Commissions update - Snowdrops 2

The best travelled sampler!

Well, so much for being determined in March 2014 to get back on track this commission.

To be honest, progress was more or less non-existent until the Christmas break, but it must be in the running for the 'most travelled embroidery project' by now with numerous trips to Cardiff and Norfolk, not to mention Brussells, north Wales and Provence in 2014.  I'm really pleased (and hugely relieved) with how it is going now. There was a mild (understatement of the week!) panic over the weekend when I got to the last corner and realised that the two 'ends' were one thread out of line.  Yes ONE thread!!!  Aaargh!

But, I found where I'd gone wrong and thankfully it isn't as big a 'repair' job as I'd feared. So, last lap here I come.  Just one more repeat of the V shaped motif and it is on to the text of the poem for the central space.  I still have the white flowers to catch up on (daylight is an absolute MUST for these at this time of year), which I may still outline (watch this space).

I'd love to find a suitable font for the poem though.  The border is 'art nouveau' influenced and all the backstitch ones I've found so far don't really 'match'.  There are plenty of lovely cross-stitch ones around on-line, but I'm constrained now by the border, so it can't be too large.  I've found some nice 'print' fonts, which I may attempt to convert to backstitch (or at most, cross-stitch over one thread).  We'll see how much time I have.  I don't really want to 'spoil the ship for a ha'porth of tar' this close to the finishing line though!

Commission update - Snowdrops

Along with everything else in my life recently, my commissions have taken a bit of a back seat.  But with the New Year, new-found energy (if it lasts!) and getting rid of my back-log of odd jobs, I'm getting determined to get back on track with the last commission of 2013.

My last update about it was months ago.  So HIGH time for me to be getting on with it again.  Over Christmas I was, at least, able to touch base with the commissioner, and I think they were rather surprised that it was as big as it is.  In fact, I suspect they hadn't expected me to go to quite so much trouble with the border (which is going to be quite prominent).

Progress has been slow until fairly recently, but I'm now fairly happy with how it is coming along now. Getting the first corner right was a little complicated and took longer than I'd expected.  I had made two versions of the chart to see which looked best, but even so, when it came to stitching it, it changed slightly. I'm a little disappointed that there isn't more of a contrast between the fabric and the white of the snowdrops. I'll have to see how it goes, but I may end up outlining them so they stand out more.

I'm expecting the stitching of the poem in the central space to be quite a quick job after the wide border though.  Let's keep our fingers crossed!

It is a good feeling to have turned a corner (excuse the pun!) and realise that I'm over half-way through the border now.

Royal School of Needlework - update

At the end of March I promised to let you know how I got on at the Royal School of Needlework on my 'Introduction to Embroidery' course, and here it is (finally).
Initially, I was a little disappointed as I'd interpreted the title differently and was expecting to have a little bit of everything else they offer, a sort of 'taster course'.  But the 'Introduction' is really that - and introduction to a few of the 'traditional' embroidery stitches like you may have learned at school or from your grandmother, such as chain stitch, back-stitch, french knots etc.
We were a group of seven, smaller than usual for RSN courses aparently (usually about 12), as this was an additional date, but in my opinion, the size of the group was just right as we all had the opportunity for some one-to-one and were all able to ask questions.  Our tutor, Heather, was lovely.  She is a freelance embroiderer - lucky lady! and regular tutor at RSN.  At the beginning of the day we all introduced ourselves and gave a little of our 'embroidery background'.  I was a little surprised that I was the only Friend of RSN on the course and also the only one who'd done much embroidery, although quite a few had done a little with their grandmothers when they were small.
We were all given a kit for a 'leaf' motif with each leaf being done in a different stitch and Heather demonstrated each different stitch by starting one of us off while the rest of us gathered round to watch.  As the day progressed and some of us stitched at a different pace, she showed us in smaller groups as we became ready to move on.  We had a tea-break mid-morning and were able to take a quick look at some of the school's library and their complete range of both DMC and Anchor threads and at lunchtime we were taken to the RSN shop ("child" and "sweet shop" are the words that spring to mind!) to pay for our supplies (and anything else that took our fancy, which was quite a lot really, but I managed to resist and 'only' bought 7 skeins of DMC and a pair of super-duper embroidery scissors so that my beloved Swiss army knife can retire).

