January's Biscornu

While I did not start to stitch this piece until February, it is my first "Pocket Project" (I love that terminology from Inspirations - although it should probably be admitted that all my work consists of "Pocket Projects"). I would like to make twelve of these this year - possibly my 2010 challenge. There is something about this shape that I find fascinating. Maybe I will try one with 15 sides before December.

For a return to stitching I decided to use the undoctored pattern for a *taellesyning biscornu from Inspirations #59. An unusual decision for me. I tend to try to stitch my own design, or, at the very least, a more or less adapted version of someone else's. I really enjoy the design process as well as the actual stitching and honestly feel this is a method of learning that suits me.

This is a tiny biscornu, stitched on linen, compared to my previous Aida efforts. My limited manipulative skills made it very difficult to join and stuff. I think the linen was 28 count and I used Finca perle cotton #8 .

*The spelling tallesyning finds a couple of articles on Google.

Resolutions!

Time to test drawing skills which are minimal but hopefully should suffice for the intended embroidery exercise. More (or even, some) practice might help a little - a St Patrick's Day resolution, perhaps!

Pears from the supermarket are absolutely delicious at the moment and wonderfully inexpensive. Choosing the most interesting one in the box took a while. My colouring pencil work certainly does not pay tribute to the interesting colours on the skin. A photograph should do the trick.

Break is over!

Some break! Three months from blogging and two from embroidery! Life and inertia just got in the way. However I eased back slowly by stitching a needlecase to go with my first biscornu .

When that little bit of stitching was finished I decide there was enough space left on the Aida for a small scissor fob. Now I just need to join them up.

A Family Concern

Two of our grandchildren were with us this week. Gramps used his CAD program to draw hearts of various sizes, stars and even Christmas trees. The children cut out the patterns - I cut and stitched the fabric pieces which they stuffed. The real fun followed - they raided my sequin stash and these are a couple of examples. (Only a 10 year old boy would want a smiley on his ornament)!

Embroiderywise, I am trying to make up my mind what might constitute a series. What sort of linkage is necessary to form a unified collection of a number of pieces on the same theme?

The same, or toning, colours and possibly stitches. Do I need aspects of both? Can I do something else? Do I need to make sure that the same style of embroidery is used in each piece? Any ideas on this subject?I would be most grateful for any input.

I have started. I only have a fairly basic idea of what I want to do and it is very fluid at this stage. I am not sure how many pieces there will be. The only given is the subject matter - gum trees (eucalypts), their bark patterns, leaves etc.. My inspiration is no further than the back door and any number of different leaf shapes turn up on the lawn each day. The box lid embroidery in the last entry will not be part of this exercise as it is intended for a gift but I would like to make another piece quite similar. So please don your thinking caps and share your thoughts.

A little stitching accomplished

Stitching life has been fairly slow lately. Waterlilies is finished - well the hardanger embroidery is complete but I intend to make a cushion cover and that will take some time. I think that my future forays into hardanger will avoid those pesky picots. They really seemed to defeat me and spoil an otherwise acceptable piece of embroidery.

Nonetheless I have done some stitching which I really enjoyed. (Sometimes I ask myself why I don't just stick to my comfort zone instead of attempting techniques beyond my capabilities). Also this was stitched at a leisurely pace and that was a nice bonus.

This is the lid for another box . There were seven boxes in all - five became gifts last Christmas. This means I have one left for us. The design is offering a challenge at the moment but I guess it will suddenly appear clear.

Moving on! Carefully now!

The eyelets are finished - couldn't stop, could I?

The threads are cut (without mistakes so far, thank goodness) and I am ready to start the first section of needleweaving. Yvette's instructions in the book are clear.

A new perspective

They say a change is as good as a holiday but, while I can't exactly agree with that statement, I do think a change can give you a new perspective. Recently we rearranged our living area and a woven hanging that was originally over the sideboard near the dining table is now overlooking the lounge chairs. This morning as I drank my coffee I realised just how wonderful the hanging looked from that position. Here it is - the lighting is fairly minimal but the effect is very obvious.

A full sized hanging and the lit section. Quite difficult to believe that this is actually a flat two dimensional piece of fabric mounted on a stretched canvas!

A shadow weave with two shadows using single colour gold weft but three colours,red, white and blue, in its warp. It is also not quite conventional shadow weave in that the spacing between the shadows is not exactly even - a real 'what if' experiment.