B For Bear

I stitched this in 2007 for the American Needlepoint Guild Charity Auction 2008. I don't like to hurry and it still had to go to the finishers to get made up into a 'something'. Since I didn't know how it would be finished - pillow, stand-up, applique, I decided to stitch only a few rows of background, but I included additional background thread in the package when returned it.

I don't know who the designer was, the only indication on the canvas were the letters AT. Whoever it was, thank you for the fun, I really enjoyed working this Bear. He was such a fine fellow I decided he needed a ribbon (which was well secured at the back so that it could not be pulled out) to match his Mouse friend's. 

The Bear took 38 hours to stich. I can't remember the size - it was a long time ago and I didn't make a note of that.

Dying Flames

I stitched this piece shortly after completing "Earth, Fire and Water". It was done specifically to enter the Handcrafts Competition at the Royal Highland Show in 2007. The class schedule, as I recall, was for "a piece of completed but unframed canvas work" on the theme of Fire .

The fan was based on the design I used in "Earth, Fire and Water", with the addition of the fan stick. I wanted a wide range of reds and purples to represent the darkness within a dying coal fire so I chose three Needle Necessities overdyes for the flames and a dark blue for the background of the fan. To make the fan stand out I stitched the background  with a lighter blue-grey overdye. The flames are worked in vertical straight stitches, staggered to reflect the flickering of flames. The background is bargello in three tiers, all worked in the same overdyed floss. I liked the colour changes and the way it pushed the fan forward.

Dying Flames was stitched on a blue 18 count canvas and measures 11.75" x 8.5". It took 113 hours to stitch.
And it took First Place, which was a pleasant surprise.

Allegro

This summer, as reported in my entry of 27th August, we attended the American Needlepoint Guild Seminar in Houston, Texas. One of the classes I attended while we were there was "Allegro". This was designed and taught by Debbie Rowley of DebBee's Designs.

I had various reasons for choosing this class. We met Debbie in Edinburgh in early 2019. We had an enjoyable lunch at the National Museum of Scotland and talked for ages about embroidery. After meeting her I thought it would be fun to go on one of her classes. When the class schedule appeared on the ANG website I liked the look of Allegro, I think it was the shapes and colours that attracted me. The piece uses a number of Jean Hilton stitches. I had never tried Hilton stitches, so that was a third good reason for selecting the class.

I finished Allegro this week. It measures 8" square on 18 count canvas and it took me 62 hours to stitch.

Did I enjoy the class?
Immensely. Debbie is a great teacher. I loved that she used videos to demonstrate the stitches, projecting them large on the screen, working them at an angle where her fingers never obscured the stitch she was demonstrating.

Did I like the Jean Hilton stitches?
I think I am going to have a love-hate relationship with them. I really like the way the curves are created by using quite long straight stitches, but I had major issues with counting and thread length. Once I had worked out that if you keep the shape in your mind the first stitch is the only one you need to count. After that the others follow it round in sequence and the Jessica Stitches become less terrifying.
I think my main difficulty was with the thread lengths. I tend to use the 'finger-tip to elbow' measure when preparing threads for stitching, Hilton stitches need longer lengths. I suffered from knots, fraying (mainly because I had to keep unpicking) and loops.

Did I enjoy stitching Allegro?
Yes and no. Overall, I loved it, but it was a struggle. I thought the 'Double Fab Doubled' in the centre was difficult until I started on the Parallelogram Jessica Stitches (the dark green ones). It's not that the method is any different from the smaller Jessica, but to do each one with a single thread requires a length of over 100 inches. I just couldn't handle that, but after numerous knots, curses and restarts I found the best way was to use half that length and do each one in two parts. It was still a very long thread compared to my usual, but definitely easier to control. (Though no doubt I looked silly with my arms stretched out to keep the thread taut and stop it knotting, twisting or unravelling.) The Parallelogram Jessicas alone took nearly 14 hours.

Will I use Hilton Stitches in my own designs?
You never know! I may have found them frustrating at times, but Debbie has made Hilton Stitches interesting and less daunting by creating and teaching this beautiful design.

Fire and Brimstone

"You've never made anything for your father," said Mother.
(Father is a retired Church of Scotland Minister and Military Chaplain. What do you make for an 'Auld Kirk Meeneester'?)
"What do you think he'd like?" I enquired.
"A cushion?" suggested Mama.
So I made him this cushion cover. It is 14" square and took me 36 hours.

It is based on a famous painting by Sir David Wilkie, sometimes labelled as John Knox preaching at Mary Queen of Scots, but actually he's preaching to The Lords of The Congregation. It shows him, as we say, "geeing it laldy". John Knox is an important figure in the history of the Presbyterian Church in Scotland and had a reputation as a 'Fire and Brimstone' preacher.

