Keeping a Kitten in Stitches

Animals seem to be a popular embroidery subject. They are everywhere online. I know that the Royal School of Needlework (RSN) teaches 'pet portraits' to their certificate and diploma (C&D) students, but it's not been available as a day class until recently. I had the good fortune to participate in the first offering of this online version of the class to non-C&D students.

These are some of the bits and pieces that I had acquired by the end of the class:

A Spartan Past

More than ten years ago, I stitched the first challenging piece of thread painting in my embroidery life. It was a Trish Burr design called Iris Spartan.

Easter Were-Rabbit

Sometimes you just have to wonder what people are thinking. I bought a vintage stamped table runner a while ago. It has an Easter theme and I've always wanted to make an embroidered Easter runner or small tablecloth.

However, when it arrived and I got a good look at the design I was rather dismayed by the appearance of the rabbits. This is one of the pseudo-rabbit-things:

Did the person who drew this ever see a rabbit in person? I don't know what this is, but it's definitely not a cute Easter bunny! It appears to have 'feathers' and cloven feet and it's seriously underfed. I think of it as a 'were-rabbit', poor thing. (There's a second rabbit design on the runner that is just as weird.) It required some remodelling.

Time to Give it a Rest

I've come to the end of the 'challenging' hares on Jenny McWhinney's Queen Anne's Lace embroidered accessories set. This should be the last critter with tricky areas to stitch. I'm also going to share how I'm working the hares' eyes which is different from the kit instructions.

This comparatively large embroidered panel is the front of a travel pouch. All the flower stalks--and there are many--were embroidered before starting on the hare.

Hare on the Run

Another day, another hare. This is hare number three from Jenny McWhinney's Queen Anne's Lace set of accessories. This might be my favourite of all the hares in the set. I also expected that it might be a bit tricky to stitch in places especially around the back leg.

I started with the ears:

Hare-athon

I've finished one more hare from Jenny McWhinney's Queen Anne's Lace set of accessories. This one is on the back of the travelling work station.

This is Jenny's original:

Queen Anne's Lace Travelling Work Station
(Back) by Jenny McWhinney

Driven by Hares

I have delighted in seeing various embroidered animals created by Jenny McWhinney over the years, especially in Inspirations magazine. I've always wanted to stitch one of her bunnies, but hadn't quite come across the 'one' until recently.

Jenny has a set of four embroidery accessories adorned with 'bunnies' (and Queen Anne's lace flowers). It turns out they are hares.

Here's the original Queen Anne's Lace accessories set:

Queen Anne's Lace by Jenny McWhinney

Fun with Floche

As a thank you for helping with the Alpine Rose project, my student sent me a set of three flour sack towels with pre-transferred designs by Mary Corbet of Needle 'n Thread. The towels seemed like a good excuse, um, opportunity to play with some fairly new-to-me threads. So, I went shopping.

And Now for Something Completely Different

If you wait long enough to finish a project DMC comes out with new colours! With the help of some of the new DMC threads, I have finally completed embroidering my design for the San Francisco School of Needlework and Design (SFSNAD or SNAD) 2017 challenge. The challenge commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Summer of Love and was due in August 2017. I'm a little late...but I finished!

These are the 16 new DMC colours that were released last year. There are eight brights and eight naturals. I normally stitch with naturals, but for this project I got to use some of the brights!

 

Thread Painting Basics: Flower Petals

In the final installment of the Red Alpine Rose designed by Trish Burr, we'll work on the flower, especially the petals. There will be lots of blending practice and I'll show you a slightly different way of approaching shading.

The flower petals are composed of four reds. I think of them as shades 1 through 4 with 1 being the lightest.

Thread Painting Basics: Flower Bud

With the leaves completed on Trish Burr's Red Alpine Rose, the next element to be embroidered is the bud. We are still working from background to foreground and the bud sits behind the flower.

Thread Painting Basics: Leaves and Stems

Right before the virus lockdown, I had started making plans to teach a beginning thread painting piece to a stitching friend. She had picked out a project from Trish Burr's book, Needle Painting Embroidery: Fresh Ideas for Beginners, and we were in the process of sourcing some ground fabric. Then the lockdown hit and we were unable to get together in person.

Recently, she has decided to start working on the project and I have provided some feedback via email. I thought that there might be others interested in following along, so here we go.     

The project is Red Alpine Rose.

Lavender Diversion

I can't believe I've stitched and finished two Lorna Bateman scissors keepers in a matter of months (amongst other projects). I turned the first keeper into an over-the-top, albeit fun, project, but I can't bring myself to use it. It's too fancy. This second keeper with lavender and bees, however, might actually be usable since I've managed to maintain a reasonable level of embroidery.

The original design consists of a lavender bunch on the front and a lavender spray with bees on the inside of the back.

I wanted to add a few extra finishing touches, but not go too crazy!

Crewel Bells

I've finished all the 'boring' bits of my crewel bluebells project. No, they aren't really boring--they are stitched with beautiful Heathway crewel wool after all--but the primary reason for stitching this design is to play with Daisies variegated crewel wool.

The big leaves in the middle of the design are first.

More Bees, Please

I have succumbed to temptation. Again! Lorna Bateman has just designed a scissors keeper to match her Lavender and Bees pincushion that I recently stitched. How could I resist? Besides, my pincushion needs a scissors keeper to keep it company.

Matching Shading and Waiting for Dessert

After determining the colours and stitches for my crewel bluebells, the grunt work of filling things in begins. First up is matching the shading on the central leaf thingies that I call 'ribbons' in my head.

(Warning: this is going to be a geeky post about shading.)

Crewel Test Drive

I have some new crewel wool that I need to try out. It's made by Gumnuts in Australia and is called Daisies. It's beautifully variegated and I want to see how it works with Heathway crewel wool.

Cut it Out

After completing a scissors keeper and a pin cushion I'm on a mission to finish more things!

The next project I wanted to complete was the Antique Society Silk Violets Centrepiece that I started way back in 2017. To recap, this is an antique stamped linen that I am stitching with antique silk thread. The embroidery was completed in 2018, but I have never gotten around to cutting it out along its buttonholed edge.

There are certain things in my embroidery world that I like to avoid. One of those things is cutting along buttonholed edges. However, I wanted to see this piece finished so, I couldn't procrastinate any longer!

Finishing a Scissors Keeper: Cords, Bullions, and Glue, Oh My!

I have finished all the embroidery for the Lorna Bateman Scissors Keeper. It's time to tackle the finishing...with glue. Glue! (Cue some ominous chords.)

Here's the final bit of embroidery for the back of the keeper:

My Flower Pots Overfloweth

After a good start on Lorna Bateman's scissors keeper I had to figure out how to fill the pots at the bottom. I wanted to balance whatever I put in the pots with the colours in the completed areas. I had no idea what I was going to do!