Stitch Class and My Peacocks

 what a great weekend last week. i spent the whole weekend at my friend Beth's house and we took a stitch class from Chris Berry who traveled all the way from Glasgow, Scotland. The Northwest Sampler Guild put on the class and it was worth every cent. It was the first time i had taken just a stitch class and i highly recommend it to all who love to stitch, even if you think you know stitches Chris gives you so many options that you can't help but learn a bit more on each. We started Friday night with a lecture and a PowerPoint presentation with pictures from Burrell Museum, V and A, Ashmolean Museum and UK Embroiderers'Guild collection. Amazing! On Saturday morning we used silk, cotton and metal thread to stitch with.  (You can see from the picture above) the metal was a bit harder for me and i need to give it another try. i love detached buttonhole. We also tried Blackwork, Ceylon stitch, Block Satin Stitch, Rococo or Queen stitch which i also love. i can't wait to put my stitch book together that we were given. i want to fill it with each stitch and a brief story about each. It is something i have wanted to do for years.

Chris Berry studies 16th and 17th century stitches and she has such a positive attitude about the process of stitching. i love that she talks about how there is no right or wrong way to implement a stitch. just as long as you get the results you want. I think sometimes we worry so about the backs that we get a little stressed out, if you have ever seen the backs of some antiques samplers they are not all perfect on the back or front.

this little peacock is another project i am working on. stitched on silk gauze with silk thread. i plan on making it into a necklace. the little circle at the bottom of the gauze is a pattern i am making into earrings, i love the color and hope to make the other earring different. i love

stitching on silk gauze your design comes to life so much faster.

this peacock was stitched on regular linen and i have it in a small frame for a necklace, now to add some paper ephemera. Peacock's are my latest motif, so fun to play around with. easy to change to your liking.

i was so happy to see i now have "18" followers! amazing it is nice to share your creativity with others thank you all for looking in. till next time

Stitched Bird House

today as i was working or creating in my craft room. i looked up and saw my beautiful bird house. i have great memories of that weekend class  with CA Wells. we spent the weekend at Fort Worden State Park in Port Townsend, WA. in 2003 ( Fort Worden is a must see) the stitch group stayed in the beautiful officer homes. we had a great time with CA and her sister.

i did change the design as always. i added different types of birds on each side of the house,plus a few other designs thruout. you can slide the top off and it is lined with blue silk inside.

this is the smaller one, great for a thimble.

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this is the bottom and as you can see the one on the right has a hole in it. a friends dog grabbed it one day as i walked out of the room. needless to say i screamed and cried but really how can you hate a dog.

now it has become part of the piece and the story.

i also added different types of alphabets to my birdhouse.

i love it and whenever i look at it i have tons of great memories to go along with the stitching.

glue and acorns

i usually think off and on throughout my day about what i will blog about during the week. what have i created that i wish to share. some weeks of course are more productive than others and that doesn't always make me happy but i have learn the ups and downs of being human. since i have been having such a problem with my wrist, yes both of them i have not been as much of a stitch addict lately. yet i do sew at least once a day for an hour. yet this past week or so i have been totally working on getting Judy Odell's Lady's Chest done. the stitching part has been done for weeks, but the foundation of the chest is another long story. i have cut out card stock and glued fabric to more pieces than i care to count. one chest made without stitched pieces on it did not turn out to my liking so i have started another.

as you can see all clipped and weighted down waiting to dry. i just hope i can get it done before say i turn 60?
yet when i was feeling so upset over this mess i received an incredible gift in the mail today from cesandherdishes.blogspot.com. I won i actually won this beautiful drawing.

who doesn't love a gift

and then a simple perfect acorn. 

some days its worth running to the mailbox.