Counted Apple Blossom Pearls case: Class with Christine Bishop

On the first weekend of this month I had the privilege and pleasure of attending a two day class with Christine Bishop at the Embroiderers' Guild of SA.  The project was a brilliant one - a pouch for storing and carrying pearls.

This is such a good idea. Christine's design is lovely and immediately drew my attention. It is counted thread work on linen, lined with silk to preserve and enhance the lustre of the pearls. I have several sets of pearls and have never thought of keeping them in silk lined bags. It is one of the great embroidery ideas.

There were about a dozen of us in the class which was set up at one end of the Guild's Gallery space, because for part of Saturday we were sharing the Gallery with JEMS - our Junior Embroiderers' Group. The set-up proved to be fortuitous. The light was great and we were compact enough as a group to be able to talk without being short of individual space. It resulted in a lot of sharing and discussion.

I was so absorbed in stitching and listening to the discussion that I forgot to take photos of the group.

As a result, there are only photos of my own progress on the project.  I have watermarked these photos to protect Christine's design.



For the same reason, I am not including any discussion of the stitches.


  

I got quite a lot done in the two days of the class and was really enjoying stitching it. I worked on little else for the rest of the week in order to finish it.


Rather than iron it, I blocked the finished piece before lining it with silk and stitching it into a pouch.

I managed to find a pearl from an odd ear-ring to form a catch.



The result is wonderfully fit for purpose.


I was so entranced by this design and project that I have been experimenting with variations. I had tried to gather together the threads and linen listed for this project before attending the class. I had prepared some linen but had trouble sourcing some of the threads. Christine had, however, prepared kits - as usual generously tacked, edged and comprehensive.

While I used her kit for the project, I still had the linen I had prepared, so decided to adapt it to a couple of subsidiary projects.

I adjusted the tacking to create two smaller pouches, which I am working with components of Christine's design.




It's proving to be interesting - aa well as good (and much needed) practice for my counted thread work. I think I'm addicted.

I'll post the items when finished.


It was a great weekend of stitching. I enjoyed the company, learned a lot, liked sharing space with our Junior Embroiderers and got some inspiration and ideas. Can't ask for much more than that!