Sake Boxes - Leaves

The same method is used to stitch the chrysanthemum leaves on both Hanayama and Venerable Friends. First the leaf area is filled with a horizontal layer of flat silk then lines of gold thread are couched on to represent the veins. This is a relatively simple but highly effective way to do leaves.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

Another common technique used to do leaves is separated layer. This is how the maple leaves on Hanayama are stitched. If chrysanthemums were the motif I found most difficult on Hanayama, then the maple leaves were the second most difficult. Here the challenge is not to keep all of the stitches parallel but rather to gradually adjust the angle of each stitch to follow the shape of the leaf. This is how the leaves on Sake Boxes are stitched.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

The lobes of each leaf are divided by a vein. The stitches progress up one side of the lob, around the top, and back down the other side much like the hands of a clock rotate around the clock face. The stitches extend from the vein to the outline of leaf with a one point open space between the stitches either side of the vein.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

I find it difficult to judge the adjustment in the angle at the top of the leaf so that the rotation is smooth and the stitches do not become too short.

However, the area I find most perplexing on these heavily lobbed leaves is where one lob meets another. Getting the stitches to radiate around the arc without bunching them up at the outer edge is a real challenge.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

There are plenty of leaves on this design, so as with everything else, I have plenty of opportunity to practice!

Happy Stitching

Sake Boxes - Round Petal Chrysanthemums

In addition to the pointed petal chrysanthemums there are about 17 round petal chrysanthemums, depending on how many of the partial flowers you count. These are very similar to the round petal mums on Hanayama but the centres will be treated very differently.

Each of these flowers are arranged in the same way with one uppermost petal that slightly overlaps its neighbours which in turn overlap the next petal. There is one petal, opposite the uppermost petal, that is overlapped by both of its neighbours. As with the pointed petal blooms, the petals are padded with the fore ground petals having the most padding and the background petals having none.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

As is usual in Japanese embroidery the uppermost petal is worked first. It must be padded and stitched before either of its neighbours can be worked.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

I then usually work clockwise around the petals, padding and stitching each in turn until I come to the bottom petal which I leave until later. I then return to the petal to the left of the top petal and work anti-clockwise around the remaining petals, again padding and stitching each in turn finishing with the bottom petal.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

I stitched the first of these mums back in September when we enjoyed an Indian summer in the south of England. I loved the warm sunny days, except for my stitching time in the morning. I have heard from others in warmer climates than the UK that silk can be difficult to handle in humid conditions but I had never experienced it before. I really struggled stitching these first few round petal mums and I’m blaming the weather!

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

Of course the problem may have been that these petals are smaller than the pointed petals but they are still done in diagonal foundation stitch. Same stitch but small and therefore, I find, harder. I’m not really satisfied with the first few blooms I stitched but I have decided to leave them until I have stitched all the other flowers. If I still don’t like them then, I will restitch them.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

The centres of the round petal mums are done in gold so I will be leaving that until later, like all of the gold work.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

The Fuzzy Effect website has started a new feature called Snippets. Their first snippet is on Chrysanthemums. Jane has put together a lovely selection of pictures show some of the many different ways chrysanthemums are depicted and some of the many different techniques for stitching them in Japanese Embroidery.

Happy Stitching

Sake Boxes - Pointed Petal Chrysanthemums

I found everything difficult at phase I but by far the biggest challenge for me was stitching the chrysanthemums in the summer mountain.

Looking at them now, I suppose they are not bad for a first attempt at diagonal foundation but there is a lot wrong with them. The stitches are uneven; sometimes too close together, sometimes too spaced out. Some of the stitches are not parallel so the angle of the stitches change. But the worst thing, I think, are the one point open spaces; sometimes the space is none existent and other spaces are far too wide.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

I next stitched a chrysanthemum on Venerable Friends at phase III. I am pleased to see some improvement in every aspect; the stitches are more evenly spaced, the edges of the petals are neater, and the one point open spaces are much better. The central petals on this chrysanthemum are padded.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

I haven’t stitched a chrysanthemum since phase III and I still find short diagonal foundation stitches difficult. The pointed petal chrysanthemums on Sake Boxes are different from both those I have stitched previously. They are most like those on Hanayama but on Sake Boxes the petals are layered more realistically. As on Venerable Friends, some of the petals are padded.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

Because the top petals are not adjacent to each other I could pad them all before I stitched them. They have a single layer of padding using four strands of cotton. The padding stitches are laid in the opposite direction to eventually top layer of silk.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

The second layer of petals has less padding and can only be padded, then stitched once the petals in front of them have been stitched.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

The third layer of petals have a layer of self-padding.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

The remaining petals have no padding.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

Well, I do think my stitching on this chrysanthemum is better than on those on Hanayama. I would be very disappointed if I saw no improvement in nine years of learning Japanese embroidery. However, I think there is still room for a lot of improvement. I have eleven more pointed petal chrysanthemums, plus some buds, to practise on!

