathway area, but since it took 4 years to get to this point, a few more weeks of thinking are nothing. We are contemplating light gray gravel to go with the driveway, since oyster shells are rather difficult to come by.

I also did some cleanup and planting on our woodland path. A large dead tree came down during a storm in the fall so I had to do a bit or rearranging.
Now it looks a bit more like a path. You'll have to take my work for it that I also planted almost a dozen plants in here as well. The lighting is not conducive to a clear photo at the time of day I finished my work.

This is how the dog helped. Actually, she was usually lying down, but managed to stand up and check on my progress a couple of times.
This is our pond on the deck. A raccoon or cat recently ate one of our goldfish, which is quite sad since they actually survived over winter and had grown to be quite large. The pond was originally going to go in ground, but then we discovered that it would be impossible to make a hole that big in the clay!

Weaving Colours

2008-05-23T14:56:00.003-04:00

Just like background colour can change the look and feel of an embroidery piece, so the warp and weft colours can completely change the look of a woven piece. Here are some photos of the finished products of last night's weaving class. This first one is one of my placemats. The thin white lines are the guide for cutting them apart (yes I'm nervous, but I've been given instructions). As I mentioned yesterday, I love the way the variegated green looks as warp and weft with plainweave. But notice how the green barely comes out with the pattern band.
Joy kindly allowed me to photograph her piece which uses the same green variegated warp. She used black and white novelty yarns and ribbon to create this length which will be cut up to make pillows. In some places you can barely tell it is the same yarn I am using.
I had some warp left at the end of my weaving so I tried some purple yarns. I've seen this purple and green colourway in a few things, including some orchids, so I thought it was worth a try. Most of the stripes are plainweave, but I did do a couple of bird's eye pattern strips as well. It was great fun seeing how the colours work together and good practice to get the feel of odd yarns.
Cherri suggested that I be sure to add an extra yard whenever I measure my warp so I have experiment room and I heartily agree. It is fun. Here is the final, uncut, piece. Almost 5 yards long. It really didn't take too long, and as a novice, it was amazing to see how much came off the cloth beam. As I was weaving, I really didn't get a sense of how long it was!

Weaving placemats - My second project

2008-05-22T09:57:00.004-04:00

My enthusiasm for weaving has not diminished, in fact I keep coming up with new ideas for things I want to try. Between a trip to our local wool shop to drool over the various yarns I might try, to the book from my university library with all the patterns and ideas, I think I could get seriously involved in this.

So, here is what I've been doing this month, but forgetting to post. My warp is a green variegated thread (not sure which fibers since not everything is labelled). It is rougher than my last warp so was a bit picky to set up - and I made a major mistake but with help from Cherri I recovered and I now feel I really understand how to set things up. Not that I think I know everything, I don't think I'll ever know everything about weaving or needlework (or anything else for that matter).
The warp was measured to allow room for experiment, and the harnesses threaded for bird's eye patterns, so I started with a tan weft doing several patterns, but as you can see, they really didn't show up with the colour I used.
Then I tried white, which did show up much better, so I tested a couple of patterns and then chose what I would do. Cherri showed me a technique that puts a plainweave set in the base colour between the pattern set, which looked really nice (no photo) but it did make me realize that a whole placemat of the pattern with white would look washed out.
So I'm weaving plainweave ends and middles with the warp yarn, and three rows of pattern in white at each side of the placemat. I love the random plaid patterns that emerge with the plainweave.
What is really neat, and I'll try to get some photos tonight, is that one of the other students, Joy, used the same warp, but she is using novelty yarns, mainly in black, for her weft, to make pillows. It is a good lesson in how changes in colour can really change the woven look. And the eyelash yarn adds so much to the piece.

Tonight is my last night at the Arts Center for this session, and there are no month long summer sessions because of the children's summer camp. I'll be finishing my placemats tonight, but I won't be stopping my weaving. I plan on moving to one of Cherri's studios to continue learning more. In the meantime, I have a holiday weekend approaching and I must get to work on the President's Challenge for my EGA chapter. I'm making a CQ pillow for DD the younger who wants her favourite horse in the middle. DD the older drew the horse and I've been trying to stitch him. Even with a couple of photo in hand, and many years of watching DD the younger ride the horse, I still don't seem to have it quite right, although she likes him.
DD the older drew the same horse as a carousel horse for a poster contest for the county fair. You can see I'm a bit off! She also included the barn donkey pulling a cart, and the barn pig, and some of the other horses, including the foal we saw being born. She thought a smaller carousel horse would be nice. Mind you the horses are jumping around the fair grounds like a Mary Poppins movie, which is why you can't see the carousel.

Loving what you do and Perimenopause?

2008-05-14T17:38:00.002-04:00

It is interesting how threads from various ideas come together eventually, at least they often do for me. As I was thinking about doing what I love and rules in art, I was also reading about perimenopause. Stay with me here because they do come together in the end.

Since I am a woman in her forties (okay late 40s if I'm being truthful) and a medical librarian, I have been looking for a good book on menopause/perimenopause. The years before menopause, when we get the familiar signs that it is coming, are called perimenopause - for those who haven't heard the term. I look at most non-fiction books from a librarian's perspective. What are the writer's credentials and experience? are there footnotes to current peer-reviewed research? Is it a reputable publisher? etc. I looked through the shelves at my public library and took out some likely candidates to read through. One has especially been good - The Wisdom of Menopause, by Christiane Northrup. It started right off with her describing her feelings of irritability with everyone around her, which is what I've been feeling quite a bit lately. It was wonderful to know I was not alone in feeling this way, and reassuring to know it was my hormones in a wildly fluctuating state.

Dr. Northrup writes that the change in hormones changes the wiring in our brains. All the hormones for nurturing that we need for child-rearing are no longer affecting our brains the same way, so we can now focus on new things. As she writes (on page 19)
" Our hormones are giving us an opportunity to see, once and for all, what we need to change in order to live honestly, fully, and healthfully in the second half of our lives."

Doesn't that sound like a great opportunity.

She ends chapter 1 with :
"Take advantage of the clarity of vision that is the gift of menopause, and use that gift to let the second half of your life be truly your own."

