A bit stumped

No, not with stumpwork, but with the goldwork. First though, thanks to Carol-Anne for the idea on getting the crease out - sounds like a plan!

I'm not at all sure how to re-plan the design beyond the outline. I'd like to have some filled in areas as the original does, but, as you can see from the photo above, gold is not just one colour! The gold kid leather is really a very different shade from the regular goldwork threads' shade and there are Kreinik and Anchor threads to both match and fill in any gaps! The piece of gold kid leather I have is very much a green-ish gold whilst the rest of the goldwork threads are getting towards the orange shade, (with the copper threads showing up the real red gold). The Japan threads in the middle are a great yellow gold and then there are greenish and white-ish shades on the right of the photo. So, I need colours that co-ordinate well and, as I want to use copper for the 'back elevation', I really need to be looking at the orange-gold selection, saving one of the whiter shades for the strings. I just don't know enough about goldwork to plan ahead with confidence and have no good references with me. So, I'm still far from ready to set off with this one!=(

I've done a bit more on the little mouse though - put in his tail and the flora around him, part of it for the second time.

My blog hits have really gone up over the last couple of months, so many thanks to all visitors and those who have been kind enough to list me as 'worth a visit' on their blogs and other sites recently. I need to live up to that, don't I??=)LOL! Well, I've just been visiting the blogs of several ladies who list 'stumpwork' and/or 'goldwork' on their Blogger profiles in the hope of finding some new eye candy, but I find that there's a world of difference between being interested in something and actually blogging about it!! Can't really complain as there are any number of interests on my profile list that I don't blog about much, if at all!

Re-designing a goldwork kit

This afternoon and evening (in 2 sessions), I made a start on the Benton & Johnson Goldwork String Instrument kit that I'd brought with me. I remember buying this one as part of a real retail therapy session - serious comfort shopping - during the time I was horribly unhappy doing my old teaching job, along with several others. I spent as much at that one stitching show as I would normally do at two or three - a whole year's worth!!

This is the original design of the kit, although the one I bought came with black silk as a background fabric, which is what I wanted.

Anyone who knows much about modern string instruments would see at a glance that this design is far from accurate and, whilst I'm no expert player (yet!!!LOL), I do actually own a viola and so I always intended brushing this design up a bit. Well, a lot actually!! I know it's meant to be a generic sort of stringed instrument, but I wanted my own instrument represented in goldwork, so it needed a chinrest for a start. The body shape also needed refining and the pegs needed to match the strings - 4 strings (very badly placed strings at that) and 6 pegs, since when?? Recently, via the Pin Tangle blog, I came across a blog posting by Kirsty on the 'Feeling Stitchy' team on how to turn a photo into an embroidery outline and so I followed that wonderfully simple and effective process as follows.

Find the photo you want to stitch from. This is one I found via Google images of a viola, complete with chinrest (some are pictured without, some folk even play without one, but I'm not up for that!).

Using Photoshop Elements' 'Filter' tab, select the 'Sketch' type and then pick the one that best suits your needs from the list given. The tutorial I read said 'Pencil Sketch', but my version doesn't have that, but the 'Photocopy' option worked beautifully and, after increasing the contrast to make the outlines really stand out, I was left with this image:

Print it out at the relevant size, take a tracing from it and transfer the design to your background fabric in your preferred way (mine is good old dressmaker's carbon paper in white for dark backgrounds, although yellow would have been good too), the results of which you can see below.

That's it, ready for stitching and not needing to go to all the fuss of drawing it out myself.=) This really is a good method, try it and see for yourself some time.

To my delight, I found that I'd actually brought some of my goldwork threads with me - 3 colours of Bright Check (chips) and a thing of Twist, as well as the Kreinik Japans and other Kreinik cord type metallics, so I can adapt the threads and actual working of the design as well. Haven't got that far yet, will work up a stitching plan tomorrow, but the design is on the silk, which is tacked to the backing fabric ready to go in the hoop for working.=)

Sometimes kits provide the needed inspiration and materials and you can do the rest yourself. Oh, if anyone knows how to get the strong packing crease out of the middle of the fabric, please let me know ASAP!

