SSE course completed

As I mentioned in a previous blog post I have been taking the excellent Sumptuous Surface Embroidery course that is run by Sharon Boggon over at Pintangle.

The first SSE embroidery I made was monotone and after reading all your kind comments I decided to name it Dancing Hearts instead of the less attractive Wonky Hearts - although I still think I should not have used Backstitch for the outlines; on counted linen they make any curve wonky, or have I missed something?

Anyway, the second part of the course is based on colour and my theme was the end of the cherry season with the petals falling off the trees. Right now 'yaezakura', or cherry trees with double flowers, are turning the air and streets of Tokyo pink.

A tree near my house makes the street look like this....

My second SSE piece is this scene: blue sky, sunshine, leaves, petals, wind, pink concrete, ground, gutter, puddle of rain water...

I've tried out many styles but it is only the bottom right corner that is really textured and sumptuous.
That must be the petals that have fallen into the gutter and got soaked in a puddle of water.

TAST #60 Diamond Stitch

TAST stitch #60 is called Diamond Stitch.

Diamonds might be 'a girl's best friend', but the Diamond Stitch is not this girl's best friend! What a teaser, a real trickster...

On my sampler below I have a selection of real rough diamonds - off to Amsterdam with you to get a proper cut! I know several Dutch ladies who can hone anything with needle and thread!

 Right now I am taking the Sumptuous Surface Embroidery course, and this week I worked a few samplers for my study journal. On one of them I tried out the Diamond Stitch again and with the aid of waste canvas underneath the tension was slightly easier to control.

Used as a filling stitch this could be good to depict a fishing net - a well-used one where you can see through which holes the fish have escaped, ha, ha!

WIPW - relaunching 'Kafferepet'

WIPW, Work In Progress Wednesday, read here what it is and what others have accomplished.

My ACTUAL work in progress just now is a birthday card and the fantastic online course Sumptuous Surface Embroidery by Sharon.
The former is a needle painting job that I don't want to show just yet, sorry.
The latter is keeping me busy studying. Sharon has supplied us with a course material of about 200 pages, jam packed with theories, examples and advice as well as lots of new stitches. Right now we are working on colour and this is an area where I have no previous 'academic' knowledge (although I have tried to grasp the theory of colour from other books in the past). It it by actually LOOKING, MATCHING, COMPARING and WORKING examples that I have begun to understand colour. Until now I have used my intuition or gut feeling. I hope the course will improve my sense of colour and also be a support when I reach a 'colour block' and feel I have got stuck in a rut.

So what progress can I show you? The simplest of simple: I have taken an old UFO quilt top out of the cupboard! Great progress, eh?

The title of this quilt is 'Kafferepet' and its theme should be obvious to any Swedish reader. You might notice the colours of the Swedish flag, some summer flowers,  a famous pattern on the china and to the initiated e.g, anyone who has joined in a 'kafferep', the corner of a checkerboard patterned thing on the plate...
More of the history of this 'flimsy' quilt top next week, when I also hope to show you some actual progress!

How to manage the Drizzle stitch

I am taking part in Sharon Boggon's excellent online course 'Sumptuous Surface Embroidery'. I have learned a lot and am enjoying the course tremendously. I can recommend it warmly.

Sumptuous Surface Embroidery of course means using a lot of the highly textured stitches, such as Needlewoven Picots, Buttonhole Wheel Cups and so. One stitch that is most appropriate, but tricky to work, is the Drizzle stitch.

May I share my way of managing this stitch?

The best needle to use is a Sharp or Milliner's needle. The even thickness of the shaft makes it easy to pull the thread though the loops. However, the needle has to be re-threaded each time, and here comes a problem - the thread frays easily, making it hard to re-thread. So here is a tip:

Things needed:

• a Milliner's needle
• thread (Perle #5)
• a hard pin cushion, a cork or a piece of piece of polystyren
• bond

Dip the end of the thread in bond and twist between thumb and index finger to make a sharp point. Let dry, (it only takes a minute).

Take the thread up from the back of the embroidery. Pull out the thread from the needle.

Place the pincushion (or other support) underneath the embroidery. Stick the needle straight up.

Cast on the loops. It is easy with the needle standing straight up supported by the pincushion.

When you have loaded enough loops on the needle, re-thread with the stiff bond-coated end of the thread. Easy peasy! Pull through.

Have fun!