Last weekend, I put the final stitches on my "Breath of Spring" project! It was such a fun and colorful project to work that now I'm sorry I finished it. Working a project that you really enjoy is like reading a good book - you want to get to the end to see the finish, but when you get there, you're disappointed that the journey is over! Still, I'm happy the embroidery is finished. Now, it's just a matter of sewing up the bag (oh dear).

So here's the whole garden. The embroidery stitches employed in this project were all straightforward, easy stitches. The most difficult stitch was the bullion knot; otherwise, the project is worked predominantly in stem stitch, with lots of French knots (lots and lots of French knots), some blanket stitch, some long-and-short stitch, fly stitch, and straight stitch. That's about it, actually!



The whole project is relatively wide - about 16" wide, actually. It's supposed to make up the outside pocket of a large linen tote bag. Everyone who's seen it, though, seems to think it should be framed, and that it would only get ruined on a tote bag. I, on the other hand, am determined to finish the tote bag!



Racing towards the finish line this weekend, I had heaps of fun embroidering this little guy! He's a terrific grasshopper.



He's mostly worked in long and short stitch (the wings, the head, the lower body), and the front, jumpy parts of his back legs are long bullions. The skinny sections of the back legs are straight stitch, but because they were such long straight stitches, and since this is meant to be the outside pocket on a usable tote bag, I decided to anchor the straight stitches.

It is, in fact, the bugs that make this garden come alive, I think. Oh, don't get me wrong - I love the colorful grasses and flowers - but the bugs are the lively element.



There's this fellow, that I already wrote about at length. I love this little guy!



Then there are the little ladybugs, worked in fly stitch, satin stitch, straight stitch, and French knots.



I never did fix the one with the wonky dots. Should I? Methinks.... I probably won't.



Then there's the bee, that actually has really widely spaced eyes. I read somewhere (I think it may have been a Snapple fact!) that bees have 5 eyes. Mine just has two eyes, far apart.



Then there's this water-bug mosquito-eater thing. You can tell my entomological skills are rather lacking - I have no idea what this one is. It reminds me of those bugs that I used to see, as a kid, skidding across the top of Parker's Pond on frong-catching expeditions. It also reminds me of those really big mosquito-looking bugs that aren't mosquitos that we grew up calling mosquito-eaters, because they were such big mosquitos that we figured they ate small mosquitos. Hm.



This splash of brightness is probably the focal point of the garden - it certainly is the first thing you see. It's worked in a variegated thread, except for the markings, in long and short stitch.



This is the svelte side-view butterfly (I do like the white wings on the natural colored linen - they stand out!).



And this is the slightly overweight side-view butterfly, with the big head.

So those are the bugs - and here are some of my favorite garden views.



I like the combination of the cheery yellow, the bright green, and the blue flowers in this clump of flora.



And I like the thistle climbing the buttercup that points to the big butterfly...



And though it didn't receive much attention in the blogging of this project, I like the wispy grasses that fill out the garden.



I also like my garden from the side. The caterpillar looks ripe and pudgy, and I like all the wavy grasses.

So that's the project - 'twas great fun. If I can bring myself to tackle the construction of the tote it goes on, I'll be amazed. And you'll be the first to know!

But what do you think, really? Should it go on the tote, or should it go on the wall? Maybe everyone else is right...

My next project, already underway, is a small goldwork project that I'm giving to my niece as a wedding present. The wedding is in November, but I won't be there. Still, I'll send along a little symbolic something in goldwork. I'll show that to you eventually, but there's a story behind the piece, so I can't blog the whole thing right now. I think I can blog snippets, though, that don't show the whole design. I'll find out if I can, and if I can... welp. You'll be the first to know!

So - tote? Wall hanging? or tote? or wall hanging? Decisions, decisions...

Labels: Breath of Spring, Inspirations Magazine, needlework pictures, pictures

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Wednesday, September 10, 2008
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I'm not exactly a bug fan, though I do like to look up close at some of the stranger buggy creatures inhabiting God's earth. Caterpillars have always been fascinating to me - and this one, sitting atop his embroidered leaf, content in all his bullion-knot-pudginess, is quite appealing, as far as caterpillars go.

