reverie on an aud world

I made my very own needlebook with leather, felt, satin ribbon, a rhinestone buckle, vintage shell button and embroidery floss.  I even included a little pocket for my scissors.  It also gave me a chance to try out these adorable patterns from the books Doodle Stitching and The New Crewel, both of which a recommend for basic techniques, fun patterns, and easy projects.  So many of my friends/classmates enjoy looking at the back of embroideries, so I left them in these images.  There is something intriguing about the back, but I still like the finished complete look of the front the best. ;o)

My grandmother ohhhhed and ahhhhhed over my little fruit girls.  So I decided to surprise her with some vegis of her very own.  I chose carrots, cherry tomatoes, an eggplant, and an artichoke.  Then to give reference to french cuisine as well as a country she lived in before coming stateside, I gave them french names.  Meet la carote, la tomate, la aubergine, and le artichaut.  They are all stitched on linen with a variety of flosses from cotton to silk to novelty and embellished with crystals and beads (of course).  Then I stretched them all over 5″ x 7″ gallery wrap canvases.

After a very eventful and exciting quarter is was nice to sit back, relax, and start making some Christmas presents.  My first present was for my dear friend, Abby.  She recently brought an adorable toy poodle puppy into her home.  Named Coco for her owner’s love of fashion, and the rich chocolate color of her fur, I couldn’t resist a little nod to her namesake.  I created this 18″ x 18″ pillow with a Chanel inspired suit and an eager little puppy in sparkly silk french knots.  All stitched on linen with a printed cotton boarder and backing and beaded tassels and silken braid.  While picking out trims at a local fabric store, several women stopped me to admire my handiwork and inquire about the pattern.  No pattern, it was all me, but it does get me thinking of selling my own patterns and kits… hmmmm….

For our final project, we were allowed to use whatever we wanted, and strongly encouraged to choose from our favorite things.  I created this book, titled Treasured.  It’s bound with embossed paper and leather, and the pages can be viewed as a tunnel book or in a traditional page turning way.  The pages all build on the final image.  Other materials used, metallic net, silk chiffon, silk organza, dupioni silk, cotton thread, machine stitching, glass seed beads, leather, Swarovski crystal beads (I love my sparkle).  Of all the pages, the one of eyelets intrigues me the most.  I’ve also entered this piece in the Stitch Spectacular show opening January 9, 2009 right here in Savannah.  So come on out and view it in person.  Final dimensions: 9″ x 9″ and 3″ deep.

The peacock feather pieces and a little research on stumpwork lead to my explorations in this piece.  Again a created a radial pattern, this time of leaves.  Next I stitched additional leaves on a piece of silk organza and incorporated a piece of wire around the edge.  I then attached the wire enforced leaves to the original piece to give it dimension.  The background is printed cotton, and the diameter is about 6 inches with 1 – 1 1/2 inches in height.

So the little white book inspired all sorts of ideas about cut paper designs and pop-up books utilizing fabric and embroidery.  I read that cut paper was often used as a pattern in embroidery.  The stitcher would adhere the paper to the fabric and stitch on top of it, trapping the paper between the thread and fabric.  So cut a radial repeat based on a peacock feather.  I then stitched it onto dupioni silk with silk, cotton, and metal thread.  This first attempt uses colors inspired by the showy bird.  It is about 6 inches in diameter.

After showing my classmates, many were intrigued by how the pattern began with the white paper.  So I completed another one using solid white silk floss and iridescent fuchsia to teal dupioni silk.