Thursday, June 17, 2004

Catching Up

The last few weeks have been so full. Everything that needed to happen happened. Nearly everything that should have been done was done. So now is the time for catching up.

I promised you some pics of some of the current needlework, so here goes.

When things get hairy I work on the Crazy Quilt Bargello. Below shows the last couple of steps. I'm really enjoying the cottons and silks from Dinky Dyes that Linn turned me on to a couple months ago. They have filled several needs in this piece.



Awhile back I came up with the idea of doing a tin topper. When Linn teaches Goldwork at my house, I've made chip boxes from Altoids tins. For those who do not do Goldwork - Chip Boxes are felt or similarly lined trays or boxes which are used to hold or catch the bits of bullion used in doing chipwork. These are 1 to 2 mm pieces of bullion that you clip from the bulk pieces to make chips that you then lay like beads. Since this is for my chip box, I felt it only right to show different metal thread techniques. Then since I like the Elizabethan look, why not take the look and do it with some modern twists. The result is below.

The metal threads are couched with silk. The threads are novelty threads and twists from Benton and Johnson. The butterfly wings are laid silk with 2% very fine gold thread couched down. I have yet to do the butterfly body and the bullionwork on the leaf. Of course everything is from the perspective of the snail.



The surface embroidery bit is of a radish. The drawing is from a 16th C German herbal. The threads are silk and are done in long and short and stem stitch. It will be the cover of a handmade book. This was created for a friend who has had a year long running "gag" about radishes and the book of the virtual gardner. It just had to be done (insert very big grin). There is more to do on it and it will be done after the next big war (July 4th weekend).



I've up dated my webpages, see link on sidebar. Part of the update is the current version of the stitch database - all 30 pages of it currrently. It very definitely is a work in progress. Lots more to do before I reach a point where I am willing to let it be. However, it will be awhile before I reach that point.

Now back to working on my handout for next weekend's class - Sideless Surcoats. It is rare that I teach anything beyond needlework anymore. I haven't taught this class in almost 20 years and of course there was no handout then and very little research. The world has changed since then and so I need to do a lot of catching up.

More soon.

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