Art in Stitchery

When I first started this post this morning (Wednesday in Austin) it was still Wednesday "downunder," and Sharon B. (PINTANGLE) had made a wonderful second edition post to her original one for "Work in Progress Wednesday," showing her progress on this beautiful thing.

I just checked on it, and now it's Thursday there, and she has posted yet another one of interest - lots of links to great things we all enjoy.

Anyway, the picture is showing the progress on the piece she showed last Wednesday, which gave also the inspiration and how she adapted it to a lovely piece of surface embellishment type embroidery. This is worth studying, and it even makes me want to give it a try.!

Images and Inspiration (eye candy)

It is a fact that images implant in our minds and can strongly influence us in this work of designing and stitching painted canvas. It's a kind of subliminal suggestion that sometimes we aren't aware of - and this includes choosing color schemes and threads.

This is one of the reasons I cruise among blogs in the morning that are beautifully presented and have nothing to do with needlepoint.

The images will stay with me, although I'm unaware of it later. I was looking through the new Metropolitan Museum of Art catalog yesterday, and realized what a strong influence the jewelry has been on some of my small pieces - such as napkin rings and birthday crazy quilts.

Sometimes I pick up a piece I designed a few years ago, and wonder why I was so clever that day - and what was I thinking?? I probably couldn't do it again.

Anyway, I have found yet another blog with the little "painting a day" theme - just small, 6" x 6" paintings that are enchanting to look at, and have the five elements of design (line, shape, texture, mass, and color) in good order.

These paintings are the work of artist Lisa Daria, and the blog, as she presents them, is delightful! This is the sort of thing that, although I'm unaware of it at the time, will creep into my mind when I'm choosing threads and colors for a project. These pictures show a wonderful use of main color, secondary color, and accents! (with other touches too).

Have you ever thought about how decorating magazines subtly influence us in setting new trends for color and furniture? I know that sometimes at first I don't like it at all, but bit by bit it gets familiar and feels good. The same happens in the fashion world!

Next is the blog of Lin Moon at PURPLE FAN.In the post showing today, she is presenting some quilts from the Long Beach quilt show of the summer.

This first one is by Pam Berry - and I love not only the colors, but the texture and composition.

Next is a quilt featuring hibiscus, and if you click to enlarge it when you go to her blog, you will see some exquisite stitching on the flower - it gave me some ideas for needlepoint flower treatment!

Lin Moon also designs and stitches highly embellished and very imaginative crazy quilt art bras for the annual calendar that is sold for raising funds for breast cancer research - and she participates in the TAST activity presented by PINTANGLE. I really enjoy seeing what she does with the weekly stitches - a very talented lady, and worth a daily visit!

Inspiration for Design

I'm in the middle of another week of chaos and confusion, in moves I'm making - hoping to land soon wherever it will be that I can "bloom where I'm planted." I'm pretty wilted and falling over right now, so haven't really produced anything to show. However, I never neglect my blog cruising in the morning while having coffee, and love the way the beautiful images get my mind going in the right direction.

I found a new one yesterday in Australia, that you might enjoy. It's called BEACH TEXTILES , and has some of the most beautiful pictures I've seen in a while.

As I say often, I look at blogs written by fiber artists all over the world, rather than needlepoint blogs (except for two or three), as I find they stimulate my creativity well, due to the beautiful and tasteful color combinations, and the patterns developed. Lots of inspiration here, and these things "imprint" on the brain and influence images and thinking.

Liz Morrow and I had been chatting by e-mail a while back about some "marbelizing" one of her needlepoint groups is doing on canvas - I don't usually do this sort of thing, but became rather intrigued with it.

This blog this morning had some dyed fabric on it - art work- that gave me some ideas, so now I'm in search of my natural sea sponges so I can play with it a bit - see what I can "replicate" that will do for needlepoint. I'm already looking at the yellow and orange picture - the first photo- and figuring how I might adapt that sort of thing by "painting with needle and thread" on needlepoint canvas. What fun!!

When you visit this blog, be sure to read Dian's profile - it's wonderful, and something many of us can relate to.

Plaid/Tartan: A New Idea for a Project!

As I say often, some of my best ideas originate when looking at the beautiful blogs of the textile artists - art quilters especially.

