Bruges, Belgium "Doorways to the Past" Series: Painted canvas by Anne Stradal

I must start this entry by saying that my husband was born in Belgium, not far from Bruges and I wanted to stitch this door called "Bruges, Belgium" which is part of Anne Stradal's "Doorways to the Past" Series. If someone wants to pay a little visit to Anne's website, it is http://www.absdesignsonline.com/ .

Like all good new owner, the first thing I did is repaint and change the greenery as I wanted flowers. I love flowers even more when I don't have to care for them. I am saying that mostly because we are having a severe drought here where I live and everything in our garden seems to be quickly fading away, so this is fantasy time for me. I will never have to water and feed these flowers. Isn't marvelous? I don't have that magic green thumb either so that is not helping any :-(

I stitched the two little shrubs in silk ribbons (leaves and roses) and then I wanted some wisterias like I have in my garden. They are so pretty and smell so wonderful. Watch out for the bees though when the flowers are in season as they become very proprietory and will go in pursuit of anyone coming too close. Ask me why I know this?

At the front, there is a sidewalk and my husband wanted some cobblestones. He is European, remember? I started looking in those wonderful books called Stitches for Effects, More Stitches for Effects and Even More Stitches for Effects by Suzanne Howren and Beth Robertson and found what I was looking for. The stitch I chose can be seen on page 39 of volume 3 of the series. It is called "Continuous 2-4 Woven Scotch". It is not the kind of stitch that you can just breeze through it, but when you got the rhythm of it, it was rather fun to do. A good laying tool is a must with this stitch as I was using regular DMC cotton floss threads (two different colors).

I got another idea from their books. They suggested beads to use for door knob. It was a great idea and I was able to find in my stash a bugle bead just the right size and color, so that was quick to attach and before I knew it, I had completed the project.

Not sure how I will finish this now. Need to have a serious think about it :-)

Moving on to the next project. What will it be??????????????????

Thursday August 2/2007: Just heard from Anne telling me that she added my door to her guest galery:-) Here is link: http://www.absdesignsonline.com/guest_gallery.htm

Pierrette =^..^=

Halloween's Friendly Ghost : Flat-Fold Finishing

As I was saying in my last post, I have been keeping myself busy finishing some already stitched projects and I have just completed the Flat-Fold finishing on my little ghost (little Halloween project). I have done quite a few Halloween projects, but they have all been giving away, so this is the very first that I get to keep for myself :-)

Some time ago I had purchased a little finishing book called "The Flat-Fold" written by Judy Odell. This booklet is part of her "Just A Thought" series explaining different ways of finishing projects. For those of you who might be interested, her web site is http://www.justathought.net/prod/booksandbooklets.shtml

I must say that the way she explains things together with lots of photos made it quite easy for me to do my first flat-fold finishing.

I have added a little spider on my finished project. Looking at her, I have been wondering what she could possibly be thinking about our friendly or perhaps not so friendly ghost in her case. Those spider webs are quite fragile and watching our smiling ghost washing them and then hanging them to dry like that could be enough to give our little spider a heart attack or at the very least a nervous breakdown <>

I will now be moving on to a project that I have just started before I started working on all those finishing, which is called "A Cottage Garden". This is an "Inspirations" magazine project and it will become another needlecase. This one though will be for me since the last one was given to my good friend Terry.

Pierrette =^..^=

Assisi Style Rabbits finished as a pincushion

Lately I seem to be putting a lot of time to do "finishing" on already stitched projects. This little Assisi project which I have just finished as a little pincushion was a free project offered at this site: http://www.berlinembroidery.com/assisirabbits.htm

I was lucky enough to find some Silk Dupion the same exact shade of red that I have used to stitch this little project, so I was quite happy about this.

The little pincushion is actually resting on some leftover of that fabric.

I am starting to have a little collection of pincushion and I have a feeling that this is not the last one I will be making :-)

Pierrette =^..^=

"In the Blue" - Easter Exchange egg received from Anne Stradal

During the last Easter Exchange that I participated in, I had the pleasure to receive an Easter egg designed and stitched by Anne. On her website it is called "In the Pink" ( http://www.absdesignsonline.com/eggs_for_all_seasons.htm ) but this one of course needs to be called "In the Blue" <>

Since this was my very first Easter egg exchange, this beautiful egg is starting my new collection very nicely. One is not enough though, so will have to slowly start stitching some more. I would like to make some that would be needlepoint and others freestyle or whatever strike my fancy at the time :-)

One of the thing I love to do is check other stitchers' blogs whenever I find the time and I saw on Jane's blog the picture of another of Anne's design that I absolutely have to stitch. You know when you see something and you just have to have it, well this one is one of those must have. It is called "She Stoops to Conquer". Isn't she just adorable? Here is the link to Jane's blog http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Pierrette =^..^=

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 =^..^=

Needlecase: Little Horse Scene

Just took a second picture of my little horse scene, this time the needlecase put together.

I was trying to find some fabric in my stash that would patch the color of the fence but could not find any, so decided to dye some. The fabric was originally all white with little miniature flowers. I did not want the dye to be uniformed all over but with spots darker and others lighter and the photo below shows the top of the needlecase with a peek of the inside fabric.

Scissor Fob

A little scissor fob that I made for my friend Terry, using beads.

Pierrette =^..^=