The reason this comes back to loving what you do is because during the last year or so, even as I've been getting irritable, I've found myself more productive than ever at work, and more willing to try new things with my stitching, and now I'm weaving! Never mind the riding lessons. Luckily my husband is very encouraging and even offered to go to Vermont so I could take a class at Eaton Hill Textile Works - where they are weaving the silk lining for the jacket at Plimoth Plantation. (alas, the summer classes are only for dying, not weaving, but then again.....)

So now I'm looking at perimenopause as a time to take a good look at what I want to accomplish with the next half of my life. I want to fill the time with activities I love and people I love, and as little cleaning as possible.

Doing what you love with no rules.

2008-05-11T17:57:00.003-04:00

My post today has been inspired by two blogs. Jude at Spirit Cloth writes about changing the world by doing what we love, and Sharon B wrote about an article in Bonefolder, in which women who create books discuss the multidisciplinary aspect to artistic book making. Sharon thought that maybe this was because it is an art without history and long standing rules. And she compared this to the women who love crazy quilting and art journaling, where there are no rules. Jude does the most amazing quilting, though that really doesn't do justice to her work, so the two blog entries seem to have come together in my mind. I am inspired by both these women who love fibre arts so much. And I appreciate that they both write blogs so I can keep up with their work. And both have pushed me to try new things - although I had already given up on a lot of rules.

I love embroidery, and working with children, and I forget the rules when teaching kids embroidery, since in the end, what matters is the kids being happy with what they have created. When I buy supplies for stitching, I usually forget the rules as well and just buy what appeals to me. When I do use a pattern, I usually change things to make what I want. Even in my profession, which I love, I've pushed beyond conventional practice a few times to do what I think needs doing, and have been able to advance professionally because of this. I am now learning to weave, so I have to follow some rules, but as I learn and read more figure out how weaving is supposed to work, I will be breaking the rules and creating what I want to see. And I know my posture, and the way I hold the guitar and my fingering and timing are all wrong, but I love playing classical guitar, and it turns out, my daughter love to hear me practice as she falls asleep. What a nice thing to find out on mother's day.

Speaking of mother's day, I finished the fringe on the shawl for my mother, my first woven piece.

Thanks for all the encouragement and support Mom. Sorry the present will be late.

Two great finishes!

2008-05-05T15:00:00.002-04:00

My first woven article is done! I am pleased with how it turned out, but even more, I enjoyed the whole process thoroughly. I was so worried that after so many years of wanting to learn to weave, that I would be disappointed once I actually did it, but it is more fun than I anticipated. Just to watch the fabric grow each time I sat down to work was very gratifying. But it was also exciting to see the way the colours changed depending on what colour was in the next pic.

Here is the final hem stitch to my piece from a week and a half ago.

And here is the shawl blocked on the guest room floor. I still have to weave in a few ends, or at least trim the ends of the ends I wove in. I'll do that a little neater next time - although I won't have so many colour changes anyway. I also need to decide on the fringe. I alternate between a macrame like knotted trellis or adding some extra warp threads to fill out the fringe and make it short. Part of me thinks that a long, knotted fringe would fit with the modern sort of feel of the shawl, but then a short, full fringe would keep the focus on the weaving. Any thoughts?

Here is my other finish from last week. The Gilt Sylke Twist from Plimoth used to decorate a pre-made satin box. I'm keeping this because the spools of GST fit in perfectly.

It is quite interesting that Mary Corbet at Needle 'N Thread and
Carol Ann at Threads Across the Web also thought to do strawberries with the GST. There must be something about the gold bits that lend themselves to strawberries.

Finally, another garden photo - roses. Another bonus living in Virginia - roses in April. Mind you we have black spot by June, but what the heck.

Lots of Life, Some Needlework and a bit of Everything

2008-04-24T08:21:00.007-04:00

There are lots of photos today. I should have spaced them out but today is my day to putter around and get things done around the house.

First, some weaving. This really isn't needlework, although it is part of my passion for fiber, so this is the everything part. This is what I was able to get done last Thursday. Most of the weft is mohair, except for some nubby yarn in the wooden shuttle that I'm using as an accent between various colours. The overdyed mohair in the red shuttle is just wending its way through the shawl. I was able to spend a few hours weaving on Saturday and made great progress. Many thanks to my DH for making sure I had the time to do it. The photos don't really do justice to the colours or texture so you'll have to trust me that it looks quite nice.
I contemplated counting things out and making a pattern to the stripes, but decided not to in the end. My husband thought it looked like waves, so I guess that is the pattern!

Now to the life. It is spring in Virginia and my garden is starting to bloom.

And the house finches nested behind the light on our front porch. These three fledged the next day, which isn't surprising given the amount of room they have.

Now some needlework. I'm doing something with the Gilt Sylke Twist from the Plymoth Jacket Project. I looked over my photos of the jacket motifs and decided to do some strawberries and a cornflower. I've done them in detached buttonhole because...
...they are going on the top of this satin box.
I found the box for $1 at Michael's. Of course when I decided that the box would be great for needlework projects and went back, there were none left. Stay tuned for the results.

New Life

2008-04-13T06:51:00.005-04:00

Well, I knew this past week was going to be exciting, but even I was surprised at how exciting.

To start with, my older daughter had some of her artwork in the school show last week, and this weekend she had 5 pieces in the big county show (which is held in conjunction with the science fair, which my husband attended as a judge.) Here is her gesture drawing - the first time she has had models for drawing people:

Then, on Thursday, I had my second weaving class. It seems like I have always wanted to learn how to weave (and eventually I want to weave tapestries.) I've finally got just the right timing to be able to take classes - and it looks like there is a chance I'll have a spot for a loom later this year. We'll see. Anyway, the class is down at the Visual Arts Center and the instructor is Cherri Hankins, who has a blog and web site with her lovely weaving. We've also had some great chats about teaching children fiber arts.

I forgot my camera the first class, but here is my progress through the second class. The first class we measured the warp and then put it on the loom and counted warp threads through the raddle, which I finished up before the second class started.