Last night I added yet more eye candy to my blog sidebar in the shape of some of the 2007 finishes. Putting them all on would have meant that it was ridiculously long, so I dropped some of the cards and monograms. In time, I'll merge all the three years' worth of finishes into a single 'Gallery' bar, but not until I've got something to show for this year. The needlecase isn't considered a finish proper until it's made up. Many, many thanks to Margaret of NZ for kindly offering to send me the needed doctor's flannel (which I didn't see anything like whilst out at the fabric market last Friday), and also to Nic for offering to send more novels. If the postage hadn't made me feel uncomfy, I would have accepted this last offer too, but I just wanted to publically thank you wonderfully kind and generous ladies.=) Mwah! xxx

Editted to add in credits for the transformation method, Friday 11:43 am

Hardanger stitchery complete

Finally got the hardanger stitching done on the needlecase. All I need to do now is get some doctors' flannel type cloth (which I rather stupidly didn't bring with me, considering I knew I was going to stitch this and have brought all the stuff I (thought I) needed for several other pieces), and I hope to find something that will answer on Friday at the Yongle market, which is the place that sells all the fabrics etc. I'm planning on going there with an English friend I first met in Dublin, but have caught up with again here, of all places!!

Made a boo-boo with the lower part of the cross stitch in that the most southerly blackberry and leaf were stitched one hole too far north, an occupational hazard with evenweave fabrics! Anyway, I've done most of the first mouse and the plant life is un-picked and ready to be re-stitched, when I finally get back on with this one.

I also got some tracing paper at last, thanks to DH's electronic dictionary helping me find the Chinese for it, and am now more or less equipped to get on with the other projects I mentioned before - the Brazilian roses and the goldwork viola.

I got through Burney's 'The Wanderer' in record time (good book, that, give it a try some time, if you don't mind 18th century lingo and nearly 900 pages to wade through), and am now out of novels. Well, I would be had my English chum here not given me hers the other day!! She also assures me there are English books in the local libraries, so I plan on calling in and registering with the local branch pretty soon, if not faster.

Thoughts on studying embroidery

Over the past couple of weeks, I've been doing a lot of on-line research into formal embroidery studies, mostly with City & Guilds, but also with the RSN and even higher education level things. It seems that there are ample opportunities for City & Guilds study with plenty of in person classes running all over the UK and also a few decent distance learning opportunities. Sadly, WS-Touchbase is finishing City & Guilds at the end of this year and there are fears that that would see the end of the stumpwork programmes.=( However, as DH is wanting to move somewhere where I've found a recently opened studio offering Levels 2 and 3 Embroidery Certificates and also the Level 3 Diploma, I could also go to classes later on as well - when we get back home.

I was disappointed to find out just how much the RSN's courses were though. I knew they were expensive, but found out that they were 2 or 3 times as much as I'd thought! Each technique is £960, with 4 needed for the Certificate alone! On the good side, they don't charge more for paying in instalments and you can pay for one technique at a time without ending up, as with some on-line schools, paying almost twice as much as someone who can pay the full figure up front. I was rather shocked at how much the School of Stitched Textiles wanted for buying one module at a time for their Level 3 C&Gs. It was something over 210% of the up-front price! Anyway, maybe I can do the RSN Cert later on, fairly slowly, but I daresay the Diploma at nearly £8000 is going to be beyond me. We'll see.

Now I know what to expect of a C&G course, I feel in a better position to plan and prepare for taking one - hopefully more than one. I also know what sort of workload and time frame is expected and have a much clearer idea of where I fit into that pattern. A very important aspect I've got from it is that Level 3 courses, despite claims to the contrary by several course providers, are NOT suitable for beginners in embroidery, (unless one is very experienced in art/design and sewing). I wasn't a beginner when I started, but I would have been paralysed by the level of work expected if I had been. Basically, C&G, esp Level 3 C&G, will not really teach one embroidery as a skill. Ideally, it teaches someone who already has a decent grounding in embroidery, design skills and practice, along with introducing some of the more contemporary textile techniques. In order to succeed without a large amount of stress, I wouldn't recommend anyone, other than someone of extraordinary confidence and huge amounts of time, to start that level of course without having a good bit of experience of working others' designs and also of a bit of basic sewing and machine usage. Working the assessment pieces requires that you have to make those embroidered pieces up into things like bags, hangings and so on which you're to have designed and prototyped yourself, and, if you've next to no experience of construction techniques, then this part is only going to add to the stress.

