At last the WELCOME has come home, stretched and framed to hang on the wall. I have to admit to being disappointed with it though because of all the wrinkles in it. My husband picked it up last month, but I only saw a photo of it last week. I may have to take it elsewhere and have it redone--even if it means pinning it. At least we have it for Thanksgiving. Here are a few final photos to document the completion of this project and the start of our enjoyment of it in our every day lives.
I did it! The Brazilian WELCOME was finished in time for my husband's birthday. It isn't framed yet, but the frame is ordered and my finisher is lined up. My husband calls it my "masterpiece", which is very flattering. I'm glad he never saw the version my teacher stitched, which is so much more perfect! I actually think my stitching was better on my crazy pillow, but I am still quite pleased with how the WELCOME turned out.
Below are all the letters with their beads and bobbles, trimmed and fluffed as appropriate. Once it is framed I'll post a final photo, but that won't be for a few more weeks.
I'm trying hard to find a job so that I can move home soon. In the meantime my husband has identified the location where the Brazilian WELCOME will hang.
I've promised not to start any new projects until it is finished and have been working on it constantly this week. I've actually completed enough that I went to A Stitching Shop yesterday to buy the pearls and beads that will embellish the letters and flower centers. They won't be sewn in place until I finish the stitching and wash the piece, but I expect that will be during my next trip home in October.
This week I finished the "O". The blue peach blossoms were fun to make. My detached buttonhole petals are far from perfect, but I am quite pleased with how ruffly they look. I also like the frilly rose. I've made enough Bossa Nova Roses on this piece that it was fun to change it up with the cast on frills.
Only the W is left and I've already finished the gold, which is the hard part. I may have the whole WELCOME completed for my husband's birthday on October 5th. Cross your fingers that my Massachusetts framer will still consider framing it even though she has closed her shop. I want this one done right!
I flew home to Massachusetts just prior to Memorial Day. For my flight back in February, I packed a stump work project for the plane. I thought that because the pieces were small, it would be easy to work on my tray table. Was I ever wrong! the pieces threatened to go everywhere, there were too many thread colors, and the light was too poor for that type of intricate work. I had given up by the time my beverage came.
This trip I resolved to do better. A few weeks before I left, I started a monotone sampler on 28-count linen. It was a straight forward pattern, so I decided to stop stitching and save the project for the plane. It was perfect. I worked about quarter of it during my flights. The fabric holes were big enough to see in dim light and it was contained enough that I didn't elbow my neighbors even though I was in the middle seat. Plus my sewing kit was much simpler. Here you can see it. I carried a tin with my floss, scissors and needles, and kept it, my hoop, pattern and fabric in a woven envelope my mother once gave me. Perfect!
Only one problem. I stitched so much of it, I got a little addicted. When I found out that my stitching shop in Massachusetts would be closing in a few months, I decided to stitch faster so that I could finish it and bring it to the shop for framing during this trip. It is a gift, so I can't show it all yet, but needless to say, it is at the framers along with another sampler I finished last month--one of my resolution projects.
Unfortunately, this means that I've been in Massachusetts for two weeks and haven't yet stitched on my WELCOME. That may be coming home with me so that I can finish it up before Hoops and Needles closes for good. Ellen, the shop proprietor, says that she may still keep framing on the side. She does the best work around, so I am encouraged, but want to finish the WELCOME as quickly as possible. Besides, my husband has a blank wall ready to hang it!
One additional comment about my travels. I sat between a man and a woman on my first flight, and as I often find when I stitch in public, the man was the more curious of the two. Men inevitably say something like, "no one does that type of hand work anymore" and it always takes me by surprise. In this case I was wondering who might have done the hand work that he was recalling, but as I was thinking up a suitable reply he said something that really threw me. After watching for about 30 minutes, he declared, "I guess I could take up something like that if I were faced with a long prison term and could really concentrate on it." Wow! Good to know he is prepared for anything! He looked like a nice man though, so I don't think he will be taking up stitching soon.
The last few weeks have been tough. It seems things are being cancelled left and right, which sure does hamper my stitching. I'm still accomplishing things, but not much on my major projects.
First, there have been six babies born to friends and family and one more expected between January and May of this year. Such a lot of joy! But my sewing machine has been working overtime.
This weekend was the last baby shower back in Massachusetts. It was for my step daughter-in-law. But was I there? No. A last minute change in my husband's work plans meant that he is out of town on a two week business trip during the same two weeks I was going to be home. The trip was cancelled, but the presents made it in time.
Rather than a baby blanket, I decided to use my blanket technique to make practical burp cloths. I made a total of 6, using Carol's Cats for patterns. They are about 1 x 2 feet and a triple layer of flannel. Here are just a few with the cats on the front, and some wary mice hiding out over the shoulder
Since my perception of babies is that they are pretty messy, I also made some cute bibs. The pattern is from the blog site "Craftiness is not Optional." They were easy and so cute. I used a 1/2 yard of flannel and three packages of binding to make 3 bibs.