Then we rolled the warp on and pulled it through the heddles.
Finally, we started sleying the reed.
Lest you think I have it all memorized, I've been going back to Cherri's weaving group list where she tells us what we have done. It is actually good to go over it and look at the photos so I can remember the proper names and what I've been up to. You'll also notice that some threads are no longer in the heddles. Of course I was chatting as I was threading heddles and didn't check my counting carefully enough and had to pull out about half of my threading. Good lesson and good practice!
By the way, I'm making a mohair shawl and these are the colours:

Last weekend my daughters attended a baby shower for a horse at the place next to our riding stables. My older daughter drew the card (the owner is pretty sure the foal will be a paint).

Well, little did we know that in less than a week, we would be seeing a foal being born - this one at our riding stables. We arrived earlier than usual on Friday for a lesson and things were very quite since the owner and manager were out for lunch. There were just a few of us around. I was chatting with one of the other mothers (who also boards her horse there) and then she went off to finish cleaning stalls, when suddenly she shouted that Lily was having her baby! Nobody was sure when she was due because she wasn't intentionally bred - she was purchased without knowing she was pregnant.
Frantic phone calls were made and we all gathered quietly around the stall to make sure Lily was fine. There were two of us in the stall and the others, including my daughters, sat out in the aisle. I don't think it took more than 20 minutes for Lily to deliver. It was amazing and all done by the time the barn owner arrived. Here is the new filly, Darcie, at 24 hours old (of course I had no camera on Friday). Isn't she adorable. Yesterday evening she was running about with her mother. It is incredible how well a foal can move so soon after being born. The mare is an excellent mother and whenever Darcie ran too far away, Lily ran after her and brought her in line.

Whale of a time in Bermuda

2008-03-31T11:10:00.002-04:00

We returned yesterday from a wonderful vacation in Bermuda. It was a fantastic experience. We rode horses on the beach, visited all sorts of beaches, toured houses, museums, the zoo and aquarium, even a perfumery. I am taking care of laundry, putting things away, and nursing a sinus headache that only Virginia can cause - Bermuda was relatively allergen free for me! So just a couple of photos of the trip. We took a back route through St. George's (a really lovely historic town) and I found the best place for me to live - Needle and Thread Alley!

Last time we went to Bermuda, the highlight of the trip was helmet diving in the reefs around Bermuda, which are justifiably famous. This time we couldn't helmet dive, although we did try to arrange it, but Easter was too early, so too far before the real tourist season for the dive boat to be ready. So instead we went on a whale watching tour. Despite a couple of members of the family getting sea sick (amazingly I wasn't too bad) it was an incredible experience. Here is one of my photos of one of the two young humpback whales that were swimming around our boat for a while. They kept going back and forth under the boat and checking us out. It was a glass bottom boat and when you looked down, you could see the whales clearly and several people, including my younger daughter, were able to see the whales looking up at them. She was thrilled!

Of course, this is a really poor photo, and wouldn't mean anything except for the fact the I took it and really saw the whales. If you want good whale footage, check out this video by Andrew Stevenson from YouTube:

Everything and a new blog

2008-03-15T09:29:00.003-04:00

If I were really vain (which I hope I'm not) I might start by reassuring my adoring fans that I am quite well despite my absence from this blog. But instead I'll just apologize to my few blog friends and Sister Stitchers for being such a poor correspondent these past couple of months. It really is frustrating when the paid work gets in the way. On the plus side, I know more about searching for gene sequences than I did back in January!

I have managed to fit a few stitching projects in though. I especially like having something to work on as I watch TV, the sitting doesn't seem quite so pointless, although when the new Jane Austen films have been on Masterpiece Classic (the new name) I haven't bothered to stitch. I didn't like the new Persuasion, but I guess that will be another post.

Anyway, I've finished the stitching on the Catherine Jordan Topiary Sampler piece that was a chapter program in January, so I'm ready for the finishing class in May. This piece was designed to teach the use of overdyed threads and was very, very good. We'll be creating pin keeps in May.

Speaking of the chapter, I've set up a blog and web site for the chapter. Google Docs doesn't support easy URLs, hence the blog to go with the web site. Take a look and let me know what I should add to the web site, aside from photos, which I need to get permissions for before I add them. I've also been in charge of getting a chapter square for the region banner, which will be at the 50th anniversary EGA national meeting this fall. We used our chapter logo, which was already charted for our nametags, and then Catherine Jordan (as well as an exceptional national teacher, she is also a member of my chapter) designed the bargello border for the square. It was stitched by various members and the lace cuff is a crocheted lace sample done by my great-grandmother. The overdyed ribbon is from Catherine, and I used floss colours to match the ribbon for the palette.

On the knitting front, I've been testing various lace patterns with the silk yarn I purchased for my own project, and so far nothing has been quite right. I'll keep trying, but with the daffodils out and the birds singing, my knitting season is almost over, so it may have to keep until fall. In the meantime, I'm taking a weaving class in April!

What I did

2008-02-07T09:04:00.000-05:00

First of all, I must thank Jane, from Nuido - a student's journey, for her 'Make My Day' award nomination. Not only is it rewarding to know that somebody is enjoying my blog, but I found new blogs to enjoy from her list. I'm still thinking about my list, but as always, as I think, the people whose blogs I read are already posting their lists, and so it is hard to think of somebody new to add to the lists. In my comment to Jane I wondered what a six degrees of separation list would look like for the needlework blog community. I suspect it is more like 3 or 4 degrees of separation, given the lists I've seen.

The other comment on my last post was from Elisabeth at Sew In Love who wondered what I had done back in January when I wrote my last long, meandering post. Well, I didn't do much stitching but I did select colours and find a pattern and start stitching on a band round robin I'm doing. I've posted it on the Stitching Sisters blog where we share our progress but here it is as well. I've been using "Color Play:Easy Steps to Imaginative Color in Quilts" by Joen Wolfrom to help when I am stuck with colour choice. The colour combinations are based on the Ives colour wheel and there are lots of photos of flowers and such to illustrate the concepts. For me, the colour pallates ring true, so I reley on this book.

I had already decided on a beach theme because Jenny's beautiful band had such lovely sea colours. You can read her description of this band in her Stitching Sisters post. But the reds I found that fit the colour scheme didn't quite lend themselves to beach or sea items. Luckily, back in November I taught an Assisi work class and had searched the internet for charts and remembered a seahorse chart. I used the dark aqua instead of black for the outline and after a few nights of stitching while watching mystery DVDs I finished the first motif. I won't say that I didn't have to frog a few times, but I've learned that a good mystery is not conducive to keeping count. I'll have to save my free form stitching for those nights.

