0 Completed 'Rolled Roses' Brazilian Embroidery

I'm delighted to announce the completion - and successful framing - of my long-in-progress Brazilian embroidery piece!  HURRAH!

Here are the last two WIP shots from last week.  The first one was what I got done during the rest of the Wednesday that you last saw pictures on and the second is, I think, from the next day's work.

After that, I just pressed on to completion and didn't take any more photos until the whole piece was done!  This afternoon, I stretched it in an 8" embroidery hoop after spraying with a clean water spray to wet the fabric.  It dried beautifully taut and ready for framing.

Last, but not least, I put it into one of those Anchor Flexi Hoop Frames (which I'll be detailing the process of soon, alongside some regular framing as Sir and I are doing a few of my pieces on Sunday afternoons together) and here is the completed item ready to be given as a gift to a lovely Japanese lady who put us up in her Oxford home last winter.  I promised to do an embroidery for her and I think she'll like this!

Do you?

So, that's my first Brazilian piece done.  How do I feel about it?  Well, I'm quite pleased with the finished results, but it was rather tricky to work some of it.  I'm not sure if I really enjoyed it in the final analysis and I can't really see myself ever working the larger kit I own - although I am interested in doing some small sections of it.  Jury's out on this one, I think!

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2012

Detail: Completed 'Rolled Roses' Brazilian Embroidery

0 Work in Progress Wednesday - 10 Oct 2012

Today I have two photos of each WIP to share! Such richness!!!LOL

Firstly, I discovered a better way of getting the colour to be more like the real thing than the camera shows and so you may notice that the photos are not so yellow-green as they have been up to now.  Today's shots are more like the real colour of the materials I'm using - cooler than the older photos where too much blue was removed, but warmer than the original shots which were far too blue.  Here you can see progress as made over two or three sessions work this last week:

Moving onto the Brazilian piece and I've been filling in yet more greenery.  Sorry about the bleached out look in the foreground of this first shot.  Actually, it's not as ill focused as it looks, it's just that the variegated thread goes quite pale at this point and the light reflected off it to quite some degree.

In this second one you can see that I've already begun to add in some of the fine work on the lower left hand side of the piece as well as replacing one dodgy bullion in the top right part of the main rose section.  It used to be baggy and ended up making the rose look triangular, now it's rather too long and sticks up, so I may have to do it yet again.  I might try anchoring it down more first as I'm not anxious to add any more bullions than I need to to my work list!

Putting in this other detail has improved both my mood doing the piece and the look of the whole thing.  The fabric puckering is a problem, but it gets covered with fine stitchery, so I don't need to trouble myself greatly about that.  Light still reflecting quite a lot on the lighter green shade of the main stems.  I'll have to find a way to improve the lighting by the time I'm ready for the final shots at least!

I'm hoping to get a few more areas done by next week as I really want to finish this piece in the next fortnight or so and then move on to completing the old peacock feather.  Clearing two pieces this month and making good progress on a third will feel great!

I was very disappointed to discover the other day that Webshots is closing down!  I have over 300 photos of all my work on there and am now looking for another free photo hosting site that allows for creation and easy viewing of albums and that, unlike Flickr, doesn't restrict you to just 200 photos.  I also don't want to use a service which requires others to sign up for it in order to see my pix.  I also have a Photobucket account, but I'm not keen on how albums work there.  So, if anyone has any ideas and recommendations, I'd be interested!  I'm looking for free hosting with a decent amount of storage and good album functions.

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2012

Detail: Work in Progress Wednesday - 10 Oct 2012

0 Work In Progress Wednesday - 3 Oct 2012

Another Wednesday has come around and I have one working session on each WISP to show this time.  First the Brazilian piece.  I had a very interesting comment left on my last WIP Weds post by Rosalie Wakefield of BE fame with some suggestions on how to make bullions better and how to avoid the thread problems.  I haven't yet tried her method (although I will) as I decided to give myself a break from the eternal bullions and add in some greenery instead:

Even with expert advice though, I don't think I'll be making BE (Brazilian Embroidery) a regular feature of my work.  Yes, it is lovely and, yes, the threads are glorious - at least to look at, but I don't think it's my thing and I'll most likely be selling my big 'Ariel's Heart' kit in the near future....

The sampler has some leaves and flower centres added and I'm almost tempted to offer a prize to the reader who can spot where!!!  

Having this Wednesday series is really helping me to at least do something on these pieces each week, even though they could hardly be said to be steaming ahead.  The fact is they are moving ahead and I'm longing to get the BE piece done and to a less confusing part of the sampler (although I think I'm beginning to 'get' it to some degree) and then get my other two stalled pieces - an old C&G peacock feather piece and the stumpwork bunny - back going again and finished.  I really want to do other things, but I just don't feel I can with four WIPs.  I don't usually like to have more than two on the go, so four really is OTT and uncomfortable for me.

