Showing posts with label Ornaments. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ornaments. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

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 =^..^=

Thursday, February 26, 2009

One finishing done, how many more to go?



Yesterday, I decided that it was high time for me to start working on doing some finishing so started with an end-of-term examination ornament that I made using the same threads that I had used for Gay Ann Rogers' Mystery in a corner.
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For this one I decided to use the book called Sandy's Finishing Touches by Sandy Higgins and went for a hard ornament finish but with a single mat board method instead of double mat board method. You can find out all the information in her book on page 34. Then I made two different cordings, a small one to hang the ornament at the top and a bigger one for all around the ornament and finally made a knot at the bottom and that created the tassel, method I had learned on a cyberclass taken with Carole Lake.
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I should probably now be good and continue to do a bit of stitching on Hollyhock House before tackling another finishing as I will soon be getting another monthly assignment.
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Pierrette =^..^=

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

Challenge Ornament ready for finishing



What a relief, having finished my Challenge Ornament before Gay Ann's deadline for the Certificate of Completion, which is only available for those of us who have completed both projects, this Challenge Ornament and Mystery in a Corner which I have completed a while back.
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Many times while stitching Challenge Ornament I wished I had the use of more varieties of threads to work with, but one must work with what she has, so I did. I did not quite follow the progression order that Gay Ann gave us in her written instructions as I wanted to concentrate on certain areas first and then see what color thread would fit in other areas, not an easy task to do, at least in my case, but I am slowly learning.
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I have taken two photos of the completed ornament, the first one above is how the ornament will look like when finished and the second photo below is how I was working it on my stretcher bars.


Now, I need to read Gay Ann's instructions and answer the different questions she is asking us and send to her with my photos and I will be done.
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That was a fun project and looking forward to making the other one using Chrismassy colors.
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Pierrette =^..^=

Challenge Ornament: A little bit more done


Yesterday's stitching went rather well. I had to undo two little sections because they just did not look right to me, so I redid them with different threads and it made a big difference.
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There isn't much left to do with this ornament so I think I can safely say that it should be completed today and a photo sent to Gay Ann for evaluation.
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It is not really the stitching itself that takes a lot of time, but the planning part of it. Sometimes when I am not entirely sure about which thread to use next, I just put the ornament aside for a little while and then comes back to it later and by that time everything seems a lot clearer in my mind.
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Next post will show the completed ornament, not the finishing yet as I am not sure that I have quite enough thread left to do it, but will check to make sure.
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Pierrette =^..^=

Monday, December 01, 2008

Challenge Ornament: Designed by Gay Ann Rogers

On Saturday I rushed to finish stitching a little bookmark so that early Sunday morning I could start working on Challenge Ornament, which is a little end-of-term examination ornament after having stitched Mystery in a Corner, but things did not really start as smoothly as I had expected.
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(Photo showing what I have managed to do so far)

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When Gay Ann started talking about Challenge ornament, I thought I would use the same threads that I had used for MIAC (Mystery in a Corner), then later on as the holidays were coming closer, I thought it might be nice if I used Xmassy colors instead, then thought about it some more and went back to my initial decision to use the same colors as MIAC. Some may think that I have too much time in my hands, but that would not be true :-) The main reason for using the same colors is that it would be easier for me to have some idea of how those colors would look like when deciding where to put each one in my Challenge Ornament, and as this is after all a small ornament, I can make another one after with my Xmassy colors. Seems, reasonable, right!?
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So, yesterday morning I started looking for my MIAC leftover threads as I remembered that they were all in a little baggy. I looked everywhere I could think of (inside my home of course), but just could not find them. I had no choice then, but go to Plan B with my Xmassy colors. I got all my threads out on my working table and selected lots of reds, greens, gold, grey, sparkling white, etc. My desk was literally covered with them, then my eyes looked sideways and what did I see? Yes, you are right, my MIAC leftovers threads in a little baggy and they were exactly where I had put them, imagine that, so now I am back to Plan A. I put all those reds, greens, etc. in a big bag for the second ornament which now of course I absolutely need to do later as I certainly don't want all those efforts to go to waste.
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I then put my canvas on stretcher bars and worked on it on Sunday until I got too tired to be able to think straight anymore, not a good place to be when I had so many "important" decisions to make, so put everything aside for the day and this morning took it out again with a new perspective, at least that is what I am telling myself.
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This ornament is really becoming more and more of a challenge because on top of making all those decisions with the MIAC leftover threads, which are limited in themselves, now I am starting to run out of some. When I wrote a message yesterday in the classroom saying what else could possibly slow me down and somebody wrote back saying "NEVER ask that question", well she was right as running out of threads with an approaching deadline is NOT good at all. I will have to become very creative. Will I manage to rise to the challenge? Next post might give us that answer.
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Be right back!
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Pierrette =^..^=

