Creating Lace...

I spent a wonderful weekend learning all about Romanian Point Lace from an excellent teacher, Bart Elwell, who came from Tulsa, Oklahoma to teach several of us from the Austin Lace Guild. It was a fun weekend and I learned so many new needle lace stitches that I am bursting with new ideas. Romanian Point Lace is made by first creating a crocheted braid which is stitched down to a pattern and the needle lace is done in all the sections formed. What's really great (for me) is that the needle lace stitches can also be used in my embroidery pieces. Here are some pictures showing the group of us and some of the teacher's beautiful work. Click on the images for a close-up view.

some very happy lacers

Bart made this piece in honor of the marriage of William and Catherine

Bart's Black Eyed Susan

Bart's orchid

Bart's peacock sitting on the table

 I am working on the Black Eyed Susan in some wild colors. I'll post it when it is finished. We did a lot of learning in the class and practicing new stitches. Four of the students had taken a class with him before and made good progress on their pieces. I spent most of my time trying to learn as many new stitches as possible.

When I came home from class, this reflection of an old piece of my grandmother's crocheted lace showed up on the kitchen cabinet. It is tacked to a small window in my kitchen that is close to the ceiling.

 Lots of the stitches I learned are going to show up in the embroidery work I'm doing in Karen Ruane's class. Will post some of those pictures real soon so please come back.

stitching on this and that...

Was stitching a patchwork feather to send to Jude for the Magic Feather Project and, while I was stitching, the ghost of the bird appeared. It will be in the mail tomorrow.

September's feather for Jude

The embroidered pillow is stitched and just needs to be stuffed.

The last lesson in Karen's class was ruching. I just did a small section to learn the technique. Not sure yet where this piece will be used.

ruching with web stitches and french knots

keeping busy...

The fire danger in Central Texas kind of got to me yesterday and I was feeling very unsettled. I've let it go and am back to myself today but ready to evacuate if it comes to that. There aren't  any fires real close to me right now but they are popping up everywhere without warning so we must be vigilant. There are so many people all over that are in far more danger than I am and I wish the best for all who might be fighting the elements all over the world. Thanks so much to all of you who showed concern.

Lyn of liniecat sent me some wonderful ostrich feathers and a peacock feather to add to my collection. I love seeing and feeling all the different textures, colors and designs.

ostrich and peacock feathers. and you can see I have been stitching on my Magic Diaries cloth.

Experimenting with ruching as instructed by Karen in her last embroidery lesson. It's just pinned and will be dramatically changed with some embroidery added.

white ruching cloth ready to be embroidered

I've had some eucalyptus leaves soaking in vinegar water for a couple of weeks and made some bundles this morning with linen and silk cloth wrapped over copper pipe. They are boiling right now and I will then set them outside for a few days before unwrapping.

eucalyptus leaves in vinegar water

leaves bundled over copper pipe ready for boiling

Click on the photos for a closer image.

Cross Stitch Magic

A continuation of all the wonderful things I'm learning in Karen's class...

cross stitch on cloth using waste canvas

cross stitch on a vintage hanky that was dyed with avocado skins

damp stretching my sampler piece to remove all the wrinkles

My sampler piece will be turned into a small pillow. It measures about 9" x 10".  I'm anxious to try the cross stitching on some of the silk velvet that is on the next piece I prepared.

a new background piece prepared...

Since I decided to use my first piece in Karen's class as a sampler, I prepared a new piece ready for stitching. I will continue to use the sampler piece to try new things. The new piece is made up of linen, lace and silk velvet. The linen and silk velvet were initially white but were dyed with the left over liquid from the avocado bundling I did over a week ago. That pink liquid sure did go a long way. I have used it 3 times for dying small pieces of cotton, silk and linen.

new background piece with silk velvet, linen and lace. the linen is a pale pink and the silk velvet a dusty pink. couldn't get the true color in the photo. it measures 10" x10".

Here are some more pictures of the sampler piece with all the techniques learned so far.

measures 6" x 8".

that web stitch has become my favorite. I have placed a bead at the center of each web stitch.

I think you can see the center bead in the web stitch here.

I used a variegated pink and white perle thread here for the web stitch.

a thoughtful gift and...