 

There were five leaves in the original kit - one each for chain stitch, fly stitch, blanket and slip stitch, Van Dyke stitch and threaded back stitch - with some goldwork couching and french knots to boot.  Three of us got a bit enthusiastic and used the 'prick and pounce' method to add an extra leaf to our design and we chose to try trellis stitch (which I finished at home).

It was a brilliant day.  I was so enthusiastic and excited about my embroidery at the end of it and I can't wait to go back again and try another.  I think the natural follow-on would be crewel work, and I am tempted, but I really fancy blackwork.  It was the first time I'd actually be taught embroidery, as I'm self-taught really and it was such a privilege being taught by such an expert.  It was wonderful being surrounded by examples of fantastic embroidery too (some of Heather's and some apprentice pieces).  At the end of the day Heather also took us to see an amazing embroidered screen (middle row, right in link) in an adjacent room.  It is about 6 feet high and was completely covered in beatiful crewel work (loads of trellis stitch and millions of french knots, which actually looked like velvet or chenille). Being inside Hampton Court Palace was fantastic too, and although you couldn't really tell from the room we were in - climbing up the old stairs and peering out of the window at the Palace gardens made the day all the more special.  I wonder what Cardinal Wolsey, Henry VIII etc would think of us all wandering around 'their' palace in our modern get-up and picnicking on their lawn?!

Commission update 4 - a hard life

With one thing and another, I hadn't managed to finish DN's bus, nor started on the stitiching part of my next commission - the snowdrop sampler.  April and early May was all go with family visits, marathon running (not me!), family birthdays, a wedding, new kitchen windows, a garden to tidy (at last), curtains to finish, leaks to get repaired...  Not to mention the regular things like work and choir rehearsals - zumba has gone out of the window a bit too and I must try to fit that or some other exercise back into my schedule.

However, we have just had a holiday (yay!) and it was the perfect opportunity to have some peace and quiet to get on with things.  Scanning my draft posts before going away, there were a couple of possibilities.  I could have made some key rings - small, quick projects that are portable - but that would have meant taking a number of options for threads and patterns as well.  Although it was quite tempting.

But the really sensible option was to finish DN's bus (at long last) and to get going on this snowdrop sampler.  The design has been ready for a while and it only needs four colours of threads and the linen has arrived.

I duly packed it all into my case and set off for the airport.  I felt  a little frustrated on the way out as I didn't want to risk anything being confiscated by airport security, as I knew that they wouldn't let me take scissors on board.  I presumed that needles would be the same, so ended up sleeping and reading on the way out, only to realise after arriving that somehow a needle had fallen to the bottom of my hand luggage (from when I'd been using it for my commute and cross-stitiching on the train).

We had such a busy, packed time sunbathing by a beautiful lagoon or visiting pretty little islands on boat trips that I didn't do quite as much stitching as I thought I would.  BUT despite this hardship, I did manage to finish DN's bus (fanfare & fireworks!).

Ta-dah!

Now, the pattern stated that the 'shadows' should be stitched in french knots.

But, I had been putting off doing all the french knots as I really didn't fancy it on aida fabric.  Then,  having started DH and I both thought they looked awful (could be my bad french knots of course).  So I changed plan and stitched half cross-stitches instead.

Maybe, not as interesting, but certainly tidier and more even, and it still gives the 'shadow' effect.

Divertimenti

What is it about me?  I've plenty of projects to be getting on with and tick off my (long) to-do list, but instead I get distracted and start something new.

I should be finishing of DNw's bus sampler, but I've come to the conclusion that I don't like doing french knots on Aida fabric, so I'm jibbing and trying to delay the inevitable.

I could also be making the dining room curtains to match the gigantic ones in the living room (thankfully, the window there is a LOT narrower!), but I've only managed to do one layer of them so far.

Instead I entertained myself on a rather dull train journey last week by making a key ring (free gift in my favourite cross-stitching magazine).  Then I made a birthday card for SIL whilst watching a couple of hours of BBC4 one evening and now I'm working on a wedding card for some friends who are getting married at the weekend.

Snowdrops

At the beginning of the year I told you about commissions I'd received.  I must admit that it has taken me longer than I expected to finish the first.  Well, I've finally started work on the second.

