VS Renaissance Rose bellpull - finished up

Here we are at the finish line for this project.

As this design was for a framed piece whilst I wanted to make a bellpull out of it, I needed to adapt the bottom.  It wasn't terribly difficult - I just needed to add a row of buttonhole edging around the outside of the hardanger section and then, using the new edge this created to site a row of four-sided edging on each side.  When this had got to the needed height, I just turned the top over a pretty hanger I got at the Knitting and Stitching Show in November.

And that was it!

Here the purple card back makes a nice contrast and shows off the cutwork section nicely.  I actually used this type of card as a support when packing up the bellpull, which you can see next catch up project post when I also share the wedding card.

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2017

VS Renaissance Rose Bellpull - bullions!

I mentioned in my last posting on this project that I'm often wary of bullion knots.  I think that, with a combination of Kathy's extremely helpful, 'alternative' method of working them (compare how the needle is held in this, more traditional approach, which I find overly awkward to work and leads to puckering)and the sheer quantity of knots that I had to work on my one and only piece of Brazilian embroidery and the 'Sunshine and Flowers' sampler, I've managed to get a fair grip on how to get them to work out OK.  I was really quite pleased with how the majority of these came out.

Having said that, I still wouldn't call myself confident with them, but I'm certainly getting there. ☺  I need to try the same do it over and over again method with cast on stitches and flowers next as I'd love to master those.

You may have noticed especially in the big heart, but also in the other two, smaller motifs with the bullion roses, that there were some pink lazy daisy stitches to insert too, which also add variety and balance to the piece.  Having said 'balance', I realised, looking at this photo, that the roses are much more numerous on one side than the other, but oddly, I didn't notice when looking straight at it.  Maybe this angle of photo has highlighted it.

This is the last section, (which I actually did first) and you can also see that I also worked the outer border as far as I could ready to make the piece up into a bellpull.  The original design was to be framed, so I had to think carefully about how to go about it.  More on that in the next in this series.

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2017

VS Renaissance Rose Bellpull - part one

Thanks SO much for all the kind compliments on the last finish - and also all the way through the project.  And now, welcome to a new project series!

Before she approached me about her wedding dress panel, Lauren said she and her fiancé would like a bellpull with a favourite Bible text for their home as their wedding gift.  I chose the absolutely gorgeous Renaissance Rose design from Victoria Sampler to adapt for this piece.

Here's the initial floss toss and, with the exception of deciding against the gold shades in favour of the aubergine cord, this is pretty much what I used - for a wonder!  I normally chop and change several times during the process.  Do you?  Or do you stick fairly closely to the pattern and/or original palette?

As you can see, I opted for 8 shades of Coton à Broder #25 from DMC and Anchor.  The fabric is 28ct congress cloth (I think) in an ecru shade with which I used Anchor Pearl Cottons #8 and #12 in shade 926.

A quick comparison with the chart photo shows that I needed to start out with a little adaptation of the original design in order to meet the requirements.  I decided to replace several pattern rows in the middle, including the 'For You' bit with the scripture they wanted and also to move a cross stitch floral line down to make the text section framed by a similar motif.  It took a couple of goes with a piece of graph paper to get the lettering charted correctly, but it wasn't too big a challenge - especially not after the last project!

After the middle section was complete, I filled in the surface work on the lower half, including the beaded parts, (using good old Mill Hill petite seed beads, which I'm a big fan of), but not the bullion knots which I'm always a little wary of and decided to leave until last.  I hadn't ever thought of doing it before, but I love the section of ecru four-sided stitch in the section above the hardanger heart.  I think it adds a great textural element.

Next came the top few motifs, including the leaf and bead 'frame' for the lovely heart motif.

I then did the cutwork section on the lower heart, as you can see below and even remembered to take some photos at this point.  I didn't take as many WIP shots as I would have liked of thie piece and some were too poor to do anything with other than to delete them!

Here's the piece at the point that we'll leave it for this post and next time I'll show you the bullion knot sections.

I loved this project and I'd really like to do another one, perhaps on bright white fabric and with yellow flowers.  I would very probably want to keep that, but it would be a strong candidate for exhibiting in the summer shows.

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2017

Lilac Bellpull Project

Here we are at the second project of last autumn's stitch-a-thon!

Actually, I began this one in the summer shortly after getting all the projects for the Bingley Show sorted, but didn't get to work much on it until a few weeks later on.  I used it as a bit of an alternate project alongside the autumn leaves some of the time. Not often, as this one was over-due anyway and the leaves one was to a fairly tight time schedule, but I did a little bit here and there for variety.

The starting points were that the bride (a Chinese friend who'd actually got married back in July) loved purple shades and has very little room in her home - no living room, poor thing - and so something to hang was best.