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2012

Detail: Work In Progress Wednesday - 3 Oct 2012

0 Work in Progress Wednesday 26 Sept 2012

A key part of my posting on Getting UFOs finished asks the reader to assess just why the project got put aside.  Was it through boredom?  Gone off the project?  Lack of motivation?  Project too hard?  There are a number of reasons and I thought it was time I thought about why I was struggling to get and then keep going on my WISPs (works in slow progress).

It's not boredom as I associate that with large, monotone backgrounds and things like that.  I haven't gone off either of them design-wise and there is motivation to finish them as they're both for other people and the WIP Weds posting idea also helps to have something ready to post each week.  So, I'm left with them being hard.

This is how far I've got on the Sunshine and Flowers sampler:

As some of you might remember from previous postings on the subject, I was doing quite well and then it suddenly seemed to get stalled.  Admittedly, there were other 'due soon' projects, such as wedding things, that intervened, but apart from the frame being too large and unwieldy as I mentioned last time, there is one other problem:  The chart is exceptionally hard to follow.  I find I have to read and re-read sections each time just to find out where I am and then I'm still puzzled.  There are two permutations and sometimes the chart instructions don't specify where there are differences and you can lose time working out that it's the other version that has 'four large flowers' whereas the version I'm doing has five etc.

Another thing that gets me is that it seems to assume that you know what the designer has in mind without you having to be told.  Section 5c says: 'Begin the Fly stitch center with a single Backstitch.'  Now, quite apart from the fact that stitch names do not need to be (and should be) written with initial caps, what fly stitch centre?  There's no indication on the graphic chart that any part is done in fly stitch (there's no key, apart from the usual symbols for cross stitch colours), either of this flower centre or anywhere else.  It just looks like small satin stitches there and it's only by looking through 3 different parts of the chart that you can just about work out what on Earth is required!  Frustrating, time consuming and puzzling.  That's why it's got neglected.  And these are relatively simple parts.  I dread to think what's it's going to be like when I get to the large, cutwork gate section!

The second WISP I'm moving slowly forward on is this Brazilian piece:

So, what's holding this one up?  Cynthia and 'Bunny' both asked about the thread last time.  It's rayon thread, specially made for Brazilian work (Edmar Lola, colour 007, variegated lilac), and is the world's number pain in the neck to work with.  Bullion knots are not my favourite things to work as I can't manage it without puckering the fabric to save my life (tips welcome!), but this thread is just beastly.  I can hardly describe why, but it seems to object to being wrapped and the part that hasn't gone around the needle then starts to try and twist the other way, thus making it a real challenge to get the needle and thread back through the fabric and the knot completed.  The thread looks gorgeous, but it's a real headache to work with.  The last two stitching sessions have been started with a rose and a half and then I moved on to the sampler, (frying pan to fire??).

So, I'm trying, bit by bit, to get on with these pieces and am looking forward to when I can a) follow the Cross'N'Patch chart without wanting to burn it; and b) get the bullions finished on the rose piece and can move on to the greenery!

Ooof!

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2012

Detail: Work in Progress Wednesday 26 Sept 2012

0 Belated WIP Wednesday

I've finally decided to properly join in Sharon B's Work In Progress Wednesday, although my first post is a bit late as it's Thursday here, but, if you live on the very westernmost tip of Alaska or somewhere else on the eastern side of the International Date Line, I'm home and dry!!  Anyway, the idea is to post on a large WIP or WISP (work in slow progress) on Wednesdays so that there is a sort of weekly 'report back' support and motivation.  I suppose it's rather like a Weightwatchers weekly weigh-in for stitchers!!!

OK, less of the nonsense talk and more WIPs, (the current state of which is always on my 'Current Work In Progress' page.).  I've nothing to report on two of them, but here's the current status of the Cross'N'Patch 'Sunshine and Flowers' sampler after I pulled out a part I'd mis-counted (not concentrating properly) and then re-housed the whole piece in a 14"x11" frame as opposed to the former 17"x11" one, which I was finding just too long to manage comfortably.  I think that awkwardness also slowed down progress as it's hard to get yourself going on an unwieldy piece.

And the Brazilian 'Rolled Roses' piece.  As you can see, I've done two more roses.  There were three, but I had to pull one out, it looked so bad!  This photo has been edited to show the outline of the whole piece as well, so you can get an idea of what's coming from it and how much is left to do too.

What else have I been doing?  Plenty of reading, of course, some lesson preparation as I now have two private students coming to me for Mandarin Chinese lessons and I've begun work on an exercise book to help people get a firm grip on Mandarin sentence patterns and so on, which I'm trialling on these two ladies!  So, that takes up a fair bit of research time etc. as well.  And would you just look at my desk!  I was sorting out my embroidery ribbons  ready for two small card projects as well!

