Tacked

 
The piece of gold kid leather is now all tacked down.  The color of this piece is between the two photos, leaning slightly to the more orangey one.  I hope to get to work on this again soon.

Decided To Do Something Different

I decided to do something different when I pulled my latest started project out of the drawer.  It's a Tanja Berlin piece called Tree Motif.  Kind of a bit of goldwork and silk work.  I'm liking the change.

Goldwork!

Yay!  I get to start some goldwork.  Jen Goodwin is teaching it for the CyberStitchers chapter.  The kit is beautifully packaged.

At The Needlework Exhibition

Over the past two weeks, MolDeco had a needlework exhibition.  I was one of the participants!  My piece is the one on the table.  All the rest here were stitched by Moldovans and framed by MolDeco.  I thought you might like to see some great work!

Faye's Celtic Block Done

Here's the picture of Faye's block empty a second time.  I finished it and the work I did is in the picture below.

There's a Celtic cross, a piece of Irish crochet, and a dragon charm.  I also did a couple of seams.  None of it's the knotwork the others have done on blocks, but I hope this other view of Celtic art is acceptable.

Flowing Heart

This was the second of my two day classes at EGA seminar. It's Heart of Gold by Meredith Willett. It's basic English goldwork with some other metallic threads, and I loved the design outside of it being pink from the time I first saw it. Two students in the class were prescient enough to ask for color changes before the seminar; I was not one of them and ended up with the original. I still like it! So I got some of it done and I really like the look so far. I'll be making some changes as I go - like putting a dragonfly in the middle. This too will go into my rotation soon - as soon as I finish a couple of things.

Take it Further - Stand Your Ground

This is my response to Sharon B's Take It Further Challenge for this month. It was to express something about a person you admire. I chose my husband. I admire him greatly, and the tree symbolizes one of his central traits. He hews to his principles and doesn't waver, ergo he stands his ground. The tree's roots are deep. At the same time, when the wind blows hard and change is being forced, he doesn't lose those principles, but bends to fit the circumstances at the edges, just as a tree's branches sway and bend in the wind. In the end, the tree doesn't change what or where it is, just like my husband doesn't. He's seen the tree and loves it. Now he's trying to figure out how to frame it. I think he's putting it in his office.
This is the very first design I've ever taken from my mind to completion in embroidery. I'd done it in crochet before, but never in this. I like it. The goldwork with the brown floss worked well. The lazy daisy stitches aren't very uniform, but I think they shouldn't be. The design's only about four inches square, but the way it looks gives me confidence to try something else. On top of that, it applies to my project challenge because it was completely stitched from stash. I wonder what next month's will be.

Goldwork Flower Framed

My husband finished framing this today. I think he did a really good job and I'm still very proud of my very first piece of goldwork. We're definitely keeping it.

Silk and Metal Done, Done, Done!

It's done! I managed to complete this Group Correspondence Course on time. I'll be sending it to Rissa next week. Everyone here loves it. I see some flaws, but I learned a lot. The lower picture was taken yesterday evening before I finished. I just got up this morning and worked on it until about noon. Today's been a rainy day in Normandy, so it was a good day to stay home. This makes finish number five of my 25 project challenge. I'm so happy it's complete! I'd been feeling (again) like I'd not been making much progress.

Goldwork Gains

I worked a couple of hours on the goldwork this week and made a lot of progress here in France. I have a really nice table with direct sunlight that I use. It works well. I'm going to try to finish it up next week. I'm so happy it's almost done!

Another Leaf

I got the leaf done before I left for France. The goldwork survived the trip in my suitcase, but all my Blogger instructions are in French. It's weird. Anyway, I haven't been stitching much at all because of all the people coming in and having to be shown around and having to make dinner for loads of people in an unfamiliar kitchen and going to unfamiliar grocery stores and so on. Finally NOT cooking tomorrow, so I plan on doing some needlework. My husband took pictures of progress since the last set today, so ... you get blogged!

Goldwork Slowdown

I really don't see any way that I'm going to complete this before I leave on Saturday, though I'll try. I'll be keeping this home because I don't know that I'll have anywhere to do something this fussy in the chateau. It's also kind of bulky. Hopefully, I can finish this before the deadline after I get back.

Parts H & I - Goldwork

I've made quite a bit of progress on this. The burden stitch turned out better with the silk than with the metallic thread. I like it enough that I'll try to use it in another piece. I'm not sure I can finish the rest in the next twelve days before France, but I'm going to try.

Goldwork Part G Done

So, I was thinking. I don't believe I've ever told y'all how I manage to do goldwork without a frame stand. It works, it's really portable, and it's affordable. I stretch the silk on a frame as usual and leave it on the frame for the duration of the stitching. To have it accessible and both my hands free, I use clamps to attach it to the edge of my dining room table. These clamps are from the hardware store, yes, but they're special clamps. First off, no screws. They have a lever you depress to get them to tighten up. They also have nice cushy pads for the frame and you can make them tight. I've seen one of our cats get onto this (he was promptly shooed off) and the clamps held. I'm planning on taking the clamps with me on my trip.


As for the goldwork, I got another section done - the little blooms of the flower. They're not as round as they should be, but I think they came out all right. Next up - the big leaf in the middle.

Goldwork Part F Done

This week, I managed to do Part F. It's the calyx of the other flower, and I think I did the box couching better on it. At least, it looks better to me. I'm liking the progress when I get to work on this, but it's looking like I'm going to have to take this to France to complete. I really want it done, so I might take a week or a day or two and just work on it to catch up.

Goldwork Flower

Parts C, D and E of the goldwork project completed the flower that's in close up here. I think it looks pretty good, but I did a couple of things wrong - instead of ending the couching every round on the lower leaf, I just kept going round with it. That led to some bumpiness. When I did it properly on the upper leaf, I left some gaps in the leaf on the wider parts. I really need practice! Hopefully I'll get some and some in person instruction, which I feel necessary, at the ANG seminar in Baltimore in August. Now on to part F!

Goldwork Parts C and D Done

This week I was able to work on the goldwork twice, making me able to complete two areas. The "beads" in the middle of the flower were all supposed to use Jaceron, but I had extra bits from my last goldwork piece and used them. That means I added bits of copper to it. I think it looks pretty good.

Filling in a Space

I spent a large chunk of my stitching time this week filling in the one space on this flower. I think I did a decent job of it, even though I didn't do it the way the directions said. I really need to read them more carefully next time. The two petals flanking this one are next, and they too will be completely filled - but with a different kind of thread to be couched.

Goldwork - Silk and Metal GcC

For some reason, the background fabric looks really yellow in these pictures, but you can still see the progress I've made. Tomorrow I'll be filling in the flower petals with couching. There's still a chance of me finishing this before I go to France; otherwise, I'll have to fit the frame in my suitcase. I have until the end of July to get this done. I really want it done before that.

Goldwork Part C Started

I got the inside of the bell shaped flower done this week and will be outlining it with Jaceron in the coming on. I'm SO glad I started this after I did the other goldwork project. It gave me half a clue as to how to go about things. It's getting lots of attention from the family whenever I pull it out.