My step son and daughter-in-law are both martial artists, hence the Lucky Cat theme for these bibs.
Keeping with the cat theme, I also made this cute stuffed cat from McCall pattern 4893. But beware! The pattern calls for gluing on the head, ears and feet. It made me laugh. I figured that wouldn't even last the trip home, let alone a baby's grip, so I altered the pattern to be able to securely machine sew the feet and ears and then hand sew on the head--all of my experience making Cabbage Patch dolls when I was in Junior High paid off there!
My mom plunged into baby mode too. Isn't this the most precious sweater? She mailed it from New York to Colorado and then I mailed it back to Massachusetts. What a whirlwind! But I know that many homemade knits have been coming in for that lucky baby from all over the country. Babies just bring out the best in everyone.
Sadly, the fact that I am not back in Massachusetts means that there will be no progress on the WELCOME until I go home in June. I am going to start a small Brazilian kit in the meantime.
If missing my step daughter-in-law's shower wasn't bad enough, March's Pumpkin class was cancelled because of snow! Of course, this being Colorado, the day after Pumpkin class was almost 60 degrees. I made progress despite the cancellation, but not as much as I would have if I were stitching with the group. I WILL finish this panel by the end of April--I have to if there is any hope of finishing the project in June.
The coffee beans are woven detached chain stitch from Sharon B's TAST (Take a Stitch Tuesday) challenge.
So snow, work, and baby bumps have slowed progress on my major projects. But honestly, it has also been a lot of fun working on those baby gifts!
One of my resolution projects for 2013 is to finish my Brazilian embroidery WELCOME. To encourage myself to work on it, I keep it in Massachusetts to stitch when I visit my husband. Not only do I not have to carry it back and forth, but my husband enjoys watching it come together. To see where I left off back on January 3rd, you can follow this link to my last posting.
I was back in Massachusetts February 1-18 and here is my progress. As you can see I have finished the flowers on the three letters which I had worked the greenery on in December (C, M and the final E) and stitched all of the first E. I even started the gold work on the O. Let's look more closely.
The first E is composed of a profusion of greenery done in buttonhole stitch, alternating satin stitch and detached lazy daisy stitches along stem stitch ribs. The flowers are made of bullion and cast-on stitches. Eventually, I will sew beads into the centers of the bullion "violet" and cast-on daisy and pearls onto the blue dots along the leaves. Each of the letters has a row of pearls that will fancy them up.
I have the most work left to do on the C. The daisy is made up of bullion-tipped lazy daisy stitches and filled with turkey work. Interestingly, the yellow and purple of this flower come from the same variegated thread (Iris 019) which I cut apart to use the purple and yellow sections separately. The turkey work loops will need to be cut and brushed out and then trimmed. It will make a fuzzy yellow center. The blue stamens on the "creeping flowers" look creepy to me. I don't mind the color, but the Lola thread I used is too think. One of my finishing jobs will be to find an Iris-weight substitute. I think it will look better with a lighter-weight thread and perhaps beads at the end of each stamen. The printed stars are meant to be stitched with Krenik ribbon. I have seen it done and don't like it. I think I will sew on some beads, but my bead stash is in Denver, so that will have to wait to find the right beads.
I think the M may be my favorite letter so far. I love the reds and pinks against the green and gold. The rolled rose buds turned out particularly well. The other roses are the same Bossa Nova Roses that are on the L. They consist of 13 overlapping bullions pulled tightly around each other. By pulling them in tightly, they force the first bullions upright. Each flower stands a full 1/4" above the surface of the fabric and took two full lengths of thread to complete. Although this is the most complete letter. I see some places that may need extra gold work. I have to wait until the piece is washed and the blue lines are gone to make a final determination.
The flowers on the final E are each composed of 5 overlapping cast on stitches. They will sport beaded center eventually. I did the first flower 4 times before I finally got it right. They are simple, but getting them to lay just right took a little time.
Finally, I've begun the gold work on the O, but the gold thread was shredding again, which made the stitching slow. I will need a second spool in order to finish the O and W.
While I wish I didn't have to go home yet, I have run out of 4 of the 6 threads I've been using for the greenery, so I guess I couldn't have made much more progress on this trip. I expect to finish the W and O on my trip home in April. After that, I will take the piece back to Denver to wash, prep and do the finishing work, before bringing it back to Massachusetts for framing in June.
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| The entire WELCOME. The pre-printed pattern lines wash off. |
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| The "M" is ready to embroider the rolled and stacked roses. |
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| Buttonhole, alternating satin stitch, stacked stem, fly stitch, lazy daisy stitches and french knots compose the greenery on the letters. |
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