The Needles Excellency

Busy, Busy, Busy

2008-05-19T16:53:00.002+10:00

I haven't been posting but I have been busy. Been working on:

1930's quilt - made the bias for the vines. Have tacked and sewed the first section on. Working up faster than I thought. I may actually get this to quilting stage within the next couple of weeks depending on how long it takes me to sew the 120 leaves on! I've also been working on the half square triangle borders.
Banners - done a few more hours on three of the banners. FYI, the banners are the full width of fabric (112cm) wide and about 1.5-1.8m high.
Demo - we had a demo at the Shakespeare Festival at Gloucester. Nice weather, a bit warm but we were as popular as ever. The fighters put on a good show and worked hard as there were only 4 of them for three sessions.
Family History - working on websites for various branches of the family. Hooked up with a couple of hard core researchers, managed to share some good info.

More Hangings Work

2008-05-07T09:26:00.002+10:00

I did another hanging last night. Got all the leaves done. This one doesn't have flowers, just big heart shaped leaves. So it worked up very quickly.

For those who've asked, I am using 100% cotton broadcloth and fabric paint (the sort that can also be used for silk screen printing). Although this raises the cost of materials, I think it's worth it as they will last longer and be washable once the paint has been heat set. Better to assume they will need washing at some stage.

Banner - Flowers and Tree Completed

2008-05-04T12:48:00.000+10:00

Banner - Flowers and Tree Completed, originally uploaded by Jane Stockton.

Boy, it's amazing the difference the yellow and green make. This takes up about half the banner. The green only took about an hour to do. The figures should be pretty quick as they are large blocks of colour which should work up pretty quickly. I just wish the weather was a bit warmer, sitting out in the other room my back got really sore from working in the cold.

Banner - Flowers

2008-05-03T12:46:00.000+10:00

Banner - Flowers, originally uploaded by Jane Stockton.

After getting the housework out of the way, I was able to start working on the banners. This is about 2 hrs work. It took along time because I am trying to keep the edges crisp so we don't have to outline them.

New Toy

2008-05-02T13:07:00.000+10:00

New Phone, originally uploaded by Jane Stockton.

I haven't had a new phone in about 7 years, so I went out at lunch time and got one. It's a bit hard to tell from the photo but its PINK! I've been researching phones for a while and I set myself a list of options they had to have and a price range. It took a while, but I found one that fit.

Prizes!

2008-04-30T14:24:00.001+10:00

Prizes!, originally uploaded by Jane Stockton.

How cool is this? I just checked my post box at lunch and I won a prize from the Sci Fi channel! An A Team/TV1 tote bag and a Heroes t-shirt. The back of the shirt has the Heroes and Sci Fi channel logo.

Pink Knitted Pillow @ 12 Hrs

2008-04-28T14:48:00.000+10:00

Pink Knitted Pillow @ 12 Hrs, originally uploaded by Jane Stockton.

I stuffed up at one point and had to undo several rows of stitches. I was a bit worried about this as I've never undone before. But it worked out OK. I managed to get all the stitches back on and work out what the problem was and fix it.

One of Those Weeks

2008-04-27T15:11:00.000+10:00

So I've got the car on the way to being sorted out. It's going into the panelbeaters tomorrow for repair. This morning I woke up to a shhhsshing sound. I thought to myself, "That can't be good." I got to the bath room to find the hot water service gushing water out through the power cable. Quick dash outside to turn off the electricity (thank the gods we got way more circuits than we needed when we had the house rewired - hot water service is on its own circuit so I can turn off the power without loosing the rest of the house) and water at the main. Then spent the next hour getting someone to come and fix it. Do you know how hard it is to get a plumber on a Sunday?

Anyway, finally tracked one down. He was very nice and a cat person. He really wanted to give Cleo a pat!! Just lucky I had the money out ready for the car or I would've been in trouble.

Pink Knitted Pillow @ 8 Hrs

2008-04-27T14:35:00.000+10:00

Pink Knitted Pillow @ 8 Hrs, originally uploaded by Jane Stockton.

The main reason I want to get better at knitting is so I can make myself a nice Aran jumper. I had one that my Nan made me when I was younger but it got washed incorrectly and ended up just being big enough for a small teddy bear.

So I found this pattern in a knitting magazine that I thought would make a nice practice piece. I've never followed a pattern before, so I thought I'd start with something that is more complicated than a scraf but not as difficult as a full jumper.

It's a cushion cover. I had to restart the damn thing 4 times until I realised that the pattern was wrong by two stitches on the caston and that's why it was going wonky!!

I'm using 100% wool that they have really cheap at my supermarket. Good enough for practicing with. This is about 8 hrs (I wasn't really keeping too much track of the time).

Pattern Traced Onto Banner

2008-04-25T14:29:00.001+10:00

Tracing Pattern Onto Banner, originally uploaded by Jane Stockton.

On ANZAC Day, Leoba came over and we worked some more on the banner project. We managed to get 8 banners traced out ready for painting.

Tracing Pattern Onto Banner, originally uploaded by Jane Stockton.

Pattern Traced Onto Banner, originally uploaded by Jane Stockton.

This is what the banners look like once we've traced the pattern onto them. Next we do painting.

