Thursday, October 14, 2010

Butterflies, Blackwork, & Birthday Cards

I have lots of updates!!

First of all, my third go at making a card. I even splurged and got sparkly letters. (It was for my mom, so it was worth it!)


Next, it's an update on the Butterfly Forest. The full and half cross stitches are all done, and about 2/3 of the backstitching is complete. All that's left is the last of the backstitch and the couched border. Then it's off for a wash, an iron, and framing!! It's nice to see this one be so close to done, but the last little bit is a real struggle to do. The motivation is hard to come by. Knowing how much my mom will love it is all that keeps me going.


And finally, I've joined a blackwork stitch-along (SAL) at my LNS. It's a ton of fun! It's just a pleasure to sit around and stitch with others who love stitching like I do. The fact that we are all working on the same pattern but with a dozen variations in colour, fabric, and size just makes it more exciting. The design is called Interlocking Wheel by Elizabeth Almond. It's found on her site Blackwork Journey. This is what it will look like when finished:

Mine is going to be quite small. I'm stitching it 1 over 1 on 25 ct antique white lugana evenweave using Vivki Clayton's Hand-dyed silk in Ocean Breeze. It is one of the most amazing blues I've ever seen. To date I've finished the cross stitch border, but have yet to attempt any actual blackwork. (Blackwork embroidery is a counted-thread embroidery technique traditionally done in either black or gold. The simplest of all the embroidery stitches, the straight stitch, is used to make up the complex and intricate designs that can often be seen. When these straight stitches are sewn in a combination, they make lines or geometric patterns. These geometric patterns are the main basis for the Blackwork embroidery technique.)



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