A weft yarn

Almost finished my first ever, teensy weensy, stumpwork project

It is the size of a walnut. And there's no way such an uninspiring title conveys my enthusiasm for this project or for this type of embroidery. In the photo Jane Nicholas gives you at the start of this project, you can see that the finished object can be presented as a tiny pincushion stuffed into half a walnut shell. Or you could mount it on a pendant to hang around your neck. So...not big. But yet, tiny things...can be massive and exciting.

I started this little project on a one day course in Goulburn last July. We were deep in the middle of our renovation and I had to wait to see the builders before I could make the hour long drive to Goulburn, so was late arriving in Goulburn. Then I had to leave the course earlier than planned and so only got to spend about an hour and a half learning the techniques of stumpwork. After this taste of the class with Jane Nicholas I thought I had learnt enough to want to do more, so kept an eye out for another beginner's course in stumpwork. I had been advised that it was wise to do a beginner's level course with this type of embroidery.

Anyway, the little tiny piece of stumpwork sat in the two frames for nearly a year. Then as part of the preparation for the next beginner's piece, I pulled out Jane's book and started thinking about how to be a bit better prepared for the next class. I'd had enough of a taste in the first class to realise that Jane takes you at a fairly focussed pace and there isn't much time for fluffing around not exactly knowing what you are doing. Earlier in 2012, I had signed up for a class at Mosman Needlecraft to do another beginner's piece called California Poppy and Bumble bee. I had the class requirements list and so realised that I needed the two frames that were currently occupied with the ladybug and boysenberries.

 

The universe was telling me to jump in, finish the the first tiny sampler piece and thus release my hoops for the next two day class. So I did. Thankfully, it was quite a bit easier than I expected. Sometimes I build things up in my mind and they seem way bigger than a walnut! I am pleased I pushed myself because it meant I have nearly finished a project (just need the walnut) and more importantly, I felt that going into the next class that I had done a bit of preparation. Probably most, most importantly though, I confirmed that I really did like this type of embroidery. Playfulness and precision. An interesting mix.

Just as a reminder, this is what I had finished after the course in July 2011. There are two hoops in the photo below. The orange one has a leaf and a stem finished. And the green hoop has a piece of red homespun cotton with a wire coloured red to match fabric and thread, shaped into the opened wings of the ladybug.

Previous posts

Stumpwork - new project (September 2011)

African blanket : Thread painting Zebras

I have done some more work on my African blanket. The whole blanket will eventually have a lion, two zebras, two giraffes, two elephants, two cheetahs, dozens of leaping gazelles, and 8-10 Samburu people - plus some grasslands (for context, like). As with so many of my embroidery projects, it will be years in the making. Last year I went to Sydney twice for classes with Jenny McWhinney and I made a start on the giraffes and the elephants. In March this year, I again went to Sydney for a class, this time on the zebras. Seen below is my two full days of stitching.

Jenny always tries to make sure you have completed the hardest part of the stitching before you leave. It's usually always the details of the faces.

Unlike the elephants and giraffes, which were stitched in wool, the zebras are done in perle cotton. It is shiny and a bit reflective and Jenny reported to the class that whenever she pulls out her blanket for a showing, people are always drawn to the zebras.

As with other classes, Jenny very kindly offers her own blanket for photographing. I might have mentioned that I was interested in learning to do thread painting as a technique, signed up for a class in Sydney and was initially only going to the giraffes as a cushion. But then I logged onto Jenny's website and found the whole blanket, complete with LION - hear me roar - stitched in the middle and then re-thought my commitment, dug deep and decided I wanted a whole blanket and that lion!

Aren't those leaping gazelles just so wonderful? Thanks Jenny for another great class. Now, time to put my head down and finish off those three animals before October's class.

Previous posts

Thread painting elephants - Samburu blanket - animal number 2 (September 15, 2011)

There's an elephant on my sofa (August 30, 2011)

Samburu blanket thread painting: Giraffes (June 18, 2011)

Giraffes, Africa, Blankets - embroidery - thread painting (March 23, 2011)

Another new project? A Glittering Gentleman's Nightcap

As with my earlier story on the Floral Glove Needlecase, I have for show and tell: the kit, the frame, the linen for the embroidery piece, some examples of historical research, and a glance at the pattern of the Nightcap.

