What makes a great needlework blog?

Thanks very much indeed to the 15 ladies who kindly took the time to leave their comments on yesterday's survey posting.  What struck me as the bottom line as to what you regular readers think is that you like what you see, you just want a good deal more of it!  Photos, commentary, design notes (where relevant), some background and cultural articles and tutorials, but especially more photos.  Well, I shall do my best to oblige and I hope you're enjoying the photos of my latest finish alongside this post.  Look!  Three instead of the usual one!=)  I think photos can be overdone, so maybe I won't post as many as some do (I realised I need to get a good balance between what readers like and my own tastes and preferences), but I like the idea of some close-up shots as well as some angle shots.  I've done both before, but I think I'll try to make more of a habit of it.

I've switched to the newer Blogger post editor as that allows more freedom with photo sizing, so that should help with the problem I mentioned yesterday.  Failing that, two of you mentioned a third party service that I could try out, but I think this is working so far.

I've also made some changes on the blog layout and appearance, mostly to simplify.  In my opinion, there are some great and skilled needleworkers out there whose work is all but lost against the high impact graphics and multi-coloured layout of their blog template and sidebar content.  Even the post text can be in so many colours that the eye doesn't naturally settle on the photos of their beautiful work!  So, to my mind, a great needlework blog is first and foremost simple and uncluttered.  It has a plain, either very light or very dark background, perhaps with a simple border if liked, and keeps the visual focus on the photos in the main posts.  It's also free of mouse pointer graphics, things drifting across the screen and little tinkling sounds, and no music starts up when you land on the homepage.  Great content needs no gimmicks.=)

I also feel strongly that the sidebar should be a reasonable length - preferably shorter than the space needed to display the number of posts you've selected per page.  To keep the whole layout easy on the eye, sidebars are best kept to one and only in single columns.  There are all sorts of multiple column layouts available, but I recommend avoiding these and going for just one.  I personally much prefer not to have a long list of blog feeds on my blog sidebar (you can see which blogs I follow by looking at my Blogger profile), as it can get to a great length and can add too many distractions.  To be honest, I also would hate to cause offence by omitting anyone's blog....LOL!

Another common problem with blog layouts can be the header design.  Some are just so big that they require you to scroll horizontally to see the full thing and others are so long that you have to scroll quite a way down to get to the start of the blog proper!  So, I also recommend keeping the header section a reasonable size.

Oh yes, and I think that proof-reading and carefully previewing and amending layouts is vital too (this post is taking ages to get 'just so'!!).  Mistakes, gaping bare spaces and other gaffs are distracting and unprofessional, so spell-check, proof-read and adjust!  (Now watch there be an awful blunder somewhere, like once on my travel blog when I missed the 'r' out of 't-shirts'!)  And text is best left- or fully justified.  No-one right justifies, but there are some where all text is centred and it can make it harder to read, so I recommend that only if needed for a photo caption/section heading or something like that.  A great needlework blog is always easy to read and easy on the eye without irritations, don't you think?

So, I now have a white background, (although my backgrounds have always been light and contrast reasonably good), and the text, apart from links, is all black and dark grey.  Links are a petrel blue and I've changed the title font and colour too.  I also thought I'd see how I liked the photo borders (thanks for the idea, Leftsox).  The sidebar has lost about 3 of its elements so far and others have been condensed: I changed the labels list to a cloud, removed the numbers and only chose to show the textiles related ones; my other blogs have been cut down to just title and photo; and the Blog Archive has been changed to a drop down list. I also moved the blog navigation elements up to the top and added a copyright line at the bottom.  Two of the pages have also gone and I've added to what remains (some of which has been shifted around and renamed) there by putting in the photos that used to be in the sidebar gallery.  Hope to improve them soon with more text.

Tutorials are an interesting idea.  I do plan to do a few more, but I daresay there won't be a huge quantity of them as I don't feel as skilled and qualified as some seem to think I am!  Still, one can but have a go.  One e-mailed comment suggested that I might want to try plugging the gap between the 'doodle stitching for beginners' tutorials that abound and the very advanced, verging on professional level of instruction that the very serious hobbyists post, but which may be above the confidence and commitment level of some.  I like that idea, and am open to suggestions!  Caroline, you read my mind in suggesting the dragonfly as a possible tute!  I had that sort of thing in mind to try more of and to show how to do it.  It was a steep learning curve producing that baby though, so I need some time...

A few ladies expressed and interest in seeing and learning more about the Taiwanese and Korean pieces that I photographed in East Asia last year.  Great, yup, I'll have a stab at that, but be warned - I am NO expert and the info I provide alongside will be of the the simplest kind.  It would be a interesting diversion from the better known Japanese and Chinese work though, so I think it's worth doing and, yes, I'll do a little research as well.