It is an embroidery of a poem written especially for a friend of my BIL's when she was presented with a special award at the Welsh National Eisteddfod.  Her name means 'snowdrop' in Welsh, so he's requested a snowdrop border for it.

After much searching in books and online, I finally fell for this Art Nouveau one from this book.

My needlework book collection - well, some of it!

And for those of you who aren't very familiar with plotting cross stitch charts, this is the process I followed:

After choosing a font I liked, I plotted the words of the poem on grid paper.  Once I'd finished that, I worked out the centre of the poem (dividing the number of squares the width of the words takes by 2 and ditto with the height of the words) and marked that on the chart.

I photocopied the chart of the border a number of times and played around with them to get the best option for turning corners (IMHO, of course).  I also decided which part of the design worked best at the 'centre' so that I could line this up with the centre of the words.

Photocopies of the border used to try out different 'corner' options (with plotted poem)

With all of this decided, I copied the border (as the photocopies weren't on the same scale as my chart for the poem - bad planning on my part and I expect there would be a way of photocopying to the correct scale or choosing the correct scale grid paper for plotting!) to work out the scale in relation to the poem.  I then 'played' around a bit with the border in relation to the words to work out how many times the motif would fit across and up the poem in order that I could try to work out how much space there would be around the words.  Being totally honest, I had got quite confused by this point was loosing interest in it all.  I ended up 'guess-timating' 3 motifs across and 2 up, plus the corner and came up with 3 full plus two 'halves' along the top and bottom; 2 full plus two 'halves' up each side.  If you're still following - congratulations and stick with me a bit longer.  If not, I hope some photos will help clarify things a little.

Up-scaled border motif with poem

My bits of plotting, calculations and jottings

To cut a long-ish story short, with all those calculations done I realised that I needed to find a larger font for the poem as there would be far too much 'white' space around it otherwise!

Anyhow, with all of this done (phew, time for a well-deserved cuppa and biscuit I think - for you and me!) it was time to work out how much fabric I needed.  Thankfully you can find help with this online like this for example.

I've decided to go with an evenweave fabric as a) I prefer it, b) I think it will suit the style of the border better and c) I think the recipient will like it and it will suit her decor (from what I know of her).

As for the colours, well, for once, that was a little easier to decide on than the rest.  Firstly, snowdrops are white and green - easy.  And secondly, the lady in question leads a dance group and the group's signature colour is purple.  So, the border in white and green and the poem in purple (which thankfully goes quite well with green and white - lucky that!) on a natural linen background (so that the white of the snowdrops shows up nicely).

So, off I go .....

Commission update

Take a look at how I'm getting on with my latest commissions with my weekly progress photos.


Dn's bus - week 1

DN's bus - week 2

DN's bus - weeks 3 & 4

DN's bus - weeks 5 & 6
Getting there now

The world is your ... embroidery kit?!

Don't you just love holidays?  Travel is one of the many things DH and I have in common.  He's done a lot more of it than I have, but we both love it.  We've both lived abroad too and would love to give that another shot sometime before we're too old.

Over the years we've both collected lovely souvenirs from our travels and our home is decorated with many of them.  I must admit that DH has a very good principal when it comes to buying presents and souvenirs - get something that someone can use or need/want, rather than just buying for the sake of buying and the item collecting dust in a cupboard somewhere.

Since being together we've bought a beautiful rug (India), a St Bridget cross and butter dishes (Ireland), garden lantern (Wales) and a Benjamin Franklin quote print (Philadelphia). We also have Chinese script, south American textiles, African masks, Aboriginal artwork, Czech prints and a few Christmas tree and Easter decorations from our various solo trips.  We do tend to buy a tea towel or two while we're at it too and in our collection there are some from South Africa, Ireland, Belgium, Sweden, Brittany, the London 2012 Olympic Games and Australia.

I love to try to buy embroidery magazines while I'm abroad too, as they are often slightly different to what you'll find here.  But my ideal souvenir is to find an embroidery kit that shows something typical of the country I'm visiting.  It isn't always easy though, but I have managed to get a lovely May Pole from Bavaria, a banner of typical/well known Norwegian buildings, a Swedish Christmas banner, a map of Brittany and some Quimper faience pattern 'samplers' and I also have a provencal table cloth from a visit to my cousin when she lived in Toulon.

