Variegated threads

Variegated threads are fun to work with, especially if choosing colours is not your strong point. Years ago I found Anchor multi-coloured threads on a trip to Bangkok and I happily added some to my stash to try out.

A crazy patch pincushion,

 a mini stitch sampler needlebook,

and a herringbone stitch sampler all enlivened by variegated threads.

On the Create and Stitch website I found this today.

DMC have brought out a new range of variegated threads. I can't wait to see them.

Now to pack for a family get together in Sedgefield, along the Garden Route, a beautiful part of the country.

Till next time, happy stitching!

Stitching In The Garden

The last few days have been glorious typical autumn weather in Cape Town. Perfect for sitting under the tree and stitching. That's where I was this morning.
 

The shady corner of the garden is full of purple plectranthus, a sure sign that it's autumn. 

The pink hibiscus has put on a splendid show for weeks.

A peek at the mountain from the other end of the garden. It's seldom that it is without it's tablecloth of cloud.

It didn't take long for the sun to creep over and then it was too hot to sit out and stitch.

Enjoy the last of the weekend and happy stitching!

WWII Sampler

Every now and then I come across a blog that makes for good reading. The blog posts on Hands Across The Sea Samplers is my latest find. The daily posts include the history behind the samplers and there are sometimes video links to the topic of the day that one would normally not come across.

Yesterday's post focuses on a sampler stitched by Major Alexis Casdagli, a WWII prisoner of war. The daring of the man is not immediately apparent in the sampler. Read more about this sampler on Hands Across The Sea Samplers here and more about the Major in the Telegraph here.

Major Casdagli's sampler (Hands Across The Sea Samplers)

And Jane Austen fans will enjoy this post here.

Space Embroidery

Do you remember the photographs the first astronauts took of earth from space? It was the rich blues of our planet that remain imprinted on my mind's eye.

Earth by Navid Baraty

If you would like to capture images of space with needle and thread you will find a small selection of cross stitch patterns by Navid Baraty in the Etsy shop SpaceNavid. I love how the colours pop out against the black background of space.

Mars by Navid Baraty

As a child I had visions of becoming an astronaut and travelling through space, all fueled by the space missions of the great space race between the USA and Russia. We can but dream.

Ighali 2016 - Dresden Lace Pulled Thread Lily

This year the Ighali Embroidery Convention is in August. It promises to be a lovely event, set in beautiful Knysna, and with some noteworthy teachers and classes. You can find out more about it on the Embroidery Network South Africa website here.

At Ighali I hope to be teaching a pulled thread course, "A Glimpse of Dresden Lace - Pulled Thread Lily", using traditional Dresden Lace stitches and techniques - that is if there are enough embroiderers who would like to join us to learn about 18th century embroidery methods and some challenging stitches. All the details of the class are in the class brochure which you can download from the ENSA website.

Dresden Lily on linen - Lyn Warner

Originally, I experimented with using a very fine cotton muslin for teaching these techniques and although the results were good, I found that in a class situation, working on such fine fabric presented extra challenges for students.

Dresden Lily on cotton muslin - Lyn Warner

As a result, the class kits for the Dresden Lily at Ighali will contain linen which is both easier to work on and more forgiving of any hasty unpicking. I will also have a small quantity of muslin available for anyone that wants to try it out on their own at a later date.

Bookings for all classes are via ENSA but if you have any questions about my course email me directly at lynette[dot]warner[at]gmail[dot]com. Apologies for the cryptic address. It's to avoid spammers picking it up with their webcrawlers.

In the meantime, happy stitching!

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Design adapted with permission of Heather Toomer, Embroidered in White: 18th century

Needles, Hands and Embroidering in the heat

Cape Town has had an unusually hot summer with temperatures frequently over 30 degrees C. I would rather have hot weather any day but it does pose some challenges for embroidery where the average home does not have air conditioning.

At our February Guild meeting this week we had a ceremony like the Japanese Hari Kuyo, broken needle festival, to say goodbye to our spent embroidery needles. Each member thanked her trusty needle for its friendship and work and then placed the needle in the traditional block of tofu.  We agreed that the old needles would then be gently wrapped up and finally safely buried.

This little ceremony got me thinking about my needles. I had noticed that a number of needles in my needlecase were looking dull or even a little black. I am quite happy to throw out pins that are blunt or beginning to corrode and leave a nasty black mark on fabric, but my embroidery needles, even those that are past their best, seem to go back into the needlecase and stay put, especially my favourite ones.  Somehow no two needles are exactly the same. There are those that thread smoothly and easily and those have just the perfectly shaped tip for the task at hand. They are the ones that stay.

Stitching in hot weather usually leaves you with hot, damp hands. Not only can the naturals oils from your skin be deposited onto your embroidery and attract dirt, but the natural acids on your fingers interact with the metal needle and begin to wear away its shiny, smooth surface. A dulled needle causes unwanted resistance to your fingers when you slide it through the fabric and it can also leave a tiny deposit of corroded metal on the fabric that may only become obvious over time. So, today was the day.

I went through my needles and sorted out those that have done their job and bid them farewell. Those that remain are nice and smooth and shiny.

