Persistence Pays Off, Part 2

DONE! There's nothing like a guild meeting to give me the final boost to persist and finish off a project so I can bring it to show and tell! I kept this project in a box that was in my way for the last few months. Mostly so that it wouldn't get shunted back to the UFO pile.

And I will be so happy not to have that box in my way all the time!

I checked and the copyright on the pattern is 2000. I thought this piece was from more like 2003 but I don't really remember. It was designed and taught by Judy Souliotis for Chicago ANG's Donaldson seminar one summer. Check out Judy's web page--especially if you're looking for fibers--she has lovely collections at wonderful prices. She also has a wonderful gallery. I'm glad I was able to take a class from her before her retirement from traveling to teach.

The canvas has two types of traditional Japanese gold applied, Judy did this for us before class. All of those leaves are variations of or nué. Given the trouble I had keeping the counted versions of this technique in line, I can't imagine doing it on an uncountable ground! I really like it--as you move the piece some leaves gain sparkle while others become opaque.

As I was playing around with the piece last night, thinking about possibilities for framing, I laid it on different backgrounds. I wondered about using gold behind it. I didn't have anything metallic gold to try but dull gold was, well, dull. Then I tried deep red, blah. Black. It looked nice with black. But then I laid it on white, while I was reaching for something else. The white behind the black canvas made the embroidery pop out. It was truly amazing, so dimensional it looked almost like stumpwork.

I showed my hubby and he was as astounded as I was--I never, ever would have picked white for behind black canvas but I think I may this time. (And that's why when ever I frame anything I drive everyone nuts because I have to try every mat and frame variation possible.)

Persistence Pays Off, part 1

For a while I've not had a lot to show. I'm working away but bigger projects take longer and are often slow to show visible progress.This bag is done and not quite done. The crocheting is completed on the bag. That's a bit of the handle sticking out in a loop. That is not quite done, it needs another row or two. The not done part is that I plan to felt these in the washer to make them denser. I am making both handles at the same time so that they more-or-less match and so that when I finish one, I'll have the other nearly completed. I plan to make some little flowers to use at the handles' attachment point but they won't be felted and so can wait. This is a big bag!

sparkly mornings

The mornings this week have been lovely. Clear and sparkling. It rained a bit over the weekend but cleared up for my walks. The bushes by our front door were sparking with raindrops on Sunday morning.We ran errands and had a pretty quiet weekend. We visited the Illinois State Museum Gallery at Lockport to see their new exhibit "On and of Paper." It was, as always, interesting. I was tempted, but did not succumb, to visit the nearby quilt shop Thimbles.In my digging last week I found a bag of ufo of ethnic embroidery taught by lynn vandenburg in the late 1980s. She taught some lovely classes on Mediterranean and Middle Eastern ethnic embroidery before leaving the area. I believe this design was Palestinian in origin.

The original project was to fill the fabric with several of these motifs (which were to have filled in areas with a second variegated perle color). The fabric is a barely countable, rather harsh feeling polyester. It is what the immigrants from that area Palestine, who were living in Chicago, were using to make their clothing.

The motifs were to have been stitched with random variegated perles. Students were instructed to pick up a new color, at random, each time a thread ended. We were also instructed not to pay attention to which way crosses crossed. This was a taste of the real thing--how generally rural women who wore elaborately embellished traditional clothing created it.

As you can see from the little sample here, I did not take well to it. I studiously tried not to pay attention to how my crosses crossed. And I do have loads of mistakes in counting--for the simple reason that I could not see to count this ground. But the color, I just could not do random there.

After the fun memories finding this partially completed motif rekindled, I realized that with a little bit of stitching I could have a motif that looked, more or less, complete. So I did that bit of stitching and declared this piece done. Given the dark color and serviceable fabric, I plan to make it into a book cover. someday.

I also found, not photographed yet, a small sampler with examples of three types of Mediterranean embroidery. It's about 1/2 to 2/3 done. I've been working on a bit of the Greek Islands motif. There's enough done and it's a pretty enough piece that I may complete it. At least this is on a natural linen so I can see to count it!