I finally finished the narrowboat yesterday afternoon after deciding that the top stitching on the water looked tacky and that the greenery didn't need any more detail.  I also elected to use the prescribed three strands for the French knots on the boat (the flower pots on its roof), but to drop to just two for the flowers on the right hand side in the hedge area.  I felt that this would, along with a half stitch background instead of the full stitches suggested in the pattern, create an impression of texture and depth.  I appear to have started this one about 17 months before it was finished, so that was a LONG time, for a medium sized cross stitch.

Don't know if anyone remembers this photo from a post just under a year ago entitled 'Too Many WIPs'?  I had these four skeletons of pieces all laid out on our ironing board!  Well, I've now managed to flesh out and complete three of those projects (as well as a number of smalls and three childhood UFOs posted over the summer), and so now it's onto the stumpwork berries piece.  Working the beaded berries will be a new one on me, so I hope to get a grip on that and then post a simple tutorial so you can have a go too.  Sounding good?  Will be back soon, have a great Sunday.=)

© Elizabeth Braun 2011

Two things actively WIP!

Wow! Two pieces currently being worked on! I've been putting in most of the half stitch sky on the narrowboat cross stitch piece. You mayn't be able to see it very clearly, but it's there in two shades of light blue. Not much further to go on that, and then it's on to the top stitching.

Much to my amazement, I had the urge to get on with the goldwork viola too! I put in this long piece of almost vertical pearl purl #1 and hope to get the other side done over the weekend, and maybe also some other bits. I'm really unsure of how the strings could be worked so that they look realistic, so it may be that I have to omit them. I'd rather leave something out than have that element spoil the whole effect by it's weakness!

I really need to get the slight white flecks (dust??) off this piece before it's finally photographed!

Digging around on YouTube (which I've begun to do too much of lately.....) I found this video, which some may enjoy. Also worth looking up is their 2009 display, which I actually preferred as it has some wonderful caskets, boxes and an album cover as well as a quilt that is a mosaic of a face! Well, head and shoulders really. The reason I've embedded this one though you can see from about 2.19 mins onwards for a while. There you see vertical rows of small square embroideries, probably worked by different members, on the same fabric background. I was struck by the potential of this idea for around the house! Perhaps I could do another piece or two on black silk to go with the viola?? A way to display samples of things and small pieces without having the expense of buying a frame. See what you think:



Hoping to get back to my old, pre-Taiwan posting schedule of bi-weekly WIP updates on Mondays and Thursdays. Perhaps I can accomplish this goal by the end of this year? Let's see! I'm feeling quite enthusiastic at the mo, but next month my umph could be stolen by other interests.....
© Elizabeth Braun 2011

Cross Stitching Complete

Wow! This feels like a real milestone - having completed the main stitching on this piece that I began in Taiwan in summer 2010! I can see the end now coming closer and am beginning to even feel a little stitching enthusiasm returning!

I think that part of the embryonic re-beginnings of enjoyment has been that I've decided to shelve the idea of kit making for now. It's still there and I hope to come back to it later on, but I simply don't feel that I'm competent or confident enough to be teaching stumpwork to others as yet. I want to do a lot more in the way of learning and practice first. Maybe that might include a City & Guilds, who knows? There is a Level 1 stumpwork course available on-line, so we'll see. Need money to spare for that too.

In the meantime, I might have a go at selling hand-dyed and hand-painted fabrics and threads, including pieces of painted silks, dyed cottons - both plainweave and evenweave for counted thread work, and maybe even look at dyeing some threads when I get the hang of dyeing at all!! Let me know what you think...

© Elizabeth Braun 2011

Working on the Narrowboat

Well, a little bit anyway. It's been a while since I last posted an update on this piece, but, as I've now made it to 150 Blogger followers (thank you all!), I thought I'd make a celebratory post and give an update on the only thing I've really been stitching at all.

Last update showed much the same status, just without the bridge on the top left hand side. Not very far to go now with the main cross stitching on this one, then it's on to working the sky in half stitch. It was originally meant to be in regular cross stitch, but I like the slightly textured effect one gets from doing a one strand half stitch background. Some of the flowers are to be done in French knots too, so more depth and texture there.

Maybe I'll finish this one and the other 2 WIPs this year, who knows??=)

© Elizabeth Braun 2011

More narrowboat progress and help with the fish

My narrowboat is coming along nicely. As you can see from the latest pic, the boat itself is complete, as are the two darkest shades of blue in the water. So, I've been able to totally finish with a couple more colours (which feels good!!).

I decided that the fish was driving me nuts and that I was just finding it too hard, so I set out to find another suitable motif that I could put there instead. However, the only thing I could find was another little fish that didn't really fit and would probably be very little easier. What I did find though, was this piece in "Helen M Stevens' Embroidered Animals" book, which breaks down the process and helps to get it in the right order etc. Slightly contradictory in a way as, when I did the 'Ornamental Pool' design from the "Gardens" books, the instructions certainly took one through stitching the fish body before the outer trimmmings. Anyway, I'll give it a try this way and hope to get to it today, at least a little.

