Work in Progress Wednesday - 28 May 2014

I've been filling in many of the 'gaps' on the skirt section over the past few days and here are the results, showing one element at a time.

Here's a shot across the work showing the texture more clearly.  This was one very rich brocade that was being represented here!

She looks like this at the moment all together.  Not too much further to go now and I've decided to go with the gold beads I already own for the dress trims and then source some matching 'sets' for the dangling jewel parts.  Not only do I want to get on with it, but I think that will work well and there's nothing wrong with having them very slightly different, esp. as that will make it more clear that the skirts and trims are separate parts.

You'll be able to see the other participants' Work in Progress Wednesday posting over on Pintangle.

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2014

Needlequest Update - 26 May 2014

I've finished a Needlequest month on time!  Wow!  Last night, in fact, so with six days to go.  Stunned, or what?!

Here is my last small blackwork piece for the challenge this month, a little heart which I'll mount in a card for Sir's anniversary card this next month.  It's actually only tiny, just under two inches each way, but who wants to look at teeny-weeny photos??=)

I've enjoyed relaxing with blackwork this month and will come back to it more later on.  As you might remember from the month's intro post, I have a couple of kits and other designs in reserve, waiting for when I have time to devote to them.  For the next few weeks though, apart from (hopefully) completing the peacock feather piece as my 'Line' sample for Needlequest June and finishing off the Tudor Lady, it's all focus on the wedding ring cushion and completing the April NQ piece as practice.

Back on Wednesday with the progress on the Tudor skirt - filling in many of the gaps etc.

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2014

Work in Progress Wednesday - on Thursday 22 May 2014!!

Yup, I'm late with my WIPW update again today.  However, there's a good reason this time.  I took this first photo a couple of days ago after having done some more on the right hand section of the shawl, but then Sir borrowed my camera on Monday for his research trip and only got back after dark last night (Wednesday).  He needed a reliable camera and his both drains batteries at an unacceptable speed for someone who needed to take a lot of shots and the on switch is dodgy.  I tried to use it myself to get this second shot yesterday, but I couldn't persuade it to work at all, so I gave it up as a bad job and decided to wait until this morning instead.=)  I too need a reliable camera...  As you can see, I added in quite a bit more since the previous photo stage and I really wanted to share that progress, so that's the why of being late this week!

As you can see, I've now totally finished the shawl and also added in the rear, veil-like section of the headdress, so that means the cross stitch is complete.

What's left now is the beading, the filling in of the skirt and jewel gaps with satin stitch and the petit point for the skin areas.  I deliberately worked around the face and neck in a certain way so as to make the petit point work well, but I now can't remember how, so I need to do a few trials on a scrap of 14ct Aida or something like that.  I also need to trial the number of strands as I'm really not sure.  Ah, no, I can't use Aida - you can't work petit point on Aida, (pity, 'cos I've a few scrap ends that would have been perfect otherwise).  Right, so an off-cut of some type of evenweave then.  So, that's to do soon.

I'll be glad to get this piece finished very soon as I'm ready to move on now and, when I do my occasional blog reviews (that is, I look at my blog as if I were a new reader to see how it looks and so on), I'm tired of seeing more or less the same photo all the time!!!  So, time to move this forward ASAP and get something new going, methinks.  That's why I got quite a bit done.  That and that I did stitch in bed again.  In case that sounds odd, I have to go to bed about 8.30pm, so it's not late.  I can't sleep straight away, but am more rested reading or stitching in bed than I would be sitting up etc.  So, I sometimes do some counted thread work - the light isn't good enough for freestyle.

So, that's my progress for the last week.  If you want to see how others in the current Work in Progress Wednesdays cohort are getting along, hop on over to Pintangle!

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2014

Needlequest Update - 19 May 2014

OK, I'll be honest, I haven't done a stitch of blackwork in the last 10 or more days.  Well, I was ill in bed for at least five of them, so I have some excuse.  Also, I've learned how blackwork works and am ready to tackle a more meaningful pattern than just little practice samples.

In the meantime though, I got this book out of the library a fortnight ago.  Actually, I used to own this one and it wasn't really long before I remembered why I'd sold it on through the Amazon Marketplace arrangement.

It's an OK book for what it offers, but I don't really think it deserves the title of 'Beginner's Guide to' and I can't help feeling that most of the contents aren't really blackwork as I think of it.  The cover tells you most of what you need to know about the contents as the focus is on outline-type patterns and not really areas of a picture or pattern comprising different filling stitches.

