Search Results for: Christmas Angel
So What Next for SlowTV Stitchery?
The next episode of SlowTV Stitchery is now live – Episode 30 – in which the cornering plans are discussed, and the future of SlowTV Stitchery is considered, while the second corner is completed.
Since it looks very much as though we’re all going to be spending a lot of time at home this winter, I think I’ll continue with SlowTV Stitchery, even when the Amarna Family Group is finished. So my first thought is to work on finishing this canvaswork angel, which I started some years ago, galloped through the actual angel, and then ground to a shuddering halt on the background when I got sidetracked by an inspiration for one of the Dreams of Amarna projects.
If that doesn’t keep me quiet for long enough, I’ve been working on a sky for the first version of the North Shields headland that I worked for Leaving The Tyne. This is another piece that simply needs me to sit down and work at it, but although it’s small, it’s fiddly to hold the frame and stitch at the same time. Putting it on my stand and using my magnifying light will help me to settle down to it.
But first, the Angel. At least, until I run out of metallic threads!
6 (Old) and 6 (New) and 6 (Yarny Things) in 2018
You may recall that last year Meredithe and Anne came up with the idea of managing “Significant Progress” on six old projects or Works In Slow Progress, with room for six entirely new ones – because we all know how easy it is to be completely knocked for a loop by a shiny new project or sudden obsession with a new technique! – and have called the project “6 and 6 in 2018“. It was extended to add “6 Yarny Things”, halfway through the year. Again, I wasn’t very organised about posting updates, but I have at least managed to do a round-up of the year.
So, how did I do?
Eve In The Garden Of Eden Finished
Amarna Backpack Finished
First of all, the Old projects:
Eve in the Garden of Eden is finished, and so is the Amarna Backpack!
But the Nefertiti Shawl and the Christmas Angel haven’t seen any activity at all, although I may have worked out part of my problem with the Nefertiti Shawl, so it’s possible that when I work out a new scheme of stitching, I might find that unblocked and easier to work on. For the Christmas Angel, I just need to settle down and persevere…
Akhenaten’s Beard
Akhenaten has moved on significantly, and with a few reservations about detail and solving a few last little problems, I’m very pleased with him indeed.
Now, the New…
FinishedCoverForTheMagnifier
Of course, there was the little magnifier cover (finished), which was a vaguely StitchOff-inspired piece worked last Christmas and New Year.
The Robin Completed
Then there was the little Robin. I’ve not finished him into something yet, but I enjoyed working him, and I have become a little more comfortable with silk shading!
Leaving The Tyne 1915
And, of course, there was “Leaving The Tyne, 1915“, which was a very intense, and very long-running project, which, if I say so myself, was finished triumphantly in advance of deadline, and formed part of the display in Liverpool Cathedral.
Then, when I hit the buffers with Akhenaten, because I’m not sure what to do next, I got started on the Head of Ankhsenpaaten. She’s not finished yet, either…
Yarny Things
And finally, the Yarny Things. These are a shawl, a cape, and three berets. There’s another beret somewhere, and a pair of socks. That’s seven!
I’ve also started on a Moebius Shawl, and another pair of socks…. It’s just possible that I’ve taken to crochet more than I might have expected to!
6 and 6 in 2018 – the six “old” projects
This year Meredithe and Anne have come up with the idea of managing “Significant Progress” on six old projects or Works In Slow Progress, with room for six entirely new ones – because we all know how easy it is to be completely knocked for a loop by a shiny new project or sudden obsession with a new technique! – and have called the project “6 and 6 in 2018“. I wasn’t a very organised contributor last year, and I probably won’t be this year, but I do intend to try!
For the sake of accountability, here are my “old” projects:
More Progress On Eve
First of all, “Eve In The Garden of Eden”. This means constructing and covering the box. That in turn implies the use of glue, which as I’ve mentioned before, makes me very nervous indeed. It will probably take some effort to get up the courage to tackle it at all!
Red and Blue Sections
Secondly, the Nefertiti Shawl. It’s such a lovely cheerful colour that I want to be able to wear it, which should be incentive enough, wouldn’t you say?
Yarn And Pattern
Thirdly, the Amarna Backpack. I’ve made a fair bit of progress here, and I’ve learnt a few useful lessons, but I want it to be useable, and preferably lined, by the middle of the year.
Progress on the Christmas Angel
Fourth, the Christmas Angel. It really is simply a matter of getting it set up so it is convenient to tackle this one, but of course in terms of work to be done it has strong competition, from number five.
Starting Akhenaten
Fifth, of course, is Akhenaten. I’ve put him away over Christmas and missed him terribly, so I have a strong feeling that he’s going to send the rest of them to a distant second place!
Another Attempt
Sixth isn’t really a single project, but rather the crystallisation of ideas which are already bubbling in my head, like the Faience Necklace, and the beginnings of ideas for the Vision of Placidus. There are some that need to be out on paper for the next stage of mulling over. Anything that helps with that will make this year a huge creative success!
