Dragon, take 42--no wait, that's the meaning of life, the universe...

First, Rachel and RogerBW, thank you for your kind comments. Also for your excellent suggestions. I think I am going to take part of one of Rachel's for the scales, I am going to do layered split stitch (I think that is the one) where you do straight stitches very close together--it isn't satin stitch, which I had pondered but rejected as too smooth, and I learned it doing a very pretty Rowandean kit of a black cat--I really liked how you can curve the stitches around and do very pretty contouring. I am going to use the three colors of silk, layering them from dark to light, and the rust/brown/orange metallic ribbon, which will go on last in fly stitch. I really liked that idea for showing the scales.

Here is the dragon's pearl, as far as I have stitched it. I plan to use some of the metallic and the overdyed silk to do a couched trellis over it.

 I did a padded satin stitch over felt padding. Here is a picture of the partial first layer of satin stitching showing the felt padding underneath.

 I finished the wings finally. I didn't use wire for the second wing, as I am going to tack it down to the ground fabric rather than have it sticking out. I wanted both wings to look the same however, so I backstitched around the wing shape and then whip stitched the same as I did for the wired wing.

 This is the wired wing, with the whip stitch done. I still want to add some veining to the wing, probably with the aforementioned metallic.

Here are both wings with the whip stitch finished. The sparkliness of the base fabrics really shows in the picture.

 I decided to backstitch around the body of the dragon so that I would have an idea of where I was going, and partly to fill time while I noodled around with what I was going to do next.

And finally, here is is with his body backstitched in. I think he is a happy dragon. Maybe someone is going to play ball with him...

In other news, my daughter finally wheedled me into driving her to the local pet shop so that she could acquire her own dragon, of the Australian bearded variety. Her name is Calypso, and I'm pretty sure that pictures of her will probably show up here from time to time. She has settled into her new home very happily, and loves to chase down and eat crickets and mealworms. Not that she has to chase the worms as they just squirm in her food bowl.

THE Magpie.

I'm going to a wedding! So I need a new dress!

I mean, duh. If there is any occasion that warrants a new dress, a wedding is definitely it. Even if you aren't the bride, which I'm not. So I decided to make my dress, on account of that is why I purchased a pile of vintage silk saris from ebay, well, that and I was taking belly dance classes, and one of the dances uses really big scarves, and they are expensive, but you can make two scarves from one sari, with a bit left over for sashes or whatever. And, they generally cost around $25 for five meters of fabric. Plus, they come in a zillion abfab colors and prints. I've been using some for embroidery, the stole was done using two of the pretty colored ones.

For my dress I am using one in turquoise and sea blue, with dark blue and orangey-yellowy prints in stripes. The pallu of the sari (for those who aren't familiar with the lingo, that is a decorative rectangle at one end of the sari, specifically, the end that is tossed over the shoulder and hangs down) and also the selvage edges have a very fine gold woven floral decoration that I am going to use for the bottom of the dress, and for the sleeve edging on the jacket. I am using a pattern from Simplicity, number 3799. It has a dress, jacket, a top which is a short version of the dress, and either cropped pants or walking shorts. I plan to make some pairs of walking shorts from this pattern out of heavy cotton fabric at some point, as my shorts have of late been wearing out and I can never seem to find comfortable pants-- they don't fit right and it drives me bonkers. Anyway, no pictures this time, but I'll be taking some for the next entry.

A friend of mine who also sews clothes helped me lay out the jacket so that I could get the entire body of the jacket out of the pallu, and also helped me lay it out so the front opening of the jacket will have the decorative border along it. The pictures will help explain it--it really is true that a picture is worth a thousand words.

I also want to try to make a hat and purse out of some of the leftover fabric, I think there is enough of the pallu fabric left to make a little evening bag out of, and if nothing else, I'll make a long strip of fabric to use as a hatband/headband.

THE Magpie

Goldwork, and other stitching.

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

Goldwork and Stumpwork, this time with photos!

Of the stumpwork. I have yet to do any goldwork, although I have played with some of the materials. Anyway, the Jane Nicholas piece is still moving forward. I have finished the five petals for the hellebore blossom...

 ...and now I just need to cut them out and apply them. Deep breath here, but I survived cutting out the dragonfly wings, so everything should be fine, so long as I am careful and don't have anyone watching. I finally taught my daughter that the one way to cause hilarious pratfalls or failures to perform as planned was to shout, "Watch this!" as you did some amusing athletic/magic trick. Maybe I should stitch a sixth petal as a spare, in case of cutting errors. Hmmm. That sounds like a good plan, and a way to delay the scissor thing.

