Christmas Card

Posted on December 16, 2011 by Hannah

Look what I made!

It’s a Christmas card for some friends of mine. I’m pretty sure they don’t read my blog regularly so I’m posting even though I haven’t given it away yet. It’s worked in two strands of rayon (DMC satin floss) and silver thread on 32 count linen. I used thread conditioner to make the rayon easier to work with. It’s very, very, very shiny, but the weather is  cloudy so it’s hard to get a good picture of that.

The tree is worked in Castelo Branco stitch with the silver thread couched over it (I really, really like Castelo Branco stitch). The star is fly stitch. I’ll show you  some in-progress photos, so you can see how it’s done. Maybe you want to make one!

The next two photos show the first step of Castelo Branco stitch. See how there’s no stitching on the back (except for starting and ending threads)?


After you work enough of the first layer, you can start tying it down.


With the tree and star finished, all that’s left is adding tinsel (couched silver thread), and writing Merry Christmas across the base.

Posted in Castelo Branco, My work | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

One Hundred Birds: Part 3

Posted on December 14, 2011 by Hannah

Here is the final installment of photos of the “One Hundred Birds Adore the Phoenix” embroidery (see Part 1, Part 2). Plus I want to tell you a little more about Chinese embroidery.

To follow up on the translation of the writing in the embroidery, given in Part 2, I’d like to mention that including Chinese characters in artwork is very common. In classical Chinese art (in painting and other media as well!), the words inscribed are as important as the picture.  There is a very close interplay between the two.  Often the words are from a poem.

Now I’d like to discuss Chinese embroidery in particular. The characters for “embroidery” are “刺绣.” The first character, ci, means “thorn.” The left half of the second character, xiu, means silk.  So the two characters probably tell you about ancient Chinese embroidery: they used a thorn needle and silk thread.

One of my dad’s teachers spoke almost reverently of the great and ancient tradition of Chinese embroidery.   She especially recommends two-sided Chinese embroidery.  Current Chinese embroiderers greatly fear that this tradition is being lost as machine embroidery becomes ever more common.  She says the time to visit the embroidery studios is now while there are some still around.

Posted in Embroidery around the world | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

The Big Green: Part 2

Posted on December 12, 2011 by Hannah

Today we have a guest post from Laura (my mother), with further progress on The Big Green.

When last seen, The Big Green was mounted on a stretcher frame. Clearly the background appears stark and bare compared to the exuberance of the crocheted flowers. Goal: Fill in the empty spaces. Intermix crochet and embroidery. Make the background as interesting as the foreground.

Something at the top might be nice – certainly the space under the pink flower cluster on the right is empty and needs filling, as well as the left side under the goldfinch. The big blue delphiniums are not as prominent as they might be. Solutions to these concerns follow.

Seed stitch and fern stitch in a variety of greens enliven the dark flat green of the supporting material. The red crocheted flowers have chain stitch stems and leaves of floss.

I filled the background around all the crocheted flowers with interesting textured embroidery stitches (colonial knots, French knots, cross stitch, detached chain) and small flowers (straight stitch, detached chain, buttonhole)…

I embroidered flowers and leaves using the same acrylic yarn that the flowers are crocheted from. The pink is buttonhole in the outer ring, chain and straight stitches surrounding a green center of French knots. The leaves are outlined in stem stitch and filled with seed stitch.

Enough for today. There is more to come.

Posted in Mother, Surface embroidery | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Leaf Color Scheme Decision

Posted on December 9, 2011 by Hannah

Well, I thought over all y’all’s comments on my earlier post, Leaves for the Bluebird Floral. Here is the photo of the three sample leafs from before, just to remind you.

I concluded that the lower leaf really was too dark. I didn’t like the left leaf much, but I could have set up a better variation of it using those types of grey-green colors. I could also have tried out some olive green and brown leaves. However, I still liked the upper leaf best. It was inspired by the color scheme used in my Plas Teg Bellpull project.

In the end, I made my decision by thinking about what adjectives I would like people to use for my project. The emerald greens and blues in the top leaf are exuberant. I think with grey-greens or olive-greens I might be closer to elegant. That’s not a bad place to be at all! But I want this particular project to be exuberant. In fact, I think I will rename my version Bluebird Joy. How does that sound?

I liked the suggestion in the comments to vary the leaf colors, so they are not all identical. To this end, I selected three shades of emerald green and two shades of blue (the lightest green isn’t represented here). You can see that the leaf on the left swapped a blue for a green. With five colors available, I can create a range of interesting leaves while still maintaining continuity in design.

I also added another flower and started work on the stems. The knotty effect is the Portuguese stem stitch, which seemed perfect for working branches.

One last question – I have some faint dirty hoop marks to the side of the embroidery. I switched to my Q-snap frame now, but what do I do about the marks? Should I just try rinsing the edge of the fabric out before I go further? What does one do about a little bit of dirt?

Posted in Color and design, My work | Tagged , , , , | 26 Comments

One Hundred Birds: Part 2

Posted on December 7, 2011 by Hannah

I know you’ve been waiting anxiously for another round of pictures (see Part 1). So here they are! I also asked my dad to find out what the Chinese characters (百鸟朝凰) at the top say (he’s been learning Chinese for fun). The answer is super interesting!

The characters say 百 (Hundred) 鸟 (Birds) 朝 (Approach in Homage  –  you could say “adore” in the Biblical sense that the Magi adored the baby Jesus)  凰 (Phoenix). So, literally, the embroidery is “100 Birds Adore the Phoenix.”

The bird with the enormous tail feathers is a female phoenix, a huang.  You can check out FengHuang in Wikipedia for the Chinese legend of the Phoenix.

