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 =^..^=

Brazilian Embroidery: 2 new projects

I guess it is useless to go against my own nature. Working on only one project at a time is just not working out for me, no matter how beautiful it is, so I have decided to go back to a rotation system that will make me happy.
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I have been giving it a lot of thought the last few days and I think that I may have found the ideal rotation for me. This ideal rotation will include projects of different techniques. I will continue working on my already started needlepoint projects of course and will be adding other techniques to them. The first two I have selected will be about Brazilian Embroidery. I will also be adding along the way pulled thread, silk ribbon, needle painting, stumpwork, blackwork, temari projects to name only a few. That should keep me on my toes :-)

This is a Brazilian project called "A Rose For My Mother" and is a Debbie Kelley design or DK Designs. The design itself is approximately 5" by 7" and only includes a few colors, all Edmar threads of course.

The second brazilian embroidery project that I will be working on is called "Five Flower Sampler", which is a Delma Moore Design for Blackberry Lane. Design size is 20 cm by 21 cm, which for us here in the USA makes it approximately 7.5" by 8".

I always prepare my threads and put them inside their special plastic container. Can't recall the exact name for those. When I start stitching I don't like to have to stop each time I need a new color thread.

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I have not done much Brazilian embroidery in the past, so hopefully this will really get me started on my way as I have other lovely projects waiting in the wings :-)

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As soon as I decide on my other projects, I will take some photos and also get started on them.

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Pierrette =^..^=

Persian Fantasy: Areas 7 & 8

Now you know the outcome of the debate I have been having with myself . I really do miss doing rotations with my projects, but there is also a part of me that really wants to catch up with this project and see if I can make it or not. I had actually put the project away but picked it up again and yesterday I have done the little corner section (areas 7 and 8).


This is a close-up of areas 7 and 8. Multiple steps here. This is supposed to be light green, what it seems to me like a blueish green but it definitely came out as blue on my photo.

Have added a third photo showing a perfect square. Well, it will be as soon as I complete area 9. Guess what I am going to be working on today? Right on the money! Area 9 :-)

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I am starting to think that perhaps I am going to be able to catch up on this cyberclass after all (big grin).

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Pierrette =^..^=

Persian Fantasy: Areas 1 through 6 completed

I now feel that I have reached a point in this project where more than half of it has been completed and that from now on things will be progressing faster, but there are still plenty more work to do before Persian Fantasy is ready for the framer.

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I am now debating with myself whether I want to continue working on this project or take a little break and work on another one and then come back to it more refreshed. Next photo will tell you which side of me has won that debate :-)

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Pierrette =^..^=

Persian Fantasy: Still working on Area 6

Done one more Area 6 corner, so two more to do and I am done with that. I was checking up to see what else I have to do before Jane Zimmerman gives us another lesson.

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I am now working on lesson 3 and I still have area 8 to stitch before completing that lesson.

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Then I already have lesson 4 waiting, which has areas 7, 9 and 15 to stitch.

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And guess what! Lesson 5 is around the corner, end of June (boohoo).

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With all the work that needs to be done on each lesson and the HOT weather that we are now having in the deep South that is making it more difficult for me to stitch as much as I would like, I have pretty much given up on ever catching up on this project. Oh well, that won't be the first time and I bet it won't be the last either. I am still enjoying working on this piece and my husband loves it, so I guess all is well with the world :-)

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Pierrette =^..^=

Persian Fantasy: Working on Area 6: Burden stitch

Yesterday, I ended up not stitching at all and the weather is partly to blame for it. It was close to 100 degrees outside and my stitching room is the hottest room in the house and whenever we feel rather comfortable in all the other rooms in the house (we have a two-level house), mine is always the warmest. With close to 100°F outside, our upstairs air conditioning unit has a bit more problems keeping up with the sun hitting the rooftop full force and the attic becoming warmer and warmer. Anyway, that explains my very slow progress on this piece.
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On this first photo above, you can see Area 6 being stitched. Lower right left corner is all completed and you can see the first step of the burden stitch having already been done in the other three corners using a vatican gold metallic thread.

