Maggie's Textiles

Detached Chain

2012-02-17T18:58:00.000+10:00

Although I am posting two days earlier than usual, sadly I can't get very excited about week 7 in TAST - it is detached chain, daisy, lazy daisy or whatever. There are not too many new ways I can use it without adding other stitches. Finally I decided to add it to my Fly Stitch spiral - an excuse to use a different Anchor variegated cotton. This pale one is much easier to manipulate than last week's strident colours.

After chasing through my stitch books up came Edith Johns' Zigzag Petal stitch - a two way stem stitch with the addition of a detached chain in the middle of each stitch.

Not a particularly well executed example - I definitely need to practise to get the stitches more even. However this gives the general idea of the stitch. I usually work stem stitch without a hoop or frame and feel my control is good - however some tautness of the fabric might be a good idea for the chain stitch - something for me to remember in the future.

A Snail on Temazapam!

2012-02-12T09:27:00.002+10:00

More belated TAST - Herringbone, or to be more precise, double back, has occupied my last two days stitching. When all is revealed it is obvious I am a slow stitcher - but this slow?

All my stitching time yesterday - maybe three hours, at least, were spent on these two puny efforts.

The previous day was slightly more productive - there were square and circle double back. These are definitely keepers for the future but I just can't see me taking time to stitch and restitch the square on the diagonal which occupied more than the lion's share of yesterday's time.

*** I forgot to mention that there is a square doily in Danish Pulled Thread Embroidery that has 81*! of these squares in the centre - what is my trouble?****

These are worked diagonally and are fairly intuitive - the instructions in Fangel are very explicit and easy to follow, in any case.

I really love this double back pulled work and will keep playing despite yesterday's problems. There are some ideas percolating on the back burner for future use.

Magnifiers for all occasions!

2012-02-12T08:49:00.000+10:00

I now own a magnifier that you wear on your head rather like a miner's lamp - a birthday present to help increase the space between the holes in the linen. My dermatologist uses similar eyewear to remove extraneous bits from my legs so the idea is good.

This is the latest addition to my collection - there is a lens with a lamp downstairs as well as a separate lens that I use with a daylight lamp upstairs. This new device will be perfect to carry for meetings as it is fairly light and portable.

So a case is wanted and the right piece of weaving is maturing in the cupboard - some Turned Taquete that I had produced in 2005 (was it really that long ago?). Also some pale green lawn that I had made in a marbling class way back in the 90's - almost vintage! - good lining. Well this quick job took me quite a few hours but I am really happy with the result

Sunday Post

2012-02-12T08:32:00.002+10:00

It would appear that it takes me until Sunday to write a blog post -I had even worked my psychedelic chevron by Tuesday evening and the other piece of chevron was finished by Thursday morning but life got in the way - a habit it seems to have.

Anyway, here it is - the Anchor #8 that I couldn't resist buying seemed perfect for the exercise.

I love this stitch as well as Half Chevron. I made a number of samples when I did Sharon's PLOS class in 2007 and also used it for a biscornu . This exercise was a refresher - while I love chevron my use for it has been limited so now how I could include it in my work. Maybe add a diagonal version

Could anyone resist this 'stained glass' ball of thread? Its only drawback for me is that the sections of colour are very small and difficult to deal with. Maybe chevron is the answer - but single or double ?

This had all been nice and uncomplicated - even my eyes were happy with the Aida spacing - what would be the effect on linen as a background . My only use for Aida seems to be biscornu.

Don't you love the contrast between the two? I did think of using a dark thread but that was not the effect I was chasing.

This perle is #12 while the Anchor variegated was #8 and the fabric is 32 count linen.

I am not sure whether I might find a use for this or not. However this week's TAST was fun.

Herringbone

2012-02-05T09:49:00.002+10:00

Week 5 TAST 2012 - and I was fighting a nasty chest infection (much better now, thank goodness) when Sharon Boggon announced that herringbone was the stitch on Tuesday. I breathed a sigh of relief - during Sharon's PLOS class in 2007 I tried a number of variations on herringbone stitch, followed by this biscornu and needlecase . (Also the flowers are double fly stitch with a french knot)

The border is tied herringbone.

What could I do this time? Barbara Snook has suggested herringbone to replace hemstitching on the inside of a drawn thread hem - would this be sufficiently secure? Not stitching I spent some time thinking about it and decided it probably could - yes it makes a good finish - in fact I might use it for Runner 2, especially if I use linen.

Not a brilliant photo. However definitely another for my Hems and Edges folder. A variegated perle # 8 was the thread used. I normally use #12 for hemstitching (which I did on the hem side)

This is another linen doodle cloth . I also tried shadow work - probably not something I would try often. However the final exercise so far was triangle stitch in the middle. Moyra McNeill has a section on double back stitch pulled thread stitches and this is one of my favourites. It gives a quite delicate effect. I wish I had had more time to dip further in the intricacies of herringbone but I will stop there .

A Final Insertion Exercise.

2012-02-05T08:58:00.000+10:00

Well definitely the last insertion stitching on the agenda . This has been a fun exercise but I have run out of options that fit in with TAST for the moment.

This one is Plaited Insertion - each stitch is not cretan but enough of them are for me to include it in my TAST. Mary Thomas says to leave at least 3/4 inch between the hems and use a firm thick thread. I did leave the 3/4 " but am not sure what would happen if I unpicked the tacking - a really floppy join, I imagine. The insertions are all still on the A4 paper to make it easier to store together in a folder. (My folder Hems and Edges has grown nicely in the last couple of weeks.)

The thread is a painted cotton weaving yarn and somewhere between a#8 and #5 perle cotton in size. Aida was the fabric.

On a Roll!

2012-01-29T14:20:00.001+10:00

Well, this is almost the end of my insertion investigation - I have one more buttonhole and one more cretan to try and then I am ready for whatever comes on Tuesday.As I said in a previous post this has been fun and I hope whatever the enw stitch is it will offer just as much joy.

My cretan explorations to date

Cretan Insertion or Open Cretan Insertion

Knotted Cretan Insertion

Twisted Cretan insertion

Half Cretan Insertion

This was the order in which I tried the various techniques. Amazingly the twisted was the most difficult in which to maintain the right tension.

I also had some trouble in keeping the distance from the edge even - however it is not impossible for me

When the experts differ!

2012-01-29T10:18:00.000+10:00

Anyone out there help me? I have done what I thought was some Open Cretan Insertion but then Betty Barnden calls it Herringbone Insertion What do you think? Definitely the cretan stitch and is herringbone all that different?
.

I hemmed some linen scraps for the trial and have used DMC Perle #8 - it is a variegated thread - not at all obvious in this photo.

Laced Knotted Buttonhole

2012-01-29T08:42:00.001+10:00

Another interesting buttonhole insertion and definitely one I will use again. Yes, the end of the week is fast approaching and I haven't even stitched the basic cretan stitch for TAST for this week but that is on the agenda for today. These TASTers are not the only handwork I try to get through each day
However I am building up quite a nice collection of ideas.

Well, I used my fancy spacer for this one but it might have been easier to have done the buttonhole stitches on each edge before attaching to the paper - next time!

The stitch is well illustrated in Effie Mitrofanis' book on Casalguidi but the original inspiration came from Barbara Snook. Her Embroidery Stitches is worth a look if you can find one.(Second hand shops as well as the internet have produced some real treasures).

I used Finca Perle #8 for both threads - and the option to use a different coloured thread and, possibly, a different thickness thread for the lacing is available.

Knotted buttonhole was a new version for me. Knowing the correct tension was difficult in the beginning. However I really enjoyed this one.

I have one more buttonhole insertion that to try and then comes Cretan. I am sure that a week between stitches is not enough but is it just a case of "How long is a piece of string?"

I think Buttonhole Stitch has got me in!

2012-01-27T16:18:00.003+10:00

Previously buttonhole stitch was a stitch that I could take or leave (and mostly leave)- all of a sudden there just seem to be so many interesting versions to try.

The latest - Italian Buttonhole Insertion

#12 Finca perle cotton and two scraps of lugano were all I needed tosample this one. The spacing is 1/4 of an inch. The specially designed "insertion papers" help and hinder the stitching. Hopefully I will manage to do without eventually.

I love this insertion stitch but then I think any insertion is magical. I have a pair of satin pyjamas from my mother's trousseau , circa 1936, with the lovliest peter pan collar with its rouleau edge applied with faggoting, I think. Amazing handwork!

Yes I know that this week's stitch is Cretan and I do intend to try it. However there is another buttonhole version to try first. Only one?

Pulled Thread - more Buttonhole also.

2012-01-22T16:27:00.002+10:00

I mentioned yesterday that I am doing a series of runners. The first one, a Christmas gift for myself, was, strictly speaking, not a runner but a table centre. The only stitch used was foursided . This piece was really a test to decide whether or not I would like to make something bigger using the 4 sided stitch hem. Probably not!

The centre is approximately 20 inches square. The first 3 rows of the hem are through double thickness - this took me forever and, at times tried my patience. Nonetheless I am pleased that I persevered as I love the result. The design evolved as it went along - not very complicated but I do like the minimalist look for my table linen. The single fabric thickness stitches were wonderful to stitch after the hem. I like to do the hem first, if at all possible. This can cause problems but usually ensures the speedy completion of a piece of stitching - especially where there are mitred corners to be negotiated.

The table is of Queensland maple and was made by my father more than 50 years ago and has been recently refinished .

Yesterday I tried two new pulled thread stitches - Diagonal Buttonhole, from Mary Thomas' book as well as Up and Down Buttonhole, as suggested by Edith John.

The Diagonal Buttonhole was very successful however I reached the point of diminishing returns with the Up and Down Buttonhole after struggling some time Perhaps a smaller count (I used my doodle cloth - 26 count Permin linen) might have helped.. There are so many wonderful pulled thread stitches so I am not sure I need the ones I find too difficult.

The great thing about TAST is trying versions of stitches that might otherwise be ignored. Knowing what I don't want to stitch again is .as important as recognising the ones that will be useful.

Closed Feather edging

2012-01-21T17:07:00.004+10:00

My feather stitch offering for the week is closed feather used in a drawn thread hem. This came from one of my much quoted authors, Edith John. I am so pleased that I found this as I have started a series of table runners and love the idea of using different edges. I would use the ecru for an edge but did a little in dark pink in order for it to be more obvious. Antique hemstitching joins the hem to the piece.

My doodle cloth certainly gets more interesting and I have some pulled thread I want to try.

Earlier this week I also added a little more to my free wheeling buttonhole. This is probably as far as I shall go but I can see the possibilities should I decide to use something similar in the future.

A Great Two Days

2012-01-20T19:27:00.001+10:00

This week the Embroiderers' Guild had a children's class with a beautiful Cat Sampler as the project. This class was part of our ten year old granddaughters' Christmas gift.

Here are the results of two days work - hot off the hoops, as you can see,

Ella's and Sophie's

I was very impressed with the end results - a beautifully executed pair of cats.

TJust a postscript - the lovely even stitches could be part of Sharon's TAST challenge.

Seduced by colour!

2012-01-13T20:14:00.002+10:00

Do you ever buy thread because the colours call you? I am a sucker for jewel colours hence the ball of Anchor perle #8. Not a good idea! I like to use variegated thread occasionally but this is the most variegated of variegated.

Anyway that is an introduction to my TAST exercise on buttonhole. First I want to show my Fly Stitch efforts for week 1.

More variegated thread - sometimes one just has to use it - actually I really like it for the spiral.

Then I tried fly stitch as a pulled thread and was unhappy with what I got - so we won't count that.

Moving onto Week 2 and Buttonhole Stitch - I have used this stitch in many applications.

I tried Up and Down Buttonhole - it always seems an odd name for a stitch that looks as though it is in one direction only. I have been roaming through my collection of Edith Johns' books and she suggested using buttonhole as an edging - firstly Up and Down

Here it is sitting on a bag using Italian buttonhole insertion in 2010.

Then I tried Edith's 3 sided stitch edge with buttonhole in the loops - definitely needs more practice

Now for the fun bit - Edith's Experimental Embroidery has some wonderful buttonhole haloes. Some time ago I tried my multicoloured thread

And here is the start of my current effort

I have done a little more to it but no photos. Also I enjoyed trying Mary Thomas' Drawn Buttonhole

however they are for another post.

A New Beginning -

2011-12-01T10:08:00.004+10:00

Just a quick note to say I have really not closed down - just had a long sabbatical. I would like to participate in at least some of Shron Boggon's challenges for next year so I thought I had better get my act together and restart entries. Sharon is running TAST and TIF once again. I benefited so much from her TIF challenge in 2008 - both in design and the use of colour - I can't wait to try again. Do go see Sharon's page on her blog, Pintangle

http://www.pintangle.com/journal/2011/11/26/the-big-list-of-2012-tast-challengers.html

My TIF exercises for 2008 are tagged in this blog and some are on Flickr - I had been stitching for less than a year at the beginning of 2008.

There maybe not much more text to follow until the New Year but I do have some photos of the work I have done in the last 18 months - not as much as I would have liked but some. Phew!!!!

2010-05-12T21:49:00.003+10:00

I wanted to repeat the previous exercise from RAKAM. This time since I wanted a curved outline I decided to produce another in the gumleaf series.

Since I had Christine Bishop's book on Schwalm on loan I followed her instructions and used chain stitch with an outer row of coral stitching for the outline.

Tthe dove's eye is still wanting. However I have withdrawn threads on my pulled thread sampler and intend to really sample it before another attempt. Perhaps that is what I should have done in the first place. Also this is perhaps not the best stitch choice for the shape. However I wanted to repeat the stitches and so learnt quite a bit from the whole exercise.

After I had got so far I decided that I wanted to see how I could vary the value either side of the central vein. This last photo is what I did - I have not done the stitching along the vein yet. It would definitely have been better to have stitched that vein before I started but of course I didn't think ahead. This is waht I have done using a doubled thread for the vein. Now I need to do a long curl stitch or something similar - still trying to decide.

Nearly done! And a touch of embroidery!

2010-04-23T14:30:00.003+10:00

The warp is almost finished! I am very pleased with the cloth and the process. The packing paper in the warp is all gone and just half a round of the warp beam is left - about a metre of weaving. Already there is enough for 6+ chairs. So maybe I haven't quite forgotten how.

I did manage to pick up a needle. My first issue of RAKAM arrived. This is an Italian embroidery magazine with some absolutely exquisite blackwork and pulled thread work in this February issue. The only drawback is that I now need to study the Italian language to get full value from the magazine. However I have had incredible assistance from some very talented Italian embroiderers on stitchin fingers Pulled Threads group. So with their help and the great diagrams I find I am not totally working in the dark.

I was very taken with piece of white work that is unlike any pulled thread I had done previously. It requires every fifth thread in both directions to be removed after an outline of the area is done in overcast stitch - a very scary operation and I was only working on a small sample. However once the threads are all successfully cut counting is much, much easier.

The satin stitch section which I think would have been sufficient on its own

Plus my not very expert dove's eyes - unfortunately I changed tack midway and thought I could substitute Greek cross. The original used dove's eyes but the difference is minimal and if I had done a better job I don't think the change would have been particularly discernible.

