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 =^..^=