On this second photo above, you can see a close-up of what the burden stitch looks like when completed, quite beautiful, I think :-)

And finally in this third photo above, I have taken a close-up view of the first step of the burden stitch. Unfortunately it is a bit hard to see properly but that gives you some idea anyway for those of you who have never stitched it before. I had not stitched it myself before this project but will soon use it again when I start stitching an Iris project designed by Dorothy Lesher, so I should be pretty good at this by then (big grin).

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It is now 87.6 degrees outside and it is barely 9:20 in the morning, so we can expect to get close to 100 degrees again today, so I am not a happy camper.

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For those of you who have not yet associated my first name "Pierrette" with my place of origin, I am French Canadian and have lived a big part of my life in the French province of Quebec in Canada.

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Temperatures used to be much cooler up there, but things are slowly changing and getting warmer in most places these days, except of course in England where my good friend Terry lives and always complains that she is freezing and has no summer to speak of. If I could I would switch place with her anytime as I love it when it is cool. I used to spend my summers outdoors when living in Quebec and now since I have been living in the deep South (USA), I spend my summers inside with my air conditioning and I hate it. I feel that things are not supposed to be this way. Fall and summer are pretty good though, but it is not quite the same, but I will take whatever I can :-)

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Better go back to my stitching before it gets too hot again.

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Pierrette =^..^=

Going back on Memory Lane with Tropical Fantasy or Fire on Ice: Sue Lentz, designer

I have managed to spend quite a bit of time yesterday on Stichamaze website and had a wonderful time but still need to go back many more evenings to read all of it. While reading the guests' section, all of a sudden I came upon a piece that I have stitched many years ago. I knew this piece by the name of Tropical Fantasy but apparently it was also known by other names like Fire on Ice, which I thought was also a very appropriate name for it. Edith Chapman stitched that one and this is a Sue Lentz's design and a gorgeous one at that.

This was my post about Tropical Fantasy . Unfortunately with the glass over it, I have never been able to really show the details properly. Now by clicking on the close-ups photos on Stitchamaze, you can see a little better, but I can assure you that it does not even come close to showing how beautiful this piece is.
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Tropical Fantasy is one of my stitched piece that sits just in front of me on the wall right behind my computer, so I am in a position to enjoy it all the time. My framer even went shopping for me at a fabric store and found an absolutely perfect piece of fabric to cover the mat with it. I never stitch the same piece twice but this one, I think I could consider doing it. It is that beautiful and I have enjoyed it that much.
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Well, time for me to leave Memory Lane and go back to reality with Persian Fantasy and do step 2 of the burden stitch. Funny, I was reading on the ANG list that many stitchers do not like to do that stitch or even hate it, but I really don't mind it at all and the effect is really quite beautiful, but I am also a person who does not mind spending lots of time with a laying tool, so .......... :-)
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Pierrette =^..^=

Persian Fantasy: Area 4

Another area completed this morning, which is area 4 showing eight little light green flowers on each side of the bigger one. The thread looks a bit like a blueish green, quite lovely actually.

Have included an overall photo showing you what has been done so far. I must say that Jane Zimmerman's Persian Fantasy is looking better and better, the more I stitch on it, not that I have ever doubted it for a mini second :-)

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On another note, Jane of Chilly Hollow brought to our attention this morning an extremely interesting and motivating video showing an interview with Rosalyn Cherry-Soleil of Stitchamaze.com . I always love to visit Jane's blog as she has always interesting things to talk about and I can't remember the number of times that she has brought things to my attention that I would have hated to have missed.

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About Stitchemaze and Rosalyn, this is one of the best place around to go for inspiration. I must confess that I have never taken the time up to now to fully pay her a long visit and I plan to correct just that starting this evening and the days to come.

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Jane by sending me there this morning got me thinking about how I can stretch myself more and more as we often tend to do things that we know we are good at and sometimes avoid things that we are not quite sure we can manage. I know that I have always tried to stretch myself in my stitching, but I really need to do much more of it and see how far I can really go.

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Oh by the way, I do love Rosalyn's studio. Wow, wouldn't I love to be able to stitch in such a lovely place!

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Well better go back to my stitching now and start working on area 6 :-)

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Pierrette =^..^=

Dodecagon Ornament series: Proposed plan for framing them

Grouping 1

Grouping 2

Grouping 3

Grouping 4

As I said in my previous post, my husband is going back to the framer tomorrow to make some final decisions, at least for the two first groupings (1 & 2).

