Work in Progress Wednesday - 30 April 2014

Here we are again for the Wednesday update and whilst the lightening is flashing and the thunder is rumbling around and sounding like something rolling across the roof at times (good thing I don't mind storms too much, huh?), I can show you my latest WIP photos for my Tudor Lady piece.

After the last update, I got the final row of gold crosses put in on the skirt stripes and then moved on to filling in those on the under skirt design.  I filled them all in except for a couple near the hanging pendant gap, which I wasn't sure about (and, to confess, I was doing this easy bit sitting up in bed without the chart....), and then I discovered that I actually had two pairs of yellow stitches missing!  The arrow marks the spot.  So, I need to get that shade back out and do some filling in!!

Once that bit was done (bar the missing bits), I moved on to the green sleeve sections and have completed one and a half of them.  Getting there, bit by slow bit.
  

This Work in Progress Wednesday posting is part of the weekly check-in event on Pintangle.  Feel free to join in!

PS: I've almost completed the first butterfly on my other piece.  I'm doing it really quite badly - nothing like well enough to make a gift or a card of, so I'll be mounting the finished piece as a little decoration for my own study wall.=)  Anyway, just thought some readers might like to know that I'm getting on with it now....  I've been doing a little on each project for most of the last few days.  Is life normalising?  Well, it's crazy enough to be normal, I suppose!!LOL!

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2014

Needlequest Update - 28 April 2014

Aaarghhh!  I just can't seem to get into this piece!=(  It's going OK and the threads aren't too bad to work with (certainly nothing like as big a nuisance as Marlitt can be), but I'm finding it hard to get on with.  I suppose that's because it's not for anything in particular.  If anything, beyond the challenge, it's more or less a practice piece for the ring cushion (which I've decided is going to be very different from the old 'Strawberry and Rose' RSN design I showed you a few weeks ago) in terms of using the threads etc.  I may have said that last week....

Anyway, what about all you other Needlequesters?  Leave me your link before I get my April round up and May introduction post live on Thursday (hopefully) and I'll be delighted to include a link to your blog/album/etc.=)

I don't often include food in my blog, but I made this potato salad last week (yes, I loathe mayonnaise and all sauces like it) and was so proud of the layout that I thought I'd share it.=)

Now, I really should get on with some dinner preparation....

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2014

Work in Progress Wednesday - 23 April 2014

It Wednesday again and time for a Tudor Lady update as part of the Pintangle Work in Progress Wednesdays weigh in.

As you can see here, I've finished the green stripes on the skirt and was thankful to lay aside the Marlitt for the time being.  Having said that, I did get a bit more used to it and found it less bothersome as time went by.  Still, the concensus seems to be that Marlitt is an acquired taste that many readers have not acquired, nor wish to!!!

I thought I'd complete the cross stitches on the skirt area whilst I was working down there, so I've done seven of the eight rows of gold crosses.  These are being worked with Coats Reflecta, which is somewhat like regular Kreinik braids, only rather thinner.  It's not too slippery, so isn't too much more difficult to use than stranded cotton.=)

Here is the whole piece as she stands right now:

This is a photo for fun.  I thought I'd share my work table!  As you can see, it's just a folding occasional table (£5 from Morrisons a few years ago, lots of people seem to have them) on which I've put my two current projects.  The materials for the Lady are on the classy orange tray you can see (the grey cord thing is my camera cable) and the other project, as yet unstarted, is at the back.

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2014

Needlequest Update - 21 April 2014

Is it really almost two weeks since I last posted?  Goodness!  Well, I'm OK, although health has been a problem of late.  I still can't wear my glasses, but am taking antibiotics for the sinus infection and will see the doctor tomorrow about it.  It does make computer use very challenging and so I've hardly had my machine on at all.  Actually, it's been rather nice....=)

So, where am I with Needlequest work?  I thought I'd try and merge March and April's themes and do my goldwork butterflies as fitting 'Spring' as well.  So, I made a start with the most appalling bullion knots  done very badly with Coats Ophir, as you can see here!  There's an extra loop just hanging around on each of the three knots and they looked so bad, that all I could do was take them out again.  To be honest, bullions aren't my forté even with cotton threads.  With metallics, they're dreadful.  I'd need a lot of patient practice before I could make this look good.  Then I got to asking myself if the reason I'd neglected this piece didn't have something to do with not really wanting to stitch it, and realised that I really didn't want to do it. So, I took the fabric out of the hoop, erased the outline and put it aside for something else later on.  Basically, I like using metallic threads as trims etc, but I'm not into pure goldwork after all.  Something valuable learned there!=)

So, what next?  I decided as I love butterflies and am thinking of using a Helen M Stevens' inspired design for the wedding ring cushion (more on that another day), I would work a small piece of hers in silks.  Anyone who has her 'Embroidered Butterflies' may recognise this piece from early on in the book.  I decided to take the two elements marked out here:

And turn them into a nice, small scale study.

As you can see from this tracing, I've deleted the caterpillar part as it would have made the whole thing a bit too wide.

The two butterflies here are very springlike indeed as we actually saw them in a garden in Gloucestershire where we were guests last Sunday.=)  So, here are one brimstone and one male orange tip.

This is the green fabric I've chosen to work it on and the Pipers silks ready to go.  I've transferred the outline, which is a bit faint, but workable with, I think.  Just need to fish out one more colour for one of the butterflies and then get started.  The fabric is quite interesting as, although you can't really see it here, it's a bit discoloured and a darker, blue-er green at the bottom than the rest.  I'm hoping that that subtle shade change will enhance the finish, making it more lifelike.