So, my plan is to consolidate my own stitching skills by working as many of the kits and designs that I've brought with me as I can, to have a go at making up some little bags etc (I've brought a book with me and the stuff needed for my camera case), and to work on my drawing and painting skills as well as collecting plenty of design source photos etc. In addition, were I to do the Level 3 Diploma, there's a lot of more academic work to be done in creating the History of English Embroidery project as well as the embroidery traditions of 3 countries, so I can also make a start on collecting info etc for that. There's a fair amount of 'folder work' to do in terms of design, ie colour theory stuff, line and mark making and all manner of things too that I can begin to get done working from the syllabuses. Having said that, I plan to start with a Level 1 or, max, Level 2 anyway!

Higher education level courses, by and large, don't really appeal to me as they're very much contemporary styling and there's only the RSN's FDA (foundation degree) in Hand Embroidery that looks up my street. The location is in London at Hampton Court Palace, it would be horribly pricey and I'll have to shelve that sort of idea until they've got the course well established (it started new this year) and offer it in more formats and locations. Again, we'll see, but no holding breath on this one, which is a real shame as they specialise in what I like best! I did read Tanja Berlin's account of her time at the RSN on their former apprentice programme and it was fearfully intense, so that's another downside. 9-5 daily with up to 5 hours expected per evening. Basically, you'd sleep and stitch. No time for anything else! Still, there are plenty of good books around, even though I was only able to bring what you can see above with me. Oh, how I miss my books and the rest of my stash! Sigh! Still, looks like we may well be home by the end of this year, so I reckon I can make do until then and I can get 'Inspirations', 'Classic Stitches', 'Stitch with the Embroiderer's Guild', the Italian mag 'Rakam' and several cross stitch mags out here, so that's a big comfort.

The photo at the top of this post is the back of the needlecase, which I got completed yesterday. I hope to have the full thing stitched before the end of the month and then hope I brought the doctor's flannel needed to put the 'pages' in. Last night I also added in a side bar feature of my 2008 stitched pieces, so more eye candy on permanent display, but you need to visit the blog 'for real' to see them as, of course, reader software won't show them up, even Bloglines. Does anyone know why Bloglines displays your header photos in reverse order??

WIPs: Current status

Nothing much to report WIP wise. I've done all the cutting and removing of threads on the hardanger needlecase, so that's now ready for the weekend and I should get that finished on the long-distance bus rides!! I hate the weaving bits, so doing those during 'trapped time' will both get them done and pass the time much more quickly.


The cross stitch is still progressing slowly. Is it just me, or do others find that greenery seems to work up far slower than other parts? Green is known to be an actively relaxing colour, so I was wondering if that slowed down stitching in some way. DH said, 'There's a PhD in that!', so if anyone fancies doing some stitching related research and calling themselves 'Doctor' ever afterwards, there's an idea for you!!!

I've sent, via e-mail, to a couple of schools re embroidery courses, such as the new City & Guilds programmes being run at Space2Create and the Certificate and Diploma courses run by the Royal School of Needlework. Just waiting for responses now, but I fear the latter programmes will be prohibitively expensive. Shame, as the courses they offer are most in my line, but who knows what may be possible at some point?=)

I finally finished 'Sylvia's Lovers' by Gaskell recently and made a good start on Frances Burney's 'The Wanderer', which unlike the former, had me gripped from chapter one! It's much easier to persuade myself to get to bed very early if there's a good novel on the go!! I think the Gaskell was really written by a Chinese author and then Yorkshire-y-fied by Gaskell as, in true Chinese literary fashion, everyone dies in the end!!!

Sheila, I've been thinking about your comment about 'typical Brit, unable to learn a language'. Oh so many Brits think that about a number of things too! So many of us are totally convinced we'd never be able to do any number of perfectly achievable things - often before even trying it ourselves! Sometimes, at craft/stitching shows, I get talking to some of the other ladies looking at the goodies on the stands and there's usually a seasoned cross stitcher looking doubtfully at a freestyle kit she wants to try, but lacks confindence. 'But do you really think I could do this?' she asks, 'I've only ever done cross stitch before.' I normally encourage her that, yes, of course she could do it, but if she lacks confidence she might want to try a small piece/a doodle pad first and so on. Many cross stitchers fear they wouldn't be able to do surface work, but think about it - the techniques are very similar to counted thread ones, and they already have almost all of the necessary equipment and skills, so why fear to move onto pastures new?

It's much the same with language. We've all already got almost all the equipment, skills and experience we need to learn another language as we'd be using the same mouth, vocal chords, brain, concepts as we already do with the very complex language we already learned in childhood! And think about how many versions of English there are: UK, US, Canada, Aus, NZ, South Africa, India, Singapore and a whole host of official language speaker variations on top of those and we can understand them all! Next to no-one can't learn a second language!

