Doodle Page - Insects

The next doodle page arrived a day or two before my Mum’s birthday. One of her gifts was tied with a butterfly ribbon. Mum kindly gave me a length to use on Isabell’s insect page.


I added a few beads to create their bodies.


I wanted the butterflies to look like they were in flight so I distorted the ribbon and stitched beads under some of their wings so that they would be raised from the page.


Happy Stitching

Doodle Page - Exotic Swirls

For her page, Kim asked for Exotic Swirls. I think this was the most vibrant of all the pages. For me it was one of the easiest to decide what to do ... I love paisley and it is a ready-made exotic swirl. I drew around a template I made some time ago to create the outline and them I just started doing rows of stitches.


I think this is the closest I came to ‘doodling’ on any of the pages.


Happy Stitching

Doodle Page - Flowers

The next page to come my way belonged to Jules in Scotland. I really cannot remember what Jules’ theme was but I do know that it was related to flowers. I took my inspiration from the notelet that Elizabeth had put in with the page when she sent it on to me. It had big yellow daisies on it.

I couched a length of green silk ribbon along the stems then formed the petals with woven picots in yellow cotton floss.


I first covered the flower centres with satin stitches then added some French knots for texture.


The last thing that I added was a butterfly that I had painted some weeks before.


I was quite pleased with my doodle and felt that it fitted well with Elizabeth’s contribution.


Happy Stitching

Doodle Page - Tropical Forest

The first Doodle Page that visited me came from Elizabeth in Australia whose theme was a Tropical Forest.

Some years ago, I was fortunate enough to visit Australia. While staying in Cairns we took the scenic railway to Kuranda Village in the Rainforest. I recall that the train journey was wonderful, with amazing views of the rainforest and some of its waterfalls. During the day we took a guided walk through a part of the forest and were shown some of the unique flora and fauna. For some reason one particular plant had stuck in my mind above the rest – the Strangle Vine. The vine starts innocently enough growing up a tree for support but as it grows it begins to restrict the growth of its support. Eventually the host tree dies and decomposes leaving the vine like a grotesque external skeleton.

Because I was the first guest stitcher to doodle on Elizabeth’s page, I wanted to do something that others could add to or stitch over to give a coherent page. I used #1 Japanese gold thread to stem stitch the outline and add the criss-crossing stems in feather stitch.


At the end of the day we returned to Cairns on the Skyrain that carries you over the canopy for a unique view of the forest and Cairns on the coast far below.

Happy Stitching

Round Robin Doodle Pages

For the past 3 months most of my stitching time has been dedicated to Floral Melody but I have still made a little time to work on some other projects. During the summer I took part in an exchange called Round Robin Doodle Page. On the Embroiderer’s Guild forum we have been exchanging Travelling pages for a while but this was the first time we conducted a Round Robin where all the participants contributed a little to each page.

We started our own pages by selecting a fabric and a theme, and then stitching the first doodle. The pages then travelled from one person to the next, collecting a little embroidery along the way.

This was a very challenging project for me on several levels. First there was the time scale; we were asked to complete and send on each page within 2-3 weeks of receipt. Then there was the aspect of working to someone else’s theme and fitting in with (and around) everyone else’s embroidery. But the biggest challenge for me was the notion of doodling. There is no way that I could do something unplanned and freehand, especially on a page that belonged to someone else. Instead of doodling, I resolved that my contribution should be simple enough to complete in one or two embroidery sessions.

For my own page I selected a piece of fabric cut from a thread-bare Liz Claiborne blouse that had I had been saving for just such an occasion. I asked the other participates to embroider me a garden and to get it started I doodled an aster, inspired by Lesley Turpin-Delport in Just Flowers.

© Carol-Anne Conway

Happy Stitching

Floral Melody, Leaf 9

There are two part leaves on each side that I originally outlined in orange beads and filled with the pale topaz tricuts.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

Later, I wondered if the inner curve should have been outlined with the small silver beads. I decided to give it a try so out came the row of orange beads ...

