A weft yarn

The Ferry - pause for Edwardian hat

Date: February 2013

After 10 hours on The Ferry, I have made good progress through the water and now need to do some of the more complex stitching. The top half of the canvas is all impressionistic painterly splashes of highlighted water, mainly done in fine oblique slav and half continental. But as I've largely finished that, I am at the stage where I get to do some hats and some umbrellas and some faces. Eeek.

The pink umbrella in the photo below will be stitched with quite simple stitches but in Marlitt and Decora which is quite a slippery thread. I'm looking forward to adding a bit of colour other than water strokes.

In the photo below are the ostrich plumes of a large Edwardian hat. I will need to stitch them with long and short stitch. I might make a little sampler before I do that. There is quite a bit of movement and fluffiness conveyed in the painting. The hat is quite pretty and the lady in the blue striped dress is certainly the focal point of the painting. So, I would like to do a good and representative job on this part of the picture. No pressure.

In an effort to distract myself from the work at hand I've been googling images. Its clear that Edwardian ladies loved large hats and ostentatious plumes. I'm not sure how long this fashion lasted but when it ended no doubt it was a relief for the ostrich.  Photo below copied from here. 

Photo copied from here. 

 

While the face below seems to have not much detail painted on the canvas, when you look at a print of E Phillips Fox's painting you'll notice lots of details, one of which is that while the young nanny does appear to be more swarthy than the other ladies, she is probably not from one of the French colonies in West Africa. In the painting, her face is in deep shade, cast from the umbrella she carries to protect the baby. Instead, it just looks like, unlike the bourgeois ladies, she didn't wear an enormous hat out while she hung the laundry out, or walked the children in the park, or did the gardening. Again, I think I'll do a little sample before I petit point her face.

And here's the tangle or organisation of water threads.

My companion is resting.

Previous posts

The Ferry: After the annual stitching weekend (October 2012)

The Ferry: Just before the annual stitching weekend (September 2012)

The Ferry (September 2012)

Back to the Ferry (May 2012)

The Ferry tapestry - progress after Tapestry Guild weekend (October, 2011)

The Ferry tapestry - the 2011 September Tapestry weekend (Sept 2011)

The Ferry - E.Phillips Fox - Baxtergraphix Tapestry (April 2011)

Finished the Bargello purse canvas - now just need to make the purse

Date: February 2013

Last we saw this I was very close to finishing it. It only needed a few more rows and some fixing bits of stitching that had unravelled. As the threads were all quite new to me, and as I am mostly self taught, I wasn't 100% sure how to secure some of the slippery. metallic threads. I had also run out of some of the threads previously, so I was keen to be a bit economical with my waste knots. Anyway, some of it wasn't tightly secured enough and I had to redo it. Once that was all done, my 'ta-da' moment took place after 76 hours of stitching.  Here it is. Now I just need to make it up into a purse, or send it to someone who will make it up into a purse for me. In the immortal words of the great Lawrence Oates "I may be some time".

 

Previous posts

Bargello purse (September 2012)

Midnight peacock purse nearly finished stitching but put aside nonetheless (May 2012)

Midnight peacock purse (April 2012)

Cat Tapestry progress

Date: February 2013

So in February 2013, I can see Aldo's eyes and this project is officially 10 years old. The international governing body of needleworkers gives you a certificate if you've worked on a needlework project for 10 years. Its just a paper anniversary. It isn't until you've been working on something for 20 years that you actually get any gold stuff for your anniversary. Making it up. But still....folks, its been a long time on this and we are so 'not done yet'. I am not despairing. I am celebrating!

For those of you with eagle eyes, you'll notice the little yarn markers in the margin on the right hand side. The little marker at the blue box which is also at Aldo's eye level indicate the half way point.