Round-up for 17 in 2017
I have had a look at my progress on the projects I listed for the challenge run last year by Meredithe (Pomegranate and Chintz) and Anne (Frayed At The Edge) – 17 UFOs in 2017.
Webgimpe Added
In most cases, I didn’t even look at the projects, in spite of my very best efforts. In my defense, when I made the list, the projects for the Head of Nefertiti, Akhenaten, and my two little Amarna Princesses hadn’t even occurred to me, and they completely distracted me! Their project for this year – “6 and 6 in 2018” takes this possibility into account, allowing for reports on six old, or at least long-running, projects, and six brand new ones which pop up out of nowhere. I can’t be the only one who gets completely taken over by new ideas!
So, here’s the round up…
Blue Section
1 Eve in the Garden of Eden – all I need to do here (all!!!) is to make the box. At the moment the fabric is pinned out to straighten it a bit. I think I can call this “substantial progress”!
2 Nefertiti Shawl – I’ve recently written about the headache that this has given me. I need to get all my silks out again, and think hard about the next stage. I think I may have the faintest hint of an idea for it, but as I say, that needs much more thought.
Blue Flower
3 Queen Anne style teacloth – I got something done on this when we had a bit of a heatwave, and I’ve worked out the stitches for the Blue Flower. I just haven’t done all of them yet. “Progress”, but not “substantial progress”, I think!
4 The Modern Stitch-Off – I think I will decide that this is finished, but I reserve the right to change my mind!
Progress on the Christmas Angel
5 The Christmas Angel – I made a good start on the background, but there is a good deal more to do – again, “Progress”, but not “substantial progress”.
6 The Faience Necklace – I’ve thought about it, but done nothing…
7 The Swan – not a stitch!
8 The Unicorn – not a stitch!
I think it is fair to say that since I was ambushed by some wildly exciting ideas, it’s scarcely surprising that my attempts to finish other projects fell somewhat by the wayside. It was a nice idea, and I’m glad that Meredithe and Anne came up with it, but we none of us allowed for my wayward spirit of invention!
Report for 17 UFOs in 2017
Progress on the Christmas Angel
You may recall that a very long time ago I listed some projects I wanted to work on this year, prompted by Meredithe at Pomegranate and Chintz and Anne at Frayed At The Edge. Mereditithe’s most recent post for the challenge is here.
Then the Head of Nefertiti swept into my head and my hands and took almost all my brain power and stitching time, and Nothing Happened.
Well, something has now happened. I’ve had the Christmas Angel sitting in the corner of the living room waiting to be noticed, and a little while ago, I got to a natural Stop and Think point with my other projects.
So I have made a start on the background. I’m using metallic machine thread, two strands for the rough, textured threads in the centre of each cell, and three strands, one of each of three shades for the framework. It’s beyond fiddly and flyaway, and I’ve even bought some Thread Heaven to see whether it helps (a bit, maybe not quite as much as I hoped).
All that said, I think it is going to look rather splendid when it is finished. The idea is that it should be somewhat reminiscent of an icon painted on gold leaf. Some of them have a sort of engraved “diaper pattern” effect, and I hope that the diamond flame bargello pattern will do the job.
17 UFOs in 2017
Still More Circles
Meredithe (Pomegranate and Chintz) and Anne (Frayed At The Edge) are running a challenge for the year – 17 UFOs in 2017. The idea is not necessarily to finish, but to make substantial progress, on 17 UFOs.
Now, I’m not sure I have that many UFOs, and I have many new projects I want to work on (more on those soon), but I do have a good few that are stalled, or that I’m not sure whether I’ve finished or not, so although I’m not going to join in regularly, I will try to use the impetus of the challenge to remind myself to assess progress.
Blanket Stitch Fans
1 Eve in the Garden of Eden – I really want to finish this so I can sign up for the Stumpwork Lion!
2 Nefertiti Shawl – well, clearly, I want to be able to wear this!
3 Queen Anne style teacloth – this is a travelling project, so it depends on where I go and whether I have light or time to work on it.
From The Back
4 The Modern Stitch-Off – I’m not sure whether this is finished or not, so if I can at least decide that by the end of the year, I’ll be pleased.
5 The Christmas Angel – I was going to work on the Christmas Angel last year between Christmas and Epiphany, and never set a stitch on it.
Shoulder Cape
6 The Faience Necklace – this has been a real trial to me, as I can’t bring the design into focus. I’ve got some lovely silk thread so maybe that will help me to get started.
7 The Swan – I got the first layer of Laid and Couched work done, and have had trouble working out the detail layer…
Swan – First Layer
8 The Unicorn – again, first layer done, details escaping me.
Unicorn – the first layer
I have a lot of other things I want to do, which are barely begun, never mind finished, and as I have said, in the case of several of these projects it is not a matter of simply stitching, so much as deciding what to stitch, and then stitching it.
My real target for the year with these eight is to have finished the Nefertiti Shawl and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Anything else is a bonus!