I searched for sea shell charts and couldn't find what I wanted to go with this, so I charted my own sea shell to go above and below the seahorses. I finished up last night so here is how the sampler looks so far. Jenny has asked for bands in a verticle orientation because she is making a purse at the end. I have to send this off to Mandy in England next, but I'm keeping it until next week because I mentioned the band round robin to some of my EGA chapter members and they asked to see it. Jenny's hardander work is so amazing that I want them to take a look.

As I've mentioned before, I start to feel like knitting come November, so that is another thing I've been finishing off. The problem is, the yarn store is next to the wide shoe store so I can't help myself. And when I see all the amazing yarns, I just have to get them. I limited myself to scarf amounts though, rather than sweater, since it was just before Christmas and I had to consider the budget. I don't know if I'll be able to restrain myself when I go to get spring shoes though. Anyway, I've done three scarves so far, which has been good practice for the final silk scarf I will do for myself.

I almost don't want to give this scarf away, but it is for my SIL who just had a birthday so I can't keep it without getting something else for her. It is made from polyamide, which sounds awful but it really is neat. The yarn is from Colinette yarns in Wales - Lasso in Monet colourway. I tried about three different knitting patterns before deciding on this simple lace pattern. The others I tried showed too much of the light blue and the colourway didn't work. We had Catherine Jordan teaching a class at my last EGA chapter meeting and she taught us various ways to work with overdyed threads. This scarf really brought that home. You can't use varigated or overdyed yarns and threads for everything!

This morning I finally got around to blocking. When I see these two (the smaller scarf if the pale aqua silk mentioned in a previous post) stretched out on the floor I wonder if maybe I made them too long. I judged the length by putting them on me, but I'm taller than the recipients of these and I like to wear my scarf wrapped around my neck with both ends hanging in front.
I also finished this silk and cotton scarf. I really like the picot edge knitted on this pattern so I used it for the aqua silk as well. I didn't on the blue scarf and I'm sort of wishing I had, but there is no more yarn so it will have to do. I'll make sure I think of it for the next scarf.

Think, organize or do it?

2008-01-09T11:36:00.000-05:00

So here I am sitting at home alone with 3 hours of unexpected time on my hands. What should I do? While I've managed to fit in some knitting lately, I haven't done any embroidery since before Christmas. And I have a new DVD on how to play Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring on the classical guitar that has been calling to me. I also have to decide on the next article for a needlework column I am now editing. But, I have new classes to plan, a paper to write, a position paper to write, and a newsletter to pull together for my various jobs. And the house is in great need of organizing and cleaning since the decorations are sitting around (although mostly in boxes thanks to my DH's hard work). And the bathroom needs cleaning. And to top it all off, I'm thinking I would like a nap.
So why am I sitting here writing for my blog? Well, Elaine's post yesterday at Red Thread Studio mentioned blog as meditation

"Eventually everything in life becomes a meditation and an opportunity to be mindful, including writing a blog. At its best, it's a daily practice that allows many ideas to be explored and observed, with a focus that acts as a point of beginning and return. Meditation, disguised as blogging or knitting or beading or walking, is not sleepiness or passivity -- it's an active, fiery, energetic process that opens the doors of the universe and is also just what you do every day."

and I think today I will use mine that way.

As I think about all that I need to do, I could start by prioritizing things. Obviously there are deadlines for classes and columns that are outside my control, so they really should come first, but I do have other times that I can work on those things. I wonder if I really want to use 'found' time to work on practical things.

So that leaves me with household chores and hobbies, or sleep. What will really make me feel energized for the rest of the day? I sometimes think that getting a space organized helps puts my thoughts in place, so maybe cleaning up the desk or my stitching area would work. Although at this moment, I want to feel I've actually accomplished something, and putting away a few piles of stuff or sleeping won't help there. The guitar playing would be nice, but I need to put away stuff to get to the guitar and have a place to put a chair in front of a TV, so that is harder right now, but maybe I could push a few piles and manage it. The knitting I can do while watching TV with family (we have a few shows, like Antiques Road Show and Dirty Jobs that are family activities) so I really don't need to do it now. That leaves me with stitching, which does seem to feel like the best thing to do.

Of course thinking about stitching reminds me of the wonderful discussion going on at the EGA Yahoo group. It started out with somebody who was disappointed because the Embroidered Knot Gardens book by Owen Davies (which I LOVE) didn't have much instruction and most of the photos were on the web site. Some people agreed but others felt more like I do. The discussion then turned to the difference between US and UK styles of embroidery and embroidery teaching. How in the US people want kits and exact instructions, and in the UK people are encouraged to be creative. And the education differences were brought up - there are still many programs that teach needlearts in the UK, plus the City and Guilds programs. It was fascinating to read, and it was nice to see there are people like me who want both. Easy kits and instructions for quick projects and stressful times, plus other times when I want to create the whole thing.

And of course the conversation led to the idea that has been discussed on many needleart blogs - what is art? And why don't the needlearts get the respect they deserve? What is art and what is craft? Would you say a handmade chair is art or craft? I go back and forth on this one because whatever you call it, there is obviously some need inside most people to create something - hence the popularity of arts and crafts supply stores. Is every creation art? When my DH builds a wooden jewellery box from a kit, he has every right to be proud of what he has created. But is it art? When I make 3-D stitched flowers of my own design, I can be proud as well. Is it art now because I have designed the whole thing, or is it just craft because it is needlework? It seems that in some way, it shouldn't really matter. If somebody makes something and others like it and are willing to pay for it, what does it matter what we call it. But it does seem to matter. Rozsika Parker, the author of the fantastic book The Subversive Stitch, wrote and earlier book with Griseld Pollock, Old Mistresses: Women, Art and Ideology. In that book they discussed how hard it was for women painters to be judged on the same level as men. There was always the female label attached. So if we are content to let people call needlework a craft, it will never be judged on par with art.

Well, after babbling on and rereading posts and browsing through The Subversive Stitch, I am now down to 2 hours so I think I'll start stitching, since that was what I finally decided on through my blog meditation.

