Hearts & Flowers: Dodecagon Ornament Series by Jim Wurth

I had the best of time stitching this ornament called Hearts & Flowers designed by Jim Wurth. It is the 5th one of his Dodecagon Ornament Series. I just could not put it down and finished it last evening, but by then it was too dark to be able to take a proper photo so had to wait until this morning.

I love his designs so much as they are complexed and stitches are multi-layered bulding up to very nice designs, which also makes them absolutely exquisite; Also the extensive use of metallic threads makes the ornaments sparkles as you work on them. They are quite addictive , so much so that I have immediately started working on another one called "The Baroness Edie, which has a dark green canvas and comes with mauve, yellow and green threads, very relaxing colors to work with.

I have received 7 ornament kits so far and have completed 5 of them, working on number 6 and will try to get to number 7 after so that I can finally catch up with this series and then all I will have to do is stitch each additional ones as they arrive.

Better go back to the Baroness now :-D

Pierrette =^..^=

The Princess and the Pea: Completed

Here is a photo of my completed project.

Marion tells the stitcher at the end of her book the story that goes with the Princess and the Pea. I will be quoting Marion word for word in the following little story as I don't want to miss one single little detail.

Here it goes.

"The Princess and the Pea"

"Once upon a time there was a Prince who longed to marry a real princess. He searched all over the world to find her. There seemed to be plenty of Princesses but for one reason or another, the Prince could never be sure that they were, in truth, what he sought. Disconsolate, he returned to his castle. Slowly he grew paler and thinner, pining for a real Princess.

One evening there was a terrible storm. The wind blew, lightning slashed the sky, thunder crashed and rain lashed the countryside. Suddenly a knock was heard at the castle gate. The guards hurried to the gate, holding their lanterns high above their heads.

There at the gate stood a Princess. Rain had soaked her hair and streamed in rivers from her gown to her toes. But she was a Princess ... a real Princess ... she told the guards, and had become lost in the storm.

"A real Princess?" asked the Prince, in disbelief. "We must make sure," said his mother the Queen. She prepared a bed for the Princess, made with ten mattresses filled with the solftest eiderdown. Beneath the first mattress on the boards of the bed, the Queen placed one small dried pea. The Princess, unaware of this, climbed up to sleep on top of the feather mattresses. In the morning, everyone in the court gathered to hear the Queen ask her how she slept.

"I barely slept a wink," moaned the Princess. "I am bruised all over. My bones ache as if they were broken. There must have been some frightful object in my bed."

"She is indeed a real Princess," proclaimed the Queen. "No one but a real Princess could have such tender skin!"

The delight of the Prince knew no bounds. The Kind and Queen were well pleased. The Prince married her the very next day because now he knew she was a real Princess.

And the pea can be seen on a pedestal in the Royal museum to this very day."

Isn't it a sweet story?

Pierrette =^..^=

The Princess and the Pea: Top section

Well, I sure am happy right now as I have just finished stitching Princess and the Pea. This is the top section. Will soon post a photo of the entire completed project.

Pierrette =^..^=

The princess and the Pea: 10th mattress completed

All the mattresses for our Princess are finally stitched. This will be quite a climb for her to get to the top one. Better her than me :-(

Moving on to the top part now, which is a bit different but as interesting.

Pierrette =^..^=

The Princess and the Pea: 9th mattress stitched

Well, here I am with mattress number 9 completed. One more to go, then it will be the top of the canopy which will be in hardanger (all white), so that should be fun also.

Still thinking about stitching a little Halloween project after this project is completed. That would make a nice break between the other big project that I have started "Kaleidoscope", which requires my full attention.

I have also put my unfinished hardanger project near me so that I can also finish that. It is an EGA GCC called "Options in Hardanger" Will bring back the photo a bit later when I am close to working on it.

Better go back to my last mattress now :-)

Pierrette =^..^=

The Princess and the Pea: 8th mattress stitched

Well, another mattress completed, meaning 2 more to go before this part of the design has been completed except the little pea under mattress one, which according to Marion's instructions is stitched at the very end.