I like the effect but will try another sample before deciding whether or not to attempt a larger complete piece similar to that in RAKAM.

Thankyou Susan and Megan for telling me about Live Writer - I have not used it yet but downloaded the program .

A new (old) direction!

2010-04-11T15:36:00.006+10:00

There are times when blogger drives me insane!!!!!! I can't add photos where I want them so this entry may require patience to follow. I do apologise. However having waited some time for the images to load I don't want to repeat the exercise - so this is like one of those old books where the plates are in one section and the description elsewhere!.

The first photos are some samples made in 2005 of echo weave in cotton and wool - I had always intended to return and produce longer lengths of fabric. My next warp will definitely be an echo weave using 3 echoes and probably this draft.

However for the moment I want to weave the wool chair fabric for our dining chairs which we inherited from my parents. The last photo is of that warp now ready to go.

Now the entry as I intended to write it ....

Very little embroidery has been accomplished in the last couple of weeks. I do have 3 more biscornu to photograph and add to the blog - I have stuck to my resolution for this first four months - hopefully I will manage to keep up .

The last couple of weeks I have been tidying and making a decision or two in relation to weaving. Do I sell my loom and my stash? Or would I give it one more try? I pulled out all the cones of 2/20 cotton that I foolishly acquired a few weeks before I got sick. It was extremely scary to see it all in one place but the colour selection was absolutely gorgeous perfect for the 4 coloured double, shadow and echo weaves that I wanted to weave! For almost 4 years I have spent very little time at the loom which sported a 2/20 cotton warp of pale aqua. Originally I loved it but after it had given me "the guilts" every time I went into the room for years- that love turned to hate. If I wanted to weave something elseit needed to be woven off. The very simple bronson lace was originally intended for a blouse for me. Now I still don't like the fabric - however my daughter, Suzy, (who designs and sews lovely gear for little girls) thinks she can make herself something from it - otherwise it was to be serviettes. That warp liked me as much as I loved it - the most devilish selvedge threads just kept getting looser and looser ... to say nothing about the ones that snapped regularly! I don't have a decent photo of the yardage - it wasn't very photogenic and I gave up trying.

Now it is on to the chair fabric. Tomorrow I can't wait to check the threading and weave off the 5+metres. Then echo weave - here I come!!!

January's Biscornu

2010-03-26T12:37:00.005+10:00

While I did not start to stitch this piece until February, it is my first "Pocket Project" (I love that terminology from Inspirations - although it should probably be admitted that all my work consists of "Pocket Projects"). I would like to make twelve of these this year - possibly my 2010 challenge. There is something about this shape that I find fascinating. Maybe I will try one with 15 sides before December.

For a return to stitching I decided to use the undoctored pattern for a *taellesyning biscornu from Inspirations #59. An unusual decision for me. I tend to try to stitch my own design, or, at the very least, a more or less adapted version of someone else's. I really enjoy the design process as well as the actual stitching and honestly feel this is a method of learning that suits me.

This is a tiny biscornu, stitched on linen, compared to my previous Aida efforts. My limited manipulative skills made it very difficult to join and stuff. I think the linen was 28 count and I used Finca perle cotton #8 .

*The spelling tallesyning finds a couple of articles on Google.

Resolutions!

2010-03-18T09:52:00.006+10:00

Time to test drawing skills which are minimal but hopefully should suffice for the intended embroidery exercise. More (or even, some) practice might help a little - a St Patrick's Day resolution, perhaps!

Pears from the supermarket are absolutely delicious at the moment and wonderfully inexpensive. Choosing the most interesting one in the box took a while. My colouring pencil work certainly does not pay tribute to the interesting colours on the skin. A photograph should do the trick.

Break is over!

2010-03-17T10:54:00.006+10:00

Some break! Three months from blogging and two from embroidery! Life and inertia just got in the way. However I eased back slowly by stitching a needlecase to go with my first biscornu .

When that little bit of stitching was finished I decide there was enough space left on the Aida for a small scissor fob. Now I just need to join them up.

A Family Concern

2009-12-11T10:26:00.005+10:00

Two of our grandchildren were with us this week. Gramps used his CAD program to draw hearts of various sizes, stars and even Christmas trees. The children cut out the patterns - I cut and stitched the fabric pieces which they stuffed. The real fun followed - they raided my sequin stash and these are a couple of examples. (Only a 10 year old boy would want a smiley on his ornament)!

Embroiderywise, I am trying to make up my mind what might constitute a series. What sort of linkage is necessary to form a unified collection of a number of pieces on the same theme?

The same, or toning, colours and possibly stitches. Do I need aspects of both? Can I do something else? Do I need to make sure that the same style of embroidery is used in each piece? Any ideas on this subject?I would be most grateful for any input.

I have started. I only have a fairly basic idea of what I want to do and it is very fluid at this stage. I am not sure how many pieces there will be. The only given is the subject matter - gum trees (eucalypts), their bark patterns, leaves etc.. My inspiration is no further than the back door and any number of different leaf shapes turn up on the lawn each day. The box lid embroidery in the last entry will not be part of this exercise as it is intended for a gift but I would like to make another piece quite similar. So please don your thinking caps and share your thoughts.

A little stitching accomplished

2009-11-15T15:52:00.010+10:00

Stitching life has been fairly slow lately. Waterlilies is finished - well the hardanger embroidery is complete but I intend to make a cushion cover and that will take some time. I think that my future forays into hardanger will avoid those pesky picots. They really seemed to defeat me and spoil an otherwise acceptable piece of embroidery.

Nonetheless I have done some stitching which I really enjoyed. (Sometimes I ask myself why I don't just stick to my comfort zone instead of attempting techniques beyond my capabilities). Also this was stitched at a leisurely pace and that was a nice bonus.

This is the lid for another box . There were seven boxes in all - five became gifts last Christmas. This means I have one left for us. The design is offering a challenge at the moment but I guess it will suddenly appear clear.

Moving on! Carefully now!

2009-08-20T08:35:00.004+10:00

The eyelets are finished - couldn't stop, could I?

The threads are cut (without mistakes so far, thank goodness) and I am ready to start the first section of needleweaving. Yvette's instructions in the book are clear.

A new perspective

2009-08-19T16:10:00.007+10:00

They say a change is as good as a holiday but, while I can't exactly agree with that statement, I do think a change can give you a new perspective. Recently we rearranged our living area and a woven hanging that was originally over the sideboard near the dining table is now overlooking the lounge chairs. This morning as I drank my coffee I realised just how wonderful the hanging looked from that position. Here it is - the lighting is fairly minimal but the effect is very obvious.

A full sized hanging and the lit section. Quite difficult to believe that this is actually a flat two dimensional piece of fabric mounted on a stretched canvas!

A shadow weave with two shadows using single colour gold weft but three colours,red, white and blue, in its warp. It is also not quite conventional shadow weave in that the spacing between the shadows is not exactly even - a real 'what if' experiment.

A Week's Progress

2009-08-15T16:01:00.008+10:00

The kloster blocks are finished for the Waterlilies piece - the eyelets come next. The interesting thing about doing a piece of this size as in comparison with the small samples I made earlier is that I am suddenly getting a feel for Hardanger design. Not that I am capable of designing a piece yet but the understanding is increasing.

I did stitch 9 eyelets this morning (Who is counting? Just 39 to go! ) but no photos yet.

Mainly Hardanger.

2009-08-10T13:28:00.006+10:00

Firstly the needleweaving from Jenny Gelden's book - some are better than others - ah well, one should always leave room for improvement!

I have joined a SAL that Yvette Stanton mentioned on her blog. To stitch this piece of Hardanger with Yvette available for assistance just seemed too good an opportunity to miss so I ignored my inner voice that said "You can never manage to keep up - ever!"

So far so good! In any case I have decided that I can work at my own pace and will still learn as I plod along. This is a couple of weeks' worth of stitching. I can only stitch using a magnifying lens so this will be slow going.

In the meantime I am also working on my thread painting, again at snail's pace, and trying out some pulled thread work on some fairly heavy handwoven cotton fabric.

A Finish

2009-07-28T16:17:00.008+10:00

After a period of inactivity - a very pleasurable family visit followed by a nasty cold resulted in no stitching in this house for more than three weeks - I have spent my spare moments this week with my Gum Trees. Sadly the colours I have chosen are not easy to photograph and the effect in reality is slightly different.

I found this very enjoyable despite some stitching that needed unstitching - a small price to pay for designing on the run. This is where I decided to stop ( always a difficult decision to make, I have found).

I think I have followed Sharon's Sumptuous Surfaces guidelines despite the low level texture in the finished piece. That class was so good and I learnt so much - I keep hoping she will offer Sumptuous Surfaces 102 some day soon - hint hint.

There are only four stitches used - satin stitch, stem stitch, wave stitch and foursided stitch and the thread is all cotton perle , #8 and #12. I deliberately changed the size of the 4 sided stitch in the leaves in a couple of places - not sure whether to leave it or try again - this show up only in the enlarged version.

Some new beginnings

2009-06-17T10:57:00.006+10:00

Neki from A movable feast has been working on an exciting series and mentioned how many pieces she works on for a series. This has made me think about my working method. The problem is I seem to need to try out new things and although I sometimes consider doing a series on a particular theme that is as far as it has progressed. The truth of the matter is probably just that I have so much to learn in technique and design before I can possibly begin to think in terms of a series.

However to move on to what I have been doing in the last couple of weeks - well, not much really- but I have started a couple of 'new' pieces. The first one is based on a drawing I did of some gumtrees that I can see from my workroom window. I tacked the design onto linen with the intention of using it for my TIF challenge in January last year. I did make an unacceptable attempt and spent some time with the quick unpick and it has been sitting in the box ever since just waiting for inspiration . Could I do it in straight stitch in the style of some of Jan Beaney's work that I admire? Could I try some pulled thread stitches to show the bark changes across the trunk? Or even some blackwork? Talk about the dabbler in everything but the master of none!

I am not sure what eventually inspired me - perhaps an abstract from Edna Wark's book on pulled thread, perhaps Sue Dove, perhaps both of them. I do know I intend to use some pulled thread stitches for the background. At the moment I am considering the possibility of only working one trunk as two might be just too much for the space - 6 x 4" if I want to add pulled thread.

The next piece is another that has been also languishing in the box - I was given Trish Burr's book for my birthday also in January 2008. While I like to work designs of my own I feel that for some techniques I need to follow instructions, at least for the first piece in that particular technique and thread painting falls into this category. I bought a cheap canvas mounted on a wooden frame - traced the rose from Trish's book and stapled the calico onto the frame and then carefully removed the original canvas - collected the floss that was needed. - 5 greens, many pinks and a number of gold shades. This then also sat quietly in the box waiting for me to feel confident enough to start. Well, this week I needed some colour to brighten up my stitching moments so maybe it was time.

More to larn! This is a departure from my usual working method as it needs to be stab stitched and, although I usually use a hoop, it is loose enough for me to scoop stitch. It took me a little while to manage the technique for the stem stitch stems but suddenly it fell into place. Sadly I have not done enough to photograph - just a stem with its nasty little thorns and the split stitch outlining of the leaves.

I love working in monochrome but every so often I feel the need for colour. The thread painting colour is sandwiched between the gum trees and my whitework sampler which is progressing slowly.

When I began the hardanger pieces I intended to cut them out and make a pincushion or biscornu. However I added my drawn thread squares to the same piece of linen. So after deciding it was a learning sampler I needed consider the total design and see if I could make it a half reasonable piece of work. Not sure I will succeed but these latest little hardanger squares may help the process. I want to try various needleweaving ideas from The complete book of Hardanger by Janny Geldens . This interesting book I have borrowed from the library is full of new ideas for me to try. I am hopeful that some of these hardanger techniques can carry over into other drawn thread work I would like to pursue.

A better photograph and another biscornu

2009-06-07T10:06:00.003+10:00

I was unhappy with this photo on the previous entry so decided to see if I could do better - maybe a tad!

This is the biscornu I made in crossstitch for the exchange on stitchin fingers. I find it quite difficult to design for crossstitch - not sure why that is so. Also these days I find it very difficult to work to a deadline. Gina was very understanding but, nonetheless I felt quite stressed about how long it took me to finish this.

The front worked up quite well without too much effort but I needed three attempts to complete a satisfactory back . The first one I ruined by drawing on it with pencil and then trying to remove the marks. I now know that Aida will not submit to any kind of abrasion! The second design I didn't like at all and eventually decided that I really must be happy with the third! (Does this story remind you of Goldilocks or not?) I do try to make both sides of my biscornu different - probably because I get bored with too much repetition.

Some tidying up and an exchange.

2009-06-06T16:36:00.006+10:00

I have done very little work in the last couple of weeks thanks to a slight problem of a broken jaw. Although why a broken jaw should affect my stitching fingers quite eludes me - nonetheless I have only managed to finish Jane's biscornu, tidy up my drawn thread samples and finish my castalguidi piece. When I write this out it sounds impressive but the actual stitching time was not all that long.

I was not at all happy with the big gaps in the corners of the drawn thread samples and decided to sort them out.

For this one I used wrapped threads to fill the corners - this was chosen because the threads in the drawn will be removed.)
When it came to this sample I enjoyed the wrapped wheels but decided that on such a small (4 inches square) piece of work more than alternate wheels would be overpowering. Because I feel design is still quite a weakness I try to work at it for everything I do. Again I tried to tie the corners in with the needleweaving I had done in the edge.

This did not work so well - perhaps filling all four corners with buttonholed bars, single and double, might have been better than only three.

This is the lovely biscornu that I received in the stitchin fingers crossstitch exchange from Gina. Interestingly each of the biscornu I have received on exchange has been smaller than the size I normally stitch. I do like these tiny ones. The one I sent Gina in exchange I will put in a later post - enough pictures for now.

A Treat as well as a Great Grub and Maggots!

2009-05-10T13:53:00.008+10:00

The Treat!

Jane and I are having a private biscornu swap and this gorgeous little piece of crossstitching arrived for me the other day. It is so tiny and perfect. Scary really, as I know mine won't be perfect. The other thing that disturbs me is that Jane has managed to get this to me from Britain and I am still only on the first side of hers. I am enjoying the stitching but it is, as ever, a slow process - hopefully I will manage to get it done soon. I am not adding any photos until it reaches her, nor photos of the crossstitch one for my swap with Gina. She also finished before me but mine is ready to go in the post tomorrow.

My Grub and Maggots!

I really wanted to do the Stitch Explorer for this month - Casalguidi stitch. The small sampler piece is not finished either but well on the way. This was an opportunity to do another drawn thread square. I have done this assisted by Effie Mitrofanis' Casalguidi Style Linen Embroidery. It is a wonderful book absolutely brimful of inspiring ideas.

My first attempt was shown to the resident critic for approval - the comment was "What fun! A great grub and maggots!" Definitely not my intention! I guess the colours chosen helped with the impression. I have since added some bullion knots and hopefully I have altered it.