In the photo below, draped piles of wool for stitching adorn the sofa. I've mentioned before that this tapestry has a lot of colour, which I love, of course. And when I am finished, I'll have a lot persian tapestry wool left over I think.  There was a time back in 2011 when I thought I may have problems if some of my colours ran out (and they were running out). The Paternayan yarn was getting hard to find and production ceased on this at one stage. I had to set up some excel spreadsheets and record the colours that I had, the ones getting low or missing and then I emailed Australian suppliers and ebay suppliers trying to find the precious skeins. This was going to have an impact not just one my cat tapestry but also on Jenny McWhinney's Samburu African blanket, and on her Camel blanket projects as well.

 

During this period we thought it was gone, then we started hearing it might come back, then it was on its way back

Now this company have ensured supplies will continue. Excerpt below from the Saco River Dyehouse website.

The company sounds pretty interesting and they do a lot more than just ensure that ladies with old needlework kits can finish their tapestries (even if it takes 20 years). They seem to have embraced organic and sustainable practices and contract dyeing services. Sounds like a good way to re-invent a segment of this industry.

Previous Posts

Where or where has my little cat been? (October 2012)

Cat tapestry - progress (May 2011)

Cat tapestry (March 2011)

 

More Santa Stocking

 Date: November 2012

I am working my way down the Santa stocking and feeling really pleased with the wreath and the cuffs of Santa's robe.

I made a conscientious effort to reverse the pattern on the cuff so it looked like a right side and a left side. I like that effect. You'll also notice that one side has the gold braid couched over the green silk tent stitches. While the other side is still bare. The gold lifts the stitching and adds that special sparkle. I'll put the other gold in next time I return to the stocking. I've mentioned before how much I've enjoyed the stitching guide exposing me to new threads, but I've also just loved the effects of the stitches themselves - particularly all the sparkle and bling.

I bought this canvas from The French Knot in Fort Worth, Texas way back in 2010. Stitching it has given me so much joy. I've discovered a whole world of beautiful threads, stitches and creativity. I've been impressed by the details and the balance in every bit of the stitching plan. The creative genius behind this plan is Diana Bosworth.

If you feel like clicking through, you'll eventually find a lovely newspaper article that describes her creative journey and a little bit of her own life story as well. She features in The Needlepoint Book, and I love that her book is called Beards that I have known. In pursuit of the perfect Santa beard, you can sample a range of different techniques. I don't have the book, but I wish I did. I struggled a bit with the beard and ripped it out and put it in again - something I do rarely (reverse stitching that is).

 I'm probably just short of half way through the canvas. Certainly, what is coming up next looks detailed and complex. Stay tuned.

 

Previous posts

Santa stocking - and now the wreath (September 2012)

Santa Stocking - the coat (September 2012)

Update on Santa stocking & how I organise a stitching project (May 2012)

I might make my deadline (March 2012)

Tim's Christmas stocking - delays and pressing on (February 2012)

Christmas stocking (December 2011)

On the frame - Tim's stocking (April 2011)

Tim's Christmas stocking (April 2011)

The Ferry: after the annual stitching weekend

Date: 1 October 2012

Once a year I gather with some stitching friends to spend two days working on our needlepoint and embroidery. This year, I spent 8 hours of my annual stitching weekend actually stitching. I was there from 9:00am to 4:30pm both days. So, it seems I just managed to spend slightly more than half my time on the task at hand. The rest of the time was spent eating and socialising, wandering around the room chatting and learning and viewing other works in progress. It is interesting to see what everyone is up to and while so much of the conversation is spent on the topic of time - how little or how much progress we've made - the things that stick in my mind are the chosen images and the complexity of the work. 

At the end of the weekend I was pleased that I had done the hard bits at the annual weekend. I've done this in previous years as well. Not that I planned it that way. It just kind of happened. I find the heavy wool stitching is rather slow and hard on the fingers. The wool needs to be pushed and dragged through the canvas. So, it was good to tackle that while I was sitting next to someone chatting away. I barely noticed that my fingers were sore and tender at the end of each day.

