The Song of my Needle : July 2013

Sunday, July 28, 2013

Elizabeth Harborne - Day 23

Finished up the project I designed for submission today and decided to work on the sampler again for about thirty minutes this evening. I decided to establish the start of the remaining bands for the rest of the sampler just to figure out the color distribution. The other thing is to also figure out if I want the lettering to be upside down as charted. When I started the sampler my plan was to stitch it just the way it was charted but now I am not so sure... at the moment I am leaning towards just stitching the letters so that they do not appear upside down. I also think I am going to add a band to stitch my name and date etc. so I have added the white and light green lines before the last band in Holbein stitch. These are just ideas at the moment - probably still in the 'design mode' after finishing the silk project. Still have to write an essay on Color etc. and get things packed up to be mailed off on Monday. After that I will have to design and start another project due for submission in September ... but I have decided that I will plan to finish this sampler before my birthday.
Anyway, here is a picture as of tonight

Elizabeth Harborne - Day 23
The Song of my Needle

Sunday, July 21, 2013

Elizabeth Harborne - Day 22

Just a bit more progress after today's stitching on the sampler...it has been a long while since I worked on it. I took a break from the silk embroidery piece I have been working on - that is almost complete and I will finish that piece very soon. It felt good to pick up this sampler again and work on it even if just for a little while... I will work on it at least two days every month until it is completed.. there are just a few more bands left and then I will go back and place all the bullions, finish the bands I had skipped etc. This band is quite different than the others and my progress today only established the general framework. It is hard to put it aside again but there are more pressing projects with deadlines ahead.
So here are the photographs of today's progress :

Elizabeth Harborne - Day 22
The Song of my Needle

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Elizabeth Harborne - Day 21 & a new project of my design

Spent the weekend staying away from family activities in a desperate attempt to just get better so I can refocus my energies.
Did a bit of stitching on Elizabeth Harborne on Saturday but my thoughts were focused on designing a piece for another project. Many of you asked me what Japanese embroidery is ... traditional Japanese Embroidery is comprised of some 47techniques that are applied onto silk kimono fabric using filament silk and metallics ... you can twist your own threads, choose the thickness of such threads or decide to add metallic thread to the silk thread and twist them together. Filament silk has a luxurious sheen and a most soothing quality and I really enjoy working with it. I cannot show this new project yet - I hope to get it done by the end of the month. But here is a little portion of the project for those of you who have not seen the sheen of filament silk ... perhaps this will give you an idea of realistic technique or needlepainting or silk shading...