‘Ring of Roses' coming along beautifully

Well, the idea was to put in a bullion rose on the Brazilian piece each stitching session, but I'm afraid it got forgotten whilst I've been making such good progress on the Ring of Roses design!!

As you can see, I didn't get very far the first session, (but I also didn't spend very long on it), so this is where I left it on Wednesday night.

However, I've made up for that since, helped greatly by enjoying a drama series at the same time (a relevant one, of course - I was watching 'The House of Elliot' with all it's lush 1920's designs, beaded embroidery trims and passion for textiles!!).  I can't just sit watching telly with nothing to do - it seems such a dreadful waste of time to me, so I get on with some routine sort of stitching and so I left the piece at the point seen in the photo below when I left it on Thursday.

Last night, I finished off the surface work and even got the drawn threads cut and removed as well.

All that remains now is to wrap the exposed threads and then insert some filling stitches.  I think I'll be using square filet filling on many of the 'holes', but I also want to include a few strategically placed spider's webs for variety and just 'cos they look nice.  As they look better in #12 pearl cotton and now that there is one in shade 002 (antique white, which I often prefer to 001, bright white), I'll give that a trial and see how it looks.

Now I really must do some bullion roses though and I'll try wrapping the thread around the needle in the opposite direction, but the instructions say to wrap clockwise and, as it's an Edmar kit using their own threads, you would think they would know what they were talking about.  However, it's worth a try, isn't it?  I'd like both of these projects to be ready to hand over in two weeks time.  The scatter cushion cover isn't far off complete and I've got the backing fabric, zip and some nice thick ribbon to use as a piping as well.  The other piece isn't very big in total and I can present it in one of those oval shaped snap frames I was given a few years ago.

After a bit of a dry patch recently, I'm really enjoying my needlework again, so that's great!  It's also a good thing to bear in mind - don't force yourself, (unless you have to for a deadline or something) to stitch if you're not feeling interested in it at the moment.  Do something else for a while and the interest will probably return of its own accord later on.  You also don't need to explain or apologise or make excuses for it, just go with it.=)

Oh yes, something I'd like to ask you regular readers for your opinion on.  Rachel came up with, what I think is a great idea the other day.  She suggested that, for as many of the gallery photos as possible, it would be good to provide links to any relevant tutorials and WIP posts and photos.  What do you think about this?  I've already added links to the tutes on the stumpwork and ribbon work pages and to the only project that really had its own label.  I'm thinking of creating a special label that won't appear in the usual sidebar cloud, but will be used to create a link to a whole WIP series for each piece.  I'm already starting with this piece.  What do you think?

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2012

Roses, roses

Glad to see so many enjoyed the tutorial last week and welcome to 15 new subscribers, many of whom are Portuguese speaking - bemvenidos.=)

Today I have updates on the Ring of Roses hardanger design and, coincidentally with so many new Brazilian readers, my first go at a rolled rose in Brazilian threads etc.

First the scatter cushion cover after the third and then the fourth day's stitching.

It's coming along very well and I'm pleased with it, although I had to re-do some of the leaves as I'd got them way out.  I decided that one space out in one direction was OK for the coloured motifs as they won't have threads cut, but one set of leaves was three out in both directions!  One of the roses is slightly out too, but it doesn't show and so I decided to leave it as it is.  I haven't been able to stitch on it since about Saturday as I was working away the other day and only took a small piece with me, so I hope to get chance to do some of the stems today.

Here is said small piece, I finally managed to get some bullions in the Brazilian Rolled Rose piece, which I'd like to get completely finished in the next 2 weeks or so.

This is worked with Edmar rayon thread and it's very tricky.  The texture and how slippy it is I can cope with  OK, but the fact that it twists against itself so much whilst you're doing the wraps for the bullion knots is really hard to deal with.  You get one or two knots worked, and then the thread just goes mad and a knot completely fails.  Also, the rose seems to me to be a good deal bigger than it appears on the kit photo.  I'm wondering if I'm going to manage to get it all as tightly packed together as the style demands.

Anyway, the plan is to try and work a flower or so each day before getting on with the hardanger and see it slowly grow.  I can deal with a few stops and starts each time without getting too upset with it, but more than that would drive me mad.  Not sure I'll be keeping and working the larger Brazilian kit I own....

