Colour Challenge Chinese Whisper

My next finish was something that I had not even started but it was long overdue. The colour Chinese whispers travelling page was a swap/challenge on the Embroiderer’s Guild Forum. The idea was that we all started with the same basic design, which we could modify but the original design had to remain evident. The first person stitched the design in a single colour. The second person stitched the design using two colours, that used by the first person and one of their own choice. Each subsequent person stitched their own take on the design adding their choice of colour to those stitched by the previous person. I was the seventh person in the chain and the colours passed on to me were royal blue, orange, bright green, turquoise, red and violet. I selected a range of threads from my stash that offered the closest match to these colours and added gold as my choice.


For me, this was by far the hardest challenge I have taken part in so far. I really struggled to come up with a design. I did not want to simply use the original design as a frame around a separate design but I could not see any other way of using it. Although there was no specific deadline given, I knew that everyone else had completed their pages weeks ago and in the end I felt under pressure to complete mine. I turned to a favourite book to look for inspiration, Just Flowers by Lesley Turpin-Delport, and found it in the ribbon embroidery alphabet. In the book, each letter is matched with a flower whose name begins with that letter. I stuck to that principle but changed some of the flowers to ones that better suited the colours in my list.


I enjoyed the challenge and the embroidery, and I think that it is quite pretty but ultimately I was disappointed at my lack of imagination on this challenge.

Happy Stitching

Doodle Page - Flower Bed

For my own doodle page I had 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. Then I sent my page on its travels starting in Australia.

Sadly, after Dian added her embroidery and sent my page on the next leg of its journey, it went astray. I cannot be too upset; this is part and parcel for Round Robins and worldwide exchanges. My main regret is that I will never get to see Dian’s original embroidery in my garden. Jo who was next in the Round Robin, made a replacement page from fabric in her stash and Dian very kindly embroidered some flowers for my garden a second time. Not only that, but Dian also did a doodle of an aster similar to the one I had originally done.










I am very pleased to say that my page then completed the Round Robin without a hitch before coming home to me.


Thank you, Robins, for the beautiful garden that you stitched for me.

Happy Stitching

Doodle Page - Why?

This was the last page to come to me and, for me it was the most challenging topic. I find abstract subjects difficult to connect to. This page arrived while I still had some still to do. I resisted the urge to open the package and see the page so I would not distracted by it.

When I finally saw it and read the notes that accompanied it, I was quite moved. Everyone had clearly put a lot of thought into it. The creator of the page had asked us 'Why?' thinking particularly about the dreadful natural disasters that had recently affected Australia, New Zealand, Japan and other countries in that region. What I found most interested is that nearly everyone did not attempt to suggest 'Why' but instead offered comfort and support. Arlene’s troubled world was filled with love, hugs and cups of tea!


I added Fatima’s Hand to protect us all from the Evil Eye.


I had almost dreaded this page, thinking that I would not know what to contribute to it. In the end I felt inspired by the subject and the thoughts of those who had stitched before me.

Happy Stitching

Doodle Page - Music

I have always enjoyed music but it was never a great passion of mine. I looked at what others had stitched and read the notes they had sent with the page. It was obvious that the artist/songs they had chosen to embroider had had some influence on them. I didn’t think that any artist or song had affected me so deeply. I tried to think what of my earliest recollection of music. I remember that my Mum had a china ornament, a Crinoline Lady, with a wind up base that played Swan Lake. I would sometimes sneak into her bedroom to wind the base and listen to the tickling music. Today, I mostly listen to Classical Music. I wonder if this early experience influenced my taste in music more than I imagined.


My Swan is outlined in stem stitch using flat silk. Her tutu is a katayori made from white silk and couched in a meandering line around her skirt.


Happy Stitching

Doodle Page - Triangles

I’ll be honest, when I heard that the chosen subject for this page was triangles I thought "how boring". However, when I first saw the page, I thought that it was really vibrant and interesting. I decided to add something a little quieter to counter the stronger elements that were already on the page. I chose the silver thread to link with the silver sequin waste and hopefully maintain balance.



Happy Stitching

Doodle Page - Japan

Of all the Doodle Pages, I think that this one was my favourite. The subject matter appealed to me of course, but I liked the scene that was developing when the page came to me.

My first thought was to do something in Japanese embroidery but I kept looking at the empty sky and thinking that I wanted to add some clouds and the sun. In the end I decided to use some of the kinsai techniques that I learnt from Midori-san. I cut masks from sticky back plastic. First I used a brush to stencil the clouds using silver paste, fading out towards the bottom edge. I then stencilled the sun with dark gold paste building up a solid covering. I make the sun look like it was shimmering I couched a twisted gold thread around the edge.


I liked this page so much I was reluctant to send it onto the next stitcher!

Happy Stitching

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

... and a Couple More

The Travelling Books for the Oxford Branch of the Embroiderer’s Guild are now into their third season. This time around my pages are following a theme based on the inchies I made just before Christmas (the first TB in my group actually got some of the inchies). I am exploring altering fabrics and each one began life as a piece of white cotton that I dyed with Brusho.


My second piece very much followed the same process as the inchies, first bonding torn fragments of coloured silver foil to the base fabric. I covered this with a piece of lace curtain and then free machine embroidered all over the surface with a variety of threads. I then did more FME in certain areas to pick out some of the lace pattern.


I am not a pleased with this page as the inchies; it is too pink for my taste and not as textured as the first piece.