I also know that somewhere in the massive ufo pile is the beginning of an Eastern European Goddess Towel stitched on 36 count linen, also from a class by lynn.

Bookmarks!

EGA is having an outreach project to make bookmarks for Children's Book Week. I'm leading it for our chapter. The book week bit hasn't worked out--I tried calling two local libraries a couple of times each with no response.

I did connect with Hammond Reads through a friend and we're going to make book marks for their literacy program. These are what I've made so far. The tails of the mice are the bookmarks, as are the tulip stems. I found some stiffened felt bookmarks at Michael's--18 in a bag. They are a little thick to use doubled or backed so I am working on creating reversible designs. The photo above shows one side of the pink bookmark and the photo below shows the other side. I think they need some work, all of them. I'd like to make the mice and flowers a bit smaller and also come up with similar designs. The long tails on the balloons on the pink bookmark could be problematic--snagging little fingers--I may glue them down. I also need to work on my stitching. It's a good start.

This is going to be an ongoing project so I'm going to be collecting and making bookmarks for the foreseeable future.

Stitching

Over the last few weeks I carried this old stamped pillowcase around to work on in doctor's offices and at meetings. I finally finished it and washed it. It was pretty yellowed from age. It's nice, thick pure cotton--very soft.I had intended to press the case before taking a picture but I forgot until the ironing board was put away.

I should have been doing other things, but this new project called to me. I got it at the International Quilt Festival earlier this month. From Wooly Lady, it's all hand-dyed wools. Thread was not in the kit. I used the photo as a guide, because I really liked the model in their booth, and used blue floche and bright red perle cotton in the flower centers and Grape Impressions, which is mildly variegated, for the buttonholing.I did vary one thing. Most of the petal and leaf edges are not attached to the backing but float free. The lines between the petals ground them and I did stitch down most petals that were covering up the ends of leaves and other elements. This dimensionality doesn't show in the photo but I like it a lot.

There was no hanging instructions or guide for how to hang this piece. It's firm enough, I was thinking perhaps a couple of small rings on the back. I could sew on a sleeve, too, and add bell pull hardware (it's about 6" wide) or a narrow slat for support. Since I don't have immediate plans for it, I decided to just think about what I want to do for now.

Mrs Bailey's legacy

While I know it's not likely that bulbs planted over 150 years ago would still be blooming, but I always think of these as Mrs Bailey's flowers. The Bailey homestead at the Indiana Dunes was the first white settlement. The formal house was built in the 1830s. Someone, sometime, ages ago, told me that the flowers around the homestead had been planted by Mrs. Bailey and I've stuck with that notion. I like the idea of that type of legacy.They've moved around over the thirty-some years we've been going to Bailey in the spring. Some years they are more prolific than others. This year they have been particularly nice. This year featured Narcissus and Grape Hyacinth. I could see where some lilies might be coming up. And roses along the path to the homestead (I believe another farm was there in the past, long gone).So each year we go in spring to visit Mrs Bailey's flowers. And each year they put on a lovely show for us. They're up the path a bit from the wildflowers, except for the Spring Beauties, they're everywhere.

Spring comes to the dunes

The last two weekends, we've wandered out to the Indiana Dunes. On the 10th it was quite warm but this past Sunday was much cooler. In their turn, the wildflowers have been coming out to bloom. Spring beauties were out the first week but much more abundant the second. Bloodwort was lovely, then gone. As were the hyacinths and toothwort. The second week brought trout lilies, Jack-in-the pulpit, and red trilliums. We began with a beach walk.Here's Jack lurking behind some May Apples (getting ready to bloom)Here's another Jack--they were abundant this year. They are hard to see but once you spot one, then you'll begin to see more and more.The lawn by the Bailey Homestead, covered with spring beauties.A field of May apples. I always imagine fairies using them as umbrellas or for shade.