This was so much fun - I thought I might have real problems with the Casalaguidi stitch but I used #5 perle cotton for the padding and # 8 perle cotton for the satin and stem stitch. Perle thread is used throughout. I have used Casalguidi stitch, overcast stem, buttonhole stitch, buttonhole bars, single and double, bullion stitch, whipped threads in the drawn thread area to give a zigzag effect and, of course, the mandatory foursided stitch. I have still some way to go but I am delighted that I have got this far before the 15th May. Does it come through that I am still in love with drawn and pulled thread work?

Stitch Explorer Challenge for March and Cruel Crewel!

2009-04-13T17:01:00.004+10:00

Well, I am not finished by the end of the month but very close to the 15th April when Sharon announces the next challenge . In January I decided I was unable to participate every month as I needed more time to complete other projects – however this was one challenge I could not resist!

I find the ‘design as I go’ method that I use for this style of embroidery much more satisfying than design for a crossstitch biscornu I have been stitching each weekday. (Work on this piece has been restricted to Saturdays ) I can’t design crossstitch the same way, especially for a biscornu, and I have found work on it quite constricting in comparison.

I discovered while stitching Ziggy’s surrounds that I can control my buttonhole stitches much better without a hoop – previously I had realised stem stitch was always more even when I held the fabric in my hand but was surprised to discover the smae applied for buttonhole circles as well. Then I decided to try the wrapped wheels and guess what! The same result!

The fabric is 32 count linen - a dream of a fabric. The threads used are all cotton either, Finca perle #8 and # 12 or DMC stranded floss with just a touch of one Light Effects thread. I think I am in a cotton rut but I do enjoy the feel of the thread and have quite a good selection of colours.

The stitches are pulled satin, fairly random, wrapped wheels, buttonhole, bullion, and French knots as well as the original stem stitch, pulled Chinese stitch and pulled eyelets - a slightly enlarged stitch vocabulary for me. Now I need to decide how to stitch the nose and eyes.

My crewel-style fishes are creeping along – I save these for lazy Sunday afternoons. I admit to being amazed that I have managed to stick to this timetable but my weekend embroidery is the carrot at the end of the stick. "Crewel style" is a very loose definition for what I have been doing. The thread is cotton floss, DMC, once again and the fabric is a silk/wool dressmaking remnant, very slubby - difficult for a not so skilled embroiderer and a penance after the previous day's work on linen. I think my next attempt might be with a firmer fabric and, perhaps, I could invest in woollen thread.

Voided landscape

2009-03-23T19:39:00.005+10:00

As I looked out the front window this afternoon I discovered my very own voided landscape. The mower man is currently indisposed so the grass and edges have not been trimmed this week and this is probably why it fitted the bill. Normally the mowing and trimming needs to be done each week at this time of the year - it may have to wait at least one more week this time.

There is something very tactile about grass of this length. This will probably be as much as I can contribute to the month's challenge as my Ziggy embroidery is a slow project to be savoured and decidely unrushed.

My voided Ziggy

2009-03-22T18:28:00.005+10:00

I am committed to three biscornu and have begun the first - this occupies my weekday stitching time. However I need a change from crossstitch so have given myself permission to spend the weekends with other embroidery projects.

I decided to do the Stitch Explorer challenge for this month. Voided work appeals to me very much.

A birthday gift from my daughter was a copy of Lump, the dog who ate a Picasso by David Duncan -a marvellous book of photographs of Picasso with Lump.

The book enthralled me since the photographs could have been of Ziggy, a dachshund that my children gave me as a birthday gift in 1982. Ziggy was the light of our life for twelve wonderful years. We never managed to train him but, naturally, he had us very well trained. It is amazing how much we still miss him after fifteen years.

The next part of the narrative comes with Mabel McAlister's book and her wonderful series of cat embroideries. A dachshund has such a wonderful shape - totallly recognisable, and even I can manage a likeness. So I have been having a wonderful time designing the series - no doubt it will change many times but that is half the fun!

While I intend to use his full shape for some of my embroideries I decided to start with his head.

I outlined the head in stem stitch and then started the pulled thread background.
This certainly can't be finished in another week, but I have made a start.

The fabric is 32 count linen and a lens and lamp is needed for the Chinese stitch and eyelets in #12 perle. As you can see, I have done about a square inch! A good day's work!

The pulled thread work in closeup.

I could not imagine why anyone might call a dachshund, Lump. After some hunting I discovered this piece from the NYTimes. Yes, definitely, a rascal! That fitted nicely!

Today's effort was not worth photographing. Hopefully by next Sunday night I will have enough to share. This is some crewel embroidery. I have read a number of books but could not decide where to begin. I love the traditional tulips, pomegranates etc but really wanted to practise stitches and design on other shapes and eventually came up with fish.

All I managed this afternoon was the outline of a tail with split stitch, plus some long and short stitch . Can you believe that this is the first time I have ever tried split stitch?

It is one of those stitches that I look at and feel assured will be easy. While it is not as easy as it looks on paper I eventually managed to finish that first small shape and feel that by the time I have done seven more I will be happy with my split stitches. This will not be the only new stitch as I have not done any couching or laid work previously.

Another day in the city.

2009-03-20T18:52:00.006+10:00

No textiles to show this week - life has just got in the road. However I visited the City on Tuesday and remembered to carry the small camera - so I do have some photographs to share. On the way to the bus stop we were almost deafened by a couple of very raucous rainbow lorikeets. While they are so colourful they are also very noisy drunks! Lorikeets and parrots were very plentiful in our garden on the mountain and, while we do see the odd one here in town, there are not nearly as many. On Mt Tamborine the birds were very happy to harvest any fruit we managed to grow, except maybe the citrus, and sharing was not part of the deal as far as they were concerned . All our stone fruit had to be ripened under nets. Even green olives were not safe from the king parrots. Nonetheless I miss all those birds very much.

This is the Brisbane City Hall, a beautiful building which is currently falling apart. Hopefully it will be repaired (there seems to be some discussion at the moment on whether or not it is a reasonable thing to do) . I do feel since it is part of Brisbane's history, it would be very sad to do nothing about the problem. For many years the City Hall clock could be seen from all over the city - not so now - one can manage to see the clock face from only a very few vantage points, but at least we can hear the chimes! (If the traffic noise is not overwhelming). This year is the 150th anniversary of the declaration of Queensland as a separate state - just a youngster, really!

I love these lamps on the front of the building.

Who Needs a Spiral Buttonhole?

2009-03-16T15:48:00.006+10:00

Exactly! I cannot imagine why I imagined spiral buttonhole was the only thing for the centre of this piece. After unpicking two attempts and washing out the pencilled circles I decided that wrapped wheels would fill the space quite adequately. I enjoy wrapping wheels and maybe, one day, I might, after masses of practice, manage to enjoy a spiral buttonhole!

This is my third drawn thread square - do I now stick with this format of 4 inch squares? or do I try something different? Decisions, decisions!

What is next ? Paula has loaned me two books on crewel - I want to make a start on that soon. Perhaps I should begin to stitch one of the three biscornu that I am committed to make? Maybe some cutwork? I have an idea to use for the Stitch Explorer Challenge for March. I am having trouble in sticking to my resolution to start and finish one thing at a time as there are so many exciting projects calling.

This is the front garden frangipani - the one with the amazing fragrance.

Next Step

2009-03-14T16:01:00.005+10:00

A good day! I have managed to find enough time to stitch the outside of the square - well, I think it is finished but, then again, maybe it isn't. My choice of stitches has not included anything new - this time there are pulled eyelets and layered chain. I would have preferred something other than chain but it seemed to be the best fit in the end.

Last week I decided to shoot some photos of the pink frangipani hanging over the back steps. There is also a red frangipani in our tiny back garden. These are both very beautiful, but, sadly they lack the perfume of the white frangipani in the front. Just before sunrise, my usual time to collect the newspapers, the fragrance is almost overpowering. I can never work out why darkness increases the perfume of flowers.

Some Needleweaving

2009-03-13T12:14:00.005+10:00

Not exactly finished but the basic needleweaving in the drawn thread section is done.My progress is, as ever, very slow but, nonetheless, enjoyable.

I am happy with this work - I had so many bundles of loose threads along each side of the square - why would one do something sensible like calculating in advance? So the problem was - what could be done with 15 bundles? - and this is where I finished. Is this called designing? I hope so.

Some of the marking threads are visible - I have become completely paranoid about miscounting early in the piece (and, even worse, later in the piece) and, in this case, not ending up a with real square so I thread mark every 10 threads in both directions. I started to do this with my second piece of Hardanger and found it wonderful not to need to unpick frequently. One can wing some things but definitely not Hardanger!

Another photo of the parking station from yesterday - I feel there is at least one embroidery in this. The pattern on the concrete is so very interesting and I love the rhythm of those stairs.

Not much lavender but some old lace!

2009-03-12T21:17:00.005+10:00

I went to the City this morning and carried the compact camera. I found a few of the buildings that were part of Brisabane when I first arrived more than 50 years ago. The city has been almost rebuilt since then but a few of the old buildings can still be found.

The People's Palace is now overshadowed by taller, more modern buildings.

I still love its old lace.

The old Brisbane School of Arts - the middle floor of which housed the City Library for a number of years has its lace petticoat and the ground floor well hidden by the greenery that has grown so quickly.

This was definitely not here in 1952! The multi storey carpark on Wickham Terrace has the dreariest interior but a most interesting facade. Dreary interiors must be a given for most carparks, I guess. I always find them very depressing places.

Now some real stitching to finish off. My (quite awful) experiments with Edith John's Spiral Buttonhole . I had a great deal of trouble with this but think I eventually worked it out.

The jewel colours of this DMC perle appealed to me in the shop but when I try to stitch with it on calico I wonder why. Perhaps it will look better on a dark fabric - I hope so.

I have been toiling on with another square of drawn thread work - this time it is more or less to my design. I would like to add a spiral buttonhole to this piece - but not in this thread and after momre practice!

A mixed bag

2009-03-03T13:42:00.004+10:00

Can anyone believe it would be possible to knit two pairs of woollen socks and have absolutely no recollection of doing so? While I possibly have a slight excuse – we have cleaned out and sold a house and relocated as well as coped with some major health changes in the interim -nonetheless I find it incredible that I could do this. Especially since these are the only socks I have knitted in my life. I know I have done no knitting since 2004 - I guess the socks were parcelled up with the rest of my unfinished knitting ( goodness knows what I can do with three almost finished jumpers that will no longer fit my grandsons.

Here is the first pair and maybe the other pair can be finished today.

Now I can't wait for winter – (it is still 33 degrees here, Centigrade)! These will be just the go for those early morning walks - soft woollen socks.

It is no wonder I try to keep my embroidery pieces small and to finish one piece before I start the next! A good idea but not always followed!

I really wanted to finish this hardanger sampler before the end of February but my wrist is playing up at the moment and it is impossible to stitch for more than an hour at a time.

There were no mishaps with the cutting of threads – something for which I am very thankful. The picots are definitely not the best – I do need practice. I should have taken Yvette Stanton’s advice. She suggested that one should practise on scrap cloth until perfect – however I decided that this was a practise sampler and, of course, fools rush in....... The instructions are good but I feel I am missing something. I would like to have an expert hold my hand until I acquired some skill but maybe practice will make perfect!

A second UFO has hit the dust!

The other finish is the mounting of a crossstitch picture, one of two that I stitched in 2000. The chart came from an Anna Burda. I stitched these, a sampler, a picture for my daughter and two birth samplers (also from Anna Burda) for my older granddaughters. The gifts were mounted and framed - however I had never managed to do anything with the other three until yesterday when I put this one in a frame.

** The order of the entries in this is dependent on the order of the photos - I originally had the socks at the end but somehow managed to lose the photograph and when it was reloaded it was at the beginning and I am not quite up to changing its position

A second attempt!

2009-02-26T19:31:00.004+10:00

I deleted the previous post because for a reason completely beyond my comprehension Blogger refused to upload this picture. I copied it to a new folder and gave it a new name and hey presto!

Sorry for the confusion.

So here is a (crooked) photograph of the current state of this sampler. The reverse diagonal faggotting is finished. The mitred corners could be better but, this is a first attempt and I do like to leave room for improvement! Now it is time to cut threads and needleweave and I certainly need fantastic light for that exercise. Tomorrow is busy so it will probably have to wait until Saturday.

There was very little stitching done today. I spent quite a deal of time working on some designs of my own. I feel the time has come to try for some originality - not sure that is the right word as most of what I do is inspired and derived from many sources - perhaps personal slant might be better. the only personal slant in most of my work this year has been the mistakes!

I am on a roll!

2009-02-25T19:07:00.006+10:00

The eyelets and twisted lattice band are finished. I like my eyelets open and was delighted to read this post by Yvette Stanton - the Hardanger guru". I was doing them the correct way - quite a surprise as I almost always manage to work back to front. I am not sure mine are quite as open as Yvette's. Eyelets make great background with surface stitching , especially combined with pulled satin.

I began the reverse diagonal faggotting today and after that is finished comes the scary stuff! It will be time to cut threads and needleweave. I think I am getting hooked on Hardanger - although it is annoying that I need a magnifying lens to work accurately. I would like to try some on 32 count linen - this is 26 or 28. Hopefully that is possible.

I have found that using marking lines every 10 threads has meant I have not needed to unpick. The big challenge will be to remove those threads when the stitching is complete.

Today a visit to the library produced some interesting embroidery books . The one that has been most inspiring so far is about a Brisbane embroiderer, The Life and Embroidery of Mabel McAlister. She was one of the cofounders of the Queensland Embroiderers' Guild. Her life is interesting (I realise she went to school with my mother, probably the same year) but her embroideries are wonderful and, as I said, so inspiring.

Another, Jill Carter's Special Occasions in Embroidery, has some interesting designs from which I can also acquire some ideas. Then there is one on beaded dimensional embroidery that I have barely skimmed. How am I going to find time to stitch?

Kloster Blocks finished.

2009-02-24T19:54:00.005+10:00

I have finished the kloster blocks and started the twisted lattice band - then after that are the 8 eyelets. I can't wait for them as I am then moving onto #12 perle cotton. Up to that stage the kloster blocks and twisted lattice have been in #8 cotton. I am enjoying using this colour thread - maybe the next piece might have to be with a variegated cotton. I think that might offer some challenges in the direction the kloster blocks need to be stitched.

Also here is a much better photograph of my last drawn thread sample. I wish my stitching could improve as much as my camera skills.

More Hardanger

2009-02-22T11:55:00.006+10:00

I have not finished stitching anything but feel I need to make another blog entry. Since I adding a bloglist including most of the blogs that I regularly follow I have been calling up Maggies Textiles each time I check to see what everybody else has been doing. I am thoroughly tired of looking at that piece of drawn thread work of mine. So here is some progress, slight that it might be, on the second hardanger sampler. I think there is some improvement in the kloster block stitching (maybe!).

I have changed colour for this one. I am not sure exactly what I will do with these when I am finished. This is the end of my supply of natural linen of this count - 26. However I do have a fat quarter of bright white so I am not totally bereft. I have difficulty working with white-white.