In Patricia Ann Bage's 'Beginners Guide to Drawn Thread Embroidery', I found this design, the centre of which I'd worked a few years ago, also in purples, as a wedding card.  The bellpull ends I had in stock were quite narrow though, so I needed to adapt the pattern ever so slightly to take it in about 4 threads at each side.

I didn't seem to take many WIP shots, so we can do this all in one post.  Here we go:

At this point I realised that two things needed changing:

1) The purple squares just didn't work.  The shade of purple was too red to co-ordinate well with the lovely, rich, blue-purple in the centre motif (much more glaring that it appears here), and; 2) I'd miscounted on the chart and should have left done klosters blocks of 13 stitches, then 9, then 13 again.  So, I took it out back to the innermost green square sections and re-worked it with the correct spacing and the red-purple replaced by Kreinik #4 Very Fine Braid in 032.

As you can see, it wasn't very comfortable to work this piece.  The fabric I was using was really too narrow to fit into the nearest size of frame I could make up (Q snap 8"/11" rectangle).  Maybe it was partly this, but also an unhealthy mixture of not reading the instructions properly, rushing to get the project completed after the Autumn Leaves one so as to get on with the next (I wanted clear decks as far as possible) and/or over-confidence that led me to mess up with removing the threads as you can see here:

I removed all 12 rows instead of removing 4, leaving 4, then removing the final 4.  I just didn't read the instructions for the filling stitches or look closely enough at the pattern at the right time.  Lesson learned!  So, I had to choose alternative fillings that didn't require a central bar of threads still in place and that would look OK in this fairly long space.

Unfortunately, I didn't get any decent photos of the final stitched stage before the awkward sewing up part, but here it is finished up and you can see the fillings in the close ups.  A little narrow, but not too bad on the whole.

I'll leave you with a photo that I snapped on my phone (very badly, sorry!) of the happy couple and their witnesses signing the register.

Which project next?  The bridal dress panel is coming up soon. ♥

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2016/7

'Sunshine and Flowers' Sampler Framed!

And here it is, back from the professional framer's, complete with two mounts and a nice wooden finish frame.  It cost me £43 to have this done and would have been a bit more had I not prepared and laced it up myself.  Up close, it would've been better to have used an off-white board to lace it around, as the pure white is a little too stark, but it doesn't show too much - and I daresay next to no-one will even notice it at all.  Just my perfectionism again.=)

Actually, I collected it a good week ago, but I didn't manage to get a photo even as good as this one (and it isn't the best, I know....) for a few days.

As I type, it's in mum's room in a care home near Leeds ready to be taken back with her to her house on Monday.=)  Glad to both see this project come to final fruition (as well as to see that mum liked it!) and to get mum out of residential homes and back into her own.

I realised that I also haven't shown you the completed Lizzie*Kate 'Autumn' button-up piece and that the last update was 'at about 85%'.  Just need to re-press it and then I can share it with you.  In the meantime, here's hoping I can get something done on my second needle painting piece as I've been out of action the past few days.

Have a good weekend!

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2014

What's new in my stitchcrafts world

I remember, several years ago, someone saying to me that when someone goes all out on something one month, they tend to drop to lower than average levels the following month.  My recent blogging history would seem to bear that out, wouldn't it??=)  Actually, I've had some rough spells during November, but seem to be pulling up somewhat now, so here we are again, getting our act together and posting.

The first thing I have to show is the recent sampler finish all laced around a board.  Sir and I spent some time together working on framing issues on Monday evening - that is, he cut six pieces of card and I mounted the sampler onto the largest one of them.  Here are the front and back views.

After he'd cut that first piece, he then did me five squares on which to mount my little DMC stumpwork kits, as shown completed here.  Only four are shown here although I did work five of them.  One was mounted in a card for Sir, so I'll need to re-work one so that it can complete the set nicely.  I have a wall mounting idea for this series that will look much better with five than four pieces, so it'll be delayed a short while whilst that gets going.

This is how far the Lizzie*Kate 'Autumn' piece has got.  I didn't touch it for a fortnight and still haven't got much done since re-picking it up!  However, as there's an extended free listing event over this coming weekend on e-bay UK, I must press on so that I can get it sold on.  One lady has bought all the other three, so I expect I know where it's going next...

Something I'd like to do is really master needle painting, so I've got my Trish Burr 'Beginners' book off the shelf and decided to pitch in on this one to start with.  I also decided to have a go with my Pipers silks on it, which may turn out not to have been the wisest of decisions...  They're really quite fine and two strands of Pipers floss silk is equal to just one of regular stranded cotton.  Could be ideal for very fine work, should I ever feel the urge!