On top of that, I've taken up knitting for the first time in almost 30 years!  A Chinese friend is having a little girl in November, so I thought I'd have a go at some baby knits for her.  This is how far I've got with my first one - the back, both sleeves and the left front.  This is, I think, the first time I've done a patterned knit like this (the bit with the decorative holes) and certainly the largest piece I've ever done.  Only one more piece to do, then it's on to the challenge of picking up stitches around the edgings etc.  I've borrowed a good beginners' book from the library to help.

I remember when I was a little girl, my mum, who was quite a prolific and accomplished knitter, gave me scrap ends of yarn and some basic needles and I used to knit very simple woollies for Sindy/Barbie dolls which had contrast trims and often had lurex knitted in with them (so, like Kreinik Blending Filament), and then sell them from the back of our car at the classic car rallies we used to go to.  They were quite good family occasions and little girls would sometimes buy them from me.  I was quite an astute businesswoman at age 11, wasn't I??=)

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2012

Detail: Belated WIP Wednesday

0 Nearly Complete!

The 'Ring of Roses' is almost complete now, as far as the actual embroidery is concerned.  In this series of pictures you can see how much of the wrapping of exposed threads I got done per day of work on the project.  Some days I got a lot done, some very little and some none at all!

This is where it is at the moment and is now just waiting for the filling stitches to be inserted.  After that, it's on to the finishing up part.  As I want to have it ready for handover within the week, I need to get going on it as soon as I can.

Ideally I'll like to have this piece completed and ready to hand over at the same time, but I don't really expect it.  I did manage to get the second rose finished.  The problem seems to be, not the wrapping direction (I tried the other way and it looked terrible!), but that the threads don't like being worked for very long compared to cotton based ones.  So, I cut some of the length off and restarted with a better bit and it worked out OK.

I also saw someone else's version of the same kit and was interested to see how 'narrow' her roses had come out compared to the kit photo.  I feel that mine are rather fatter, although I seem to be using the same amount of bullions per rose.  I don't know how the model stitcher managed it, but I won't be able to get the same number of blooms in the space as they have.

I'm horribly behind with TAST and have hardly touched it for weeks on end!  Maybe I'll catch up one day...

Here's something exciting though:

Earlier in the year I added my name to the mailing list for the crafts trade show with a view to getting some kits going at some point.  Well, I'm still working on the idea, but it was really fun to see the first piece of mail (next year's show details) come through addressed to me at The Business!!!  First of many, or less than even a flash in the pan?  Time will tell....

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2012

Detail: Nearly Complete!

0 Roses, roses

Glad to see so many enjoyed the tutorial last week and welcome to 15 new subscribers, many of whom are Portuguese speaking - bemvenidos.=)

Today I have updates on the Ring of Roses hardanger design and, coincidentally with so many new Brazilian readers, my first go at a rolled rose in Brazilian threads etc.

First the scatter cushion cover after the third and then the fourth day's stitching.

It's coming along very well and I'm pleased with it, although I had to re-do some of the leaves as I'd got them way out.  I decided that one space out in one direction was OK for the coloured motifs as they won't have threads cut, but one set of leaves was three out in both directions!  One of the roses is slightly out too, but it doesn't show and so I decided to leave it as it is.  I haven't been able to stitch on it since about Saturday as I was working away the other day and only took a small piece with me, so I hope to get chance to do some of the stems today.

Here is said small piece, I finally managed to get some bullions in the Brazilian Rolled Rose piece, which I'd like to get completely finished in the next 2 weeks or so.

This is worked with Edmar rayon thread and it's very tricky.  The texture and how slippy it is I can cope with  OK, but the fact that it twists against itself so much whilst you're doing the wraps for the bullion knots is really hard to deal with.  You get one or two knots worked, and then the thread just goes mad and a knot completely fails.  Also, the rose seems to me to be a good deal bigger than it appears on the kit photo.  I'm wondering if I'm going to manage to get it all as tightly packed together as the style demands.

Anyway, the plan is to try and work a flower or so each day before getting on with the hardanger and see it slowly grow.  I can deal with a few stops and starts each time without getting too upset with it, but more than that would drive me mad.  Not sure I'll be keeping and working the larger Brazilian kit I own....

Oh gosh, yes, and it's blogoversary today, which means I'll be making some changes to the appearance of things.  Last week I expanded the Pages and filled in the missing captions, so there's more to see there now. I split up the 'Counted Thread' page into 'Counted and Drawn Thread', 'Hardanger' and 'Cross Stitch Favourites'.  Later on today I'll be changing a couple of colours and re-doing the header photos, so stay tuned for some small updates.

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2012

Detail: Roses, roses