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

Happy Stitching

Sake Boxes - foundations

Before you can do lots of superimposed work you first have to stitch lots of foundations. There are different versions of Konbuin-no-fukusa- Sake Box, the full design has four vessels. The smaller Sake Box with Ladle design that I am stitching (see picture 13 in this gallery) has only two vessels, a sake box and a long handled ladle. The sake box has a black twisted silk foundation. It looks very stark at this stage but will look entirely different when all of the superimposed work is added.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

Although a solid block of colour, the beautiful blue twisted silk foundation on the outside of the ladle does not look quite as stark as the sake box. This too will look completely different when the decoration is added.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

The lacquered inside of the ladle is also visible. There is no superimposed work on this part of the ladle but the handles, the spout and the rivets will be completed in gold work so it will not be one large orange area when it is finished.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

I have never stitched such large foundations before. I was advised to make long twisted threads to minimise the amount of wasted thread. I spent an entire morning twisting threads before I started stitching. All three areas are weft valley foundation. I find this the easiest of the foundations. The weft threads in the fabric serve as a guide, helping to keep the stitches evenly spaced and parallel. I also find it much easier to keep long stitches parallel as small fluctuations in spacing are less noticeable over greater lengths.

Once completed, temporary holding is stitched over all three foundations. I used a 1->2 twist of the same colour silk on the blue and the black foundations. The superimposed work will stitch over the temporary holding so I think it will end up being permanent holding. Any parts of the lacquer interior not covered in gold work will require short stitch holding so here I did the temporary holding in white couching thread.

I will not do the super imposed work until all of the surrounding silk work has been completed even thought I am itching to get to that part.

Happy Stitching

Phase IX - Sake Boxes

Japanese Embroidery is taught in Phases. In phases I-III students are taught the basic stitches and techniques, how to handle flat silk, and how to twist threads. Phases IV – VIII each focus on a specific technique: gold work, cords, short stitch holding, long and short stitch and fuzzy effect. I’ve never heard it said that Phase IX teaches a particular technique but it seems to me that a key feature of Phase IX is superimposed work. Although students do some superimposed work at Phase III it is far more prominent in the Phase IX designs.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

At each phase the student has some choice of designs. Over the years some designs have been phased out (no pun intended) and new ones introduced. Taking into account only those designs currently offered on the JEC website there are, by my calculation, 4608 different combinations of Phase I through Phase IX.

For me the choices at each phase were fairly simple until it came to Phase IX. Of the four designs available (only three are shown on the website) I could easily have chosen any one of three. In the end it was an unusual stroke of luck that made the decision for me.

In 2011 the JEC held a silent auction of items that had been donated to them, including some designs that students had purchased but, for some reason, had never stitched. Among the items on offer was Konbuin-no-Fukusa – Sake Box with Ladle (see picture 13) on vintage silver nishijin fabric. My original tutor and sensei, Margaret Lewis, has waxed lyrical about the superior quality of the vintage metallic fabrics and lamented that they are no longer available. The description of the lot stated that the fabric was 15 inches long. If that was correct, this would not be long enough to accommodate the whole design but the image (difficult to see clearly because the design is printed onto the fabric in pale blue dots) appeared to have the whole design. I decided to bid on the item regardless. If I won, and it turned out to be the whole design I would stitch it as my Phase IX piece, otherwise I would be content that I had a design on antique metallic fabric in my stash and I would choose another design for Phase IX. I did win and the fabric turned out to be 22 inches long containing the whole Sake Box with Ladle design.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

Ahead of the class in March this year, I visited my tutor for a lesson on double lacing and to choose my silks. I stayed with the traditional red, white and gold pallet for the chrysanthemums but we choose slightly different shades that work better with the silver background.