I've managed to add a few more stitches to my Breath of Spring project - and among them is this little fellow. He cracks me up.



After I stitched him, I was pretty pleased, though some of the bullions are a bit wonky in the middle. But he is just too cute. I love his little legs.

His body is made up of bullion knots in alternating yellow and red, and his head is satin stitched in black, with French knots for the (rather large) eyes. His legs are little black straight stitches.



I was observing with pleasure his colorful addition to the garden, when my sister stopped in. After expressing her approval, she told me a story. You see, my sister is a kitchen-garden-fresh-food-and-veggies fanatic, and each year, she plants an elaborate kitchen garden. To keep fresh herbs handy for cooking, she has a line of small clear vases on her kitchen counter, in which she places bundles of fresh parsley, basil, and whatnot from the garden.

She noticed a small caterpillar on some of her inside parsley one day, but decided to leave it there to see what it would do. While I pictured caterpillars in her soup, she continued to tell me how the thing, over several days, molted, then molted again, getting bigger, changing colors, and on and on.

The very day of her visit, she had been working at the sink when her gaze fell on her vase of parsley. It was moving and shaking! Low 'n behold, the caterpillar (which had originally been the size of a tiny inch worm and now was progressing towards finger-sized) was wriggling about in great consternation. Then - bam!

It's skin popped off and hit the counter! (I don't really mind my inanimate caterpillar...)

Within a short time, it had worked itself into a kind of question-mark shape, and had formed around itself a chrysalis - the recognizable chrysalis of a swallowtail butterfly. I thought that was pretty neat.

I know my caterpillar can't compare with the swallowtail that will eventually emerge on the salad on my sister's counter - and in fact, unless the colors run, my caterpillar won't morph into anything else...



...but I still think, as caterpillars go, he's pretty swell.

Labels: Breath of Spring, Inspirations Magazine, needlework pictures, pictures

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Saturday, September 06, 2008
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I haven't done much stitching (ok, I haven't done any stitching) for the past week, but last week, I managed the thistle on the Breath of Spring project I'm working on.

I like the thistle. It's worked with simple stitches - the base of the flower is long and short stitch in a dark green, crossed with a lattice of light green, and the thistley part of the thistle is stitched in various lengths of daisy stitches.



I like the variegated purple selected for this flower - it ranges from very, very pale, to a medium-dark.



Most of the detached chain stitches that make the head of the thistle shoot upwards, but there's a little skirt of stitches pointing down, overlapping the base of the flower (is a thistle a flower or a weed?) that add a bit of depth and reality to the look of the flower.

I should have layered my detached chain stitches a little better, starting first with very long ones, and then building shorter ones on top of that. Instead, I worked in a rather random way until I had the head of the thistle filled up. I'm not quite inclined to take the stitches out and do it over, though - overall, I think it looks ok.

One thing I might do over on this is the lattice work. On the pattern, it's drawn out in very evenly spaced rows, but I think it almost looks too even for such a haphazard, wild looking garden! We'll see.

So there's the thistle. Today, I just might tackle that caterpillar....

Labels: Breath of Spring, Inspirations Magazine, needlework pictures, pictures

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Thursday, September 04, 2008
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I've managed to work up a few more stitches on Breath of Spring, which is really turning out to be a super-fun project! Here are some photos of progress and plans!

When I last posted photos for this project called "Breath of Spring," I hadn't quite finished the French knot flowers that look like butter mints. But I finished those up late last night, and you know what? I really like them!!

I'd say I'm a little more than half finished with the piece:



The little blue forget-me-nots stand out a lot more than I realized they would. I'm not quite so keen on the really dark undersides of the foxglove (the bell-shaped purple and yellow flowers on the left), because they Really seem to stand out. But ... I still like them!



This is my favorite section so far - I like the butter mint flowers and the angelica (the other "white" French knot flower burst on the right of the photo).



Over all, the angelica looks white, but you can see that it, too, is worked in a variegated thread of pastel colors. I'm glad - if they really were white, they'd be too stark. I like the subtle shades of color.



A new ladybug - I like this one better than the first, but he's got a little antenna thing going on there, like the tip decided to disconnect. Funny, it took an up-close photo to make this clear. I didn't notice it until I saw the picture!