You will see two white lines (thread) over the top three mattresses. Those are there to help me with the shading of those three mattresses. Each section from left to right goes from lighter to darker.

It has been pretty hot around here lately and no rain. Yesterday it went up to 108°F making it very difficult to spend any time outside. I feel like a prisoner of my own house. Trees and shrubs are suffering from the lack of rain and heat. I am quite concerned that by the end of the summer we will have lost quite a few as we have had a double whammy this year, a very hard freeze in Spring followed by a very severe drought and nobody knows when this will all end.

All I can do is keep stitching. At least I have that :-)

Pierrette =^..^=

Kaleidoscope: Central section

This is the central section of Kaleidoscope. This is a very slow project, at least for me, as it requires lots of counting, so no distractions permitted, and also the use of your laying tool as each thread needs to be carefully positioned.

It is a beautiful design. I remember about 15 years or so, having seen it at my local needlepoint shop and finding it quite pretty, but I was only starting at the time and felt that this was not the project for me and I was right. I needed easier and less involved projects at the time.

Another thing about this project is the fact that it is very repetitive. You have to do the same pattern over and over again as you can see looking at the photo. I generally prefer to stitch different things as I go along, so this one will require much more discipline from me. I am a person who hates routine, so ...........................

Anyway, I do not regret my decision to have purchased it. I will just have to do it while also working on several other pieces so that it breaks the monotony a bit of repeating the same pattern over and over.

It may be a little while before I am in a position to post another photo as I want to finish my "Princess and the Pea" and have it framed as soon as I possibly can.

I also have a hardanger project that I have started quite some time ago, which I need to put the few necessary hours to finish and of course, let's not forget that Halloween project, not yet decided, that I would like to start :-)

Pierrette =^..^=

The Princess and the Pea: 7th mattress stitched

Another photo this morning, this time mattress #7 all stitched. So far the two mattress designs that I have enjoyed the most are mattress #4 (blue one) and mattress #7 (Fuschia one).

I realize that the photos that I have been adding are not always exactly the same. It is due to the fact that my husband takes them either inside or outside the house and also whether he takes the photos in the sun or shade. For the finish photo, I will ask him to take some photos under many different conditions and will select the final photograph according to how representative it is to the actual project and will post that one.

Since a couple of days, I have been thinking about Halloween projects. It is not as if my hands are not full at this time, but I have always had tremendous pleasure stitching something about Halloween. I need to find myself something absolutely adorable and at the same time, not a big project as I just don't have the time for it right now. Will see what I can come up with that would be a delight to stitch.

Pierrette =^..^=

The Princess and the Pea: 6th mattress done

Well, here we are with one more mattress completed and four more to go.

I was thinking the other day that one thing that I love so much about stitching with a blank canvas is see it evolved from "nothing" to something beautiful. I love to do the same thing with cooking. Both my husband and I love to cook from "scratch" as we call it. It takes more time but the rewards are wonderful. I am lucky as my husband does most of the cooking as he loves to cook, so it gives me more time for my stitching, but when need be, I can do my fair share also.

Going back to stitching some more on "Princess" :-)

Pierrette =^..^=

The Princess and the Pea: 5th mattress

This is a photo with the 5th mattress completed, so five more to go :-)

Pierrette =^..^=

Kaleidoscope: Second photo - Sections A, B, C & D

A little more has been done on Kaleidoscope. Sections A, B, C & D completed on this photo.

I love the colors that will be part of this project. Something else that I enjoy is using my laying tool. To me it means "slow pace" and I just get in that relaxed mood, knowing that it is going to be a long slow trip to somewhere wonderful (another little adventure) Big grin here
Pierrette =^..^=

Kaleidoscope: First photo - Sections A & B

Kaleidoscope is an adaptation of a Sue Lentz design, then adapted by Anthony Minieri for Needle Necessities. This design is, in essence, a four-way geometric that becomes and eight-way geometric.

