New Project: Water’s Edge

Posted on May 2, 2012 by Hannah

Y’all, I started another one! I am taking this one to my office for short breaks and bribing myself to keep working on my dissertation. The kit photo is to the left. This is Water’s Edge, an Anchor Freestyle kit. I got it on sale – there’s still a few more on sale at the website (Keepsake NeedleArts).

Anyway, I have a small dilemma. The leaf at the right of the dragonfly is supposed to be stem stitch, but I misread the directions and started it in long and short stitch. I’m working the main stem in stem stitch, but do I finish that leaf in long and short or take it out and redo it? Hmmmmm!

Here is a closer picture of the main stem.

For comparison, here is a closer picture of the leaf and dragonfly.

And one last photo for texture comparison photos, and because I like my dragonfly.

Posted in My work, Surface embroidery | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Hand Dyed Silks

Posted on April 25, 2012 by Hannah

Y’all, I received a lovely, lovely present from Marta Brysha! When I am stressed about my dissertation I go look at these.

She dyed these silks herself! Aren’t they gorgeous? You know what else is gorgeous? Her artwork!!! She dyes her threads and fabrics herself, and they are just lovely. Her blog is Silk and Colour. Anyway, her first gallery show is opening Friday (April 27!), so you could see them in person! If you are anywhere near West Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, you should go!!! I will be so very jealous of you. Good luck, Marta!

Here are some close up photos!

There are actually two kinds of silk threads in the package.

When I graduate I will design a series of special pieces just to use these. It will be so much fun!

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Chikankari class: Part 4

Posted on April 23, 2012 by Hannah

Folks, I’m still alive, just terribly busy with my dissertation. Anyway! I have made some progress on Anita’s chikankari class and wanted to show you. Isn’t it pretty? I’m a little behind but I’m almost done with the outlining. I’m loving the colors of the variegated threads. Here’s a closeup.

And here is the back of the work – you can see the herringbone that produces the shadow effect on the front of the fabric.

Posted in Indian embroidery, My work | Tagged , , , , | 14 Comments

Tide Pool

Posted on April 8, 2012 by Hannah

This is a guest post from my mother, Laura!

During the course Sumptuous Surfaces, given by Sharon B at PinTangle, I chose a beach theme and designed two projects. Both designs feature hands at the beach.  The first project had a neutral color scheme with the hand outlined but not filled in with stitching (see the post Seashore). This design features more color and a major portion of the hand is stitched.

This hand reaches into the water to capture a snail. I chose a primarily complementary color scheme – blues and browns. I believe I tried out as many different stitches as I could in the hand.I see chain, satin, stem, buttonhole, straight, herringbone, and ermine. Who knows what else. The swirls at the surface of the water are naturals for chain stitch, fly and stem stitch.

For the snail shell I used yellow perle cotton. I stitched a spiral in buttonhole stitch. I then filled in with light colored variegated cotton floss between the spokes of yellow. Green #8 perle cotton whips along the base of the button hole spiral. The body is made of some rather shaky satin stitch. I think the satin stitch of the finger nail is much better – I was learning. I also learned cast on stitch which is perfect for seaweed.

The center motif is framed by the random straight stitches in various blues, both dark and light. Critters of the interesting persuasion swim about. With these, I tried out rayon thread mixed with cotton floss. I love the shiny. The slippery just about drove me nuts.

I do love tidal pools and no self respecting tide pool would lack sea anemones, snails, starfish or weird unknowns. So, here is a sea floor of herringbone stitch, satin stitch and beads. There is seaweed, both cast on seaweed and feather stitch seaweed. Plus, there is extra long twisty bouillon loops for the weird. Anemone bodies are composed of chain stitch with buttonhole crowns.

Thus ends the Sumptuous Surfaces experience. Two projects designed and completed counts as seriously fun. Success all around.

Posted in Mother, Surface embroidery | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Hmong Jacket/Dress

Posted on March 30, 2012 by Hannah

Folks, over winter break I visited Hmong Village again (it’s an indoor marketplace in St Paul, Minnesota, with a lot of shops run by Hmong-Americans). See this lovely, lovely jacket or dress? You can wear it either way. All mine.

The red, purple, and orange panels down the center are cross stitch! Here is a closer look.


Here is a closer look at the applique on the sleeves and at the side. The dark blue is the base fabric, the red is sewn on, and the little white marks are done with a bleach pen. I really love the geometric styling.


Now, on to the back! It has a gorgeous cross-stitch panel too! It must have taken forever to work.

It’s incredibly detailed work. I love the color scheme.

For the picture below, I unfolded the dress so you can see the applique. The cross-stitch panel to the left is on the front of the dress, and the cross-stitch panel to the right is on the back.

Here it is completely unfolded:

So, are you inspired or intimidated? I think this style is perfect for incorporating embroidery into a dress, though I think I would choose something that worked up faster than cross-stitch.

