Seams and edges.

 

You saw this yesterday, top right hand corner. It was a plan.....more embellishment and an edge.

That embellishment is done now but the upper area, the white, needs more work. 

There are little things I'm not happy with here but that's ok.

We learn from everything and mostly from the sampling we do that we don't like. 

I am however very happy with the seams and egdes which are developing in this collection.

 

process

From this,

to this,

a strip to fit a specific section on my wrapping cloth. Small snippets, leftovers embroidered, titivated. This may well evolve into a pocket. I have been asked what I will put in my pockets. Very often there isn't anything physical in there. I put love in there, or private thoughts.

A short visit today, my little girl is home. I'm off to be a mum......

backgrounds.....

I did warn you that I had developed a liking for these kind of  backgrounds...but never fear, it won't become a permanent ever present feature as I have very few paintings of my own. There are two here...little strips, studies of cherries and rose hips. They might not look like the best paintings in the world to you but to me they are marvellous.....I wrung them out of myself during a very stressful assignment way back. An assignment that I neither wanted, liked or enjoyed. Having said that....I am delighted I kept them. And the points, loops and puffs? Well I am consumed this week by titivation, edges, adornments because that is what the girls are on. I have been doing some titivating of my own too and will show you another time. I had better get looking for another painted background for them....

If you didn't stop by yesterday you missed my newsletter....you can read that here if you like and you can read about more classes here and here...

now I am off to rummage through folders in search of painting....

seams....

We're working on seams in class...edges. I have been taking pictures of wrapping cloths next to toe wraps...colour next to white. What a contrast. The white is current, from now, yesterday, last week. The colour and pattern feel like a life time ago although it is only months. Measuring time in embroidery, a practice from which I am sure the world would benefit. and? if I counted, I wonder how many rouleau loops and prairie points I would have made over the past six months?

titivations 4

You can all breathe a sigh of relief.....today is the last day of titivations..for now anyway. I have finished on edges and am moving to more concrete finishing, backing, binding and such. No doubt there will be more titivating going on but as part of other things, complimenting other things.

The sewing machine will be out this afternoon for a few little things that require its use...I'm not the biggest fan of the sewing machine as you know but have to concede it has served me well recently.

Can I remind you about a new group on flickr...pretty please. It isn't for a class or anything to do with me really. I did start it up but only because there was a need...I couldn't find a group for embroidered knots. For specifically French knots yes but not Bullions or other knots...Colonial for example. If you want to join then just go here and request an invite and that's it...totally free, no obligation, it won't be policed by me or anything...well unless of course you put woodwork pictures in there! I am certain there must be more people than me addicted to knots and we all need somewhere to put them don't we?

titivations 3

Yes, there will be a number 4....tomorrow.....don't say you weren't warned. There was great excitement last night. Did you miss it? Well don't worry because I will share now. I created my first EVER newsletter! If I have you in my address book it will have popped into your inbox already. If I don't then you can read it here.. I am hoping it will become a monthly thing but don't hold your breath...nothing much exciting ever happens here, there may not be any news next month but I will do my best.

Now, it's Easter Sunday.....chocolate to eat and white silk to stitch (yes, i'll be careful).....have a great Easter!

titivations 2

Sampling has turned to edges, has turned to embellishments. What can be created to enhance an edge? What can be created to adorn an edge? Is it worth it? Does it have the desired effect? Is it really you? Sampling is the only way to find that out.....

embroidery

Monday morning, the start of a very busy week chez moi. Exactly one week from today my first online class will start. I am very, very excited about it and am wondering why it took me so long??? I got there in the end though......it's going to be great, we are going to make wonderful cloths together, hopefully white but maybe not, that remains to be seen...there is more information about it HERE and HERE incase it passed you by over the weekend and  you can sign up HERE.

So apart from all the planning and writing and videoing etc that goes with that I have been embroidering. I still need to keep my fingers busy of an evening.

