Bullions are not my Bete Noire

Bullion stitches are beautiful. I have not had much occasion to use bullion stitches so I'm not that great at executing them.

It took a while for my left-handed brain to visualise how to make the stitch. I'm used to reversing right-handed stitch diagrams, but it took me a while to get a handle on bullions. Once I did things got a lot easier. I still require more practice, but I can make decent bullions.

A few years ago, I wanted to force myself to work on these stitches and found this little kit from Roseworks.

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!

The Berlin Bunny

Embroidery designer Tanja Berlin has a wonderful thread painting kit called Wild Rabbit. I remember when she first started showing photos of the design as a work-in-progress. I asked her many times when it would become available as a kit. Unfortunately, for me, the rabbit was a teaching project so couldn't be released as a kit until the classes had run their course. I waited very impatiently and it felt like decades!

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.

Out of Time

The deadline for submissions to the Summer of Love challenge was Tuesday. I stitched and stitched and stitched, but was unable to finish in time to meet the deadline.

I'm extremely disappointed...and exhausted. I think I stitched for 8 hours on more than one day over the past extended weekend. (I stitched everyday from Friday through Tuesday.) The piece is nearly finished, but not done. I am frustrated, but here are some colourful pictures which make me feel better.

The pink flower is one of four big flowers on the design. The photo's a bit deceptive. This is the largest of the big flowers and took many hours to stitch.