I've been listed quite a bit recently, which has been nice. Craft Gossip's Needlecraft blog included a link to my recent intro to stumpwork and ribbon embroidery, my stumpwork bee posting (from late 2009!) made it to a needlewrok resources blog in Turkish and someone posted a link on a French language forum here for stumpwork. So, lots of new-comers have been around of late and there are still more following those links and calling in. It's a good incentive to get on and complete WIPs, then move on to other interesting new projects!!

For those who are at all interested in our travels, the Far East and so on, I've just uploaded the final photo collection from Japan to Brauns on Tour. I'm also just about to start sorting out the Korea photos, the last things from Taiwan and then our stay in Germany and the couple of UK places we've been to since getting back, namely Durham and Edinburgh. Posts will be scheduled to appear every couple of days, if all goes according to plan!! I said IF!!!

Blogger has been having very annoying problems with hard/carriage returns. Absolutely none carry through to the actual post, so I'm having to draw on my (limited) knowledge of HTML in order to get my posts to look decent. =( Either too many lines, or none at all. I also had to manually insert the link to the travel blog. Ack! Hope they get this sorted soon, or is this a ploy to get us all onto using the new editor?

Not my fault! (For a change!)

Don't you just love it when two colours on the chart key are mixed up and so you end up putting them into your design the wrong way around? I was a bit suspicious when I started putting deep blue into the hull of the narrowboat, especially when it was matched with grey. However, when I was directed to put grey in as the deepest shade in the water, I thought, 'There really must be a mistake in this chart!'

So, I went off to find the actual magazine that I'd scanned the design from before we went away August 2009, and, sure enough, the colours are the wrong way around in the key! The magazine photo clearly shows the hull in three shades of grey and a distinctly blue shade in the water. Out came the all the relevant stitches and then back in in the right colour!!

From this

Through this

To this

And a bit more now as I've put some of the correct water in as well.

It's bad enough when you mess up and have to frog through your own carelessness, but this was a real pain! Oh well, it's corrected now.... [Rolls eyes]

Progress on the Narrowboat

Not much to report today after my blog-a-thon a few days ago, (a post here, and two each on Language and The Fluff). I've done a bit of stitching on the narrowboat design, but haven't touched the freestyle - any of it - again yet.

Cross stitch may be easy, but it doesn't stop me making plenty of mistakes. I'd done all the red you can see here before I realised that the entire lower section (so everything below the top red line) was one stitch to the left of where it should have been. Hard lines though, with so much work done on it. I decided to compensate by filling in the extra space to the right with extra green and to miss a line to the left at some point.=) I like to work accurately, but there are some times when you just have to keep going or end up working huge areas twice. When it doesn't matter, just move on regardless.

YIPPEE! It's FINISHED!
Yeah! The Chinese Junk is finally done and, just to prove it, here's a photo, look:

What a relief to have that one done. It's been in progress since 2 April 2003, so 2 years, 5 months and one day! OK, so I did a few dozen other things during that that period too, but I hope to never have one piece on the go for that long again!

I plan to get re-started on the dog portrait this afternoon whilst at my mum's place, but before that, let's get Martin's other job done......

Getting there, getting there.....

Almost completed the bottom half of the Chinese Junk picture. The chart is in two halves so I thought I'd complete one half before moving on to the next. Gives a sense of achievement too! So, I'm pleased with progress this weekend as I'd set the target of only finishing the mid-blue on the bottom half, but I did that by Saturday evening and went on to do the pale blue as well as starting on the black scroll work. Should be all done this week.

No intellectual work done this weekend, but I didn't expect to. Plenty to do from today until Thursday though. I hope to have a few smaller things totally done and off the list. I counted 17 projects of both types altogether. 2 are finished, 3 are almost done and another 2 are in progress, so not bad! Of the others, 5 aren't really promised anyway and 2 others aren't urgent, so life is looking brighter and stress levels are coming down. It's working! Hurrah!=)

I decided to work on only one stitching project at a time, so the dog won't be coming out for walkies until the Junk is completed and away for framing. I'll be listening to the complete Pimsleur Mandarin course whilst working on the doggie, so I can resurrect/practice my Chinese at the same time. There are 45 hours worth of tapes altogether..... Multi-tasking rules, OK!

Progress Update - Tuesday

This is the story so far on the rose heart piece. Yesterday, I did all the buds and the greenery near them. I also made a start on the blue flowers at the bottom.

Here's the current state of the Chinese Junk cross stitched piece:


I hope to get the florals finished on the heart piece today and maybe get a few stitches in on the Junk. We'll see...... I also need to design the initials to go in the centre of the heart, which will be a bit of a challenge, but I've let fear stop me from getting on with these things for WAY long enough, so no more procrastination.

On the academic/linguistic project side of things. Yesterday evening I set up a simple, temporary (as it's very naff.....) homepage for the Phrasebook project and have got out the file for all that and related projects this morning. I'll do some sorting through that and make a plan of work for pushing them through to completion.=)