Desire: A Susan Portra design

I don't know if you all remember, but I had a little problem with this project as I could not find the cabochons with rimsets that I needed to finish the project. Pat had sent me a few things that I thought could work (thank you Pat for those, I will keep them for later use), but after trying them, I realized that I would much rather do something else to replace the missing cabochons.
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Once I put behind me the notion that I absolutely needed some cabochons for this project, I started concentrating on what else I could do instead and decided to do some Jessicas with some golden metallic thread and then filled the inside with some red metallic threads.
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After I did that, I decided that I really did not want to put any bugle beads now, so used some gold metallic threads and made a bargello row instead.
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I am happy with the outcome. It is different from the one Susan did, but still looks good.
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All that remains now is to do the finishing. That will have to wait a little bit as I have other things to stitch first.
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For the sake of comparison, I have added below a photo of what the original looks like.


I would like to finish stitching the little Christmas stocking, but not so crazy about the idea of working with all those beads though :-(
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Pierrette =^..^=

Shalimar: 8 out of 9 sections completed

I think that this is an awful photograph, but unfortunately it will have to do until I complete the middle section and then scan properly instead of using my digital camera. At least it gives some idea of what has been done up to now.

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It is funny because my husband is supervising this one very closely as he thinks this will become his own little pillow (lol).

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Pierrette =^..^=

Patches of Snow: Middle section completed

Done a little more beading on Patches of Snow. I like beading, but I wish there would be a little more stitching and a little less beading on this one, a bit like the little Emerald one I made some time ago.

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On another note, I have found a new series of adventure books recently, quite by chance as I was investigating something else. They are called the Amelia Peabody Mystery series written by Elizabeth Peters. The first one of the series and the only one I have read so far is called Crocodile on the Sandbank and it did not take too long before I found myself hooked by that new series.

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I was lucky enough to be able to visit Egypt a few times in the past and I have always been fascinated with archeology, so this newly discovered adventure/mystery series is absolutely perfect for me. I thought I would share in the event that some of you might like to investigate this series a bit further.

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Whenever I need to relax a bit, there is nothing better for me than a good book to do the trick. I read a bit and then I can go back to my stitching a bit refreshed.

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Pierrette =^..^=

She Stoops to Conquer: All stitched

Just put the last stitch on "She Stoops to Conquer", an Anne Stradal design. I had started this little project many months ago, then got distracted by something else and just came back to it. Originally I was thinking of putting it on one of my bathroom wall, but changed my mind and will instead finish it as a flat-fold finish and keep in my stitching room so that I can keep a vigilant eye on her.
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My friends were kidding me when they saw the towel I made for her, quite thick and fluffy :-)
There is one positive thing about that towel in addition of drying her perfectly, it is the fact that when she drops it, she will probably loose an instant 5 lbs, which should be a big booster in her fight to loose a few extra pounds (grinning).
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I really like Judy Odell's little finishing instruction booklet called The Flat-Fold as it makes a really neat finish and is not expensive either to do. The instructions are well made with good photos and is easy enough for anyone to use. I have used it once before when I finished my little Halloween Friendly Ghost All you need is some decorative fabric, batting, cardboard or mat board and threads. It has been a long time since I made the first one so will have to reread it before starting, but I remember it going very well.
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This is a photo of little cabochons with rim sets that I have been looking for to use on a Susan Portra ornament. These two came with another project so can't use them for Susan's ornament. They are the perfect size, about 10mm or a little less than 1/2 inch (approximately 7/16"). I am looking for 5 red cabochons with golden rim sets. If someone knows where to find some online, please contact me at LovetoStitch99@comcast.net I think that I will buy a whole truck load of them, if I ever find some (grinning).

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Terry and Pat have been helping me to look for some, but we have not been able to find some exactly the same style as the ones on the photos. There are probably other stitchers that would also love to know where to find some and if I find the same exact thing, I will post the information on my blog.

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Pierrette =^..^=

Mystery in a Corner: Second series of photos

I have been hard at work those past few days stitching and taking photos of each section.
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Lots of little decisions along the way about selecting colors. It will be so much fun to be able to go back to these photos after the project has been completed and play the "what if" game. What if at this step or that step of the project, I had chosen this color or that color instead of this or that one, then it would have affected all the following choices and I would have ended up with a very different outcome. Would I have liked it more, less or the same?
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In order to refresh our memories, I am including the link to the first series of photos and then we can continue with these.
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On this photo I have just added a second row in my border.