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

... and in went a row of silver beads.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

But ... I don’t like it so the silver beads will be coming out and the orange ones are going back in.

Happy Stitching

Tricut Beads

Tricuts are similar to seed beads and come in many of the same finishes but whereas seed beads are (should be) rounded, tricuts have three facets on the surface. The cuts are irregular so no two beads are the same. Charlottes are similar but only have a single facet and triangular beads are, as their name suggests, a triangle shaped bead.

Matsukawa-san seems to have a particular liking for tricuts; I think she uses them in nearly every design. And who can blame her? Any bead will add glimmer and shine to a design but tricuts add something extra. When the light strikes the rounded surface of a seed bead there is a relatively small area of reflected light. When the light strikes the flatten surface of a tricut there is a much bigger area of reflected light and because the facets are irregular the tricuts glitter and sparkle.

Most of the beads used in this flower are seed beads but even the metallic gold beads around the central green bead cannot compete with the glitzy red tricuts of the petals.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

Happy Stitching

Floral Melody, Leaf 8

After filling in the large leaf on the left I decided to make change to the other large leaf. On the left-hand leaf I had radiated the tri-cut beads to follow the curve of the outline.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

On the leaf that I had beaded previously I had stitched them in parallel lines.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

I think the radiating lines flow better and enhance the shape of the leaf.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

Happy Stitching

Floral Melody, Flower 2

I’m pleased that Marjolein mentioned the beads “with no specific colour” because they are the subject of this post. In fact there are two different beads in the background of the leaf. I have used tri-cut beads along the bottom edge, as viewed in this picture, and seed beads elsewhere. Both beads are light topaz in colour but the seed beads are slightly paler than the tri-cuts.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

When I stitched the first large flower, I used the tri-cuts to fill the background.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

When I stitched the second large flower, I used the seed beads and filled the background more densely.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

I decided that I preferred it this way so reworked the first flower to match.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

Happy Stitching

Floral Melody, Leaf 7

The large leaf on the left was one of the first motifs that I beaded but I had not filled in the background. At first I was not certain which beads and which techniques I wanted to use. Completing the other large motifs helped me reach a decision on how to proceed. I forgot to take progressive photographs but the two pictures below show the leaf before and after I have beaded the background.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

After beading a couple of partial motifs I reached the first land mark on this piece, the completion of the large motifs.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

Happy Stitching

Progress Report – November

I’ve put in just over 80 hours on Floral Melody to date, which means that I did a little over 10 hours last month. That is well short of my target but when I look at the difference between the October picture and this one, I seem to have made a lot of progress. I thought that the smaller motifs would go in quickly but I am amazed at how much I done in such a small amount of time. Most of the small flowers are done, only a dozen or so remain, then I will start of the leaves and stems. Completion by Christmas seems a realistic target now and I’m still enjoying this piece immensely.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

I’ve also made some progress on the Chinese Flower. Again, I have not done as much as I would have hoped. I’ve nearly completed lesson three and am pleased with what I have done so far.

© Trish Burr/Carol-Anne Conway

I had a four day Japanese Embroidery class at the end of the month. I took Camellias with me to work on. With all that I have learnt from the Floral Glove, Chinese Flower and the lesson with Phillipa Turnbull I was feeling quite confident about working on this Phase again. That is until I got started, then all of my doubts and anxiety about LSS came rushing back. I really don’t understand why I get so stressed about it. I completed the two tone flower on the right-hand side. I don’t like it but I won’t be removing it because I honestly don’t think that I can do any better at this stage of my journey.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

So as not to leave the month on that pessimistic note, I had a great time at class. It was wonderful to spend some time with friends just stitching. Plus, starting tomorrow, I have a two day class in gold work with Hazel Everett to look forward to :-D.

Happy Stitching