Thursday, January 24, 2019

Japanese Embroidery Phase 2-3 - Homework part 1

I'm semi back from hiatus. Things are much calmer at home but it's still very busy at work. Now I'm playing catch up with progress posts.

Before the holidays, we had a frame up session with my group and setup our new pieces so we'd be able to start our pre-work.


I wanted this to be an official 2019 piece, so I waited till January 1st to start. First step was to outline the fan's edge.


From there I jumped right into the first cloud, called sayagata and didn't look back. I loved stitching on this fabric by the way. There are little "valleys" in it that, if followed properly, means your stitches are all straight. I didn't need to put in any guideline stitches as I did in phase 1.

The next day I found an email in my inbox. Someone from my group saw my pictures and questions started to arise on whether my fan edge was properly stitched. I had some design lines sticking on the edge. The fan is outlined with three lines of #5 gold so we tried to see if they will be covered with the final outline. But just in case, I sent an email off to my teacher and kept going while I waited for her to reply.


To protect the silk from snagging, temporary holding stitches are put in. I really enjoyed this process as it appeals to my technical side. At this point sayagata is ready for class.

I still had some time in my day and I started working on the second cloud called shippo.

I took a break for a few days to work on another start (more on that later). By the time I took the piece back out to continue, my teacher had gotten back to me and confirmed that my edge was incorrect and would have to be redone. I couldn't figure out how to redo it on my own (this is why you need a teacher) and still have a nice curve so I decided to start working on the third cloud.


Fast forward to last Saturday when we had our monthly meeting. I spent most of the morning figuring out how to fix the fan outline with the help from my group. If you look at the image below on the right, you can see where the curved edge should actually be. It's not a small amount. Which meant, I had to redo the purple cloud.

Since we were discussing redoing sections, I brought up the straight edges of the fan and whether we should be covering the guideline. We shouldn't, so I added redoing the peach cloud as well. I wasn't very happy with my stitching anyways so I didn't mind redoing it. It looks much better now.

Before
After
I didn't waste time, the very next day I started unpicking sayagata. Luckily my back was very clean which made the process painless. What was painful was scrapping all that silk thread. Because of the creases it was unusable.

Back of sayagata cloud
I'm halfway thru restitching the cloud. One more session I think to finish the stitching and put in the holding stitches. However, I'm not done redoing sections. I plan on redoing the blue one as well as I'm not fully satisfied with what I did.


Am I sad I had to undo all the work I did over the holidays? No, not really. While I was working on these sections, I received a lot of comments from social media which I took notes of for next time. It just means I'll be able to apply them now. Redoing sections also means I get to put in more practice time, so I will just get better. 

Monday, January 14, 2019

On Hiatus

After the new year, I had one more week off and I started a few projects. However I haven't had time to sit down and write any posts. In fact since coming back to work in the new year I haven't been able to put in a single stitch. Work has been crazy and my hours have increased, so by the time I get home my eyes are too tired to do anything. I have some stuff happening at home as well, which cuts into my stitching time as well.

As I mentioned I do have some updates to share and I would like to share them with you but it will have to wait for things to calm down and get back to normal. It might be a few days, a week or a few weeks. Just right now, things are up in the air and I felt I should post something on here to let you know in case you haven't heard back from me. I know I got a few emails in the last two weeks that I still haven't replied to. I didn't forget you! I will get back to you as soon as I can.

Tuesday, January 1, 2019

2019 Goals

I did okay on my goals for 2018 despite the fact I didn't really work on my older WIPs. I was at least on point with my major goals.
  • TUSAL posts same as usual ---DONE
  • Stitch Hanabatake by Margaret Lee (Japanese bead embroidery) ---DONE
  • Stitch Japanese Landscape by Mary Brown (Goldwork) This one needs to be finished in time for Seminar ---DONE
  • Stitch on Bouquet from the Heart of Japan (Japanese embroidery) I want to make some sort of progress on this piece every month ---DONE
  • Start Hedebo Starburst by Jette Roy Finlay-Heath (Hedebo) ---DONE, I did start this piece but haven't shared yet as there isn't much to see yet. Lots of borders and prep.
  • Learn tambour beading ---Not even close
  • EAC Design course ---Way behind. I've only completed lessons 1 to 3 and haven't even started lesson 4.
  • Older WIPs. I'm putting these back in because they still need to be done. I'm hoping I do better this year.
    • Complete at least one page of Ink Circles' Bramble and the Rose ---One page is sort of completed, so I will mark this as DONE
    • Stitch the stonework on Teresa Wentzler's Tracery Dragons ---Not even close
    • Stitch the hemstitch border on Donna M. Olson's Fantasy Lace ---Not even close
    • Finish Katherine Drummond's Romantic Rosebuds ---Not even close
    • Finish Annie Penin's Fleur de Sakura ---Not even close
This year's goals will be:
  • TUSAL posts same as usual but this time I will do it on the last day of the month
  • Complete phase 1 Bouquet from the Heart of Japan (Japanese embroidery)
  • Complete Mermaids of the Deep (cross stitch)
  • Stitch on Hedebo Starburst by Jette Roy Finlay-Heath (Hedebo)
  • Start and keep up with the phase 2-3 piece Hiogi Fan (Japanese embroidery)
  • Stitch Blackwell Roundel by Jenny Adin-Christie (metal and silk work)
  • Stitch Russian Domes class (goldwork)
  • Stitch Colour wheel by Sew by Hand (Or Nue)
  • Work on completing the EAC Design course (lessons 4-8)
  • Learn a new technique
  • Older WIPS. I'm putting these back in because they still need to be done. I'm hoping I do better this year.
    • Complete at least one page of Ink Circles' Bramble and the Rose 
    • Stitch the stonework on Teresa Wentzler's Tracery Dragons 
    • Stitch the hemstitch border on Donna M. Olson's Fantasy Lace 
    • Finish Katherine Drummond's Romantic Rosebuds 
    • Finish Annie Penin's Fleur de Sakura 
I've added in a few new projects for this year, but as usual you never know what may come. I'm going to try very hard not to purchase any new kits as I feel like I already have too many, but again you never know.

No major trips this year, but I hope to attend the EAC seminar. This year it's hosted in Victoria, British Columbia. This is another city I've always wanted to visit as I've heard it is beautiful.


I signed up for a 2 day class only as I wanted more time to tour Victoria. Crossing my fingers I get my first choice. The plan is to fly in a few days earlier and drive around, nothing has been set in stone yet. 

I was hoping to go down to Atlanta this year to take phase 2 in Japanese bead embroidery at the JEC but it came down to choosing between it and starting phase 2-3 in Montreal. So that will have to be pushed again to next year. That's all I have for plans so far.