Stumpwork Portrait

I had to send a birthday card, and made this stumpwork portrait to fit into a window card.

It is so enjoyable to make these ladies, using up scraps of fabric and odd beads and rings from accessory making.

Unfortunately the photo is slightly out of focus.

WIPW - One More Stumpwork Portrait

For this week's Work In Progress Wednesday I can report on yet another

Stumpwork Portrait

In this case, the draping of the green silk is the main feature. It is simply a piece of scrap left from the latest Crazy for Crazy octagon block.

I have also made a beaded trim for the edges on this and the previous cards:

I learned this technique from Pamela of Hokkaido Kudasai. You will find it here.

Freeform Embroidery

I have started a freeform embroidery on evenweave. I will ignore the grid and stitch as I like, choosing stitches from Sunday Stitch School and TAST. Mainly Perle #8 will be used.

Crazy for Crazy

has been shelved for the time being - as summer 'gets in the way'.

I will take things easy for a bit, enjoy a rest, and my blog activities, both writing and reading, will be put on the back burner.

WIPW - Another Stumpwork Portrait

Wednesday = a Work In Progress Wednesday report.

I had to make a
Stumpwork Portrait
to give away.

Crazy for Crazy
These are the seams I have added.
The beads come from two toy necklaces. The button and tassel were made from variegated thread.
I made use of two commercial ribbon flowers (in the shape of Suffolk Puffs)

This block is now completed.

WIPW - Back On Track

THANK YOU for all well wishes and kind comments while I was poorly. I took time out from most things, slept a lot, and apologize for not having visited your blogs or left comments.

I am now well again and back on track.

Work In Progress Wednesday report

Greeting Card
or should I say Stumpwork Portrait.
Do you remember this out of focus picture, a teaser?

It is a Stumpwork portrait I made before I got ill, but could not write about it as it had not reached its destination. 

Now it has, so I can show you:

The hair was made this way:

Wind six strands of embroidery floss tightly around a bamboo skewer.

 Spritz with water and

 press with a hot iron.

 Unravel the curls and

stitch them around the head.

Twisted Perle forms the hair ornament, metallic thread the eyeshadow, a scrap of light blue accordion ribbon makes up the blouse, a ragged (cut roughly with pinking shares) piece of salmon pink nylon folds into a jacket and is held together with an odd necklace clasp.

For this portrait I also added ears and I will show how that is done on another blog post.

Crazy for Crazy
I filled in the leaves with Cretan Stitch and added a beautiful tatted flower I had been given from the owner of the portrait above.

Brazilian Embroidery

I managed to read through the booklet, made notes of some interesting points, but have not started stitching anything yet.

WIPW - Edged and Portrayed

Wednesdays come round so quickly and it is hard to keep up the progress for Work In Progress Wednesday. 

It is nearing midnight and I have just put the edge on the purple

Crazy for Crazy

block. 

 This was really fun to make and I can hardly wait to start on the next block, which will be ruby red.

I pulled out various pieced of red from my stash.

I also made another
Stumpwork Portrait
This was then turned into a greeting card.

The recipient of the card is strongly connected to the turquoise silk I used for the dress and I hope this fabric will evoke fond memories.

WIPW - Is Shopping Progress?

Work In Progress Wednesday took me on a shopping trip.

Trinity Green
was in need of more thread so before I could make any quilting progress I had to buy some reels of

green Dual Duty.

For
World Embroidery Day
I completed the stump work carrot and two pods of peas.

Then I stitched the embroidery to a card and inserted in a frame, gift wrapped it, wrapped it in brown paper, took it to the postoffice and sent it flying across the Globe.

WIPW - The Usual + A Birthday Card

What news is there for Work In Progress Wednesday this week? Well, there is the ususal stuff:

Trinity Green
The addition of 270 triangles makes 3780 the total number in my collection.

Fabric in Focus

Last week I told you about the popularity of Laura Ashley in Japan, and I added a 'show and tell' of how I have used her fabric.

Laura Ashley is classy, but William Morris is classier! Of all the beautiful designs my favourite is Golden Lily. Do you know that there are two versions? I have some curtains in the traditional green and gold print

  then bought the minor version (Golden Lily Minor) in a shop in London.

 I had a wee bit left and as the material is much thinner and more suited for patchwork than the original cretonne it was sacrificed for Trinity Green.

H C Quilt
I have completed almost all the quilting on the line drawings on the castle. I'll do the windows later.
Next step is the stone blocks.

Stumpwork Portrait
I had another birthday card to make, and once again it became a stumpwork portrait.