I am unsure when I'll start work on these pieces, but as I mentioned in my previous post, sometimes things move you and you have to jump in. I do understand that people like myself have to keep an eye on just starting things, or signing up to projects and then putting them in the cupboard. I am hoping that life can be full of wild abandon and focused discipline.

I know that it might be a long stretch to say that my comfortable suburban life, in a small regional centre, in an affluent democratic country, has many instances of wild abandon. It is also equally true to question whether I have many examples of focused discipline in my life. Just last night, I sat up way past midnight brooding about my internal struggles with a workplace gone awry, drinking red wine and very, very slowly stitching a gift for a person of generous nature. That is, I'm making a gift for someone who was very kind to me last year when I was grieving. Not sure what part of that behaviour was disciplined.

I think though, that one of the appealing features of these two projects (Floral Glove and Glittering Gentleman's Nightcap) was that there was something a bit obsessive about them. The documentation that comes with this course is intense in its detail and thoroughness. I'm not sure I want nor need to read every word, but I am curious enough to tangle with it somewhat. I am sure I can learn a great deal about historical embroidery and elite material culture from this research.

Long before I became a social researcher, I studied history at Sydney University and for many years after starting full-time work, I thought about researching or writing a history as a part-time or additional activity. That thought persisted for quite awhile but eventually love and marriage and children became my primary attention grabbers. When I now read these research pieces on historical embroidery, I am curious about the history of the embroidery but feel something is missing. I want to go back to the lives of these people and find out who wore the cap, and when did he wear such a garment? Would the gentleman have worn it before bed or in bed or both? Was it comfortable to wear? It is heavily embroidered and therefore might be a bit lumpy on your head. Was it the kind of thing you could wear in polite company? Just with your family present in the home or could you wear it in the presence of guests and visitors? I do think those English houses were cold. You would need a nightcap.

My house is lovely and warm. Toasty, comfy heating roars into action on a thermostatic setting, at set times of the day and week. I am no spartan. I know some Canberrans don't let their heaters come on until later in the year - but not me. I also know that my life is very different to the life of the person who wore a glittering nightcap.

A new project - what's that you say - a Floral Glove?

I have been reading embroidery blogs for a few years now. At some stage I came across a story that started seeping into my consciousness. A story about a jacket. At first I was just aware of the story. Then slowly I began hearing more and more about it from a few different angles. Eventually, the drips of information built up and I had a whole pond full of images and details that I was swimming around in. It began to look very enticing and resulted in me diving in.

Years ago, in 1986, I spent a year living and working in Boston. Having been born on an island in the Caribbean and then growing up on the beautifully warm coast of Sydney, Australia, I learnt to swim from a young age and really can swim quite well. Not everyone in Boston can swim really well. They have long winters, short summers and not many readily accessible beaches. So, I was with some American friends and we went to Walden Pond for the day. Someone mentioned how difficult and dangerous it was to swim across the pond and being a bit feisty I took one look at it and thought 'that's nothing, I've been swimming in the ocean all my life, how hard can this be?'. I was probably even foolish enough to say something like that. Anyway, I dove in and swam across the Walden Pond (think Thoreau - living simply in the woods at Walden Pond) and to cap it off, I swam right back. Naturally enough, I was right. It wasn't actually hard. But somehow my friends' reactions kind of ensured that I would forever retain this in my memory - their surprise : my brash confidence. No harm was done. I was well and fit and it was an easy swim for me. They were gracious and congratulatory but on some level I felt foolish. I was showing off a skill from another environment. Perhaps it was just the 'showing off' that I think about still, all these years later. Anyway, I don't think I'll be showing off anything anytime soon but I do feel perhaps I've been a little foolish.

I want to show you why though, so you can understand.

I have signed up for three (count them....three) of the online courses offered at Thistle Threads.

This, which you see before you, is the Floral Glove Needlecase kit.

And this is the jacket. If you like embroidery, please do take a moment to have a look at this.

But really this is the exciting video below. The one where the designers and some of the stitchers first saw the partially completed jacket on Faith, their model. The jacket doesn't yet have the finishing touches, but it is sewn together and you can see it sparkle and glitter.

This embroidered jacket was an exciting and creative and collaborative project that involved hundreds of people. It was very attractive to me on many levels. The history, the research, the desire to understand the past by thorough attention to detail, by immersion in the style and materials and techniques of the past. The desire to understand the women who have gone before us. Not that I ever would or could identify with an elite, but it is no trouble to try and understand and explore beauty.

