Blue Crewel Is Done!

I finished it yesterday and damp stretched it Monday night. I got most of the wrinkles out.

 Taa-daa!

I always look at my designs/color choices in black and white, to check value. I made this one B&W in Photoshop, but a black and white photocopy works just as well for working.

In this design the blue wool background is pretty much the darkest color.  The blue on the lower left "reads" darker because it's redder (a dark purple).  I generally like to have a full value range in a design. It's really easy to stick in the middle range, which makes a dull design.

By the way, the blue background is hand dyed and not a solid, even color, but is mottled and has lighter and darker patches.  It's hard to tell in a photo.

Thanks!

This is a long overdue Thanks! to World Embroideries, who made me these amazing mittens.

I put them to immediate use and kept forgetting to pull them out of my coat pockets to share with you. They're not only lovely but very warm.

The palms are the aurora borealis. Cool, huh?

Thanks!

Blue Crewel Progress

Blogger finally, reluctantly, uploaded a few photos. One at a time, but it did it, so I'm happy.

I've been working on this pretty steadily. I'm feeling my way and picking colors as I go, so it's slow sometimes as I dither.

Here are a couple of closer views. It took me a while to figure out how to do the embroidery over the stitched ground. For the leaves, I cut little leaf shapes from drier sheets and used them as a base. It helped me define the shapes. For the white flowers, I took one stitch across the width of the petal to act as a base and then stitched the petals vertically to the center over it.

Olympic Stitching

It seems Blogger isn't uploading photos today. On a day when I have a bunch!  I've been a big fan of the Olympics since I was a kid.  And beginning in 1968, I've generally had an "Olympic Project" in hand to do.  The projects aren't related to the sport, just to me keeping busy during the endless hours of TV.

In '68 my project was an embroidery design in turquoise, orange and brown on muslin, for the pockets of a dress I was making.  The design was from a Better Homes & Gardens embroidery book that was $2 (I still have it).  It was actually featured on the red cover, but in different colors.  I wore the minidress until I came to my senses and it became a blouse.

I stitched while watching Peggy Flemming skate endless figure eights, all on the exact same lines. And I had to be carefull not to drool on the embroidery when Jean Claude Killy came up to ski.

I don't remember all of the Olympic projects or events, but that first one is etched in my mind.

This year I had a bag full of mini-kits, collected from British magazines, mostly Molly Makes.  They're cute and easy to do, perhaps a bit fiddly because they're small. They'd been nagging at me so they became this year's Olympics project.  I had a bunch collected.

Since they're not loading here, I put them on flickr, where you may go see them if you're interested:  Marjorie from Illinios finished in 2014.

Knee-wise, I'm going quite well.  I've been up and down stairs to do a load of laundry and am more able to get around and about.  Today it's pouring rain, which is better than snow, but because it's close to freezing and I don't like ice, I'm staying indoors.  Hubby is making soup.