Below is the 'floss toss'.  I've drawn the design out twice as I may have a go at doing it in another colour way as well.  The appallingly blurred shot at the bottom is how far I've got - not very!

Last Friday saw me heading up to Harrogate for the Knitting and Stitching Show.  It was quite a day and not for the expected reasons!  Three out of my five buses were late, causing me to lose an hour of my precious little time at the Show and then to get home an hour late.  If that weren't frustrating enough, my complimentary ticket was thoroughly non est when I got the desk!  I couldn't say what had happened to it and who, if anyone, messed up, but the clerk on the desk, despite it not being at all busy given that it was 12:30pm already, declared it 'wasn't his responsibility' and declined to help me get in touch with the exhibitor who'd promised the ticket.  (Yes, in his position, I indeed would have!)  Anyway, I was just thinking that I had to choose between £15 for the ticket and slinking off with my tail between my legs, when I remembered that I had the mobile number of the blogger who I'd arranged to meet for a cuppa and a chat.  So, Rachel Wright of Virtuosew Adventures was my good angel that day.  She hared off to the relevant stand, explained the problem and then came over to where I was waiting with one of the team's own exhibitor pass to get me in.  Whew!  Was I ever grateful!=)  Rachel, mwah!=)

Here's what I bought:

The silk fabrics on the left are fat quarters and they're to be used as backgrounds for the needle paintings I hope to work in the fullness of time.  The other packs are some organza pieces from the Rowandean stand.  I thought they might be fun to play with and they were only £1 per pack.  Two of the overdyed threads were for pieces planned/in progress and the other two were 'useful greens'.  Softly variegated greens, like some of those by Gentle Arts Sampler Threads, can work well in freestyle pieces.

I also got a couple of fabric paint things - a mixing grey, a transparent extender (to make pastel/more transparent shades etc) and a pearlescent paint, and some four seasons type buttons which I got in the hope they would do on my Lizzie*Kate pieces.  However, what didn't click at the time is that the original buttons have holes in them and so lay quite flat on the fabric.  All these that I got are the type with a lump behind and almost certainly won't do.  Drat!  I'll have to think of something else now!

Anyway, I think that's all I have to share for now.  This has been my 500th post!

What have you been doing??

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2013

Completed sampler photos!

Well, this is it, the finished thing.  It's not mounted/stretched yet as I don't have the necessary size of board in stock, but I gave it a press the other day and took some shots anyway or else I may have had to keep you waiting ad infinitum!

I started to blog about this piece on 9 April 2012, so I will have started to stitch it around the 7th.  It was finished on 21 October 2013 meaning that it took about 18 months to complete.  However, that's a bit misleading as I didn't work on it actively for about half of that time, so it was more like a 9 month project in reality.  It was rather challenging in parts and I learned some new things and simplified others so that I didn't have to learn too much new stuff!  Hope you enjoyed it all anyway.=)

Now, time for something new.....

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2013

Belated Work in Progress Weds Post - 24 Oct 2013

Yippee!  The last Work In Progress Wednesdays posting I will ever need to do on this piece!  Yes, it's finished and I am THRILLED to have got through to the end of it.  It took over 18 months, although there were two long periods when I didn't work on it, but even so, it was a long project and it feels great to have it all completed at long last!=)

Above you can see the side trellis areas cut and below shows them all filled in.  I confess to having departed from the pattern here as, although the main trellis stitch wasn't hard to work, the length of the bars required working a sort of half stitch at the top and that led to my having trouble attaching it securely to the top section without pulling the stitches down badly.  I realised later that I could have done that OK by actually putting the threads through one of the fabric holes underneath the satin stitches but, a) it's too late now; and b) who knows if it would actually have worked that way either??=)

Above here is the bottom right hand section and below the bottom left showing the completed beading and the large X shapes that the side trellises would otherwise have been worked in - I managed them fine here.

Here's the gate area all cut out above and, below, you can see the first parts of it complete, although I did take that top left part out and did it again later on.  I was just taking all the shots I could up until we left for London on Monday morning.

Later on that day I finished it off in the Travelodge room and then took it out of the frame and took it to show show Sharon Boggon, who I met in person in London on Tuesday for afternoon tea!  Sir and I had an interesting few hours' chat with Sharon and her hubby, Jerry.  We learnt quite a lot about aspects of life in Australia - something we rarely have chance to find out about here.  One sees plenty of US related things and we have experience of life in continental Europe and the Far East, but Aus was a relatively new subject for us, so it was great to hear more.  I came away feeling that I understood another view of life so much better and had really learned something worthwhile!  Sharon and I also compared notes on our stash and how Brits, Americans and Aussies approach stitching materials and stash collection, whilst our blokes discussed PhDs, academia and joinery.=) Here are Sharon and I together with the finished sampler:

I consider this piece to be a tribute to the effectiveness of the Work in Progress Wednesdays idea!  I've finished three projects over the last year thanks to the weekly update deadline - this one, the Brazilian 'Rolled Roses' piece and the stumpwork rabbit (this last also spurred on by Anna Scott's 'Finished in February' event earlier this year), and have one left to go now - the peacock feather.  After that, I'll have to start something new in order to keep on joining in!

