Cape Reflections Sampler and Queen Stitch

This little sampler was designed for the 2009 Ighali Embroidery Convention in Fish Hoek Cape Town by Leslie-Ann Meek. These old photos don't do it justice but the silk threads we used have the most beautiful lustre.

Notable characteristics of Cape Town are represented in the different bands - vineyards and their abundant wine-making grapes; ubiquitous oak trees that drop acorns and leaves with their resident squirrels; 

and a sampler representing Cape Town wouldn't be complete without Table Mountain, its unique fynbos vegetation and its proteas.

I was reminded of my sampler when I came across Lesson 269 for Queen Stitch on Queenie's Needlework blog because I used Queen stitch for the proteas. I found it a tricky stitch to do especially on 40 count linen with silk thread. But I found it both interesting and rewarding to stitch and I like the way it suits the petals of the proteas. Getting the angles correct in the Montenegrin Stitch mountain was also a challenge.

If you're looking for unusual stitches, Queenie has gathered all sorts of stitches and has clear photos that describes how to do them on her blog Queenie's Needlework. She is gradually including the stitches on an intriguing sampler that you can see by clicking here.

Till next time, happy stitching!

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* Fynbos is an Afrikaans word literally meaning fine bush. 

Martha Edlin

On a trip to London some time ago I was fortunate to visit the Victoria and Albert Museum to look at the embroidery. While making my way to the Textile rooms, I came across the embroidery of Martha Edlin, a 17th century embroiderer. I was astonished by her skill and the complexity of the work she accomplished as a very young girl and I wrote about that visit in my my blog post Embroideries at the V&A.

Having seen Martha's work I was interested to learn that Tricia Wilson Nguyen has made a detailed study of Martha and is now offering a short on-line course titled Martha Edlin - her life and embroidery. Not only does Tricia focus on Martha's remarkable embroidery, but she sheds more light on the situation of women at that point in history. 

Besides Tricia's video lectures, there is also a small free silk project that you can choose to do as well as have access to a filament silk video. Tricia points out that to comply with V&A licensing restraints, access to the course is limited to 31 days. Find out more about what you can expect from the course and make a booking on Tricia's blog Thistle Threads here. $5 dollars of the course fee will go to the V&A, specifically for detailed photography of embroideries that they hold and that are not on permanent display. This should give us all more opportunity to admire and study some truly exceptional embroidery.

Butterflies and Op Shops

I've been stitching a butterfly. It's a little outside of my comfort zone as I mostly do counted work. But this was a special gift. My granddaughter found a brand new embroidery kit at an op shop. Knowing that I am an embroiderer, she wrapped it up and put it under the Christmas tree for me. 

Although the kit came with all the necessary thread we're changing some of the colours to her favourite colour, purple. 

This week we took photos of my progress, and my granddaughter helped me to edit them on my phone. I learnt quite a few things about what you can do with a phone camera.

In case you are wondering, an op shop is a thrift shop. It provides an opportunity to find a bargain. They accept donations goods for resale and they are run by volunteers. It's a way of recycling goods as well as providing financial support for the charities that administer them. It's also a  good opportunity for children to learn to how to shop according to a limited budget. My grandson was delighted when he found complete sets of DVD's of some of his favourite movies, all within his budget.

'Till next time, happy stitching!