Mystery in Cookie Land

2007-12-27T22:13:00.000-05:00

These were done at a cookie decorating party for the neighbourhood children. Luckily, most of the mothers had a sense of humour or had read about the killer snowmen in the Calvin and Hobbes cartoons. Either way, here is the story the girls created.

It was a lovely day in Cookie Land.

But what is this, a MURDER! She's been shot!

Call the Detective Chief Inspector. He'll investigate.

Oh NO! Two more murders.

The Chief Inspector needs help. Ask Miss Marple, even though she is busy knitting, she has an idea.

And for good measure, ask Hercule Poirot for help too!

With their help, the murderer is apprehended! Hooray!

Now all is safe in Cookie Land again.

Except of course for the ones I ate.

Happy Holidays everyone.

Holiday Wrapping Hint

2007-12-18T17:44:00.000-05:00

I've learned that you should not wrap presents with glittery paper in the same place you fold laundry and triage the ironing.
I happily wrapped up presents on the bed using some new glitter snowflake paper from Hallmark. What I didn't realize, until it was too late, was that the glitter was everywhere. My husband came in and told me that he could not wear the pants that were on the bed because they were too glittery. I refused to wash them again, so I told him he could head off the strange thoughts by just telling everyone what I did. I did use one of those sticky lint rollers to get some of the glitter off as I ironed - although I wondered if the heat might make the glitter permanant. Oh well. Feel free to learn from my mistake.
Today I cleaned off the island in the garage/craft room so we can now wrap presents there. At least the glitter incident got me to clean up the garage before my MIL arrives.

Happy Holidays - Winter Solstice maybe?

2007-12-17T08:44:00.000-05:00

Part of the reason I started blogging was to learn about social software to keep me in touch with what the students at the university use. Well today I saw a very funny Christmas song video on Mason-Dixon Knitting and decided it was worth learning how to embed a YouTube video to share it with more people. I admit that I do really love acappella music, being a Nylons fan from way back in Canada when I was a teenager. And the embedding was easy once I actually read the instructions!

First Anniversary Musings

2007-12-13T17:55:00.000-05:00

I realized recently that my first anniversary as a blogger came and went without me noticing. As well as blogging myself, I have been reading more blogs this year, as I discovered the wonderful online community of textile lovers. I have a bit of time to reflect on this past year and I thought I'd share my thoughts on how it has gone.

My original reason for starting a blog was to participate in the Take a Stitch Tuesday Challenge set up by Sharon B. I can't tell you how much I am humbled by her energy, expertise and artistic talent. While I haven't finished all the weeks (I've reached 47 although I haven't blogged it yet), I have been pushed into many new things by the challenge and I will be eternally grateful to Sharon for setting it up.

Once I started participating in Sharon's challenge, I realized that there were many, many textile blogs out there. I can't tell you how many hours I've spent looking at all the wonderful things everyone out there is doing. I've added many inspired ideas to my visual journal thanks to my blog surfing.

At that point, I was working a couple of consulting jobs from home, but in March, I was able to start working more outside the home. Many years ago I 'retired' from full time work as a library director to stay home with my children. While I was able to fit in part-time work back in NY, when we moved there weren't enough hours between my morning drop-off and afternoon pick-up times. With the change in grades I have a good stretch of time to get out now. It was great to get back into a library and work at a busy reference desk. I forgot how much I love a university atmosphere. Of course, it means less time for stitching and blogging but I usually do feel more energized and creative after a good day at work.

I have summers off for childcare, so I was able to catch up and try new things then. I wrote an article about the tapestry project I worked on with my daughter's art club (see the Dec. NeedleArts magazine). My biggest inspiration was going up to Plimoth Planation in MA to work on the reproduction jacket project. That has totally changed the direction I want to go with my embroidery.

I started back at the university again in September where I'm doing some things that I find professionally exciting (I know, you are wondering what is exciting about being a librarian, but really, it is fun) I was also asked to be on the EGA National Youth Program Committee and edit the Crayons to Threads column for NeedleArts. That was a great honour (plus I still do the chapter newsletter). And the Sampler Round Robin I am in seems to be moving again. At least I have finished one and have another to do, so that is good.

My blogging has been sporadic. I constantly question why I'm doing it and why anyone would care. But I am so inspired by others, maybe somebody will find what I do interesting as well. And since not many people blog stumpwork, I feel I need to keep going with that, just to encourage more people.

All in all, I am pleased with what I have accomplished in the last year. Especially since I have also been working at the barn one or two evenings a week for much of the year. I even took riding lessons for a while. Mind you, I can't be to complacent right now because the tree is only half decorated and there are still presents to buy.

I am looking forward to 2008. There are going to be some new work challenges, some column editing, and lots and lots of stitching. And I hope to do some work with the high school art guild in the coming year as well. I don't know if I'll participate in any more challenges though. I think I want to challenge myself to create the work that I've been planning since I first saw the 3-D embroidered gardens book. I'll keep you posted on that. I also want to explore some other ideas. Today Sharon b wrote about a new blog that has captured my interest, Red Thread Studio. Elaine Lipson writes about Slow Cloth, New Cloth and Art Cloth. I love doing hand sewing, so the idea of slow cloth really appeals to me. (One of my favourite places is the milliner's shop in Colonial Williamsburg) Elaine's third post mentions one of my favourite books Elizabeth Wayland Barber's Women's Work, The First 20,000 Years: Women, Cloth and Society in Early Times. There is a vague notion in my mind that somehow the ideas in Barber's book should combine with those in Mother Nature: Maternal Instincts and How They Shape the Human Species by Sarah Hrdy to form an interesting take on why women feel and act as they do. I'm not sure what yet, but one day it will hit me.

I'm sure I've gone on long enough now, but I've at least interspersed my meanderings with some photos of current projects, and to end it all, some silk that I will be using to knit myself a lace scarf. If nothing else, over the last year I've learned that I can make something really special for myself, not just everyone else.

Another book I must have

2007-11-14T17:08:00.000-05:00

I have a great weakness for embroidery books. And I love natural looking techniques. So I was thrilled when a while back somebody mentioned Jane Hall (sorry I can't remember who) and I recently bought her book - which is a dream. I've told my husband the best thing he can give me for Christmas is permission to purchase lots and lots of silk and organza and silk dyes.

