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 =^..^=

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 =^..^=

Windows into my Heart: Framed

A few days ago I got back Windows into my Heart from the framer. This is a Ruthmarie Hofmann cyberclass that I took a few years back which I have finally finished some months ago. I finally had it framed and it is now on one of ourwalls for us to enjoy :-)
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Since it has been a long time since my last post about this project, I have also added a photo of the stitched project before framing as a refresher.

Previous posts about Windows into my Heart here.

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My finishing pile is slowly diminishing, but there are a bit more finishing to be done before I am completely caught up with my stitched projects.
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Pierrette =^..^=

Rapunzel: Some greeneries on top of tree

Continuing on Rapunzel, a Marion Scoular project, I have now stitched three different patterns (all selected by Marion herself) for the tree foliage, also using different shades of green.
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Just like The Princess and the Pea, which is another Marion project, I am truly enjoying myself with this one.
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Been watching Le Tour de France for a couple of weeks now and that has kept me busy than usual as I don't watch that much TV, usually only a couple of hours per day. Sunday we will be in Paris with the man who will have won the Tour. I bet it will be Alberto Contador from Astana. This man is just flying, a bit like Lance Armstrong when he was much younger. Talking about Armstrong, I think he is doing pretty good for a man his age having been out of it for over three years and recovering from a recent injury.
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Still time to do a bit more stitching today, so better get on with it :-)
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Pierrette =^..^=

Look what I have just received from Mary Corbet

I had a lovely surprise today when I picked up my mail and opened a small envelope full of goodies coming from Mary Corbet.

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At this point you may be wondering why I got so lucky and the reason is that I always stop by Mary's blog to find out what she has been cooking for us for the day and on one of these cyber trips I saw that Mary was celebrating Needle'n Thread 3rd anniversary (the name of her blog) and having a give away in celebration, so I decided that I might as well try and see if I could possibly get lucky this time around, so entered my name and to my great surprise I won. I say this because I rarely win and that has been a trend throughout my life. Things may now be changing :-)

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A BIG THANK YOU to you Mary. I am very happy with my goodies and I have no doubt that I will find a good use for all of them. You have just made my day :-)

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Pierrette =^..^=

Kaleidoscope Coasters: Brenda Day, designer

A while back, I had started a series of 4 different bargello coasters, all designed by Brenda Day. These projects and more can be found in her book called "Bargello: A fresh approach to florentine embroidery". I was thinking today that with all the different projects that I am currently working on these days that it may very well take a while before I get to the other two coasters and I really do not want to wait that long before having the pleasure to use them on a daily basis, so I looked at Brenda's finishing instructions and finished them both this afternoon.

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The plastic coasters used are called "Fabric Flair Craft Coasters" and they are very well constructed so I am not concerned at all about using them daily. I will just need to wipe them clean after usage and the way that they are made I can't see how any spills over the top of those coasters could possibly be able to affect the stitching inside and stain it.

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Just went downstairs a minute ago with both of them in hand and asked my husband which one of the two he wanted for himself and as I thought he picked the one on the right :-)

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Pierrette =^..^=

Flag Tag (A Name Tag), Gay Ann Rogers, Designer

Another finishing that I have done yesterday is the one designed by Gay Ann Rogers. Here are previous posts, one and two, showing the work in progress.

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Gay Ann had some real easy finishing instructions here, just use a running stitch to sew the two pieces together. How difficult is that? I never had it so easy in all my life (big grin).

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I now need to bring it with me when I go to Office Supplies and find a plastic name tag holder the right size and just slide my stitch name tag inside and mission accomplished.

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Now, why am I stitching so many name tags, as I have quite a few others waiting for me in the wings, when I don't really need any? I don't go to seminars and things like that. I suppose that we just never know now, do we? They may come handy when I get old enough that on some days I can't even remember my own name. All I have to do then is grab one of those and put it on myself and that should do the trick, that is, if I remember where I have put them :-)

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Pierrette =^..^=

She Stoops to Conquer: Anne Stradal, designer

I have just completed another finishing with She Stoops to Conquer designed by Anne Stradal of ABS Designs. In the past I used to either finish any completed stitched project right away myself or send it to my framer for finishing depending on the kind of finishing I wanted, but lately I seemed to have been too busy stitching and neglected the finishing aspect of my projects. Yesterday I finished 4 of them and I have already posted two of them and kept this one for today and the fourth one for a bit later. I might say that I had a productive day :-)

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If you want to have a look at the different ABS Designs' projects that I have stitched so far, just click here.

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This is the second time that I have done such finishing, the first one being Tara. A different view of Tara here.

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I decided not to add any cordings at all on this one as it seemed to me that less was more with this project. A cording around the stitched project would have been too much because of the double border and around the fabric it would have been more distracting than anything else.

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All I have to do now is to find her a special place on one of my walls and enjoy :-)

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Pierrette =^..^=

Miniature Georgian House and Garden Gate: Gay Ann Rogers, designer

Once in a while I try to do a bit of finishing and this morning I decided to tackle those two miniature projects that I have stitched a while back. They are: Miniature Georgian House and Miniature Garden Gate, both designed by Gay Ann Rogers.
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I simply finished them by using those Metal Finishing Forms. It makes finishing of little ornaments so much quicker and easier. Have added a bit of padding underneath, green fabric on the back and made some cording and that was it. Can't remember where I have ordered them initially, but there are some here. I know that you can find them at lots of places.
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I already have some miniature ceramic ones that I love to put on my Christmas tree and this year I will add those too. That should be cute :-)
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On another note, I have been watching "Le Tour de France" since July 4 and that has been distracting me quite a bit from my stitching since I never multitask, prefering to give my undivided attention to whatever I am doing.
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For those of you who do not know what Le Tour de France is, it is the biggest and most grueling cycling event that currently exists lasting for 3 weeks. The big question that all the fans are now asking themselves is which of the two will win the Tour: Lance Armstrong or Contador :-) How many stitchers are watching this, I have been wondering ..................
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Pierrette =^..^=

Casalguidi & Lavender: Background completed

With the completion of the background, I have more or less completed lesson 1 of this EGA group correspondence course.

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Barbara M. Kershaw says that Casalguidi is a peasant embroidery. Apparently the peasants and villagers of Casalguidi,which is a village in North Central Italy, created this form of embroidery in order to imitate the laces that the rich people used, which they admired very much but just could not afford themselves.

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Fascinating to learn some of the reasons why some new techniques have been created by people. This was also a nice way for the women to increase their family's income.

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There is a very interesting book that I own which talks a little bit more about the history of Casalguidi. The book shows some wonderful pieces that have been done through the years and it also has some beautiful projects in it as well as how to make the different stitches. It is called Casalguidi Style Linen Embroidery by Effie Mitrofanis. You can find this book at many needlepoint stores and also at Amazon.

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Lesson 2 will be about adding a padded raised stem band. That should be interesting learning :-)

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Pierrette =^..^=