A lot of folk then point to their shaky experience with French in school and say, 'I was no good then, so why would I be now?' Basically because teaching methods and materials have improved enormously over the last 30 years and, frankly, did you do French in school because you wanted to or because you hadn't any choice?? Motivation makes all the difference!=) Try it and see...

Hardanger Progress

Here's what the hardanger needlecase looks like at the moment. I decided to work on it as a 'Sunday project', but won't this coming week, I shouldn't think - unless I think of something else to do on the 9 or so hour bus ride to and from Kaohsiung the weekend after, that is! Needs to be counted thread and preferably not too big or too complex. Hardanger is perfect really. I'll do all the cutting out before we go as I certainly wouldn't risk that en route!

Haven't really had time or umph for any more stitching since this work on Sunday, I've been trying to get up to date with housework, laundry and preparing for a test tomorrow, (which I feel anything but prepared for, if I'm honest), but I hope to get back to more creative stuff just as soon as I can. I have a lot of catching up to do school-wise after being off with a cold and so on.

Still reading 'Sylvia's Lovers', but have really got going on it now - when I have chance to just sit and read for pleasure, that is. Not through with the Chinese version of 'Anne of Green Gables' yet either. I don't understand every word of it by a long shot, but I can make out about 2/3 I think and, as I know it well, it's no real strain. Next up will be 'The Secret Garden', which I haven't read for decades, (although I've seen the film of within the last few years a couple of times), so that will be a bit harder. Make language learning fun - read kids' books!!

We had friends 'round for dinner last night and I showed them the bee. I was right in thinking that the Taiwanese would be blown away by stumpwork. He asked me if I hadn't bought something and stuck it on and she said I ought to put it in the museum!!!! I could sell stumpwork pieces here, I think!!!

Not as much progress as I'd hoped

Well, to be honest, I rarely get as much stitching done as I'd hoped. The trouble is I think I still judge the length of time needed by how much I could get done when I was home with CFS/ME and could, basically, stitch most of the day, every day. Completely different now, but I still underestimate time needed. Actually, I do that with a lot of things, don't you? Anyway, here's how far I've got and I can see pretty clearly that it won't be done in time for next Thursday evening, but there's always a postal service, or we can go and visit.=)

Nic asked which thread I was using for the hardanger piece I showed you last post (which I haven't done any more of yet), and it's Caron Watercolor and Wildflower thread in 'Blossom'. Bit pricey, but worth it for something you especially want to stitch.

The weather seems to be mad everywhere, if what I hear on the on-line news is true, so I hope all are coping well. I have a cold at the mo and am afraid I'm going to have a nasty cough for a while, but I can't get what I need to deal with it out here....=( I usually chase a cough away with home-made fruit juices, but I've no juicer here and the stuff you buy won't do. Besides, there are very few pure juices here. Oh, but there are some pure fruit smoothies to be had, so maybe those might help. I'm eating a bowl of fresh pineapple, papaya and grapes as I type.=)

Travel Stitching

I got a decent start made on my hardanger needlecase, but didn't get as much done as I'd hoped or planned. With about 5 hours of stitchable in-transit time, I'd hoped to get much of the outlining done, but thanks to the lack of light on board the coach at times, (the driver left the main cabin in darkness when it got dark and didn't even give us access to our own reading lights for a goodly while!) and the fact that I dropped off to sleep a bit on the way back, I just got this far. On the outward journey I did almost all the outer border, save 3 'boxes' and just completed that small bit and started the inner border on the way home once I realised that we could use the reading lights! Working with thick threads, tapestry needles and counted thread fabrics is quite possible in-transit, but I doubt I'd attempt much in the way of fine work with its sharp needles on the move!

Now it's back to the cross stitch as I only have less than 2 weeks to get that stitched and finished up. Hoping to find some sort of hanger on Friday afternoon when I plan to take a trip to the craft shop area. I hope the quilting section has something that will do. They do a lot of things like bag handles, so I'm hopeful....