My great news of the week! I found a copy of Yvette Stanton's fantastic Elegant Hardanger Embroidery in an opshop - a real bonus! This has been on my wishlist for some time and I haven't bought before now because it has been fairly readily available in the local library.

Last week we spent a few days back on Mt Tamborine where we lived for nearly 13 wonderful years. It rained most of the time but, nonetheless the mountain was so beautiful. When we left a few years ago it was very dry and not nearly as green as it is at the moment.

This was the view when we opened our eyes each morning. Absolutely wondrous! Who can complain if the towels would not dry overnight?

Drawn Thread - second try!

2009-02-16T10:38:00.007+10:00

This time I used the centre of a piece from Effie Mitrofanis' Needleweaving and Embroidery: Embellished Treasures. The surface embroidery is slightly different. I really like the way she uses surface embroidery with needleweaving.

I have been having lots of trouble getting a half decent photograph of this and I am certainly still not happy with my camera work.

I finished the stitching nearly a week ago. I enjoyed the process very much and felt the needleweaving improved as I went along but as you can see there is a massive amount of room for improvement. Still, perhaps I only need about another dozen practice pieces before I might be happy! For the moment I am content to go back to Hardanger and sampler 2. Amazon sent me details of a new-to-me Hardanger book Hardanger Embroidery by Donatella Ciotti - I like the few illustrations given on the site and have added it to my wishlist.

Don't you just love teacosies?

2009-02-07T13:11:00.010+10:00

I do, nearly as much as I love teapots! Fortunately I don't really have the soul, the space (or cash) to be a real collector so I only own a few of both.

This cosy was made a few years ago . Double weave is a great structure for this purpose as you can stuff while you weave. I didn't make it reversible - it seemed easier to add a simple cotton lining. To add the flowers in some of the blocks all 16 shafts of the loom were needed for the draft.

I always intended to weave more teacosies in this style but sadly never did. The only other double weave stuff-as-you-go were my sudoku coffee cosies and I don't own them any more.

There is no stitching to show as the drawn thread piece I am stitching at the moment is taking forever to finish. I am quite enjoying the process but, since it is basically an Effie Mitrofanis design from her book on needleweaving, I want to complete it and start a design of my own. Even if it does turn out to be the same old, same old - french knots with some pulled thread stitches and buttonhole circles and maybe some bullion if I really feel adventurous!!!!!! What about an embroidered teacosy?

Making my day bright.

2009-02-05T19:24:00.007+10:00

Two weeks ago I ventured into a Vinnies store to check out the fiction books - if I can't get them at the library I can sometimes find what I like there. However this time I came home with no books but, instead I uncovered two linen teatowels, a gold one and a blue, almost turquoise, one. They just flew into my bag , especially at 50c each. I threw both into the washing machine and fortunately added two colour catchers to the load- bright green pieces resulted.

This is the gold one plus an array of toning perle cottons from my collection - inspiring , don't you think?

While I am doing some stitching there is nothing original in what my work this year. I really miss the challenge of last year's TIF. I tried to produce a series of embroideries using the skills I had learnt in Sharon's Sumptuous Surfaces class. Not all 12 satisfied me but nonetheless I gained so much from the year's work. Maybe the time has come to start another one with a theme of my own choice.

A paperweight to be treasured

2009-02-03T13:38:00.006+10:00

I am the very proud owner of one of Paula's exquisitely embroidered paperweights. Paula and Moo gave this to me for my birthday. It is so beautiful but unfortunately the photos do it justice - however I have taken them from a couple of different angles to try to show it off as best I can.

This is an embroidery that one wants to hold and examine closely for ages - it is covered in stitches -from the tiniest french knots and whipped spiders to the lovely encrusted whipped 'shells'. Neutral textured embroidery is so interesting - one is not distracted by colour, I guess. Paula gives a really good description of how she makes these on her blog.

We had a good catch-up on Friday morning - always lots of fun - lots of talk and show and tell!

Drawn Thread

2009-01-26T06:49:00.006+10:00

Happy Australia Day to everyone. This has always signalled the end of the summer holidays here in Australia -why should it be different despite being retired for some years? Today I feel I need to make the most of my last day of this year's holidays! Not sure what is on the agenda.

Last week I eventually spent some of my Christmas money on the book by Effie Mitrofanis on Needleweaving . I do want to try something in her style. However I needed to follow Bage's very structured instructions on at least one piece first - this is what I did.

A simple piece based on the centre of a bell pull design from her book on Drawn Thread.

This time I started with guide lines - this took some time but was certainly time well spent, providing checks along the way.

I like the serpentine (zigzag - ) hemstitched section while the foursided stitch provides a nice contrast.

A four inch square provides a lovely size for a pincushion top - now I only need to make the bottom.

"Half Way Mark" is now "Finishing Line"!

2009-01-22T15:48:00.004+10:00

I am feeling very proud of myself - the sort of pride you get when you have finished something that should have been complete months ago!

In July the TIF theme was 'half way mark' - I completed the embroidery for the top of a biscornu. At the time I was in the middle of a Studio Journal course and this design was derived from a kaleidoscope - the entry is here. I used a variegated thread for stem and back stitch that I wnated to continue on the other side. This was the main reason for my hesitation. Calculation of which colour to start with on the other side was difficult. It is not perfect but fairly close in value. at least.

Biscornu are fun pincushions to stitch and so satisfying to stuff and join up. Stitch through buttons make a better job but these are the best my stash had to offer!

November TIF

2009-01-21T09:36:00.005+10:00

Since all I produced for November was some ancient weaving I decided that I would try to play with my initial. The theme for this month as I saw it was to look at the shape of text .

M is quite an interesting letter to dissect - it appealed to me because it is totally repetitious!

Again the fabric is my favourite, 28 count linen, and the thread is cotton perle #8 and #12. The stitching is fairly unambitious - even the pulled thread stitches I had used previously. This was my "pick up and don't have to think" piece.

My original heading for this entry was "Drawing a line under the TIF challenge" - however, since I have finished this piece which makes my twelfth embroidery for 2008, I have realised that the end of the 2008 challenge was really only the beginning for me. I have quite a few ideas that did not reach fruition last year - some of them are destined to remain hidden forever but there are some that I want to pursue. So I am certainly not done with TIF - hopefully there will be something to show in the future.

I am delighted that I managed to hang in for the whole of the year. This year my intention is to pick and choose what I would like to try from Sharon's new challenge - chicken scratch is not one of the styles I want to pursue at this stage. Nonetheless I am grateful to Sharon for again offering the opportunity to try new things.

At the moment I am finishing as many WIPs and WISPs as possible before beginning anything too exciting- even the start of the second hardanger sampler must wait for the moment - not sure how long I will be able to withstand temptation!

Hardanger

2009-01-19T05:57:00.008+10:00

Goodness here I am complaining about time disappearing again - January is half gone already! I have not been totally idle but playing with my lace bobbins in between trying to conquer Hardanger and completing the twelfth embroidery for 2008 TIF (more on that next post). My Hardanger journey was a great learning experience.

From this

To this!

Can you believe that I would have this kind of problem ? I couldn't imagine how I could cut two threads after this much stitching.

It was then a case of girding my loins and reweaving - after what are two small missing linen threads to a weaver worth her salt?

I used a thread from the bottom of the piece of fabric as suggested in Yvette Stanton's incomparable book on Hardanger. (Mary Corbet did a piece on her recently). Until I began this Sampler#1 I did not realise just how helpful Yvette's book was , especially working in isolation.

This is a 3 1/2 inch sampler (#1) from Jill Carter's book and I do plan to at least stitch #2 if not #3. Ambitious. aren't I?

Despite trouble counting the threads, especially when beginning the kloster blocks, this piece was fun to stitch. In the process, I learnt to do diagonal eyelets, needleweaving, wrapped bars, twisted lattice band and reversed diagonal faggoting – not a bad collection of experience to collect from one small piece.

While I hope to do #2 a little better I am not unhappy with this one. The one thing that caused me problems (other than the small matter of cut threads!) was the satin stitch star in the centre – I just could not seem to count threads correctly - I think I needed 5 tries.

The fabric is my favourite, 28 count linen, and the thread, #8 and #12 perle cotton.

While I have no intention of producing a larger piece of Hardanger I needed to try to understand the technique before attempting to incorporate it into my surface stitching. I am not sure whether or not it is workable but I do have some ideas simmering on the back burner.

The Christmas boxes delighted their recipients to my delight! As did the other handmade gifts.One of the little girls has started to embroider herself a cushion - so that is wonderful.

The lace journey could be interesting - I have not had the pillow out for 3 years or more and my skill level is way lower than par. I am getting ready to join some of the Lace makers group from Stitchin Fingers to learn Bedfordshire lace, beginning in March - now that is an ambitious thought.

The last of my Christmas photos

2008-12-23T06:29:00.005+10:00

I bought pens for the boys and last week I decided that I needed to give them something handmade to go with the pens. The rest of the family would open up handmade gifts on Thursday morning and it didn’t seem quite fair to me for them to miss out. So I found two notebooks and spent nearly a week working out how to make a lined cover for each (and less than a day actually stitching the covers).

This exercise could also have been a TIF offering for June. About 20 years ago my daughter made these interesting screen prints and discarded them. I could not bear to throw them out and have allowed them to mature quietly in the cupboard. I also discovered a remnant of red gabardine from some ancient project that almost matched. These covers are the result – the whole project was a total stash raid!

I have cooked 4 of the 5 Christmas cakes I hope to make – fortunately we like and eat a boiled fruit cake – plenty of whisky makes it very festive! There is other cooking to get done in the next few days so I can’t imagine that I will manage another blog entry before the big day – so Happy Christmas to everyone – have a wonderful day.

Happy Christmas!

2008-12-22T07:07:00.005+10:00

Christmas week has arrived and I have finished all the Christmas presents I planned – well almost all. I did intend to make a couple of small items but they feel by the wayside. Surely that is normal - definitely for me. Usually I start Christmas planning with the best of intentions and most of those intentions remain just that! So I am very happy with where we managed to get this year - and absolutely amazed that I have them all wrapped and waiting for Christmas morning. For many years wrapping was something I did at 11.30 on Christmas evening. So some things do improve with age!

I used five of my TIF embroideries as inserts for little wooden boxes that my husband made to fit the embroideries. He has done a wonderful job. These are for our four children and my sister. I hope they like them.

Christmas Cushions

2008-12-07T13:54:00.007+10:00

The cushions are finished and ready to be wrapped.

These are gifts for my three granddaughters and they are 6, 7 and 7 years old. They all love pink - however I decided that although I had embroidered with a preponderance of pink threads I needed to make the cushions in another colour.

Amazingly I managed to find some pale green gaberdine in my fabric stash (probably not surprising at all - there is so much fabric in that cupboard.

I am quite happy with the finished result . Thanks to Paula's instruction I lined the covers with carefully (?) quilted fabric - Warm and Natural wadding machine quilted onto some sheeting. I am grateful for Paula's advice as this made a big difference to the finished look of the embroidery on the cushions.

My Christmas stitching is almost finished Maybe I can manage to make one or two embroidered ornaments - I had great intentions to make a number of these for the tree this year but so far have stitched none. There is still a little time. Our tree will go up the week before Christmas when, hopefully, there will be plenty of volunteers for the job and all I have to do is sit and offer advice. Putting up the tree is never a problem but guess who gets to pack it all away in January!

My December TIF

2008-12-03T06:57:00.004+10:00

Well this will be a record - I can write up my TIF effort by the 3rd of the month. Sharon has given the concept of generosity for the month's theme. Now December is a very busy time in this household - we have visitors as well as the big celebration of the year so I have decided that since the gods are smiling on me I will be grateful that I can finish the year on such a positive note!

What is even more wonderful is to complete the year with this concept and feel it has really come a full circle. You may remember that in January the theme was based on the idea of considering someone you look up to. My chosen person is the most generous person I know so this was the attribute I considered for that theme. At that time an outstretched hand seemed to me to be the most appropriate way to portray this attribute and I still like this symbol.

Also because it was January and my enthusiasm for the challenge was at its peak I even managed to produce a piece using the chosen colours for the month so, if I withdraw my generosity piece, I still have produced 12+ pieces for the year , despite my using a slightly mature piece for November.

I have enjoyed the year's challenge very much and want to participate in next year's exercise that Sharon is offering on relatively unknown embroidery styles and stitches. To what extent I will do so I am not sure at this stage. I have found the years exercises really made me think and certainly extended what I had learned from the Sumptuous Surfaces class both in how I approach a concept and my stitch vocabulary. However I now have a number of directions I want to explore in embroidery and, as well, I am really getting anxious to try the loom again and find out if I have forgotten how to weave or not.

Undulations - real and perceived.

2008-12-02T16:44:00.006+10:00

Side 1 4CDW Reverse 4CDW

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Ripple Scarf

(Sometimes Blogger drives me crazy - I cannot put these photos in the order I would prefer so I will leave them thus and give up!) Please view the photos in reverse order to make sense of the text.

Neki and I have been talking about texture in weaving. This helped me remember a scarf I wove a few years ago - the aim of the exercise simply was to produce a cloth with texture. Many weavers have done this much better than I have ever managed but I was quite proud of this result. I am not quite sure at this distance in time exactly where I got the idea. I think the original fabric inspiration was a 3/1 , 1/3 striped fabric of Bonnie Inouye’s. Since I used 3/1, 1/3 twills often in my weaving it was an easy design to play with, and even easier to weave. The warp was a fairly loosely spun cream wool, 2/18 or thereabouts, (as you can see this was well documented!) and the weft was a more evenly spun 2/24 wool. The secret to the ripples is in the afterwash treatment. After milling, I hung it from the clothes line (quite wet) and tied a half full milk container of water from the other end and pulled the scarf into shape as it dried. Then of course, no pressing! This scarf is so soft and warm - it is one of the few I still own but I am pleased that I managed to hang onto this one.

My next piece is, in some ways, much more interesting – it has marvellous ups and downs but is a smooth piece of fabric. I do hope you can see these undulations in the photos. The structure is one of my favourites – four coloured double weave. The yarn is 2/20 cotton – the musk pink thread in the warp is unmercerised but the other three yarns are mercerised. I am not sure why or how I managed to acquire that musk pink (and I had a kg) but was over the moon to discover I could mess around with its ugliness as well as I did in this piece. Colour is so intriguing!

From the time this fabric started to appear and I realised what was happening I was smitten . From then I felt that I only wanted to weave cloth with hills and valleys. I have not always been as successful as I would like. Whereas sometimes it occurs without even trying - on other occasions it can take a great deal of effort. It all seems to depend on a mysterious interaction between colours (both hues and values) and structure. I have also achieved the effect using a shadow weave structure and 6 colours. It is just magic that sometimes you can make all these elements sing in tune.

From this one warp and a variety of weft colours I made a series of table runners with coordinating plain weave serviettes . Some of the colours had deeper furrows than others. Not sure I have any photographs of them, unfortunately, as I have given away all those runners and this is the only scrap left.

