Sampler Debut

We have just returned from a wonderful week of Junior Country Week tennis in Ballarat. The kids had a fantastic week of tennis and hanging out in the pool at the caravan park afterwards. Most of the Tennis Geelong families stay in the one park so we all get together for a fabulous week. We also have 30 – 40 children bussed up each day to play (for those whose parents are working). Paddy played in the U16 section and my niece and nephew were in U19. Paddy’s team made it to the semi’s and the others made it to the Grand Final. (Photos by the Ballarat Courier here). I took some embroidery with me and made a start on my sampler. I have been following along with Sharon B’s documentation of her sampler and decided I would try the stitches out myself. This initial sampler is 16 cm x 50cm (just over 6 inches x 20 inches) and is some linen I had bought when doing Sharon’s PLOS last year.

The title is backstitch in perle cotton. This first line of stitching is an exploration of Laced Triple Running stitch as seen in Sharon’s bands 1-4.

And some close ups.

While in Ballarat I also popped into the local needlework shop and bought some hand dyed silk threads:

I might try some of these for the next bit of stitching on my sampler. I intend also using it for the Stitch Explorer Challenge that Sharon is running for 2009. The stitch for this month is ‘chicken scratch’.

We had a meeting yesterday for the Geelong Embroiderer’s Guild to get started on our xmas exhibition for the Johnston Collection (I blogged about it here). The group were happy with my proposal for ‘Sea Angels’ based on the figureheads of sailing ships. Mr Johnston travelled the world collecting Georgian, Regency and French Empire furniture, ceramics and decorative arts. There are many paintings of sailing ships in the collection and the theme of the xmas decorations will be based on his travels around the world. I am planning on experimenting with the process explained by Maggie Grey here to form the head/neck of the angels. The body will be based on a triangle shape to reflect the xmas tree centrepiece and will possibly incorporate fabric paper a la Pauleen’s sample, silk paper, fabrics, hand and machine embroidery, beading, hand dyed wool for the hair etc. The idea is to have the angels look like they are ‘of the sea’. I will be looking for lots of help from the new Creative Fibre Arts Group, who will also be invited to join in a workshop to create the xmas tree.

Finally, a request. I have been looking for a simple beading pattern to dress up this plain, black cardigan below. Any links or suggestions gratefully received. I have lots of hermatite beads of various types left over from this bag.

Cheers