I keep my old pins and needles in a little container hoping to find the best way to recycle them. Throwing them out with the rubbish conjures up awful images of the waste pickers who mine the refuse dumps accidentally picking up or standing on a wad of old needles. I have still to work out how I should safely dispose of them. What do you do with your old needles?

Another question is how do you keep your hands dry in the heat so that the natural moisture and oils are not deposited on your fabric or needles? Frequent washing is the usual answer. It doesn't however prevent your hands from quickly become hot and damp again.

I seem to remember that the embroiderers who worked on Kate Middleton's wedding dress washed their hands every half hour and used chalk dust to keep their hands dry. The other interesting thing I remember reading was that their spent needles were retired every three hours.  No-one was taking any chances there. Mary Corbet and the mother-daughter team, Bronwyn and Sanch, at Red Brolly also recommend the use of wet wipes to keep hands clean for embroidery.

I have yet to try French chalk and wet wipes, but I do have nice shiny needles to use. I might just try some baby powder too in place of French chalk. Damp hands aside, may our gorgeous summer weather long continue and happy stitching wherever you are.

Line Sampler Needlebook

New Year greetings  and I trust that you had a lovely Christmas and holiday season. My family from Bangkok visited us and it was especially wonderful to see our two grandsons and spend time with them again.

Going through my photos I was reminded about a little needlebook I made with an Anchor variegated thread. I was curious to see how the colours would vary along different lines of stitching and I was quite pleased at the pretty result.

The other objective was to turn a small sampler of simple embroidery stitches into a useful item.

These are the stitches on the sampler:
The border is whipped backstitch.
Then from the top, the stitches are
stem stitch
running stitch
Holbein stitch
chain stitch with French knots
fly stitch and straight stitches
blanket stitch
my version of single fern stitches
herringbone stitch
coral or coral knot stitch
backstitch
and laced running stitch.






Once the embroidery was done, I damp stretched it on a cork board so that the stitches would not be flattened by the iron. I prefer damp stretching or blocking the embroidery because no matter how careful I am when ironing I seem to end up with slightly squashed stitches. I allow for extra fabric around the edge so that any pin marks that remain once the embroidery is dry can be trimmed off safely afterwards.

Inside the needlebook two felt pages are just enough to keep a few pins and needles to carry around with a ready to-go embroidery project.

Later: Apologies for any formatting errors. I have tried to fix them. It all looks fine when I edit the post but once it's published things seem to jump around. 

Canvas work pincushions

My friend Beryl Saunders has been making these canvas work pincushions for a couple of her customers. Beryl does the embroidery and I finish them off for her.

First step is to lightly steam press the embroidery, face down on a soft towel. Them trim them to size and cut out a backing fabric that Beryl has chosen for each one.

Here they are stitched up and ready to go off to the customers. When the ladies saw the finished pincushions there was some hard bargaining between them because in the end both wanted a blue pincushion and a pink one as well. The result? Beryl has another order. 

I do love that pink one too!

West Coast Wild Flowers

September is a good month for seeing the spring wild flowers on the West Coast. I wrote about the first day of our flower-seeing in a previous post here. The second day of our two day trip saw us up early and having breakfast on the patio in the tranquil garden at Nancy's Tearoom in Clanwilliam.

I couldn't resist stopping to admire the yarn bombing in front of the row of quaint shops in the main street.

The visitor's centre had told us that the best display of the wild flowers in Clanwilliam was over but we had seen wonderful flowers at the Flower Reserve before so we stopped in. A few spots still looked pretty.

It was only 9.30am and the gazanias were still opening.

Along the N7 that goes north to the Namibian border, we encountered numerous stop-go's that added almost an hour to our journey. The road is excellent where it has been completed but there were extensive roadworks around Clanwilliam itself. This is in part due to the planned raising of the dam wall to provide water for the vineyards and the growing agriculture taking place in the area. You can see the dam wall and the roadworks for the new road in photo below. We sat in the car for ages with this view waiting our turn at a 4 way stop-go, all very orderly but slow going.

Leaving Clanwilliam we cut across to the coast and the West Coast National Park. Large trees dotted the fence-line of a sprawling wheat farm.  Trees of this size are an unusual sight in this area. I love their shape.

Posberg forms a small section of the WCNP and is right on the Atlantic coast. It is open to the public for a short period every year during the flower season. The cars were bumper to bumper in places - the flowers spectacular.  I know they look like dots but there really were a few ostriches and zebra in the far distance here. I wonder if they snack on the flowers.

Carpets of flowers covered the ground wherever we looked.

These lucky people were on a guided walk. What heaven!

At Plankiesbaai we had a walk on the beach and a picnic tea.

 

And finally, a last look back before we headed for Cape Town and home.

CEG Exhibition 2015

The Cape Embroiderers' Guild Exhibition is over for another 2 years! The embroidery was inspiring and the setting quite idyllic.

My photos were disappointing so there are only a few here, but if you click on the link to the Guild's website here you will find close-ups and lots of inspiration in the Gallery. There are also plenty of excellent photos on the CEG Facebook page here. Just scroll down and click through the photos on the different posts of the exhibition.