Bavarian may-pole - when I replace my camera I'll add a better photo!

Map of Brittany by Philomène

Greetings from Norway - typical buildings

Provencal table cloth and napkins

We were fortunate enough to be in New York for a week when the Icelandic volcano struck and caused havoc with international travel.  What hardship to 'have' to stay there for an extra week!  During the second week I discovered a lovely little embroidery shop around the corner from where we were staying and I went to see what I could find.  I discovered an embroidery 'designer' called Prairie Schooler which has a lot of folk-art style designs.  In the bargain bucket I found "A Prairie Year II" booklet - 12 designs, one for each month of the year - which I thought would be quite practical for a pretty, quick stitch as a card or small gift.

Before leaving NYC, I showed the booklet to our hostess and asked whether she'd like one of the designs and promised to send it to her once I'd finished (with the caveat that I'd no idea how quickly I would manage it!).

It is just as well really, as I saw her again a fornight ago - for the second time over here since our visit there in 2010 - and realised that I still hadn't finished her design.  Well, to be honest, I finished embroidering it ages ago, but haven't made it up into anything yet.  I'd also embroidered another two designs, one for Christmas (but that hasn't turned out as successfully as the other two as the background fabric is a bit pale) and one with a beehive design for another couple we know who keep bees.  I've filled them both with dried lavender so they not only look pretty, but they also smell heavenly. 

Prairie Schooler lavender bags

Yet another UFO to tick off my long list.  How do you think they turned out?

Lists

It's that time of year again.  Summer holidays over and everyone thinking of the 'new year'.  A depressing thought?

Well, not for DH apparently.  He finds it quite exciting (he likes plans!).  As a result, we spent some of the bank holiday weekend planning our autumn ... and that comprised of creating a number of lists!

A list of people we want to see
A list of things we want to do
A list of jobs to organise
A list of jobs in the garden
A list of jobs in the house ...

The list of lists goes on ...

Naturally, in the middle of all these lists, there is a list of projects for me to sew (with one or two extras by me that aren't part of the above listed lists!).   So, here it is (in no particular order) for you to help keep me on track (and check up on me!):

• Tidy kitchen blinds (I know, I made these months ago and still haven't tidied the odds and ends up!)  Hooray, I finally finished them! And I've now also altered them to fit the new windows - happy me!
• Replace spare bedroom curtain linings (thoughtfully shredded by sunlight and cats) - one down, one to go!  Almost there now, just need to finish the pleating and rehang :-)
• Buy living/dining room curtain fabric (a warning - there will be miles of this when I get it as the windows are ridiculously tall) and allow some extra fabric for matching/coordinating cushions
• Make up living/dining room curtains (is there such a thing as a 'life saver' to prevent you drowning in fabric?!) - see above re cushion covers too.  Hooray - finished sewing them, just need to finish hemming them now!
• make new white blouse/tunic for self using Amy Butler Liverpool pattern (as a test piece for making a patterned one for DM and me)
• make apron for MIL from Liberty book I had for Christmas last year (in time for Christmas this year)
• Make bread basket and tea cosy for kitchen out of left over blind fabric
• Start designing anniversary sampler for DS (significant anniversary not for 23 months, so I have a little time!)
• Start designing bicentenary sampler for church (not sure I'll make it for the bicentenary, but certainly to mark it)
• Make/embroider some Christmas decorations as gifts for this Christmas (or maybe just sew some Christmas gifts)
• Order fabric for bedroom curtains (once pole is in place) and make up, also cushion for chaise longue and throw and cushion for bed
• Cover lampshade for bedroom (if we still can't find one we like and can afford!)  We found a lovely one in the Grand Bazaar in Instanbul

OK, let's be honest.  This list is likely to keep me out of mischief until well into 2013 and beyond, but we can but hope!

PS:  I'll try to remember to strike through those I manage to finish as I go along.

Peas in a pod

Oh goodness, I'm not very good at this posting lark, am I?  My apologies for my absence over the last few weeks.  To be honest, I was on holiday for two weeks (and busily embroidering for you instead).

Well, I have finally finished the sampler for my friend's little girl (mind you, at the rate I'm going, she'll be married before I've ironed and posted it to her!).  So she and her brother will now have 'matching' samplers.