November TIF

2008-11-30T06:26:00.006+10:00

November ends today. Now can anyone tell me where the year has gone? The television weather reader tells me that today is the last day of spring. What kind of airconditioning has she been languishing in for the last month or so? We have had temperatures well above the mid20's most days and even some as high as 34!

My planned TIF embroidery based on jacaranda colours is still mainly a plan - definitely an idea I want to take further but not this year. Nonetheless I refuse to let the month go without something to show for the challenge. Does it matter that I wove this in 2006? I think not.

I wove some coffeecosies and decided that they mustbe lined with handwoven fabric.This particular draft was the result of many hours of sweat and tears. I had decided that the structure would be summer and winter - so easy to make images in that structure! Ha, ha! Yes the letter shapes were easy to put in the tieup but it took me forever to work out exactly which way to get them to sit so that the white lettering read on the green background (I used 2/20 mercerised cotton for warp and both wefts). It would look correct on PCW but then appear in a completely different orientation on the cloth as it came over the front beam.

Then I had to complicate the process further by deciding that I wanted them to read the other way up on the other side of the lining - more tears!

This was definitely an exercise in letter shapes rather than actual words - the words were easy, getting the shapes right was not so easy for the 'bear of little brain'! However I did get there and as well as a series of linings I made a mat with the leftover fabric - just in case noone recognised the puzzle on the cosy!

Handkerchief Edges

2008-11-28T08:16:00.003+10:00

With a few days of enforced rest recently the crochet edge on the Grandma’s cloth is finally done. There are now just a couple of tiny details to stitch that she missed and the marks to be washed out of it before I post the finished item.

Crochet is a nice restful occupation, especially when there is no longer a need to consult the instructions. Unfortunately this also means I don’t find it particularly challenging so of course don’t have the patience to sit at it for hours.

With this piece finished it was important to have something under way , just waiting for that errant moment! Mind you, I have to admit that I am not sure about errant moments but I definitely have an errant brain! I have just found a linen handkerchief with an almost finished edging – when I started to crochet it I have no recollection – probably early last year.

I am one of a dying breed who refuses to use paper tissues except when I have a terrible cold. I just don't like the feel. Although I use cotton hankies for everyday it has always made sense to me to put my time and energy into linen. I may have to change this attitude as my supply has almost run out (this is the last, I think) and they are ridiculously expensive these days , even if I can find a supplier. Maybe I had better invest in a few as I think I have given away all but one of the many I have crocheted over the years.

Although I can’t remember this edge, I like it very much and it fulfils my criteria for crochet – the design must be fairly simple, no more than 4 rows deep and definitely not too lacy.

I have been collecting handkerchief edge designs for years and years. Some came from lovely old Myart, Paragon, Penelope, and Semco books , while others were pulled from magazines – this one was from a Family Circle, May 1982. I still occasionally find a book I don't own in an op shop or at a market. Is there anyone else out there who can remember the days when every department store and all those wonderful little haberdashery shops each had a rack of nice fine steel crochet hooks and a tremendous choice of cottons and the small pattern books? Now to find anything like that necessitates a hunt and a drive to goodness know where or else a shop over the web.

I have to apologise for the scan but it does give an indication of the edge and I promise to take a better one when it is finished.

Blogs and Awards

2008-11-26T09:06:00.004+10:00

Quite some time ago Carol Anne and Paula gave me awards. I feel I must apologise for not doing anything before this. I had not been blogging very long and while I felt very honoured I could not respond to these as at the time I was unable to use the hyperlinks. Everyone said it was easy, and it turned out to be so when I discovered how! Nonetheless it took me some time to discover how to do it.

Since then Shelley at Mermaids' Purse has tagged me so I am taking the easy way out and following the rules for ‘tagging’ and will give you 7 random facts about me –

1. I am a veracious reader and while I may have slowed down in other aspects of my life I can still consume written matter at a good pace.
2. I am a vegetarian – by circumstance not by intent – still prepare meat dishes for the rest of the family. I am allergic to chili and this makes the choice of recipes difficult.
3. I am a retired librarian who loved being a librarian but who really enjoys her retirement.
4. I like to cook if it doesn’t interrupt my other activities - my other blog is even more neglected than this one.
5. The kitchen tool I can’t live without - my knife set, which is sharp!!!
6. I only discovered that there is a right side and a wrong side to a needle eye quite recently.
7. I have run out of random thoughts.

Now, I am supposed to tag a number of other people but I won’t do that because I realise that some people have said recently they are not interested in tags or memes and of course I can't remember who they were but will take the easy way out and give you a few of the blogs I visit regularly and the reasons why I can’t stay away from their sites. I think they are all worthy of awards – and if anyone would like to regard themselves as tagged please do.

I seem to spend a too much time on the web and there are dozens more I could mention but these came to me first. I hope everyone else I think does a wonderful job will forgive me for not including them . I do intend to add a blogroll sometime soon. One can't hurry these things - how long have I been blogging?

Paula of The Beauty of Life – a friend who makes me laugh – and happens to be a magical embroiderer.
Christine of Lily and Paris – another friend who is generous and incredibly talented with her machine
Elizabeth of Quieter Moments – whose approach to embroidery is unbelievably detailed
Neki of amoveablefeast whose website I discovered because she is a weaver but much later discovered her amazing talents in so many directions.
Alice Schlein of Weaverly – the weaver par excellence with a wonderful sense of humour
Jude of Spirit Cloth – a patchworker and embroiderer with a very interesting approach to her work
Jocelyn of Pins and Needles - another meticulous embroiderer
Mary Corbet of NeedlenThread – a generous needleworker
Megan of Elmsley rose – if anyone can interest me in historical needlework it will be Megan .
Susan of Playing with Needles – a needlewoman who thinks and writes beautifully
Sharon of Pintangle – who started me on my embroidery voyage and continues to inspire me with her challenges
Carol Anne with wonderful Japanese embroidery
Rayna Gillman whose shibori and stories fill me with joy
I cannot omit a reference to Grace Lister who does not have a blog but has some really exciting embroidery on Flickr.

Another pitiful attempt!

2008-11-25T10:44:00.006+10:00

I had a good friend once who seemed to be always telling me "A little humility is good for the soul". I am not sure I liked to hear that, then or now!

Nonetheless, I will show you my first attempts at Hardanger with its many mistakes. It was just on a scrap of linen so there was no room for the hoop (of course I didn't have time to add any calico!) and that did not make for nice even stitching. Many of the books say that you don't need a hoop but I am sure I would have been more comfortable using one.

I couldn't count threads properly and ended up with the most peculiar point to my original shape of kloster blocks. This wasn't what I had intended but I could have made it a design feature. However I decided to simplify the whole thing and made the groupings with the needle weaving and the Dove's eye (Spindel) (another mistake in it) and my ambitious Skraspindel or square filet filling. Also it is obvious why a new sharp pair of scissors, more suitable than the ones I own, is at the top of my Christmas wishlist (Santa has promised to oblige!).

Once again my eyes let me down and this is work (on 28 count linen) that can only be done in small bites.

I did learn! I used #5 perle for the kloster blocks and feel that they would have been much more satisfactory in #8. I will use a hoop in future and probably take the time at the beginning to mark out the fabric.

Last week after an extended library loan it was necessary to return the library books on Hardanger I had borrowed - one by Jill Carter and the other by Yvette Stanton (one amazing needleworker!).

Not sure whether I prefer Carter's book, Hardanger Embroidery , because it is the one I read first but I find her easier to follow than Stanton. I am certainly not wanting to denigrate Elegant Hardanger - it is up to her usual high standard - beautifully illustrated descriptions of all the steps . I am just expressing a personal preference. In fact, I will probably buy the Stanton book because I can't find that particular Jill Carter book at a reasonable price. I would recommend either of these books to a beginner.

It goes without saying that this is an embroidery style that I want to pursue further. Much as I would love to own a runner, I am thinking realistically I might manage maybe a coaster, or two when I polish my technique a little (or a lot).

Pintangle and Jacarandas

2008-11-19T08:38:00.006+10:00

I didn't do this very well yesterday. Sharon has moved her blog to pintangle - she has given it a spring clean so go have a peek. Make sure you she gave us a day or so ago. I have added the Christmas decoration design she has shared to my 'to do' list. Should be an interesting exercise as I have not tried couching yet.

Sharon initiated an interesting discussion on blogs and whether or not it is important to stick to the topic has come up. This made me think about mine and my first question would have to be "Why am I writing this blog?" Is it for me? Or the readers? I can only answer for myself .

The main reason is for me to have an easily accessible record of my work - I wish I had started a blog years ago when I was dyeing and weaving regularly. While I did keep quite detailed paper records the ability to access any particular draft or dye recipe has become so very time consuming now- sometimes I think it might be easier to start again.

Then last year I rediscovered embroidery - something I never anticipated I would ever do again. I find myself absolutely rapt. So now I need to keep a fairly detailed record of this wonderful new adventure. It never fails to amaze me that other people might also be interested in what I am doing,

I reply when I can to comments and I delight in the new blogs I discover this way. My textile world has widened beyond belief since I started this journey about 16 months ago.

As for "off topic"I find I am interested in all sorts of things, the books other people read, their photos, their vacations, their gardens, their cooking adventures, the ups and downs of their daily lives - these all keep me enthralled - sometimes to the detriment of other things I might be doing. Some of my favourite 'textile ' oriented blogs venture far and wide and I realise how much I do enjoy this.

After all this introspection I have decided that I would like to try to widen my focus and start to include other things slightly off topic. I am an avid reader when I get the time - so be prepared to find details of my current reading in this in future.

I have also made a New Year resolution to be a better blogger (Yes, I know New Year is not quite here yet, but aren't the best resolutions test driven well in advance?) My textile output is fairly slow so some off topic input may help.

Now for the eye candy - definitely on topic - these photographs are the inspiration for my November TIF. I hope I can deliver. This tree is in the park around the corner and was at its best in late October.

I really love jacarandas and have left mature trees we planted in various gardens around the country. There are 3 magnificent ones on the 2 acres we had to leave three years ago when we returned to this little block in the city. Unfortunately not even I am optimistic enough to think that we could grow one on this miniblock, but that does not prevent me from revelling in the clouds of blue flowers all over Brisbane each October-November. When I was at Uni the accepted folklore was that if the lovely blooms had already appeared it really was much too late to start to cram. I am unable to verify this - never really brave enough to test it!

A failed experiment!

2008-11-18T20:02:00.006+10:00

This seemed to be an exercise in "what not to try again". I have never managed to do more than one or two of the TAST stitches that Sharon Boggon ran on her blog in 2007. For many reasons - not the least, I did not discover TAST until the challenge and the year was well under way and even then I had trouble threading a needle, much less attempting any of those "fancy" stitches.

Well life moved on and with 3 of Sharon's classes under my belt I have decided to take on the challenge. I have made the decision not to join the TAST group on Stitchin Fingers - I feel I am unable to commit to a timetable and really want to work through these at my own pace.

I have girded my loins and printed off Week 1 and am ready to go with Herringbone Stitch. I did use herringbone in some samplers for the PLOS class last year - I need to see exactly what I have already done.

Whilepasting the printout into my journal I was taken by two examples of varying heights - as these were two illustrations which I labelled them #7 and #8. Sharon has done these on dyed Aida. I am always on the lookout for stitches that might be suitable for pulled thread work and since I had already used freehand pulled herringbone for the background in my last TIF piece I wondered if these variations might be interesting possibilities.So I filled in one of the squares in my sampler for stitchalong - here is the back view of #7 and #8 .

- not very exciting but better than-

the front view. For #7 I 'stacked' the rows with no threads in between while I left 3 threads between the rows in #8. This took most of the afternoon - my eyesight is not the best and today was greyand dull.

I am definitely not complaining about the weather - after all, we did not even lose power on Sunday afternoon while some people in the western suburbs are still without power and , in many cases, without a roof! A horrific storm came through late afternoon and left devastation in its wake. The rain is still falling - filling the dams - but a headache for the emergency teams. There is a news story here.

Pulled Thread Sampler so far -this must surely qualify as 'slow cloth' . I spent some time recently stitching the outlines for this sampler so have crossed Back Stitch off my list on the stitchalong.

Now I need to get onto my November TIF - I like the idea of playing with my initials but then how can I resist using those gorgeous jacaranda colours that Sharon has given us for this month? Jacaranda trees are favourites of mine - my next post will feature some photos I took recently.

Four sided Stitch

2008-11-09T07:12:00.005+10:00

I have not done any stitching for the last fortnight except for this small sampler section. I had used four sided stitch a few times so had no intention to put it in my pulled thread sampler just yet - I really need to investigate stitches I have not used previously! One of the disadvantages of pulled thread stitches is that it is often difficult for me to envisage exactly how it will turn out on my fabric (also an advantage - as I love the surprise I sometimes get when I try a stitch for the first time).

However, after borrowing Tracy Franklin's Contemporary Whitework and seeing some of the interesting things she does with pulled thread work, it was of utmost importance to see if I could possibly manage the doubled version. You use two pieces of fabric of the same count and stitch through both layers at once. I thought this might be quite difficult to achieve but I tacked them together carefully and there didn't seem to be too many problems.

I love the stitch used singly as a background and haven't quite worked out how I can incorporate doubled foursided stitch into my embroideries. No doubt I will happen upon an idea one day.

Can you imagine the possibilities for other stitches? Three sided Stitch - in fact, many of the pulled thread stitches would provide interesting ideas, I am sure.

My loom room - hideaway.

2008-10-26T09:34:00.002+10:00

Here is the promised shot of my stitching workroom - in probably as tidy a state as one could ever hope to find it. The sewing machine is behind the photographer and there is a large notice board to the right of the loom. I am extremely lucky - while I know we looked very hard for a house to fill a workspace requirement this was probably the best we saw. The room is the full width of the house and has more windows than most, with two at each end. Its only drawback is it is on the western end of the house which is on a small lot. However I am a 'morning' person so have the perfect excuse for not being able to work at the wrong end of the day. Not that that is much of an excuse as there are fans and, in really hot weather, the air conditioner can be used. The biggest problem is that I need to shut the blinds at the back to keep the sun out of an afternoon.

When I look at this photo I know why I feel so comfortable, settled and at peace whenever I sit down to work, or not, as the case may be.

When I think about my comments on Patricia Bage's book yesterday I do hope I have not misled anyone. While I was disappointed when it arrived it was because I expected something more. The title of the book is perfectly correct - it seems to provide a very thorough introduction to drawn thread work and I am not sorry I have bought it. There seem to be very few new books published on a number of subjects in which I am interested - whitework, drawn thread, pulled thread and blackwork. I am always delighted whenever I find anything. I have quite a list of classics that I would like to find. Yes Paula and I both seem to enjoy searching the second hand shelves in the area . She has very kindly lent me a number of books that will probably only add to my list of wanteds

Not quite cheating! TIF October challenge. Some new books

2008-10-25T16:42:00.006+10:00

This is not quite what I intended to do for my answer to the October challenge - how does my workspace affect me? I have had a busy month and had hoped to finish my star that is intended for a Christmas box and then get onto my TIF embroidery. Very early in the month I knew exactly what I was going to do - just how I was going to do it took a little longer to decide. However by the end of last week I knew exactly what and how I would stitch it. Unfortunately life got in the way and I have only just completed this piece. I was beginning to feel quite sad about the prospect of ever managing to do the challenge for October as November is just around the corner - my daughter arrives for a visit tomorrow and then I will be out of commission for the fair part of next month. Suddenly it occurred to me that the feeling of this piece was exactly the same as the feeling I get whenever I settle down in "my" space to stitch.

