Pineapple Welcome

So why is a pineapple welcome?
As I wrote in my Artist's Statement for the 2019 Seminar Exhibit;

In 2018 I took Sandi Cormaci-Boles "Passionate Pineapple" class at Seminar. I enjoyed the class immensely and by the time I had finished the "Petite Pineapple" practice piece and the "Passionate Pineapple" I was so enthused by eyelets that I wanted to design my own version.

Pineapples are a traditional sign of welcome dating back to time immemorial (or at least the 17th Century). I wanted to do something with Sandi's Petite Pineapple and it was only a short step to the idea of WELCOME, but replacing the O with a pineapple. I also wanted to use colour. By lucky chance, Welcome has the same number of letters as the rainbow has colours; Violet, Indigo, Blue, Green, Orange, Yellow and Red. Initially I considered working the letters in eyelets, but while working on the designs it struck me that creating a block of eyelets with the letters unstitched in the centre of each block would give a much more interesting effect and a more striking finish.
I liked that, but decided that the single word lacked visual balance and needed something at the ends, so I added two more pineapples and border.

The ground is 28 count linen. The letters are all worked in eyelets over 4 threads using DMC #8 Perle. The pineapples at either end were worked with a variegated Anchor #8 Perle which reminded me of the piles of well ripened pineapples I occasionally saw at the side of the road in my childhood. The border is a variation on Smyrna Cross, with the X worked over 4 threads and the + over 2 threads. AND all the materials used in this piece came from my Stash!
I am indebted to Sandi for allowing me to incorporate her "Petite Pineapple" into my design and encouraging me to create "Pineapple Welcome".

Framed, Pineapple Welcome is 24" x 14" and took 85 hours to complete. I laced it onto the back-board and it was mounted and framed by Renaissance Framing of Edinburgh.

And a ribbon! Second place. I was surprised and immensely pleased. As one lady said of it, "It deserves a prize for bravery if nothing else! A whole piece in eyelets!" Then she looked at me as though she considered that I might be slightly nuts.
I was asked why pineapples were a sign of hospitality. I have to admit that I have no idea, I think it was the exotic nature of the plant, suggesting wealth and comfort; and the earliest I have heard of it being used as a sign of welcome and hospitality is in the UK and the American Colonies in the mid 17th Century.

Where have I been?

It's nearly a month since my last entry, so I kind of hope you've missed me.

So where have I been? Texas. To be exact, Houston, where we were attending the American Needlepoint Guild 2019 Seminar. Houston was cool but hot. I think it cracked 100f every day. We arrived a few days early as I had to hand in my entries for the exhibit, so we had time to make some visits. We did so slowly. It was too hot to do anything quickly, or to stay outside for very long, so we decided we would brave Houston's public transport system. We anticipated a struggle and discovered that it was anything but! It was easy to use, with flat rate fares, clean vehicles, polite and helpful staff and clear direction boards. And in Downtown there were the free Orange and Green buses.

We took the free bus to the tram and the tram to the Fine Art Museum, and we took the free bus to the bus to a needlepoint shop, Chaparral. Everything connected within a block. There was a short hot walk to Chaparral, but it was worth it. Floss Overload! They were lovely people, maybe a bit surprised to have a Scottish couple appear in their midst, but they couldn't have been more helpful. Yes, I fell in love with THE WALL OF KREINIK and just had to indulge.

The Heritage Society at Sam Houston Park was a fascinating step back in time We visited three houses including The Old Place. built in 1823, and an example of the homes of the earliest settlers from the north. Not all the houses were open due to on-going work, but we were given a tour of the San Felipe Cottage, built 1868 and an example of the style of building and furniture brought in by the German immigrants. The third house was recent (I suppose that depends on the age of your building) being from 1903 and is furnished with all the latest gadgets of the period. All but one of the ten buildings were relocated to the park to protect them. If you like pretty parks (clean and green with lots of water features) and old stuff, and you're in Houston, take a look.

Another day, another Museum. The Houston Museum of Fine Arts is massive. We knew we would never have time to see it all so we had to be selective. Pre-Columbian, South American, East Asian, then there was American (US) art and we were out of breath. We chose to look at those areas we don't see as much of in Scotland. Of course we had to stare for an age at the Tiffany window, and you can't go to an 'old stuff' repository without stopping to look at the Mummies.

