The Bluebird's Sunflower

 I'm not quite finished with the green area, but what remains to be done needs a couching thread that I don't have yet.

So on to the yellow section.  I decided to work the sunflower "seeds" in Spiral Trellis.  It's one of my favorite Elizabethan stitches. I also thought it would be different than the French knots which you'd expect to see.  (These "seeds" are quite small and could be covered with French knots. I enlarged them somewhat in order to work in ST.)

The right seed is done in Soie d'Alger; the left in 100/3.  I don't care for Soie d'Alger thread because it's fuzzy and I lose clarity in the stitch, but it's what came in the thread pack.  I tried the 100/3 from my own stash.  The problem is the yellow isn't deep enough and I can't buy the brighter yellow in 100/3 in time for this project.  

The seeds are so small (3/32" in diameter) that it's probably a moot point anyway.  I can see the difference in clarity under magnification, as in these photos.  But with the naked eye you really can't.  It just irks me to stitch second-best seeds.  The color is more important here - Love the way it pops.

Nicola's Bluebird (continued)

Today I'm working the green section of the bird.  I have tried both 1 strand of soie d'alger (on left) and 1 strand of Accentuate (on right). Both threads are by Au Ver a Some.  

Question for you - which do you prefer?  I'm not going to sway you by  telling you which I think I prefer.

The blue section you can see part of was done in speckling with one strand each of d'alger and Accentuate.  It has great sparkle - almost looks like glitter, but you can't see it in the photo, unfortunately.

I'm off to work and will check back in when I get home.

Thanks for your help.

Kimberly

Nicola Jarvis & May Morris @ William Morris Gallery, London

A few weeks ago I received an email from Nicola Jarvis asking if I would participate in an embroidery collaboration project for her solo art & embroidery exhibition at the William Morris Gallery in London.  My answer was Yes! before I'd finished the 2nd sentence in her email.  A chance to embroider something to be shown in the William Morris Gallery in London?  Given William Morris's influence on embroidery - elevating it back to its rightful place as an art form - does one really need to pose that question to a stitcher?  I feel very honored to have been asked to participate in the project and hope I can justify Nicola's faith in my abilities.


For those of you unfamiliar with Nicola, she's an artist & embroiderer, graduated from the RSN.  Her bio listed on the link will give you an idea of her many talents.  I met Nicola when I took her crewel embroidery class a couple years ago at Winterthur's Who's Your Daddy needlework seminar.  We emailed once or twice after the class and then fell out of touch, so it was a real surprise to hear from her.  If you ever have a chance to take a class from Nicola I'd highly recommend you do.  She's a wonderful teacher - extremely knowledgable, but kind and totally approachable so that you wouldn't feel uncomfortable asking her even the most basic of questions.

Nicola was awarded Overall Winner of the WM Gallery's Inspired by Morris competition in 2010.  Looking through her work I was especially drawn to her birds (scroll down on the link to see the Robin and Blackbird).  When I mentioned that I thought her birds magical she decided to send me a Bluebird as my project. I couldn't wait for my package to arrive so I could see him.  I wasn't disappointed - he's delightful.  

Upon opening the package I was both delighted and intimidated to discover that my Bluebird is painted on Dupioni Silk!  It's pale olive or sage green in color - the beauty of the color just doesn't come through on my photos, unfortunately.  The color of the silk is   such a perfect foil for the bird's colors that I can't imagine him on anything else.  I've never stitched on silk before so this will be a new experience.  

  Included in the package are silk and metal threads and sparkly filament threads.  The filament threads are also new for me, but so beautiful that I can't wait to use them.  I can select from the threads provided or use something of my own and how I embellish my Bluebird is entirely up to me.  

I have about 6 weeks to complete this project and return it to England.  I'll be blogging about my progress so stop back to see how I'm doing.  When I'm finished embellishing my Bluebird he will be made into an evening bag for the exhibition. 



Best of all, after the exhibit closes my Bluebird will fly back to me! 

 

Stitching Beautifully

"Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful , or believe to be beautiful."

William Morris

Mariana by Sir John Everett Millais @ Tate

I embroider because I have a deep need to create beauty.  The act of embroidering is equally as meaningful to me as that which I am creating.  From tools to threads, everything in my surroundings must minister to a feeling of loveliness, enriching my enjoyment of the experience.

To this end I've created many embroidery accoutrements that I've shared on this site previously. 






At times this aestheticism has made me do things others would surely consider eccentric.  As when the thread manufacturers began packaging threads in cellophane bags.  -- What a clever move on their part.  The crystal clarity of the bags made thread colors pop.   -- I secretly added the bags to my stash.  

I say secretly because I was somewhat sheepish about this small peculiarity.  But not enough to stop.  After selecting threads for a new project, I would place them in cellophane bags arranged with those embroidery tools to be used for the project. I would then admire them for a week or so before I began to stitch.  A guilty but harmless pleasure.

By serendipity I came across a new product at my local needlework shop  -  Vinyl Project Zipper Bags by Access Commodities.  They're made from a thick durable vinyl with a very high sheen.  I immediately realized they would do the same thing for my embroidery fibers as the cellophane bags.  

The shop had 2 bags.  I bought both of them, planning to put my new project threads in them.  The shop reordered.  By that time I'd thought of other uses for them.  I bought all of those but one - I didn't want to be greedy, after all. 

You may have noticed the ribbons on the zippers of my bags. I use a bit of some frippery that matches the project.   It's a great way to use up those bits of opulent ribbons too small to do anything with, but too beautiful to discard.  If you set aside the project for awhile you can also tie the color same ribbon on the slate frame so you'll know which threads go with the project at a glance.

What else do I use them for?  

*Storing current knitting projects

*They make great gift bags for gifts for your stitching friends, making the gift look that much more enchanting

*Storing those needlework smalls - pin keeps, scissor fobs, etc - not currently in use


Needlework Eye-Candy.  I hope you find one or two in your Easter basket this year.  (Don't worry, I've bought as many as I can use for the moment).