Winter Wonderbird

Over the years, Jim and I have grown quite fond of the quirks and personalities of the birds that share our backyard and sup at our seed-y smorgasbord.   I'm particularly fond of the Eastern bluebird and Jim's favorite is the Black-Capped Chickadee.



I think he sees a bit of himself in its capable, efficient manner.  Targeted in its feeding style, the chickadee avoids the food squabbles of the finches, sparrows and jays.   Waiting patiently for a break in the fray, it flies in, gets a seed, and flies away again to eat in peace before any protest is mounted.  Though the titmice are similar; the chickadee is the only bird to let us know when the feeders are empty by calling just outside our window...chick a dee dee dee, chick a dee dee dee.

They're also the only birds that escort me across the yard while I'm carrying the newly-filled feeders, taking seeds as I lift them up and before I can even get them hung.  We've seen pictures of people training chickadees to eat out of their hands and Jim has often said he wants to try that once he retires.

I mention all this as backstory so that you understand why I said "yes" without any hesitation when Pam Kellogg asked if I would be willing to make the January artwork for her annual Crazy Quilt calendar.  This year's theme was birds and would I be willing to do a Chickadee?

Jim's favorite bird and my favorite month...slam dunk...I was in.



Another reason Jim loves the chickadee is because it's with us all year round.  A fierce little bird and a scrappy forager in the worst of winter weather.

Inspired by their brazen, insistent requests, I decided to place my chickadee on the crepe myrtle branch outside of the window, winter bare but for the seed pods that are left closed until Spring...



This is the branch from where our chickadee friend, seeing us seated inside the warmth of our home, calls to us to come out and fill the feeder.



I splattered the block with Lumiere textile paint in pearlescent white, wanting the bird to be in the middle of a snowstorm. 

I envisioned snow to be everywhere so I spent some time studying photographs of snow crystals and reading up on the properties of snow in this book...



I can't recommend it enough!  Find it at the library or bookstore and spend some time looking through its pages...it's a beauty to behold.

The snowflake structures lend themselves beautifully to embroidered interpretation...

And I discovered that all snowflakes have either six- or twelve-sided symmetry...never four or eight as I've sometimes seen them depicted.

Each stitched snowflake is unique...

And I was able to use the painted watch parts and beaded snowflakes I had made a few years ago.  Evidently, their time had come...

The crepe myrtle seed pods were "stitched" by making knots of Au Ver a Soie silk chenille thread, sinking the ends, and sculpting them with needle and thread...



I found that the thread was too thick to stitch with a french knot without serious worming.

The snow on the branch was made in the same manner as my January Reflections piece.

As for the chickadee itself, I wanted to give the appearance of the feathers being fluffed out, trying to retain body heat so I stitched in a few fluffy feathers to give the suggestion of cold.

And the little blue beanie?

The inspiration for that came from none other than my son Jack himself.  He wears one pretty much every day...



And I was in the process of making a new hat for him when I dropped him off at school...

To keep him warm through those cold Boston winters.

So I knitted one for him and one for the bird...

I had to steek the bird's beanie so I could cut it in half and sculpt it with thread onto the piece.

Steeking is a method of cutting a piece that has been knit in the round.  I had never steeked anything before so I learned a new technique.

Thanks Pam for including me in your calendar.  You can see the other birdy pieces in the calendar and purchase your own here.



I know I haven't been blogging very much lately but it isn't for lack of desire.  I still love my blog like an old friend and plan to be here more regularly, life willing.

Waving to you all!

Embroidering 3-D Rose Leaves

For the past few months I've been working on creating a palette of leaves for a climbing rose bower on my Mrs. Rose block.

First, I figured out a method for making velvet leaves.  I like those very much but I wanted to try my hand at embroidering a few as well.

This week I worked on a couple of approaches for embroidering three-dimensional leaves.  My first attempt was...just that...a first attempt.

In the second attempt, I sandwiched organza with the fabri-solvy...couching the wires to the underneath of the fabric sandwich and embroidering the leaves on the top side.

Once I finished the embroidery, I cut them each out and placed them in water to dissolve the stabilizer.



Over all, they turned out pretty well.  The more I did, the better I became.  A few minor adjustments and I think I have a good approach for going into production.

I had to order more Gloriana Tudor Silk since I only had it in one color, Olivine, and I'd like to have a palette of leaves to choose from when I'm making the final bower.  Luckily, Needle in a Haystack had a range of greens so those should be arriving in the next day or so.

Check out the difference between one strand of 12-strand Tudor Silk on the left and one strand of Gloriana 12-strand silk floss on the right...

The 120/2 twist of the Tudor Silk has a tighter twist than the silk floss, more of a sheen (IMHO), and doesn't "fuzz out" as much as the softer twist.  That's important because I am distressing the thread a bit by putting it into water.

I am loving how they are turning out.  The only down side is that they take about one hour per leaf stem to make, a bit longer than the plain velvet leaves.

I still need to figure out the calyx and the thorns but I am definitely getting closer...

Below you can see the scale of the leaves compared to a penny...

That's it for now.  I'll be working on Japanese embroidery for the next few days where I have tons and tons of goldwork to do.

Happy day!

"O" Yay! It's Finished!

Yesterday I finished my little stumpwork "O" for my Embroiderers' Guild project.

I knew I had a good start because I already had most of the dragonfly completed.  The two wings are made from two fabrics fused together at right angles, teal organza and pearlized organdie.