To be fair there are four pages of sample filling stitches, (here is one of them), but there are far more pages of outlines, borders and so on.  In the instruction section, there's plenty of information on threads, needles and suitable fabrics, but the only actual stitching tutorial is for the three outline stitching methods that I posted about two weeks ago.  As the book focuses on those, I can see the reason for their inclusion, but there doesn't seem to be a word on how to work filling patterns.

Where I think the book does do well is that it gives you an idea of how to go about designing your own repeat patterns, which could be outlines or, preferably (IMHO) for fillings.  Here is that section, which I think could be quite useful and I may have a go at one day.

Anyway, I was glad I could borrow the book (and was even more glad that a couple of the Lonely Planet guides I wanted to look at more than you can in the book shop were also available!!!), but unless you're really interested in a sort of blackwork meets doodle stitching sort of style, it's probably not for you.

Next up for me is to make a start on Sir's anniversary card using some of the heart designs from this magazine article.

What about you?  Anything to report, Needlequesters?

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2014

Goal Setting in Needlework

Many people like to set goals.  Not everyone, but many do.  On various stitchery blogs from time to time you may see what someone hopes to achieve over the coming month and, at the end of the year, summary posts featuring the finishes from that year, (often compared to the goals set at the beginning of the year and complete with the list for the year to come), are quite popular.  However, disappointed expressions from people who haven't met their goals are common too, so I thought a piece on goal setting - and achieving - in needlework might be of interest to some readers.

Many of you, I'm sure, have heard of the SMART goal, yes?  Meaning more than just a sensible goal, there are a lot of things in the popular acronym SMART that can help those interested in goals in any area of life, not just needlework and blogging, to achieve more and feel satisfied with their progress - feel that they're really going somewhere.

To maximise our chances of achieving any goal, it needs to be:

Specific
Measured
Attainable
Relevant
Timed

Now, let's see how we can apply that to goals we might want to set for our needlework.

1. Specific

A specific goal states a task clearly and is different from an overall aim.  It's, well, just more specific!!  To illustrate, overall aims can include things like:

- Learn to do stumpwork.
- Improve my embroidery skills.
- Increase the number of stitches I know well.

These have their place, (see point 4 below), but genuinely specific goals would be something more like these:

- Work through the Sew in Love tutorial for a stumpwork ladybird/strawberry/berry.
- Take a certain on-line or in person class or work a certain kit/pattern.
- Learn 15 new stitches - even specifying some or all of the 15 that interest you most.

Can you see the difference?  The first type is too vague and really too 'big', whereas the second is a very clearly defined task to complete.  This is probably one of the most important aspects of goal setting - making sure you have a very distinct picture of what you want to achieve.

2. Measured

This has a lot to do with the first aspect.  A measured, or measurable goal intrinsically contains a way of knowing if you've met it and, if not, how far you've got along your way.  If we look back at our three specific examples above, then we can see that it's easy to see the end point of the goal.  With the last one, learning 15 stitches, you can see how many you've done and how many are left.  So, always try to include some way of measuring your progress.  As I said above, a suitably specific goal tends to have a measure involved in it.

3. Attainable

Ever heard expressions like 'aim for the stars and be happy if you land on the moon'?  Not half bad for certain areas of life, but not quite what you want when you're SMART goal setting.  Here, you need to make sure that your goal is absolutely realistic and achievable.  What might that involve?  Well, although you're probably going to want to involve an element of stretch in your goal, you don't want to make it so daunting that it's a strain.  So, make sure that the learning element of any goal is within reasonable bounds and that the whole thing is something that you are genuinely able to do.

Another aspect of this is making sure the time frame you set (see point 5) is realistic.  If you set yourself a year's worth of goals to complete within a month, then you're almost certainly going to fail, and that's disheartening. Do make sure that you give yourself enough time to complete each task.  What may be a reasonably attainable goal in itself may not be if you have 20 others like it on hand.  So, keep your whole workload in mind when considering how manageable something is.

4. Relevant

This is where the overall aims we looked at in point 1 above come into play.  Each goal should ideally be relevant to some long-term purpose or larger field of study that you want to master.  If you look back at the top example in each of the sections of point 1, you can see that the specific task of working through a tutorial for a raised work berry, bug or something like that contributes directly to the larger, overall aim of learning to do stumpwork.  Of course, it's not the whole story, you'll need to do more than one small sample before you could consider yourself to have mastered stumpwork, but it does contribute.  Ideally, several smaller goals on your list will help you work towards each overall aim (presuming you have more than one, which isn't a requirement.  One is just fine too.)