Discovery Green, across the street from our hotel, was indeed a discovery. I can recommend the ice cream at The Lake House.

But we were there for Seminar. I'm not sure I can find words to explain 'Seminar'. Three hundred avid Needlepointers from all over the North American continent and usually a sprinkling from other continents, all talking embroidery, design, colour theory, all sharing tips and tricks. There are classes with the best teachers and there is an exhibition 'The Exhibit', where we show off our work. I entered two pieces, The Chapter (see Pages, The Chapter for the full story) and Pineapple Welcome.

The Chapter was awarded a Third Place in the Original Design Non-Professional category.

Pineapple Welcome was awarded Second Place in the Adaptation Non-Professional category.

There were classes to go to of course, so there was some stitching. I took 'Allegro', a three day class with Debbie Rowley (Debbee's Designs), and 'Arrival of Spring', a two day class with Gail Stafford. No doubt you'll hear more about the Pineapple and the two classes in future entries.

Egyptian Flower

Nashville, Tennessee, 2005. We will reach a current date at some point.

This piece is called Egyptian Flower and was designed by Toni McKelley, who taught is as a class which I attended at the American Needlepoint Guild Seminar in Nashville.

I chose this class for a number of reasons. Obviously I liked the design, but there were stitching techniques I wanted to learn and threads I had heard of but never used. It has a number of interesting design elements, many which would have worked on their own, but when brought together they make a brilliant overall design. (I happen to know that this is coveted by at least one of my brothers. I may let him have it.) I love the interplay of the solid colours behind the variegated central cross and the vibrancy of the outer cross. (On second thoughts maybe I'll just keep it on my wall a bit longer.)

I decided that I would not stitch any background to Egyptian Flower. Instead, I placed a reflective glossy white sheet of heavy paper behind it to reflect the grid of the canvas. The final framed size is 20" square and it took me 72 hours to stitch.

The dark line near the bottom of the flower is NOT part of the design. It's just my poor photography skills.

Nashville. What can I say? The hotel was humungous, the rooms were larger than our apartment and the covered gardens were stunningly colourful. There were shoportunities and a chance to do some sightseeing.

We did not go the The Grand Ol Opry, nor did we go on a wheel-boat ride. We did go to The Hermitage where I spent a pleasant half hour with one of the docents discussing the military merits not of Andrew Jackson, but of Marshall Ney. What's the link? Both were cavalry men, and General Jackson kept a portrait of Marshall Ney on his wall. I also learned a bit about Andrew Jackson too!
Our other big tour was to Franklin. We visited Carnton, the house that stars in "The Widow of the South" and spent a quiet time of reflection in the cool quiet of the cemetery. After that it was a walk across parts of the battlefield to the town where we got lost in a quilting emporium for at least an hour. It might have been longer, but we had to catch our ride back to Nashville.

Flying Geese

Based on the quilting block of the same name, I designed and stitched Flying Geese in 2005 for entry in the Royal Highland Show 2006.

The class description in the schedule was "Sampler - Birds", and from within the convolutions of my brain came this. "Sampler"; Websters Dictionary defines a sampler as "a practical example of needlework patterns". Tick. "Birds", well Geese are birds. Tick

The background is a Beaty Stitch variation, the triangles are Jacquard, Hungarian, Byzantine and Oriental stitch. The right hand side is the reverse of the left. Apart from being (I thought) an interesting and attractive design, it is also an example of how to get a different effect by reversing a stitch, and an exercise in compensation (and we all love working out those compensating stitches).
Flying Geese was worked in Soie d'Alger on 18 count canvas. It measures 5" by 5" and took fifty hours to design and stitch.

I thought I had pretty much hit the schedule description with this. The judges didn't agree. It came last. The winner was a colourful and beautifully worked cross-stitch picture of hens and a rooster.

Despite my disappointment, I got a great deal of enjoyment out of designing and stitching Flying Geese and my mother, who was an avid quilter, enjoyed having it on her wall and showing it off to her friends.