I created the 'ground in one inch squares using English Piecing.
The purple represents the dark recesses of hell where, in his view, the unenlightened would be condemned for all eternity, the gold-yellow represents the enlightened, 'ie' those who agreed with Knox and would therefore be raised up to paradise on the last day of judgement. The diagonal band of red and yellow represents the Knoxian words of wisdom and the threat of damnation thundering from the pulpit and bringing enlightenment (or fear) to those who listen The colour scheme reflects the general trend of lighting in the Wilkie painting.
I then embroidered the outlines of some of the figures from the painting, starting with John Knox at the top right and representations of the congregation at the bottom left. The female figure in the purple area might be seen as a reference to Knox's "Monstrous Regimen of Women"

He loved it!
Mother loved it. "Typical minister", she commented, "Up in the pulpit six feet above contradiction."

Flame Fan; Earth, Fire & Water

Flame Fan began as a rough doodle shortly after we visited an exhibition of Royal fans at The Queens Gallery, Edinburgh, in March 2006. The original sketch was of a single fan, with curving flames. I liked it, but knew it needed more thought.

Thought does not always go in the direction we expect. What I thought I was thinking about were the elements of the design, shape, colour, texture, size and so on. What I actually found myself thinking about were the basic elements of fire, water and earth.

I don't recall why, but something I had seen or read made a connection in my memory and  I found myself thinking that 'out of the darkness came chaos, out of chaos came order'. I don't know if that's a quote or if I made it up, but that got the design moving.

The centre of the design is a triangle of black felt (darkness). The threads that cross the felt disappear into the three triangles where they become random (chaotic). The random nature fades towards the colours chosen for the 'flames' and the flames appear in an ordered manner out of the chaos as Earth, Fire and Water, the three ancient 'elements'. All three fans follow the same design apart from the colours.

I used Needle Necessities Floss Overdyed in six different shades for the flames and the triangles, and couched the outline of the fans in metallic threads from the family stash. The flames within the fans are stitched in a bargello pattern. The insides of the fans are filled with a running stitch using a fine machine embroidery gold metallic, but the rest of the canvas has been left unstitched.

Flame Fan is stitched on 18 count canvas and the framed piece is 20" square. It took me 102 hours to design and stitch. I exhibited this piece at the American Needlepoint Guild Seminar, 2007 in Baltimore. No prizes, but a positive and helpful critique from the judges.

Venerable Friends

In this blog I have been writing (mostly) about my work in order of completion. Some pieces take longer than others. I started Venerable Friends in January 2005, but it doesn't appear here until September 2006.
Why did it take so long? It just does sometimes.

Copyright Japanese Embroidery Center, Atlanta

Venerable Friends was my Phase III in Traditional Japanese Embroidery. It took time, discipline, sweat and tears, but thankfully no blood was spilt. By the time I was finished it had been re-titled Venomous Friends.
As with each Phase Piece, there are new techniques. In Venerable Friends I learned how to stitch Shippo, and equally important, how to make them all exactly the same size. If they're not, it doesn't look right. Shippo are the circles and ellipses at the top centre.
The purpose of Phase III is to teach the student about 'superimposed work', so it also includes 'Woven Stitch', on the scroll, padding under the cherry blossoms and some of the chrysanthemum petals, and a Higaki pattern in gold over brown at the bottom of the open book.

Why Venerable Friends?
The design consists of four books and a scroll. Books and scrolls contain knowledge, knowledge should be respected. It is your friend and will stay with you all your life. Respect for age and knowledge (wisdom) is embedded in Japanese culture. Thus, books and scrolls containing knowledge should be treated with respect (veneration).

Venerable Friends measures 12" by 10" not including the mount and frame. Although it took me over a year and a half to complete, it actually took 100 hours of stitching.

Petite Nosegay

Drawing back from my recent adventures, we rush back in time to 2006.

At the Nashville Seminar of ANG in 2005 I took a class with the late Sandy Rogers. The class was interesting, educational and informative but I had a definite love-hate relationship with the embroidery.

The design was pretty and I particularly wanted to learn more about silk shading, and I wanted to take a class with Sandy. So what was the problem?
Mental Block!
I 'm stuck with this idea that Needlepoint goes through the holes in the canvas, linen or whatever, and that you don't pierce the canvas unless it's to secure your thread. In this class we used chenille needles and seemed to be piercing the canvas with almost every stitch. I just couldn't get my head round it!

As you can see in the large flower, I really didn't get the hang of silk shading on canvas. Silk or heavy linen yes, but not canvas. I blame me, not the teacher or the design.
I soldiered on and finished it even though it took well into 2006, but it has never reached the stage of being framed. Perhaps one day I'll revisit it, until then it can stay in the drawer, flat, and wrapped in acid-free tissue paper.