HOW, WHAT and a Crane

With two embroiderers in the house, we do tend to have a large and interesting stash even though we have different approaches to our stitching.
Jane-Beth tells me she is a 'process' embroiderer. She likes to take classes and correspondence courses to find out HOW. Her Hows include; how do you do that stitch, how does that floss feel in the needle, how did the designer come up with that? Once she knows  the HOW, her curiosity is satisfied and she moves on.
I work from the other direction. I have an idea, it becomes a design, and then I think about WHAT. My Whats are; what size of ground, what stitches, what threads, what textures, what am I trying to achieve with this piece? And I keep asking WHAT right up to the last stitch. What if I'd used a different thread or a different stitch?

Being a HOW and a WHAT, we collect threads of all kinds, sometimes because we like the colour, sometimes the texture and sometimes just because it's unusual.
Jane-Beth has an encyclopaedic knowledge of what is in our stash so when this WHAT is looking for something to create a particular effect and isn't quite sure what he's looking for, I go to my HOW and describe it. If we have it, she knows.
I doubt if this WHAT could do what he does without his HOW.

Which is how this piece came about.
Having completed Ribbons, I decided that I would like to do another piece of Rozashi. I mentioned this to Jane-Beth. She rummaged around in the stash and came out with 'Crane'.

This is another Margaret Kinsey piece and uses the same vertical stitch combinations as 'Ribbons'. As soon as Jane-Beth showed it to me I knew she was not going to get the chance to stitch it. Besides, she had already done a HOW on Rozashi.
Crane is 6" square and took 35 hours to stitch.

Seasonal Outing

It's that time of year. This week we attended the Edinburgh Castle Family Annual Carol Service, held in The Great Hall of the Castle. Impressive or what? The lower walls are covered in carved panels and the wooden ceiling is covered in painted designs.

Image copyright of Historic Environment Scotland

So how is that related to embroidery, and how do you get an invitation?
In my case as 'Partner'. The embroidery connection is that Jane-Beth is one of the team who do the conservation work required on the Regimental Colours laid up in the Scottish National War Memorial,  which is in the Castle.

Image copyright SNWM

This is one of the most quiet and peaceful places I know, even when filled with tourists. If you've never been, I recommend that you add it to your lists of 'places to visit in Edinburgh'. Word of warning! Avoid the day of the Annual Rededication Service. The sound of a military band within the walls is deafening.

Ursine Insinuation

As intimated in my post back in January, Mr G Bear continues his attempt to achieve world domination through Teddy bears. The latest group of 29 recruits have been fully trained in 'Looking Cute', 'Snuggling', 'Comforting', and, apparently, standing on each others shoulders.

Once again I had the fun of sewing them up, stuffing them and giving them faces. Each face is slightly different. That's not intentional on my part, but being bears they demand a certain amount of individuality.

It probably takes a couple of hours to sew up the seams, fill and face each bear. We discussed it and came to the conclusion that each bear took about seven hours from start to finish. But it's fun doing them.

And as for this group;

They are off today to Africa, to Little Libraries via Craft Tea who meet at Leo's Beanery on a Wednesday afternoon. Our bears go where they are needed. Or perhaps their destination is decided on by the mysterious Mr G Bear and they are a 'Ninja Cuddling' squad, a furry Fifth Column in his quest for World Domination by Teddy-Bear.

And that's what I've been doing this week.