So here is my offering for October, with no apologies. My Christmas star imparts the feeling of peace and joy I get working in my workroom. I have a rather good sized room at the back of the house. When we were looking to buy it was important that we found somewhere for my loom which occupies more than a four foot cube. The loom and sewing machine area is at one end; there are bookshelves along the back wall (so the loom room serves also as a library ) and at the other end there is a comfortable chair (a nice place to relax and stitch or just think) , a very big coffee table and a high smallish work table where I can sit and stitch or use my laptop. What more could anyone want? Nonetheless, I have to admit I seem to be forever looking for somewhere more for storage for all the odds and ends that one accumulates almost without realising. I will do another post with some photos of the loom and the workspace.

This piece goes back to my first Sumptuous Surfaces embroidery last year - I used only French knots, whipped stem stitch and , in this one, pulled herringbone instead of pulled cretan, as well as the beads and sequins. Unfortunately much of the sparkle does not show up in the scan. The pulled thread work is done using Moonshine, a very fine acrylic weaving thread with a lovely pearlised finish. Neither it or the pearls have any gleam in the image above.

Now I am cheating - I won't put pulled herringbone on my pulled thread sampler that I am stitching for the stitchalong but will certainly cross it off the list of stitches (otherwise I will never see the end of that list - it would help if I didn't keep finding stitches I want to try that are not actually listed!). It does make an effective background and I like the fine thread especially.

I have acquired two new (to me) stitching books by Edith John - Needleweaving and Filling Stitches - both in mint condition and published in 1967. I love her books and suggestions for stitches. Also I got a new copy of Patricia Bage's Beginner's Guide to Drawn Thread Embroidery. This one came from Amazon, sight unseen - not my preferred method of buying books. I was slightly disappointed as one of the reviews said there was contemporary work but it appears to me that the only contemporary idea was using colour as well as white and natural fabric and threads. Maybe I am unfair as I really know nothing about drawn thread work and she certainly gives me a good grounding in how to work the stitches. However I would love to have had access to drawn thread used in a contemporary fashion - some people are never satisfied!

Flower Embroidery #3

2008-10-13T06:41:00.005+10:00

Well the embroidery is finished on all three designs - unless I add a name to each - am considering doing that in stem stitch. Despite my grumbling about the "pinkish" focus I have really enjoyed doing these and, surprisingly, was a little sad to add the last butterfly bead. The shape for this design came from a recent Ispirations but there the resemblance ends.

Adding the name in my own handwriting in stem or chain stitch has become an issue since I recently reread Claire Bloom's The Inspired Needle. I bought this book in 1962 (or so the flyleaf tells me) - and have read it many times over the years. A wonderful story about her life with a needle much of in wartime - if you can pick up a copy do so. Claire Bloom wrote mainly fiction but I also enjoyed her autobiography. She advocates using script, one's own, in embroidery.

Back to the cushions - I dug in my fabric stash and found pale green gaberdine for the cushion cover - a perfect colour, I think. Now I just have to make time for some machine sewing.

In the meantime I have been stitching a number of my TIF challenge embroideries to card - a job I hate, by the way - and will take some photos when the finished pieces are complete. This will be an embroidery Christmas!!! They might all encourage me to go back to weaving!

Also I have begun to sample Hardanger and started a new embroidery with French knots as the main texture stitch!!! Who promised herself to not start anything until she finished the previous piece? Just a collections of WIPs - however I am enjoying the ability to change direction . Also the hardanger is impossible to stitch correctly (and I quickly discovered it is impossible to fudge things in Hardanger!) without a magnifier so there are very definite limits to the length of stitching time.

For some unknown reason beyond my comprehension I have managed to add some text above the picture! Bloggerland is an amazing country!

Stitchalong - a new pulled thread stitch.

2008-10-11T11:43:00.006+10:00

Another stitchalong sample finished!

I love pulled thread work - have I said that before? I am not sure why but I feel a real sense of peace and contentment whenever I start this work. Maybe it is working in monochrome? Maybe it is the repetition that I enjoy? Whatever it is - it really doesn't matter but it is wonderful that it happens.

I have a TIF challenge piece to do as well as some dressmaking to finish. However the other day while rifling through Edith John I came across a stitch she calls Chinese Stitch which is basically just two vertical stitches crossed over the single horizontal stitch. The temptation was too great. The two top sections are in perle cotton #12 and the bottom section in filasil - a machine rayon thread. I tried the fine thread for my last stitch sample and have decided that it is interesting to see how each stitch looks in a very fine thread.

I think I prefer the two rows slightly separated as the first and the third. However,I am sure there will be a use for the closely worked kind.

Also I have only tried the regularly stitched version - there are a number of "what if"s that occur to me. What if I make longer horizontal stitches and use more verticals for each one? What if I make regular changes eg. one with 3 vertical stitches, the next with 5, another with just the two again? These could be arranged symmetrically or assymetrically as the mood takes. What if the verticals are different lengths? I could probably come up with a few more variations - just need the time (and good light) to try these out.

Chinese Stitch is an interesting name - I have looked in my other stitch dictionaries and cannot find it. However Mary Thomas uses Chinese Stitch as an alternative name for Pekinese Stitch - quite a different beastie! Interesting to realise that not only weavers like to confuse eg. the weave that is honeycomb and waffle, depending on the country of origin!

I have also finished the third cushion piece but that is another post. Another reason that pale stitching is agreeable - I have discovered one CAN have just too much pink!

UFOs, WISPs and WIPs - a treasure!

2008-09-27T13:01:00.006+10:00

Earlier this month Sharon Boggon had a post on her blog about finishing projects. This led me to think about my UFOs, WISPs and WIPs. I have some UFOs that have been part of my baggage, literally and metaphorically, for up to 50 years. Yes, one would think that it would be easy to dispose of something that has sat around for that length of time. Not so, I find that when I think it might be time to get rid of something in this category, guilt overwhelms me and it doesn't happen - maybe the day I will really finish it is tomorrow.

When I took up embroidery just over twelve months ago (well I should probably say resurrected my interest in it after a long hiatus - like nearly 50 years) I made the resolution to stick to small items and not to indulge myself by beginning too many projects. So far I have kept to this and while I have a couple of very slow projects there is nothing one should classify as a UFO.

Well the point of this post is to document a long term UFO that transformed into a WISP early last year. My grandmother took up embroidery late in her life, at almost eighty. I find it difficult to believe that she would not have stitched in her youth but it was only in the later years that I remember her doing so. Despite her failing eyesight she did manage to stitch quite a number of centres and tray covers. They were all traced needlework on Irish linen that was freely available in the 1950s. At some stage, probably in the mid-fifties, she gave me this piece - one of my favourite patterns - the Blue Willow pattern - when the embroidery was complete. It needed a crochet edge. I felt I wasn't sure I could do justice to something she had embroidered so this unfinished piece came with us from one side of Australia to the other and back again . In March last year I finished the edge on a linen handkerchief and then looked for something else to do. The season had arrived and the centre has two of its three rows of edging complete. I do work on it spasmodically but hope to finish it within the next 6 months. It is something I will treasure as it is the only piece of her needlework I inherited.

Unfortunately while in storage a number of stains have developed - hopefully they will come out when I wash it - I was loath to do so before I completed the edge. I hope Grandma would be happy with what I have done - she was a very cheerful soul and an indomitable character - a very special person.

Flower embroideries - #2

2008-09-24T20:30:00.009+10:00

Well I am not sure I am not jumping the gun when I say this is finished! I feel that perhaps I should do further stitching on this one. Part of my problem is that it is an Inspirations design and I would like to add my own 'bits' to it. I have not used the colours suggested nor is it an exact copy - however there is not enough of my 'own work' in the design to completely satisfy me. Nonetheless, I think that I will say it is finished for now and go ahead and begin #3.

I have had a wonderful time stitching lots of bullion stitches and French knots.

Added later: I meant to point out the wonderful little butterfly beads that I found for these embroideries - they just happened to be in a bag of beads leftover from the ones I used for the girls' embroidery boxes last Christmas !!!

Flower embroideries - #1

2008-09-18T11:28:00.005+10:00

Wonders will never cease! Here I am with four blog entries in three days after a hiatus of weeks! I have been stitching, just not spending time on my blog (and very little else on the computer). There just does not seem to be enough time to do both.

I decided to start some flower embroideries for my granddaughters for Christmas - they are six and seven years old so any colour as long as it is pink will be great! I had borrowed Diane Lampe's book from the library and my first one is based on her season embroideries but the flowers are not as realistic as in her book .

The patches are intended for the centre of some cushions - not sure at this stage what to use for the actual cushion cover.

The stitching is in cotton thread much of which is stranded floss, the rest, perle. The fabric used is a quite good quality calico. What is interesting is how much easier it is to stitch some stitches on the tighter weave of the calico as opposed to on 28 count linen - my usual fabric. I love using linen and know there is no comparison of quality, but French Knots, in particular, seem to cause me problems occasionally on the linen but never on the calico. The cushions are meant to be used and enjoyed - so will get dirty and must be washable.

I had lots of fun stitching this one and am already half way through the second and ther are only three to do! Maybe this is the year I will manage to complete the handmade gifts I had planned .

Network drafting and how it started for me

2008-09-17T13:45:00.006+10:00

Sometimes I wonder why I am not weaving more!

Yesterday I photographed a jacket I had woven some time ago. This weave was my very first network drafted twill. Alice Schlein had written a book about Network Drafting and I spent hours reading it and playing with curves on graph paper. (Alice's blog is worth a visit especially if you are interested in weaving but she often has wonderful photos without any connection to weaving). The book changed my weaving life and most of the weaving I have done for the last few years has been based on a variation of a network draft. No need to use anyone else's design now!

The jacket is woven in Australian woollen yarn - white warp with a black weft. The pattern, a Marcy Tilton design, was from vogue patterns. I lined and trimmed it with commercial fabric. It is a much travelled garment, having gone to and from Vancouver for the HGA Convergence fashion parade in 2002.

Memory training

2008-09-17T09:18:00.003+10:00

What a fiasco yesterday! Sorry about that! I imagined that everyone was familiar with Buzan's memory training technique. After Paula's comment (thanks Paula) I went hunting on the web for it in case I was totally confused (it does happen -my memory is not as good as I would like). However I could only find references to his workshops and a Wikipedia article on Buzan. Neither gave the details I wanted and, of course, I can't find the book!

I did add a line on 'my' version of this - and will try to explain better. A picture is worth a 1000 words so instead of trying to remember the ingredients of a cake I found images to use. I chose fauna - to spell it out - Butterfly represented the butter ; Snake, sugar; Elephant, eggs and so on. I hope this is not as clear as mud! I did say that I didn't find the method particularly helpful.
I really needed something for my September TIF and I didn't want to stitch the Tower of Pisa.

One good thing has come out of this exercise - I have decided that redwork embroidery would not be for me! There is only so much stem stitch I can do at any one time. Back to my flowers and pulled thread sampling!!!

September TIF - Lists and Lists! Anyone for afternoon tea?

2008-09-16T15:45:00.007+10:00

This is as you can see unfinished as I am not sure what to do with the separate blocks. The theme for this month was "lists". My first thought was a stitching of the leaning tower of Pisa but fortunately I decided against that - Paula has done a much better interpretation of that meaning than I could ever have managed - do go see her Whale Makes List .

I then thought of Tony Buzan's memory aid (I am sure he can be found on the web but this is from memory - I read his book in 1979 so I hope I am correct). He suggests if you have a collection of things you want to remember then draw a picture in your head for each - beginning with the same letter as the item - e.g. I need some sugar then the image I choose is that of a snake. I did not find this particularly helpful. It always seemed to me much easier to remember the actual item rather than an image I had dreamt up to replace it.

However when it came to this month's TIF challenge I decided to stitch a "list" of what I might need to make a cake!!

As may, or may not be, obvious I also used the month's colours - possibly a mistake as I think the images would have been more attractrive in primary colours. All the pictures are worked in stem stitch in stranded cotton - two strands - on calico scraps. I don't know if this will ever be finished but I did find some fabric in my stash that could be used as background. The only problem is that I am not a patchworker.

This was a fairly speedy exercise - whereas I usually spend a couple of weeks on the TIF challenge, I only started to stitch these on Sunday.

Another stitchalong sample.

2008-08-31T14:16:00.004+10:00

After deciding that I was not that excited by Festoon Stitch I was prepared to feel the same way about Frost Stitch - they are not very different, after all- and thought that it would probably be a week or so before I picked up the sampler again. However, while I was leafing through Mary Thomas looking for her version of Frost Stitch, I came across Back Stitch Trellis. She didn't suggest that it could be pulled but said that it is used in Jacobean work and was suitable for a light filling. I had to see what it would be like as a pulled version. The possibility of various shapes of varying sizes made it attractive I really like pulled thread stitches that easily allow variation - pulled satin and Algerian eye, for example.

I began with 12 perle in cotton and decided that the definition of the spaces could look batter in something finer. Then there was Isafil in the smaller triangle - a horrible thread for Pulled Thread work as it breaks easily. The Molyncke white machine thread for the small square performed much better. If I had not decided to preserve the monochrome idea I might have tried a Gutermans metallic machine embroidery thread - I think it look good .

Then there was the possibility of changing the number of threads in each block. The large triangle and the square are 2x2 thread squares while the smaller triangle is 3x3.

Now Frost Stitch will probably be next. It isn't in my edition of M.T. but I do have it in McNeill who says it was developed by a student who made a mistake in stitching Ringed Back - just the sort of thing I would be guilty of - misreading the instructions!

Treat for Friday!!!

2008-08-30T13:17:00.005+10:00

Yesterday I had the most wonderful experience - Paula and Moo joined us for morning coffee. We had our mandatory 'show and tell' and I was the winner! I know that sounds as though I had something exceptional to show but no! I had the opportunity to see and feel Paula's wonderful book of fruit. She has blogged about this on The Beauty of Life - do go and visit.

I had studied the book on her blog and thought it looked very lovely - definitely the understatement of the year! It is a treasure, a piece of art, and, hopefully, a family heirloom. While the photos do show each page well, to really appreciate this beautifully integrated piece of beautiful needlework one needs to view it in its entirety. I think she should be very proud of what she has achieved. It goes without saying - I had a lovely morning.