Back home I framed up and started the lengthy process of outlining the sake box, the long handled ladle and the noshi papers with Japanese running stitch. I had hoped to stitch the foundations before class but did not get that far.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

One thing that all of the Phase IX designs have in common is that they are big designs, far bigger than most of the earlier phase pieces, and they are all reputed to be more challenging that the earlier phase pieces, I suppose that is to be expected. Sake Boxes contains many chrysanthemums. All of the petals, hundreds of them, are stitched in diagonal layer, the stitch I find most difficult to execute well especially on small scale. I hope to have mastered it by the time I complete Phase IX.

Happy Stitching

Phase VIII – Queen of Flowers

As far as I know, the technique taught at Phase VIII is unique to Japanese embroidery. Fuzzy effect is considered to be the most refined and elegant of all the techniques. It is stitched onto crepe fabric with a pronounced weft valley and the stitches, couched threads, are placed in these valleys. The effect is that of a woven design or tapestry. The two couching techniques used in fuzzy effect are akin to well-known couching stitches: basic couching, also known as convent stitch and kloster stitch, where a thread is held onto the surface of the fabric with small straight stitches perpendicular to the held thread; and Romanian couching where a thread is held onto the surface of the fabric with diagonal couching stitches. But never before have I come across these two couching techniques used in combination, or even individually, to produce the subtle shading found in fuzzy effect.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

The Japanese Embroidery Center offer a choice of three designs for Phase VII and I like all of them. Final Dress Up, usually stitched on black, can look very dramatic and affords the student the opportunity to select their own autumn leaf colours. This piece always attracts a lot of attention at shows.

Crane with Reeds is the largest of the three designs and probably the most challenging.

I have always liked the design of Queen of Flowers but the original colour scheme did not appeal to me. When I first saw a version stitched by Jenny Orchard with bright red blossoms stitched on a black back ground, I thought it was absolutely stunning and I decided then that this was the piece I wanted to stitch at Phase VIII.

I began my Queen of Flowers at class in March 2013. You are asked not to frame up or do any prep before class because the process is slightly different than for other techniques. Firstly, you stitch a line of running stitches across the fabric, following a weft valley, before framing up. It is essential to have the weft perfectly straight for this technique and that line of running stitch helps to ensure that. Secondly, when you do frame up, the weft direction is not stretched at taught as is normal for Japanese embroidery, I’m not actually certain why that is.

A year earlier, when beginning Phase VII, I had been nearly paralysed with fear at the thought of doing long and short stitch. I had no such problems starting this phase. I have always been intrigued by fuzzy effect and from the first stitch I was enjoying it. Sadly, I cannot locate any of my early step-by-step photographs. This is quite a tragedy for me because I frequently refer to my photographs and rely on them as a record of what I have done far more than I do notes. This is the first picture I have, showing my progress at the end of that class.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

At an outing to Garstang in October 2013 where I completed two more leaves and a few more leaves when I returned home, but since then Queen of Flowers has been hibernating.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

I really like this piece and the technique and cannot wait to get back to it but it is going to have to wait while I concentrate on something I am finding much more challenging.

Happy Stitching.

Wot no Japanese Embroidery

You could be forgiven for thinking that I have not done any Japanese Embroidery in the last 12 months and you would not be far from wrong!

A quick review of the year gives some indication as to why JE has taken a back seat. Last winter I was focused on completing my Phase V Japanese beading and up until March this year nearly all of my stitching time was dedicated to that. I finished that in March, just before I went to my five day JE class in Bournemouth where I made a good start on my next phase piece. I should have used that momentum to get back into a stitching regime but I got distracted by other things. The problem is I’m jist a girl who cain’t say no … to embroidery projects that is. There have been so many temptations this year that I have not been able to resist. I’ve written about some of them in the last few posts but there have been several more that I have not had time to stitch. They have been added to the stash for a later date.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

But there is another thing that has been preventing me from getting on with my Japanese embroidery … Fear of Failure!

When I began learning JE in 2005, I wasn’t thinking about doing all ten phases, I just wanted to learn this exquisite form of embroidery. As one class became two, then three, and my love of JE grew, so did my desire to complete all nine phases so that one day, just maybe, I might be able to go to Phase X class in Atlanta. But I hardly dared hope it would actually happen.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

Nearly eight years ago, when I started to write about Japanese embroidery on my blog, I wondered if anyone else was blogging about JE. After searching the internet I found only one other person, Susan Elliot of Plays With Needles. When I first found her blog, Susan’s latest post was about a piece affectionately known to JEC students as ‘Gracie’. I returned to Susan’s blog frequently, hoping for an update but I had a long wait. What I didn’t know then was that life had thrown Susan a curve ball and it would be some 18 months before she would post again.