Last Posting of 2009

As you see from this photo, I chose to start on the cross stitch and I've also thought of someone to give it to. My local friend, Meishan, who's really helped and taken an interest in us since we've been here is moving next month, so I thought I'd give her this cute pic as a little something to put in her new room over in Ilan. I must try to find some sort of hanging mechanism here, like a bell-pull end or something so I can give here a complete piece ready to display. I know where I can get handbag handles and that sort of thing, so there may be what I need in that craft shop. Anyway, I've already applied a bit of unintentional artistic license to this piece - got the 2 pink shades in the rose bloom the wrong way around. Numpty! Anyway, I got quite a bit done owing to having taken last night and this morning off.

I forgot last time to thank everyone for the kind comments on the bee finish. He isn't really that realistic though as DH and I had a look at some real bees on-line and found that mine was really rather too fat and also the wings are incorrectly proportioned and placed. Still, it was only a simple kit and done mostly to get to grips with the technique. I've thought of someone to give that to as well - a local busy bee who always looks stressed out! Just need a small, round frame of some sort now.

I'm planning to take the hardanger away with me this weekend as it will be easier to work in transit being just 2 threads, ie none of the constant colour changes you get with cross stitch etc. Should have something to show there early next week, all being well.

I've never celebrated new year, never saw anything in it really, but I still wish everyone all the best for the future. Thanks a lot for all your interest in and support for my blog and stitching projects and may we all get lots of needlework done this coming year!=)

2009 Stitching Review and 2010 Plans

Many stitching bloggers do a review of their needlecraft year, so here's mine for this year about to end:

Finished projects can be seen in the sidebar on the left of my blog, under the Feedjit thingy. Altogether, there seem to have been 11, of which 4 were started the year before (2 C&G samples and 2 WIPs that took a bit of a long time!!) and 1 was stitched in early 2008, but just finished up into the casket this summer gone. So, there have been a grand total of 6 pure 2009 finishes. Not really a very productive year, but it's been a busy one with the international move and dealing with the boomerang 'flu in the spring and repeated viruses out here since October.

My goals set for this year at this time last year were:

* Finish all WIPs, including C&G stuff - I pretty much managed this as far as it went.
* Get my C&G work done in time, (mid-May for this year's work) - I didn't succeed here thanks to lousy health from January-May and then moving away. Might well come back to C&G in 2011.
* Do a hardanger cushion for my Taiwanese friend - yes, I did this, only I haven't given it to her yet!!
* Stitch something for my 2nd sister before she goes abroad for a year, preferably something with practical use. - I didn't get to this, I was just not up to it at the time, but she doesn't live too far from me at the mo and I have chance to do something special for her soon.
* Take several kits with me when we go back to Taiwan in late August/early September, should all go according to plan, that is!!! - Yes, all this went to plan and I've even worked one of the kits - the stumpwork bee and flowers from the last post.
* DH's 10th anniversary card - probably a CQ heart. - I did a strawberry heart in silks instead.
* Do some small pieces that I want to do. No more obligation stitching! - Ha! No, this didn't happen, I was just just busy or too unwell. Actually, I've decided that obligation stitching isn't such a bad thing after all. It gets stuff done and the 'need' for a gift gets my creative juices flowing, frankly, when I stitch something for the sake of it, I then have it hanging around whilst I think of something to do with it!

I also stitched 2 Lizzie*Kate seasonal thingies and that Anchor Creative Embroidery kit with the dragonfly and waterlily and was featured on Mary Corbet's listing in the summer, which caused an enormous increase in site traffic for 3 days!! Many thanks to Mary and to all the others who've listed me in one way or another over the past year. My blog made it onto Sharon B's 'S' list too, but that was in December 2008 and also created a fair amount of fresh traffic over a few days.

So much for 2009, what about next year? Well, mostly I'll be carrying on working through the kits and designs I've brought with me, but there are a couple of openings for some more design work. I have the Brazilian kit I posted about recently out to do soon, but I've realised that the fabric is really too yellow for my needs. It doesn't match the threads anything like as well as white will, so I need to organise another piece of fabric for that, (there are some pieces of silk in other kits I have with me that I don't think I'll want to do on silk, so one of those will probably do) and get the design re-traced. I also need to source some tracing paper.... There's also a goldwork string instrument kit out ready which also needs tracing and, as I neglected to bring the photo with me, an image sourcing as well!!

Whilst waiting for those to get going, I've set up a hardanger needlecase, a green version of this one (scroll down past the chaffinches cross stitch), and a cross stitch which you can see the floss tosses for below as well as a small pic of what the XS will be - a couple of cute field mice with some blackberries.



The only question now is which to start on first?? We're away this weekend, so I want to take one of them to work on whilst we're sat on the coach for 5 hours.