I wanted to explore my connection to Boston again. I also wanted to take some small part of that excitement and commitment to the past and bring it into my own home.

It is no small endeavour - that what I have undertaken. Three study courses, a whole new style of embroidery, the re-creation of historical pieces of embroidery. It has required me to invest in a new embroidery floor stand and new embroidery frames. My tapestry floor stands (all three of them) were not able to adapt to this style of embroidery frame. After much reading, I was aware that I would probably need a 'slate' frame for this style of embroidery. Some online reviewers introduced me to a type of frame that performs like a 'slate' frame but has the advantage of being easier and quicker to set up. Anyway, Santa was very kind to me and the floor stand and two embroidery frames appeared, if not exactly under the tree, within proximity of the tree. The bearded gentleman then put the frames and floor stand together for me. Seen here is the floor stand.

And here below is an old thread painting embroidery of Tanja Berlin's that I completed a few years ago but haven't yet taken off the frame. It is about the same size as the linen for the Floral Glove Needlecase.

As you can see here, I have draped the Floral Glove Needlecase linen over the frame. I think it will work perfectly. I just need to find a way to finish off the pansy and then I can have the frame for this new project.

Tricia Nguyen, who runs the Thistle Threads business and teaches the online courses, is an engineer who attended MIT (as did my father, many, many years ago). Being an academic, and very passionate about historical embroidery, when you do one of her courses, she presents you with pages and pages of instructions and historical research. I have started two folders per course. One for the instructions and one for the history. Course notes and historical information are sent every month, for the duration of the course. Some courses are reasonably short - say 6 months, some longer - 18 months.

I haven't yet made a start on any one of the new courses I've signed up for but I have diligently gathered all my materials, filed all my instructions and once I've sorted out the pansy and found a finished home for it, I'll be ready to start the Floral Glove.

 

Celtic Bird Cross stitch nearly finished

In early January I did a bit more work on the Celtic Bird Cross Stitch Scissors Keep. Then we went away for a family holiday. On return from that holiday, I went back to a very busy work schedule and the children started a Music Holiday program, then did a week's worth of acting, then had time at home with Dad, then school went back, and finally, after a long summer holiday, I find myself back in the school routine.

I'm conscious that I haven't posted to either of my blogs during this period. So, there will be catch-up posts here and on the gardening blog...sorry. I know from reading other blogs that I enjoy following along as people's ideas, creative projects and lives unfold. There is a sense that I'm sharing with these creative adventures as they are presented into the blog world. Well, given all the catch-up posts, you may get a sense that projects are on fast-forward around here...like David Attenborough's Life of Plants. Plants grow too slowly for standard television viewing and so their lives and growth patterns were filmed in real time and then ....fast forward and we could see that Blackberry vine tapping out a place to put down its next frond. Fascinating. Watching a plant move and make choices. Anyway...back to cross stitch. As I do so many projects (gulp and I've signed up to a couple more), and many of them are slow, labour-intensive projects, it probably wouldn't do any harm to present them on fast forward. 

I've finished the stitching and now just need to sew it up and put the tassel on.

Here's the little piece of Aida ironed. I felt a bit annoyed with myself on this tiny project. I didn't absorb the instructions very well and so missed the fact that the back stitching should have been done one square at a time. Instead, I did a more free-form back stitch. Some of them are long, some are short. I wouldn't do that again. I'd go for the neater, one square at a time stitch. But, time waits for no stitcher and so I'll live with this, sew it up and call it done.

 

Previous posts

Progress on the cross stitch (December 2011)

Cross stitch progress on the scissors keep (June 2011)

Celtic scissors keep - update (May 26, 2011)

My next Celtic scissors keep - new kit (May 13, 2011)

Celtic scissors keep - finished (May 3, 2011)

Felt Folky Santas join the Fat Red Santas

All over the world, people are packing up Christmas and putting it away in boxes. Next year, we'll do it all again; the unpacking, the decorating, the plans, lists, parties, shopping, wrapping, carols, moments of heart stopping beauty and tiredness, all wrapped up in string.  I too am packing up. I generally try and get through to the Epiphany before I pack up, but this year we've got a few things on and it kind of suits me to pull down early.