Another example is that those who have a lot of half worked projects around may have 'finish all my UFOs' as an overall aim, but each individual goal would be best off being a specific project.  If you make sure that your set task is directly relevant to something bigger you want to achieve, you're much more likely to get on and succeed with it.

5. Timed

This last element is another vitally important one.  Many SMAR goals are set and are not achieved.  Why?  Because the last letter, T, is missing!  Without it, it's still not SMART and may well fail.  Lacking a stated time frame and/or deadline, the positive pressure to work towards that goal is not there.  My hubby often says 'The deadline provides the greatest motivation' and he's right.

Not that needlework goals should be turned into a high-pressure stressor, but having a set time in mind is a great help.  Often, challenges or special occasions provide these (not much point in my turning up two weeks late with the wedding ring cushion, right??), and sometimes we have to make our own.  Without them, often nothing happens.  The end result always remains elusive, always at the same, distant point on the horizon and we make no movement towards it.

So, what do you think?  Will that help you at all?

Above is a screenshot from one of my previous year-long lists - the round up post at the end of the set time.  When I set these more or less annual goals list, I list a number of set things under various categories that I want to do within that year.  I think I'm going to include my overall aims in future too, so relevance can be seen more easily.  Many individual items can be carried forward to the next year if necessary, but it's greatly satisfying to cross off each task as it's finished.  Most of the items can also be measured in terms of progress as well, such as a percentage of an embroidery completed, or number of chapters of a book read or studied.  I won't say that I get through the whole list each time (with serious health problems, things are unpredictable at best!), but I am able to get a lot more done than I otherwise might by carefully making a list of SMART goals and getting a real buzz from crossing them off.  Why not join me?  If you do, feel free to leave a link to your own list, if you'd like to share.=)

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2014

Work in Progress Wednesday - 14 May 2014

Here she is, with one part of her shawl complete. Looks a lot better on that side, doesn't she?=)  For some reason, she looks warmer!!

I haven't got a lot done this past week, but at least some progress has been made.  I hope I can complete the shawl at least before the next update as part of Sharon B's Work in Progress Wednesdays group.  The unworked side is somewhat larger than the worked side, so we'll have to see....  This piece isn't moving as fast as it did in the earlier stages as I haven't been working on it in bed for a while!!!

Here's the full piece at the moment as well.  I'm glad I chose to change the shawl colour from the original fur shades to this deep, pinkish red as it really adds more warmth and colour balance to the piece, I think.

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2014

Needlequest Update - 12 May 2014

How are you getting on with your blackwork project(s)?  I've been doing a little more and am quite pleased with progress thus far.

The first photo shows the backs of the small pieces I did during the first few days of the month.  You might remember that the very first samples were the three leaves on the far left which were a go at each of the three outlining stitches.  The top one was done with a combination of running and back stitch, the second in holbein, or double running stitch producing a reversible effect, and the third one was back stitch.

Moving onto the flower design.  I worked the outline in holbein stitch, then trialled both methods of filling by doing the petals working all the stitches in one direction at once, and the leaves by working adjacent stitches together without regard for direction.  The effects on the back are quite different, aren't they?

This next sample is shown here quite a lot 'larger than life' as the real thing is less than a 2 inch/5cm square!  This was also worked one row/direction at a time for the black parts, with the gold being added one diamond at a time.
 

This third photo shows what it looks like on the back, with a regular grid having been created.

That's as far as I've got over the last week, but I've learned quite a bit so far.

What about you?

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2014

Work in Progress Wednesday - 7 May 2014

Here's my Work in Progress Wednesday report and the latest on my cross stitch piece.  I've now finished all the Marlitt cross stitch on both the sleeves and the headdress - that layer of gold coloured stitches is rayon.  I still need that shade for some of the satin stitch squares filling in the gaps in the yellow skirt section.

Next job is to get back to the shawl, which I'm not looking forward to - probably as I found it rather hard the first time.  It should be a smoother process now that the green sleeve sections are done and I don't have to work around a gap.  I just need to get on with it and see it working out OK!!

I hope this month to complete the shawl and also to insert the face and hands.  That will be a challenge as some of the abutting fractional stitches may not allow for the petit point stitches to fit in smoothly.  So, there may be some alterations to make there.  We shall see soon enough...