Allison Aller was showing some crazy quilt blocks she's finished, and one had a "Millenium Ribbon" on it, which was a gift from a friend. As it is tartan, I had to ask for more information, and was told that her friend (link to this is on the blog) purchased it in Scotland in 1999.

Allie graciously sent me a close-up picture of it. I spent some time on the internet looking for "millenium" ribbons, but this is the only one I found - and it came from a store in Insch, Aberdeen. It's stated on that web page that it has been registered, as tartans must, to be "official."

Anyway, as always, I had to go cruising to find other tartan ribbons, as I didn't know they existed - and found buried treasure!! I found the Royal Stewart tartan in ribbon form, and also the "dress tartan," which substitutes a white background for the red - but is otherwise the same.

Incidentally, I discovered that the spelling for this tartan is STEWART, and not STUART, as I had always thought. The reason is that Mary Queen of Scots, who was raised in France, spelled her name as "Stuart," as there is no W in the French language.

When Queen Elizabeth adopted it as her official tartan, the English version of the name was used. Very interesting trivia. I'm showing the Buchanan tartan here just because I like it - and have always wanted to do something with it.

The Anderson tartan is my own, but it has seven colors, and is so complicated that I've never used it - it would be rug sized to include all the elements in needlepoint. I've already started playing around a bit on canvas with the Millenium tartan/plaid, and will do a few others as well. I'll show from beginning to end how to do this.

I've already discovered that in order to get in all the elements in their proper proportions, the ribbon will be 2 1/2" wide - so to my surprise, that's perfect for a picture frame or for a pillow to frame a monogram or initial!! I'm using the term "tartan" here because that is correct - although in this country only we use the word "plaid." This is explained in a previous post I did after some research into terminology. Just do a "search" at the top right (type in "plaid.")

Stay tuned for a How-To as it goes along. I never would have figured out doing these strips on my own, as the individual setts make it confusing.

Inspiration in Nature! A Beautiful Blog

I've been looking at Carol-Anne Conway's blog regularly for quite some time, (Threads Across the Web) although I don't do embroidery. - It's great to have these images of beautiful and well-executed work in my head. I look at more of the diverse fiber arts than I do needlepoint, as being a designer, I find so much visual stimulation in those - and learn a lot, even though I do a different sort of work.

Incidentally, Carol-Anne has posted a picture of the beautiful Japanese embroidery she's just finished - cords and a tassel. Go see it here.


This morning, as I was "cruising" blogs, I decided to look at another of hers she has listed on her profile: Wilbur's World. These are some of the most beautiful photographs I've seen in a while - and I went way back a year or two (and there are more) and thoroughly enjoyed myself - and realized I've been smiling! She presents them in a very charming way.


Do go look at this if you haven't seen it before - a great way to start or finish the day! As a designer, I look at nature for inspiration, as the colors and forms not only imprint in my brainwires, but I feel a joy in looking at it from all angles in all seasons. (even underwater)

The Coral Reefs are Finished!

I forgot until this morning that these things needed the metallic hangers stitched! Here they are with Kreinik metallic ribbon - 1/1/6" - worked several different ways on each one, as it's very versatile. I used some silver, as well as my favorite 002V.

This seems a bit redundant, as I've already shown these things with the "important" things stitched, but as the tops really finish them off, I wanted to show them again completed.

There is a new round one being worked, that will have lots of seaweed, sea grasses, and a fish - and some beads, as bubbles ascending to the surface. I didn't have time to get it finished for my deadline, but that's the way I seem to work - the best ideas at the last minute or beyond.


On the second one, I removed the seaweed I already had, as it didn't show up at all, and I wanted it to shine - so used DMC Satin Floss in the great buttonhole stitch I found on Sharon B's blog (with her permission I am using it.)



















There are, of course, things I'm still not happy with - but they are only ornaments, after all, so I won't remove my errors or point them out. I'll just know to do it differently next time! Learning and experimenting is what this is about.

I have certainly enjoyed, also, researching the sea grasses and corals - fascinating!!

