Although I am missing the actual get-together today for this month’s SOTM, it doesn’t mean I haven’t been working on the piece.
I was somewhat surprised when I saw the instructions — “daisies” seem pretty far afield from the all the other very geometric stitches. And I have to say, I’m not sure that I like them. And I admit to finding them pretty boring to stitch. But I’ve finished two sides, and here they are:
And a close-up:
And in case you’re wondering where I am, it’s here:
The first day of Beets taught by Jennifer Riefenberg was very successful…look how much I accomplished! (I’m hoping my photo shows up here, I’m using a different app to post and am not 100% certain what is happening.)
The red-violet color of the beets (they get beads added at the end) is luscious compared with the other threads, many of which are greens and shades of violet-gray. Jennifer talked about how she thought about the colors in all three root vegetable pieces (Carrots, Radishes, and Beets) as she was designing them, at the same time. It always interests me when teachers talk about the process of designing–especially since everybody seems to do it differently!
Sue and Carol and I visited the World War II museum on Tuesday and it was well worth it. My father was a bombardier and navigator in the Army Air Corps in the Pacific, so it was really interesting to see this B25, the type of plane he flew in.
Posted by Jill
My second class doesn’t start until this morning (Thursday) so I’ve had lots of time to work on my first piece–in between sightseeing jaunts, that is. It will be nice to go home with more stitching completed than usual!
Posted by Jill
I’m in the same class as Rosie, and am really enjoying it. The one Terry Dryden piece I had done previously had a great assortment of threads that were new to me, and Terry did not disappoint this time! A YLI Ribbon Floss imported from Germany called “Shimmer” and something called “Straw Silk” from Silk Road Fibers. Along with Valdani perle cotton, apparently slightly heavier than DMC and providing just a little more coverage.
Here is one of the feathers I stitched using two of these new-to-me fibers.
I am on vacation (home tomorrow, boo hoo) and so couldn’t make it to the gathering today, but I brought the SOTM canvas with me…here’s what it looks like after the July stitching:
And fog at the beach! After a lot of heavy rain yesterday and last night, the view is very foggy this morning. Allegedly my flight status is still “on time,” but we will see. Carol started her drive home at 4am, so she is well with on her way by now.
Morning, October 3.
View from our hotel room without fog!
But I know what you are really interested in seeing is my progress on “Fog in the Mountains” by Gail Stafford. Well, here it is:
Day two progress.
Each section is at least partially stitched. Gail showed us how to ravel the Flair and attach it for the fog — yes, you PURPOSELY ravel the Flair! I can’t wait to get home and finish this really lovely piece. Gail talked about how she designed it, and made decisions about the design, threads, and stitches, and showed us photographs of her doodle cloth and notes, all of which I found immensely interesting and inspiring.
My third class at seminar this year is “Fog in the Mountains,” a wonderful jewel of a piece taught by Gail Stafford.
Day one progress
The piece is on Congress cloth, and much of what we’ve stitched so far has been with a single strand of overdyed floss. So the stitching is delicate, much of it over painted areas. Gail painted a couple of sections for us in advance, but we had to paint the others — after having two separate classes that involved painting, any intimidation I might have felt about it is gone. I’m hoping that this means that I will try my hand at designing and painting my own canvas at some point during the upcoming year. I already have a couple of ideas!
I’ve just finished my second class at seminar, Catherine Jordan’s “Quiet Garden.” This was my second choice when I didn’t get into the very popular “Radishes,” but it certainly was not a second-rate class! Catherine is an excellent teacher, and once again I learned many new things. The project is an embroidered knot garden on linen, attached to a faux-finished papier-mâché box in the form of a book. It’s always nice to learn a finishing method that is not the standard framing.
The stitching is almost entirely double running stitch and French knots on 32-count linen but we also had to do some painting on the fabric. Here is what mine looked like after I’d done some painting but before starting any French knots:
My progress, sideways.
And here it is with some French knot shrubs added:
End of day two.
The thing that was the scariest for most of us was painting the book. In the end everyone’s looked different, but they were all wonderful. And I think because it was the scariest part, it’s the part I’m most proud of. Take a look:
My book.
After this experience, I’m going to look into some of Catherine’s other projects, specifically the embroidered maps. One of the best things about seminar is having the opportunity to do things that are a little unusual for you, and learning that you like them!
This time I’m not going to show you pictures of one of my projects, but instead tell you about a cool stitching tool that Sue Reed found at Staples. They are called Magnetic Notes and come in a variety of sizes. They are kind of like Post-It notes, but instead of sticky stuff, they cling using static electricity. Sue handed out 8×4 rectangles for us to use to cover up the diagram we were NOT supposed to be looking at. Very cool!
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