Whenever I visit my blog, one of the first things I usually do is check to to see if any of my blogging friends have posted anything new. Well, I was in absolute stitches when I read the latest post by Eglantine Stitchery, which included an extremely passionate rant about whipstitching. I had never previously heard of whipstitching, and can safely say that I hope I never have cause to try my hand at it!
Anyway, as it's been a while since I last posted anything, I thought it was about time I brought all of you lovely people up to speed on what I've been doing (stitch-wise).
Here in the UK, we celebrated Mothering Sunday on April 3rd, and my gift to my mother was a couple of bookmarks. They were both magazine freebie kits, although I have to confess that one of the bookmarks was actually a very belated gift, which I had intended to give my mother for her birthday, almost a year ago! As the saying goes, better late than never. Lol.
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| Belated gift for my mother |
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| Mother's Day 2011 |
I made the tassels for both bookmarks, and have to say that I felt rather pleased with them. I had decided that I wanted the tassels to be quite chunky, unlike the tassels I had made for the Dimensions Elegant Bookmarks.
More recently, I tried my hand at a simple blackwork design by Jeanne Dansby, called Flower. It's not finished yet, but because I'm such a jolly nice person [cough, splutter], I thought I'd treat you to a sneaky preview.
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| Flower by Jeanne Dansby |
I was inspired by Eglantine Stitchery, after seeing her Metallic Monarch Variation, which I consider to be absolutely stunning!
My intention is to add silver seed beads to the centre of the yellow flowers, and also to the four small squares near the centre of the design. In addition, I need to add some filling stitches to the petals of the centre flower. There will be another picture to follow, as soon as this project is complete.
5 comments:
Thanks very much for the kind mention CS! I'm so glad that you found all my frustrated grumbling amusing :) And, I feel I must add, avoid the evil stitcherly enemy Whipstitch at all costs. Just take my word on it :) Frankly, I'm so happy that I didn't dive into one of the prevalent 15-sided Biscornus (of which all four sides of 15 panels are whipstitched together in a big ball!), as my first foray into the accursed technique.
I didn't realize Mother's Day came so early for you over 'across the pond', as they say here! I love both of your bookmarks very much, and I'm sure your Mother must as well! I am completely in awe of your tassels! I may have to hit you up for a lesson if I ever get around to finishing my first bookmark and trying out a second!
I really love your Dimensions bookmarks too, but there's something just so adorable about the fullness of these! They look very cute. Your finishing is really lovely :)
AND FLOWER! Wow! Just wow! I am blown away by how beautiful it is. I can't believe that it's your first attempt at specialty filling :) The combination of metallics and floss is simply devine, and I adore the leaves! It will be so lovely when you get it all finished. It is magnificient!!!
(And thank you so much for calling my Monarch stunning by the way; I know you've done it before, but I am so happy to know that you thought so much of something I did that you decided to try something new yourself!)
Aurelia - Thank you for your lovely comment. In addition to successfully putting me off whipstitching, you have now putting me off stitching Biscornus... not that I've ever felt tempted to try my hand at making one. ;-)
The bulky tassels for the bookmarks were fairly easy to make. I used a strip of cardboard to wind the thread around, and kept winding until I felt there was enough bulk. The hardest aspect was getting the tension right, so that I could then slide the thread off the cardboard afterwards.
Your comment about Flower has made my day! However, the speciality filling would not have been possible without your help. x
I really like your latest bookmarks, they're both so pretty, and your tassels are amazing! I especially like the second bookmark as I love the combination of the pink and green - very springlike :) Oh, and I can't believe how neat your borders are by the way - I honestly can't stitch a straight line like that to save my life, lol! Did you use your mini no sew frame with this?
And I just love your Flower design - it's so beautiful! I really love the circle effect you get with the pink and silver threads on the four flowers, and it's just amazing what a difference it makes when you start filling the design in with the speciality stitches like that - I can't wait to see it finished! :)
Rainy Day - Thank you for your lovely comments about the bookmarks. I especially like the 2nd bookmark too, as I must confess that I'm not fanatical about the colours used in the 1st. Yes, I did use my no-sew roller frames for the bookmarks, so that could explain why the borders look so straight.
Thank you also for the comment about Flower. However, I now find myself wishing that I'd cut a larger piece of Aida and used a no-sew roller frame, instead of a hoop. x
Just let me say this in my defense: I've only managed to turn you off the fifteen-sided biscornus...so you've got lots of four-sided ones left to frustrate yourself with ;)
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