At home at the end of the stitching day, I feel humbled by the stories shared, the grief, the hardship, the worries for those not with us, the endurance of upbeat people. I feel humbled and odd. I wish sometimes that I felt a stronger urge to share my own stories, but for some reason I am reticent. Instead I like to talk of adventures not yet had, so I tell of my bushwalk to come. They listen politely.

While I am watching 'The Deadlys' I drift through thoughts of respect, tolerance and politeness and I reflect on lives long since gone. 

In positive times... have met a stitching milestone by reaching the 3 year mark on one side. As noted before, I like to break down seemingly impossible tasks, so I've divided this canvas into ten segments. I am making good progress. This is satisfying.

After putting in rows and rows of impressionistic water, and shaded wool steps along an Edwardian promenade in seaside France, I am now about to stitch a long and short stitch, ostrich feathered, hat. I sit with one of the ladies who has done many, many long and short stitch canvasses and discuss technique, trying to memorize her skills through conversation. I have started a pinterest board on The Ferry and have collected some amazing images of Edwardian hats. They loved them broad brimmed and overflowing with feathers and flowers. It was opulent.

As we know from some of my previous posts, the artist E. Phillips Fox, whose tapestry I am reinventing, was married to Ethel Carrick Fox. Recently there was an article in the Canberra Times looking for some of her paintings. If you click through on the link you'll see why I love Canberra. One of Ethel Carrick Fox's paintings conveys the sharp blue sky and brilliant yellow autumnal colours of Canberra.

In the final wrap up from the weekend, we've started a give-a-ways table for people to pass on the bits and pieces they've stored but most likely will not use. I picked up a couple of books and some 40 count gauze with a tiny pansy stitched on it.

 

40 count gauze....tiny, tiny.

Previous posts

The Ferry: Just before the annual stitching weekend (September 2012)

The Ferry (September 2012)

Back to the Ferry (May 2012)

The Ferry tapestry - progress after Tapestry Guild weekend (October, 2011)

The Ferry tapestry - the 2011 September Tapestry weekend (Sept 2011)

The Ferry - E.Phillips Fox - Baxtergraphix Tapestry (April 2011)

 

Where or where has my little cat been?

Date: October 2012

I haven't forgotten the tapestry that is the memento mori for my lovely little cats: Aldo and Madonna. There may be a long time between pictures but fear not, they are here, sitting on their colourful cushions, waiting patiently for more stitches to bring them to completeness.

These complex patterns with many colour changes require concentration and focus and as many stitchers know this is a path to relaxation. As the cares of the day slowly fade under the rhythmic looking, reading the graph, choosing the colour, lifting the needles, slowly watching the pattern unfold, so too does the calm settle.

Previous posts

 

Cat tapestry - progress (May 2011)

Cat tapestry (March 2011)

Santa stocking - and now the wreath

Date: September 2012

I bought this Tapestry Tent stocking for my husband back in 2009 and started stitching it in March 2010. In September 2012, I was about half way through. I was stitching from the top down, line by line and in many ways I think that strategy made progress quite slow. Though it did provide a very satisfying view of the picture as it unfolded beneath my stitching.

 The berries on the wreath were stitched with red ribbon Flair. As I made the knots the thread made a very satisfyingly plump looking red berry which sat up nice and proud above the green stitching on the wreath.

 

On the right had side of Santa, I stitched the cuff and carefully laid out the pattern on Santa's coat so that it gave a distinct line where his arm was separate from the rest of the coat. 

The adventure of this tapestry has been one of discovering new threads. It has been a lot of fun to try out all the different threads.

Previous posts

Santa Stocking - the coat (September 2012)

Update on Santa stocking & how I organise a stitching project (May 2012)

I might make my deadline (March 2012)

Tim's Christmas stocking - delays and pressing on (February 2012)

Christmas stocking (December 2011)

On the frame - Tim's stocking (April 2011)

Tim's Christmas stocking (April 2011)

The Ferry: just before the annual stitching weekend

This is a 'made my deadline' post. I know it's kind of strange to have a triumphal march through the lounge room just because I ticked off 'year 2' of my ten-year project. But I am. Having a triumphal march that is.There are a few small gaps but basically I have made it to the second mark in the sidebar of the tapestry. Just in time. This Saturday, I'm off to join in the annual tapestry weekend with my guild friends. I don't drag this enormous thing to my classes, so none of them have seen it in the last twelve months. I'll be interested to see what they are up to and I'm sure they'll be curious to see my progress as well.