In this design, I will be using Congress Cloth and Needle Necessities Floss Overdyed threads. There are two options in stitching this pattern. I can either control the variegation of the overdyed floss or stitch randomly. I have decided on the second option as to me it will make the piece more interesting.

This is a photo of the very center of the piece (sections A and B).

This is a complex design so I will be stitching on it when I am not tired :-)

Pierrette =^..^=

The princess and the Pea: 4th mattress completed

I have now completed the 4th mattress. I have really enjoyed this pattern. I must say that I feel that I am having more fun with this project that I deserve <>. I am so happy that I decided to start stitching it now instead of later. It will give me some experience in Blackwork and will make it easier to tackle some other wonderful Blackwork project that I have been keeping for later.

This photo may look a bit different as it was taken outside in the shade instead of under big lighting inside my stitching room.

At first I thought that I might change some of the colors that Marion has chosen for herself, but I like her choice of color so much that I have been sticking to them so far.

Six more mattresses to go. Tomorrow, I will start on mattress #5. Another thing that I am finding out is that Blackwork, at least this project, goes rather quickly even for me as I see myself as a SLOW stitcher. I truly enjoy the journey, not just the destination, so I don't mind taking the time it needs for completion.

Pierrette =^..^=

The Princess and the Pea: First 3 mattresses stitched

Just finished stitching the third mattress of the Princess and the Pea. Updated photo added.

Only 7 more to go :-)

Pierrette =^..^=

The Princess and the Pea

Not long ago, I have decided to finally start working on "The Princess and the Pea", designed by Marion Scoular. You can see the whole design here:

http://www.needleartworks.com/dsgnr/mss/mss8.htm

I have purchased that design many many years ago and was waiting to get more experience before tackling it, but decided to go ahead even if I had not :-D

I must say like most of Marion's projects, they are so well explained that they are quite manageable even with not much experience. I have done a beginner's hardanger piece designed by her and I was able to understand how to do certain things that had left me confused everywhere else, so in my book, she is very good :-)

I have added a photo of the bed with the first two mattresses completed. There are 10 of them, so there is still a way to go before I get to the TOP of the bed.

I have always loved that design so much and was concerned not to be able to do it justice with my lack of experience in Blackwork, but I am quite pleased with how it has turned out so far.

I will keep adding photos as I progress with the mattresses until it is all completed.

Almost forgot to mention that the little circle that is not yet stitched under the first mattress is the little "pea" that will be stitched at the very end.

Will go work on mattress number 3 now ................ see you all later :-)

Pierrette =^..^=

Little Miniature knickers for Terry as a joke

Well, I have just managed to find all those lovely little knickers that we had made for our British friend, Terry, as a big joke as I was saying in my last blog entry :-)

Those miniature knickers were made by the following members of our little group. From top to bottom and left to right: First row: Pierrette & Kerry; Second row: Elaine, Linda F. and Denise; Third row: Jackie Y., Jill and Catharine.

I think that we all got carried away a bit with how we saw "knickers" for Terry but we sure had a ball making them :-)

Terry was supposed to somehow frame them all together, so not sure if it has been done or not, but I am sure that she had lots of fun receiving them and perhaps has used a pair or two since then as I keep teasing her mercilessly :-D

Pierrette =^..^=

ATCs: Secret Knicker Gang - 2005

I was looking at some of my photos the other day and found this little series of ATCs that were made sometimes during the year of 2005.

It had all started with a joke concerning my good friend Terry. I am a big teaser and she often said to me that she almost peed in her knickers (being from dear old England), so the idea came from that. A little group of friends decided to make her little miniature knickers as a joke and we had the best of time making them and joking amongst ourselves.

Anyway, we kept talking about dropping the knickers at the post office and I guess you see me coming with this and this little series of ATCs were made for me from this little group of friends going all the way from dropping knickers to going to prison.

The names of those who made the ATCs from top left to right going down are: Elaine, Jackie Y., Linda F. Jill, Catharine, Denise and Kerry.

I will have to dig up the little knickers that we all made for Terry and post them on my blog next. I am sure they are in some of my files somewhere :-)

Pierrette =^..^=