A Box Of Delights
Frostings Box
First View
Tricia, at Thistle Threads, has launched the Frostings Club, which is a thread club specifically concentrating on reconstructions of historic thread. She explains on the page I’ve linked to why she did so, and although historic embroidery isn’t my primary focus, thread is one of my deepest interests. So I joined up for the first session, partly because I want to contribute to the project, and partly because I expect that I will find a whole host of non-historical uses for them.
Lacet Threads
My first box has arrived – after a frustrating hold-up in Heathrow when I knew it was in the country and it wasn’t getting any closer to me! – beautifully packaged in a very solid cardboard box with a magnetic closure. I’ve been having a lovely rummage, puzzling over what I find and thinking about what I might choose to do with it when I get the chance…
I’m not at all sure what Lacet threads are, or what I might do with them, but Tricia has promised to release some designs and suggestions, so if I can’t think of something for myself, there will be suggestions a-plenty.
Cordon And Gimp
Metallic And Metal
The Cordon, Gimp and Metal and Metallic threads are possibly a little easier for me to make plans for. The metallic threads have fortuitously turned up in colours I was thinking of using for the wings of the Christmas Angel, so I may have in immediate use there.
But then again, once the Angel’s cape is in place, I may change my mind and who knows what will happen…?
Yet another idea!
Long time readers of my blog know that I use it, not just to talk about the embroidery I’m doing at the moment, but also as a place to put some of my ideas, in the hope that the Search facility will help me find them again, rather than having to paw (I use the word advisedly!) through stacks of paper and notebooks. This is one of those posts!
Some of you may recall that the Association of Mouth and Foot Painting Artists used to send out, not just cards, but little sheets that had angels printed on them. You could press them out and curve them into a cone shape, making a charming little Christmas decoration. I was reminded of them when we got the decorations out of the loft, and found a whole boxful!
It occurred to me that I could use a variation on that little pattern to create a needlelace Nativity scene.
That idea became a bit clearer when I looked at a few of them. If you look at this one, the angel’s wings have clearly been made to represent fabric with a bobbin lace edging laid over it, and if that necklace isn’t based on a piece of tatting, I have never seen tatting before!
Clearly, I would want to tweak the shape a little. Only the angel, of the characters in the Nativity, needs wings, and besides, I think a bit of variation in height would be advisable!
The basic shape can be seen when you open one of them out. The wings wouldn’t be hard to remove, for those that don’t need them. But the shape is fairly simple, and it would mean that I could use really gorgeous thread and stitch, allowing the thread and the stitch to do all the work.
I doubt I will be tackling the idea any time soon – I still have to work out how to create the Baby Jesus in the manger in much the same style! – but I think it would be fun to do.
Thoughts on the Next Big Project
I’ve been continuing to think about The Vision of Placidus, but part of my inspiration has shifted, from the mille fleurs background of the the Unicorn Tapestry, to the edge-painting my mother did for a Fine Binding she made of The Wind In The Willows.
An edge painting is exactly what it says: colour added to the edge of the codex of a book, often in patterns or pictures that relate to the story or theme of the book.
So, although there may still be animals in mille fleurs fashion in odd spaces in the picture, I’m also planning to design a border. Underwater will be shown below the main image, just above the water surface on the vertical edges, and the sky on the upper border.
This design sheet shows the design of the edge painting for the book, to give you some idea of what I am thinking about.
There will be a pike underwater, I’m sure, and the vertical borders will be where the kingfisher, and maybe some dragonflies, can go. I might spend some time looking at the symbolism of various animals, just to make sure that the right creatures show their faces.
The corners will probably have the symbols of the Evangelists, but at the moment I’m not sure in quite what style..
In other news, Episode 40 of SlowTV Stitchery is now live, in which we move to the Christmas playlist, discuss the tension between economy and adequate coverage, and express surprise at the amount of real history one can learn from well researched fiction.
Progress on Eve In The Garden Of Eden
Progress on the spine
After all those good intentions, I’ve rather fallen behind with “Eve In The Garden Of Eden”. It’s not that it’s difficult – rather fine, requiring the use of the magnifier, but not especially difficult. Unfortunately I’ve only got as far as three of the five panels on the spine of the bookcover. There are two more little panels on the spine, and then two identical ornamental frames, back and front, showing Adam, Eve, the Tree Of Knowledge, and the Snake. And that’s before I start on the complicated bits!
Reasons/excuses for the delay? Well, I moved over to the Canvaswork Angel over Christmas (it seemed more appropriate somehow!), and then I was blindsided by the The Great Lady’s Magazine Stitch Off. Not that I am complaining, you understand – it’s been fascinating to begin finding out about the early days of periodicals and to see the designs provided for subscribers, especially as even more are beginning to come to light!
Another Parcel
And now I have been reminded that I really need to get on with it, because the finishing kit has arrived, including some rather lovely silk brocade, and some fancy threads I’ve not come across before.
Still, I need to finish that pashmina first…