Afterwards I finished the second section of my pulled thread sampler for the Stitchin Fingers . I am working through Sharon's list (well the pulled thread component) alphabetically. I know that Algerian Filling stitch wasn't there in the alphabetical list but I wanted to do that and I regard it as a version of pulled satin stitch. Also I have done Algerian Eye and Ringed Back Stitch in a number of different TIF pieces so I did not repeat those at this stage. Hence the Festoon Stitch. I did a couple of rows of this as illustrated in Mary Thomas, then reversed a row and joined it to the previous one. I tried joining the curved section to the flat section of the one aboved (both rows in the same direction for this one) and the bottom two rows consist of moving every second movement across and leaving a gap between. Hopefully the scan will explain better than my words! I realise that doing this sampler in monochrome is not assisting reproduction - however I made a conscious choice to do so as I want to have a sampler of stitching without the distraction of colour.

I have also promised myself to try to complete a section of this sampler each fortnight - we shall see!

August TIF challenge - balance in my life???

2008-08-23T15:34:00.004+10:00

"What is balance to you? Do you maintain a balanced life? How do you balance aspects of your life? That is the challenge this month - balance." This was the challenge that Sharon offered to us for August.

Well, since I had done very little on July's TIF when August arrived I had plenty of time to think about the question. And think I did!

Balance! That was something I managed very well in the past - many years ago when I had 4 children living at home, I worked fulltime and still found time to do the chores around the house and time to spend in the garden and, even time to work on whatever craft appealed to me at the moment. Sadly now I am retired with only two of us to cook for - verylittle demand for my attention - I find that balance is something that no longer exists in my life!

How could I show this? I talked about it at length whenever we stopped for a cup of tea (why do I need more of these breaks than I ever did? Perhaps that is one reason I have less time than previously!) One morning it occurred to me that I have the balance of a yo-y0. I am totally rapt in whatever it is I am doing at the moment and everything else tends to suffer until I can't stand the mess any longer! Then there is no stitching done until I catch up.

have used algerian eye (the diagonal one came from Fangel's Danish Pulled Thread Embroidery (thankyou Paula of Beauty of Life for the loan). pulled satin and Algerian filling stitch as well as ringed back stitch. The threads are all Finca or Anchor perle of various sizes. The one exception is the yoyo filling which is metallic machine embroidery yarn (thankyou Grace for that hint).

As ever I am not quite sure I am satisfied with the end result. May it not have been better to have done the ringed back stitch in the variegated yarn with the other pulled thread in the natural? Also perhaps the outline of the hand and yoyo should have been a stronger colour. Ah well, there is always next time when I will give more thought to these aspects. Nonetheless I do spend hours agonising over colours for these challenges before I take a stitch.

I have recently picked up the A-Z of Bullion Knots so I have also been practising some of these on calico scraps. The results are very mixed up to date but it seemed a good idea to practise whenever I am at a loss.

A postscript - In this post I have also reached a milestone - for the very first time I have managed to add a hyperlink! Hallelujah!!!

Pulled Thread sampling

2008-08-18T07:46:00.005+10:00

As I have said a number of times - I really enjoy Pulled Thread work and the effect it can add to an embroidery. I have difficulty in deciding how a particular stitch in a book will look when it is acutally worked on the fabric. Since I have begun to use it as background in my little embroideries I have wanted to do a sampler to have as a guide. However in my usual fashion it was always something I would do 'one day'.

Then along came the stitchin fingers Stitchalong - here was the impetus I needed. I find the idea of stitching a sampler tedious (that was what I had so much trouble doing when I was in primary school - I hated that dirty piece of fabric covered with thread marks that caused me so much angst! Mary Thomas' stitch dictionary has an incredible series of pulled thread samplers so I decided to be a complete copycat and follow her illustrations. Here is the first example of Algerian filling - an interesting one, I think, that will be most useful when I want a subdued background.

When you look at some of the beautiful work done by Sharon and Mara (I wish I could add hyperlinks!) mine is very tame but I have no doubts it will be useful.

In between time I am looking at the TIF challenge for August (yes, I know the month is half over, already) and thinking about the theme for the month "Balance in my life"? How interesting! I am sure that I don't really manage much balance in my life these days so it is a challenge.

July TIF Challenge

2008-08-13T16:03:00.007+10:00

Hello everyone. I am so sorry that I haven't managed even one post in such a long time. I spent six weeks totally absorbed by Sharon Boggon's Studio Journals course. The course was, like all of Sharon's, a tremendous course but I was left with no spare time.

Over the six weeks I did very little embroidery but did start this piece. It is derived from two kaleidoscopes that I produced during the course. I became totally addicted to making these using www.krazydad.com/kaleido .

The challenge for July was Half Way Mark - my interpretation is very simplistic - this is the first side of a biscornu that I embroidered.

This is very late and I need to start my August exercise since we are well into the month. The second half of the biscornu will probably wait until I have stitched the August TIF.

June Take It Further Challenge - Shell, Stash and Stories

2008-06-24T18:56:00.004+10:00

This was a delight to stitch. The theme and colours that Sharon provided us with this month were made for my project!

"What stories could our stash tell us and what stories will it provide when we use it." is my interpretation of the theme.

The shell, I have based the stitching on, is a beautiful specimen that I inherited from my mother. It sits in the bathroom and the children love to listen to the song it sings. I would love to know the history of this shell but, unfortunately, I can't translate that song. I don't know where or when it was acquired but it was a very long time ago - more than 70 years.

The subject for this month's TIF for me had to have some relationship to my mother who was not an embroiderer but was a knitter and dressmaker, extraordinaire. She shared these skills with me although I never achieved her level. Nothing was wasted or thrown out if it could be used for another purpose. I inherited much of her stash as well as her stash collection propensities. While this particular shell can serve only as an inspiration it is certainly a symbol of that stash.

Time spent stitching just flew. I managed a new pulled thread stitch - Algerian eye - and made some woven spiders for the first time. Both of these I will use again. I tried some cast-on stitches for texture but I am still unhappy with my efforts there.

Now it is onto July with a new theme and colour scheme and a stitch along with Stitchin Fingers - but before then, Sharon's new and exciting Studio Journal begins on Saturday. I will be busy in July.

May TIF - Version 2

2008-06-14T11:21:00.006+10:00

Finished, I think. This time I used the colour challenge as well as the theme for last month's TIF. While my small granddaughters will probably love it, it is a tad pink for me!

I love the butterfly - definitely an improvement on Version 1. There is something about pulled thread work that appeals to me enormously - both the process and the product.

I am not so sure about the total piece and can see some things I would do differently in Version 3 (not sure when I will manage to do that one). It needs to be in portrait mode but I find thinking in landscape easier - can't imagine why. Maybe Version 3 should be in monochrome. Is that the wrong order in which to work?

Interestingly, I used only DMC floss for the buttonhole wheels and missed the texture of the perle from the previous piece. I haven't found much difference in my work previously except for ease of use - perhaps as my techniques improve (ever so slightly) the differences are becoming more marked.

On the Loom once more!

2008-06-13T15:20:00.005+10:00

The loom is singing along again this week. Although I had not done any weaving I was thoroughly sick of looking at the black and white warp . It has been on the loom for almost two years.

To finish quickly (and start a new warp sooner) I decided to use one colour only in the weft - three coloured double weave instead of four - and produce a series of samples. After two inches with an Iris weft it was Marine's turn. What a shock! After weaving to free up the loom I was suddenly interested in what was coming off it! There should be just enough warp for fabric for a vest. It is interesting and is a lovely indigo colour.

Embroidery is not at a complete standstill - I am slowly stitching a second version of the May TIF and enjoying the process no end. However the June TIF is still only an idea.

Thankyou for the feedback

2008-06-02T19:33:00.003+10:00

How wonderful! Thankyou to everyone who generously made comments on the previous two entries. I do learn so much from this helpful criticism. Despite my uneasiness about the piece I find that objectivity is difficult to achieve so I really appreciate the effort made.

I certainly hadn't occurred to me how wrong the black is in the butterfly but once Meg said it I realised, how true- maybe a dark blue or a very deep black brown would have been much more satisfactory.

Megan's suggestion that I shift the butterfly is a good one. Originally I had intended to use long and short stitch but when I thought about the sett of the linen weave I decided on the French Knots. I am fairly limited in my stitch vocabulary - I keep trying to expand it but it seems to take considerable time to improve my proficiency in each new stitch. I do try to include a new one each month. This time I was happier with my Bullion so it stayed in the piece. Hopefully the stitch-along with Stitchin' Fingers will help me improve my techniques.

Deb you have made me understand my feeling regarding the knots in the butterfly and the flower textures - the butterfly is meant to contrast with the flowers but I think it turned out to be a very 'uncomfortable' contrast. I am not sure how else to describe it.

No, I did not weave the linen - it is my favourite fabric for stitching - 26 count I think. Not great for long and short stitch without a backing.

I will certainly try another one - same design, more or less - different colours and some different stitches. Thankyou for all the positive things you have said.

Can't leave well enough alone!

2008-05-31T11:09:00.005+10:00

The only trouble is I am definitely not sure that this is well enough to start with. After sleeping on it and spending the morning coming back to have another look I feel that I should do something -I have tried adding some of the blue contrast among the flower sprays. I am in two minds whether to pull out the French knots in the butterfly (I am not sure that butterfly is not the perfect example of a "sore thumb") and redo it in a noncontrasting colour and not in knots, or, whether to keep it as an example and stitch the design again - I tend to the latter as I really like the basic shape and would not mind trying it in different colours with a few minor changes.

Any thoughts , gentle reader?

Here is another scan in portrait mode and with the addition of a few blue knots. In portrait the pulled satin looks loads better as well. What a learning experience!

Phew! A day to spare!

2008-05-30T19:25:00.007+10:00

My TIF challenge for May just made it. What do I call myself? Well, as I said last post I am a weaver. However, over my life I have played with many textile forms. I began with French knitting on a cotton reel with nails and made yards and yards of knitted braid. Did I use it for anything? Probably only food for clothes moth!

I progressed to 'real' knitting - white cotton face washers.

Primary school samplers were disastrous however in my teens I tried 'fancywork' as it was then called. Traced designs on linen in bright colours.Later came learning how to crochet and tat. Dressmaking became all important and occupied most of my spare time.

About 25 years ago I learnt to spin and discovered a Visual Arts course offering a semester of spinning instruction- sheer heaven! However next semester the subject on offer was weaving. A new challenge! And one that was meant for me. The spinning wheels sat idle. There have been forays into bobbin lace and kumihimo - all to be used for embellishments for fabric from the loom.

About 18 months ago with an enforced break from the loom I was bored and while web surfing I discovered Sharon Boggon's "Sumptuous Surfaces" course on line. I just had to learn how to make that gorgeous sea horse. After nearly 50 years break from embroidery my hands won't behave as they should but that has not diminished the enjoyment very much. Improvement comes slowly at my age but it comes.

All that history is a roundabout way of saying I consider myself a dabbler in textiles - just as the little butterfly grub samples as many leaves as possible I have sampled many textile experiences over my lifetime. For quite a long time I was totally wrapped in my weaving - rather like the grub in his woven chrysalid - when suddenly I was unable to weave there turned out to be other textile experiences to enjoy. I am just a happy venturer in this wonderful world of textiles.

Am I happy with the piece? Sort of! I had originally intended to stitch this piece in May colours but after starting out I decided that it wasn't working for me. The colours are lovely but for some reason I couldn't make them work. Colour can be difficult. I did want to stitch something in the challenge colours so will keep them in mind for another biscornu when I ahve some spare time. I enjoyed working with two Anchor variegated cottons. I was not sure whether they would be satisfactory for the purpose but was delighted with the result. I also used a variegated Stitches and Spice stranded cotton that I bought at the Craft Show - practically my only purchase on that trip. I tried bullion stitch yet again and this time it has improved sufficiently for me not to unpick - something that has been necessary for the last couple of months. If I can try a new stitch each month I am happy.

The butterfly in French knots - well, I am not exactly delighted with how it turned out. In future if I need to do an area in french knots I will back that section of linen.

Next month and the new challenge are only just around the corner and there is the stitch-along on stitchin fingers to keep me occupied. And I keep promising my loom I will be back weaving soon! Not enough hours in the day!

TIF Challenge for May

2008-05-16T19:40:00.008+10:00

What do I call myself and why? While I have been stitching the parterre I have been considering this question and have to admit that I feel a little like Paula from The Beauty of Life and wonder why I have to call myself anything.

However until quite recently I was quite happy to call myself a weaver as that was how I spent all my spare time. While I still think of myself as a weaver I have not done any weaving for 18 months. Hopefully this situation will change in the near future.

My challenge piece for the theme for May is the photograph above. This is a jacket I made from my handwoven twill fabric . (Is that cheating? Never mind!)

I am very fond of this jacket. I find it very versatile and can wear it with a black dress (handwoven cotton huck lace) or with trousers. The dress is fully lined but the jacket has only lined sleeves. Since I am a slow sewer and since weaving is not a particularly fast exercise anything I weave and sew for myself has to have longevity. Who mentioned 'slow cloth'?

This twill draft was derived using a random number table from the internet. There are some lovely 'snowflake' twills available but I wanted something that was uniquely mine. I am always looking for different ways to use my weaving software. The inspiration to use a random number table was borrowed from an article I had read in a scientific journal in 1986. The 'organic' jumper had been knitted with cables that changed direction and size according to the numbers on such a table. I did try this as knitting exercise and produced the front of a jumper . However the cables, which were quite exciting, made the jumper front much too tight so it was necessary to unpick the whole front and start again - this time I settled for stocking stitch- not nearly as interesting but much more predictable.

For the cables I found the random number table in a textbook but now there are some amazing sites on the internet that will generate random numbers any way you like. This draft was a much simpler exercise than knitting cables - to derive the it I used ascending twills for half the numbers and descending for the others. Having got a reasonable section of draft it was then reversed for symettry and woven as drawn in. I wrote an article on this for the Complex Weavers CAD study group and can dig it out if anyone is interested.

Offhand I can't remember exactly what the sett was but I did set the 2/20 cotton closer than I would normally for twills as I wanted a fairly firm fabric. The black dress underneath is also of 2/20 cotton and that would have been set at 30epi.

So I think I still call myself a weaver but I am happy to try anything that interests me in textiles - at the moment that is embroidery.

Hot off the hoop!

2008-05-16T19:17:00.007+10:00

Well, my parterre is finished at last. It still needs to be washed. The scary part!

I have enjoyed this exercise and learnt a few things. One of the reasons I don't follow instructions (beside the fact that I am basically a rebel) is that I feel I learn from my mistakes. I certainly hope so.

What have I learnt?
1. The silk and wool twill fabric, although lovely to handle, was probably not as suitable as calico may have been.
2.I need to make sure I pull my thread firmly for each knot.
3.Colour choice was a little haphazard. My plantings were not chosen with any great plan in mind (typical of my gardening style!) I think the brick colour for the pavers is a tad dark.
4. There is a right way and there is a wrong way to thread a needle, especially a #10 crewel.
5. And finally, I like doing this work and want to try again sometime.

On the right path?

2008-05-09T16:58:00.003+10:00

I have finished the flower beds and started on the paths - I think they help. This is slow especially as I only work in the morning to maximise the daylight in my workroom. However it is a very relaxing pastime.