I find this tapestry kind of mesmerizing and therapeutic. It is so rhythmic. A bit like knitting. Back and forth, back and forth. Large swathes of the same stitch.

I sat through many hours of Lewis and Clark and the Forsythe Saga while I stitched this. In the process, I taught myself how to do the fine oblique slav from the top downwards. It is a stitch designed to be filled in from the bottom up. Because I use the DSL method of stitching, working from the bottom is hard to integrate. So, I felt pleased once I could see enough of the pattern to reverse it. I can now stitch completely across the row from one edge of the tapestry to the other side picking up and starting each of the colours and stitches as I go along. Rather pleased with that. There is still an awful lot of water to stitch, though year 3 sees me getting to start on some of the figures and their hats!

Previous posts

The Ferry (September 2012)

Back to the Ferry (May 2012)

The Ferry tapestry - progress after Tapestry Guild weekend (October, 2011)

The Ferry tapestry - the 2011 September Tapestry weekend (Sept 2011)

The Ferry - E.Phillips Fox - Baxtergraphix Tapestry (April 2011)

Bargello purse

You would be forgiven for looking at this and thinking 'not much has happened since last we saw this purse'. I have documentary evidence that I have filled in a few more stitches. The bottom of the purse is now level, and the top is almost level. Still....the blue peacock bits are yet to be finished so those gaps stare loudly at us.

Part of the delay was that I ran out of one of the threads and had to put a bit of effort into finding a simple enough solution. It is really tricky when you need to buy one spool of thread from an internet shop. It just doesn't warrant the postage and yet I don't want to just buy things I don't need. I have put a lot of effort into checking through lists of projects, current and future, to come up with thread purchasing lists so that when I do need that one spool of thread, I can add in another couple of spools from other projects and all is well with the world. Stitching should be finished next time you see it.

 

Previous posts

Midnight peacock purse nearly finished stitching but put aside nonetheless (May 2012)

Midnight peacock purse (April 2012)

Santa stocking - the coat

I have started work on Santa's beautiful red coat. It is a lovely stitch and a gorgeous thread. The thread I'm using is called Felicity's Garden and is a mix of merino wool and silk. It is wooly and lustrous at the same time. There are two shades of red, one almost pinkish. The stitch is an alternating pattern that ends up looking like a richly woven brocade coat. I love it.

I've mentioned in previous posts how much I've enjoyed this tapestry because the threads are so unusual to me. I haven't seen any of these threads in embroidery stores in my travels in Sydney and Canberra - that's not to say they aren't available at all, merely that I haven't come across them.

Here are just a few of these unusual threads ....Silk pearl, velvet threads....

strandable 12-Ply silk and needlepoint ribbon. The 12 ply silk is quite economical because I only use 4 ply at a time. I also did a bit of reading about the different threads and this type of silk thread - splendor - comes in hundreds of colours and is very easy to use. Some silks are quite delicate and fussy but Splendor is marketed as a beginner's silk, which I appreciate.

This one below is an Australian thread - a Gumnut thread - variegated Merino and it is just wonderful to use. It makes up the fur edges on the hat and the coat and the sleeves.

I love looking at all the colours and stitches and thinking about this generous man laden with gifts to surprise the young at heart.

 

Previous posts

Update on Santa stocking & how I organise a stitching project (May 2012)

I might make my deadline (March 2012)

Tim's Christmas stocking - delays and pressing on (February 2012)

Christmas stocking (December 2011)

On the frame - Tim's stocking (April 2011)

Tim's Christmas stocking (April 2011)