Needleprint Competition: A Mirror to my Art
Not long ago I wrote about the new book The Feller Needlework Collection: Volume 1 published by Needleprint.You may read my review of the book here. Needleprint is one of the embroidery blogs I read regularly. There are always interesting articles, information about auctions and exhibits and, occasionally, a surprise. Earlier this week, Needleprint announced [...]
Laying tool or scootching tool?
First, a definition: scootch – to move a small amount without standing up (of a person) or lifting from a surface (of an object). In this case, scootch without lifting the object, namely, the thread. I’m moving along on the Royal Persian Blossom project and finished another section yesterday. The flowers, stem and leaves were [...]
Introducing Issac and Harmony
Today I would like to introduce you to the happily married couple on the Marriage Pillowe; Issac and Harmony. Issac is on the left, Harmony on the right. Issac had a run in with a wall, hence his squashed nose. Harmony has a thick head of hair and eyes that are a really lovely shade [...]
Marriage Pillowe – last phase
Tomorrow, I’ll start the final phase of the Marriage Pillowe. Finishing it before Christmas would be a miracle (well, pretty amazing, anyway!) but I think I’ll get it done before the end of January. There isn’t loads left to do but beginning Friday we have Christmas guests until after New Year’s day so I’ll have [...]
Santa Pillow – how to make it yourself
Here’s another quick project for Christmas that I worked up last weekend. The pillow isn’t complete but it will be before Christmas – maybe even before next weekend if I’m industrious! It’s not complicated, it doesn’t take long, it’s simple and cute without being fussy. It would be a great project for a beginner – [...]
Trevelyon’s cap – first green silk leaf
Slowly, slowly the cap progresses. I am thinking of it as a l…o…n…g term project. Silk is finer than wool and it takes longer to fill any shape. The stitching has to be delicate. When all the silk is stitched, I will be stitching the gold and that will take even longer. I don’t mind: [...]
How to make embroidered mittens – a cute and quick gift!
Often during the day I have a few minutes when I can do some stitching but I don’t want to get involved with one of my big projects. With the holidays coming I thought I would use those minutes here and there to make some cute and quick embroidered mittens. You’ll need the following: 1. [...]
Just look at these colors!
The entire left side of the Marriage Pillowe is now finished. The colors that Phillipa Turnbull has chosen for the bottom flower are simply stunning. The center is blue trellis laid work with dark red stitches where the lines cross and down the center is a medium green stem. It’s a beautiful combination of rich [...]
Knots and shading
I’m a real fan of French knots, especially when they’re clustered together on the top of an acorn or over a little hillock as they are here. I like the little, individual shiny knots and the squiggly patterns they make when they’re all squished together. What I like most about these French knots are the colors! [...]
A little satin stitched leaf
The Royal Persian Blossom project has quite a few satin stitched leaves with stem stitch veins running up the center. The first four turned out really well so today I’ll show you how I stitched them. Some of you will remember my first failed attempt at satin stitch flower petals. I had decided that since [...]
Improvement on Saturday’s work
Of course it all had to start with picking something out. Specifically, the blue curved shape on the right that was so obviously not symmetrical with the one on the left side. One of the great things about buttonhole stitch is that it’s quick and easy to pull out and damage to the fabric is [...]
Critique of Saturday’s work
Yesterday I stitched a long, long time. It was wonderful. Now that another section of the Royal Persian Blossom project is finished, I can see that my transfer of one whole section wasn’t correct. Worst of all, it’s supposed to be a mirror image – but it isn’t. I’m about 60% happy with it but [...]
Four Blue Flowers
It keeps running through my head to the tune of “Three Blind Mice”… “Four blue flowers, four blue flowers, Each one took hours, each one took hours, This week it’s all that I’ve gotten done, It’s not very much but gosh was it fun, Do you think the end will ever come? Four blue flowers.” [...]
Trevelyon’s Cap: the first blue flower
Beautiful, beautiful blue silk. Cornflower blues 250, 251 and 252 from Pearsall’s to be exact. I just love blue and blue silk is one of the most beautiful things to work with I can imagine. There are four of these little bluebell like flowers on the cap, one at the top of each section. [...]
Sometimes…LOOK at the picture!
Sometimes I get so involved in the little area of a project I’m stitching that I lose sight of the big picture. Usually, this results in better workmanship since I’m focused on making every stitch as beautiful and perfectly placed as I can. But looking at the picture (as in the photo of the finished [...]
Lovely, delicious red
These shades of red are so beautiful that every stitch has been a pleasure. They’re pale without being dull and dark without being muddy. They are quickly becoming my favorite color in the Marriage Pillowe. They’re Appleton Wool “Bright Terra Cotta” Range No. 220.The Marriage Pillowe uses # 224, 225, 226 and 227.
From the beginning to the end
Yesterday I spent the afternoon tracing the cap design onto the fabric. Then I framed it on the slate frame. Neither activity required a great deal of artistic creativity but both required skills. It’s often the development of specific skills that allows us to succeed in the pursuit of our creative endeavor. We’d all like [...]
French knots as filling
I love French knots. I love doing them and I love touching them and I love how they can look so different depending on how they’re placed in a shape. In the Marriage Pillowe I’m stitching, Phillipa Turnbull has used French knots to fill three shapes in different ways. The first is this little acorn. [...]
It’s fixed and moving along
Before today’s post I’d like to say thank you to everyone who sent me congratulations and well done wishes! What a great community you are! Vielen Dank! (many thanks!) and Liebe Grusse (lovely greetings) Kathy The uneven curve is fixed on the Royal Persian Blossom piece. It really only took a few minutes to take [...]
New project – Trevelyon’s Cap
I was happy with my embroidered cap design until I went back to look again at Thomas Trevelyon’s Commonplace Book on the Folger Shakespeare Library web site. As I was browsing through the beautiful illustrations, I found things that looked an awfully lot like cap designs. In fact, they looked exactly like cap designs. Much [...]
Rats! Double rats!
I just didn’t see it until I stood up to take a photo and then…Rats and double rats. The pattern wasn’t drawn onto the fabric symmetrically. (Drawn by me, I must add.) Nope, it’s wonky, off kilter, uneven and just plain not right.And I didn’t see it until I stitched it. Grrrrrrr. Working from this [...]
New project – finally!
I’ve been thinking about, looking at and rejecting one project after another for weeks. What was I going to do next? I started on a design based on that beautiful plate I received as a gift but wasn’t happy with it. It still isn’t right so that will have to wait. Pouring over my books [...]
Texture and two threads
As I continued to work on the beautiful Marriage Pillowe late this week, I was struck with the texture of the piece. There is a three dimensional quality to it that is quite different from the other crewel work piece I’m stitching right now. Part of this is because I’m using Heathway wool for the [...]
Blah and forgetful
I know we have members of the Unbroken Thread community from all over the world so, before I begin, I’ll explain what “blah” means in this context. Blah means I’m feeling less than my usual creative, motivated and energetic self. Not only am I blah but I’m forgetful. Not a great combination on the first [...]