In the years since, Susan’s blog has become one of my favourite places on the internet and we have become good friends. We share several ambitions and hope that life will afford us the opportunity to undertake some of them together. In fact, we have made a pact to realise the first of those ambitions, we are both working towards completing Phases I – IX so that we can attend Phase X class together in Atlanta.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

Initially, we spoke about going to Atlanta in 2014 but we realised that was not a realistic goal for either of us so we are aiming for 2015. To be honest, I am not sure that I can achieve all that I need to in order to meet this deadline and that is what I am afraid of failing at. The stupid thing is that instead of knuckling down while this was a realistic goal, I have let time whittle away and now I have a huge mountain to climb.

Since Sue’s illness, trying to do any Japanese embroidery just filled me with sadness but three weeks ago I attended class in Garstang. There, surround by friends and people who loved Sue, I refound my JE mojo. The first two days were very painful but I found the tears and laughter on the Saturday very cathartic. Since returning from Garstang, I have renewed my commitment to stitch for at least 15 minutes every day and have been making slow but steady progress with Phase IX. I still have a huge mountain to climb … but I have started climbing!

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

If you have ever wanted to learn Japanese embroidery, my tutor in Garstang, Denise Foster, is now teaching JE at Missenden Abbey in Buckinghamshire. She has two 2-day courses scheduled for the weekends of January 24-25 2015 and May 2-3 2015 - ideal for beginners as well as experienced Japanese embroidery students. What could be better than a weekend away from the household chores, having someone else cook your meals and make your bed while you spend your days stitching?

Happy Stitching

20/21 Sampler

Following the great success of The Big Stitch in 2012, the Ashmolean Museum and the Embroiderer’s Guild decided to host a second day in conjunction with the Eye of the Needle exhibition. As part of that event, SEW Region held a members’ competition to create a "Modern Sampler".

© Carol-Anne Conway

There were two sections to the competition, one for individuals, and one for group entries. I took part in a group entry from the Oxford Branch. Under the rules we could enter either individual 'tiles' combined to form a finished piece maximum size A3, or a book (either concertina style or spine bound) of 5 individual 'pages' including the covers. Each page maximum size A5 and we could use both sides of each page if we wished.

© Carol-Anne Conway

We decided on the concertina book option and 10 people signed up to each complete a page. The name of the competition was 20/21 sampler so we decided to do 5 pages based on the number 20 and five based on the number 21.

© Carol-Anne Conway

Rule #1 of the competition stated that "The 20/21 in the title refers to 20th and 21st century so any images, motifs, alphabets, individual letters or numbers used must be from that time period". We chose traditional typefaces or those that reflected early 20th century for the 20 pages and these were embroidered using traditional hand embroidery techniques that were relevant to that period. We used contemporary typefaces and embroidery/textile art techniques for the 21 pages. Each participant decided how to embroider their page but we conferred to ensure that no two pages used the same technique.

© Carol-Anne Conway

I decided to do my '20' page in canvas work. I took my inspiration from a couple of pieces shown the "Canvaswork – RSN Essential Stitch Guild" and all of the stitches I used came from that book. Rule #2 stated that "Any combination of techniques or stitches can be used but the piece must show a variety of at least 6. You can use more if you wish". We had already covered the "at least 6" criterion but having 10 different techniques but I wanted my page to include at least 6 different stitches. All the stitches I used were chosen to work on the diagonal line.

© Carol-Anne Conway

Rule #3 said "Any colour(s) can be used." I decided to work in monotone so the focus would be on texture rather than colour.

© Carol-Anne Conway

As usual, I seriously under estimated that amount of time it would take and came perilously close to missing the deadline for submission. As I had suggested that Oxford Branch submit a group entry and coordinated the project, I would have been very shame face to have let the others down so had to work furiously every spare minute to make sure I completed on time!

© Carol-Anne Conway

The other participants submitted beautiful pages and I think we covered a good range of traditional and contemporary embroidery/textile art. Their pages can be seen on the Oxford Embroiderer's Guild blog. I'm delighted to say that our entry won the group category and I am absolutely certain that had nothing to do with the fact that it was the only entry!