The third piece I treated differently. First I applied gold paint paste through a stencil. The stencil is a katagami which is a hand cut paper stencil used for dyeing kimono. I have a couple of 'retired' stencils that are no longer in good enough condition for use on kimono. I was hesitant to use them, not really knowing much about them or how to care for them properly. But I have decided that i would rather use them a few times that let them languish in a draw, never to be used again. The design on them is very intricate and gives a very delicate gold pattern on the fabric.


I did not want to totally obscure the pattern so I did not overlaid it with any other materials this time; instead I have over stitched with a variety of threads using some of the decorative stitches on my machine. To stabilize the fabric during stitching I tacked it onto a piece of creative plastic; that allowed me to stitch right to the edges. I don’t think that the design is very coherent but I think the method has some potential and is worth exploring further.


Happy Stitching

... or Two ...

This is another stop/start travelling page made for the swap on the Embroiderer’s Guild forum.


I began this one at a Flower Pounding workshop with Linda Rudkin.


The component parts were made at the workshop but it waited some time to be assembled into a finished design.


Although I had attached the individual flowers with beads, I felt that it was lacking embroidery so added the word Hydrangea in stem stitch.


I think that this is one of the prettiest Travelling Pages I have made thus far.


Happy Stitching

A Travelling Page ...

I started this travelling page several weeks ago but it was a very stop/start project.

I had space-dyed several pieces of cotton with Brusho and from those I selected a piece that I thought had an Autumnal feel to it. The design, by Sam Bourne, was published in Issue 8 of Stitch Magazine in January/February 2001. I have been exchanging Travelling Pages with friends on the Embroiderer’s Guild forum; this design must have stayed in my mind because when I came to do a page for a member who loves trees and oak trees in particular, I remembered it.


I found the instructions very easy to follow.


I enjoyed making the component parts ...



... and assembling them into the finished design.


Happy Stitching

Snowflake

While life in the UK seemed to revolve around snow at the start of this year, a forum friend in Australia was melting in the heat and asking us to send some snow her way. I stitched this snowflake Travelling Page for her.

I covered a piece of sky blue satin with a piece of very pale blue organza to create an cool background. The snowflake comprises a variety of crystal beads, mostly silver lined so that they look icey and to give maximum sparkle. I embroidered the word 'Snowflake' in #1 silver.


Happy Stitching

Happy Valetine's Day

I took part in a St Valentine's Day travelling page swap on the Embroiderer's Guild Forum.

The design of my page is quiet simple. Two elements, two techniques, two threads.


The word 'Valentine' is stitched in gold but I wanted it to appear light. I've spaced the satin stitches so that a little fabric shows through.


One of the first techniques that I learn was lattice holding. Although the lattice of thin threads is there to hold the foundation stitches in place, the quilted look is very attractive. I've wanted to experiment with adding some padding to enhance the effect, at the same time I wanted keep the shape of the heart crisp and precise. I cut a heart shape out of paper and bonded that to a piece of wadding that I then carefully trimmed to the same shape. I attached the paper/wadding heart to the background fabric with small close stitches both to secure it in place but also to reduce the loft of the wadding around the edges. I then stitched a vertical layer in flat silk. Vertical layer is the name given in Japanese embroidery to a satin stitch worked on the vertical axis of a motif. I worked the stitches with slightly less tension than I would normally so that they did not flatten the wadding. I did the same with the lattice stitches but when I added the tie stitches at each intersection of the lattice, I applied as much tension as possible. I wanted the stitches to sink fight into the wadding.


I am really pleased with the way this page turned out. The heart is clearly defined but it has a softness about it. I may use this technique again and even see if I can enhance the effect still more.

Happy Stitching.

Travelling Book - Networks to Enrich

I always enjoy the workshops offered by the Oxford branch of the Embroiderers’ Guild. For me they are a day when I can totally immerse myself in stitching without thinking I should just peg out the washing or prepare lunch; a day in the company of talented and enthusiastic needle women and an opportunity to learn something new. Whatever the main focus of the workshop, I always learn something new, a technique, a stitch, a product or simply a handy little tip. For this reason I try to do as many of the workshops as possible, even if I think it is a technique that have done before.

I was not at all certain what we would be doing at the April workshop entitled Networks to Enrich but it was the first course that I book when I saw the schedule for this year. Why? Because it was taught by Jan Beaney and I had heard so many good things about her classes. Following her Branch talk in March I was even more keen to spend a day in her company.

Jan was every bit as energetic, enthusiastic and encouraging as I had imagined. She did not stop delivering information and inspiration from before the class was scheduled to begin to long after it was due to finish and if we had not had to vacate the hall, I swear she would have gone on and on. The technique we learnt was simple enough - sandwiching a network of threads water-soluble products before hand stitching (or machine stitching if preferred) through all the layers to tie the grid together and then embellish with decorative stitches and beads or anything you liked before dissolving away the film.


The real lesson was in thinking about a source and translating that into a concept, then developing the design and really working it through. All things that I find quite intimidating but Jan’s is so enthusiastic, so encouraging that you can’t help but get caught up in it. The entire day, Jan went around the group, looking at were you were doing, talking through what else you might do or try, and demonstrating stitches. Jan really made me feel my little piece of work was wonderful and worth taking further. Listening to how she spoke to the rest of the class, I think everyone must have felt the same way about her own work. I have never felt so encouraged by a tutor as I did that day.

I used a variety of threads including knitting threads. I tied the intersections with French knots and sorbello stitch and enhanced them with an assortment of beads. I strengthen the border with a blanket stitch.


Happpy Stitching