A little more Reticella

In my previous Reticella post here, Susan B kindly left a comment suggesting a look at Giuliana Buonpadre's colourful work and her book Herbarium. If you are looking for Reticella with a contemporary look, take a look at Giuliana's book here. 

To see a beautiful white on white Reticella square embroidered from one of Giuliana's patterns, visit Yolande's blog Fils et aiguilles here. Both sites have English translations.

I hope you will be inspired.

Till next time, happy stitching.

First Stitches

I  recently listened to Phillipa Turnbull's interview with Gary Parr on his podcast Fiber Talk. I was interested to hear her comment that beginners find it easier to embroider with wool rather than "slippery cotton" and I had an idea. I had some crewel wool that I purchased from the CEG sales table a few years ago.

Yesterday my grandchildren aged 6 and 8 were introduced to a needle and thread. They enjoy arranging the glass-headed pins in my pincushion but had not yet done any stitching. Both were surprised to find that unlike a pin, the needle had a little hole in it. And, the thread actually has to go through that little hole.

I edged squares of loosely-woven Aida-like fabric to make coasters and started them off with a row of running stitch. The idea was to teach them a few basics like how to hold the needle so the thread doesn't slip out of it and how to sew in a straight line and keep stitches all the same length.

After a few protests of "I can't do this. It's too hard", silence suddenly reigned. And I threaded needles. Then, one tied a knot so that the thread wouldn't come out of the needle and learned that it makes it harder to pull it through the fabric. We all learned lots of valuable little lessons.

I took a photo when the children had a break. The six year old  carefully tried to keep her running stitches all the same. The eight year old quite simply followed his own plan and drew lines with the needle and thread. To my surprise he used back stitch, something which he picked up after watching only once how I began the row of running stitch for him.

Although they did more stitching I didn't manage to take another photo before the coasters were eagerly wrapped and ready to give to their mom who returns from a 10 day business trip later night.

The wool worked well for little fingers stitching their very first project. I think I'll probably use it again for the next one.

If you haven't listened to a Fiber Talk podcast and want some stitching company while you stitch you'll find lots to choose from on the website here. I have particularly enjoyed hearing the voices of embroiderers whose embroidery I admire as well as learning a little more about them and their work.

Till next time, happy stitching.

Spectacle Case Last Round Decisions

I have almost finished the spectacle case I started some weeks ago, fitting in a few minutes here and there to work on it. Read about it in previous posts by clicking here, here and here.

With only one final round of stitching to do, I tried out a few alternate ideas. I tried rice stitch which you can see on the left below. First, with the dark green cross underneath and the corners crossed in light green. Then I reversed the colours and tried light green for the cross and covered the corners with dark green thread. No, those both looked too busy and seemed to detract from the rest of the embroidery.

Maybe plain cushion stitch in either light green or dark green? No, neither looked right against the row of brown cushion stitch right next to it.

How about a row of satin stitch in dark green, above on the right? No, too dull and looks heavy.

A row of Smyrna cross in light green as suggested in the pattern in the kit? Yes. I like the way it connects with the light green in the rest of the piece. I also like the contrast of its rough texture with the smooth brown cushion stitch. Smyrna cross works up quickly so it won't take long to complete the final round of stitching. See stitch diagrams for Smyrna cross here.

Do you also consider changing an embroidery pattern as you stitch? I find my mind going through possible options as I go along and I can't resist trying them out. Some ideas work and others don't, but it does make the stitching more interesting.

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On a different note, we were all thankful that Cyclone Oma did not make landfall here, but rather sorry that it didn't come just a little bit closer to the coast and bring us some much needed rain. Brisbane has had an exceptionally hot and very dry summer.

Till next time, happy stitching.

A Few More Stitches

After taking a bit of a break from the canvas work spectacle case, it has progressed by a few more rounds. Somehow, it's surprising how just 10 minutes here and there eventually do add up. Once I had the spacing worked out for the Smyrna Cross Stitch,

had added in the green trellis effect, and a row of cushion stitch, I was looking forward to stitching the oblong rice stitch. That's the long dark green cross with a rusty red and a little pop of pale green to light up the centre.