© Carol-Anne Conway

Happy Stitching

English Work: Embroidery Short Course – Part 2

The second day of the three part course was in September. This lesson would teach us how to stitch faces. I was looking forward to this lesson!

We had a few technical problems linking Tanya’s computer to the projector. The Ashmolian’s technical folk were unable to resolve the problems so we huddled around Tanya’s computer to look at the lovely images of faces she has collected over time. Tanya said that basically all Opus Anglicanum faces are ugly but there are nice ugly faces and there are down-right ugly, ugly faces. I think I could see where she is coming from. I think the problem is 1. they are mostly very small faces and 2. intended to be viewed from a distance so subtle details are a waste of time and silk. One thing Tanya did point out was that, by far the majority of faces, are depicted at three quarter profile, rarely straight on or in full profile.

We also looked at how hair is worked and then spent some time selecting silk shades for skin, eyes and hair.

© Tanya Bentham/Carol-Anne Conway

The dress is worked in small (approximately 4mm), closely placed rows of split stitch using three strands of very fine silk (if you read the instructions properly!). The face and hands are worked in the same technique but using even smaller (approximately 2 mm) split stitch and two strands of fine silk. It is a very slow progress and I didn’t get very much done during the class. Nor have I done much in the intervening time but I want to get some more done before the next class in November when we will be learning something very exciting!

Happy Stitching.

English Work: Embroidery Short Course - Part 1

The Ashmolean Museum have been running a series of lectures and short courses in conjunction with The Eye of the Needle exhibition. I have attended them all with the exception of a black work workshop that was added as an afterthought. I have already written about the Empresse of Flowers workshop run by Lynn Hulse and Nicola Jervis. I also attended a short course on Opus Anglicanum run by Tanya Bentham. I have been following Tanya’s blog for several years and enjoy her quirky sense of humour as much as I admire her embroidery.

This was a 3 day course spread over several weeks with the first day being in August. In fact, I was not able to attend the first day of the course because I was doing something far more important than embroidery – throwing a party to mark my Daddy’s 80th Birthday. I’d been asking him for months how he would like to celebrate the occasion and, in the end, I was slightly worried that I had somewhat bullied him into having a party. In the weeks leading up to the party the weather had been cold and damp and my dad had not been enjoying the best of health (understatement, he hasn’t enjoyed the best of health for many years, just before the party he was feeling much worse than usual). But Sunday, 17 August dawned bright and sunny, and pleasantly warm – perfect for a garden party. Better still, Dad had awoken feeling bright and sunny and in the mood for a party. From my point of view the day could not have gone any better, weather was great, food was delicious (thank you Marks & Spencer’s party food) and the guests all enjoyed themselves but, most importantly of all, Dad had a lovely day and didn’t stop smiling.

Meanwhile, back at the Ashmolean the rest of the students were choosing their designs, stretching their fabric onto their frames, transferring their designs to their fabric and selecting their threads. I would imagine that took most of the morning so they then had a lovely afternoon of stitching to look forward to. Because I was not able to be there, Tanya chose my design, stretched my fabric onto my frame, transferred my design to my fabric and selected my threads, and she did a jolly fine job on every count. Tanya left these together with some very details instructions in the safe keeping of someone at the Ashmolean until I could collect them later in the week.

© Tanya Bentham/Carol-Anne Conway

Tanya had instructed me to work only on the dress as we would be learning how to do faces in the second class. With Sue’s unexpected illness and death, I didn’t much feeling like stitching but I did make an effort to complete some before the class in September so that Tanya could assess how I was doing. Tanya had warned us that Opus Anglicanum is a slow process but mine was going extremely slowly. That may be because I had not read one part of Tanya’s excellent instructions properly. The instructions said that the dress should be filled with very close, small split stitches using three (very fine) strands of silk. I missed the ‘three’ in the instructions and was filling the dress with very close, small split stitches using one (very fine) strand of silk. No wonder it was taking me so long!

© Tanya Bentham/Carol-Anne Conway

Happy Stitching

Sleeve Bag

I had such a good time demonstrating at the original Big Stitch Day in 2012 that I didn’t hesitate to sign up for this year’s Big Stitch at the Ashmolean Museum.