Today, I was looking for a seahorse Assisi pattern, which I found, but then I followed a photo to an Argentinian embroidery blog, and as I'm looking through I see the cover of a book that I know I must get by Gary Hall - here is his art gallery http://www.garyclarkedesigns.com/artgallery.html

This is why I don't web surf very often - too much of interest! Now I must get of the computer and go make brownies and cookies for a pot luck at work tomorrow.

Everything except blogging

2007-11-12T15:32:00.000-05:00

While you might think I've been quite for the last month, I really haven't been. I have been doing everything on my computer except blogging. I've been leaving comments on the blogs I enjoy reading and viewing. I've sent out another chapter newsletter, which includes a book review I've written. I've written a history and instructions and done stitch diagrams for the Assisi class I'm teaching tomorrow night (I'm going to have to think of a better way to do stitch diagrams in Photoshop). I've done several web pages and abstracts for work. And I've actually been doing some stitching.

Here are the Assisi horses from my last post fitted to the top of an Altoids box. I braided some leather from an old briefcase to act as a frame.

I used some store bought scrapbooking stickers to decorate the box inside and on the bottom. And then I made a biscornu paddock for a little horse charm. The perforated paper mini photo album is not quite finished but when I took the tin in to a chapter meeting, on of the members suggested horse hair for stitching when I finally had the photos ready and knew the size of the album.
The Band Robin I am in seems to be gaining steam again. I have received two in the mail, both of which started in Australia. This is the first I have worked on. The pattern is from a Hungarian pattern book and I used Color Play by Joen Wolfrom to help me with the colour scheme. The owner of this sampler (Christine) likes oranges and I agreed that the sampler needed some other colour.
Finally, this is for an ornament exchange. I may not be able to give it away, I'll have to think a bit and see if I can finish something else. We picked names and the slip of paper also had a few things the person liked. My recipient likes thistles, so this was what I made. I based the design on a scissor fob cross-stitch pattern. I find turkey work lots of fun although it is hard to keep the thistles looking neat. I used detached buttonhole for the flower bases just because I don't want to get out of practice in case I get the chance to go up to Plimoth Plantation again to work on the jacket!

Seduced by smalls

2007-09-25T16:05:00.000-04:00

I must admit that until a few years ago I had a rather dull cross-stitched pincushion and a very hastily assembled pin keep made from vivid orange felt. What did I need with something fancy? Then I saw a lovely bargello pincushion being used by the milliner in Colonial Williamsburg and thought I'd like one of my own. So I made one and finally had a nice pincushion. Then, on a trip to England I purchased a couple of kits, a needlebook with a Tudor rose and a scissor fob with a thistle. I discovered that it is very nice to have pretty things in my sewing basket and I don't know how I did without the scissor fob - actually, I know, I regularly couldn't find my scissors. Of late I have taken to drooling over the photos on The World's Largest Collection of Smalls blog.
So when I thought about a present for my SIL and started making a sample for my November Assisi class, I made smalls.
The rabbit pattern used here is from : http://www.bayrose.org/needlework/Voided_Work_Rabbits.html and the bird is from a Hungarian embroidery book I own. I used one skein of the DMC colour variations floss for all the stitching and finishing seen here. I only used cross stitch for this sample.

I also made a sample of three of the stitches used in Assisi work. The piece below is adapted from a Tokens and Trifles free chart designed by Tricia Wilson Nguyen. The fields are cross stitch. The mountains are 2-sided Italian cross stitch. And the sky is long arm cross stitch. This is sort of a modern interpretation of Assisi work. It will go on the top of a different sort of small - an Altoids tin that I'm making into a horse memory box for my daughter. I finished stitching the sky at a horse show on Sunday, just to make it more of a memory - the lingering smell of horse.

This is another pincushion and scissor fob set I did in silk for my SIL. I love the colour on this, it is In the Reds, Silk 'n Colors from the Thread Gatherer. The pattern is from a chart in the August 2007 Just CrossStitch, also by Tricia Wilson Nguyen. It was hard for me to use all the silk needed for the cord but it just had to be the correct colour, and after all, I can buy more. In the end, I think it looks great so I don't mind using so much silk.

TAST Catchup 34-37

2007-09-17T15:45:00.000-04:00

While my body is not entirely adjusted to the early school year wake up time, it has been nice to get back into a routine that allows for more regular stitching time. I also had a birthday present and class demo to make up (I'll post more later) but then finally I had time to try out the latest TAST stitches. I really like the challenge of something new and everything but the rice stitch was new, so I concentrated on stitch mechanics rather than creating a picture. Especially with something the Shisha stitch, I really need to know how it works to feel comfortable using it. What you don't see are the numerous trials as I tried to tie down a sea shell - I'm still working on that one and thinking that a small hole would be easier than Shisha!

TAST 34 Portuguese stem stitch. While thick thread and closely packed stitching can make a rope, it seems to work nicely as a snowflake with just a couple of strands of floss and long stitches.

TAST 35 Shisha stitch. This one was completely new but I can see the use. I don't recommend trying it with a slippery bead the first time - upper right. I did finally get it down. The red at bottom is with nothing so I could get a better idea of the form of the stitch without having to keep something down. I think the thicker floss is better as well.

TAST 36 Cable Chain. First I tried to actually make cables - like a sweater - and I think with the right thickness of wool and size of stitch you could really get something neat. Then I tried with floss and metallic thread. The metallic thread looks like a chain and could be quite useful in future.

TAST 37 Rice and boss variation. I think you could work up a really neat pattern with these stitches.

Summer's End

2007-09-04T15:12:00.000-04:00

Isn't it nice to know we never stop learning about ourselves?

This summer I learned that I should never make big plans when I think I'll have lots of time. I wanted to get so many things done while I didn't have to go in to work on a regular basis, but of course almost nothing got done. (I've learned this before so this is reinforcement.)

I've learned that it is important to seize the day. I had a fantastic time up at Plimoth Plantation working on the reproduction jacket. I didn't even know about the project at the beginning of May and yet early in August I was flying up to help (many thanks to DH for telling me to go).