I think it looks intricate and rather Christmassy, but it was straightforward to stitch.

Some changes I made to the original pattern meant I had to work sparingly with the limited amount of variegated thread that came with the kit.

I wasn't sure there would be enough for the last few cushion stitches.

In the end there was just sufficient for what I wanted to do, with none at all to spare. That little bit in the needle was all I had left.

I've filled in the last few stitches and now there's just one more round to do before the embroidery is complete.

On a completely different note, we are carefully following the progress of Cyclone Oma which is moving closer to the east coast of Australia. It is currently 900 kilometres offshore. At one stage it was predicted to be on a direct path for Brisbane. Today however it seems unlikely that it will cross the coastline. The wind has already picked up where we are, a few kilometres in from the coast, and we do need the rain, but not a direct hit from a cyclone. In the meantime we have checked the gutters, gathered all the loose items outside, filled the car with petrol and done another grocery shop. The gas bottle is full, we've got candles and also matches. All this just in case Oma gets much closer.

Satellite image, ABC news

Till next time, keep safe and happy stitching!

Reticella - Should it be White?

Reticella embroidery has always intrigued me. It's a form of whitework embroidery that combines cutwork and needlemade lace and it's generally identifiable by the square shape of the motifs.

South African embroiderers may remember the extraordinary embroidery of embroider and designer Hetsie van Wyk. See photos of Hetsie's embroidery here and here. Following the detailed instructions in her book Embroider Now, I once tried doing a little piece of Reticella - in pink.

I had just been on a visit to family in Zimbabwe and I had been able to find some Zimbabwe cotton. At the time it was a favourite among local embroiderers because it was an inexpensive evenweave type fabric that could be used for counted thread embroidery, particularly cross stitch and pulled thread work.

It was ideal for experimenting and trying out new stitches and techniques and I was tempted to buy not only the traditional white or ecru, but also small lengths of coloured fabric.

I find there is something especially alluring about white embroidery on white fabric. The question was to see how a piece of traditional whitework would look when embroidered on coloured fabric with matching threads.

Although I need more practice with the technique, I was fairly happy with this little piece of Reticella on the pink Zimbabwe cotton. But, I still think it's hard to beat whitework embroidery embroidered with white thread on white fabric. I'd love to know what you think.

Till next time, happy stitching!

Happy 2019!

I hope that you had a happy Christmas and that 2019 will be a very good year for you - healthy,  rewarding and happy.

This Christmas was the first time all four of our grandchildren were with us. Talk about excitement!

Our two daughters and their families had dinner with us almost every night and the four children (ages 5,6,7 and 8) got on so well together that there were tears when the cousins had to part.

Photo taken by Cindy on the Nudgee Wetlands boardwalk

After a busy but very happy couple of weeks our routine is slowly returning to normal. Cindy and family are back in Bangkok and getting ready to return to school and to work. Bronwyn and family are camping down on the New South Wales coast and we are looking after their two cats.

Besides taking up hems and sewing on buttons, I seem to have done little with my needle and thread recently. Any embroidery inspiration has vanished. I'm sure it will soon return. In the meantime I have been reading and enjoying being able to source e-books from the Brisbane library. The weather is balmy and our patio overlooking the little park is, as my son-in-law put it, 'the best room in the house', a great place to soak up the peaceful surroundings, watch the birds .... and stitch.

I hope you are relaxed, refreshed and inspired after the holidays.

Heliotrope 'Cherry Pie' Pincushion

Earlier in June I started a piece of purple Bargello, or Florentine, that I wrote about in previous posts here and here.

As I worked I noticed a straggly shrub out in the garden with flowers of the same deep purple colour.

See how closely the colours match?