I embroidered the 'brother sampler' shortly after he was born:

And have adapted the design to suit a girl, as you can see, by changing the colours and some of the toys depicted.  My remit included her favourite colour (purple) and that she's a horse fan, so I've done my best to include those requests.

There were a few dilemmas as I progressed, including the colour of the alphabet around the edge (it started out green!), were the 'little ladies' in the centre too pale, and most crucially, which letters of the alphabet should I put on the blocks!?!  Actually, it isn't as daft as it sounds really.  As you will see from the 'brother sampler', they have A, B and C on them, but as his name starts with G, that was easy (see the individual block on the right).  But with her name starting with B, I thought the 'sister sampler' would be a bit repetetive if there were two blocks with B on them.  Instead I opted for the end of the Welsh alphabet (which follows the original design by Brenda Keyes anyway).  I also thought of putting a B on the horse's saddle, but decided against it in the end.
Please post your comments on the two samplers - I'd love to hear what you all think!

Madame Defarge strikes again

Last week I was at the Llangollen International Eisteddfod.  I've been going there since I was a baby and during my teens (at the height of my embroidery obsession) I used to take my latest project with me and sit in the pavilion during the competitions and stitch.  We always sit in the same block and over the years have got to know the others that also sit in the area and a lovely man from Windsor, who we'd see there with his wife every year, started to call me Madame Defarge, from A Tale of Two Cities, because I'd stitch while the competitors danced/sang - a bit like the character knitting while the poor victims of la guillotine faced their terrible fate.

So, Madame Defarge was back again at Llangollen last week, stitching away as the choristers and dancers fought it out for first prize!  And I made some progress on my sampler (which will be the sister sampler to the one in 'They're changing guard at Buckingham Palace') at last.  I still have a way to go, but considering I'd only managed a couple of letters of the alphabet border and the bulk of the name before last week, I'm quite pleased with my progress.

Sampler design

I thought it was about time that I gave you an update on the sampler designing I mentioned in my earlier post.  Not that there is an awful lot to report.  It has been slow, to say the least.
I'm reasonably happy with the design.  It was a bit of a fiddle copying out all the various bits I'd found to create a comprehensive (I hope) whole.  I'm really looking forward to getting our new computer so that I can start using design software for this stage.  But adapting the design of 'big brother's sampler' was quite a good way to start, I think.
The next step was choosing colours.  Now, this is when I think the design software would have been REALLY useful.  Unfortunately, I don't have silks for all the colours I've chosen so far, so it is a little difficult to tell whether or not they'll all work together yet.  At the moment, what I have looks a bit 'bitty', but once I get the 'main colours', hopefully it will all start to look a bit more like a design (rather than a a bad jigsaw!).
Sorry - no photos this time.  I'll try to include one in the next update - once I have all the silks etc - so that you can see how I'm getting on.

A sample of samplers

As I think I've mentioned, I've been embroidering for years and years.  It all started when I was about 8 and I found an old biscuit tin of my late grandmother's full of embroidery silks.  I asked my mother what they were for and she explained and showed me ... the rest as they say is history!

I've been hooked ever since.  I think the first thing I embroidered was an unfinished tray cloth of my grandmother's (she died a year before I was born and was a seamstress and milliner).  I showed it to her sister and the following Christmas I got an embroidery kit for another tray cloth from her.  I still have both of them.

I've made sampler, followed by sampler, followed by picture, then another sampler ... you get the gist.  I'm ashamed to say that most of them are kits and not my own designs.  I've been a bit reluctant and unconfident about designing my own.  I have, however, made a number of friends samplers to celebrate weddings and births (but not for my sister, as she keeps reminding me!).

And that is where you/this comes in - I hope. 

Three years ago I made my (then, soon to be) brother in law and sister in law a sampler as a wedding present.  Then my mother in law asked for one too.  And last year I made two birth samplers for my cousins' children.  So, in a way, I'm on a roll. 

Then a friend recently asked if I'd make one for her daughter as a 'pair' for the one I made her son when he was born.  Embarassingly, I'd intended to make one when her daughter was born and had even bought the materials, but never got around to it (this seems a bit of a theme in my creative life!).  So, now I've embarked on my first true commission.

I'm not going to make the sampler I'd originally chosen and bought the materials for.  Instead, I'm going to adapt the design of her brother's - so this is a step towards designing my own!