Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas dear readers. 

Thank you for your support, your kind words and for visiting my world. You are loved and appreciated!

Janet

Christmas Surprises

An early wool-on-wool applique of a cozy cupboard bed! 

From the Red House Book, coming soon to The Embroiderer's Story.

Christmas Surprises

Claire lives in The Red House. Here is part of her wardrobe.

Don't forget to check The Embroiderer's Story for her 12 Days of Christmas Giveaway.

Christmas Surprises

The image of a red house shows up in my work over and over. This is a wool applique embroidery from my book "Making Things".

Are you visiting The Embroiderer's Story?

Christmas Surprises

Tricia from The Embroiderer's Story and I have teamed up to offer you a surprise! Be sure to visit her 12 Days of Christmas Giveaway each and every day so you won't miss it.

Room With A View

One dormer window is almost done.

Made in two pieces.

Window Frame Progress

 

The frames of the two dormers windows for the front of the casket are complete.

 

It might be the first time in my life I ever stitched two of one design!

 

I stitch in hand.

 

I will reinforce the outside edge with a glue/water mixture before I cut it out from the background. The edges will then be finished in buttonhole stitches. But I am still a long way from that step. I first want to decide how to do the inside of the frame, glass, scene....

Then I also need to know what fabric I want to back the top of the window with since it will be exposed once it is attached to the lower frieze of the casket. 

 

As you can see I didn't arrive at this spot randomly. I tried different scales and designs for the facade before I settled on one.

One window will look into an interior scene and one will have a figure looking out, very much like the sample in the middle at the top. Only larger. 

My Embroidery Is Hung By The Chimney With Care

 

My wool embroidery, "Night Time in the Enchanted Forest" is finally hung over the fireplace. 

 

It is very happy in its new home.

 

In the dining room I have reassembled a small part of my 20 year old collection of milk glass into another Winter City.

 

With succulents of course.

A WORKING MOCKUP

 

I strongly believe that a working model should be exactly that, something you really WORK on. You can see from the picture above how many layers of ideas I have tried out so far.

 

Thank goodness for tape! 

Here you get an idea of how the windows will project over the lower frieze. Of course there is the possibility of the windows opening or simply a scene stitched 'behind' the glass. 

 

At first I thought I might make the whole casket the Red House but what I really want to stitch are stories and figures not siding.

One of the worlds in the World of Possibilities is the Golden Rule Mountains. This story will be told on each of the two sides.  

 

In keeping with the projected designs on the front I have decided to project the mountains on each side with other 'worlds' in the distance. The beauty of telling you all of this is that so much will change between now and completion. 

The top of the box is Once upon Time.  

I Have Been Working But........

 

I tried inserting text in the Photoshop images but it is too small to read. So I will repeat myself.

I want my casket to tell the story of "The Red House" and the "World of Possibilities".

I have had fun trying to divvy up the front of the box into sections of a house.  My first attempts were over-ambitious in scale and the stitching style not my own.

I am playing with color and with scale. I am playing with ideas and concepts for the casket as a whole.

 

But  somewhere along the line I have lost my creative voice.

So I revisited embroideries I like and I that I want my casket to project. I had to rethink the facade. 

 

OK, I'm liking this. Just 2 stories and I am playing with the surfaces and which planes project where. And I am playing with the edges. I know I don't want to frame each 'panel' with the silver tape.

For my vision it will be too disjointed.

This is the feeling, this is the mood I want to evoke. Very folk art, very ethnic embroidery.

So here I am. The designs over the  2nd story windows are stitched in the style and colors I want. You are probably wondering how I plan to let the windows project over the frieze. Oh, believe me, it is just too beautiful and all will be revealed soon!

The AWOL Stitcher/Blogger

 

I have been stitching. But my efforts are strung out all over the place.

I have finally started playing with designs at the actual size of the casket I hope to cover. And using silk thread. 

 

I am having a hard time knowing what I can draw and what I can stitch. It is a learning process. This is a study for one of the front door panels.

 

This is a study for the side panel. 

 

A tree of life design detail.

     

Another Tree of Life, this is not for the casket project.

 

Figures from my Once Upon A Time series are arranged on the tree.

  

The last group of samples are based on one of the themes for our quilting group's next show; Scraps.

So I have reached into my thread scrap bag and started playing. 

 

We'll see.

A Casket Chronicle: Design Sketch

 

I have finally started playing with design possibilities for my Embroidered Casket. The sketch above revisits motifs and patterns I've used for hooked rugs, wool appliques and for embroidery.

The tongue border is an element I loved using in quilts.

 

All Creatures Great and Small

 

Lanterns in The Night

   

Here the theme is a familiar one to the readers of this blog; Once Upon a Time.

A Source for Great Ethnic Embroidery Books

 

My favorite source for books about embroidery, history, folk art is Slavart or Eastern European Art, a web store I have had the pleasure of shopping from for many years now. Jan is prompt and easy to work with. And his selection is a wonderful!

Do You Know the Muffin Man?

 

The Village has a new business.

 

Do you know the Muffin Man?

 

He lives on Drury Lane.

Tea With The Queen, The Queen of Hearts

 

It seems as though it is always teatime in the village.

 

Look at the time!

.

                        The samovar is hot. The tea is poured, but the
                            Queen of Hearts has not appeared.

Mary and Her Lambs

 

You might remember this image from my book "Making Things"

 

Now you get to see Mary's Knit Shop. Isn't it cute?