Blog at rest

I’m taking a break from blogging for the summer. Unless things significantly change it looks like my dad unexpectedly needs my help in closing up his home here and in some other matters. I’ll be back September 1 with another post.

 

 

 

 

Over again

I’m sorry to have been unexpectedly away from blogging for the past few days. There are several family difficulties that have arisen and are cutting into time available both for stitching and blogging. Things still do not appear to be on an even keel on one of these issues.

I’m taking a blog break until Monday, June 23. I’ll come back with either a normal or amended blog schedule then.

Here’s a look a few of the experiments I’ve been able to do in the past few days. These are continued trials on the raised stitch idea that I’ve been looking into this year. Instead of using a straight stitch or herringbone to raise these stitches, I’ve been looking at stitches that use the previous stitch to raise the next identical stitch.

The third column of sorbellos is my favorite. The first column is cross stitch. But there is another way to do this. I used that method several years ago to create an alphabet.

Many thanks to all of you who have been checking back and to those who have left very kind comments, I’m trying to respond to these a few at a time.

 

Small spots

This is a quick glance at part of a small spot sampler that grew out of my experiments on interlacing herringbone and cross stitches this week.

Close ups of the Celtic flavor I tried to insert in some of these experiments.

 

May and June TIF plus …

May TIF

This is my design for the SharonB’s May TIF. Her question was roughly what do you call yourself and why.

My answer is that I think of myself as an explorer. I wrote this is 2006 and my thinking is still close to this basic.

How did I ever get pulled into counted thread needlework on a linen ground?

The opportunity to explore some of God’s simple shapes with a needle and thread caught my attention and keeps my interest. Stitches, color, design, pattern, texture that all plays apart in it.

Is it the most important thing in life or in my life? No! But it is a part shared here.

When I read Sharon’s post the only image that came to mind was a compass such an might be on an old map. But it didn’t convey needlework to me. Finally I thought about the twin pointed needles that are made with the eye in the center so you don’t have to turn the needle around in going back and forth between the top and under side of the fabric. I had to stylize it to get it to work as a compass. The design means to convey that when I have a threaded needle in hand I’m prepared to explore in any direction.

June TIF

I don’t have the full image for June’s TIF challenge. I thought as I touch the fabric or thread and begin to work with it, a story begins to come out and talk to me. I can very easily do a lot of exercises to explore a stitch but when I begin to work on a piece it’s like an unfolding story. I’ve tried ten or fifteen small sketches so far everything is rejected. I have one image in my mind that I can’t seem to get drawn out in any reasonable way. I’ll have to see what happens as the month progresses.

Plus… a response to a comment. I’m so thankful for all the comments I receive. They keep me encouraged and meeting more people whose work I’m not familiar with. Some time as with the comment I received yesterday from Leena, they send me exploring. Many thanks, Leena.

As she mentioned the Indian embroidery called Kutch uses a pattern very similar to the English interlacing and Maltese cross. There is a video here. And very good instruction here. Many thanks to Bhavani Harikrishnan at Needlecraft.

No break from feather stitching

I’m still working on feather stitching. Finding it hard to go very fast because my ideas don’t stitch out as expected. They seem to so easily fall over into a blanket stitch or a Cretan stitch and then I pull them out and start over again.

  

Red leaf alert: Imagine my delight when I spied this red leaf at Garden Journal. Many thanks to Karen for the refreshing photo.

Still practicing…

Sorry to have such an unscheduled blog break. My computer is totally messing up or else it is my internet service provide. Frankly, I suspect them both and am ready to tear out what hair I have left. I’ve had this computer a long time and it is stuffed far too full.

I’m still practicing for my feather stitch sampler. My grandmother lived in Vermont most of her life and so the sampler must have a maple leaf. She also was a great one for finding four leaf clovers. My mom says Gram would be walking along and suddenly stoop down and pluck one up.

I’m also practicing for a new piece using this red material. I’m not sure I’m going to use 100/3 silk for this. The coverage is not what I might wish. The only one I really like is the woven petal. The colors are off in the photo. The red is actually much lighter and the green much more gold.

 

 

 

Second thoughts

I’m having second thoughts on the upper case alphabet for the feather stitch sampler. The alphabet is all done in theory. I’m going to have to stitch it before I can decide. It’s taking up more space than I wish. I can’t seem to fix on a good style for the space. Perhaps that means something other than an alphabet is needed there.

Fortunately, the work with translating the ”off grid” feather stitch variations over to ”on grid” trials is going a good clip. I tried four versions of the puppy paws feather stitch. Now I see it as a useful way to couch a thicker thread and poise a bead or flower on the elongated spine.

I think my grandmother would enjoy the beads. She had a bead-fringed pincushion about a foot square. She used it constantly. I was able to chart the needlework several years ago but no one remembered the bead work pattern well enough for me to reconstruct it authentically.

Feather stitches: dainty versions

I finally decided to put in an upper case alphabet on this feather stitch sampler. To separate the rows of letters I’ve decide to see what I could do in working a feather stitch over two threads only.

This is the progress so far.

For the moment I’m fresh out of workable ideas.

I made the first letter in the alphabet. From that I’ll have to chart and stitch everything fairly close. I think that will be the only area I have to chart before I stitch. Sadly the lower case alphabet is limiting my style. I put that one in rather simply as a reminder of the few years my grandmother taught school before she married.

Progress on the feather stitch sampler

This is the progress on the feather stitch sampler.

These are notes to myself. So some things are slated for redoing as soon as my LNS is open this week.

I’m hoping for a very light tone of the green to substitute for the yellow. I’m not sure what I can do for the birds. They need a lot of help. Their eyes don’t stand out well. They don’t look flight worthy to me.

I had a lot of fun this weekend taking the feather stitch “off grid” and coming up with about fifteen variations to start filling in more of the sampler. I’m going to post some of those soon. I need to review SharonB’s TSTC and stitch dictionary for the feather stitch and see if there is anything that will inspire me further.

Using the 100/3 silk instead of the pima cotton means a lot of space to fill up on the sampler. I’d like to have more than enough variations to pick and choose from. I want to add more variations on the mixed Milanese, too. I’m debating about making a capital letter alphabet. And if I do make it what kind of stitch should I use? Questions and options! I’m going to have to do some serious planning soon.

On another note. The orphan works bill made it’s way out of the US Senate committee and is making its way to the floor. Please consider the issues involved in this and weigh in on it.

The lock stitch: day 6

These are more lock stitch samples.

Some I’m please with and some I’m not. This stitch has been causing me all sorts of problems with tension. The straight stiches need to have some play in them. When binding three together the middle stitch should have very little play.

On the first sample the tension problem is very evident. The others only slightly better.

Before doing SharonB’s TSTC last year, i”m not sure I’d have posted these samples. Working through 2007, I began to realize my major concentration in samples needs to be capturing the idea. When stitching in a piece, then concentrating on good technique as well as idea come into play.

These are some samples i’m very excited about.

Computers have moved from my favorites to my frustration list this week. My new computer is still not on line, I’m waiting for a piece of equipment to arrive. I wasn’t able to add photos for this post for over two or three hours today. Worst yet something is wrong with my regular email account.

I contacted my email provider last week. And I apparently have the same problem again or it never was solved in the first place. I’m using another account with a different provider. If you’ve been trying to reach me and haven’t heard back from me, please leave a comment. And I will contact you through the other provider until everything is resolved else where.

On a happier note, I’ve been fascinated with the new one color geometric avatars springing up everywhere. They have been inspiring me to think how much fun it would be to stitch up some small patterns in little squares.