3 Finishes!

The two pieces I started a week and a half ago are finished. The Relics in Situ butterfly looks wonderful. But I'm not sure my eyes can take the 1" actual size piece. I also need to figure out what to do with the motifs; ornament, needlebook, scissor fob? And Foxy from Becky Hogg Embroidery is done! I really love all the types of metalwork in the piece. It really shows what you can do with the technique.

I've also finished my Monet inspired Japanese bridge and waterlily piece. I've spent a lot of time just looking at this, thinking about how to give a painterly feel to the piece, then when my daughter mentioned that it wasn't supposed to be an exact replica of a painting, I started to relax. But, I did want to have the fullness of the painting, so I had to add lots of leaves to fill the blue space above the bridge, and lots of waves for the water. I even shaded the ribbon lily pads, and added some ribbon water lilies to give the lush feeling of the paintings.

I stopped at this point to spend some more time thinking, and decided that some branches amongst the background leaves would help, and more tiny wavelets.

And here is the final. It looks neat with the light behind it, but that is out of my skill range as a framer.

So here it is in the frame. It is a shadow box frame, so it helps with the depth of the piece when you see it IRL.

So now I need to rearrange all the pieces on my wall. I have a Helioblue sleeping fox and hedgehog to put up (with space for the badger that should be coming soon, I hope). And now Foxy to go with the Kingfisher and fritillaria from Becky Hogg Embroidery. And a hummingbird sampler from OwlForest to go with the hedgehog sampler. And several other WIPs. I may need to start making boxes and sewing accessories since I won't have wall space!

Butterfly and Foxy starts

 Last weekend I really indulged myself in embroidery, which was good because my work week was busier than expected. I've still got a few things to finish, but I had such fun learning about caps & coifs from Relics in Situ, I wanted to mention them again and show the lovely butterfly I've started. They have so many photos of such wonderful pieces from many collections, it really is inspirational. And their background research on stitching is so interesting. There is a lecture coming up Elizabethan Embroidery: Gloriana's Gifts and the Power of the Needle so you might want to sign up for their newsletter to be notified of the date. 

What was interesting about the two caps and coifs motifs to stitch, a butterfly and a bird, is that they were in two sizes, 1" and 2" high. The 1" is the actual size on the coif, the 2" is more the size of the flowers on the coif. I started the 2" butterfly but I look forward to the smaller one. I only did a bit because I had to get on to Foxy.

Foxy is a kit from Becky Hogg. I've already done her Kingfisher and Fritillary, which I love, and I needed a third to make a picturesque grouping (that's my excuse, you are welcome to use it anytime). So here was where I left Foxy on Sunday night. 

Every goldwork/metalwork piece I try gives me a bit more confidence with the techniques, but I suspect I will never get really good at it until I stop worrying about wasting metal threads and play around a bit. I've gradually let myself play with silk threads, but metal threads are more expensive. 

Long Time, No See

 Ever since reading about mini black holes that appear all around us, I've been convinced that I'm sensitive to them and that is why I have such a poor sense of time. Although writing it down like this does make it seem rather silly. Anyway, whatever the reason, I had no idea how long it has been since I posted about my embroidery - 7 years! It's not that I'm not doing anything, in fact, I've done quite a bit. It's just that once I was back at full-time work, I just didn't have the time for long blog posts. And I've found Instagram to be a great place to share things. But now, as I'm getting back to working on my own designs, and moving towards finally working on my casket, I find I need a longer form to write about my stitching.

So to start with, some eye candy to show I've been busy, and then on the weekend, a post about a Monet inspired piece I started in 2016 and I'm finally finishing.

I started this Jane Nicholas piece at EGA National Seminar in Alexandria, VA in 2016. Finally finished in 2020.

This was a Relics in Situ course piece. Lots of fun. On silk!

These next two are Owl Forest Embroidery - Hedgehogs and Hummingbirds. I love both.

Becky Hogg goldwork fritillaria and kingfisher - and I have her fox on my shelf!

And these are RSN online courses. The Goldwork is by Becky Hogg, and since I took the online course first, I was really comfortable working with the kits.

The RSN silk shading was taught by Kate Barlow was great, and my shading for the Jane Nicholas piece above improved after taking this course.

This RSN course Introduction to Jacobean Crewelwork, was taught by Deborah Wilding. I loved it and have since done more!