I worked in the garden over the weekend and Art took some great pictures of me “in action.” I actually didn’t realize he was snapping away at first, and then he was having too much fun and being terribly distracting. But — it was really nice to get some good shots of the artwork. I’m finishing the final assembly tonight. It’s taking me 3x longer than it should to assemble it because I’m just being so careful. I really don’t feel like making a stupid mistake this close to being finished.

More pictures on Flickr, of course!

I also have to mention the frame I’m working on.  I usually work on such small pieces that I don’t need a hoop, but this was large and needed the extra structure.  Art watched me struggling to improvise a frame one night and I came home the next day and he had built me an embroidery frame, lined with velvet, made from the same ash as the Torah ark he had built for this congregation.  He’s just a darn good husband!

This has been quite the “days of awe” project for me, since I missed my Rosh Hashanah delivery and am now trying to be ready for a possible Yom Kippur debut — or Simchat Torah.

I’ll, of course, post more pictures and full details when the piece is completed!

Technorati Tags: judaism, torah mantle, embroidery, fiber art, judaica, tree of life

I’ve finally finished to long-standing works-in-progress!

Queen of Sheba
Size: 6″x6″
Stitches: Cretan Stitch, Bead Stitch, Couching
Materials: Black Dupioni Silk, Varigated Over-dyed Silk Floss, Peacock Feather, Glass Beads, Frieze/Bullion Gold/Silver Combination Thread, Peacock Feathers
Status: Available on Etsy


More on Sheba

Benjamin Bunny
Size: 6″x6″
Stitches: Satin, Long & Short, Stem, Herringbone
Materials: Cotton Toile Fabric, Cotton Floss, Angora Floss
Status: Private Collection

This fun little confection is an embellished Toile original. I may make other pieces from this Beatrix Potter Toile, but not probably not this one again. All the embroidery is done entirely by hand. You can see other examples of my embellished Toile work on Flickr.

The finished piece has been stretched over a canvas frame, which is about 1″ deep. It’s deep enough to stand on it’s own on a shelf, or hang on the wall.

And…yes…his tail is angora.

Technorati Tags: embroidery, benjamin bunny, queen of sheba, fiber art, textile art, etsy, peacock feathers

Size: 3″X1″ (approx)
Stitches: Running, Palestrina, Bead Stitch
Materials: Linen, Glass Seed Beads, Cotton and Silk Floss
Status: Private Collection

This mezuzah was created during the Kohenet training intensive as a gift for Mei Mei Miriam to commemorate her transformation ceremony. Mei Mei is very connected to water, so the image is intended to evoke a river winding through the land. The gold beads along the edge are for Oshun. Mei Mei is a priestess of Oshun from her time living in Yoruba country. The stitch-work, which is hard to see in the photo, is primarily palestrina stitch with beads in between for the river. There’s also running stitch and simple bead stitch. I left the fringe of the selvage edge to represent the fringes of the tallit.

Unfortunately, that’s the best picture I was able to get before giving it to her!

Technorati Tags: mezuzah, oshun, beads, water, miriam, embroidery, judaica

Size: 6.5″ W x 4.25″ H (closed)
Stitches: Running, Palestrina, Beaded Palestrina, Feather
Materials: “Janes Magic Forest” cotton fabric, silk dupioni, cotton embroidery floss, silk embroidery floss, glass beads
Status:  Private Collection

Yeah! It’s finally finished, and just in time too. Today is the birthday of the person who asked me to make this. So instead of paying me for it — she gets it as a gift. Now hopefully, I actually made it large enough for her deck.

The Fabric
The fabric is part of Jane Sassman’s fabulous “Janes Magic Forest” series, from Free Spirit Fabrics. I really must get more of this line of fabric before it all disappears. I bought a set of Fat Quarters on Ebay that included a variety of Free Spirit stuff, including a couple of great cuts of “Empress Woo.” I’ve become a bit obsessed with several Free Spirit lines lately. The inside is black dupioni silk. Originally, I thought the Janes Magic Forest fabric would be the liner, and I would embroider the silk. But the pattern was just too fabulous, so I decided to embellish with a little hand-embroidery and beading and line it with the silk. The swatch on the right is the fabric sans-embellishments.

The Embroidery
I made heavy use of the palestrina stitch in this piece. It was the first time I’d used this stitch, and I really like it. I added a bead between each knot, which adds (I think) to the sense of movement. Unlike the example on Primrose Design’s tutorial, I spaced the knots out — which left room for the beads. The book that I use as my primary stitch bible actually showed it more spaced out than Primrose Design does, but I think both are lovely.  Along with the beaded palestrina stitch, I used running stitch for a fill stitch.  This technique is definitely becoming a major part of my (slowly) emerging style.  I don’t sketch out pattern of the running stitch, but rather just start stitching and work free-hand.   There’s also a touch of feather stitch on the floating leaves to give them a little more texture.

So check out the rest of the pictures on Flickr, and tell me what you think!   Oh, and if you think of something fabulous you would like made from “Empress Woo,” let me know.  I need a little more practice on my finishing work for larger pieces– but I must have a half-dozen pieces in progress to practice on.

Technorati Tags: tarot case, embroidery, palestrina, running stitch, feather stitch, beading, embellished, janes magic forest

Size: 3.5″ W x 3.75″ H (handle not extended)
Stitches: Running, Detached Chain, French Knot, Cross and Half Cross
Materials: cotton embroidery floss, linen
Status: Sold!

I did this little bag AGES ago for Take a Stitch Tuesday, but just remembered I hadn’t posted it. Actually it was my last TAST piece — I’ve really been slacking on the embroidery front lately. I started with the cross stitch/half cross borders, which I think were the TAST stitch of the week, when I did this piece. The yellow and blue reminded me of Pennsylvania Dutch art and so I decided to do something really simple and evocative of that style. I did the centerpiece free hand and I’m shocked that I managed to make it that balanced. The handled is a hand braided cord of the red, yellow, and blue from the main design. It’s slightly larger than the other bags I’ve done, but still very petite in size.

Since my focus was on simplicity and balance as I made the bag, I decided to turn it into a mini-ritual kit for just that purpose.

Technorati Tags: cross stitch, half cross, Pennsylvania dutch, ritual kit, simplicity, simplify, embroidery, fiber art