Gold scrollwork and flowers

The Embroiderers' Guild of SA runs a Summer School each January. This year it was held at the Guild premises over four days. Classes were each two days. I only attended one class as I was going away.

I chose a goldwork class - to stretch myself a little. I have done a couple of goldwork classes with Alison Cole in previous Summer Schools but that is the extent of my experience. 

This class was a goldwork scroll with flowers, taken by Di Fisher from our Guild.

The work required a frame rather than a hoop. I chose my Doodler frame because it is hands-free and portable. It worked well.

The design was very small. Even with a magnifier I struggled to see clearly. I did better with some threads and with some stitches.                                                                                         

The design used reverse chain, interlacing, loop stitch, ladder stitch, single back stitch, herringbone, blanket, buttonhole, Elizabethan corded trellis stitch, detached corded buttonhole filling, overcast/wrapped filling, herringbone-threaded and Vandyke stitch.    

The scroll itself wasn't too bad but I really struggled with the leaves and metallic thread.                           After the class I came very close to abandoning the project. Undoing was not an option with the threads - and I didn't think I could do better without significantly enlarging the design.

The thing that kept me going was the thought that I could use the completed piece on the lid of a small magnetic needle box I had stashed away, where it would look blingy and, well, gold!

It certainly would not pass the eye of any Guild member (myself included) but is decorative.

So here it is, duly mounted and useful.

I find these boxes useful and they make good presents. I am regarding this as a practice piece - and reminder to only try very simple, rather than very small, goldwork in future!

Patriotic Crochet of World War I: a probable example

One of the friends I stayed with recently in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney has a supper cloth inherited from an aunt. She and I spent one evening examining it and finding out what we could about its likely background.

The cloth is rectangular, embroidered in the centre , with a deep crocheted border. It is roughly 2.5ft x 3.5ft. The embroidery on the centre fabric is to one end rather than centred. The shape suggests it may have been designed for a small, square table with one end hanging down the front of the table.

What intrigued us were the motifs on the crocheted border. Crosses - chunky Red Cross-type crosses - alternate with the motif of a bi-plane.

A bit of Internet searching turned up some information.  Between 1915 and 1917 women's magazines published patterns not only of practical items (such as gloves, hats and scarves) to knit for the troops, but commemorative and patriotic items for the home (such as table linen). There are numerous extant examples of table cloths, runners and supper cloths with borders, commemorating battles, ships, regiments, individuals or events.

Some patterns for crocheted borders are adjustable, designed to be added to an existing piece of linen to enlarge and embellish it. We thought it likely my friend's piece had been treated this way. It had a wide, hem-stitched border to which the crochet had been added.

None of the examples we found online commemorated the Air services . The navy was well represented. We found examples from England, France, the USA and Australia. The Australian War Memorial has a useful example and background on its website (Dianne Rutherford, Patriotic crochet in the First World War).

We can't, at this stage, be certain, but it is probable this piece comes from that WWI period and was made from a pattern distributed by a women's magazine. The Red Cross itself published a couple of pattern books. Biplanes were extensively used in WWI but only for training in WWII. The cross, on the other hand, may signify a church cloth, rather than the Red Cross.

The embroidery is largely satin stitch with some drawn thread work around the edges.

This was a privilege and lot of fun -  sharing, examining and researching. We did not find a pattern for this specific piece but we gained an insight into the lives of women on the Homefront in the First World War along with the designs and crochet techniques with which they were familiar. It was extraordinary to have in our hands the only example we could find of a patriotic crocheted cloth commemorating the air service.

Chicken apron on the go

One of my projects while away this holiday season has been another printed cross stitch apron - the bright and cheery chicken one. I made one of these a couple of years ago and had another in my stash. I thought it time I stitched it.

The best things about the apron are the cheery colours and shape. The worst thing is, in my view, the cross stitch. 

Working cross stitch on printed crosses presents dilemmas. If you cover the printed crosses you have gaps between the rows. If you attempt to avoid that by aligning the crosses it is difficult to keep straight and you get more background showing through between the bars of the cross.

I tried to work the crosses touching each other but wasn't happy with the coverage, so went back later and filled n the white spaces by a combination of extra crosses and straight filling stitch. 

This gave me more solid colour.

I used the simple cross stitch on the grass squares on which the chicken walks.

I have been staying with friends in the Blue Mountains West of Sydney (where the weather has been cold and misty - a welcome break from Adelaide's 35C + heat). Both friends have lovely gardens - great to look out on in the misty weather.

On the lower edge of the apron I worked the border of squares using a random order of all the chicken colours rather than following the suggested pattern. Random squares made it easier to sit and talk and stitch - and was more enjoyable than constantly consulting a chart.

                                                                                                                                        This is very simple stitching - but satisfying in both execution and the result.

Little travel project

I'm I bought a number of pieces of fabric printed with Japanese sashiko designs at a craft fair a year or so ago along with a few skeins of sashiko thread. I haven't tried any of them, so grabbed one to try on the plane while travelling to Canberra for Christmas. I chose a variegated thread - just wanted to see how it would play out.

I couldn't decide whether the technique would be like Italian blackwork - where the direction is important and the idea is to keep the line of running stitch continuous, or whether you jump from one shape to another on the back of the fabric.

