Monday, August 31, 2009

Diamond Iris: Petals

I am afraid that is the best I was able to do with this photo. Of course when the outline is stitched, it will really separate the different petals, but at least it gives you some idea of how I stitched mine. No doubts, yours will be quite different. Moving on to the leaves now :-)

Friday, August 28, 2009

Flower Diamonds: Additional photos


Above: Photo of how Terry Dryden had her Flower Diamonds neck roll finished.
Below: Additional photos taken while stitching that pilot project:












This completes my photo file on this project.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Terra Rosa: Olla or water jar


Three out of six all stitched and a fourth one already started, things are slowly progressing. Just completed the olla or water jar, the one that is black/blue/yellow. The next step on this project will be to complete the storage jar. I am still undecided as whether I am continuing on this project or proceeding on my rotation. Feeling a bit tired now, so will take a break and then decide :-)
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Pierrette =^..^=

Monday, August 24, 2009

My very first silk ribbon embroidery project way way back


While I am still working on my Olla or water jar, I thought of having a little fun and showing you my very first silk ribbon embroidery project that I did way way way back.
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First funny thing is that this is an "M" and there is no "M" in either my husband or my own name, so why did I end up choosing to make an "M" instead of a "P" or an "R"? Seems like a reasonable question, right? Well the woman who showed us how to do silk ribbon embroidery told me that I would learn more if I did an "M" than doing a "P". So, guess what? I started thinking how I could justify to myself doing an "M" and I came up with a few ideas like "M" for Mrs or "M" for Marie which all catholic born little girl automatically gets when they are baptised, so with these two "M"s I managed to justify to myself that it was perfectly allright to have a towel with an "M" initial. Each time I look at that towel, a smile creeps in.
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I thought that my "M" looked pretty good at the time. Now, I am not so sure, but it does hold funny memories and that makes it special :-)
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Now, back to Terra Rosa. Hope to be able to post a photograph of the water jar sometimes tomorrow.
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Pierrette =^..^=

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Windows into my Heart with doubled fabric covered mats

First photo above showing a side view and second photo below showing a front view.



I just got Windows into my Heart from our framer with two fabric covered mats instead of the uncovered one I had before. I think it makes a big difference.
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Don't look at the wallpaper behind as Windows into my Heart is not going to stay there but I found out that it is one of the best place for me to photograph my frames as I almost always have glass over my finished pieces.
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Still working on Terra Rosa but making slow progress, so I won't be able to post anything about it today, but hopefully tomorrow. To make things worst, just cut myself on the right tumb and had to put a small Band-Aid, which is not very conducive to good stitching :-(
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Pierrette =^..^=

Friday, August 21, 2009

Terra Rosa; Top of Storage jar

I have done a bit more on my storage jar, at least the top part of it.
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Now, I need to move on to Olla or water jar that is located on its left side before continuing on this one as the shape of all the vases/jars/plates that are in front needs to be as perfect as possible. Since they are covering part of the vases/jars/plates that are behind them and at this point in time I can't be entirely sure where my outlines are going to be, I am not taking any chances here. Better be safe than sorry, as they say. Not sure why I am telling you all this as this is not rocket science (grinning)

Photo above shows what has been done: Double necked wedding jar and shallow bowl.
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If you look at the smaller round vase, second one from the right which is the Olla or water jar, this is the one I am going to start working on now. Its colors are dark yellow, blue and black. Once that water jar is all stitched then I will be returning to the storage jar on the far right and complete it, then I will work on the middle which is a flat plate keeping the bridal basket behind the pink bowl for last. All that will remain to be done at that point will be the numerous borders. There is still a long way to go before I reach that point.
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My camera's batteries were almost dead when I took those pictures but there was still just enough juice in them to take those two :-)
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Pierrette =^..^=

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Terra Rosa: Started working on storage jar

It seems to me like ages ago since I have worked on this project. It is called Terra Rosa and is an Elsa M. Parrish design.
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I have added the photo that came with the instructions so that you can have an idea of what it is supposed to look like when finished.
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Some of you may have noticed some differences between mine and the one in the photograph. It is because the drawn canvas I have received with the instructions and the threads has been drawn a bit differently on mine so I am playing with it to give it as close a shape as I possibly can to the one that is shown in the photograph unless I prefer the changes made, but I am limited to some extent with what I can do with it by the pen/pencil lines already there, so I am walking a very thin line here with this project :-)
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I suppose it must be rather difficult for someone to draw such design on canvas and I am not sure that I would want to tackle it myself, so I can easily understand that little errors can crop here and there, so I am very vigilant with my stitching, double checking, triple checking and making sure that I understand the whole thing before putting any stitches in new sections.
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I am also jumping from one section to the next whenever I arrive to a section that I feel needs to be done before the section I am working on. Overall though I do love that design a lot. Is it because I am crazy about native American culture? Yes, that is a big part of it, but I do love how Elsa replicated the lovely motifs on the different vases. This project is a slow go for me, but so well worth the time spent on it.
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You will see much more of this project in the days and weeks to come. Some of you may have also noticed that I am slowly returning to needlepoint pieces. I just need to do a bit of this and a bit of that indorder to make myself happy and not just work on a single technique. Each morning I look at my projects and decide which style of embroidery I feel like working on that day. I may work on the same project for several days and then move on to something else or just switch projects every morning. I go with what makes me happy that day.
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Pierrette =^..^=

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Persian Fantasy: Area 9 - One corner stitched

After working a little bit on my brazilian project yesterday, I then switched to Persian Fantasy, a needlepoint project on which I have not worked on for a little while now. I have stitched one corner, area 9, which are variations of Japanese silk and metal embroidery filling patterns. I like the look of it but I did not enjoy stitching it at all and I still have 3 other corners to do. I guess there is always some parts in a project that we enjoy less than the rest and I have just reached it :-(

I took an overall picture for you so that you can get some idea of what has been done so far. This last filling really makes the corner stands out. It is a lovely design and I will get it done for sure :-)
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Pierrette =^..^=

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Five Flower Samplers: Leaves & stems stitched


After putting Rapunzel, my blackwork project, aside, I went and look at my already started projects and felt like doing some brazilian embroidery so picked up my Five Flower Samplers, only to realize that I was still working on the leaves and stems. After complaining in my previous post that I was a bit fed up with all the greeneries, one has to stop and laugh at oneself. Anyway, I have just now finished all the leaves and all the stems, leaving the flowers, the border and the final touches. The photograph is not all that great but as soon as I start working on the flowers I will take some close-up photos and you will all be able to see better.
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Can't help myself from smiling and wondering if I can possibly pick up another project where I need to do more greeneries of some kind :-)
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Pierrette =^..^=

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Rapunzel: More greeneries


Here is my latest photograph showing what has been stitched on Rapunzel. This is a project that has so much greeneries in it using different shades of green, most of them DMC threads but also some Floche ones, that it will go on forever. I know it won't, it just feels like it so I may decide to start working on the witch and the tower before moving on to any more greeneries.
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A side note here. My Windows into my Heart has been back to my framer for close to two weeks now in order to have two mats instead of the one and also both mats will be covered with fabric. I expect to soon receive a call from her telling us that it is ready for pick up. Looking forward to see how different it will look after this new treatment. Will post a new photo as soon as I get it back :-)
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Pierrette =^..^=