Isobel Lyon 1621

As I have been working on (actually thinking about) the Cabinet of Curiosities Casket, I have stitched most of the pieces that Tricia designed for the class and have added some of my own.
I stitched Mistress L to roll up and place in the casket. I designed and stitched Kathrin Boswell as inspiration. Although Kathrin is a real person, she has a story that I wrote about her.  I added to it by designing and stitching a whitework sampler from the years before she was born and decided that it needed to be worked by her actual Grandmother, Isobel. So with a little poetic license I named her  Isobel Lyon since some of the family is descended from King William the Lyon king of Scotland.
It really stretched my skills to both design and stitch the Reticilla section of the sampler. I used a size 80 cordonnet thread for the weaving, wrapping  and buttonhole bars.  I don't have it framed yet but do have it mounted on the blue-green silk background. I still have a few more ideas for pieces for the Casket but am closer to my final design.

Isobel's bands from Italy and Japanese Embroidery

 Sometime when I am working on a piece, it goes more slowly than I want it to. I am enjoying the process of stitching and need to be patient with the rate of growth. This is one of two bands of Reticella that I am doing. For some reason Reticella has never been my favorite embroidery technique. My friend Diane Clements was a master of Reticella and she talked me into doing Reticella several times and now I am so glad that I did. Using 17th century patterns to design my own bands has been fun but a real challenge. I have also used some techniques from books that I bought in Italy. It is growing and I am pleased with the way that it is looking. It will look so much better when I can take off the paper pattern and finish off all of the stray threads.

I have been working my way through the steps of Japanese Embroidery very slowly. I work on it an hour a day when I can. The braid changes from purple to green and finally to orange and will end up with gold thread embroidered on top of the silk. I have been busy putting in the base threads for the cloud areas of the fan and the pine trees. The orange threads are twisted and ready to stitch.

Isobel Lyon reticella band

I just finished this band on my Isobel Lyon sampler. Reticella is not my favorite form of needlework but I bought some fun books in Italy when I went to Burano  to the lace museum. I used  a couple of the reticella techniques in this band.  I like that way that it turned out and it certainly gave me plenty of repeats so that I could practice and get better.
I am really having fun working on creating my version of a 17th century whitework band sampler.

I have discovered that this white on white embroidery attracts almost like a magnet every stray red or dark colored fiber floating in the room . I learned to keep a pair of very fine tweezers handy to pluck off those pesky little colored fibers as they got stitched into the work.

I am about three-quarters of the way finished but have a couple of really open reticella areas at the bottom that are going to be a challenge.

Life and Embroidery

Many of my ancestors are from Scotland. We can seem to be a rather stern, taciturn clan with the sound of bagpipes in our mind and the lilt of the language in our ears.
Much of what shapes our lives is inherited from our ancestors through genetics but more so by the family traditions and ways of looking at things that we absorb in our families. My Father was a most modest man who had great talent in many areas. He oil painted, carved birds, and created jewelry among other things. He and my Mother are the reason that I am open to trying new things and the attitude that I can create what I can imagine. The things of this world will one day turn to dust but what he gave me will be part of me forever. In December he left us, quietly and without much fuss just like he wanted but the hole in my life is giant. My parents are so much a part of me and I have been so lucky to have both of them so long that although I can no longer see him, he is not gone forever and I shall see him again. He painted this wonderful desert scene and among all of his painting it is the one that hangs where I see it as I stitch.

My Mother's father was from Scotland and she has always loved thistle. I stitched this piece for her to give to her at Christmas. It is stitched with wool thread with just a touch of metallic gold.

 From my Father's Scottish side of the family comes the name of a new piece that I am working on. It is a 17th century whitework band sampler named Isobel Lyon. Isobel is in my father's direct line from Burntisland, Fife. This band is a technique sometimes called Lacis. It is form of lace in which many of the threads are cut out and the remaining threads form the base for weaving and dove's eyes. Isobel is the Grandmother of Kathrin, so it fits in the narrative of the story of Katherin's kist, the embroidered casket.

 I have added a small but fun piece to my needlework tools. This rosewood thimble with its pewter bee is just for decoration but looks great on the shelf with the other more useful tools.