Work in Progress Wednesday - 10 Dec 2014

Yay!  A WIPW update post to share!

There's very little change since the last post on this piece back in early November.  I've just done some bits of dark green on the bottom left hand side.  I think I'm going to finish this corner before moving on anywhere else.

Actually, it's a bit awkward working in that area, but I'm managing it OK.

There are two shades of green down there, but it's hard to tell - even on the piece itself.  One's only very slightly darker.  Might consider changing one of them if they occur together much in other parts of the picture.

The 'Work in Progress Wednesdays' weekly project check-in is run by Sharon B over on Pintangle.

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2014

Needlequest - November round up and December intro - Miniature Work

Sad to say that November was a bit of a dud month for most of us on the Needlequest.  =(

* I meant to do the orange(s) piece and still will (with a new finish date of 3 Jan 2015 or before), but I didn't get to it last month.  Actually, apart from a bit of knitting, I barely touched a needle of any sort last month!

*  Pamela did a little bit on her stumpwork WISP, a pretty floral, but found she couldn't get into it either!!  However, she did get the piece she got back into commission during her first NQ month in May completed, a coloured blackwork alphabet sampler.

* Dorte did quite a bit of catching up and completed some leaves for the September autumn topic, which she plans to use on her stumpwork sample for the November topic, when she can get to it, and worked a fluffy thistle piece for the October 3D stitches theme.

Moving on now to the last topic of the year, which is miniaturisation.

What does miniaturisation mean?  Well, it can mean whatever it means to you, as is often the case.  The only requirement is that it's something smaller than usual.  For instance, those keen on thread painting may like to work a small piece like some of Trish Burr's miniature designs.  Perhaps try some half size cross stitch or another counted thread technique and finish it up into something tiny as well.  There are so many options!

A classic area of miniatures is, of course, things for dolls and doll's houses.  That's what I'm planning to do as, as many readers know, I'm hoping to get into miniature textiles production and sales in the near future, so I'm planning to use this month's challenge to help me develop some ideas.  Below you can see one of them in the shape of a tiny sample of hardanger worked on 40ct linen over only 2 threads as opposed to the usual 4 and in much finer gauges of thread than normal.  You can compare the size against this full scale 22ct piece.

I'm hoping to produce a few tiny hardanger soft furnishings in the fullness of time and a few other things as well.

Some time ago, Kathy of The Unbroken Thread blog (which I'm sure many of you follow already, and if you don't yet, I encourage you to start now), sent me these tiny samples of high count linens from her own fabric stash so I could get an idea of what they're like.  As she lives on the European continent, her counts are per centimetre, so I've measured them in the the more familiar (in much of the English speaking world) counts per inch and noted them down.  High count linens are fabulously expensive, so I greatly appreciate Kathy's generosity in sending me these samples!  Mwah, Kathy!

I also want to have a go at some 1:1/12 scale doll's house bedding and scatter cushions, as well as some tiny blackwork etc.  I don't expect to get all that in this month, but I have so many ideas that it'll be hard to get them in at all, never mind just this month, especially as I'm experiencing a language learning and writing fit at the mo and others need me for proof-reading a bit too.  The real proof-reading extravaganza will come in the spring when Sir's doctoral thesis will be being finalised for submission....

Finally, for general interest and information: I mentioned about the word 'mojo' last post, which some readers were unsure of, so here's the definition from good old Wiktionary:

mojo (plural mojos)

1. A magic charm or spell.
2. Supernatural skill or luck.
3. (slang) Personal magnetism; charm.
4. (slang) Sex appeal; sex drive.
5. (slang) Illegal drugs.
6. (slang, usually with "wire") A telecopier; a fax machine.

The idea in talking about "getting one's mojo back" for something, seems to have something to do with the first two definitions, perhaps coming from the idea that one could, by some magic spell or other, induce interest in oneself or others.  So maybe that explains why I'm not so keen on its usage.   =)

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2014

Is it December already?

Goodness me!  Have I really neglected my blog for a whole month?  Wow!  That must be a record.  Well, here I am in the usual one piece.

My main reason for not posting was lack of anything interesting stitch-wise to report.  There have been other things - illness, being busy with day-to-day stuff, stress etc, but plain lack of productivity (related to the other reasons!!!) is the main cause.

Anyway...

I made it to the Harrogate K&S Show this year after being afraid I couldn't go.  In fact, I had a better, longer day there this time than I had for a while.  I also realised how dehydrating the place is and made a mental note to pack twice as much liquid next year so as to avoid the feeling of being very achey and tired most of the day.

I also got some great new stuff.  The first picture is the threads and the lovely, fine-point scissors.  I bought my first Stef Francis threads (the gold one) and also my first Japanese thread (the multi-metallic one).

The second shot is of the contents of a bargain pack of light evenweaves I picked up for only £8.  There are 8 pieces in there, all good project sizes, some larger, and some even seem to be linen or linen-look fabrics.

I also got a couple of packs of small pieces from a different stall.  I enjoyed looking at Jane Greenoff's little fabric sampler books and thought these smalls would work well to make up one of my own. =)

The next photo, and the last from the Show, is of the four pieces of silk I got from The Silk Route, one of my favourite stands.  I'm still interested in making miniature textiles for doll's houses and I thought the one on the far right especially would be great for 'the gentleman's room' stuff.  The piece on the far left is actually lemon, not cream, and I just bought that for the sheer pleasure of it. =D

As I'd recently made a fair bit of pocket money on e-bay and Amazon, I still had a decent amount left after the show and so put in a big thread order with good old Sewandso.co.uk  I more or less completed the Anchor Coton à Broder #25 collection (just omitted 2 shades I couldn't see myself using) and then plugged some gaps with some DMC ones.  Sadly, their skeins are a completely different shape, so I wasn't able to store them together.  Other than that I grabbed some more Pearl Cotton #12 balls and discovered that I still have room for about another 15.  The beads are Mill Hill Pony Beads in sizes #6 and #8.

So, just a quick stash posting for now as I still have nothing to show you and hope that the stitch-itch might strike again soon.  It always does, never fear. =)  No 'mojo' comments though, please!  I'm quite passionately against magic and related things, so that expression doesn't sit well with me, although I appreciate the thought behind it. =)

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2014