Thank You and back to the books!

I finally have a photo of this. I won this wonderful kit for a Japanese Thimble from World Embroideries. The base is made and the stitching begun, so I can follow along. So far anxious about beginning so I'm reading up on making Japanese thimbles. I love these colors.

This has been one of those weeks at work. I begin the day with a list of things that need to be done and never even get to start on it. I spend the day fielding all the stuff coming at me. So, I'm not stitching in the evenings but crashing--and reading.This is my current book I'm reading. It begins with a survey in photos and words of the general types and styles of embroidery around the world. An Identification Guide. I'm still in that section and haven't read beyond. It's necessarily survey-like, broad but not deep, but still interesting. There's a photo of a kantha with stars on it that has my fingers twitching. My attempt at a photo didn't come out at all (glare on an almost all white picture).This is my current book to browse when I don't want to read. I find it very inspiring. It's another book I got used, from a friend, not all that long ago. A product of the 70s, it's mostly black and white, which is a shame. It would be wonderful in color but I've noticed most books from before the 90s had very small color sections.While I didn't own it until a few years ago, I had read this book back when it was new. In the upper center of the photo above is a design with sliced shells and vertical stitches that has always stuck with me. The book focuses on embroidery for clothing and covers design, materials, and techniques.
The textures here are marvelous. I've been tempted to print this and color it in.Some of the text on designing is here. You can see how the author evolves a motif from the frieze on the upper left to the blouse on the right.

I wonder if others are as stylistically at home in the styles of their youth as I am with 70s?

A Commission

Recently my friend Marge brought me a project from her church. They wanted an altar cloth to be embroidered to coordinate with the cover above. Isn't it just lovely? Trailing and seeding are the stitches used. It's a very nice linen, beautifully finished over some sort of board (heavy cardboard?)

She had the altar cloth they wanted the design on. Right now I'm just doing the outline. After the committee reviews it they will decide whether they want the interior embroidery done, too.
I made a pattern from folded paper and used a dressmaker's chalk to trace the outline. As it brushes off, I just go over it again. The fabric of the altar cloth is a polyester and rayon blend. I saw that and kind of winced but it's actually a good fabric for this. Slightly sheer but with good body. It shakes out hoop marks. And, most important for me, when I unstitch it's invisible.

I'm also using trailing. The cord is two strands of DMC perle 8. The overstitching is done with DMC Brilliant Cutwork thread #16. My outline is much stronger than that of the model. I did that because they wanted it plain, with no seeding, so it has to stand out. Also, this is a much larger piece of cloth--a very fine cross would be lost. I hope they like it.

I forgot how very hard it is to keep the thread exactly where I want it on the design line. Otherwise it's going along okay. I have to be careful about beginning and ending--anything off of the design line will show through.

forgot to take a picture

I finished the dreaded brown teddy bear but completely forgot to grab a pix of the beast. Drat!!Oh, well. It's done! Yay!Last night at Homewood Embroiderer's Guild, I won this prize. We're trying to be more ecologically conscious and use fewer disposables, so those who bring their own (hopefully embroidered) cup to meetings are allowed to put their name in to be drawn for a prize. Jane took pix of the cups and posted them here. The guild meeting was fun. We have one returning member (after a long hiatus) and one new member, which is great!

Mostly life is boring right now. There are signs of spring. Work is busier than ever. But I do have one fun project in the works. More on that tomorrow.

Sun!

I've noticed several midwestern bloggers reveling in the sun today. Last night I saw stars! I haven't seen stars in ages. Today the sky was a clear blue and I am not wearing boots!

I'm back stitching, some. First Thursday mornings is the Japanese Embroidery class at the Hyde Park Art Center. I lost a piece of my frame stand (I left it at the art center and didn't notice for a month, so it's gone!) and haven't gotten a replacement, so I worked on my Oriental needlepoint (shown here, the design with the black background). We had two other needlepointers, a knitter and four people working on Japanese Embroidery. Ruth gave a great lesson on pasting up a finished design. I'm working on the or nue leaves in the needlepoint design. They're tedious (but the effect is worth it). I completed two leaves this morning. I'm still taking my morning walks. It's easier now that the walkways are mostly clear. I have some rules now. (My husband will tell you I always have rules!) I get up, dressed and head out--no sketchbook or camera and no glasses--Just me. I can see okay and the no-glasses made sense on snowy days but now I kind of like the just-out-of-focus view. Down the street to the corner, cross, up to the other corner, cross and back home. We're on a small hill, so it is up and down. I have to watch my step, too--we're an old neighborhood with lots of trees. Big trees that have heaved up the sidewalk here and there.

Last weekend I completed my walk, went in and grabbed the camera and went out a bit. I'm learning a lot about the many textures of snow. (This morning it was crystalline with the nappy texture of suede.) I had watched this leaf gradually melt into the snow over the course of a week. It's gone now--this was an unshoveled part of the sidewalk and foot traffic has erased all sign of the leaf.
These are the bushes in front of our house. The snow was icy around the edges and sparkly. It didn't photograph too well, but the photo acts as a memory aid to me.

I'm finding I'm about 50/50 observant of things around me and looking-inward contemplative. I don't have any goals (or rules) about that. I am amazed each morning by how loud the nearby expressway is! Yikes! I never really noticed before.

Book sightings

This past weekend we went on a bit of a hunt. Jenny's book was published in the U.S. a week or so ago and we went looking to find it. We were in luck:Borders had a medium-sized display up front, and we spotted the book there. So we headed over to Barnes & Noble's...They had a larger, two-sided display with Jenny's book on the front side. Woo-hoo!

Back stitching...

....slowly and carefully. In this photo the bear is nearly done. As of Monday it was completely done (huge sighs of relief!) I'll get a photo this weekend. I learned something.When I stitch cross stitch as I normally do, with a sewing motion, I have a lot more tension on my hands than when I stitch with a stab-stitch technique. You know, put the needle into the hole, pull it through, put the needle into the next hole, pull it up. Slower, but in it's favor, I've always heard it's neater. And much less hand tension means less pain and irritation. It also means a finished piece.When I wasn't stitching, I was back to reading and browsing. A good friend sent me this lovely book recently. No reading in this one, just inspiring line drawings. There's a companion book with British Crewel designs. These books are inexpensive and well worth the price for the great ready-to-go designs.

Giveaway winner! and antoher new giveaway.

I need to make the giveaway time periods shorter or my memory longer--I nearly forgot this one! This morning random.org picked number 7--The Blackwork Notebook goes to PatB. Congratulations!

The next giveaway is from Nordic Needle. The top photo is of one of their lovely freebies: an acorn design and the fabric to stitch it. The bottom photo is one of their Hardanger books, Nordic Hardanger Bands II, and a piece of linen banding. If you're into Hardanger or want to try it, this is for you.

Please make a comment to this post before the Ides of March (March 15), if you want to be included in the draw (random.org) for this package of goodies. I will send it anywhere in the world. I will draw the winner on Tuesday, March 16.

I do ask that you include some way for me to contact you directly. If your blog profile includes your e-mail address, direct me there--that'll work. If not, please e-mail me directly or include a spelled out or otherwise uncopyable address in your comment and I'll use that. I cannot go looking for you and if I can't reach you easily, I'm going to have to skip you and I really, really hate doing that.