These characters are an ancient saying from the Book of Tang, which was presented to Emperor Chudi in 945 AD.  The saying means that some one is very virtuous and highly respected by people (like the birds look up to the phoenix).

This is a traditional subject in Chinese art (example photo: phoenix sculpture in the Forbidden City in Beijing). It’s a happy symbol and also the name of a traditional folk song, often played at weddings and New Year celebrations.

There are thousands of these 4 character standard sayings in Chinese.  They are like proverbs in English that always use the same words – for example, “Early bird catches the worm.”

And now, more photos! Come back next week for close up photos of the birds near the ground. If you are impatient, here is the link to the Google Image search for 100 Birds Adoring the Phoenix (lots of beautiful photos).

Posted in Embroidery around the world | Tagged , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Give-away AND Crazy-quilts

Posted on December 5, 2011 by Hannah

OK folks, the five lucky people from Monday’s Japanese silk scraps give away are:

  1. Mary Burton
  2. Sharon Brodeuse
  3. Corvus
  4. Jane S
  5. Julie

I will be emailing you to get your mailing addresses! Hurray! Thank you everyone! Thanks so much for participating! And reading my blog!  There are some interesting comments on that post, if anyone wants to go back and see what people said.

Now, I’m sure those five people love this post, but I think everyone else wants some eye candy.

Since the give-away involved piles of silk scraps, I thought I would provide crazy quilting links. And I am totally disorganized today, so I have not emailed anyone for permission to use their photos. So you will have to click on the links. When I have time I might go back and add a few photos. But these are definitely worth seeing!

First, here are a couple of designs with instructions at the Caron Collection’s Free Designs page (they have lots of non-crazy-quilting embroidery too):

Second, when I think of crazy quilting, I think of Pin Tangle!

 

Posted in Uncategorized | 9 Comments

Central Blue Flower

Posted on December 2, 2011 by Hannah

Before I get started on today’s post, let me just remind y’all that the giveaway for some lovely Japanese silk scraps (for crazy quilting, applique, edging, backing ornaments, framing, anything you like!) is still going! The odds are still very good. All it costs is one little comment, and you might get some exotic patterns in real silk plus a wonderful story for whichever piece you decide to use them on 🙂


Anyway, I finished another flower in the Plas Teg Bellpull (from the Mary Jane Collection). It’s the central blue flower, and I really like the finished effect. All that stem stitch filling got a little tiring, so I threw in some additional fly stitch (the middle two sepals already had it).

Also, it’s been a while since I posted a photo of the whole piece, so here it is.

Posted in Crewel, My work | Tagged , , , , | 14 Comments

One Hundred Birds: Part 1

Posted on November 30, 2011 by Hannah

I have something truly amazing to show y’all today. My wonderful wonderful aunt gave me this embroidery souvenir, bought in Singapore in the 1980s. Sorry about the reflections in the glass – couldn’t get a photo without them.

It’s all silk, and there really are 100 different birds. Isn’t it amazing? And it’s all mine! It’s hanging on my wall right now. I am so happy. The rest of the post will be nothing but close up photos so you can admire it too. But, there are too many birds to fit in one post! So you will just have to wait til next week for more pictures. Also, don’t forget to enter Monday’s give-away! And no, you can’t all just say this one is your favorite post – I meant favorite post for the last year of the blog. You can’t pick this one until next year!

Posted in Embroidery around the world | Tagged , , , , , , | 18 Comments

Give-away: Silk scraps

Posted on November 28, 2011 by Hannah

To celebrate my blog anniversary, I am doing a give-away! My aunt and uncle sent me a pile of silk scraps from the Kyoto flea market (Japan!), and I have divided them up into FIVE piles! These are mostly from old kimonos and obis, and have quite a variety of patterns and textures. Here they are:

To enter, you must comment on this post, answering the questions below. You have until 11:00pm CST on Sunday, December 4. I will close comments at that time.

  1. What is your favorite post on my blog? Why?
  2. Give (at least) one idea for what you would do with them.
  3. What’s the oldest piece of embroidery that you own?

Also, you must leave your email address when commenting, so that I can contact you to get your mailing address if you win! Relatives and offline friends of mine do not get to enter.

I will select five of the comments at random after the deadline, and announce them on Monday, December 5. Which of the piles you receive will also be random. If you are one of the five, I will email you to get your mailing address.

Posted in Uncategorized | 23 Comments

One Year Anniversary

Posted on November 26, 2011 by Hannah

Y’all, today marks one whole year since I started my blog! It’s so exciting!

page views per month

Some statistics:

  • 152 posts (wow! I wrote a book!)
  • 109,640 page views (does not include email subscribers or RSS readers)
  • 170 email subscribers
  • 8 WordPress followers

The three most viewed posts this year were

I would also especially like to thank

  • Dr. Shirazi for allowing me to photograph and feature her incredible embroidery collection.
  • my mother, for some fantastic guest posts, encouragement, inspiration, and just generally being Awesome
  • my grandma, who found me some really neat embroidery to photograph and write about
  • my grandpa, for carving the ducks in my blog masthead
  • my American penpal (from Virginia), Anna of Talliaferro Designs,
  • my Australian penpal, Megan of Elmsley Rose
  • Meri, from Portugal, for the beautiful art silks, Portuguese embroidery magazines, and information on Castelo Branco embroidery
  • Monique, from New Mexico, USA for the information and photos of colcha embroidery, and the gift of a lovely box of silks
  • Mary Corbet and Sharon B for sending me lots and lots of readers when I was just getting started
  • Rachel from the UK, who writes at VirtuoSew Adventures, for commenting regularly and frequently since December 16, and in fact more than anyone else.
  • all the folks kind enough to let me feature their work on my blog
  • and all my wonderful, wonderful readers for their advice and encouragement.

silks from Monique

silks from Monique

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | 16 Comments