Then, I proceeded to make the border that is separating all these sections making 9 sections, a bit like playing Tic Tac Toc.

Followed by another dividing band using green, again. We are now starting to have lots of green.

Adding a row of blue on four sides, which puts a little more emphasis on the blue and a little less on the green ....

Adding some additional blue on four sides again .....

And still a little more blue with a touch of topaz inside the partial Scotch stitch pattern ....

Oups, adding a little more green, making us notice the green more, again ....

On this photo, I have added a little bit of orange color that is part of my Watercolour thread in order to tie things up a bit with the center section ....

A little more blue after that ....

And I find myself again adding some green ...

This is it for now until I receive the second part of this project, the part that is a "mystery" to all of us, except Gay Ann or we would all be in big trouble (grinning).
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When I look at this last photo, I can see that all divisions are in green, important elements of the design are in blue and also a bit of yellow-orange has been added to give it a bit of zing.

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I am really happy with all the colors that I have been using. I think that this particular shade of blue and green are my very favorite and I have always loved yellow and orange in moderation, making this project an especially fun learning experience for me.

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Will continue with this project as soon as I get the second part, so don't go away (smiling).

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Pierrette =^..^=

Mystery in a Corner: A Gay Ann Rogers design

Gay Ann Rogers in her Shining Needle Society Classroom is now helping us learn more about colors with a new project called Mystery in a Corner.
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I have resisted this new project for a while as I already have so many different projects in progress these days and many many more waiting in the wings, but after giving it a lot of thought, I decided to go ahead and participate in this one as it has been designed to help us with color decisions, something that will be quite useful to me.
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I communicated with Gay Ann, purchased the project instructions and chose my Watercolour from which the other colors needed for the project would come from. Having done that, I communicated with Pam, who had already done multiple colour combinations, and told her that I wanted something done with Woodlands, which she happily did and the first photo shows the threads that she selected for me (greens, blues & topaz to go with Woodlands).

When I received my canvas and my threads a few days ago, I started with the stitching.

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I decided that I was going to take photos for each step in order to document it and thus be able to use this experiment as a reminder of the impact that each successive colours will make on the previous one(s) and so on.

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On this photo we can see, starting from the very center, a blue metallic thread, followed by a topaz metallic, followed by my Woodlands watercolour and then again the blue metallic thread. Looking at this photo I am happy with how it looks. I like the blue colour best, so I am manipulating the threads so that it comes out with blue as emphasis.

Here I have just added another row of topaz. By doing that, it has just changed a bit the impact that my blue had made in the precedent photo.

On this one, I have added again some Watercolour threads, putting the emphasis on the yellow/orange color.

This photo shows the first border using some green DMC Perle #5 with Watercolours for the couching, with some additional metallic threads. I chose the section of the Watercolours that I liked the best for this couching.

In this last photo, for now, I have really put the emphasis on the blue, by stitching the middle section in blue and also for each corner, using Impressions and metallic threads. I am happy with how things look so far. Still plenty more decisions to make along the way.

I will now be adding a second border next to this first one and will continue with the pattern.

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Pierrette =^..^=

She Stoops to Conquer: An Anne Stradal design

This is another project that I have been working on and a fun one at that. It is called "She Stoops to Conquer" designed by Anne Stradal from ABS Designs.
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This is a little painted canvas size 4 inches by 6 inches (stitched area). So far, I have stitched the upper wallpaper, the upper part of our little lady (grinning) and the interior border. Oh yes, almost forgot the "She Stoops to Conquer" all stitched in black.
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I have a couple of ideas about how I want to stitch the towel that is covering her, but will need to try a few things and see how it looks.
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I think that I will do her hair curly just like Anne did on hers, as I love to do French knots.
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I am picking the colors as I go along. I rarely decide the exact colors before I start working on something like this, as most often than not, I have to change them anyway as they don't work like I had hoped they would.
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I now need to start working on Mystery in a Corner.
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Pierrette =^..^=

Patches of Snow: Top section completed

I have been thinking as to the reason(s) why I decided to do a Christmas project and I think I know why. It is a very simple reason, actually. We are having a heat wave and it has been rather uncomfortable for me to stitch in my stitching/computer room, which as luck would have it seems to be the warmest room in the whole house and unfortunately I can't move it :-(

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Stitching some Christmas project brings me back to a place with much cooler temperatures, even if it is only in my mind.