Despite working in bright daylight I am not sure my knots have improved very much. The only thing is - I am managing to keep all the knots on the front of the fabric! A relief!

The fabric I used is not calico as recommended in the book but some silk and wool twill fabric left over from a previous dressmaking exercise. The fabric is fairly closely woven and comfortable to stitch into.

I am quite excited! Yesterday I found a copy of Christine Harris' French Knot Pictures at a Lifeline store - a great bargain at $9! It is in pristine condition - dustcover and all. Now I have some ideas for a picture but need to finish this piece first.

Maggie's garden grows.

2008-05-03T16:13:00.003+10:00

I am not sure my pansies are all that successful. I have been studying my gardening books for colour combinations to use. While the pansies' colours were accurate, combined in such a small space they didn't look as good as I had hoped. I found some variegated thread for the nasturtiums and heliotropes. I leave it to your imagination which is which.

Since my last blog entry I discovered another book by Christine Miller - French Knot Pictures . She uses the same techniques and produces some beautiful garden landscapes - again, all in French knots. Maybe I need to stitch a landscape at some future date!

Sharon's TIF for May is available. The colours are soft blues and pinks so the palette should be enjoyable. The concept is "What do I call myself? And why?" I am not sure this one is for me. However I am still trying to decide whether I will take up that particular challenge or not.

Started planting

2008-04-29T14:47:00.004+10:00

Choosing colours has been fun - unfortunately they don't show up on the scan as well as they should, especially the greens. The garden edging is actually the colour of lavender foliage not grey. The flower colours are not too bad. This is a bit like real life gardening - after it is planted and flowering I often wonder why I chose a particular plant for that position. Ah well! And just as in real life I don't have the heart to pull up a flowering plant so I haven't changed any of the colours I have chosen so far.

Time for some weaving

2008-04-29T10:40:00.006+10:00

I am slowly stitching French knots with not much to show for my effort. However it has been a lovely time for thinking. These days I keep finding things to do that let my mind wander where it will - just one reason why I don't mind ironing. I definitely have no desire to take in ironing but the amount I have to do for two people who are retired is not enormous - despite the fact I am a fibre snob and won't wear anything that is not 100% natural fibre content and that usually means cotton for our climate. When I had 4 children at home, and before I decided they were old enough to do their own, I always seemed to have a basket full that needed ironing.

Yesterday I thought about weaving and how most things that I have produced have been "slow cloth" - not quite as slow as covering four square inches in knots - but nonetheless quite slow. I found a photograph of some coffee cosies that I wove in 2006.

As well as day dreaming I seem to spend hours playing Sudoku (isn't everyone addicted?)- then when I got totally hooked, can you believe they came up with Killer Sudoku and Kakuro? My excuse is that it is keeping my brain sharp (well, that is the story - sometimes I am not so sure that it happens as it should!) . However I do enjoy the exercise very much.

Returning to the coffee cosies - they are in double weave with cross stitch numbers different on both sides of the cosy (yes, the sudoku is solvable) . I embroidered the numbers before stuffing the small squares on the loom. Although the yarn was 10/2 cotton and twice as thick as I usually use it took quite some time to make these. I enjoyed the process. To cover the seams and hem I needed a lining and I didn't want a commercial fabric. The tray mat in this photo is the fabric I used - a summer and winter weave in 2/20 cotton that wove up fairly quickly once I had designed the draft. If you enlarge the photo the lettering is quite visible. It is all fairly simple weaving actually but lots of fun. Cosies made like this are extremely good insulators and will keep a pot warm for up to an hour or more.

Three days of knots

2008-04-27T17:26:00.004+10:00

It doesn't look much but this is three days stitching time - quite a lot of time, actually, as it includes a weekend. During the week I spend some of my sewing time at the sewing machine making bags etc for the school fair at the end of May - weekends are all mine! When one is retired there has to be something that distinguishes the weekend from the rest of the week.

I have to stitch these knots in 'broad' daylight - that means as strong a daylight as one can get. My eyes need a rest after about 20 inches of thread. The outside is stitched in two rows of single wrap knot using a single strand of floss (another good thing about this sort of stitching : a skein of floss goes a long way!) The French knots are not all great (and that is putting it kindly) and their placement is not particularly good but then, as I keep reminding myself while I stitch, this is Maggie's parterre. I can assure you that it is impossible for me to plant anything in a straight line or at equal distances. My husband can do this with incredible accuracy - his vegetables were always equally separated while mine grew higgledy piggledy. So it is a fairly accurate portrayal of how the edging plants might look if I had really planted them. (How is that for rationalisation of a fairly mediocre piece of stitching?) I have found it not easy to see at times but stitching French knots is definitely addictive and surely practice makes perfect.

The colours have not shown up very well in the scan . I used some of that lovely Anchor multicoloured floss. I bought it thinking I might have a need for it one day. Lovely shades! These knots use two strands so I have pulled out the 2 strands and turned one of them upside down to get a mix. It works quite well. Another fun exercise while I stitch - trying to decide just what flowers am I planting? So far I have decided that I have got nigella and lupins. Maybe I need some nasturtiums? Heliotrope?

Am I going crazy?

2008-04-25T17:02:00.005+10:00

I am not sure what I am trying to prove but I have decided to stitch two projects out of two different books. The first is from a book I have borrowed from the library Little book of Parterre and Knot Gardens in French Knots by Christine Harris. I have always loved knot and parterre gardens but never had the patience to produce an actual one in the garden. This seems like a nice opportunity to have my own parterre. Besides I read the reviews of the book on Amazon and as someone there said the designs are all small and would only take a couple of nights stitching. Well the designs are very tiny but I have already decided that this is a WISP and certainly will take a deal longer than a couple of nights. The knots are single wrap knots in one, and occasionally, two strands of floss with the nine square inches of design are to be totally covered in these minute knots. I have already stitched two lengths of floss and the only way I can verify that the knots have been stitched correctly is to use the large magnifier!

The scan above is the last design in the book "Alison's parterre garden" - however I have already added a few changes: the colours will be certainly be of my own choosing- only then can it be Maggies parterre!

The second project is from Trish Burr's Redoute Flowers book - something I have wanted to do for some time. My appetite has been whetted by the beautiful iris that Elmsley Rose has stitched and described so beautifully on her blog - elmsleyrose.blogspot.com. Her attention to detail is amazing. I am almost scared to attempt one of these flowers but having collected the threads to stitch both the single rose and the magnolia I am beginning with the rose. I donot intend to change anything for this piece but will follow the instructions as closely as possible (not sure how I will go as I often have difficulties in merely following instructions on how to stitch a particular stitch but I can only try).

I usually prefer to go my own way and to design my own work. However we left the most magnificent magnolia tree behind when we made the last shift and I am very keen to preserve those memories in stitch. I am not quite sure enough of my abilities to start with the magnolia hence the single rose, which I admire also (our roses were not very successful except for an Albertine that tried to take possession of the whole roof at one stage - and I am very sure there is no way I could portray that beautiful blousy Albertine in thread).

There is no urgency to hurry either of these projects so I will plod along and try to document my efforts here alongside the TIF and other textile happenings.

April TIF

2008-04-22T15:18:00.009+10:00

Time flies! Well it must when I read it is nearly a fortnight since my last entry.

I have done quite a deal of thinking about change and how I cope with it. Basically I think change is an inevitable part of life. I need to control change when I can and make the most of what happens when I can't be in control. Over the last 10 years my life has changed in many ways - I retired from a full-time job, we shifted house from the country back to the city and there have been some health issues. Some of these were exciting changes, others not so exciting and others quite difficult - similarly some changes were easy to manage, others not so - but nonetheless each day begins as something wonderful and there will always be new challenges.

I decided to represent change and how I try to cope with it by considering flowers - they start as quite small buds and over time change into the fullblown flower. This I enjoy (and do all I can to hang onto as long as possible) until eventually the petals fall and the flower dies - but what joy that flower has provided! I have my first pot, ever, of hyacinths (this is the subtropics after all) sitting on the chest of drawers at the foot of the stairs and the beauty and perfume is amazing. It has been wonderful to watch how they have changed from the pot of green shoots to these beautiful flowers - enough to inspire an embroidery,perhaps.

To my embroidery for the month. These are the colours of the month as I had seen them on my monitor. However I certainly wasn't using them in the same proportions as Sharon's Chinese photo - there is a preponderance of the pink and purple with some vanilla, green and terracotta/orange added. This gave a totally different feel to the colour scheme. I do find that my computer screen seems to give different results from others that are suggested.

My stitch list was again fairly restricted. The pulled thread is in single faggot stitch. (Another new stitch to me - I found this in Mary Thomas). This month I used a #12 perle and what a difference that made in comparison to the doubled Gutterman polyester sewing machine thread from last month - it was a dream to stitch whereas last month every stitch was a struggle. (A thought - could it have been the polyester thread? Maybe I should try pulled thread with doubled 'cotton' sewing thread.

The flower outline is in whipped stem stitch, again perle cotton. The fly stitch is also in Finca perle. The rest of the piece consists of buttonhole wheels and French knots (what else!). I tried to use a variety of thread. I found it very difficult to stop stitching and at one stage I thought I would have to do some unpicking but decided against this after I added the darker knots in the centre of the flower.

I would be very grateful for any criticism of this piece, especially designwise - I find working in isolation very difficult. As I mentioned in an earlier post I am a beginner in the total process (interestingly this came about because of a change in circumstance) and would really appreciate any help that anyone might offer.

Added later: I am really looking for suggestions in ways in which I might improve my work - thanks a million!

While I was working this piece I met up with Paula from The Beauty of Life and she very generously gave me an enormous bundle of DMC floss - threequarters of which were tints and shades of my chosen colours. Some of these are tucked into the knot section. I still have not worked out how to put photos where I want them!

Alysha's biscornu

2008-04-10T10:59:00.004+10:00

This has kept me occupied recently - a biscornu - it is a birthday gift for a young neighbour. I am not sure if she is doing needlework yet but I think these little cushions are treats on their own.

The new-to-me stitch was tulip stitch and it was fun to do in Anchor variegated perle. I used green Finca perle for the herringbone and DMC floss, 2 strands for the crossstitch.

I think biscornu is a lovely form for needlework - I have ideas for the next one floating around in my brain already.

Just a comment - I was caught out badly - the cybersampler letters , which I love, were supposedly 13 stitches high. Foolishly I didn't check until the A was half done as it was going to finish much too early. I had doubled the number of stitches in both directions so I assumed it would finish 26 by 26. No - it was only 11 stitches and while that may not have mattered too much if I had not been doubling the stitches 4 stitches less really upset the applecart. However the fly stitch managed to save the day as I am not certainly very happy to unpick masses of crossstitch. I can so easily cut a thread!

Vintage tatting

2008-04-09T19:21:00.005+10:00

I have a few lovely pieces of handiwork done by various people in my family that I treasure. This amazing linen mat has sat with my linen since my mother gave it to me many years ago and only recently brought out. It did seem a pity to leave it to languish in the drawer any longer. The scan is of just one corner- its overall size is about 16 x 10 inches. I used pink tissue under the white mat to define the tatting in the scan and this makes the tatting look pink - it is snowy white.

It is in perfect condition and was made by an aunt of my father no later than the 1940s. I am not sure exactly which aunt - he had two maiden aunts, Katy and Kitty, who were very good to him while he was a young man studying away from home. Kitty was an early childhood teacher while Katy looked after the house so I could probably hazard the quess it was Aunt Katy, the second daughter in my grandmother's family, who did the handiwork. Since I am now the lone tatter in the family I was also lucky enough to inherit a tatting book that belonged to them. I am very sad that I can't pinpoint who actually did it but the work is very delicate and is attached to a lovely fine linen using the neatest, narrow buttonhole stitch. I wish I could remember seeing either of the sisters with a tatting shuttle in her hand.

As far as I know while my mother and her grandmother were amazing with crochet hook and knitting needles and others did lovely stitching, noone else in the family could tat. In my final year at school a friend taught me the basic stitch using string - a brilliant aid to learning as there was no mistake as to why a stitch mightn't slide. I don't get out my shuttle very often these days but, early last year I did manage to produce a narrow length to use on a blouse. However my tatting uses a much thicker thread - I can't imagine how long it might have taken to make this mat. The blouse that is planned is still only yarn sitting on the shelf to be woven in the future! Definitely a work in SLOW progress!

March TIF challenge piece is finished!

2008-03-30T20:49:00.006+10:00

Well, this started out as an exercise in using the colours suggested by Sharon. My original intention was to do a series using the same design but different fillings - blackwork and needlepoint as well as pulled thread. Foolishly I thought I could produce one a week! What a joke! This was only completed today.

While I steadily counted the threads on 32 count linen (using a magnifier) I thought about Sharon's theme challenge - "Do you ever notice the small moments, the details in life?" When you get to my age you appreciate these small moments even more - well I find this is so. Just the dew on the grass each morning is exciting. I could go on for ages. However it occurred to me that counting threads is definitely a metaphor for noticing those small details. So I decided that, while I did not manage to produce the series I had hoped , I had satisfied both sections of the challenge for the month.

Back to the embroidery - I think this could be used as a flap on a small bag. The pulled thread work is done in Gutermanns polyester machine sewing thread. The pink is ringed back stitch, the green 3-sided stitch and the deepest purple is a stitch that I did when I thought I was doing step stitch! It never ceases to amaze me how inept I am at following instructions. I had read the instructions for step stitch in Moyra McNeill's book so carefully. Then followed a day spent stitching one of the shapes before referring back to the book. Absolutely no resemblance to the one in the book! However I liked what I had done (and, besides, unpicking pulled thread work in doubled sewing machine thread is not for the fainthearted!) so decided to leave it as it was. The outlines are perle cotton in stem stitch except for the dark purple which uses 3 strands of 2/20 cotton weaving yarn. The yellow stitching is crested chain in 3 strands of stranded cotton.

Biscornu finished

2008-03-30T20:30:00.003+10:00

Actually my biscornu (my February TIF challenge) has been finished for some time - all that was missing was the photograph. Now there is no excuse for losing a needle! In the meantime I have almost finished a needlebook that will match. This is in addition to another biscornu which is intended as a gift for a little neighbour.

I was very happy with how the two sections joined up. I followed Elizabeth's (from Quieter Moments) instructions - some time ago she gave a very detailed account of how to use back stitch for just this purpose - thankyou Elizabeth. It provides a very sturdy seam - I can't imagine how I might have improved it.

2008-03-09T10:01:00.004+10:00

Pencil doesn't scan easily - however here is my basic idea for a series of samples. One I didn't mention previously is using the shapes for needlepoint stitches. While I feel happy with using rice stitch in two colour for the largest shape I am not sure that I won't need to try out some stitches elsewhere beforehand to get some idea of what might work or else I could be in for some unpicking.

Did I happen to mention that I loved these colours? Any more ideas on how to use the same design and same colour palette?

As you may have realised the theme has been filed away for future consideration - another stash - "Themes for future use"