Here, I have finished outlining one of the two leaves, and the other is mostly done. After I finish the outlines, I will be filling the interiors of the leaves. There is a very faint oval drawn on the leaf fabric, that will be the final raspberry. I will be doing it with very light red, a peachy pink, and a very pale green floss in french knots, and of course, some beads.

Still waiting on a last email from Benton and Johnson, regarding sequins and spangles. The spangles are probably more authentic, but the sequins are heaps less expensive. So now I just have to find out it the sequins are flat or cupped. If they are flat, I am going that route, at least for now. If I decide in future to do a goldwork/stumpwork/Elizabethan embroidery priest's stole and want to use the spangles I'll definitely rethink the miserly route.

Also, I've been thinking that I have got to try doing a plumeria blossom in stumpwork. I think it would be a show stopper, and the flowers come in such a variety of coloring that it would be fun to embroider as well. And, speaking of plumeria, one of my stubs has developed what I think may be flower buds, about a year before I expected any. Here is a picture of it.

THE Magpie

Vacations in other places...like Hawaii

I like the weather in Hawaii, in spite of the rain every day. Mostly cause the rain is just little spits of rain mostly. When it poured, it was mostly late evening or night time, except for one ten minute cloudburst one afternoon, but we had stopped at the grocery to get some stuff for breakfast, so missed pretty much the whole thing. The high each day was eighty six, and breezy, so that you were only sweaty if you went inside. Good reason to stay outside, really. And the trees... Oh, My, God, the trees. Sixty foot tall trees with the most flamboyant displays of rich red flowers on top, when it wasn't blaze/daffodil yellow. And the hibiscus, they come in red, natch, and also yellow with red centers, yellow with orange centers, orange, hot pink, magenta, and my personal favorite that I called purple flame, as the lavender petals were definitely heading toward ultra violet, with a burgundy center. And then there were the short trees, plumeria (which they sold legally for houseplants here, and yes, I did get two), golden showers, pink and white showers, rainbow showers (cross of the golden and the pink and white), papaya trees, mango trees, ginger plants, bird of paradise plants, and palm trees. Date palms, coconut palms, travelers palms, the one with the incredible fruit on it that I looked up but will have to go look up again (Pandanus, that is the one). And we are planning on ratting my daughter out to the yearbook committee at her school, as the child is an absolute terror with a camera. I had to threaten mayhem to get her to give it up so I could take the occasional picture. Still, she has talent in that area, so it wasn't all bad.

We got to see the little fish with the big name at the Waikiki Aquarium, Little Humuhumunukunukua'puaha'a. The name means, (and we looked it up in the Hawaiian/English dictionary I got) "Trigger fish with a nose like a pig's". So now we call idiot drivers Nukunukua'puaha'as, as that means pig nosed. I bought a couple of compact discs of vintage music (and learned that ukulele means jumping flea) and a couple of craft books, One has directions for making crocheted leis. I now have a very interesting collection of yarn (purchased since I got home) for making said leis. I also got a book for making ribbon leis, which are a bit more labor intensive, but exceedingly yummilicious. I'll post more about these as I play with my ribbons and yarns to make some.

Took The Bus (so called because it was the only one for a while, although there are other public transport systems now, namely trollies, although they are not on tracks, it is just that they are built like trolley cars elsewhere) to a couple of places. Also so called because there used to be "The Boat" to get from island to island. I think people use planes now. You wouldn't believe how far apart the islands actually are. Atlas photos/map books do not give a good sense of scale. Anyway, wandered around the grounds of Iolani castle which was definitely built on the European type of house plan. Just across the largish street in front of the castle grounds is the iconic statue of King Kamehameha I, and behind him is the courthouse. A couple of blocks down from that is the Mission Museum, which has guided tours but we missed one by a couple of hours and the next one was a couple hours away, so we perused the gift shop items and talked to the woman who worked there. She really liked the earrings and necklace I was wearing, and which I had made. She also asked if I sold stuff, and if so, if I lived in Hawaii. I think she may have been fishing for another supplier, so if I ever do decide to move to Hawaii, I will possibly have a way of funding myself.

I also found a fabric store, and picked up some of what is called "bark cloth" but it is not the stuff that actually is bark cloth. The stuff they sell as bark cloth is made of cotton, and is so called because it has a rough texture reminiscent of the real stuff. If you google tapa or kapa you can find out all about the real thing. The piece of cotton I got has an all over pattern of pale green palm fronds, on a pale blue background. I am thinking of doing a bell pull with an applique pattern of hibiscus on it, using some of my dupione silks for the flower petals.

Sorry about the lack of pictures here, we haven't downloaded them yet (nine days, 600+ photos--told you the child was busy) but once I do, I'll upload some. May take a couple of weeks to sort through them all--yikes!

THE Magpie