I have been titivating my second toe wrap (remember? I started it in the distant past) and boy do I love all these edges. Puffs, loops, fabric beads.....so tactile and pretty. These things are all included in the class too...more loops and puffs and beads and maybe even prairie points...I am so excited it will be a struggle not to start now!!

******tr.v. tit·i·vat·ed, tit·i·vat·ing, tit·i·vates. To make decorative additions to; spruce up. [Alteration of earlier tidivate : perhaps tidy + (ele)vate.] ******

a little personal message now...sorry, just ignore this if it isn't for you. I mean, you can read it, it just won't make any sense.

Adele!!! I was so happy to get your letter and the photographs today. I too have lost your e-mail address but you can contact me on mine which is

contemporaryembroidery@hotmail.com

the pictures are truly stunning!!! Thank you so much x

edges....

I have been having a bit of an edge fest for the past couple of days and you know how much I love my edges! First bit of excitement came with the arrival of my silk bias binding....it is gorgeous, so soft. It has been loosely applied, pinned and tacked to two of my finished pieces. It is actually quite hard to work with (or maybe that's just me) as it is honestly so very soft so it doesn't ''stay'' if you know what I mean and it is quite slippery so this process is taking me longer than I thought. It is so gorgeous to hold though that I fear I may never do anything else again!! 

The muslin piece...I know I said it would look different the next time you saw it...it doesn't...but!!!! It is different, it has been applied to a square of 100% cotton. One edge is just tacked down, the other edge, the one you can see here has been  secured with zillions of French knots and I can honestly say that in real life it is very highly textured and so very lovely...if I am allowed to say that, blow my own trumpet and everything. The other edge will be finished in the same way before I begin the process of adding more embroidery to the rest of the cotton square. Now I can't decide what to do first...binding with the gorgeous silk bias? French knots on the ''frothy'' muslin? oh heck....I am so indecisive....

edges....

Another white piece is finished...I decided to put an edge on this one as when you actually handle it there is an awareness of it's delicacy, probably because there isn't as much dense embroidery. Not everything requires dense embroidery, some things fit the phrase ''less is more''. To me this piece says infant cap, section of fine gown, clothing fragment. My other pieces are also meant to reference that and for me they do. This is just that memory, that reference in a different form. I have two more pieces almost finished. One will have an edge, the other won't. Since I have dropped the frequency of my blog posts embroidery is happening more and at an easier pace. I also have more thinking time but somehow less to say. Life is definitely not as hectic. I have been out today, just buying little things, scones, meat and a little fruit. When I was blogging daily that would have happened in a much more frantic way, today it was good to be leisurely...

I have a treat for you too, here is Lydia, my little darling, han't she grown? and isn't she just beautiful!!

toe wrap and a few notes on lace...

Well it's backed!! Pink gingham. I decided aginst the Marimekko for the reason I said last week, this will one day be an heirloom, (hopefully) and I don't want my great grandchildren thinking that it came from the house of Marimekko... I'm not revealing too much of it today as there are still a few things I want to do to it. Last night I started edging it with hand stitch, simple blanket stitch to finish the edges off. I only managed to get three sides done and then I want to go round again, maybe twice more to give it a lacy look. Then there are puffs and knots to add. I will probably need to make more puffs actually because I would like those running along at least one edge too. So it's still very much a work in progress...

 As for my plans with the old lace...it isn't actually yellow from ageing or from dirt, it is actually cream lace, made that way. I cut tiny snippets of two different types yesterday and soaked them in a minimal amount of bleach mixed with water. As you can see from the picture one of them has come out very white, the other, no difference. It looks more yellow here but that's the light, in reality it is exactly the same. Now I will bleach more of the successful lace to add to the wedding piece. I will then have to make sure it is properly rinsed and laundered, by hand of course, as any bleach left in it could damage the embroidered silk of the main piece over time. Because I have embroidered quite heavily already on the main piece I am going to have to give a lot of thought to where I will put the lace but my thinking at the moment is that It will run along the lower edge somehow, we shall see.

By monday I hope to at least have this attached.....watch this space..