Church Needlepoint: A New Cushion

This project has been brewing for several months, and finally today, my good friend Louann Temple, with whom I've worked for a number of needlepoint pieces for the Church of the Good Shepherd here in Austin, brought me a wonderful picture for our new collaboration. I thought it might be of interest to many to see exactly how we go about designing church pieces from the very beginning - which usually begins with the selection of a theme or motif.

It's a practice when ecclesiastical needlepoint is done, to cover the cost by offering pieces as memorials for families or individuals to donate. (I will be donating the canvas for this one.) My son had asked me a while back, after we lost our Madeline, if I had plans for a memorial for her - and coincidentally, Louann called me and said there is a bench that needs a new cushion - one behind the altar.

I was really really pleased at the timing! I told her our pet name for Madeline when she was a baby was "Angel Baby" - or to me, "Granny's angel" (when she wasn't being naughty), so she immediately thought of this beautiful carving behind and above the altar - just under the window.

The next step is to measure the cushion that's on the bench now, and then I'll start making sketches and deciding on the placement of the angel and how to best incorporate the gorgeous gold carvings. I do know that I'll include, somewhere, "Psalms 91:11" - which for many years has been one of my very favorites. "He hath given His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways." I remember my mother explaining my own guardian angel to me when I was a small child, and also the beautiful song from Hansel and Gretel - the operetta. I'll also write "Philippians 1:3" in a corner.

Anyway, I will make posts as this progresses to show what might be done by anyone for their own church.

Growing Coral with Memory Thread (DMC)

I have been terrified of starting this thing - but took the big plunge (not a pun, please) and started out with the Memory Thread to create branch coral. I have felt, since I first saw this thread - new for DMC - that I could do more with it than simply embellish a surface with tacked down coils. I do intend to do that soon, though, on some traditional Christmas ornaments, and looking forward especially to the effects of gold and silver.

Anyway, back to diving and watching the coral reef develop.I have studied many many photographs, and started "seeing" classic embroidery stitches in and among the growths around the reefs. Enchanting - the shapes and colors are almost endless.

My first thought with the Memory Thread (and I'll still do it) was to make the foundation of the sea fans with it - but then started seeing fern stitch and buttonhole stitch in various coral formations, so felt that was perfect for this first piece. The color is #6150 Orange.

The ladies at DMC were gracious in sending me their instructions for using Memory Thread - which involves making a bit of a hole in the work for inserting the thread. It's actually very soft thread wrapped copper wire - and will not go through the eye of a needle.

Although usually all the work with it is done on the surface, I was determined to do this Fern Stitch to make coral - so had a bit of a struggle at first. I made the holes with the large #20 tapestry needle - the eye - and then pushed the end of the thread through the hole, starting from back to front. All it takes to anchor it, is to bend a little bit on the back, and it won't go anywhere.

I had to come up from back to front, and push enough of the ravel through the hole to pull it on through with my fingernails - and then go back down by doing the same thing. I won't begin to say it was easy, but as I felt my way along, I figured it out - and do like the effect very much.

I have always used a nail clipper for cutting threads, as it's much easier and neater than scissors - and it was especially good for cutting the Memory Thread.

I had to snip off the end occassionally, when the ravel was too much, but some ravel is what enabled me to pull the wire through the stitched canvas.

The little sea critter is made with Thread Gatherer's new Sea Grass -(Peach Essence) and It's wonderful. It's so soft that I couldn't make a sea urchin or whatever much bigger - but I do like the effect and the way it handles. I have other things planned with it also in this series.

I'll work on the other pieces - the water drops - simultaneously, and add colors and elements as they occur to me. I still have the Kreinik metallics and Sharon B's beautiful hand dyed threads I bought from her Artfire Store (Pintangle is her blog).

A New Year - A New Project!!

Anne Stradal has begun a new design series of clocks - I really look forward to this one, as she will include the well researched history of each, just as she does with her charming lighthouses.

The very first one may be seen now - so go check it out, and watch it emerge as she stitches it on her blog - The Cape Stitcher.

Sunflowers and Talavera in Needlepoint

Sunflowers, beloved in Mexico both as fresh flowers and in art of all kinds - even paper flowers - are actually atypical of Talavera-style ceramics. I'm seeing more and more of them, as well as the calla lilies, so having taken them for granted my entire life, I decided to investigate the symbolism.