Here are the "butter mint" flowers. I don't know what else to call them, because I don't know what they're supposed to be! They are worked in slightly darker shades of pastel than the angelica. I like them, after all. I didn't think I would, but I really do!



And this is where I'm going next - the thistle and the caterpillar. I can't wait! That thistle looks fun.



And then, after that, the grasshoper. I'm kind of getting into this bug thing. Embroidering bugs is great fun. Kind of weird, but really fun. "I'm going to go embroider a bug, if you'll excuse me." Not something you say every day, you know?

So that's my progress so far. I can't tell you how wonderful it is to be able to sit down later in the evening, after long days at work, and just stitch for a half an hour or so before going to bed. It's great relaxation. I'm so thankful to have stitching as a hobby, aren't you? It's just... the Best!

Labels: Breath of Spring, Embroidery Projects, Inspirations Magazine, needlework pictures, pictures

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Thursday, August 21, 2008
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After finishing the whitework on the linen pouch, and doing whitework monograms on the embroidered guest towels this summer, I decided it was time to dig out something colorful to embroider! Better yet, something colorful that was already set up...

So, I took out "Breath of Spring," a project from Country Bumpkin's Inspirations Magazine, issue #56. I mentioned this particular project previously, when I was planning to finish it as a gift. But, you know, time just got away from me! So I've picked it up now, to (hopefully) finish relatively soon (boy, doesn't that sound non-commital!!??)



There are lots of things I like about this project!! For one thing, it's Colorful. Some of threads, when seen in isolation, might not strike you as Super Colorful, but when taken as a whole project, the colors are pretty varied, and very pretty!

Another thing I like is that the project employs a variety of stitches, so you never really get bored doing the same old stitch over and over again.

Finally, each separate element in the design is small enough to handle in one sitting, more or less. And once I near the completion of one little element, the excitement builds to move on to the next!

Overall, the piece is easy enough - I'd think any moderately advanced beginner could work it, as long as you had a good stitch dictionary (although I think the stitches are covered in the issue of the magazine...) But there are no really "advanced" techniques - the hardest stitch in it is the bullion knot. But this isn't to say I'm not learning anything as I work the project, because I am! Let me show you some close ups here, and tell you a couple things I've learned along the way.



This is the left side of the piece - the bell-shaped flowers are supposed to be foxglove. The butterfly is a duplicate of one on the right side of the piece. I like the one on the right side Much Better. Now, you might wonder how that could be, if they are duplicates...



This is the one on the left side (seen in the photo above). It's the second of these twin butterflies that I worked. I followed the directions on this one to the "T" - and I used 4 strands of floss on the bullion body and French knot head. For the most part, the whole design is worked in one strand of cotton. But this butterfly's bullion body called for 4 strands.



On the first one I worked, I didn't think 4 strands was quite the thing, so I worked the bullion in one strand - and I tapered the end, down to a longer straight stitch. As far as butterflies go, I think this one looks quite a bit more delicate and butterfly-ish. The one above (on the left side of the design) looks chunky and bulky and thick. I may go back and alter that, but I'm not sure if I dislike it that much!



The parts of the piece that catch the eye first, I think, are the buttercups. They're two shades of yellow.



They're worked in a closed buttonhole on the outside of the petal, and then long-and-short-stitch filling, to add the darker shading in the middle.



I like the side-view buttercups, too. There's just something about bright yellow flowers that's so cheeeeeery.



Ok, I love the lady bugs. But I really flubbed this one up! I'm definitely going to take out the French knots and re-work them. I have no excuse - just sloppy stitching at that point. Three of them look all cock-eyed and silly. I'll take those out and re-work them.

The ladybug bodies are stitched in closely worked fly stitch, which forms a seam down the body between the wings. I like that! Clever thinking on the designers part, methinks. The little head is just a few satin stitches.



I'm a little confused about these fellows.



And the more I work of them, the more confused I get. I like them.... but on the instructions, they are listed as "white flowers," and I checked and double-checked my labeling on my threads to see if I made a mistake. They aren't really what I'd call "white flowers"! I think the colors are pretty. But they sure aren't white. They remind me of baby shower butter mints.