I began working with the stitch continuity assumption. This way, you go where the stitch takes you, rather than where the design takes you. With a variegated thread this matters. Following stitch continuity, I took the closest option each time I got to the end of a line, sometimes going over a stitch to change direction.

In the end I decided the design was a better guide and switched. This way I followed a shape and pathway, if necessary 'jumping' the thread across the back (no more than 2 cm). This gives a greater sense of flow and continuity.

It was a lot to fun to do - and a goood travel project. 

When I finished the piece I used the same thread to create a casing along the top and to stitch the two sides of the piece into a bag.

I had plenty of thread left to make a cord to thread through. Voila! Another bag to put gifts in.

Grab and go: Duftin Bag and hardanger ornaments

Now that  my crocheted cushion is finished I have grabbed an easy and undemanding project to work on in between getting my sewing room organised and unpacking my more substantial works. I am rethinking the way I got the removalists to set up the second and third bedrooms in the apartment and think I will get them back in January to swap the furniture over in the two rooms.  I am also trying to make the transition from a desktop to a laptop computer. This will save me space, but I am having some difficulties loading the data from the desktop to a drive accessible to the laptop. Once this is sorted I can dispose of the computer and the room swap will be easier. In the meantime, I don't want to unpack too much of my stitching gear.

So I have been working on a couple of simple projects - another Duftin bag,

as a Christmas gift, and a set of hardanger ornaments I bought as a kit somewhere along the line, to hang on my tree.

Tha bag is progressing apace. It presents no challenge and keeps my hands occupied.

Tha hardanger isn't hard, but requires focus and good eyesight - which, of course, rather rules it out as a grab-and-go!

My first attempt would not pass muster with the Guild. It will, however, glitter and hang sufficiently joyfully as a Christmas decoration for a couple of years.

I hoped to improve on the second one but alas, it was not so. I did not photograph it, even for learning purposes. My heart was not in it and my count even further out.  I abandoned the attempt and hung the first ornament on its own.

The bag, on the other hand, went from strength to strength and was finished in good time. All credit to Duftin who do a good job of these practical and easy-to-stitch bags. They are old friends to me - clearly what was needed in the lead-up to Christmas!

Scottish Diaspora Exhibition in Adelaide

I am grateful to Junette Steffensen, from the Embroiderers' Guild for reminding me to get to the Scottish Diaspora Tapestry Exhibition before it closed at the Burnside Town Hall in Adelaide last Sunday. I got there on the last afternoon and was so glad I made it.

A brainchild of the Prestoungrange Arts Festival in Prestonpans, the Scottish Diaspora project aims to involve communities around the world in celebration of Scottish heritage and culture, the people and places which connect Scotland to its global diaspora.

After the success of the Prestonpans Tapestry, the community set about planning the Diaspora project, identifying 25 communities world-wide and engaging them in an exploration of local Scottish connection and story, followed by design and stitching of panels to be collected into another large tapestry. A number of Australian communities were involved, and an exhibition of the completed panels is touring Australia this summer, beginning last month in Goolwa in South Australia, where a number of panels were contributed.
There are panels from the Baltic, Western Europe, the Americas, Canada, Asia, Australasia, Africa and the British Isles. Some are broadly community based, some family specific.

I'd have liked to have gone back to look more closely at the New Zealand panels. 

I was fascinated by the Italian ones. 

I had not done my homework before going, and was unprepared for the scale and impact. The whole tapestry can be explored on the project website - and is well worth the investment of time.

I love the capture of local stories in the panels. The consistent template design allows for local interpretation, but also provides a unity over all - evident when standing back and looking at the gallery of panels. Making the panels would have given local communities, especially stitchers, much to think and talk about as they designed and interpreted. It will continue to interest and engage both local and international communities in consideration of the contribution of Scots to civilisation and community.

It would have taken me days - even weeks - to do justice to all the panels on display. It was overwhelming in scope. If I were still teaching high school history I'd be using this tapestry with students.

I focused on the Australian panels, a scan of all and a bit more protracted look at Canada.

I felt privileged to have had this opportunity - and inspired on a whole lot of fronts. If you get a chance to see it don't miss out.

Crochet cushion finish

I've been working the back of my crocheted cushion. I decided to forego the wave and do straight lines in the full range of graded colours. My first attempt ended up with the rows getting shorter and shorter. When about half way through, I realised I was losing a stitch on the end of each row. I also realised my original row was too short. I pulled it all out, started again with a longer chain and compensated at the beginning of each row to ensure it continued straight.  This time, after about six inches, I realised I had made it too long, so undid it and started again.  Measurement isn't my forte.

Third time lucky - it fitted! By now, however, I had lengths of different colours, all joined together but not matching the ends of rows. I decided to use it as is - allowing the colour change where it fell.

I then joined the front and back - using single crochet through both pieces on the inside.

Yesterday - my settlement day on both the sale of my house and the purchase of my apartment - I dashed to Spotlight and bought a cushion insert. While waiting on the call from the conveyancer I inserted it and crocheted up the last side. I considered lining the cover but didn't in the end. I didn't think the show- through was sufficiently noticeable to warrant lining - and would make washing more difficult.

So here is the finished item - now in my daughter's family extension.

It's been a long and comfortable project to work on while downsizing, packing, moving and settling in. I shall quite miss it. How appropriate that I finished it on my settlement day. The settlement, by the way, went without a hitch. I now own the apartment and someone else owns the house. The cushion sums up my feelings!