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Wintertide, A Patricia Andrle design


I have found a lovely free Christmas ornament made in hardanger, another technique that I especially like, on the Kreinik website. It is called Wintertide and has been designed by Patricia Andrle. I have other projects from her, but this is the first one so far that I have been working on, something that I should probably change as I like her style. I have only started working on it last evening so have not done a whole lot so far, but having fun with it.
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Instead of using the Silk Mori white thread, I have switched to DMC Perle, something that I already had in my stash. I am hoping that by the end of today I will have made quite a bit of headway with it.
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The next project that I absolutely need to get started on is the lovely end-of-term examination ornament designed by Gay Ann Rogers, so as soon as Wintertide is all done I will start working on it as the deadline is rapidly approaching. I am thinking of using some Christmassy colors instead of the same colors used on Mystery in a Corner. After that I need to finish Mrs. Santa :-)
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Better go back to it as the clock is ticking.
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Pierrette =^..^=

Saturday, July 05, 2008

Gold & White ornament all done



Yesterday I started working on a little ornament designed by Gay Ann Rogers to celebrate her new website. Here are the details of my blog entry of yesterday.
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I had to undo the last gold metallic row that I had made all around the ornament as that row was to attach the front to the back. That is the kind of mistake I normally do when I get tired after stitching for a long period of time. Anyway, that was easy to fix and did so this morning and now it is all done and ready to hang somewhere. I will put it with my other Christmas ornaments as I think it will be cute in my Xmas tree.
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The design is really cute and I could see myself making some out of canvas instead of perforated paper and using other colors.
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Now I will go back to the project I had put aside in order to work on this for the stitch-in.
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Pierrette =^..^=

Friday, July 04, 2008

Gold & White ornament



Today we are having a stitch-in in the Shining Needle Society Yahoo group and I decided to work on a little gold and white ornament that Gay Ann Rogers has created especially to celebrate her new website. It is stitched on perforated paper, something that I had never tried before and was curious to see how well it worked.
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I must say that I had no difficulties at all working with the perforated paper and it seems to work well for small ornaments. This being said, I still prefer to work on canvas, but I can see that perforated paper could be useful at times like for greeting cards and things like that. I had no problem using metallic threads or silk pearl. The feeling was pretty much like when using regular canvas. Since it was small, I could hold in my hands, something I rarely do, which was nice.
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I still have to do the finishing. Gay Ann has included the instructions so will have a read after taking a little break and will try to finish it today, if not today, tomorrow at the latest.
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Pierrette =^..^=

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Roses and Noel Ornament


This is a Victoria Sampler Christmas ornament that I have just completed the stitching and finishing, which is now all ready to go on a Christmas tree.
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I had been wanting to make it for quite some time but for some reason or other never got around to it. I am glad that I did this time around. It was lot of fun to stitch and a wonderful experience. I am always learning something new each time I work on a project, so learning curve going up (big smile).
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Roses and buds are bullions, fly stitches for the big leaves, lazy daisies for the smaller leaves and stem stitch for the stems. I have used DMC threads for this project. Was tempted to use Edmar threads, but changed my mind. If I make another one, I will probably do it Brazilian embroidery style.
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Pierrette =^..^=

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Brazilian Embroidery: Flowers


This is what I have done today, working on finishing those three Brazilian embroidery flowers using some metal finishing forms.
Pierrette =^..^=

Blackeyed Susan: Brazilian Embroidery



These Blackeyed Susan were designed by my friend Esther. I have changed a few things and also added a little bird and a little bee to it.