And finally, worked here and there among the flowers are these clusters of forget-me-knots. I jumped in to work a few, so I could see how the blue sets things off. I like them! They'll have a little French knot in the middle of them when they're finished.

I'm really enjoying working this piece! The only drawback I've encountered so far is some of the thread used in it. I purchased this as a kit from Country Bumpkin, so all the threads came with it, although they did make some substitutions for threads they didn't have on hand. The substitutions were ok, and I have no problem with tje idea of substitutions at all. But I didn't like some of the threads in the kit, which is unusual.

This piece calls for some over-dyed threads from House of Embroidery (of South Africa). I have never used their silks (they hand-dye silk and cotton), but I'm not very impressed with their cottons! I love the colors - they're really nice. But the thread itself - a 6-stranded embroidery cotton - pills, snags, frays, and knots a lot. After using about a 16 inch length, I finally cut back to 12 inch lengths, because the thread was just falling apart. Strangely enough, though, not every color did so. The foxgloves (the bell flowers on the left) didn't, but they were worked in larger stitches, and not small stitches that required a lot of passing through the fabric, so perhaps this made the difference. But the the thread used on the wheat and the grasses definitely did. I don't like cotton threads that pill up and shred apart. But maybe I'm just being picky?

I'd love to know if anyone else has used this particular brand of thread, and if so, if you've had similar experiences - or if maybe I'm just doing something wrong. I switched to a larger needle, too, so that there wasn't as much contact between the fabric and the thread. That helped a little bit, but not much.

So that's my colorful project right now. I've got it set up on a stretcher bar frame, and I'm using my Needlework System4 floor stand. When I have time after work, it's all there, just waiting... a perfect palette of colored embroidery bliss! Ahhhhh......

I have two more projects I'm dying to set up before Labor Day weekend, so that I have projects to work on during the first semester of the school year without having to set aside large chunks of time for design and set-up work. So ... here's hoping! I'll keep you posted!

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Labels: Breath of Spring, Embroidery Projects, Inspirations Magazine, needlework pictures, pictures, threads

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Sunday, August 17, 2008
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Tonight, I'm going to embroider. I know that sounds strange, because I embroider often. But tonight, I'm embroidering with a purpose!

I'm making a gift for my sister, and I've been so slow about it. I can't seem to concentrate on the piece, because I'm in the middle of doing heaps of bullion knots. I know when I get the bullions done, I'll be more enthused about it!

The current project I'm working on is called "Breath of Spring" - it's a large striped linen bag with an outside pocket that's embroidered, and it was featured in Inspirations Magazine #56. If you follow the link there, you can "flip" through the magazine and find the striped linen bag. Strangely enough, in the photo, it looks like there are blue flowers on the piece, but there aren't!

This is the first Inspirations project I've ever done as a whole. I like to take ideas or patterns from Inspirations and use them on little things, but I've never actually worked a whole project. So this is a first, and I have a month to finish it.

That's what I'm up to, project-wise. Here are some photos of the parts I've finished, which, as you can see, isn't a whole lot. I've taken liberties on some parts...



Some embroidered butterflies...



Some embroidered bugs...



And some shamefully MESSY bullion knots...

Aside from "embroidering with purpose" tonight, I'm also reveling in the fact that I got the rest of the Gilt Sylke Twist colors: dark blue, purple, and yellow.

Hedgehog Handworks carries all colors (but they don't have the green in stock right now), and they're charging $19.80 / spool, which is the least-expensive price I've seen so far. Admittedly, they get you a bit on shipping (almost $15 for 6 spools of thread?), so it all evens out.

The yellow is actually a VERY nice, mellow gold, and with the gold wrapped around it, it really gleams. It will be perfect for ecclesiastical embroidery. I'm generating ideas and will probably be turning them over in my head the whole time I'm stitching. I'm thinking wheat. And that brings to mind the bullion knots I must finish tonight. Aaack.

I wonder how GST will do, stitching bullions?

Labels: Breath of Spring, ecclesiastical embroidery, Embroidery Projects, Gilt Sylke Twist, Inspirations Magazine, needlework pictures, personal, pictures

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Friday, April 18, 2008
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