Back here I posted a video on the Cosmati Pavements at Westminster Abbey. Lots of you  became interested in doing more research. Karen T. actually went to Westminster Abbey and saw them in person. Unfortunately no picture taking was allowed. She purchased some beautiful cards that were being sold in the shop and sent some to me since I was the one who peeked her interest on this topic. I was so surprised and so appreciative. Thank you so much Karen T. for your thoughtfulness.

postcards, puzzle card and info from Westminster Abbey

wanted you to see that one of the cards is a puzzle

Last Monday, I posted about my experiment with avocado bundling. The liquid remaining in the pot was pink so I dropped a few pieces of white cloth in the pot. The silk organza turned brown and the linen pieces and the lace did turn a pale pink. The pink is not showing up in this picture.

silk turned brown; linen and lace a light pink

 I've been enjoying Karen's embroidery class and worked on one section of the piece I posted last time. I'm pleased with the netted lace look, that is just a blanket stitch done through the loops, and with the french knots but not really pleased with the whole look. I need to plan better next time. I'm going to try and run a ribbon through the loops on the pink strip because it really doesn't blend with the pink in the checkerboard. It only measures 3" x 5" so it's just a tiny section of the whole piece.

And just did another section. Much happier with this than the one above.

web stitch, french knots, buttons

Saturday update:  I've decided to do this piece as a sampler since I'm learning new things and am not ready to design a piece that will please me. Once I experiment with all these new techniques and stitches, it will be easier to put something together.

lace, trimmings and delicate stitching...

I am thoroughly enjoying Karen's class 'embroider, embellish, create'. I just went out to buy some more floss. With all that I have, I didn't have the colors I wanted to use here. I found some lace that I couldn't resist so I bought a bit of it. Here are a couple of pictures to give you a taste of what we have done so far.

floss, lace, white pins and tailor's chalk

my first section is all basted and ready for embroidery stitching

 I'm hoping Karen will repeat this class in the future so that those of you who missed out can take advantage of her teaching this beautiful technique. I'm also hoping for an advanced class sometime soon after this one. I'm always thinking ahead.

...and wishing for a speedy recovery of power for those of you who had a close encounter with hurricane Irene and are still without your normal services. There are lots of us wishing we were close enough to help you out in getting back to normal.

bundled avocados...

I posted about Peggy's idea of dyeing with an avocado a few days back. Check out her post here. I just couldn't wait to try it. I did mine a little differently and hope I can hold out because I'm already wanting to undo the bundles. Here is what I did:

I soaked some habotai silk and silk organza in vinegar water

I cleaned out the avocado skins and shaved off the top layers of the pits (they immediately turned orange).

I sprinkled the shavings onto each piece of cloth and wrapped it around the pit and put it inside the skins. I turned one of the skins inside out. I then wrapped each one with with cheesecloth (in case it fell apart in the water) and tied it with string.

I dropped the 2 bundles in boiling water for 2 hours and then let it sit in the water for awhile.

I put the bundles in a tightly covered glass jar and put it outside in the shade.

 and now the hard part....just waiting...for weeks, if I can hold out that long.


Karen Ruane's class started today and I'm already loving it. Hope to show you something in the next post so stand by...

things are calming down...

Was happy to hear on the news that the east coast is now in tropical storm mode and things are calming down. Hope all of you affected are doing well. We in central Texas would give anything for some of that rain.

I'm doing better with my spinning practice but couldn't wait to try using it in knitting so I prepared a small hank, soaked it in hot water and hung it to dry. It made a larger piece than I thought it would. I like the unevenness of it so if I never get real good at spinning, that will be ok with me.
                                                                                               

                                                                                         

Karen Ruane's class, Embroider, Embellish, Create, starts tomorrow and I've been gathering all my white cloth, lace, trims, etc. I'm anxious to get started. I think she has a couple more openings if you're interested. Class registration closes sometime today.

I'm sure you've noticed that my blog format is quite different. I had no intentions of changing it but when trying to fix just one thing, I hit the wrong button and my old blog was gone. I'm not quite happy with this one yet so it will be getting some tweaking as time goes on.

gathering feathers...