Oh gosh, yes, and it's blogoversary today, which means I'll be making some changes to the appearance of things.  Last week I expanded the Pages and filled in the missing captions, so there's more to see there now. I split up the 'Counted Thread' page into 'Counted and Drawn Thread', 'Hardanger' and 'Cross Stitch Favourites'.  Later on today I'll be changing a couple of colours and re-doing the header photos, so stay tuned for some small updates.

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2012

Stumpwork Ladybird Tutorial

Today I have a tutorial for you helping you to create a ladybird (ladybug) in raised work. You can also vary the design, as you'll see at the end. The tute appeared in the spring 2012 edition of 'Crazy Quilt Gatherings', but I was disappointed to see that the photos and text got out of sequence in editing, with some text referring to incorrect photo numbers. If you saw that version and were confused, this should help clarify.=) Enjoy!

Cut an oval out of felt just a little smaller than half an inch or about one centimetre in length.  Usually I would use the same colour as the base stitches, but this shows up better for photographic purposes.

Stab stitch the felt oval into place, normally using a matching coloured sewing thread.  If you want to raise the bug’s body higher, then stab stitch a smaller oval underneath this one first.

Begin to cover the whole of the body with a smooth layer of satin stitches in two strands of black cotton.  Note that the stitches go across the body, not from head to ‘tail’.  Below is the completed satin stitch.  

Work three or four satin stitches across the top to form the head and then three or four more from just below the head to the back of the bug, fanning the stitches out very slightly.  You need to work these stitches in black, they are done in green here for clarity on this photo only.

Beginning at the centre next to the long stitches, begin to work satin stitches in two strands of red stranded cotton (or a shinier rayon or silk thread, if you prefer), making sure that they sit smoothly over the body and that they fan out a little in order to cover the whole of the sides too.  Below you can see the complete red thread work on the wings with the slight angle of the stitching showing.  (Sorry  this shot is a little blurred.)

Refasten on your black cotton and, taking care not to pull the stitches tight, work small horizontal seed stitches over some of the red threads (two at a time should be fine) to make the spots on the wings.  Make sure both sides are similar.

Whilst you’re still working with black, and if you need to, work another stitch or two under the head area to cover any felt that may have become visible when stitching the red wings.  I worked two, each going from the outside of the body to the centre forming a shallow ‘V’ shape.

With either plain black sewing thread or one strand of embroidery cotton sew on two black-based, regular sized seed beads for the eyes.  You can use plain black, but I’ve used a slightly iridescent shade here for added interest and sparkle.

Add in the legs and antennae using one strand of a very fine thread working from one back leg around the front and head to the other back leg.  The legs are worked in two straight stitches and one lazy daisy nearest to the body.  I used Kreinik Cord 105C here, which is a silver and black mix.

Here is your completed ladybird/bug!  Remember, you can make yours stand a little higher than mine by adding an extra, smaller oval of felt under the main one.

Variations

You can vary your bugs in a number of ways.  The first is a miniature version of much the same bug but just about half the size.  If you want to work one this small, remember to scale everything down including using petite beads for the eyes, one strand for wing spots, the finest thread you can find for legs, which you should also shorten a little, and don’t use extra padding for the body.

Here’s a 14 spot ladybird worked in a light tan stranded cotton and with extra wing spots.

This green leaf beetle’s iridescent wings were worked in two strands of Kreinik blending filament shade 085.  As you might remember from the stumpwork beetle tute (which this whole tute is based on the technique from), you can also get a good effect with DMC Stranded Metallic in the emerald green shade.

This shining flower chafer was worked with Anchor Lamé thread – a 12 stranded, fairly smooth metallic.  The cross-ways stitches from step 3 were worked in the same light tan shade used for the 14 spot ladybird.

Finally, here they all are together.  You can see the difference in size between the regular and mini ladybirds very well in this shot.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial.=)  If you work a little bug of your own, please leave a link to it in the comments section below and share your success with everyone.

