Delinquent Update

I have been doing things, really.

Firstly, a view from my window:

And here's a picture of the supplies for the newest project, and a picture of its beginning. I'm embroidering on Osnaburg, because I wanted cloth loose enough to accomodate a lot of stitching. I pulled out some warp and weft threads, too. So far it's working out okay, except that for some stitches I have to sew a lot of background first--otherwise french knots just pop on through to the back.



And lastly, here's something else I recently retrieved from dormancy. I seem to have done enough embroidery in the interim that working on this seemed fast. It's mainly in split stitch.

I think if I get around to posting more often (such as after I actually, for real, get internet access at home) I am going to have to find a different blog publisher, because this one is strongly indifferent to my idea of formatting.

Purple Progress

I spent a portion of last week here:










Yesterday was my vacation, and I spent a bunch of it sewing on the mirror & beads for the purple embroidery:

Something Finished!

Last night, I finally finished a sample/project I started less than three years ago:
It is a paramecium doily.

How did that happen, you may ask.

I had some variegated embroidery floss I was itching to use. I looked about for a scrap of cloth, and lo, there was a scrap of blue linen a clever friend had used as giftwrap. The scrap of linen was vaguely reminiscent of a paisley, and I think paisleys are like paramecia. Obvious, yes?

The really time-consuming part was the obsessive needle-lace buttonholing around the edge. Around and around and around...

Don't faint...

...here's a post. I've been busy, doing things and going places.

To begin, a picture from a while ago of an embroidery I started a longer while ago; the picture's kind of dark (I have since become more familiar with my camera).


As to what else I've been doing with my time--lots of hiking trips recently. This last weekend I went to Crater Lake. My photography guru was appalled that I had, er, basically never uploaded my photos. Here is documentary proof that I have now done so:

There will be lots more once I get them sorted out--Crater Lake is beautiful, and I took full advantage of the capacity of the digital camera by taking copious photos with different settings, and never running out of film! Zoom lens is great, too. At some point I'll probably set up a Flickr account to post more pictures.

A Picture and a Brief Update

I have actually been working on things...just not taking pictures (or, if I take pictures, I don't remember my flash drive).


Most of my new photos are of waterfalls; I'll post a few once I get around to extracting them from my camera.

This has been a three-day weekend; I've mostly just been enjoying my time off by not doing anything. It's been more of a vegetation than a vacation, and consequently I'm feeling pretty rested, which is a nice change.

Medieval Weaving Tools!

I just visited Isis & Machteld's wonderful blog Medieval Silkwork where Isis posted a manuscript illustration showing a bobbin-winding tool. (Check it out, Sarah!)

There is something very similar in a painting in the National Gallery, London: Penelope with the Suitors, by PINTORICCHIO c. 1509. I've been meaning to make a test version for some time, except I mainly think of it when I am in immediate need of winding a bobbin, so I end up using my rotary drill instead of building a new tool.

I spotted that bobbin-winder a year or two ago when I was poring over the pages of Broudy's "Book of Looms," looking for tape looms. That hunt was inspired by finding this Bandwirkerrahmen in the wonderful collection of Bildindex der Kunst und Architektur. (I don't seem to be able to link directly to the image, but you can copy & paste "Bandwirkerrahmen" into the search box.)

On a similar note, while reading "The Unicorn Tapestries" by Margaret B. Freeman I spotted a few small looms; one was this one--another Penelope, this time at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. It is a tapestry from the late 1400's. (Search collections for "Penelope.")

Once my house hunt reaches a successful conclusion, I envision more space for tools and making tools. And more space for bookshelves! :)

Retroactive Posting

Battery issues etc. and not getting around to posting even when I happened to remember to bring the flash drive...not helped by still not having internet at home. Which now I'm not going to set up until I moved, which of course predicated upon finding someplace to move to. So far the house hunting rule seems to be:

I like a place: and:
it is too small, it needs work, I can't afford it, and/or it is not in a location I like

I obviously just need a lot more money.

Back when the painting class was going to start, I had a quandary about what to pick. I decided on a pomegranate, and then found out Kim was thinking of doing that, and I decided of course I needed to do something different. (Like somehow different pomegranates painted by different people wouldn't be different.) I decided on an artichoke, and then Sarah posted about artichokes, so I knew I'd picked the right thing. Right. Here are some artichoke paintings so you can get an idea of the technique:


By the time my artichoke had finished serving as model/muse, it was rather too desiccated to be eaten. It lasted a surprisingly long time!