I’m told that in terms of numbers through the door it was even more successful this time around and I certainly enjoyed it every bit as much as last time. I gave two demonstrations this year, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, which gave me time to attend one of the study groups and grab a quick bite to eat. Because The Eye of the Needle exhibition was still running, I thought the Feller Swete Bag would be a good piece to take to demonstrate. When I said that it was a reproduction of a piece in the exhibition most people were interested to know more about it and I had several long conversations about the difference between basket weave needlepoint, tent stitch and half cross stitch.

Branch members who were demonstrating, or helping out in some other way, were asked to make a sleeve bag so that we could be identified as 'helpers'. I looked in charity shops for an old denim jacket from which to make my sleeve bag but every one I found I felt was in too good a condition to cut up. In the end I used the second sleeve from a dress shirt that someone had already cut up to make their bag. They had used all of the pin tucks and the button band to jazz up their bag so all remained was a plain white, double cuff sleeve.

Back in 2011 I had made a crochet rope handle for my Poppy Pouch. I put the handle away somewhere safe until I was ready to make up the bag … and promptly forgot where that safe place was. Eventually I made a second handle for the Poppy Pouch so I could finish the bag and the original remained in its ‘safe place’ until I stumbled upon it a few weeks ago. I decided to use that original crochet rope as the handle for my sleeve bag and to use the left over beads, stored in the same ‘safe place’, to embellish it.

© Carol-Anne Conway

First, I embroidered a few simple flowers on the placket.

© Carol-Anne Conway

I then beaded a double zig-zag border onto the tuck on the cuff and made a fringe to hang down from the folded back cuff.

© Carol-Anne Conway

It only took a few evenings to make and embellish the bag but stitching through the cuff with a beading needle was though and I repeated pierced the middle finger on my right hand, making it rather sore!

© Carol-Anne Conway

There was a wonderful variety of sleeve bags on display at the Big Stitch and I think some of the visitors had started a new craze of 'sleeve bag spotting' because I was asked a few times "may I see your bag, please". As before, I really enjoyed the Big Stitch day and look forward to the next one.

Happy Stitching.

Silky Glow Sampler

It seems to have been the year of the sampler!

Following the great success of The Big Stitch in 2012, the Ashmolean Museum and the Embroiderer’s Guild decided to host a second day in conjunction with the Eye of the Needle exhibition. As part of that event, SEW Region held a members’ competition to create a “Modern Sampler”. More about that later.

© Judy Dixon/Carol-Anne Conway

By pure coincidence, the Royal School of Needlework staged an in-house exhibition of Samplers and a 21st century sampler competition. The brief was to submit a design, not the stitched sampler, for judging. The two winners would then be invited to work with the RSN to stitch the sampler. Unfortunately, I did not manage to see the exhibition and nor did my entry win but I quite like my design and, if I get around to stitching it, I will share that later.

And equally by coincidence, and before either of these competitions were announced, Jo, one of our committee members, proposed that we (members of Oxford Branch) do a stitch-along of a sampler published in edition 59 (June/July 2009) of Stitch magazine.

© Judy Dixon/Carol-Anne Conway

A small group of us meet up approximately once a month to stitch together and then aimed to complete that section as ‘home work’ before the next meeting. One or two of the group chose their own colour scheme and it was interesting to see how different colour ways affected the overall look of the completed samplers. Ever the safe player when it comes to colour, I chose to use the original colour scheme.

© Judy Dixon/Carol-Anne Conway

The sampler, designed by Judy Dixon, is a combination of traditional hardanger stitches, some familiar stitches such as eyelet or cushion stitch, and some less well known variations on stitches. Part of what appealed to me about this project was the cut work – something I have not tried before. I did one small piece of hardanger many years ago but never completed it. Hardanger is one of those techniques that I find relatively simple to do and, therefore, quite relaxing. There were quite a few large cloister blocks in the border, which was the most time consuming part of the project. The sampled stitches were fun and, as they were mostly small sections, each one completed relatively quickly.

© Judy Dixon/Carol-Anne Conway

I love the soft colours combined with the smoky dove greys and the different textures of the threads were fun to try out but I thought that one or two thread choices where not the best for the stitches (unless I was using the wrong number of strands).

© Judy Dixon/Carol-Anne Conway

Overall, I really enjoyed stitching this piece and working it as a stitch along. I had been tempted to do mine in shades of grey on black canvas and wish that I had been brave enough to give that a go.

© Judy Dixon/Carol-Anne Conway

Happy Stitching