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This new photo shows how much I have been able to accomplish under these warmer/hotter conditions. It has been around 93-95 degrees outside and the air conditioning in the afternoon just can't keep up with it and this is only the beginning of June. What will happen in July and August, and even September? I don't even want to think about it. Last year our air conditioning decided to quit us when the temperatures were over 100 degrees. We have an air conditioning unit for upstairs and a different one for downstairs. Now, my stitching room is upstairs as well as the bedrooms and of course that is the one that broke. Since we were not the only ones that had such bad luck as it puts quite a strain on air conditioning units when temperatures go that high, I think that it took approximately 4 to 5 days before they installed a new unit. Not happy memories, I can tell you that :-(

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A few days ago, I have received a book that I had been wanting for quite some time. The title is Embroidered Knot Gardens (using three-dimensional stumpwork, canvas work & ribbonwork) and the author is Owen Davies from Britain. I really did not know what to expect from the book as I had heard good and not so good comments about it, so it was with a bit of apprehension that I opened it, wondering if I was going to be disappointed or not (again). To my immense relief, I can report that it is a wonderful book and it has already given me some great ideas as to where I will apply some of the information found in the book. I need to say here, that if someone is looking for a very specific project that would be described from start to finish, this is not the right book, but that being said, all necessary information is right there in the book to make it possible to create something wonderful. All stitches are very well explained with charts, lots and lots of beautiful photos with close-ups of some of the stitches. One that has stood out for me is on page 63 where he explains how to make needlelace leaves that are extremely pretty. He even has a photo that shows a small matchbox container that had been adapted to create a courtyard garden inside it, which gave me the idea of finding a box the size I would like to have my little garden and use that instead of having to build some container from scratch. And you should see the brick walls that he has made with threads. I could go on and on as I really love the book. I purchased mine at Amazon as I always want to take advantage of the free shipping, so I added another book to it to cover the minimum $25.00 purchase required to get free shipping.

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I have received my threads and canvas yesterday from Pam for Mystery in a Corner by Gay Ann Rogers, so will be starting to work on that as I have a little bit of catching up to do. Will put some photos a bit later.

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Pierrette =^..^=

Patches of Snow Mini Stocking

Yesterday, I started working on a cute little Christmas stocking that has lots of beading in it. It is a Kaitlyn Marie Designs (1994) which I found on Ebay and it came with everything necessary to stitch it, thank goodness for that. No hunting for this one :-)
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Above is a photo of what it will look like when finished and below is a photo of what I have done so far. Will probably be able to add a progress photo later today as this should go pretty quickly, if all goes according to plan, but we all know that plans do change quickly sometimes :-(

Pierrette =^..^=

Virtual Book Tour: Janet M. Perry, Guest blogger (An Article about Janet's life in Bargello

VIRTUAL BOOK TOUR - JANET M. PERRY AS MY GUEST telling us about her latest book called BARGELLO REVISITED

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For some of you who may be wondering what exactly is a Virtual Book Tour, it is simply the equivalent of an author visiting book stores to promote her or his latest book, but instead of visiting book stores the author is visiting websites or blogs. No planes to catch, no driving, we all stay in the comfort of our own home :-)
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Janet has just recently published her latest book entitled Bargello Revisited and she is making her first stop of her Virtual Book Tour today on this blog and for this occasion Janet will be sharing with us her love of Bargello. During the coming month(s) she will be visiting other blogs and doing some fun activities there. You can read more about all this by visiting her blog and her website, links well indicated at the end of Janet's article.
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Without any further delays, here is the article written by Janet M. Perry about her life in Bargello.
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Enjoy :-)
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Pierrette =^..^=