I have used the same metal finishing forms that I have used for the other two, but this one was 4 inches instead of the 3 inches I have used for Minuet and Rhapsody.


Pierrette =^..^=

Rhapsody: Brazilian Embroidery Flower




This is the second free project that I have stitched a little while back from the Brazilian Embroidery Guild. This one is called Rhapsody.



I have also used the metal finishing forms. As I was saying, they are so easy to use. What I did was to cover the metal frame with some Pellon Fleece (I love that stuff for finishing as it gives a nice padding, not too thick and not too thin - I find them ideal for ornaments and needlecases), stitched a gathering thread all around, tighlty drawn it up and made a couple of knots.



I did the same thing for front (embroidery) and back (fabric), then I glued it with a new product I used which works like a charm. It is called Fabri-Tac. Made the cording and attached it to the ornament and I was done :-)



Pierrette =^..^=

Minuet: Brazilian Embroidery Flower





Some time ago I have stitched Minuet, which is a free project that can be found on the Brazilian Dimensional Embroidery Guild site at
http://www.brazilian-dimensional-embroidery.org/free_designs.htm


I have recently purchased some metal finishing forms with the idea of trying it on this little project. When I purchased them I wasn't sure if I was going to like using those or not, but I must say that finishing a project with them was a breeze and will certainly use them again for future ornament finishing. The company that makes them is called Flying Needles and they have different shapes and sizes available.





Pierrette =^..^=

Thursday, March 29, 2007

Little Angel: Gift that was made for me by Jill


I used to co-own a crazy quilt group and one of our member made this wonderful little angel in a smaller size to go on some miniature knickers that a few of us were making as a big joke for my friend Terry who lives in England. When I saw it, I immediately fell in love with it and wanted to know how to make one and Jill offered to make one (bigger size) for me. I could not wait to see it upclose and I was not disappointed when it arrived a few days later at my house. It has been hanging on a wall where I do my stitching ever since :-)
Pierrette =^..^=

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Coronation


This is the first ornament of the Dodecagon Series. It is called Coronation and is a 12-sided ornament. There are 12 ornaments in this series, all very different. I have received the first three so far, but only managed to stitch the first one because I have been spreading myself rather thin lately with different online classes and projects.
There is a group that has been created in order to provide help whenever questions arise while stitching those various ornaments. We are lucky enough to have the designer himself, Jim Wurth, in our group to answer questions that we may have while stitching these ornaments. Here is the link for the group for those interested: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DodecagonSeriesOrnaments/
Next ornament to stitch is called "Mojave" followed by "Poirot".
Pierrette =^..^=

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Hardanger Christmas ornaments


Here are a couple of little Hardanger Christmas ornaments I have made. Those were kits I had purchased. They were fun to make and very quick.
Pierrette =^..^=

Christmas ornament


This was my first Brazilian project that I made and it was for an exchange. It was designed by Elsie and was stitched with Edmar threads purchased from JDR, the biggest online store for Brazilian embroidery. Link: http://www.jdr-be.com/

Minuet & Rhapsody (Brazilian embroidery flowers)




An attempt at making some Brazilian embroidery flowers. The first one is called "Minuet" and the second one "Rhapsody".
They were both freebies from the Brazilian Embroidery Guild site: http://www.brazilian-dimensional-embroidery.org/
Pierrette =^..^=