I really haven't felt much like stitching of late, so I hope I can get on with this during the week and have something to share next week.

What about you?  What have you been doing?

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2014

Work in Progress Wednesday - 9 April 2014

Anyone remember that I said I was going to complete all the cotton cross stitch before moving on to the rayon etc?  Well, I was going to, and that's what the pattern instructed, but I just ended up finding working the shawl around areas to be stitched later was leading to far too many mistakes being made and so I decided to work the green sleeve sections first then finish the shawl.  Of course, once I'd decided to do the green, then I decided I'd start by completing those rows on the skirt instead so, here you have what I got done over the past couple of days.

I have to say it, Anchor Marlitt is beastly stuff to work with!  It's incredibly springy and is forever slip-sliding against itself in the needle and every few stitches see me having to re-align the threads in the needle as one has slipped and is then longer than the other and doesn't pull through fully.  Add to that the thread having a mind of its own when it comes to how it lays on the fabric as well and you've got hard work for relatively messy, uneven stitches.  That wouldn't trouble me greatly normally, but this is a competition piece, so I wanted it to be as near to perfect as I could make it.

Having said that, the thread shines wonderfully and I took this photo with the light falling on the stitches so that you can see the difference in sheen between Marlitt and the regular Anchor stranded cottons used so far.  I think Marlitt is much like metallic threads in that they're all a real pain to work with, but they look great in the piece.

Here's the full piece at the moment.  It's a little behind the published schedule at the mo, but as the schedule was leading to completion almost 3 months ahead of the show date, I'm not worried about it as yet.  There is a lot to stitch at the mo, what with wedding things etc to do, and I haven't had much oomph to get on with it of late, but it seems to be coming slowly back.=)

You can join in with a piece of your own, or see what others in the group are up to on Pintangle.

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2014

Needlequest - First Quarter Round-up and April theme - Spring

Well, here I jolly well am again!  Still having some headache/glasses etc problems, but I can manage for long enough today to get this long overdue post sorted.

What you see here is how far I myself got with the March goldwork challenge.  March was a bad month for a lot of things, stitching included, so I didn't really get this one off the ground, although I do still want to do it in the relatively near future.

Here are some people who did manage to produce something for last month's challenge:

* Tingting completed a UFO for her March challenge - a goldwork lotus head.

* Wendy combined goldwork techniques with canvas work to complete a lovely copper and white ornament.

* Elaine spent some time working on a part goldwork bird.

Looking back to February and the Japan theme:

* Tingting wrote a lovely post on her travels in Japan and the Sashiko she worked for the challenge.

* Dorte shared her work so far on a Japan themed quilt using Japanese fabrics and embellished with hand embroidery.

* Wendy shared her quite expansive explorations into Sashiko as part of her February round up post.

January's topic of needle painting attracted a number of people and here are the results:

* Erica produced a lovely floral piece and posted it to Stitchin' Fingers.

* The Whitness worked a pretty pink rose.

* Elaine worked a shaded bird and then mounted it in a box.

* Wendy worked on a shaded crewel floral piece during the month.

If I've missed anyone off, SORRY!  Please let me know and I'll add you at once!  I'll be doing this round up at the end of each month, so as long as you have a link left for me on, say, the previous Needlequest post any time up to the last day of the month, you should be in time to be included.  I'll add 'latecomers' in afterwards, but you'll get more visits by being 'on time'.  Your project doesn't have to be completed, just show us how far you've got and let everyone discover your talent!=)

And now, onto the April theme: Spring.  First of all, my apologies to those in the southern hemisphere for making both this theme and the September one of 'Autumn' coincide with the northern seasons.  If we decide to continue with the challenge and do 'Winter' and 'Summer', I'll do them in July and January respectively, OK?=)

Spring is a relatively easy theme to find inspiration for, even if it weren't visible every time we looked out of our (northern hemisphere) windows!  There are so many lovely flowers, baby animals and blossoming trees to inspire our work!  Here are a couple of photos I purloined from two of my stitching books.

The first is from 'The A-Z of Thread Painting' published by Country Bumpkin and is a tulip.  That also brings to mind Dutch bulbfields as an idea....

This second photo needs little introduction - Trish Burr's wonderful needle painted crocus from her 'Colour Confidence in Embroidery' book.  This was something I thought I might do this month at one point and it's still on my stitching 'to do later' list.  I just love crocuses, especially when you see a whole bank of them - a feast for the eyes in white, yellow and purple against the bright green of the spring grass and the crocus foliage.  Bliss!  I really missed that in East Asia.

Speaking of the Orient, how about Japanese cherry blossom as an idea?  We pass rows of trees here that are also blossoming in light and dark pink - a real picture!

What ideas do you have?  I'll share mine next week....

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2014

Needlequest updates coming soon

Sorry about the delay in getting the Needlequest stuff up.  I've got a heavy cold and can't wear the glasses I need for computer work as they seem to put pressure on the exact spot that encourages monster sinus congestion,  (so I'm posting this from my phone).

I'll be back as soon as I can, if not sooner, with a round up of the first three months, featuring links to all sorts of work done by challenge participants, and an introduction to the lovely topic of spring. Don't wait for me though Needlequesters, make a start! :-)

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2014