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.

Creme de la creme

I don't usually repeat a design but this is an exception.

Crème de la Crème is a reworking of "Fawny of Eight", which appears earlier in this blog. I chose to take the unusual step of reworking an older piece because the Embroiderer's Guild, of which I was a member at the time, was holding a Regional Day in Edinburgh in 2008 and wanted entries for their exhibition of members' work. The theme was Crème de la Crème.

I was asked by one of the organisers if I had anything to submit. There are not many men in the Embroiderer's Guild so they were keen to have something in their exhibition. So I said "We'll see," and had a brief think.

I concluded that in the time available I probably didn't have time to work up something totally new, but I had enjoyed working on Fawny of Eight and was sure I could do it much better second time around.

My memory (not infallible) tells me that this must have been done on 18 count canvas as my notes say I used 4 strands of DMC Ecru. I tried white, but it was too was too stark and cold. The Ecru was just a touch warmer in feeling.
The stitches used are; starting at the top left; Basketweave, Woven Stitch, Twill Variation, Upright Gobelin, Scotch Stitch, Dinaken Stitch, Hungarian Variation (Diagonal) and Upright Brick. The outer border is Satin Stitch.
Because I already had the design, it only took me 30 hours to stitch this, and it was completed in time for the Regional Day.

Earthnight, 27th November 2000

I made this for a competition in Scotland in 2008. The theme was Night and the sub-class was an embroidered cushion, The title comes from the inspiration, a NASA photograph of the Earth at night, dated 27th November 2000.

                                         

                                                   

I was fascinated by the strings and clusters of light and the areas with few or no lights and as it fitted, in my mind, with the theme I decided to create a cushion with a wrap-round map of the earth at night. I did not want the bright areas to be 'in your face', nor did I want a contrast in the colours of the land-masses. During daylight hours the earth is a series of bands of colour, but they don't show up in the same way at night. After some consideration, head scratching and fiddling with options, I decided to keep it simple.

The ground is grey linen, the continents are outlined in running stitch and the infill is cross-stitch. The only exception is the Antarctic which shows as lighter that the other continents. I worked that in a zig-zag running stitch. All the stitching is done with the same (DMC) black stranded cotton.
I then added white beads, packed or spread to reflect the values of the bright areas in the NASA photograph. I secured the beads by sinking them between the arms of the cross stitches AND strangling them. I was determined that they would stand proud and not wiggle!

The finished cushion is about 15" tall and 8" across. If it was a picture it would be about 25 inches wide. It took 109 hours to complete.

And the competition?
I'll admit I was disappointed. It wasn't that the piece did not get placed, I don't think this was some of my best work. What disappointed me was that in the show guide, the hundreds of beads I had so carefully sewn on were described as 'pins stuck in'.
That's what comes of not having Artist's Statements. We may hate having to write them, but at least its our chance to describe our work and how we did it, in our own words. 'Pins Indeed!'

B is also for Baltimore

Baltimore, Maryland, was the venue for the 2007 American Needlepoint Guild Seminar. How could we not go? History and embroidery, lots to see and lots to stitch.

It was August and it was hot, but we were not deterred. We braved the heat to walk around and look at old buildings and monuments, and we learned that Peabody is pronounced Pibidi (with short vowels). We also discovered an amazing piece of sculpture, The Katyn Memorial. It is a memorial to the Poles who were murdered in the Katyn Forest in 1940. I was overwhelmed by it, artistically and emotionally. My picture doesn't do it justice so I have included a link to the website.

We did not get to Fort McHenry, but we did climb Federal Hill. We even adventured beyond Baltimore to Annapolis. The Chapel at the United States Naval Academy has some beautiful embroidery, and the town is a delightful concoction of Late Stuart, Queen Anne and Early Georgian buildings.

The Chapel at Annapolis was interesting for both the embroidery and the architecture, and of course down beneath it is the grave of that well known and respected founding father of the US Navy/Pirate, John Paul Jones. (Delete as appropriate, I suppose it depends whose side you're on.)

Aside from the Seminar and the sightseeing, three things stand out in my memories of this visit. First, the lightning. We had a number of stupendous lightning storms. Second was being able to sit outside ion the warmth and listen to a "The Wailers" concert. I remember when it was "Bob Marley and...". The third is that at the banquet we sang "The Star Spangled Banner". It surprised some at our table that we knew the words (well some of the words).

What about the embroidery?

Having tried and enjoyed Traditional Japanese Embroidery, I had the opportunity to take a class in Rozashi with Margaret Kinsey. Rozashi is the style of embroidery worked by the Ladies of the Imperial Court and other high ranking households. It is worked in hand, with pre-twisted threads - no need for stropping and laying and no need for my trusty tekobari. The ground material is Ro, so a fairly easily countable ground, and all vertical stitches.

The design is called "Ribbons" and utilizes traditional Japanese designs. This was a relaxed and informative two day class during which we learned the basic stitches of Rozashi and where they might be used.
"Ribbons" is 6" square and took 68 hours to stitch.

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.