Flowers and PPP #3

My gardens are still blooming:

June has flown. How did that happen?
We had wonderful guests for 3 days, so not much stitching was accomplished. I did, though, manage to finish purple piece #3.

Meandering chain stitch, sparkle chainette zig-zag, and curled silk ribbon are new additions

Zig-zags in pink and green threads, a fat line of french knots, and couched decorative yarn complete the embellishments.

Purple project piece #3.




I hope your week was a fun and creative one.

Wishing everyone who celebrates a Happy Canada Day and a Happy 4th of July. Hope your weekend is wonderful!

Thanks for visiting.
Hugs from Suz

Summer Arrives

The gardens are in bloom!  There are lots of garden photos, followed by stitching photos.

It was quite hot over the last few days, but this morning is cool and sunny. We had a few moments of rain last evening, and although the rain barrel was 1/3 full before the rain fell, it's only half full now. The soil is still dry in the gardens, so I'll spend some time watering today.
There has been some stitching.

I completed this purple piece. I'm leaving the purple section in the lower right bare until I decide if I want to add some white or pale thread in a meandering vine.

I began working on another purple piece with the addition of a gathered, variegated fabric strip, 2 buttons, beads on sequins, purple silk ribbon, and a blue trim.

The frilly tatting looks like a woolly caterpillar..... lol

Purple fur, purple bullions, french knots and herringbone stitch embellish this seam.

I wrapped the silk ribbon with variegated thread, and added french knots to the flower centers.

Blue beads decorate the blue trim.

The progress so far........









 

On the crewel piece flower #3, I added the inside row of beads and more metallic purple  thread.

Next came the outer row of beads.

I began weaving inside the leaf shapes.

dimension

Next came the second colour for the weaving.

Flower #3 is completed, and I've begun working on flower #4, but not enough to show any photos yet.













Flower #3 is completed, and I've begun working on flower #4, but not enough progress has been made to show any photos.

I'm couching some off-white gimp along the outline of the flowers on the wrapping cloth.

I may decide to add some beads, too, for a bit of bling.

The gimp seems to show up against the background and define the flower shapes and petals.

This last prepared piece is almost finished!

That's all the stitching for this week. I hope your week was a creative and enjoyable one.


Thanks for visiting.
Hugs from Suz

Secret Project Update

I mentioned several times that I had been working on a secret project, but I couldn't share any photos. Well, now I can. The project was a challenge and a fundraiser for EAC Seminar 2016. Participating members purchased a Mystery Bag and the challenge was to create a 5" x 7" piece using some of every item in the bag, plus 1 optional item.
The contents of my Mystery Bag were : 1 piece of burgundy leather, 1 piece of patterned pink organza, 5 pink, plastic discs with a center hole, 3 pink and two purple small ( silk? ) paper pieces, some perle pink thread, a second crisp pink thread, a sample of Highland Heather thread, and a piece of white, even-weave fabric all contained in a fabric bag. The optional item I chose was a variegated thread. The colour varied from a pale pink to burgundy.
Deciding that the theme of my piece would be a fantasy garden, I began by making organza flower petals, using the variegated thread.

Once the petals were stitched, I cut them out, then singed around each one.

I tatted a center for the flower, added the plastic discs, then stitched on the petals. Two flowers were made in this way, plus a third one, using the purple paper to create the look of a flower bud just beginning to open.

I'd decided to use the fabric bag as t he support for the garden. I created two openings, stitched with buttonhole stitch to secure the fabric.

The even-weave fabric piece was used to create the garden bed, using stitch to manipulate the fabric. The pattern is dragonscale using a smocking technique. ( re Daenerys Targaryen's dragonscale dress from Game of Thrones, embroidered by Michele Carragher)

Next, the burgundy leather was cut into shapes for stems, calyx and leaves.

The stems and leaves were attached to the fabric bag front using buttonhole stitch and most of the Highlands Heather thread.
 The small flower in the upper right used almost all the fine, pink thread in the kit. A leather center is attached with buttonhole stitch, then surrounded by layers of buttonhole lace.
You can see the flower in bud using the purple paper and petals of the pink organza below the buttonhole lace flower.
The pink papers were used for the flower stalks. On top of the papers, I added gathered lengths of singed organza topped with tatted Josephine Knot clusters in the variegated thread.

The same thread was twisted to create the flower stems. Some feather stitch and double feather stitched stems were added, along with a few flower sprays. French knots secure the manipulated fabric to the fabric bag. More Josephine Knot clusters edge the bottom of the manipulated fabric.
I stitched up each side of the fabric bag and placed it over an acrylic photo frame to display my piece for the Mystery Bag competition.

 I did not win a prize, but I did have a lot of fun creating this piece, and I learned a few new things along the way.

Thanks for visiting.

Hugs from Suz