Jacque

Another block finished; Jacque's Confidence Booster. This is a fun block to work on because we know what the finished product will be. It will be the bag to take to the casino.
With that in mind I stitched as much luck as I could into the bag by using Chinese good luck symbols and stitching in red, the Chinese lucky colour and then whipping the stitching in gold for good measure.

This photo does not do the luscious fabrics justice.

Here is a close up of the stitching, I hope I have the calligraphy right. I looked up on the net the characters then practiced them until they looked right. Then I drew them in pencil on the gold fabric, stitched them with red perle 8 thread and then whipped them with gold filament. I think they look OK and I hope any Chinese writers think the same but even if they do not I thought good thoughts all the time I was stitching so that must count for something..

RoseAnnes BAS Blocks

Back again at last. I have been very slack with my writing but here are some photos of the embroidery I have been doing on Rose Anne's blocks.

 This is a butterfly done with chain stitch, detached chain pistil stitch, seed stitch and colonial knots. It is done with single thread art rayon.

The next block is the beautiful underwater scene. I added the tiny fish around the angel fish with silver thread and fly stitch finished with a chain. The other panel is coral, starfish and seaweed in various threads and pearl beads.

Here I added a bead tumble down the side of the heart. The stitching is Rhodes stitch in yellow silk.

A basket of silk flowers with a beaded button for an accent.

Sometimes I make real flowers but most of the time I make made up ones like these. The leaves and the flowers are silk ribbon and the vine is silk thread.

'

This stitching on the trellis is a sort of cross stitch but the legs are straight not slanted. It came from one of my favourite books "A Book of Fancy Designs for Ornamenting Oriental Work" This is in the public domain and can be found at http://www.antiquepatternlibrary.org/html/warm/embroid.htm I don't know what page it is on but the publisher is Mary Haehnlen. This little jewel only has 24 pages and was published in 1884.  

This is just a series of straight stitches using one of Carol Sample's templates. Once in blue the echoed in a goldie colour. A lighter shade of blue was used on the detached chain with pearls. As you can see even with a template I cannot sew straight.

 The bottom of this basket is woven over irregular buttonhole stitch and topped with chain stitch to make the appearance of a planter box of woven cane. The flowers are a stitch I found on the web and are supposed to look like peacock feathers. They are made with one large detached chain in a dark colour, then a smaller detached chain in a lighter colour stitched upside down to the first stitch lastly a Colonial or French knot to finish off. I personally like Colonial knots so that is what I use. The greenery is fly stitch and straight stitch in some places.

And to finish on block 9 a personal touch of a Gum Blossom done in Pistil stitch, Satin stitch and couched bullion. The leaves are satin stitch outlined with outline stitch in a single thread. The gumnuts are bullion stitch. Gumnuts are the seedpods of the plants not the buds as some people think.

My Beautiful Christmas Cracker

Here are some photos of the Christmas Cracker I received from Faye. I was very strong and did not open it until Christmas morning but I forgot to take photo of it before I opened it.

Isn't the stitching just beautiful I am so lucky I love the Asian influenced fabrics.

Such pretty braids, beads, laces and 2 silkies as well.

Here is a closeup if the silkies not a very good one I am afraid but they are just beautiful in real life.

Yesterday I put the photos of Diane's blocks on the blog but looking at them this morning I realized you cannot really see the stitching so I have uploaded photos of my work on Diane's block. I hope she likes them. I found this an extremely challenging set but a stunning idea and can't wait to see the finished product after Diane embroiders the views from the window. 

Block1: This is Portuguese Border Stitch done in pink and soft green perle 8. This is from TAST from Pintangle and is a really pretty stitch and easy to do.  

Block2: These are some of the stitches from  "A Book of Fancy Designs for Ornamenting Oriental Work" this is a gorgeous old book from the Antique stitch library. Crazy Quilting was known as Oriental work in Victorian times.

Block 3: Another set of stitches from "A Book of Fancy Designs for Ornamenting Oriental Work" . They are up and down buttonhole stitch detached chain straight stitch and fly stitch. The thread is perle 8.

 

Block 4: The base stitch is taken from the little Victorian book I have been using for this set. It is worked like a cross stitch but up and down  I then tied down each corner with a minute cross-stitch and put buttonhole wheel flowers in alternate holes.

Block 5: This is just a series of stitches out of my head. I used a variegated perle thread 5

Block 6: A little kitty staring out the window chain stitch, straight stitch in rayon thread.

Block 7: Stars reflected in the paintwork stitched in woven star and drizzle stitch with colonial knots, my favourite sort if knot. Stitched in perle 8

Block 8: Just stitched as the muse struck. Blanket half wheels and detached chain. 

Block 9: This in fact was the first block I stitched. The woven stitch daffodils were taken from an old copy of Inspirations. I thought the idea of a couple of flowers forgotten on the window sill was sweet.

Back again with a bit more on the BAS Round Robin. This has been very challenging and Diane's blocks were no exception in fact I think they were the hardest of all but in some ways the prettiest. 
Because of the constraint not to use the light green areas and maintain the integrity of the light and dark values if the window frames this really made me for one think. 
Once the blocks came to me there was not too much room on some of them. Any how here is my go at these beautiful and exciting blocks. I can't wait to see them finished after Diane puts the scenery in the background areas.

This block I added very little to just the Portuguese plaited stitch in the lower left hand.

Here I added the lower right upright panel to click on the block to get a larger view.

Lower left upright is my work here

Once again the lower right  upright.

The right upper upright is my stitching

The kitty sitting on the window sill is mine

The Stars reflected on the left upright above the other kitty. I did not do the kitty but I think she is so cute.

The stitching on the upper right upright.

The daffodils on the lower left window sill are perle 8 woven stitch.

Most of my stitching came from either TAST in www.pintangle.com or from a fantastic little booklet "A Book of Fancy Designs for Ornamenting Oriental Work" from www.antiquepatternlibrary.org. In Victorian times Crazy Quilting was called Oriental work hence the name of the booklet.
I hope you enjoy looking at these lovely blocks it was indeed a privilege working on them. For a larger view of the blocks just click on any one of them.

I have just signed up for the 2013 CQJP challenge. I hope I do better than I did this year what with my hip and foot I seemed to slow right down with my sewing. I would have thought being confined to a wheelchair for 6 months would have meant lots of sewing but it was all just too hard and I did very little. So now I mam determined to stop procrastinating and get back to my sewing.

I have at last finished my stitching on Pam's blocks. I enjoyed myself with this stitching as it is great to be back in the swing again.
This is the feather stitch. The colours did not come out as well as I would have liked but you can just see the stitching and the little colonial knot silk ribbon flowers.

The next block is outline stitch I love this moth it is a bit different to the usual butterfly but I think lovley just the same. I stitched this in variegated floss using 2 strands for everything including the satin stitch, running stitch and chain

The straight stitch was done in rows of perle 8 pale yellow and then woven with a magenta. The green chain stitch outline is also perle 8. I added 5 little flower beads to the trellis made with the stitching.

The herringbone stitch is held down with a tiny cross stitch then fly stitch detached chain and pistil stitch are used to decorate it.

This set of blocks has been so much fun and has really tested my imagination and sewing skills. I can see the improvement in my stitching since I came back to embroidery. 

One of the problems I always had was I found "Fancy Work" was too constricting I was just using other peoples ideas and not my own just like paint by numbers for me. 

My Mother did the most beautiful work and in her later years started designing her own stuff. I am very much the proud custodian of these beautiful pieces.