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MY LIFE IN BARGELLO (written by Janet M. Perry)
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Janet says:
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My love affair with Bargello probably started in about 1971 with a book. The book was Elsa Williams' Bargello. I found it at my local needlepoint store. I was entranced by the lovely shading and the wonderful patterns. I bought it and immediately started to study.
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Back in those days, I hadn't really done much needlepoint, so this was completely new. The book had pictures of the finished needlepoint, but no charts, and the yarn colors didn't match the Paternayan my shop carried. But I loved it, so I bought several shades in the same color family, some canvas and I started to decipher the patterns.
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It only took one and I became hooked. Almost immediately I decided to make covers for our dining room chairs (I was 14). My dad made a frame, my mom and I picked out thread colors (rust, dark green, and ivory) and I picked patterns from the book. I didn't get very far as chair covers are big, really big. It's a dream project to this day.
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The next Bargello pieces I remember were a pair of evening purses in shades of turquoise I made while I was in college. Doing needlepoint kept me sane in the intense environment of St John's College. I was about the only student who needlepointed, endearing me to the older women there.
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This pillow, a not very well counted version of an Elsa Williams pattern, was made around that time. If you look closely, you will see the count is off and not all the diamonds are even, but 30 years later, I still love the colors.

I also became fascinated by the idea of a solid color Bargello as a background. Being self-taught is not always a good thing as you don't know when something is hard. So my first attempt at this was a Hungarianpoint pattern and I didn't know how to count it properly. I still have the piece and it pains me to look at it.

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Shortly after I got married, I started to branch out in my Bargello, making the pillow you see here. I became fascinated to use different threads, which was revolutionary in needlepoint in the early 80's. This one is of another classic pattern.

I explored the idea of making what I call Op Art Bargello (there's a pattern like this in the book) where there are only a few lines of color against a solid background. I still love the graphic impact of these designs. This project from Bargello Revisited is my latest Op Art Bargello.

I kept exploring ideas like single color Bargello using different threads, making a lovely Bargello scallop shell (my Mom and DD have my versions of this one) and an all-white pillow. I also kept reading every book on Bargello I could find, getting them from the library over and over again.

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In the 90's my life got extremely busy with kids, big house, nanny and a high-pressure job, so my needlepoint changed too. I started to look for small projects, which were easily portable and fast to make. That's when I started doing the Bargello mini-socks. By my estimate I've made close to 40, every one different. I would find a pattern I liked in a book or magazine and I would buy some threads or raid the stash and make a mini-sock. The first ones I finished myself. Now I have them finished or they languish in my stash. Some of my favorites are in the book. Others I've given to friends.

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Here are pictures of some I've done recently. The first one, still unfinished, is a Hungarianpoint medallion design. I haven't done this before and I made sort of a random outline and started to fill in. I'm not happy with it becauce the center doesn't look good. I think I'm going to try it again working from the center out.

This one, which has the charted line below it, is a scallop pattern I call swag because it looks like swags in drapes. With this I'm also trying to break out of my color rut. Orchids are not my favorite colors, but I do like this. That's a good thing about mini-socks, you can try colors here with no risk. You might not make an orchid pillow, but an orchid ornament is OK.

As a gift to you, here's the line for this pattern.

So what's next? I like the idea of trying out color schemes in mini-socks, so I think I'm going to do a series based on the colors paint companies come up with for painting a room. I'm kind of intrigued by the idea of proportions in Bargello design, so I'm going to explore changing the proportions of the colors and see what happens. I'm going off to the paint store tomorrow to get some inspiration (I also need to find paint for several rooms in my house).

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Keep Stitching

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Janet M. Perry

napaneedlepoint@gmail.com

http://www.napaneedlepoint.com/

http://www.nuts-about-needlepoint.com/ - blog

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Like Janet, I have always loved Bargello too as it has always had an hypnotic effect on me with all these ups and downs, making me stitch for far longer periods of time that I would normally have done.

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I am presently working on Desire which is a Susan Portra Design, have completed Bargello Symphony designed by Loretta Spears, design that I absolutely love, Gem Storm, a Marianne Frost design (had so much fun with this one) and my very first Bargello project which was a little scissor case.

