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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Shading with Odds and Evens

I'm making some good progress on Melbury Hill's Galanthus Collector, a crewel design with snowdrops.

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.

The Sampler is Finished

The crewel sampler is finished...at last! The final motif was a rose in the lower left hand corner.

The centre of the rose--the green buttonhole stitching--is not symmetrical. It is drawn that way. In fact, the entire piece has the feeling of being hand drawn. If I had thought about it I probably would have adjusted the centre a bit to make it more symmetrical, but it's fine as it is. I kind of like the fact that the design is a bit informal.

Good Things Come in Threes

At last! I've made decent progress on the crewel sampler. I finished the last of the three large central motifs.

Slow Progress

I am slowly plugging away at the vintage Elsa Williams crewel sampler, emphasis on slow! I finished the largest of the motifs, the one in the centre.

 

Crawling Crewel

I like this little Elsa Williams crewel sampler, but it's taking way too long to make progress. I think I should have been done with it ages ago! I feel like I'm crawling.

I enjoyed stitching the most recently finished motif. It has purple which is always good!

Unchallenged Crewel

I have had an intense few weeks working on the SFSNAD Summer of Love challenge piece and am a little burned out embroidery-wise.

I haven't been stitching much recently, but I did complete a couple more motifs on the Elsa Williams Crewel Sampler. It's a fairly relaxing--and definitely not challenging--project to embroider.

Hello, Goodbye

I was rummaging around in my workroom and came across a crewel piece from 2005. It is a project from a class taught by Carol Algie Higginbotham entitled Crewel Spray.

The class was one of many being offered by the Embroiderers' Guild of America (EGA) regional seminar that happened to be hosted by my local chapter that year. I remember the seminar as being a lot of fun!

Back to Crewel

I used to stitch a lot of crewel, mostly commercial kits. My first projects as a child were crewel and I always loved embroidering with wool.

Over the past 10 years I've moved away from crewel into techniques like thread painting, but I miss wool.