Christmas Lights

I stitched this in October - November 2005. It was not for Christmas, but for the American Needlepoint Guild charity auction 2006, a good six months away at that point.

One thing I try to be 'well ahead on' is DEADLINES. Mostly they're self imposed, sometimes it's for an exhibition or a gift, but I always like to be finished well ahead of time. I hate to be in the position where there is a deadline looming and the stitching isn't finished, there's still the finishing or framing, the artist's statement to write or other paperwork to be completed. Not that I'm compulsive about it, but if I can I like to have the completed piece in my hands a good month ahead of the deadline. (Sad or what?)

This hit the deadline with time to spare. It's actually about 3" x 2" and stitched using metallic and rayon threads to give it a gloss. The background is worked in a very fine machine embroidery thread and is much less open in reality than the image suggests. (I make no claim to any photographic skill.)When held with a light shining on it the bulbs reflected the light and looked as though they were on.

I don't know how this was finally finished, how much it was sold for, or what happened to it, and I don't really need to know. The important thing, for me, was to "give something back", even if it is only time and a few threads.

Kites

I made this small wall hanging in 2005, and it's only as I write this that I remember why I made it.

It was to be entered in the Royal Highland Show in Edinburgh in 2006. The Highland Show is a big annual event and the Handicraft section always has an overall theme, with sub-themes for different crafts. The theme for 2006 was, I seem to remember, "Air" and the sub-theme for Patchwork and Quilting was "Kites".

The background is completed in 1" squares, the kites were appliqued on.

Did I win a prize? Not a chance! When I saw the other entries I knew I just had not achieved a high enough standard. I had spent 120 hours on this, and looking at it compared to the other entries I could see that it would have been much better if I had spent another 20 hours on the quilting.
What I did learn was that Patchwork and Quilting is more likely to mean 'patchwork and QUILTING' than 'PATCHWORK and Quilting'.
With 20/20 hindsight, I'm not sure that my colour and fabric choices were the best either.

"Roses," said St. Elizabeth

St. Elizabeth's Apron, which is the title of this hanging, was the 2005 Patchworks McMillan Challenge. The challenge title was "Roses" and the fabric was a rose print.

I dithered over a number of ideas, then, while reading a Hornblower novel I came across a reference to St Elizabeth's roses. That was the trigger. I knew the story (vaguely), but I went to the inter-web to check it out.

One story about her relates that St. Elizabeth (1207-1231), Queen of Hungary, was a Christian given to good works. She would take food to the hungry, clothes to the poor and medicines to the sick. The King, not necessarily having the same values, and watching her drain his coffers, put his foot down. He threatened that if he ever caught her doing so again he would have her beheaded.
The story goes on to say that she continued to do so and one day, when her apron was filled with bread for the starving, they met in the street. "What's in your apron?" he demanded. "Roses," she lied. "Let me see!" Feeling the cold edge of the axe on her neck, Elizabeth opened her apron and the bread had changed to roses.

I based the colour scheme on a depiction of St. Elizabeth. It shows her in a red dress, with a blue over-mantle and a white apron. I chose a red 'mille-fleure' cotton for the dress to extend the rose theme and to indicate that as a lady of high rank she would have had access to exotic fabrics. I retained a solid blue for her mantle, blue being the colour that indicated purity and is associated with pious Christian maidens. The apron is formed from a large piece of white fabric. This was draped as though round the waist and being used to carry bread, then pinned and tucked into shape.
The rose fabric was ironed onto a backing to stop the roses fraying when they were cut out. Each rose or small bunch of roses was cut from the fabric and appliqued to the apron in a cascade, as though the apron had been opened and the roses were falling out.

The roses probably took about one third of the 97 hours I spent on this piece, which measures 24" on each side. I finished it off by hand embroidering the title, which I don't normally do, and making a bias binding from the remainder of the rose material.

There is a post-script to this story. A lady who worked for me was retiring to spend more time in her garden. She, like Elizabeth, was having a second chance. (Nothing to do with an irate axe wielding husband, she was in recovery from cancer.) I knew she had seen and liked the hanging, and as she grew roses it seemed an appropriate leaving present.