I worked on my Fat Red Santas on-and-off through 2011, all year. Sometimes I sewed them at night but mostly I sewed them at Piano lessons. God, I love Piano lessons. The teacher is wonderful. I love listening to the children grow in their musicality. It's lovely having music in the house that comes from real instruments. But in all honesty, it is an hour at the end of a long week of working, where I get to sit in the Piano teacher's studio, listen to music and sew. One hour a week and I can embroider and sew 2 felt Christmas ornaments.

 Before I pack these chubby felty guys away, I thought I'd show you the family resemblance. Folky guys were done first, finished in October 2010 and hung on the 'good tree'. This year we had the 'bad tree' and lessons have been learnt. No more Scout trees from Bunnings. Next year we're going to a 'good tree' source. There have been family conversations. Other people's trees were scrutinised. Enquiries have been made. Googling has happened. It has been resolved. Now if only we can remember all of this in 12-months time. Sheesh.

 

Bye guys - see you in December 2012. Play nice.

 

Previous posts

Fat Red Santas - done and done (Nov 2011)

Red felt Santas - October 2011 (October 2011)

Santas - embroidery update (June 2011)

Felt ornaments - Christmas santas (April 2011)

I am having the most wonderful week

Merry Christmas to you all and to all a happy 'twelve days of Christmas'. It seems that long-ago tradition determined that the days after Christmas should be ones of festivities and socialising. The weeks leading up to Christmas were meant to be times of quiet reflection and preparation (advent was meant to be like lent). Somehow as a society, we inverted that and made the weeks leading up to Christmas the weeks of celebrations and spreading good cheer. As a family we had 14 Christmas events and I personally, as chief-family introvert, had seven Christmas events to attend in the weeks leading up to Christmas - parties we gave, parties we attended through friends, work colleagues, groups we belong to. It's a fair amount of cheer for anyone, let alone talkative introverts like myself.

This year after Christmas we have been allowed, through extended family circumstances, to have a quiet time at home. Usually, we pack up on Boxing day and head off to socialise for 4-5 days with my wider family. While I miss not seeing my big and funny and boisterous family this year, I have savoured this quiet time here at home. Much organisation and projects and resting has taken place. As you know, this year rocked with achievements so it has been nice to calm the boat for a few days. I was given a set of Frozen Planet DVDs for Christmas and we've really enjoyed orcas, penguins, wind, ice and funnily enough listening to the children say 'that's amazing! It looks just like CGI'.

I have lots and lots of creative posts to share - and gardening posts for those interested in apples and potatoes. Santa was generous to us crafty ones. And nature has been abundant with water to the garden, though parsimonious with the warmth - so a bit of mixed blessing for amateur farmer/gardeners. But lots to tell, once I get around to writing and posting.

For now, take a look at the progress on the cross stitch scissors keep. I'm trying to finish it off so there's room at the inn for some glorious embroidery projects. I'll tell you all about them and the creative cornucopia found around and under Christmas trees. Later. First, more rest to be had.

Previous posts

Cross stitch progress on the scissors keep (June 2011)

Celtic scissors keep - update (May 26, 2011)

My next Celtic scissors keep - new kit (May 13, 2011)

Celtic scissors keep - finished (May 3, 2011)

Fat Red Santas - done and done

I finished these during the week. I don't usually have much time during the week to sew at night time. I usually sew or knit on weekend nights, but recently the children have been practicing for piano exams and piano concerts and as the piano is in the same room as the embroidery, I've been providing them with an audience and getting a bit of extra sewing in.

These guys are done. Done and done. I'm rather pleased with the progress on them. Only because it took my three years to finish the first two Santas in the kit! So, taking one year to do these guys looks like a speed record for me.

I have two more Santas in the kit but I wont start on them until next year. I've got lots of other Christmas stuff to consume me in the next few weeks.

How are your Christmas preparations going? My house is starting to fill up with the Christmas boxes. I get my husband to bring up from the garage, about four boxes in October which are full of Christmas crafts. Then another four boxes with decorations and stuff come up in November and the final set of boxes come up in early December. I make it sound systematic...it isn't really like that every year. Some years, things flow smoothly, others it's a mad frenzy at the end.

Previous posts

Red felt Santas - October 2011 (October 2011)

Santas - embroidery update (June 2011)

Felt ornaments - Christmas santas (April 2011)

Red Felt Santas - October 2011

Last we saw Santa, he had his green leaves on his hat done and I was starting on his boots. 10 hours later he has boots on, and one of the fat Santas has a hanger and a nicely plump body. The other guy is still flat on his back waiting for the next embroidery session.