Posted in Cross-stitch, Embroidery around the world | Tagged , , , , , | 21 Comments

Chikankari class: Part 3

Posted on March 26, 2012 by Hannah

I am still embroidering away on Anita’s chikan work class, though I am falling a little behind since I’m busy with work. I’m very happy with how it is turning out. The fabric is very transparent. It looks ivory in the photo because I folded the fabric over several times behind the embroidered area.

Here is a closer view of the double back stitch embroidery.

From the back it looks like herringbone stitch. There are a lot of tails showing since I haven’t trimmed them all yet.

Here is one more photo from the front.

I think if I worked a long narrow design and then backed it with silk it would make a truly gorgeous scarf.

Posted in Indian embroidery, My work | Tagged , , , , , , | 16 Comments

Please Share My Stuff

Posted on March 23, 2012 by Hannah

Folks, in light of recent concerns running around the internet about Pinterest, I thought I’d clarify that YES, you may share my images on Pinterest. I have added a sharing button for it. Please make sure you link back to the relevant post, though, so that folks who are interested can find me 🙂

Now, do keep in mind that some posts (especially when I feature someone else’s work or blog) may have photos that are NOT mine. I ask permission before using other peoples photos, but I can’t give you permission to use them too. Most of the photos (including the ones of Dr Shirazi’s collection) are mine. If you are unsure about something, email me for permission – I love email, I really do. I love talking to readers.

Now, I have a present for all y’all Pinterest folks. Wikimedia Commons!  It’s a database of 12,443,168 freely usable media files to which anyone can contribute. A lot of them are public domain, and all the images have information about copyright permissions or restrictions right there on the page so you can easily determine whether you can use it. Hurray! Knock y’all-selves out!

There are tons of absolutely gorgeous images! Like the one above – wouldn’t it be gorgeous embroidered, maybe even with lace or organza embellishment? It’s a portrait of Natalia Pushkina (Nataliya Nikolaevna Pushkina), wife of a famous Russian poet. She was accused of cheating on him, and he died in a duel with her alleged lover.  It’s also rumored that she was the mistress of Tsar Nicholas I before her remarriage to a Major-General. You can read about her in this Wikipedia article.

Posted in Uncategorized | 7 Comments

Extraordinary Monograms

Posted on March 20, 2012 by Hannah

Well, I was browsing through the Antique Pattern Library (free, y’all!), checking to see if there were any new or previously-overlooked books, when I discovered this treasure!

the letter H

What a truly epic H! I will definitely have to embroider myself a monogram with this someday. You can find the rest of the alphabet, plus some fancy borders, in the free online book Sajou, Dessins de Broderies, Album 612.

Posted in patterns and designs | Tagged , , , , | 19 Comments

Hardanger Card: June

Posted on March 18, 2012 by Hannah

I finished another hardanger card! This one is the “June” card – it was originally part of a yearlong series (you can find it here at Nordic Needle). There are a few changes from the original instructions. I miscounted on placing two of the eyelets, so rather than undo them I miscounted the rest to match. I’ve changed up the fillings of the kloster blocks too. Have a closer look!

I also gave this a border. These cards are small enough that I don’t die of exasperation before finishing, which makes them good to practice on. I attempted the rolled hem (see the tutorial from Kimberly at Baroque Embellishments) plus some drawn thread work at the top and bottom. Super fancy! Hemstitching is fun!

I will say, though, that I had a terrible time turning corners, despite the extra tutorial specifically on how to work corners. I was improving by the fourth corner, but they are still something of an improvised mess. Also, I am not sure if it’s the fabric (32 count linen) or me, but the edges kept trying to fray something awful. There were several points where it nearly frayed to the point where I’d have had to redo the hem closer in.

For those interested, here’s  a work-in-progress photo before cutting the fabric plus a photo of the back.

Posted in Drawn thread, Hardanger, My work | Tagged , , , , | 18 Comments

Liebster Blog Award

Posted on March 15, 2012 by Hannah

Rachel tagged me with a blog award.

I am now supposed to name 5 fantastic embroidery blogs! (Rachel, at VirtuoSew Adventures, also has a lovely blog. She recently finished the Tudor and Stuart Goldwork Master Class from Thistle Threads, which is beautiful). It is very difficult to choose only five, but these are ones I like to read but haven’t mentioned much before. I hope y’all find something new and wonderful.

  1. Let’s Learn Embroidery is an Indian blog with some wonderful stitching. I liked her series on her Underwater Scene, especially the seahorse. I also hope she posts more photos of her beautiful peacock!
  2. Il Piacere del ricamo is an Italian blog with a lot of complex and gorgeous drawn thread work. Incredible technique.
  3. Suztats, because I am in love with watching her embroidered pebbles grow (see the final posts for Pebble 1 and Pebble 2).
  4. Wanda’s World (an American in Germany) for her gorgeous hardanger. Past works include the Yellow Project and the Spring Project).
  5. Baroque Embellishments (American) really has some beautiful photos. I especially like the Enchanted Shawl progress reports.
Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments