Mabel's other stitching

[Podolyanka]

Ladies, you are great! Wendy, you made me laugh aloud!

[Squirrel]

Lovely to meet you Ethelnute.

[wendywombat]

[richardandtracy]

You could always call him....

Ethelnute

Thanks for the history lesson, though. I didn't realise that The Unready was from the the word Unraede. How things get distorted!

Oh dear.

The misunderstanding about Canute always surprises me. I think reverting to the Nordic spelling and pronunciation of his name - Knut, with a glottal stop after the K and the u being pronounced as an 'oo' sound - would help break the association.

Regards,

Richard.

[Mabel Figworthy]

Sticking with kelly Fletcher for the moment - I'm finding the designs in her kit very relaxing and not too taxing on the hand.

I'd used up the two pieces of fabric in the kit, and looking around for some more I rummaged through our general sewing box, which has the usual clutter of cotton reels and buttons and elastic and long-obsolete name tapes and scraps of curtain and other material. In the bottom I found an off-white fabric that is probably either curtain lining or very heavy sheeting - I think the former.

Whatever it is, it looked suitable enough, and I tried it without backing. On the whole I think a very thin calico backing would have been a good idea, if only to hide trailing threads (this is rather slapdash stitching with as little fastening off and on as possible ), but it works.

After stitching two of them pretty much exactly as the instructions said, I'm improvising a bit here. For one thing, I'm using different colours (from the "wrong" set of replacement threads) for the bird; for another, I'm outlining the satin stitch in split stitch first, and using colonial knots instead of french. And as my green thread was about to run out I decided to change the last three leaves into petals, using blue and yellow. Here it is so far:

[wendywombat]

I really must get mine started! I transfered several onto fabric then 'miss-laid' them !! They turned up the other day when I was looking for something else!

Mabel...that's a brilliant idea to put a 'flower on the tip if the green stem!!

[poppy]

I do love this design with all its curves. As an artist, you are bound to change things, following your Muse. It is looking fabulous, Mabel

[Squirrel]

Oh what a gorgeous colourful cutie - I love it heaps.

[karen4bells]

Nice~~

[rcperryls]

Nice~~

and so colorful!!!

Carole

[Podolyanka]

All I can say is - I love Mabel's designs and always look forward to seeing new ones. Happy designing and stitching, Mabel!

[Mabel Figworthy]

Lyudmila, thank you but my own designs are in my other thread - this one is for other people's designs I stitch. The colourful designs are from Kelly Fletcher's Classic Creations kit and I'm having great fun with them

I stuck fairly closely to the instructions on the fox and the butterfly, but deviated a bit with this bird:
Three rose shades instead of the two coral ones, top leaves of the wreath turned into blue & yellow flowers, Portuguese stem stitch to outline the bird, colonial instead of French knots, and I made the eye blue instead of green and added a highlight. I like the way it's turned out, the chunky stitching is nice and textural!

[poppy]

Beautifully stitched and lovely design, Mabel!

[Mabel Figworthy]

A bit more done on Ethelnute - over the weekend I've done some lacing on a piece that needed to be sent off for photographing, and I foolishly tried some crochet, which didn't do the hand/wrist any good so I sensibly waited until today, when my weekly stitching group started again after the summer break.

I used the new toy, the table clamp, and it worked beautifully - very useful to be able to have it quite high up, for those parts where I really needed to take off my glasses and work close-up.

Anyway, here he is with his face complete. I'm not completely satisfied with the stitch directions, but not too bad for my first face . The second pic, taken from a fairly extreme angle, shows just what a difference stitch direction can make - the whole face (except for the lips and the dark brown outlines) is stitched in one shade of silk.

[richardandtracy]

Mabel,

Ethelnute looks interesting, and shows just how skillful and practiced you need to be to do this sort of embroidery at the highest level.

What can I say other than 'Keep up the good work'?

Regards,

Richard.

[Jessica28]

Glorious work, beautifully stitched & so colourful. After seeing this bird, I have looked at the lady's designs which are great/ Am going to order one of her kits, probably the insect one.

What a truly wonderful talent you have. Brilliant to see what you are capable of. I will certainly be watching this space to see what you stitch next.

Sorry to hear about your wrist & hope it is less painful now. I am hoping to try crochet soon. Bought a Dorling Kindersley book on it & have tutorials on line, DMC amongst them, so I really have not excuse. DK books are good & have a stitching one & a knitting one so I can brush up my skills. I know others are the knit & natter groups would show me but I like to have an inkling of what I am trying to do before I approach them. No I am on here can see wonderful things to inspire me as well as asking for help when needed.

[Mabel Figworthy]

Enjoy your foray into crochet, Jessica! Whether books or people are better rather depends on how you like to learn - I'm definitely a book-learner myself, and that is how I learnt Hardanger and freestyle embroidery and to some extent goldwork. But actually I find a combination is good for some things; my goldwork was definitely improved by going to workshops and day classes! (And of course it's just fun to share your hobby with other people - I go to a weekly needlework group and I doubt we learn a lot but we have a lovely time !)

[Podolyanka]

Your King now looks more like a Queen to me and for some unknown reason associates with Leeds Castle. Never mind. The embroidery itself is done perfectly and looks beautiful. And the birds are great. Looking forward to your further updates and new designs. Happy designing and embroidering!

And dont use ice for the wrist. Have been there, have seen that.

[rcperryls]

Beautiful!!!

Carole

[Squirrel]

Ethelnute looks every inch a King for sure and your stitching is totally amazing. I hope the wrist stops hurting real soon too.