I've learned that sometimes you don't have to keep every commitment you make to yourself. Sometimes more important things come first. I've missed the last couple of weeks of TAST because of travel and such, and as much as I was pleased that I was keeping up, now I'm relieved that I can let it go. Also, I've decided against continuing with the first step of the EGA mastercraftsman program in counted thread. I have so many things I want to do with stumpwork that counted thread isn't enjoyable. Plus the stress of perfect backs is making me miserable. Sometimes you have to let go.

I had an excellent end to the summer. My daughters and I visited SIL in WV. We painted a mural in her Tiki Room/garage, went tubing on the Cheat River and enjoyed the mountains (except when we were getting car sick on the winding roads). Since I always like to include photos, here are some of our trip.

My SIL is an excellent gardener. This is just one part of the amazing landscape she had carved out of the mountainside. Here is the mural. It is multimedia. We used wood cutouts and real nuts and dried starfish and stickers and bird feathers, etc. We all participated and had a great time.
This is the dog. She didn't help at all - just slept in the hammock!

TAST 32 and 33 Crested Chain and Scroll

2007-08-16T15:33:00.000-04:00

I've had fun this week working on quick little samples. Some weeks I can think of nothing to do other than just rows of stitches, and other weeks I get inspired, although this time some might say I've just gotten silly. Whatever the case, I've used only the stitch of the week in each piece. My stitch sample book is getting quite large and I think I might have to get a new and bigger book to hold everything? When you start adding cloth and thread, things get thick very quickly.

Hope you are all enjoying the challenge as much as I am.

Lace questons

2007-08-15T11:33:00.000-04:00

While I have always enjoyed the lace samples I have that were crocheted by my great grandmother, I never thought they would be of interest to others until I took them up to Plimoth Plantation for show and tell last week. It reminded me that I have promised my Stitching Sisters Christine and Jenny in Australia that I would put some photos up for them to see. At first I had thought everything was crocheted but when I saw the knotted lace on Jenny's blog and as I looked at things closely when deciding what to take, I realized that there were different types of lace in my pile.

So here are some things I could manage on the scanner since the camera is in use elsewhere. I think there is bobbin and needlelace here as well as crocheted lace. There is a needlelace tradition in Hungary (which is where my mother and her family are from) specifically in Kiskunhalas. I have two pieces framed.

I would love to hear from anyone who can tell me what's what.

Small fun stuff

2007-08-14T16:53:00.000-04:00

As I've been contemplating other bigger projects and deciding where to start, I've been working on smaller things. I finished these two this week. Technically, the St. Paul's on the bottom isn't finished because I need to make it into an ornament, but the cross stitching is done. The top is the commemorative needlebook kit we received at Plimoth Plantation last week (see previous post). Isn't Wendy White's design lovely? And I really enjoyed working with the perforated paper card. I have an extra special bit on my needlebook. I saved the ends of the gold wrapped silk I was using on the jacket and made the top pink flower on each side with it.

Carol Ann had a question about the piece I was working on for the jacket project. I don't get to finish the underarm piece. All the pieces stay at Plimoth Plantation and get worked on there. Some in my group were there for a second go round. But others like me were there for the first time. There will be sessions every month until next year but I don't think I'll be able to go back so I won't be able to do more on the jacket. But it is nice knowing I've been a part of such an amazing project. Tricia Wilson Nguyen is working on a series of kits that will be available based on this piece though, for those who are interested - keep a look out.

trip to Plimoth Plantation

2007-08-13T09:54:00.000-04:00

My trip to MA was fantastic! I arrived home late Friday night but company prevented me from blogging until today. I must start by thanking Dorothy on the EGA National Yahoo group who wrote about this project. When she told the group about the jacket project back in May I went to the website and was thrilled with the idea of recreating the jacket. I ordered the sample kit soon after and with my husband's blessings I started to plan for this trip.

We started Wednesday morning with warm up samples and then moved on to the actual jacket pieces. We all started with leaves or buds outlined with reverse chain and filled with detached buttonhole stitch. The filling is quite dense and looks beautiful done in the twisted silks. We were all lucky to be able to look at what the June group had stitched. Here is one part of the room as we started stitching.

All the pieces are stretched on frames and the larger pieces have stands. It was the first time using a floor stand for me and I actually like it - which is saying alot from a person who normally stitches in hand with no hoop if at all possible. For this stitch it is very important to be using a frame though. While we spent most of our time stitching, there were several exciting events planned for us as well. During our first lunch, we had a talk about Thanksgiving from Kathleen Curtain, the plantation food historian, which was very enjoyable and her book was included in our gift bags.
I was working on the left underarm piece of the jacket. It had not been worked on because they had only just acquired enough large frames to stretch all the pieces. It was nice to have a new piece because at the end of it all, I knew everything on the piece was done by my - not that there was much done, but it was still nice.
Our first evening program was a needlebook kit with a design by Wendy White on a Tokens and Trifles card with a customized back that commemorates our stitching session.. The pattern was special - based on one of the two samplers in the Plimoth Plantation collection that we were able to see in person the next day.

On Thursday, as well as having the chance to see a real stumpwork piece close up, we had a behind the scenes tour of the Plimoth Plantation collections department with Karin the curator in charge of the collections. She brought out a selection of needlework and clothing related items to show us, along with the two samplers. She also told us about a wonderful book, Findings: The Material Culture of Needlework and Sewing, by Mary C. Beaudry. I purchased the book and it is wonderful (more in another post). There was a large shelf of pieced together pottery that had been recovered from privy digs - a useful place to study the past.

We also had our show and tell time. It was wonderful to see everyone's work. I have so many ideas for things to make - as always I'll write them down or I will forget them before I ever get the chance to work on them.

Later in the day, Jill Hall took us to the wardrobe workshop and showed us where they clothe the 50-60 English settler interpreters at Plimoth Plantation. There is a separate wardrobe department for the Native People who wear Wampanoag dress.
So here is my completed underarm piece. As you can see, three days of stitching doesn't cover much ground when you are working with detached buttonhole and getting used to a floor frame. Mind you I did take breaks and had time off for meals and shopping. I imagine the women who made these jackets back in the 16th and 17th centuries didn't have so much time off and I know their meals weren't as nice as the ones we had.