The delight of moving into a house with a nice little garden is discovering through the seasons what the previous gardener has planted. The shrub I found is heliotrope and it has the most heavenly perfume. It reminds me strongly of vanilla. Apparently it is also like the aroma of a freshly baked cherry pie! Hence the shrub known as heliotrope 'Cherry Pie'.

The Bargello pattern for the Heliotrope 'Cherry Pie' pincushion is now in my Etsy shop Lynlubell. Click here to see it. As a customer very kindly remarked, this is much more than just a pattern. It's a step by step tutorial with lots of canvas work tips, and many photographs to illustrate the techniques.

There is also a larger version of the pincushion pattern that could be mounted or framed. It could be made into an oblong pincushion or even applied to a cushion cover to update the colour scheme of a living room.

Heliotrope, fashionable in Victorian gardens of the 19th century, has seemingly made a comeback here in Brisbane. I can see why. It has a long flowering season, tolerates hot dry conditions and some varieties have a remarkable fragrance. The one in my garden is planted next to the carport and every time I get out of the car I am surrounded by a soft cloud of its lovely scent. I wish I could send you a little breath of its gentle perfume.

In the meantime, enjoy the gardens around you, and happy stitching!

Smyrna Cross Stitch

The progress on the canvas work spectacle case, that I wrote about in this post here, has been spectacularly slow. There's been more unpicking than anything else.

A gremlin in a stitch diagram had me puzzled. Eventually I drew up my own diagram based on the photo in the kit. Smyrna cross, also called Leviathan stitch or double cross, is a good textured stitch for canvas work. This is how I stitched it in a vertical row. The next diagram shows how the rows were spaced.

Smyrna cross stitch

Once I'd got the spacing between the rows right, I filled in the straight stitches to form the trellis. The number 5 perle that came with the kit was a very pretty pale green but I found it thick and hard to pull through the holes of the 18 count canvas. So more unpicking. Instead, I used a number 8 perle in almost the same shade. Some of the impact of the thicker thread was lost, but it was much easier to pass the four thinner threads through the same hole. 

Smyrna cross with a trellis

The third step of the spectacle case is a row of cushion stitch around the central trellis. And yes, that I have unpicked - three times. All down to my miscounting. As they say, a bad workman always blames the tools, or in this case, a temporary lack thereof. My new sewing room has poor light, even during the day. So, I have since had my dear husband re-assemble my magnifier light. And it makes a big difference now when I stitch. 

The spectacle case? It's back in the UFO box. 

Till next time, much success with your stitching!

Canvas Work Spectacle Case

I've started to stitch a little kit that I've had for years. It's a spectacle case designed by Kathryn Cilliers-Louw. The needle was pinned into the canvas for so long it's completely rusted. It's definitely time to do that stitching!

First stitch is Smyrna cross. It's a double cross stitch also known Leviathan stitch. I'm using three strands of rayon floss which gives little bumpy squares. I like the feel of them when I run my finger over them.

The rayon is proving just what a mind of it's own it has. Thank goodness for my thread conditioner and a drop of water. They do help to tame the thread. I have often marveled at how the embroiderers of Brazilian embroidery manage those slippery threads and produce such perfect stitches.

My pattern calls for five different threads and somehow I have only four with my kit. I'll have to add in something from the threads in my cupboard. All in all it hasn't been the best start to this little project. It is relaxing though to be stitching from a kit. Someone else has worked it all out and ironed out all the tricky bits. I can just stitch.

'Till next time, happy stitching!

Canvas work portraits

A little stitching inspiration for the weekend from the needle of Marie E. Pieres.

Marie E. Pieres

This portrait is the work of artist Marie E. Pieres. I am captivated by not only the figure of the girl but also the texture, colour and variety of the canvas work stitches used in the background. 

There is some detail about Marie's creative process on the My Modern Met website here. And more of her work on her website here. Have a look at the portraits gallery and also the rogues gallery where you will find a portrait of Hugh Grant!

Till next time, happy stitching!