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So far we have decided to put in each frame 3 Dodecagon ornaments in a vertical way (I took the photo horizontally as it was easier for me to do so). I am thinking of having them put in that order though, meaning the middle one will stay in that position and the other two will either be above or below it.
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We are thinking of picking up the same frames and mats for the first two groupings and then different frames and mats for the two last groupings. This way I can put two framed groupings side by side and they will be the same as far as frames and mats are concerned, but the other two will be different from the first two.

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If I had wanted all to be similar then I would have had to make lots of compromises as far as colors are concerned and what looks good for the first two groupings may not necessarily look as good for the second two groupings.

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Putting all of them in a frame also severely diminished my options and after looking at them all more attentively, I am really not sure that I want to go that way.

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I have lots of rooms so it should not be difficult to find a good place for each similar set of groupings.

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If anyone has any ideas about all this, now is the time to speak because after sometimes tomorrow it will be too late. I must have seen too many weddings in movies (grinning).

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So that is the plan so far. Things may change ....................

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Pierrette =^..^=

Patches of Snow Mini Stocking: Ready for next Christmas

It has been what seems to me a long time since this charming little stocking been waiting for his turn to my finish table. Well I have just done it this morning on a very hot and humid summer day.

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Yesterday I went through my stuff to try to find cordings and ribbons and found these that seems rather perfect for the job at hand, so put everything aside for this morning as I am really not an evening stitching person as I am usually too tired by then and just want to relax with other stuff. I felt that at times I was all tombs as this is rather small, but managed to do it, finally :-)

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This was a little kit I had purchased a long time ago and it is a Kaitlyn Marie Designs (1994). It was mostly beading with a little bit of needlepoint. Now I need to go to my list of finishing on my blog and remove this one.

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Dodecagon ornament series by Jim Wurth: Framing

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After discussions with our framer and my husband, we have finally made the decision to have them framed by groups of three, meaning 4 frames. Because of the different colors involved, we could separate them in two families, so we will have two frames the same and two frames that will be different but will suit that color family better. They will be on the vertical, not horizontal. I will not be putting all four of them together on my walls, so having two different sets of frame will not matter.

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Tomorrow my husband will go back to the framer and bring the first six ornaments of what I call my first color family and will decide on mat and frame. After that he will go back with the other six and do the same thing. We think that this way we will be more happy with mats and frames than having to pick only one mat and one frame and try to please all these diverse colors, so hope it works out nicely.

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Pierrette =^..^=

Winter Reflections, Loretta Spears' Mystery #2: Framed

It took a little bit longer to get my Winter Reflections back from the framer as this beautiful frame had to be ordered from Canada. I have just took a close-up photo of it for you all.

If you look at the frame and some of the stitches in this piece, you will see that it goes so well with them.

It is interesting how the colors of those threads reflect differently and give a different shade to them depending on their orientation. We tried to take other photos with much more lighting of the framed one and they turned out to have some brownish colors to them to our amazement, so we had to discard them all except the one just posted.

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I am looking at it as I write this entry on my blog and this is just such a peaceful piece to look at, nothing to jump right up in your face, but a more quiet kind of beauty that calms you down after a long day.

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I will also be thinking about Sharon's generosity in giving me Winter Reflections after she had already stitched approximately half of it, making it a joint collaboration/venture between the two of us. Looking at this piece, you really can't tell what she stitched and what I stitched, but I will remember her participation in it whenever my eyes happen to look at it.

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Sharon, a big thank you for giving me the opportunity to stitch this lovely project and I will be sending you a photograph by email right after this :-)

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Pierrette =^..^=

Plaid & blackwork checkbook cover: Marjorie B. Berleur, designer

This morning, I am feeling like a "Queen" with my new checkbook cover. It makes such a big difference with the plastic one I have been using so far.

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First photo, above, shows the front of the checkbook cover.


On this second photo, above, we see the back of the checkbook cover with all its beautiful blackwork patterns.

