Finished the waterlily, and started and finished the tiger lily in my oriental flowers, so I am now over half done with the cross stitched patches for the quilt. Yay!
Also, after studying the directions, reading, re-reading, and examining all the supplies, and finding my silk dupione stash, I have at long last started on the Golden Lily pattern from Benton and Johnson. To start, I drew the picture on the back of the muslin with a pencil, backwards. Then I basted it in with the same floss that I was going to use to couch the metal threads down with. Here is a picture of the back with the basting partly in...
Here is the front. Because I did the stitches on the front very small, you can't see them very well, which bodes well on me being able to cover them up.
This is one of the flower buds with the japan gold around it, and extending down as the stem.
The closed teardrop shapes are going to be finished with gold kid leather. There are also curled leaf shapes will be filled with bright check, after it is cut into "beads". All the lines will be couched japan gold, and I like the way they have you plunge one end of the pair of gold threads, then separate them to go around the open shape, and finally couch them together for the stems. I don't know if that is standard operating procedure, as I have not taken any goldwork classes, and this is the first thing I've ever done in goldwork, but I like how it looks.
The kit for this actually came with an ice blue silk piece for the ground, but the picture on the kit was more of a turquoise, so I subbed a piece out of my stash. The couching thread I am using is a cotton overdye named Whiskey, from Weeks Dye Works, color 2219. Other supplies are japan gold, check thread, bright check, gold kid leather and something called passing, which is a wire cored gold metal thread that looks kind of like japan gold. Ah. Just re-read the directions, because it occurred to me that I did not remember where the passing thread was supposed to be used. There is a bit that forms a bow over the stems on the bottom, and the passing thread is used to make them, and that is where the wire is handy, as you just make loops with the thread and then bend them into shape on the front.
I realized that doing this stuff intimidates me, at least until I start, although sometimes it runs all the way through the project. Even so, I still do it, and usually the things turn out very nicely. So to anyone who is reading/finds/whatever, if you want to do something that you fear is above your skill level, go for it. You never know, and it will most likely turn out very well indeed. Go for it. And have fun.
THE Magpie
Also, after studying the directions, reading, re-reading, and examining all the supplies, and finding my silk dupione stash, I have at long last started on the Golden Lily pattern from Benton and Johnson. To start, I drew the picture on the back of the muslin with a pencil, backwards. Then I basted it in with the same floss that I was going to use to couch the metal threads down with. Here is a picture of the back with the basting partly in...
Here is the front. Because I did the stitches on the front very small, you can't see them very well, which bodes well on me being able to cover them up.
This is one of the flower buds with the japan gold around it, and extending down as the stem.
The closed teardrop shapes are going to be finished with gold kid leather. There are also curled leaf shapes will be filled with bright check, after it is cut into "beads". All the lines will be couched japan gold, and I like the way they have you plunge one end of the pair of gold threads, then separate them to go around the open shape, and finally couch them together for the stems. I don't know if that is standard operating procedure, as I have not taken any goldwork classes, and this is the first thing I've ever done in goldwork, but I like how it looks.
The kit for this actually came with an ice blue silk piece for the ground, but the picture on the kit was more of a turquoise, so I subbed a piece out of my stash. The couching thread I am using is a cotton overdye named Whiskey, from Weeks Dye Works, color 2219. Other supplies are japan gold, check thread, bright check, gold kid leather and something called passing, which is a wire cored gold metal thread that looks kind of like japan gold. Ah. Just re-read the directions, because it occurred to me that I did not remember where the passing thread was supposed to be used. There is a bit that forms a bow over the stems on the bottom, and the passing thread is used to make them, and that is where the wire is handy, as you just make loops with the thread and then bend them into shape on the front.
I realized that doing this stuff intimidates me, at least until I start, although sometimes it runs all the way through the project. Even so, I still do it, and usually the things turn out very nicely. So to anyone who is reading/finds/whatever, if you want to do something that you fear is above your skill level, go for it. You never know, and it will most likely turn out very well indeed. Go for it. And have fun.
THE Magpie
