Pontos Vermelhos

I have been making a bit of an effort to work some of the kits and projects in my stash. I played with a few of them, but the one that spoke to me was Pontos Vermelhos, a drawstring bag designed by Maria do Ceu Freitas in Inspirations 79  in 2013. I features the traditional embroidery of Guimaraes in Portugal.

The bag is worked on a single piece of linen, edged and prepared for construction before embroidering. Traditionally worked in one colour, this one is in red.

I used a pencil to trace the design on  to the linen.



It was relatively complex, but could be followed from the basic shapes of the design.

It used reverse chain,, whipped chain, padded chain, buttonhole, satin, padded satin, stem, eyelets - and lots of bullion knots.

The result is highly textured - and really interesting to work.












The interest didn't stop there.  The bag is stitched together decoratively, a hem-stitched panel accommodates a cord and tassels are added.



I love the result - and enjoyed it. It is the kind of project that gives me huge enjoyment - so many parts, each one satisfying and purposeful.




For the moment this is a keeper. I am using it to store the monthly Stitchy Box thread packs.


I am also grateful to Christine Bishop for showing me a piece from her collection of Portuguese Embroidery and giving me access to an article she wrote on Viano do Castelo Embroidery for Embroidery and Cross Stitch Magazine.

Dijanne Cevaal Figure 3: First Dragon

I have found the Dijanne Cevaal panels so addictive I moved straight on from the King to the dragon - and didn't pause to take photos until I was quite advanced. I began with those scales on the back of the neck - worked in some of the SA Embroiderers' Guild over-dyed stranded thread.

I was really excited by the red-gold thread from the Guild's last batch and bought rather a lot of it, using a red-dominant with an open chain stitch for the neck and a gold-dominant in Bokhara stitch for the wings.        
                                                         










The chest uses a lighter one in a combination of stem and buttonhole stitch.

Some of the Madiera sparkly synthetic from the King's beard came in handy for the horn, teeth and claws.

I separated the sections of the wings with a couched gold laying thread and used a black/gold Au Papillon metallic on the legs and feet.

The shape of the two plants cried out, I thought, for needle-lace. I haven't worked this in a metallic before but found it worked up really well in green Kreinik metallic with stems in a slightly heavier DMC Diamante.

In the  two earlier panels I worked I largely ignored the screen printed markings on the background. With this one, I decided to work the markings in a variety of blues to give an impression of sky. I used a variety of threads, solid and variegated, silk, cotton and metallic. The tail was worked in red - with solid outline and seed stitch fill.

I liked the effect of the seed stitch so much I decided to use it for the background in place of running stitch.

I am pleased with the effect. I used one or two strands of stranded cotton, then added in some more between these using a metallic - mostly Madiera No 40.

The result is very rich and dense. 

Now to turn this into another cushion!