I already knew they have the characteristic of heliotropism - they turn toward the sun as it travels across the sky - and the Spanish word for this flower is "tornasol," which means "turns toward the sun."

The sunflower is native to the Americas, and evidence has been found that they were cultivated in Mexico as long ago as 2600 B.C. Sometime, probably in the early 14th century, they became important to the Aztecs in their worship of the Sun God.


Artifacts depicting this flower have also been found among Toltec and Mayan archeaological treasures, and in Peru among Inca artifacts.

Lately, in my current binge of painting crosses adapted from the Talavera style, I've really enjoyed the sunflower designs, and intend to do at least one for myself. They are so joyful looking!


Also, it gives me a good excuse to use the wonderful new supply of Kreinik blending filament I've acquired! (no stash control here). The fact that these blending filaments are available in the Vintage finish makes them more useful, as it gives a variety of looks that don't include the sparkle. I feel the pattern on these needs a bit of zing, and this helps, but too much sparkle would not be good.

I use only the DMC cotton floss for the basketweave, and add the BF to that. ONLY on the pattern, though, as the background needs to stay in the back and not compete with the design.

I'm showing mine, as it's ready to begin - I don't like painting the canvases I intend to stitch, as:
1. I'm too lazy. 2. It's more entertaining to work this way, as it's a bit like "paint by numbers" in that it's fun to see the color filling up the white spaces. The outlines are all stitched with Kreinik metallic braid #12 in navy 018HL. Perfect for Talavera - and there is also the same color in blending filament for the navy dots in the diaper pattern!

Oh - I forgot to mention that I've actually found a place to use beads on this one! The center of the flower with that cross hatching is perfect for enhancement with a few beads - so I marked it with a brown Sharpie on the weft stitches to accomodate beads in the little dips. I'll work on the stitching tomorrow, hopefully.

Jan's Rug is Finished

If you haven't seen this beautiful thing yet, do go see it now, as Jan Fitzpatrick has finished what so far is my favorite of her Moroccan rug adpatations. In this new post, she describes her original concept from the first, as she chose the rug, and then the process of designing her own in needlepoint stitches. It's amazing!!

Moroccan Rug Progress

Be sure not to miss the latest installment of Jan Fitzpatrick's current Moroccan rug adaptation!

This is the best one yet, and totally fabulous. You can find her at Thread Medley.

The Jolly Roger: Great Trivia!!

While painting today, my mind was wandering a bit (normal for me these days), and I started to think about the name "Jolly Roger," so had to go do a bit of research on it.

I had noticed that there are different versions of this on the pirate flags, such as the crossed swords on the flag associated with the Pirates of the Caribbean. Also, had remembered seeing a red bandana with polka dots on the Hook Wreck Henry's sign - the one that says "Surrender the Booty." (The Dockside Cafe owned by my Charlie's friend Jason Walker from High School in Tallahassee).

It seems that in the 15th century or thereabout, great sailing and trading vessels were on the high seas, and as a matter of national pride and pride in the ships, they began displaying flags with certain patterns and colors, some of which then became the national flags of the nations of their origins.

Of course pirate ships started plundering these ships, and developed their own flags - mainly as a way to terrorize and intimidate the ships into submission without much of a fight. The first ones were red , signifying blood, and then came the black ones, indicating death to all who don't surrender.

The term "Jolly Roger" is thought to be derived from the French "jolie rouge" (pretty red) or from the word "rogue," which describes a vagabond beggar or thief. Another thought is that it is a derivation of the English colloquialism "Old Roger" which was an English slang term for the Devil.

Different pirate related emblems are thought to have been used by different famous pirates for identification of their ships, as "Calico Jack," a fearsome guy who roamed the Caribbean, used the crossed swords under the skull instead of the bones. This one was used in the movies "Pirates of the Caribbean."

Anyway, the histories I found were quite interesting and rather amusing - so try it yourself if you like! As for me - the images and stories I found have almost motivated me to design some more skull type things to thrill ghoulish little grandsons. I also have a grown-up type son, who is a successful and dignified (most of the time) attorney, who still loves pirates and Halloween. He might like a pillow of this sort on his throne in his den at home. (in front of the TV)