WIPW - Hard Work

Remember me? Queenie Patch? Remember WIPW, Work In Progress Wednesday? I am not surprised if it all seems vague; I haven't posted for a long time and have made no report on my progress for ages.

However,
I HAVE been working hard, in five-minute sessions, on my Pile 'em On embroidery and am happy to see the beginning of the end of this project. So here is my WIPW report:

Pile 'em On
Canvas stitches
Top row, from left:
mint green Cushion Stitch, pink and grey Scotish Stitch,  blue variegated Chequer Stitch, light blue Foliage Stitch

Second row, from left:
blue Knitting Stitch, light blue Arrow Stitch, pink and grey Jaquared Stitch, green and blue Broad Stem Stitch

Third row, from left:
variegated Herringbone Stitch, dark pink and blue Darned Web Stitch, pink and blue Shell Stitch, light grey Upright Gobelin Stitch

In between the Pulled Stitches in white, there is a low row of stitches, from left:
variegated Knotted Stitch, blue Greek Stitch, blue and green Hungarian Stitch

Underneath you can see a row of, from left:
green  Flower Stitch, bright blue Floral Stitch, pink and green Perspective Stitch, variegated Compact Filling Stitch, dark pink Rapid Stitch




Here is a better shot of the green Flower Stitch, and to the left of that variegated blue Florentine Stitch.


Here we have the light blue Foliage Stitch again, underneath is the Broad Stem Stitch, and the Upright Gobeline Stitch.
There is a little section of pink Cross Stitch and to the right, variegated Parisian Stitch.

In between the white Pulled work you see: blue and green Hungarian Stitch and light blue Diamond Straight Stitch. To the right is grey Half Cross Stitch and pink and green Florentine Stitch (Bargello style).

In the bottom row, from left: dark pink Rapid Stitch, light blue Spring Stitch, green Cross Stitch (two different sizes), blue Herringbone Stitch and the pink and green Florentine Stitch.


Finally in the picture below, on the right side are four stitches:
(next to the pink and green Florentine Stitch) we see, variegated Algerian Eye Stitch, dark blue and pink Triangle Stitch, light blue Algerian Eye Stitch and a small section of mint green Gobelin Stitch in two different lenghts.

Phew! A good number of stitches!

I then outlined the 'flames' with Stem Stitch.

Finally I have added a proper border and started piling on stitches there, too.

Messy is the middle name of this Pile 'em On stitch sampler! Hopefully completed by next Wednesday!

Making Hina Ornaments

After posting about these Hanging Hina Ornaments, some readers have asked about patterns and instructions.

I have found a good website for instructions for various ornaments. The text is all in Japanese, but the pictures are good and easy to understand. Just click on the picture of the ornament you want to make. Go to Nunoasobi and enjoy!

Personally, for most of my ornaments, I have used an old book:

where there are instructions for the Hanging Hina Dolls (Tsurushiskazari) of Inatori Hot Spa Town in Shizuoka, and the Sagarimono of Yanagawa Town in Fukuoka.

 I also have a print for Kasa Fuku of Sakai Town in Yamagata with some unusual ornaments.

Pamela, you might find a similar book in Japanese in a bookshop in Hokkaido, but the Nunoasobi website is OK, too. Good luck!

HINA - 2016

Starting one month before March 3rd I have a tradition; I display my Hanging Hina Dolls for the Girls' Festival.
Each year I make a few new ornaments and for 2016 I made these three:

a butterfly
a leaping rabbit
a sumo referee's fan, called a gunbai. Click on the link to read more.

The two latter are made of chirimen and kimono silk stretched over a cardboard base.
The butterfly's chirimen body has a drawstring so the yellow part can be used as a small pouch (maybe for fragrant powder (お香), but I stuffed it with wadding.

There are now 70 ornaments dangling merrily, and I will have to think hard about what to make for next year!

WIPW - Pockets of Time

Many of my daily chores keep me away from the computer so blogging has been very limited. Luckily I have been able to find pockets of time for needlework and have added the following stitches to my

Pile 'em On

 Left column from the top:                                                        Right column from the top:
Woven Cross Stitch                                                                  Broad Cross Stitch
Tweed Stitch                                                                             Gate Stitch
Goblin Stitch                                                                             Eastern Stitch

I pulled these Eastern stitches too much, but they were fun to make. Eastern Stitch was included in the TAST (Take A Stitch Tuesday) project and this is what I wrote about it two years ago.

In the middle are the stitches in white that my mother made many years ago. When I found this UFO of hers, I tried to complete it, but my tension is totally different from hers. Instead I started working my Canvas stitch sampler around her work.

I have already started on some new Canvas stitches so next week's WIPW report will contain a number of new ones.

I have also started work on the Hanging Hina Dolls for this year. Watch this space as they are coming up soon!