This is an additional photo taken with the new checkbook cover inside its plastic cover. I was reading in Marjorie's instructions that this could also be used with a two-year planner, which is also an excellent idea. In my case I only use the big 8½ x 11 weekly planning At-a-Glance ones. I just love them and have been using them forever. I just leave it on my desk and refer to it daily.

This last photo here was taken just after cutting the fabric around the checkbook cover.

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I also have the lovely credit card holder that I made a little while back. Here is the link for it. I still have the checkbook with same bargello design that remains to be stitched a bit later.

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Pierrette =^..^=

Plaid & blackwork checkbook cover: All stitched

Just finished adding my initials to my checkbook cover. Will now do the finishing and will soon be back with the last photos of this project.
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Pierrette =^..^=

Plaid & blackwork checkbook cover: Plaid all done

Moving along with my checkbook cover as I have just completed the plaid section. All that remains to be done now is work blanket stitches all around to prevent it from fraying as we sure don't want that to happen anytime soon and add my initials. Still need to decide on a design for those.
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On another note, the other day I saw something pretty cute on a blog that I was visiting. Vintage photographs about Pierrot & Pierrette. There is an article about those two here if you want to know a little bit more about them.
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Pierrette =^..^=

Plaid & blackwork checkbook cover: Plaid step 2

Well, I just did it again. Yesterday I was talking about all this catching up I have to do with Persian Fantasy before I could go back to my other projects and this morning I could not resist anymore, I just had to go back to my rotation so I put Persian Fantasy aside for just a little while, not for long, and got my plaid & blackwork checkbook cover out and started working step 2 for the plaid section.

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Photo above shows what has been done so far on it. The bottom section on the left has the plaid motif completed. I am moving from left to right, so have done a little less than half of it.

This second photo is a close-up showing only the plaid section. I must say that this second step is much more fun to do than step one as you can see the plaid materialize under your eyes as you keep adding rows after rows of different thread colors.

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To recapitulate on this plaid a bit, what I first did are rows after rows horizontally, making one 1/2 stitch in every other stitch and I am now doing the same thing but with vertical rows, using the same 4 selected colors. Sizes of rows varies as you can see but replicate themselves at certain intervals.

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The colors that I am using are all DMC floss threads: 224, 504, 932 and 3041.
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I have just installed and tried a new Google feature called "Search this blog". It is situated on the right upper side of my blog. For example if you are interested in looking at previous entries that I have made about this checkbook cover, you may enter in the "Search this blog" the word Blackwork and you will get the following results: April 09/09, April 23/09 and also May 02/09 with titles relating to Plaid & blackwork checkbook cover. All you have to do is click on them and you can read all about this particular project. You may be able to find it using other words too but have not tried it yet. That is pretty neat, I think.

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About rotation, I find it so interesting that I used to work on one single project at a time and now I just can't do it anymore no matter how much I love a project. This girl needs variety so I will also bring Hollyhock House back and start working a little bit on it. I know that Anne will be happy about this as it is one of her favorite current project of mine. I also enjoy it very much.

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I figure these projects will all get done in the end, so who really cares if I don't finish any of them by the official deadline. Not very important in the grand scheme of things, that is what I think :-)

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Pierrette =^..^=

Persian Fantasy: Lesson 2 completed

Finally, I have just completed lesson 2 and have also managed to take a decent photo with so much exposed canvas in the center. I tried different settings and now I can't remember which setting this one was. I must say that was not done in a very scientific fashion.

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I would have finished this section much earlier than this, but have been helping my husband doing some gardening work for the last several days and it was so hot outside, close to 90 degrees and at times rather humid too, so whenever I came back inside after working in the garden, there was no more energy left in me to stitch. Oh well, my part in this work is now done, so I will be able to enjoy the air conditioning inside and stitch to my heart's content :-)

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I now need to catch up with lesson 3. I just bet that by the time I am done with it, it will be time for lesson 4 as we get one every two weeks or so. Not good to get behind like this in a big project. What takes a lot of time is the laying of all those plies (5 of them to be exact). That really takes a lot of time, patience and manipulation, but it is pretty, got to say that about it.

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Better get back to it now or I will get burried under all this work. For those who have been waiting for me to continue working on Hollyhock House, I will get to it as soon as I am caught up with Persian Fantasy. I am starting to severely miss working on it and even worst as now the fun part has started. Same thing for my other projects, I am afraid. Life is tough (sad sad expression).

