Casalguidi: Starting with the middle background

This is the starting point of my Casalguidi & lavender project, designed by Barbara M. Kershaw. I am working this project on a 32ct linen and had a bit of basting to do before actually starting working the middle section with a modified Four-sided stitch. If you look at the photo in the link provided above you will see a similar section that is surrounding this one. This is what I will be working on next.
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Once the background has been completed, then the fun part will begun. Lots of new things for me to learn here, so will see how it goes :-)
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Pierrette =^..^=

Five Flower Samplers: Leaves and stems

Since my last post about Delma Moore's Five Flower Samplers design, I have completed stitching the leaves, all 29 of them and have started working on the stems. This photo above shows two of the five flower samplers with both the leaves and the stems completed. Still have 3 more flower stems to work on.

Above, a close-up of one corner one.

This last photo shows the work that has been completed so far.

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I have been using the same two Edmar thread colors that I have used for the leaves to stitch the stems. There is a tutorial on the Brazilian Embroidery Guild site that shows how to do the stem stitch. A few notes about the stem stitch. It always goes from left to right, you always keep your thread over and not under and when making stems you work them the same way they would grow in nature, meaning from bottom to top and not the other way around.

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I am learning how to do Brazilian Embroidery as I go along. There is nothing better than when you are take photographs of your work. You can scrutinize your work so much better and you then see things that could have been done better. I usually save those details in my memory bank for the next time around. The more you do, the better you get at it.

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I now need a break from all those stems, so will be switching project. Which one will it be? I have not even thought that far :-)

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Pierrette =^..^=

Rapunzel: Tree on the right side of the tower

Looking at the Rapunzel design yesterday, I made the decision to start with the tree on the right side of the tower as it seems to me like a good place to start as I intend to keep the tower and Rapunzel for last. I used exactly the same stitch pattern as Marion Scoular used on hers as it looks just right for a tree. I have been using one strand of DMC 611 for both the filling and the outline.

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The next logical section to work on now is the tree foliage, followed by the bushes. After that I will move on the other side of the tower and work on the second tree, tree foliage and bushes. Not sure at what point I will be working on the sky as that section can be done any time after the tree foliage has been added.

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I will put it aside now and continue with my rotation, but will be back to it soon :-)

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Pierrette =^..^=

Casalguidi & Lavender: Barbara M. Kershaw, designer

While I need a little more time to finish my first blackwork tree before I can put a photo on my blog, I thought I would show you this Casalguidi project for which I have just received my supplies yesterday. It is called Casalguidi and Lavender and has been designed especially for the Embroiderers' Guild of America by Barbara M. Kershaw.

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This project when finished will measure approximately 6" by 6" and it has been designed by Barbara to be finished as a scented sachet, putting some lavender inside, which is the scent I love the most, just so relaxing.

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I first saw a casalguidi project in the Australian magazine called Inspiration and thought to myself I just need to learn this Italian technique as it is just so beautiful and when this course was offered by my online chapter EGA CyberStitchers I made sure to purchase it so that I could learn the basics. Those courses are just perfect to get us started with a new technique the proper way.

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Will try to finish that blackwork tree today and put a photo of it either later today or tomorrow :-)

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Pierrette =^..^=

Five Flower Samplers: Brazilian Embroidery: More Leaves

I have not managed to stitch as many leaves as I wanted yesterday but considering how bad my allergies are acting up these days, I am rather pleased that I have managed to stitch as many as I did. The photo above shows what has been stitched so far.

This photo above shows another clutter of leaves.

And finally this last photo shows two leaves stitched on another section. I am thinking that by the time I finish stitching all 27 leaves, I will be pretty good at this. I have been stitching some leaves using Iris thread #053 and others using Iris #099. The needle used is a straw needle #5.
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There is a nice example on how to do the Alternating Satin Stitch on the Brazilian Guild website.

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Pierrette =^..^=

Five Flower Samplers: Brazilian Embroidery: Leaves

After spending quite a bit of time in the last few days in project selections, hunting down the material for them, ordering some supplies, working a bit in the garden yesterday and also having intensified allergy problems the last two days, this morning I have finally started working on my new brazilian embroidery project called Five Flower Sampler, which is a Blackberry Lane project with Delma Moore as designer for this particular one.
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Since I have not done any Brazilian embroidery in a long time and am also rather new at this too, I took some time to read a bit about it to refresh my memory.
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The last BE (Brazilian Embroidery) one I stitched I had used a hoop, but this time I am trying to use stretcher bars and so far just loving it. I love to have both hands free at all time while stitching and I love to be able to control both tension and thread as Edmar threads tend to often want to twist on themselves, which can be quite annoying. With my frame I find that I did not have any problems at all. Normally BE stitchers use a hoop, but I like to experiment with different ways of doing things. If all goes well, I may very well end up using some stretcher bars most of the time. Will report back on that after completing this project.
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I have taken out 3 BE books as I always like to see how things are done before trying them so if I can't find what I am looking for in one book then I go in the other. The three I have on my working table right now are: Leaves: A collection of leaf directions from patterns by JDR Brazilian Elegance, Sunshine's Treasures by Cheryl Schuler and Brazilian Embroidery 101 also by Cheryl Schuler. You can find all these books here at JDR.
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To come back to the 5 leaves I have just stitched, I have been using Iris #053 and #099, two different green colors that graduate from pale to dark. The leaves are stitched in Alternating Satin Stitch. The instructions say to stitch all leaves first. I have just completed the leaves for one flower and now need to do the ones for the other 4 flowers before moving on to the stems, so will be back with a photo when those leaves are completed.
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It is so nice for me to go back to some embroidery and I am having a ball.
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Pierrette =^..^=

Dodecagon Ornament Series, Framed Grouping 1

As I said in my previous post, each grouping will be having its own frame and mat as what seemed to work nicely for one grouping just did not work as well for another grouping. This is the frame and mat for grouping 1.

