Sampler set

 Many years ago I took a class from Merry Cox, it was at a Shepherd's Bush Retreat. The design was called Flowers From Thy Heart. I liked the idea but felt that it was not quite what I wanted.

Several months ago, I picked it up again for the UFO challenge for our EGA group. I decided that the design did not have enough sampler motifs for me, so I started adding to the design. I ended up using just a tiny bit of the original design. I liked the queen stitch  flowers so I kept those and the original colors and linen. I did add one more green but kept the limited palette of red, pink, green and tan.

Merry loves queen stitches and puts them in many of her pieces. One of her designs has hundreds of them in the flowers.

I also added smalls because what good is a sewing set with out a pincushion, scissors sheath, emery, ort box and needle/thread case. 

This is the sampler that I can turn into a tray by tying the ribbons at the corners to form a shallow tray to keep all of the supplies in.

The  needle/thread case was fun to create. I found a verse that I liked and charted it so that the verse is readable when the case is closed. I made folded needle papers that are labeled with the sizes and type of needle. I copied the lining fabric onto photo paper and cut small thread bobbins from it.

The scissors sheath holds both a hemostat and matching scissors.

Japanese Embroidery

 A number of years ago, I started taking some classes in Japanese Embroidery. I finished several pieces over the years and intend to work on more. It is a very structured technique and takes a lot of practice to achieve the look that you want. We were told by our teacher that "sixteen hundred years of tradition cannot be wrong". There is a way to do everything and that is how it should be done. Practically perfect is the expected result.

My first teacher spoke little English and so we learned what is called "stealing knowledge"; we observed her stitching and tried to duplicate it. She of course helped us, but with hands-on demonstration rather than explanation.  We were told to stitch at least a half an hour everyday so that our hands and mind would perfect the muscle memory of how it should be done.

I, of course, am not perfect at it but the discipline of working to that standard has helped me with other embroidery techniques. I have taken classes from several teachers that trained at the Japanese Embroidery Center in Georgia.

I love the way that it looks and the feel of the silk thread as it slides through the fabric. Japanese culture uses objects like a certain flower or tree as a symbol to convey an  idea. Some flowers are thought of  symbols of winter or early spring. It is fun to "read" the deeper meaning of art if you understand what they mean. Western art has for the most part lost this concept, but if want to understand early Christian art you need to look for the special symbols that are included.

Japanese teaching is organized into steps. Step one is the beginning and each step introduces new techniques. If you finish the program you are on step ten. I have learned that there are different schools of Japanese Embroidery and each of them organizes things a little differently.

I got side-tracked with other projects but now seems a good time to get back to it again. This piece is the one that I am working on.

This is the first one that I did. It is a step one project.

This kimono is a step two.

The leaf of these grapes is a technique called fuzzy-effect. It helps to blend one color into the next one.

Hampton Court Palace

 I love the designs of Jenny Adin-Christie. She manages to take threads and wires that are familiar and design with them in such fun and unique ways.  She has a waiting list for her kits that I have a love/hate relationship with. I love it because I can order and she lets me know when they are available; I hate it because I have to wait until she can make up a group of kits. The kits are wonderful and so neatly packaged with labeled bags of the bits and parts. Years ago, before the rest of the world discovered her, I was able to just place an order and get it right away, but I am pleased that she has such great support among embroiderers.

There are always so many fun techniques and surprises in her designs that I try very hard not to alter what she had done. I did make a tiny change to this design. I made the sun face a full circle on my embroidery. She has hers in a box with a rim that cuts off the top of the sun and I didn't want to do that so I just finished it. This is a kit that I have been wanting to do for years.

I do have a book and a kit on order so more wonderful things are coming in the future.

Goldwork Journey

 A while ago I finished the last of the three goldwork astronomical instruments by Cynthia Jackson. They are the Mariners's Compass, the Armillary Sphere and the Astrolabe.

Cynthia's designs are always so interesting and challenging. I never quite get them perfect but they are never-the-less works of art. The black and gold make such a great contrast using black thread and gold metal "threads", wires, beads and leather. They are dimensional with arrows that move, and other parts that lift off of the surface or spin.

Gold work Turtle

 When I saw the gold work turtle in the Inspirations book, A Passion for Needlework vol. 3 by Georgiana Bellamy, I knew that it was on the to do list. Instead of purchasing the kit , I was able, with a little help from my friends to gather the many shades of purl, felt and  gold to make her. 

Sewing through the 8 layers of a combination of 3mm and 1mm felt for the shell was not for the faint of heart. I finally found that I could use a long size 13 beading needle and a pair of pliers to get through all of the layers. Sometimes it took 8 or 10 stabs of the needle from the bottom to get the needle to come out at the correct spot on top. It was worth it and she is wonderful.

Several years ago, my sweet daughter brought me a candle in a wooden bowl from Hawaii. The wood was grown there and is native Hawaiian. The candle is gone but the upside down bowl is the  perfect resting place for the the turtle.

I have several other projects in progress, actually 4 or 5 but that is normal. Sometime at the shop we get women who shyly admit that they have more than one project going at a time. I think that it is an achievement to celebrate. No need to ever be bored when there are so many wonderful things to read and do.

I am reading a very interesting book about the relationship of restrictive foundation garments and the status of women in Early Modern England. It is called Shaping Femininity by Sarah Bendall. This book brings together some of the things that interest me: English history, historic clothing, material culture and the restrictions placed on women throughout history by men who fought against the idea of a equal partner instead of a chattel.