I can't tell you how exciting it was to talk with Tricia Wilson Nguyen about the project. She is very excited by all the technical details and knowledgeable about the threads. It was fascinating to hear about how she researched the threads used and how she was able to get gold wrapped thread for the project. And the gold wrapped thread was great fun to work with. The two pink strawberries are done with the carnation colour.

Everyone at Plimoth Plantation was great. Jill and her staff in the Colonial Wardrobe Department (and Jill's two lovely daughters) did so much for us. And all the other stitchers were so nice and it was inspiring to hear about all their projects and the classes they had taken. I realized that despite my many years of stitching, I really am just a neophyte when it comes to real historical stitching. A few reproduction samplers is nothing compared to the work many of the other participants are doing. It was a real learning experience all around.

Historical needlework and beads

2007-08-05T20:40:00.001-04:00

The day after tomorrow I leave for Plimoth Plantation in MA. I'll be working on the 1627 jacket project up there http://www.plimoth.org/embroidery-blog/ I'm very excited to be able to participate in a project like this. When I first got serious about embroidery I was into reproduction samplers and now I'm interested in stumpwork so the chance to learn more about historical embroidery fits right in with my interests. I'll have three days of stitching with a lecture and special project as well. Can you imagine, three days with nothing but embroidery! Thank goodness I have such an indulgent husband. He encouraged me to go and he is staying home from work to look after the kids while I go.

In order to ready myself for the stitching, I've spent the last few days working on the butterfly pattern that came with the stitching sample kit that was part of the process for participating. The body of the butterfly is trellis stitch, the red wings are buttonhole and the pink wings are buttonhole lace - the outline is couched down so afterwards you can lift off the wing and attach it where you want it. Just this butterfly and the samples have taught me so much, I can't imagine how much I will learn going to work on the jacket.

In the meantime, I went to a local bead store yesterday - which has an online storefront as well http://banglesandbeads.net/catalog/ - and I was awestruck. Having only encountered the craft store bead aisles, this store was incredible. I love the crystals and pearls and glass beads, but the semiprecious stones that were available in all sorts of shapes were really inspiring. I could see garden paths and water and flowers and trees and all sorts of things I could embellish with those beads. I guess the variations in the stones fit with my love of overdyed threads. I didn't get anything for myself this trip - I bought quite a bit to encourage my daughter's new love of jewellery making - but I will get something on another trip because I will go in with some ideas!

TAST 31 Cast On Stitch

2007-07-31T17:05:00.000-04:00

This was so much fun! I started thinking I'd do a pink flower but the first petal reminded me of a worm so I went with it. In keeping with my personal challenge, the dirt, beak and bird feathers are also cast on stitch. The eye is a French knot.
I did notice with this stitch that I had to be careful of twists. If I cast on lots of stitches it was hard to keep things straight - although sometimes I let it twist, like the worm. I regularly let my thread hang to keep the twist out.

TAST 30 Buttonhole wheel

2007-07-30T23:24:00.001-04:00

I did another sort of experimental (at least for me) sampler this time on a piece of felt I made recently. It was very interesting to see the way the different colours worked on the different backgrounds. This piece has the highest form of compliment - my daughters like it! And I had fun which is even better.

TAST 29 Arrowhead stitch and finished Dragon CQ pillow

2007-07-30T15:58:00.000-04:00

I've had stitching time but not blogging time the last couple of weeks, but I finally have a chance to sit and write. I'm very excited because this morning I sent off an article and some photos on the VA tapestry project I did this year with my daughter's art club. It will be in the December issue of the EGA magazine, NeedleArts. That has been one of the things keeping me busy.

On the TAST front, I was so taken with some of the multiple arrowhead rows in Sharon's samples, I decided to use that stitch on my last Dragon CQ pillow seam. First, since I've learned how important testing is, I tried some arrowheads on a counted thread doodlecloth to get a feeling for even arrowheads. I decided I liked the triple blue one best, with all the arrowheads in the row starting from the same seam. By the way, the green mess represents Sting singing a John Dowland song on the album Songs from the Labyrinth. It is a contrapuntal sort of round and it was going through my head. I don't think I'm ready to illustrate Fantasia style yet.

So, after the practice I came up with this seam. This was the third try at the bugle bead row. The first time, I didn't have enough to do the whole row so I took it out and tried using some coloured half bugles I had lying around for every other arrowhead. It looked horrible so I took it out again and waited until I could get out and buy a new tube of beads. I'm very glad I did because I'm happy with this seam.

And here is the final pillow. My first CQ project is done! As well as having help from Sharon's TAST challenges, I had help and encouragement from ktj in pa who sent me patterns and encouraged me to try crazy quilting.

Learning to ride at 45

2007-07-17T22:32:00.001-04:00

My daughters have been riding horses for just over 4 years now and for the last two they have been particularly active helping get younger riders get ready for lessons, helping around the barn, and most recently, we have been feeding all the horses two evenings a week. Of course they are too young to get there alone or be at the barn alone, so I agreed to stay with them. At first I just sat and read, but it took them a long time and they argued about who was doing what. So I stepped in to delegate and took over the job of putting the grain in the buckets; the girls move horses in and out, and give water and hay. It has been a wonderful experience for all three of us and I have come to enjoy the horses very much. They all have such wonderful personalities, all very different. Well, I finally decided that it was time I learned as well. At first I didn't say anything and kept putting it off, but then I actually mentioned it, so I had to follow through. Today I had my third lesson (the photos below are from my first lesson a couple of weeks ago). I have discovered that getting off is much harder than getting on. Steering isn't too bad, but it is counter intuitive that the opposite leg from your turn is the one you need to squeeze with. And, I must admit that it is much, much harder than it looks. You have to think about body posture, and legs and heels and toes and hands and reins and then on top of it all you have to look where you are going! And when you trot, you have to bounce at the right time! But I have a fantastic instructor who is very patient with children and adults and I'm having a blast. And there are only a couple of muscles that are complaining at the end of the day.

I don't know how long or how far I'll go with this, but I'm pleased that I pushed myself to get out and do something active, it has been good to know I can do it, and I'm very happy I found the time. I highly recommend trying something new to everyone!