Close-up view of frame and mat.

From left to right, we have Old Country,Peace Tree and Fabulous Finale, all part of the Dodecagon Ornament series designed by Jim Wurth.

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Pierrette =^..^=

Dodecagon Ornament Series: Framed Grouping 2

After lots of discussions, it has been decided that each grouping will have its own mat color and special frame.
Photo above shows Grouping 2.

Close-up photo of frame and mat.

Here are from left to right: Arcadia, Mohave and Monrovia ornaments.

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Pierrette =^..^=

Blackwork: New Project

Yesterday, I ended up spending lots of time working on my blog adding additional LABELS so that you and I can find things a bit more easily. The most important label category has been to add a label for each designer, so now when you and I want to see something about Marion Scoular for example, then all we have to do is scroll down to the right side column until we arrive to the label section and then just click on Marion Scoular and all the projects I have stitched from her whether it is hardanger or blackwork will be there. Same thing for all the other designers that I have had the pleasure to stitch their projects.

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Talking about Marion Scoular, I do love her designs immensely and my next Blackwork project is one that she designs and is called "Rapunzel", which I have added the photo that came with the instructions, which are quite limited by the way since that is a teaching project and not one like The Princess and the Pea for which she had her instructions printed for sale, so this project will be a bit more challenging than the previous one I have stitched of hers.

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Here is the little story that Marion writes about Rapunzel at the beginning of her instructions:

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Rapunzel

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There was once a couple who longed in vain for a child. A window of their modest home overlooked the garden next door which was owned by a Witch, who filled it with beautiful flowers and tempting vegetables. So envious was the wife that she persuaded her loving husband to sneak through the fence to steal some rampion for her salad. On the second foray, the Witch caught him, and in response to his plea that he was only trying to please his dear wife, she agreed to let him go, but demanded that in return, she should be given their child.

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Indeed, when the child was born and given the name Rapunzel, which means rampion, the Witch took her to a high tower, deep in the woods. There she grew to be incredibly beautiful, with long golden hair. The Witch would stand at the foot of the tower and call, "Rapunzel, Rapunzel all golden and flair, Rapunzel, Rapunzel let down your hair". Whereupon, Rapunzel would unbraid her glorious locks so the Witch could use them as ladder.

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Rapunzel sang with the voice of an angel, and one day, this was heard by a Prince as he rode through the forest. Mesmerized, he witnessed the Witch's ritual, memorized it, and when the Witch had gone, used it himself to see at closer hand the lovely Rapunzel. Love blossomed, but sadly, Rapunzel made the naive mistake of asking the Witch why she was so slow and the Prince so nimble. Furious, the Witch slashed off Rapunzel's locks and carried her off to the wilderness.

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Using Rapunzel's hair, the Witch lured the Prince back to the tower, where in trying to escape, he fell into thorn bushes which scratched his eyes, blinding him. Doomed to wander for many a day throughout the land, the Prince eventually heard a plaintive familiar song.

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Seeing the Prince's blindness, Rapunzel's tears fell on his eyes, restoring his sight. Joyfully they returned to his Palace and have lived happily ever since.

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End of story :-) K nowing the story that goes with the piece will make it so much more interesting to work on it.

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Since this is a rather big piece I have now mounted the canvas on my System 4 scroll frame. This way it will make it much easier to work on it.

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Pierrette =^..^=

Hardanger: Starting to fill in those little kloster diamonds

I got up way too early this morning and I now feel sluggish and it is only 6:25. This heat (heat index today will be between 100 and 110°F) is turning my life upside down. I just don't do well in that kind of weather. These last few days, I saw myself wake up around 3:30, 4:00 in the morning and been thinking that I might as well get up and get going on some of my projects. That seems to have worked for the previous days, but today I really feel tired and I am afraid that I will be dragging my feet all day long. I don't expect that I will be doing much stitching at all, so will probably be concentrating on getting myself organized instead.

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Yesterday, I went through lots and lots of projects piled up here and there in order to decide which ones I want to do now, which ones I will probably want to do later and those that I am not so sure right now, well you get the idea. Then I thought since I had all of them in my hands, I might as well start that list of projects that I have been wanting to do forever, so started that as it just felt like the logical thing to do. I decided that I was going to write the name of the project, the name of the designer, origin, stitching technique and whether I have completed it or not.

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Since I am feeling like crap today, I am thinking that I should work on my blog and add a few additional labels to make things easier to locate stuff. I also need to check my supplies for those new projects and order whatever I need for them. All these things should keep me pretty busy today. At least I will have the feeling that I am accomplishing things even if I am not stitching.

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Since the last photo taken what seems to me ages ago, I have added a new one of More Options .... in Hardanger, a Dale Sokolow design. Two small Kloster Diamonds have been filled out of 8 leaving 6 more to fill in and then of course the 6 bigger ones. For previous posts on this hardanger project as well as others of the same technique, you may want to follow this link.

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Hoping that most of you will have a nice cool day with a gentle breeze :-)

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Pierrette =^..^=