The wires used for the dragonfly wings are a stainless steel fine wire available in most fly fishing departments.

The wires used for the flower petals are paper covered wire.  I buy mine at Global Sugar Arts here.  Technically, they are a floral wire and come in both green and white.  If you buy the white, you can use a marker to color the wire to match your thread.

I prefer the Sunrise brand carried by Global Sugar Arts because it's a Japanese brand and I find that the paper is tighter and doesn't unwind very easily.  You'll note that the wire comes in different sizes or gauges.  The higher the number, the smaller the wire.  The wires used for this flower are 30 gauge.  The wires I used in the lace flowers on my Breakfast at Tiffany's piece were 33 gauge.  I prefer the smaller wires because I like less of an "edge" to my petals.

The square hoop I showed on yesterday's post is a German-made birch wood hoop made by Hardwicke Manor.  These hoops are great for stumpwork because they have a brass screw that you can use a screwdriver to tighten.  The base fabric for stumpwork needs to be drum tight and tightening with a screwdriver will keep it that way until you're finished working on it.

The square hoop is great for use when you are clamping the hoop to a table like I did yesterday.  That being said, it is not as easy to use as a round hoop when you have to shift your fabric around many times in a project.  A round hoop is much easier to manipulate...the square hoop requires you to find the sweet spot to get the fit just right.   

For stumpwork, I position the base fabric once, tighten it and leave it alone...So for that, the square hoop is great.  For other work, I prefer a round hoop.  That being said, many have proclaimed the advantages of the Hardwicke Manor hoops and I can't say enough good things about them. 

I think that's it for the questions I got yesterday.  

Tomorrow I'll show you where this little "O" is going.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.

"O" -- One of the Monkeys on My Back

Stumpwork has been on my work table this week.  This project is one of those monkeys on my back that I mentioned earlier this year.

I'm re-imagining a stumpwork design from a class I took with Jane Nicholas a few years ago.

If you ever get the opportunity to take a class with Jane, you should do it.  So much of my base stumpwork knowledge has come from her.  Her new book, Stumpwork Butterflies and Moths is a real treat, with very detailed and precise instructions.  The only thing you need to add is good light, good magnification and tons of practice.

What this piece will be used for will become clear in my next post, suffice it to say that it is a project for my Embroiderers' Guild...and it's very late.

This has been a great exercise in warming up my stumpwork skills for the completion of Mrs. Rose...I hope to get to her as soon as I get some of these smaller projects complete.

One of the tricks I learned from Jane was the use of a very large-eyed chenille needle to sink wires into the base fabric.

Pulling the needle to where the eye is halfway above and below the fabric creates a "channel" through which you can place the wire and pull it easily through to the back side...

I've also been making a few more of these three-dimensional berries that I learned from her.  They're so simple it's almost a sin.

Fill an oval on muslin with french knots and beads, baste a running stitch around the oval, and cut them out.  When you pull the running stitches, it makes a "berry" that you can applique to your background.

Easy peasy, right?

Japanese embroidery has gotten me in the habit of embroidering with two hands.  My right hand above the hoop and my left hand below.

When I'm working on something in a hoop, I find these clamps from the home improvement store to be invaluable.

Unlike many clamps, they can open up very wide to fit around the lip of any table, including those portable ones with the big wide plastic top.  These are about 8" long and cost about $5.75 apiece.

That's it for today.  Just giving you a peek into my world today.  I'm off to finish off my composition and attach all those petals!  That's the fun part.  

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

One of the many highlights of our trip to Scotland was a trip to the Burrell Collection in Glasgow.

The Burrell houses an eclectic collection gifted to the City of Glasgow in 1944 by Sir William Burrell who was a wealthy, shipping magnate living in Glasgow.

And believe it or not,  it had one of the most beautiful collections of needlework...on display...all in one place.  Not to mention that there is a Gilt and Silk exhibition there currently.

Luckily for us, I had just purchased a new point and shoot camera that had a particularly good sensor, making it better for shooting in low-light situations such as museums.

Here's just one of the stumpwork treasures that I found there...

A young girl would often stitch on samplers to learn embroidery skills, eventually graduating to stitching on caskets and mirror surrounds.

The patterns were often sold in pieces and then sent back to a cabinet maker to put together once the embroidery was complete.

This is a silk-on-silk, English embroidery from 1660. 

And thanks to my camera, I was able to bring you some incredible details given the low light in which the piece hung...

Left middle...

Top left...

Top center...

I LOVE this castle..the roof tiles, the front door..the wrapped silk pearl over the doorway.  

And check out the mica used for windows...

Middle right...

The camel sits just above the woman on this young woman holding an arrow...

And sitting below her...

Bottom right.  This flower looks like it was stitched on a slip and applied later, edges being covered by a couched cord...

And check out this quasi-undersea scene surrounding a fountain, with sequin water...the sequins looked like they were mica as well....

And a close-up shows some pearly beads in the fringe of those *ahem* anemones??..

Another "slip" flower on the left side of the fountain, bottom left:

This courageous lion with his curly mane sits right above the flower...

And above the lion, this young man holding a piece of "fruit" ?  Hmmm...

And on the topmost left corner is this wonderful needlelace tree...

I must have spent 30 minutes with this one piece alone.  It's in such great condition and I'm pleased to share it with you all.

Perhaps you are working on a mirror or casket as part of Tricia Wilson Nguyen's online university, Thistle Threads??

Have an inspired Monday everyone!