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2012

Starting out on the Ring of Roses

I've made a good start on the new hardanger scatter cushion/pillow cover design - my fifth! Here's the status after 2 hours' work.  I managed to get this 99% correct, just got one stitch on the first flower too long.  I considered leaving it, but feared it might show and I would have to do all the flowers 'wrong' to hide it, so I re-did it.

And I'm not sure how many more hours there are here as I didn't look at the clock after the DVD miniseries I was watching finished. I had to re-do one part twice as I managed to miscount the starting place - possibly the worst mistake you can make bar cutting the wrong threads! Got it right in the end though and pressed on forward without the telly distracting me.....

I just love the colours in this one and hope to get both the outer ring of boring, but almost compulsive (you just have to press on and complete them) Kloster blocks done today and make a good start on the outer ring of roses - 8 of them.  I was considering inserting some cutwork areas outside the outer floral parts in the four corners, but I think it will be fine without them after all and, frankly, working out the chart for them would be a pain and it can be hard enough to follow someone else's without having to graph your own as well!=)

Next post should be a good catch up on TAST. I'm up to date with most of the stitch samples, just need to do the last two or three and sort out some photos etc. Oh, and there's a stumpwork ladybird coming up very soon too, so those of you who are here for the stumpwork posts will want to look out for that.  I'm enjoying simpler work at the moment.

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2012

Weddings coming up!

Two weddings are happening within the next 3 months and so I'm already well on with the gifts for the first one (in mid-August).  I've done the card and have got everything ready to start stitching for the gift.

<-This is the design I used for the card.  As you can probably see, it's part of a long, narrow sampler design and is by Patricia Bage of Patricia Ann's Designs.  It's from her 'Beginners Guide to Drawn Thread Embroidery'.  I just used this central square and then added a line a silver cross stitches around the outside as it was really too small for the card blank. Yes, the fabric is lilac, but it hasn't shown up well here.

Here's the floss toss for the gift.  The design is the 'ring of roses' you can see on the right, here finished up as a table centre, but I'm going to work it as a cushion/pillow cover as it's more practical and, frankly, I can't stand buttonhole edging.  Caleb, I love ya, but not enough for all that edging!!!  I'll probably also change the woven filling for wrapped bars as they're quicker and, by the time I get to that stage, I'll be ready to do something else, no doubt.  The flowers are to be worked in these pretty yellows as I thought that would be easier to fit in with whatever colour scheme they chose for whichever room they want to use it in than the reds I'd originally planned to do with this design.  Anyway, I expect to be starting on the satin stitching this evening.

This next bit is for Cynthia who, after the room re-organisation post, wanted to see whole room shots.  That's quite a challenge as the room is so small!  However, nothing loathe, here is the view of the (messy) desk area, which is wall to wall as you see, and was taken from as far back in the doorway as I could reasonably stand.

This second shot shows the bookshelves joining on to the new shelves and from that you can see how short that wall is.

So, I live in a rather tiny space, but I think I've got it about as close to optimised as one could hope for.  There's no comfy chair in there for stitching, that's why that takes place in the roomier living room.  And, if we do move closer into town as Sir wants (and part of me does too), then I will almost certainly lose my room and we'll end up sharing a second bedroom as a study.  Not as good, but still far better than being restricted to the dining table, no?=)

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2012

Room Re-Organization

This was L-O-N-G overdue, but it got delayed whilst waiting to have the shelves up etc etc etc.  Anyway, here are some before and afters, including what's in the drawers. Well, I'd want to look in yours....:)

Starting at the top with what used to be a blank wall space between my framed degree certificate and the old fabric bins.   Here you can see how it used to be and how it looks now.  A lot less bare, isn't it?

Then we come to what's in the drawers.  You've seen the first drawer already, the one with all my metallic threads in.  Under that comes the general sewing drawer into which I also stuff my paper scissors!  They need a new home since their hook fell off the wall and I haven't got around to re-doing one.  Er-hum..

The third drawer contains my fabric colouring things - small tubs of silk paints, fabric paints and fabric dyes are in the box at the back.  The other two boxes contain tubes of acrylic and watercolour paints, although I do have other watercolours that are artists' quality in my white drawers.  Under that in the fourth drawer is card making materials.