Who Harvested the Carrots?

Do you remember World Embroidery Day, July 30th?

I wrote a blog post about harvesting carrots and showed this detail of the stumpwork portrait I made on WED:

As it is a birthday card I did not want to show the full view then. Today is the 'gardener's' birthday so I can now show you.

 

I don't often make male portraits so it was a challenge, but most enjoyable.

Harvesting Carrots on World Embroidery Day

World Embroidery Day, 30th July, was established five years ago in Sweden and as the word is spreading more and more participate.

Did you take part? Did you get together and stitch with friends? Did you stitch 'publicly' in a park or at the bus stop?

I am a hermit stitcher and spend the day quietly at home trying to fit in small sessions of stitchery in my day of chores.

The embroidery I chose to work on was another stumpwork portrait. Here is a detail:

Harvesting carrots!

The portrait is a birthday card and I will show the whole portrait once the card has reached its destination, just in case the recipient is reading my blog.

Get Better Soon Card

Someone close to me needed hospitalisation and nursing care. I made this stump work portrait to wish for a speedy recovery.

The white uniform and cap are made from scraps of an authentic white medical coat. The material is so compactly woven it was hard for the needle to pierce the fabric, and stitching was a pain in the neck fingers. Now my poor fingers need nursing care!

Two cards

I made two more birthday cards. One is embroidered and made without a plan, but I used Sharon B's crazy quilting templates (well worth investing in, and enjoyable to use):

The other card was another stumpwork portrait:

I haven't made a stumpwork portrait in a long time and it was, as always, so interesting to see it grow. 

The veil is made of a stretchy fabric, and if the pin is removed the lady's face, and hair, will be revealed 

World Embroidery Day 2015

I have been EXTREMELY busy recently with other things than embroidery. So I did not think I would have much time to stitch yesterday, July 30th, World Embroidery Day. However, I was fortunate!

I had prepared these items for a stumpwork portrait and I thought I would be able to get started on it at any rate, even if I did not finish until much later.

Then by sheer luck a  two-hour-assignment was cancelled and I found myself with enough time to finish the whole portrait. I even mounted it on a piece of cardboard and slipped it into a window card, ready to be sent off to someone's birthday!

I must admit, however, that there aren't a lot of true embroidery stitches on these stumpwork ladies! They are more appliqué than embroidery.

Did you have a good day of embroidery? Did you stitch with others? Will the world have more enthusiastic needleworkers next year?

Work In Progress Wednesday - Sloppier than Sloppy

I have not been able to spend much time,  and even less focus, on my needlework recently. This report shows that most of my work is very sloppy.

Pile 'em On
I have only worked on the canvas stitches:

 This is an overview picture of the eight stitches I've added since last report (starting with the fourth from the top right).

 Renaissance Stitch (gray and pink), Milanese Stitch (variegated)

 Linen Stitch (blue), Plait Stitch (pink)

 Long-Armed Stitch (gray), Greek Stitch (wine pink)

Knotted Stitch (pink) which is spaced wrongly and not worked in individual rows!, Double Stitch (gray) still in progress.

Extra! A Birthday Card
I made a birthday card with a stumpwork portrait.

With this portrait I took a bit of care, but only used items from my stash. The turtle neck jumper is made from nylon 'mesh craft' material, i.e. the same as tights (panty hose) are made from. The silvery treads add a bit of sparkle.

My time at the computer is very limited, so please excuse me if I won't be able to answer any comments.

WIPW - Late 'weeds'

I try to publish my Work In Progress Wednesday reports on a Wednesday, but it is now Thursday. I am late, and what do I have to report? Some weeds!

Swedish Wool Embroidery Collar
The 'weed' has sprung up between the main flowers on the collar.

Half the collar is still free from weed, but hopefully, by next week Wednesday they have spread all over the place.

Not a WIP but... 
This can not be called Work In Progress as it was a new project started and completed in  90 minutes.
I made another stumpwork portrait:

Her scarf is a scrap of fabric from a pocket of an old suitcase.
The hair is a lock of fleece for felting that I picked up from this selection at a felting workshop:

Adorning my scissors
A stitch-less WIP was adorning my good embroidery scissors with the lovely scissor fob I was given by  Pamela.

Finding a place for...
My final WIP was finding a home for these 'stow-aways' that somehow sneaked into my suitcase.

By next Wednesday I hope to have some progress on the shelved projects; Kafferepet and The Swedish Cushion.
To see what other needleworkers have been up to, go to Pintangle. There is also some information  about Sharon's newsletter.