Day 17: Art Every Day - some days are for seeing what others have done

So today I looked at a book I got from an Interlibrary loan that I checked out.  This is a large reference book on Queen Elizabeth's (the one from the 1500's) wardrobe. She was the daughter of Henry the Eighth and Anne Boleyn who was executed when Elizabeth was 2-1/2. Elizabeth was a milder ruler than Henry although she did execute her half sister Mary who wanted to steal her throne.

This book has numerous examples of Elizabeth's extravagant dresses which were normally covered with embroidery and trimmed with bobbin lace. The workmanship is worth studying.

Day 16 - Art Every Day - Basting

Last night I was watching Downton Abbey again and needed to find something I could do that didn't require great concentration.  I need to get the Barbara Kershaw "Liesel" pillow case project done by August for a correspondence course I'm taking with the Embroidery Guild of America (EGA), so it's important to do a little whenever I can.  Here is a link to a picture of the final project in the Schwalm technique that I'm just learning in this project:  http://chainstitchers-ega.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/gcc_liesel_schwalm.jpg

I am also signed up to do this sampler, also designed by Barbara Kershaw: http://www.berlinembroidery.com/schwalmwhiteworkembroidery.htm
I am not on a time schedule for this one, so it will have to wait!

Here's my photo of my basting stitches so far:

This fabric is white white, so any color in the photo is simply distortion.

Day 15 - Art Every Day - More Knitting Practice

Well, one thing I have learned is that learning to knit and watching Downton Abbey don't mix!  I am still ending up with more stitches than I started with and having to rip, rip, rip.  I can't keep track of where I am without focusing every minute. So here is the bit I stitched and it still doesn't look as it's supposed to.  I think I will pull it all off and have another try.  Part of the problem is that I did too many of the first two repeats before I switched to the second two repeats.

Day 14 - Art Every Day - Played with Stash

OK - does this count as Art Every Day?  lol! I know we all do it from time to time. I won these on ebay a while back.  These are Kensitas silks and  were put out by J. Wix & Sons of London in 1934 and 1935 in cigarette packs. It was a group of 60 of the medium/large variety and needless to say I did not pay the asking price that some are asking that sell them individually. I have seen them as high as $15.00 a piece. I paid about $1.21 per silkie. Yippee! These are actually embroidered and not just a photo put on fabric. I posted some close-ups so you can see how lovely they are. They are contained in paper envelopes and that's the image you see coming through the silky. Backed with a creamy white backing they'd be even more stunning. Most crazy quilters know them well and some have their own collections. Now I just need some fantastic ideas to showcase them in a quilt. I considered hexagons, but someone suggested they were being overdone these days. Any ideas? They are about 2 x 2-3/4 inch in size.

Day 13 - Art Every Day - Cutting linen

I signed up for a EGA class to sew a pillow cover using techniques of Schwalm embroidery.  I ordered the linen and had to cut one piece for the pillow cover and one piece for a practice piece. Then I put an edging around both pieces so it wouldn't unravel when I begin to stitch.  This is the type of thing I will procrastinate on for a month of Sundays so I'm glad it is done.

Day 12- Art Every Day - Tatted Angel

Day 12:  You may have wondered what happened to my tatted angel.  Well, I have made some progress on her, but accidentally closed a ring that needed to be joined to a picot on another ring so I had to try to open the ring again, which is NOT very easy on size 80 thread. I ended up having to cut it out and re-join the thread at one of the chains.  I made another mistake and couldn't bear to work on her for a while because my frustration level was elevated (lol!). So I put her down and here she lies. Now I am reinforcing to myself what I have found to be true for me.  ALWAYS try a new pattern in a size 20 thread, then move to a size 80 thread. Size 20 thread is greater in girth than the size 80 and is much easier to pick out when a mistake is made. I don't think it is as delicate and pretty as the size 80 is so I try and cut corners by not practicing the pattern first.  I'm just not that good yet.  Maybe some day I will be, but that day hasn't yet arrived.

So now at the bottom you can see where I didn't join the picots of the last chains of her skirt together on the left. By the time I noticed it was way too late to cut and correct in my opinion! It doesn't much matter to me any way because I will probably stitch her down to fabric and can join the two picots then.

Day 11 - Art Every Day - Crewel Embroidery

I went to my embroidery guild meeting this morning and  worked on this little sample of crewel embroidery.

I had already completed the outer petals and this morning I worked the inner petals.