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Pierrette =^..^=

Desire - stitching part done and hunting for cabochons with rim sets starts in earnest

I have now completed the stitching part of Desire, #13 of Susan Portra's Cabochon Series by adding the couching stitches to the long long tramé stitches and need to concentrate on finding the five 10mm cabochons with golden rim sets to attach to the canvas. I will also have to dig and see if I can find what appears to be 37 golden bugle beads. I know that I have some, but not sure that I have that many, but those can be found easily enough. What I am really surprised about is how difficult, if not impossible, to find the golden 10mm rim sets to attach to the canvas for the cabochons. I have been looking on different web sites and some seem to have the cabochons, but no rim sets in sight. Some designers use them so they have to be available somewhere, the question is where exactly. If I ever find some I will have to purchase a big quantity of them as I don't want to have to go hunting for them again and they really look lovely on a project and make a statement.

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I must be one of the worst person to try to find something on the web as I never seem to find anything and my friend Terry finds everything she is looking for and then some, so Terry took pity on me and offered to have a look for me. Sure hope she is more successful than I have been so far.

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It has been a long time since I have worked a needlepoint project that is mostly beads, but I have just the one next to me right now. It is a mini stocking called Patches of Snow, all white and gold, a Kaitlyn Marie Designs. I am thinking about this coming Christmas and this sure would look nice for my tree. I really need to work on some smaller projects as I have been involved with bigger ones lately and sure need a break. Instant gratification or almost :-)

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Time to have a look at those bugle beads and keep dreaming about cabochons with rim sets :-)

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Pierrette =^..^=

Desire: Moving along

Now, it is starting to look like Susan Portra's finished ornament. Still a bit more work to do like some couching to add on the long tramé stitches and the bugle beads and of course the hard to find 5 cabochons with rimsets.

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Am still wondering about the finishing that has been done on it as to what it is exactly. I know that I can probably do it if I can only get a clear picture in my mind as to what it is. I will probably have to sleep on it but there is no rush before the ornament is all completed and for that I need to find those cabochons with rimsets or substitute them with some other stitches. If someone who is reading this entry have some ideas as to where I can find them, please let me know. I can be easily contacted at LovetoStitch99@comcast.net

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Pierrette =^..^=

I stitched two additional rows last evening, took a photo and then got distracted and never added to my blog.

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So far on this project, I have used Fyre Werks on the first row (gold), Crystal Rays (the larger one with reddish colors), Fyre Werks in black for the second and fourth rows and Neon Rays for the last and fifth row (wine color).

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This morning have added a sixth row using some DMC Perle #5 in red (not in the photo).

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Should be able to finish it today, except for the cabochons with rimsets which I don't have and will see if I can find some gold bugle beads all the same size. I think I may have some but have not yet looked for them.

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I have been looking at the finishing on the photo and been wondering how exactly it was done. There seems to be some gold thread laced somehow. It looks very good, just not sure how it has been done as I can't see enough of it :-(

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Pierrette =^..^=

Desire: A Susan Portra Cabochon Series design

I felt that I needed a bit of a change and remembered this lovely and much smaller project that I had purchased on Ebay some time ago.
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I have always loved Bargello as whenever I work on such pieces it is so easy for me to just loose myself, as I just want to do one more row, oh, just one more. I think it has that effect on so many of us.
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This is a photo of the bit I had the time to stitch this morning. It is a Susan Portra design, which she made for Rainbow Gallery in 1993 (publication date). The design is called "Desire" and is #13 of her Cabochon Series. When I saw it on Ebay, I fell in love with it and was lucky enough to win it, which is far from always beeing the case as I have often been outbid by others. I have no idea what the others of the series look like as have never seen them.
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It is always a bit difficult to gather the supply for projects that have been created a long time ago and that is the case for this one too. I was fortunate enough for someone to send me the Crystal Rays thread as it is not produced anymore.
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I do not have the cabochon required for this project. No indication as to the size either could be found on the chart, so will have to stitch enough of it to get some idea of the dimension needed. It seems that a color like Ruby might look very nice with probably a gold rimset, if I can put my hands on both.

This is the photo that is on the cover of the pamphlet. Just so pretty :-)

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Need to go now to stitch just one more row (big grin).

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Pierrette =^..^=