About a month ago, Lorna Bateman came to town to teach a couple of classes for my local chapter of the Embroiderers' Guild of America (EGA). She brought a lot of gorgeous threads with her!
Summer 2024: Google ended its email subscription service in 2021. I believe I've found a replacement, but haven't had time to test it. I have been stitching a little bit here and there and have some posts ready for when the email subscription is active again. Fingers crossed, I'll have time to rouse this blog out of its dormancy sometime this year.
10 December 2019
09 November 2019
06 November 2019
Looking Back at Spring
It's autumn where I live in Southern California, although it feels like summer sometimes! Much as I like the fall, I can't wait for spring. Several years ago, I bought the kits for Helen M. Stevens' designs for the four seasons. I started with Spring.
16 October 2019
Thread Painted Royal Blue Bird: Lots of Progress!
03 October 2019
Blame the Cat
23 September 2019
Royal Blue Burr-dy Time
I need some mindless, relaxing embroidery and I have a burr-ning desire to stitch a Trish Burr-d. (Sorry, I couldn't resist!)
14 September 2019
A Fan-tastic Old Kit
I learned to embroider by working commercial kits. I have a few favourites and I recently saw one of them come up for sale on ebay.
30 August 2019
The Chocolate Trellis
There are three main elements left to stitch on Melbury Hill's Galanthus Collector: two 'caps' (sepals?) on the flower tops and the bulb at the bottom. They will all involve trellises. I don't have a lot of experience stitching freehand trellises. I prefer having helper marks along the sides of a trellised area so there's no guesswork. However, the three elements will all be filled, so there's no place for helper marks. It'll be good experience to work the trellises freehand.
18 August 2019
A Whiter White
It's snowdrop flower time on Melbury Hill's Galanthus Collector. The Heathway crewel white isn't white enough for a good contrast with the linen twill ground fabric. That means all the embroidery on the bud has to come out with the help of a laying tool and scissors.
09 August 2019
Dragonfly with Underside Couching
When I stitched the Opus Anglicanum Little Man, I became intrigued with the background that was created with underside couching in gold metallic thread. I was fascinated with the patterning that appeared to be etched into the gold.
My first attempt at this technique was quite rough, so I definitely wanted to try it again.
My first attempt at this technique was quite rough, so I definitely wanted to try it again.
01 August 2019
Shading with Odds and Evens
I'm making some good progress on Melbury Hill's Galanthus Collector, a crewel design with snowdrops.
24 July 2019
A Solution in Search of a Problem
I've worked in the technology field for several years and we are always trying not to have a solution in search of a problem. You're supposed to have a problem to solve first! Then you look for an appropriate solution and not the other way around.
I am currently faced with the embroidery equivalent of a solution in search of a problem. I have a beautiful set of Heathway crewel wool and I need a problem, I mean a project, on which to use it.
I am currently faced with the embroidery equivalent of a solution in search of a problem. I have a beautiful set of Heathway crewel wool and I need a problem, I mean a project, on which to use it.
14 May 2019
Wild Child: Mostly Tamed
I have finished the embroidered part of Wild Child. It's taken longer than I thought, but due to other restrictions on my time I haven't had a lot of opportunities to stitch over the last year.
In the last episode, there were just a few outlines and a bit of green filling left. The majority of the remaining work was the black beaded filling throughout the entire piece, lots and lots of filling!
In the last episode, there were just a few outlines and a bit of green filling left. The majority of the remaining work was the black beaded filling throughout the entire piece, lots and lots of filling!
30 April 2019
Sweet Violas in Thread Painting
As I'm nearing completion of the embroidered part of Wild Child, I'm contemplating what to work on next. I have two other large pieces to finish (Summer of Love Challenge and Antique Society Silk Violets), but I need to do some relaxing stitching for a bit. I think I'm going to find a small thread painting project in order to give my brain a rest.
One of my favourite sources for easy, but gratifying shaded embroidery projects is Trish Burr's book Needle Painting Embroidery: Fresh Ideas for Beginners. While it's a wonderful book for beginners, there's enough detail to interest more advanced needlepainters.
Several years ago, I embroidered Wild Pansy.
One of my favourite sources for easy, but gratifying shaded embroidery projects is Trish Burr's book Needle Painting Embroidery: Fresh Ideas for Beginners. While it's a wonderful book for beginners, there's enough detail to interest more advanced needlepainters.
Several years ago, I embroidered Wild Pansy.
04 March 2019
Loop de Loop de Loop
The procrastinating is over and the loops (aka, Curly) on Wild Child have been tackled.
The plan was to use surface embroidery to enhance Curly with the look of coloured pencil. My goal was to have the shaded loops appear as if they had been printed on the fabric, and only by looking closely would you know that they were stitched.
To begin, I selected a lot of potential colours!
The plan was to use surface embroidery to enhance Curly with the look of coloured pencil. My goal was to have the shaded loops appear as if they had been printed on the fabric, and only by looking closely would you know that they were stitched.
To begin, I selected a lot of potential colours!
02 February 2019
Little Man in Opus Anglicanum
For many reasons, I've had Medieval embroidery on the brain lately. Several years ago, I had the good fortune to be invited to a symposium put on by a Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) group. They taught four embroidery classes over two days, and it was an incredibly valuable experience.
One of the classes was Opus Anglicanum (translation: English Work) which I don't think I'd even heard of at the time! We worked a traditional Medieval character in silk and gold threads.
One of the classes was Opus Anglicanum (translation: English Work) which I don't think I'd even heard of at the time! We worked a traditional Medieval character in silk and gold threads.
21 January 2019
Fiddly Beadily Bits
I'm procrastinating. I haven't had time to focus on how to stitch the golden curly bit at the top of Wild Child. I know I'm going to embroider it with some sort of shading, but I haven't figured out a plan.
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