Here are some of the drawers in the old Ikea wooden set of drawers on the shelf.  There are lots of highlighter pens and erasers in one, pencils and cheap coloured pencils in the other (with a big tin of Derwent Coloursoft good quality pencils just visible above), and there are two drawers to be seen underneath, one contained multi-coloured biros and one with various gel-type pens.

Moving down now to where the old bins were and where there is now a large 4-drawer tower, here are the general before and after shots.

Contents-wise, the top drawer has all my counted thread embroidery fabrics in, so Aida, Jobelan, Hardanger & Oslo and linens etc.  There are also white, cream and black fineweave fabrics including silk for surface embroideries at the front.  The second drawer contains general coloured fabrics.  You can see silks at the front of the left hand row of pieces and cottons etc behind.  On the right hand side of this drawer you can see rolls of cotton fabrics I got in Taiwan as well as some rolls and other pieces of sheer fabrics and some other, larger pieces of cotton and cotton mixes.

Drawer three contains my kits - the few that remain after my having sold quite a few in recent e-bay sales, some sewing paper patterns and what I call auxiliary fabrics such as Romeo, interfacing, Bondaweb and also stuff like felt.  The bottom drawer is where I keep fancy fabrics and is mostly made up of offcuts that I bought in Taiwan supplemented by some offcuts that were given to me by mill workers when I was 12-ish and my dad rented a workshop on their top floor.  I was given lots of ends of reels of Lurex and some scraps and small pieces of the fabrics made with it.

And here are two quick shots, before and after, from the right hand under-desk area.  Both the plastic and the wooden drawer sets are now out and in a more user-friendly place and the boxes at the back have been whittled down - two are on the new shelves and one was emptied into the bottom drawer of this plastic unit.

So, now I feel much more comfy and really enjoy working in there.  I don't stitch in my study, although I do design in there, when relevant.  With the exception of the current project bag and my old wooden workbox, everything else is stored in here at least.

I hope you enjoyed this post, 'cos it took forever to get the photos lined up right, and they may well have gone pear-shaped on your screen anyway, as it'll be different from mine....

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2012

The Bluuuue Planet!

When I did my reader survey back in November a few readers commented positively on my 'unusual subjects' for embroidery.  I'd never really thought of them as being out of the ordinary - I just stitch what appeals to me, but I suppose the goldwork viola (string instrument, not the flower), cross stitched narrowboat and perhaps some others are relatively unusual topics for stitching.  (Made me also wonder what 'normal' subjects are and, other than flowers, butterflies and birds, I can't think of much.  Anyone??)  Well, I think this latest piece will also qualify.

I've known for years that far more of the Earth's surface area is covered by water than it is by land, but it was really brought home to me over the past few days whilst stitching DH's anniversary card.  I saw this in 'New Stitches' #143 - it's part of a horizontally long piece of all the planets in our solar system.  As Sir has been studying sustainable energy and other environmental science and technology subjects a lot over the past year, I thought this was the idea design for him - even if it is the 'wrong' side of the planet, (Europe, or even Asia, would have been more appropriate), and not very romantic...

I might use this second shot, or another like it, as part of my header photos one day.

I also made Sir this tie out of some of the lovely fabric I bought in Taiwan on our spring 2008 visit.  He already has one with Chinese characters on from a museum shop in Taiwan and another with old style Korean hangul (i.e. not the totally modernised script) which we got in a Seoul gift shop, so I knew he'd go for this one.  I got the pattern from the Purl Bee blog and adapted it as needed.  It's ended up being narrower at the front than a commercial one, but hasn't come out too badly, all things considered.=)

A whole month since the last post, where have I been?  Running two lots of e-bay auctions that were rather a wash-out, amongst the usual being under the weather etc.  Oh yes, and I finally got all the drawers etc sorted out in my room.  I've done photos and so I need to post them to show anyone interested.=)

I've now 'awarded' myself two 'give the brain a rest' weeks where I won't be reading study books, doing research, learning languages, making notes for the books I'm planning to write and so on.  It's creative things - stitching, art, maybe even music; novels and getting some niggling jobs done as well, which include some mending and altering, but also making up another cushion cover and a case for my camera out of more lovely Taiwanese fabric.  So, I hope to have more to post during the second half of the month.

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2012