Closed Feather edging

My feather stitch offering for the week is closed feather used in a drawn thread hem.  This came from one of my much quoted authors, Edith John.  I am so pleased that I found this as I have started a series of table runners and love the idea of using different edges.  I would use the ecru for an edge but did  a little in dark pink in order for it to be more obvious.  Antique hemstitching  joins the hem to the piece.

My doodle cloth certainly gets more interesting and I have some pulled thread I want to try.

Earlier this week I also added a little more to my free wheeling buttonhole. This is probably as far as I shall go but I can see the possibilities should I decide to use something similar in the future.

A Great Two Days

This week the Embroiderers' Guild had a children's class with a beautiful Cat Sampler as the project. This class was part of  our ten year old granddaughters' Christmas gift. 

Here are the results of  two days work - hot off the hoops, as you can see,

  Ella's and Sophie's

  I was very impressed with the end results - a beautifully executed pair of cats.        

TJust a postscript - the lovely even stitches could be part of Sharon's TAST challenge.

Seduced by colour!

Do you ever buy thread because the colours call you?  I am a sucker for jewel colours hence the ball of Anchor  perle #8.  Not a good idea!  I like to use variegated thread occasionally but this is the most variegated of variegated.

Anyway that is an introduction to my TAST exercise on buttonhole. First I want to show my Fly Stitch efforts for week 1.

More variegated thread - sometimes one just has to use it - actually I really like it for the spiral.

Then I tried fly stitch as a pulled thread and was  unhappy with what I got  - so we won't count that.

Moving onto Week 2 and Buttonhole Stitch - I have used this stitch in many applications.

I tried Up and Down Buttonhole - it always seems an odd name for a stitch that looks as though it is in one direction only. I have been roaming through my collection of Edith Johns' books and she suggested using buttonhole as an edging - firstly Up and Down

Here it is sitting on a bag using Italian buttonhole insertion in 2010.

Then I tried Edith's 3 sided stitch edge with buttonhole in the loops - definitely needs more practice

Now for the fun bit - Edith's Experimental Embroidery has some wonderful buttonhole haloes.  Some time ago I tried my multicoloured thread

And here is the start of my current effort

I have done a little more to it but no photos.  Also I enjoyed trying  Mary Thomas' Drawn Buttonhole

however they are for another post.

A New Beginning -

Just a quick note to say I have really not closed down - just had a long sabbatical. I would like to participate in at least some of Shron Boggon's challenges for next year so I thought I had better get my act together and restart entries. Sharon is running TAST and TIF once again. I benefited so much from her TIF challenge in 2008 - both in design and the use of colour - I can't wait to try again. Do go see Sharon's page on her blog, Pintangle

http://www.pintangle.com/journal/2011/11/26/the-big-list-of-2012-tast-challengers.html

My TIF exercises for 2008 are tagged in this blog and some are on Flickr - I had been stitching for less than a year at the beginning of 2008.

There maybe not much more text to follow until the New Year but I do have some photos of the work I have done in the last 18 months - not as much as I would have liked but some. Phew!!!!

I wanted to repeat the previous exercise from RAKAM. This time since I wanted a curved outline I decided to produce another in the gumleaf series.


Since I had Christine Bishop's book on Schwalm on loan I followed her instructions and used chain stitch with an outer row of coral stitching for the outline.

Tthe dove's eye is still wanting. However I have withdrawn threads on my pulled thread sampler and intend to really sample it before another attempt. Perhaps that is what I should have done in the first place. Also this is perhaps not the best stitch choice for the shape. However I wanted to repeat the stitches and so learnt quite a bit from the whole exercise.

After I had got so far I decided that I wanted to see how I could vary the value either side of the central vein. This last photo is what I did - I have not done the stitching along the vein yet. It would definitely have been better to have stitched that vein before I started but of course I didn't think ahead. This is waht I have done using a doubled thread for the vein. Now I need to do a long curl stitch or something similar - still trying to decide.

Nearly done! And a touch of embroidery!

The warp is almost finished! I am very pleased with the cloth and the process. The packing paper in the warp is all gone and just half a round of the warp beam is left - about a metre of weaving. Already there is enough for 6+ chairs. So maybe I haven't quite forgotten how.

I did manage to pick up a needle. My first issue of RAKAM arrived. This is an Italian embroidery magazine with some absolutely exquisite blackwork and pulled thread work in this February issue. The only drawback is that I now need to study the Italian language to get full value from the magazine. However I have had incredible assistance from some very talented Italian embroiderers on stitchin fingers Pulled Threads group. So with their help and the great diagrams I find I am not totally working in the dark.

I was very taken with piece of white work that is unlike any pulled thread I had done previously. It requires every fifth thread in both directions to be removed after an outline of the area is done in overcast stitch - a very scary operation and I was only working on a small sample. However once the threads are all successfully cut counting is much, much easier.

The satin stitch section which I think would have been sufficient on its own

Plus my not very expert dove's eyes - unfortunately I changed tack midway and thought I could substitute Greek cross. The original used dove's eyes but the difference is minimal and if I had done a better job I don't think the change would have been particularly discernible.

I like the effect but will try another sample before deciding whether or not to attempt a larger complete piece similar to that in RAKAM.

Thankyou Susan and Megan for telling me about Live Writer - I have not used it yet but downloaded the program .

A new (old) direction!

There are times when blogger drives me insane!!!!!! I can't add photos where I want them so this entry may require patience to follow. I do apologise. However having waited some time for the images to load I don't want to repeat the exercise - so this is like one of those old books where the plates are in one section and the description elsewhere!.

The first photos are some samples made in 2005 of echo weave in cotton and wool - I had always intended to return and produce longer lengths of fabric. My next warp will definitely be an echo weave using 3 echoes and probably this draft.

However for the moment I want to weave the wool chair fabric for our dining chairs which we inherited from my parents. The last photo is of that warp now ready to go.

Now the entry as I intended to write it ....

Very little embroidery has been accomplished in the last couple of weeks. I do have 3 more biscornu to photograph and add to the blog - I have stuck to my resolution for this first four months - hopefully I will manage to keep up .

The last couple of weeks I have been tidying and making a decision or two in relation to weaving. Do I sell my loom and my stash? Or would I give it one more try? I pulled out all the cones of 2/20 cotton that I foolishly acquired a few weeks before I got sick. It was extremely scary to see it all in one place but the colour selection was absolutely gorgeous perfect for the 4 coloured double, shadow and echo weaves that I wanted to weave! For almost 4 years I have spent very little time at the loom which sported a 2/20 cotton warp of pale aqua. Originally I loved it but after it had given me "the guilts" every time I went into the room for years- that love turned to hate. If I wanted to weave something elseit needed to be woven off. The very simple bronson lace was originally intended for a blouse for me. Now I still don't like the fabric - however my daughter, Suzy, (who designs and sews lovely gear for little girls) thinks she can make herself something from it - otherwise it was to be serviettes. That warp liked me as much as I loved it - the most devilish selvedge threads just kept getting looser and looser ... to say nothing about the ones that snapped regularly! I don't have a decent photo of the yardage - it wasn't very photogenic and I gave up trying.

Now it is on to the chair fabric. Tomorrow I can't wait to check the threading and weave off the 5+metres. Then echo weave - here I come!!!