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2014

Needlequest Update - 5 May 2014

I've made a good start with the blackwork section of the Quest!  I'm working through sections of Mary Hickmott's 'Easing Into Blackwork', which I showed you in my last posting and here are the first two 'projects' completed!=)

The first is outlining stitches.  Although you can't see from the photo above, each of these tiny leaves is worked with a different stitch.  The first one is back stitch, the second holbein (i.e. two lots of running stitches) and the third a sort of mix of running and back stitches.  You can see the difference clearly from the backs - sorry I can't show you just now as I neglected to take a photo of the back and Sir has my camera on his research trip until Wednesday night. The holbein stitched one gives the more or less reversible look and I liked that a lot, even though it takes the longest time to work of the three.

Here's a page from the book showing how to work a simple flower using two different methods of completing filling stitches.  The first one, which I used on the flower petals, is as you can see in the photos below - stitching all in one direction at a time.

I used 'Method 2' for the leaves (so that I could have a go with each one), i.e. working the stitches in any order that seems reasonable given the pattern and spacing of the filling.  I used the same thing as in the third outlining technique above: part back stitch, part running stitch.

Here's my completed simple flower (except the two horizontal stitches on the left hand petal, which I forgot to put in, but have done so now), my first real piece of blackwork.

I'm very happy with that as a start.  I've had a go at five different ways of stitching so far and that's great.  I like to give all sorts of ways a try so that I can choose the best one for me.=)

Next step is a square design with gold stitches as well.  I may be able to use that for cards if I work it well enough.

For information, I'm working on 18ct white Aida with Anchor pearl cotton #12 for the outlining and one strand and regular floss for the details.  I'm using a finer gauge than one might normally do in the early stages as I came across a pile of about 30 pieces of this Aida that I bought years ago and that are cut to greetings card size (about 6"x4"/15x10cm).  This seems a good time to put them to use, especially as I'd never even opened the pack before and I've had them about 13 years....  I have some odds and ends of 14ct too, which I hope to put to use later on.  Having said that, I can always use sewing cotton if I need a finer thread as that's about half the thickness of one strand of floss.

What about you?  Have you ever worked any blackwork pieces?  Why not share links to your photos and share them?  I'd love to see what you've done, even if you're not actively in the challenge.  Oh, speaking of which, we have a new challenge member.  Welcome, Pamela!

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2014

Needlequest - April Review and Introduction to Blackwork (May)

So, how did we get on in April?  Not a lot of movement for most of us this month.  This is as far as I personally got with my 'Spring' piece.  It's not worked at all well - the voided areas are too large, edges aren't even, stitches look bad (the silk stretches and makes long stitches a nightmare to work well) and the colours really don't go (looks even worse when you can actually see the piece!), but I still intend to finish it off.

Wendy was our one challenge participant who came up with a finish this month.  Have a look at her pretty floral appliqué piece.

Dorte posted a retrospective post on her goldwork.

And that's it!  And now onto May and a sparkling new topic:

What about May and blackwork then?  This is the first (and only for the challenge topics this year) technique that I can honestly say I've never done a stitch of before, so it's totally new ground for me.  Here are some of the goodies that I have in stock though...

First of all, I plan to work some of the simple, introductory pieces in this book.  I used Mary Hickmott's 'Easing into...' series for learning hardanger and found them very good and easy to follow.  Although this one is somewhat different, I'm hoping that I can learn plenty from it and maybe even complete the bookmark (not shown here) as part of Sir's anniversary stuff for this June.

Speaking of anniversaries etc, there's tremendous card potential in this next collection from 'New Stitches' issue 166 (2006)

Here are two kits that I've had in my stock for a while, two of the few that I haven't sold off recently!  I hope that, if I take to the technique, I can work these in the near-ish future.  They have some lovely metallic touches, although they don't show up well in these photos of photos!!

This, to me, is the ultimate in geometric blackwork pieces.  It's called 'Elizabethan Elegance' and is a table runner from 'New Stitches' issue 75.  I've had a piece of antique white quaker cloth ready in stock for this for many years.  Maybe I will actually work it one day, but it's not a beginners' piece, methinks!

Of course, geometrics are by no means the only things worth working in blackwork.  Here's an iris from the RSN book, which shows just how detailed you can make pictures created in blackwork stitches.

I'm also hoping to have a go at some miniaturisation of blackwork once I've got the necessary skills firmly under my belt.  I tried some miniature hardanger (which I must show you) a while ago and am keen to have a go at a few more ideas sometime soon, probably after the ring cushion piece is done.

I hope some of these have given challenge participants some inspiration and that many of us can have a great time over the coming month learning and working this classic technique.=)  If you're in the challenge, are you planning to join in this month?  What have you got in mind?  Would love to hear from you!

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2014