 I had to make some red and white cording by twisting together two strands of DMC. I hadn't been looking forward to that fiddly task when I did the black and white cording on his coat, but like all things, second time around was easier. Having said that, I made the cording and sewed it onto his boots during a Saturday night viewing of the Hurt Locker. That was really tense, that session. We were thoroughly impressed by the film. The filmaker's attention to detail, the sense of impending doom and menace, the fear, the tension, the tough yet fragile guys doing war, some adapting, some being destroyed, the clash of cultures, the futility. It was interesting. Perhaps a bit surreal to vicariously experience the hell that was the Iraq war while I sewed thread onto felt boots. We live a very safe life, considering the range of human experiences on the planet.

One of my goals this year was to finish these guys. I think if I'm done by Christmas I'll be happy with that, although technically my sewing year runs from Sept to August (as I started the rotation system in Sept 2010). Still, that's a bit stupid fussy to even pay attention to such things. So, ignore me.  I think I probably only need one more 10 hour session to finish these chaps off and then they can join their "folky Santa" buddies on the tree.

 

Previous posts

Santas - embroidery update June 2011

Felt ornaments - Christmas santas April 2011

Thread painting elephants - Samburu blanket - animal number 2

I went to Sydney on the weekend of August 27th & 28th to attend the next class for my African embroidered blanket. Sydney was beautiful, once again, and I managed a ferry trip across the harbour from the Taronga Zoo wharf to Circular Quay. The harbour never disappoints.

Despite willing myself to press on, I hadn't quite finished my Giraffes from the March class. But I was close and that was good enough for me. Not that Jenny cared or made a fuss. There's no sense we are doing it for her, or to meet some requirements. Six out of the 9 women doing the course had been on the March weekend, so it was nice to catch up with some familiar faces. I even sat with the same ladies from last time.

Over the course of two full days there were moments of quiet between the many long stretches of gentle, rambly, soothing chatter about lives, children, relatives, travel, books, shows, movies, embroidery in Australia, embroidery overseas, the world. There were occasional strident opinions voiced, some amusing anecdotes and lighthearted moments and quite a bit of instruction, where Jenny asked us to stop and watch what she was doing. Jenny also travelled around the room and sat with each of us for some period of each day and she made sure, before we went home, that we had done the important and hard. Last time it was those detailed Giraffe heads, this time it was the head of the mother elephant, her eyes, and the shadowing around the baby elephant's head.

 

 I learnt a number of interesting things that weekend. Like the difference between my stitching tension and Jenny's and I also got better at putting in the interlocking straight stitch. On the Giraffes, I had been doing much more of a satin stitch type effect and the interlocking stitch is much better. Much more painterly in its effect. And this, after all, is the technique - thread painting.

Jenny's stitching is beautiful and soft-looking and subtle and painterly. After we had gazed at her blanket and then sat back at our table, the three of us on our table all chatted about how we put in much more tight-looking stitches. I think this is just practice. If we want to loosen up, for the effect on the stitching, I'm sure we can. Whether I can ever be some free spirited, devil-may-care, loosey goosey creature is another story altogether! Hah. Besides, I'm equally drawn to stumpwork as an embroidery technique and that's all about tension! Anyway, on the weekend, I did try and immediately adjust my stitch tension.

When I got home, I laid out my blanket on the floor. Two animals started, three more to go, plus the border. A class is being scheduled for about March next year, when we will do the Zebras. Mosman needlecraft will send details once the calendar for next year is ready. It seems like a long time away, but then I do have many other projects to get on with, so I think that kind of timing is just fine.

I can show you the progress I had made on my Giraffes before the last class. I had almost finished. Just the final bits of the legs and the underbelly and the grass.

When the stitching is finished, apparently you cut away the solvy and wash the blanket and then the rest of the solvy melts. In the photo below you can see it has started happening already. I have some melted spots, bottom right hand corner. Time waits for no one. Apparently really high humidity can make the solvy want to depart this mortal world. Thankfully, Canberra has a very dry climate and its not often I'm thankful for that!

Jenny McWhinney kindly let me photograph her blanket so that, if over the next few months, I get a bit lost I can always look at the master stitcher's work.

 

Previous posts

There's an elephant on my sofa (August 30, 2011)

Samburu blanket thread painting: Giraffes (June 18, 2011)

Giraffes, Africa, Blankets - embroidery - thread painting (March 23, 2011)