Clare and Leoba came over last night to start the banner project with me. We are making a set of hanging to use at events to help add some colour. The first set will be based on the Manesse Codex, or Große Heidelberger Liederhandschrift, a 14th Century manuscript.

Art of Knitting - Block 7

2008-04-24T14:31:00.000+10:00

Art of Knitting - Block 7, originally uploaded by Jane Stockton.

I quite like this pattern, again pretty fast to work up. I haven't blocked or pressed this one yet.

Art of Knitting - Block 6

2008-04-23T14:30:00.000+10:00

Art of Knitting - Block 6, originally uploaded by Jane Stockton.

This one was a simple pattern, worked up fast. I am not going to do the simple filler blocks, only the ones that do a pattern I've not done before.

Cleopatra Working Hard At Sleeping

2008-04-22T10:13:00.003+10:00

Cleopatra Working Hard At Sleeping, originally uploaded by Jane Stockton.

All that attacking and helping is hard work. Here she is concentrating very hard on sleeping - the looking cute just comes naturally!

Cleopatra Attacking The Embroidery

2008-04-19T10:13:00.000+10:00

Cleopatra Attacking The Embroidery, originally uploaded by Jane Stockton.

Cleo is blurry as she is attacking the edge of the fabric.

I worked on some heraldic banners to use at events. I also made some homemade tomato sauce. I'd run out of the last batch. It tastes pretty good.

Cleopatra "Helping" with the Embroidery

2008-04-17T10:11:00.000+10:00

Cleopatra "Helping" with the Embroidery, originally uploaded by Jane Stockton.

I was putting the embroidery on the bed to get a photo. Cleopatra was helping.

I haven't got any embroidery going at the moment so I did a few half square triangles for my 1930's quilt. I also spent all of the today getting my car checked for a road worthy. And just for fun I found out that someone had racked up $1500 on my credit cards which means I now don't have them money to pay to register my car, which also needs to have rust fixed before I can get a pink slip. Fun!

Comparison of Original and My Version

2008-04-15T11:14:00.001+10:00

Comparison of Original and My Version, originally uploaded by Jane Stockton.

Here is a side by side comparison of the original slip and my version. I think mine turned out OK. Slight differences in the colours, but that is due to both age and my colour choices. My work isn't as fine on some of the details.

Centre Roundal Complete

2008-04-14T10:59:00.000+10:00

Centre Roundal Complete, originally uploaded by Jane Stockton.

Well, all the embroidery is done. The acorns are a bit angular but that can't be helped sometimes. I introduced two new shades of green with the acorns, it needed something to break the rest of the green up. I think it worked. Now for the not so fun bit, sewing it to the ground fabric and starting the couching work.

Centre Roundal - Ribbons Complete

2008-04-13T10:57:00.000+10:00

Centre Roundal - Ribbons Complete, originally uploaded by Jane Stockton.

All the coloured ribbons have been completed. I'm not a hundred percent sure on the pink, but I think once other pink elements are included on the hanging it will work.

Centre Roundal - Leaves Complete

2008-04-12T10:56:00.000+10:00

Centre Roundal - Leaves Complete, originally uploaded by Jane Stockton.

All the leaves are finished. Only the ribbons and acorny bits left to go. The roundal is working up much easier than I thought it would, I haven't had to force myself to work on it at all.

Centre Roundal - One Section Green Left

2008-04-11T10:55:00.000+10:00

Centre Roundal - One Section Green Left, originally uploaded by Jane Stockton.

Only one section of the leaves left to go. I think they are looking pretty good. Shading is not one of my better known skills.

Centre Roundal - More Green

2008-04-10T16:05:00.001+10:00

Centre Roundal - More Green, originally uploaded by Jane Stockton.

Two more sections of leaves finished. One quarter of the leaves left to go as well as two ribbons. I still have to work out the colours for the little green buds.

Thanks For Comments - Middle Eastern Embroidery

2008-04-09T16:06:00.000+10:00

I'd like to thank everyone who commented on the unidentified roundal posted below. I think we came up with some pretty solid ideas of where and when (well, as much as we could do just working with pictures). I've forwarded to the comments to the owner.

Central Roundal - Black Outlining Complete

2008-04-07T16:04:00.000+10:00

Central Roundal - Black Outlining Complete, originally uploaded by Jane Stockton.

I finished doing all the black outlining. Now for the colours!

Can You Identify The Origin of This Embroidery?

2008-04-04T10:01:00.010+11:00

Img_0038, originally uploaded by Jane Stockton.

Someone has contacted me requesting help identifying the possible origin of this piece of embroidery and a possible date for its working. I have my theory but I'd like to see what other people think. Please leave comments with your theory, (with citations of possible sources to support your theory if you have them). If you know of similar pieces I'd love to hear about them!

The roundal is about 8 inches in diameter and appears to be some sort of pattern darning. You can see very good detail in the last two images if you click on them.

Img_0047, originally uploaded by Jane Stockton.

Img_0043, originally uploaded by Jane Stockton.

Img_0041, originally uploaded by Jane Stockton.

Centre Roundal with Pink

2008-04-03T10:24:00.001+11:00

Centre Roundal with Pink, originally uploaded by Jane Stockton.

A bit more of the green wreath done and the pink ribbon completed. I will use more of the pink in the butterflys and insects.