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Pierrette =^..^=

Persian Fantasy, Area 5: Three sides done

The last couple days, I spent time doing some gardening work with my husband so that has slowed me down a bit on my stitching. It has also tired me out as I have been using muscles that I do not normally use while stitching and I can feel the pain and I am afraid that we need to do more of it in the coming days, so .............

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Anyway, I have just added another photo showing the third side of area 5 that has been completed. One more and I will be ready to move on to lesson 3.

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For those of you who are wondering why the big pile of threads in the middle, I have got a very easy explanation for you. It is simply to cover the blank canvas as if I don't do that we will all be staring at wavy lines. I have never been able to photograph blank canvas without those nasty wavy lines. If someone knows how to do this, please take pity on me and let me know how you do it as I sure can't. Just in case someone would like to volunteer, here is my email address: Lovetostitch99@comcast.net :-)

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I will now start working on the fourth side until I hear my husband calling for me to go outside and do backbreaking work :-(

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Pierrette =^..^=

Persian Fantasy: Area 5, two out of 4 stitched

While I was stitching this morning, I was wondering why it seemed to me to have taken so long to stitch only one side yesterday and thought that perhaps it was because I took too many coffee breaks or in my case water or juice breaks or perhaps too many distractions. Distractions are so easy when you sit next to your computer and you don't even notice :-(
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Anyway, because of the little I managed to stitch yesterday, I decided to put more time into it today and as chance would have it, I woke up around 4:30 this morning and felt pretty good so decided to get up and after having breakfast I started stitching and managed to do the second one and I still have this afternoon to do more work on it, so by the end of the day I will probably have 3 sides completed, leaving one for tomorrow, at least those are the plans and you know what happens to the best of plans, don't you? Right! So, let's hope it works out as planned this time around :-)
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Back to my stitching now ...........
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Pierrette =^..^=

Persian Fantasy: Area 5

Well it seems that area 5 will take me quite a bit of time to complete as I have only been able to stitch one section of it and there are four of them and it took me a big chunk of the morning and a portion of the afternoon too. The thing is that there are 3 steps necessary in order to complete this design and I am using 5 ply which means that I am using my laying tool, which means "time". The effect though is really pretty. It almost looks like velour and with the metallic thread added to it, makes it look really rich.
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The photo above shows area 5 with areas 1 and 3. Hope I am not confusing you all too much with all those areas as I think that I am already starting to confuse myself and there are 15 areas total :-(
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I have taken a closer look of a section of area 5 for you with one of the flower.

At this speed, I still have three more days of work on area 5 before I can move on to my third lesson and I really can't see how I can move any faster as these things just takes lots of time in order to do them properly.

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I always say that it is not the destination that counts but the journey, so got to live it now (grinning).

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I wanted to make a nice coconut pie this morning but never got to it, so will leave my stitching for today and get to it. I think that is one of my very favorite pie next to chocolate and apple.

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Pierrette =^..^=

Persian Fantasy: Area 3

This morning I went back to Jane D. Zimmerman's current cyberclass class called Persian Fantasy that I am taking through the Shining Needle Society after not stitching on it at all for approximaely three weeks due to working exclusively on my pilot class. During that time Jane gave us two assignments which includes four different areas. The photo above shows area 3 which repeats itself in every corner.

This photo above shows you one side of the area 3 design. You can also see areas 1 & 2 on each side.
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If you feel like refreshing your memory about this project, you may go to my first blog entry and then continue on to my second blog entry and you will be all caught up with me on this project without actually having to do all the hard work. Actually how can I really call this hard work when it is such a lovely piece to stitch and I am enjoying it immensely. Why bother to stitch anything anyway if we are not having fun while doing it?

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When I think of all the beautiful projects that are available to us, I am so very thankful to all those wonderful designers out there. I don't think that I could design any decent project to save my own life. It is just not in me, but I do love to stitch lovely designs and we all have plenty out there to choose from.

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I will now proceed to work on area 5 which is part of my second assignment, skipping area 4 which will be in my third assignment together with area 6, so lots of catching up to do, but will get there eventually :-)

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Pierrette =^..^=