"Where are the finished samplers photos?" I hear you cry!  Well, I haven't taken then yet.  I want to get the piece properly pressed and then stretched around a mounting board ready to take to the framer and will take a good number of shots then.  Can't promise when just yet, but it will be soon, that's for sure.  At the mo, it's a crumpled mess that needs a bit of TLC before being fit to be seen.

On Saturday, I'll be updating you on the cross stitch piece and introducing you to 'Art Every Day Month', which I hope some of you will be inspired to join in.  Until then!=)

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2013

Work in Progress Wednesday - on Thurs 26 Sept 2013!!

I haven't made huge strides this week and I was too busy yesterday to post an update, but here it is a little late (and still Wednesday somewhere just West of the International Date Line....).

I inserted the french knot lupins, which I can't say I enjoyed.  I don't mind french knots in small doses, but these were a bit of a bore to stitch, so I was glad to get the out of the way.

On these two shots, you can also see that I put in a few of the remaining beads, just leaving the section near the bottom scroll to do after the upper section has had the cutwork done.  Of course, you can't put beads under a snap frame bar, although ordinary stitches don't suffer by it too much.

I also discovered and inserted a few missing 'x's from near the beaded area and, as you can see below, made a start on the 'look through' piece that will be fixed behind the large square box when that's cut out and a few filling elements put in.

So, apart from those last beads, (about 15 mins work), the surface is now complete - HURRAH!

Time to get the trusty old petit point scissors into action.  I'm not nervous of cutting threads as a general rule, although I will feel a little more cautious than I normally do when doing the larger areas.

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2013

Work in Progress Wednesday - 18 Sept 2013

It's that time of week again and here's the latest on the sampler project.

This first photo shows the girl with all the cross stitches completed.

Whilst I was working this section, I was paying great attention to the quality and neatness of my little 'x's.  This came as a result of reading some of the show judges' comments on one American lady's blog and hearing the judges at work on a TV programme I saw on the iPlayer.  They said, "If we're going to nit-pick, and we are supposed to, then..." followed by a minor flaw in the piece they were judging.  This was a relatively high profile event, but I understood that the blogged one was smaller scale (albeit one with far more categories going!), so it seems that standards can be very high no matter what type of event is in the question.

I took a couple of photos of a stitched area with some that looked a little uneven in places, but it didn't show on the photo!!!  However, one could see the flaws with the naked eye and, show or no show, judge or no judge, I like to do quality work so I applied myself to keeping things more even.=)

Points that came up for a bit of criticism by judges were flaws in mounting and framing (one wasn't properly stretched and so it was very loose in the frame), stitch tension issues and trailing threads visible from the front.  This latter really is easy to prevent, although it's more of an issue when using evenweave and linen fabrics than Aida.  One needs to always make sure that starting and ending threads are neatly trimmed and not left sticking out at the side of the body of stitches.  Also, finish off a thread and restart it in a new location rather than just trailing the thread across the back.  Especially with dark threads and a light fabric, this looks terrible and is so easy to prevent.

Here's our girl outlined with back stitch and given French knot eyes,

I've also put in the two lupins which are at the 'back' of the group in cross stitches in order to create a sense of depth.  The more foreground ones will be done in French knots.  I just need to experiment to get the right combination of strands and wraps so that they cover well and look neat enough.

Here's our gardener in context and you can see from this that, apart from finishing the lupins, there are only the beads to add in the lower section and the surface work is finally complete on the main piece!  There's just a square to do which will fit in behind the large box next to the girl as a 'look through' element.

Cutwork coming up soon then!  Some of it looks a little scary as it means trying out new filling techniques, but I plan to do some dummy runs on a scrap of hardanger fabric.

Speaking of hardanger, Wendy, I totally agree with you about the so-called 'hardanger' scissors being useless.  The blade tips were so wide that you couldn't even use them on 22ct hardanger fabric, never mind this one, which is 32ct linen!  Happily however, Sir managed to fix my old petit point scissors and they're fine again.=)  They had got a bit blunt, but every time I ran the blade against the knife sharpener, it pushed it back slightly, so that the two blades ended up too far apart to be able to cut properly.  He pushed them back together and they work!=)  I suppose this could happen with larger scissors too, but these being so very tiny, it made a real difference.  Anyway, that's that problem solved, I'm delighted to announce.
=)

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2013