Jude has been gathering stitched feathers for the Magic Feather Project. I have started collecting actual feathers. Maybe a feather book will develop. There are so many beautiful patterns. I never realized this until recently. My glass jar holds feathers from friends who have shared some with me.

roosters, doves, flickers, pigeons

turkeys, just love that curved rooster feather

My friend Anita gathered some feathers from her yard and shared some with me. Can anyone identify that
 top striped feather?

feathers from Anita

Couldn't capture the beauty of some of the colors with the camera. Click on the images for a closer view.

vulnerability...

I just watched this video that Linda Mathew's posted on her blog and would like to share it with all of you. I think all of us can relate to some of what Brene Brown says. If you agree, why not pass it on.

and I found Peggy's post this morning very interesting. A unique way to dye cloth with an avocado. Check it out here.

adding to the magic cloth...

I pinned this picture of a bobbin lace leaf to my lace pillow and laced up one for my magic diaries cloth. It was a challenge but I think it turned out okay. It's stitched on real well so I don't think it will catch on anything.

I did the lace pricking right over the picture. Lots of ad-libbing here.

Otis is over the moon that his sock feathers arrived at Jude's place.

Otis convinced me to cut up his socks to make these feathers.

nice markings from acorns...

I had forgotten that I left some cloth pieces in the acorn bath. It's been about 2 weeks and I like what happened to them. One of the silk pieces has some nice markings. I believe it's from the broken up acorns  where the innards touched the cloth. Will try a bundle next time to see if I can get markings on more of  the cloth. Click on the image for close-ups.

silk with acorn markings

silk upholstery, cotton, and silk

more feathers received in the mail...
I had ordered some hand spun mohair with lace bits from Drucilla and she was so kind to send me two beautiful feathers from her flock.

rooster feather (long & bendy) and turkey feather

Learning to Spin...

I tried on my own with books and videos but I just couldn't get it. I went to a Spin Express class at Hill Country Weavers in Austin yesterday and now I understand how it works. I just need to practice a little bit each day. You can see I actually have some spun yarn on my spindle.

a basket full of roving waiting to be spun

Karen Ruane of Contemporary Embroidery is FINALLY giving an online class called, Embroider, Embellish, Create and it is going to be fabulous. So check out her blog and consider signing up for this class. All the information is on her blog and here.

I'm sure you all know about Jude's Magic Feather Project. There has been lots of feather information flying around lately. Here is a review of a book on feathers that promises to be a good read and a link where the author talks about the book on NPR.

And Michelle of Ms. Uncertainty Principles has a great feather related post today. So check it out.

Enjoy your Sunday.

a little mending...

with patchwork stitches to be able to continue wearing a fabric t-shirt that is stained.

a kind of four patch

I finished up a few pieces to send to Wendy Golden-Levitt for the children. Check out her blog. She does amazing work.

and some of you might be interested in this. coming soon to PBS or you can order the DVD.

A New Basket

I was with my quilt bee friends yesterday at another basket making class. I've been looking forward  to making this basket and knew it would be a challenge. It turns out that the challenging part was not the center design but the swirl design traveling up to the top. There are a few mistakes but I'm very pleased with how it turned out. It measures 11" in diameter and is 5" high. I'm going to try and replicate that center weaving with fabric.
And...I would love to try and make a little square basket with the same design. Maybe at the next class.
Here are some photos.

And something special in the mail from michelle in NYC...

a lovely card, some beautiful feathers, dried geranium, and a delicate lace edged hanky

Michelle will be making a feather to send to Jude for the Magic Feather Project.

And I've heard that Otis has sent Jude a feather.

an Otis sighting...

Jude mentioned in one of her lessons that it's nice to have a large cloth around when you're not working on it. The magic beast cloth I'm working on hangs over a comfy chair when I'm not stitching on it. I like to see it when I pass by. I also get lots of different ideas as I look at it each time. The very beginning stage was hard but things are moving along now. I kind of know where I'm going next. This is just the center so it will be a project I'll be working on for a long time. Can you spot Otis? Click on the image for a closer view.

just hangin out -- can you spot Otis?

feathers are everywhere--that bulge on the right is actually the lions paw. still needs lots of stitching.