Thick Necks

After a week to give the group time to catch up, I went to work on the head and neck of the Heron. The head and neck is made up of couched passing using the Italian shading technique, which is similar to or nue.

I did take progress shots as I was working but lost all of them. Just a warning, if you don't want to lose your pictures, don't take them while using Instagram's direct messaging feature. I was working on my piece while chatting with Pam and sharing progress shots with her. By the time I realized it, I was finished putting in all the rows.

As I got closer to the body, I started realizing that I would need more rows of passing than mentioned in the instructions to cover the neck. Below you can see Becky's version from Instagram. I was very careful to follow the curve of the neck so I'm not sure what went wrong. The nice thing with Instagram is that I'm able to get feedback from the designer within hours. It seems that earlier patterns were done by hand, new ones are printed, so maybe I got a bird with a thicker neck. I've checked in with the other ladies from the group who all ordered kits at the same time and two of them are going to run into the same issue.

I originally planned to work on my Japanese embroidery after putting in all the passing, but figured since I made a hairy mess, I should clean it up. The instructions suggested using the lasso method for plunging, but I just used a crewel needle since there is no danger of ruining the fabric.

I moaned through the entire process but thankfully it didn't take that long to plunge all the passing and tie them down.

Here is a close up of the stitching. He came out okay, but I really wish he had a thinner neck that herons are known for. If I could have I would have shaved off a bit at the back of the neck on the bottom so we can get an exaggerated curve.

I didn't only work on the heron, but also did a bit of beading. I'm officially out of beads now. I have a small area in the upper left corner to do. Now to wait for the replacement beads. Last I checked the tracking number for my order, my package had arrived in Canada and was processed by the carrier. So hopefully I will get them before end of week.

Introducing the Heron

During the summer Becky Hogg showed off her latest design on Instagram. If you'll remember, last year a group of us were doing a stitch-a-long of of Becky's kits. I was working on Foxy, while Natalie (Sew by Hand) and Catherine (Hillview Embroidery) were working on the Owl. As soon as we saw the Heron, we decided that this would be our next stitch-a-long.

This time around, our group has grown to include two more members: Carolyn and Pam. They don't have a blog but you can follow them on Instagram.

The plan was to order our kits once they were available and plan for a start in October. Things got delayed a bit on account of many of us being busy with other projects, but we finally agreed to start this past week.

As soon as I saw the pictures on Instagram, I really fell in love with the color palette. The blues goes very well with the silver. The design also includes a material I never used before which is silk wrapped purl. I always like to try something new when I pick a kit.

Our first goal is to put in all the padding and stitch the legs. It just so happened that the instructions said to put in the beak before the legs, so that was done as well.

(click on the post to see the animation below)

So here is the beginning of my Heron. The next step is the head, but I will give the group time to catch up, while I work on Hanabatake.

Speaking of Hanabatake, I'm almost done. I need a week, at most two, to finish. In my last update I mentioned planning to order more beads. That's been done, now I just need to wait for them to be delivered and hope I don't run out before then.

Growing like weeds

Last week, I spent most of my time beading the background on Hanabatake. I put in about an hour a day, except for Sunday when I was able to spend more time, on it.

(click on the post to see the animation below)

Is it just me or it's looking like weeds crawling among the flowers? At least it's pretty weeds. I'm hoping to get to the half way point by end of week. This means covering the upper right side by Friday. Let's see if I can meet my goal.

Here is a disclaimer: If you're currently stitching or thinking of stitching this piece, and want to stitch the background the same way, I haven't gone through all the beads in my kit yet and it does look like there is a lot left. However, I'm not taking any chances and plan on ordering extra. Luckily, the beads are a standard Toho seed bead so I was able to find a source for it. I'll keep you posted on whether I run out.

Long Weekend Progress

I meant to post this yesterday but got derailed. Canada celebrated Thanks giving over the weekend. I'd been really looking forward to having three days of stitching. I ended up only having a day and a half but that's okay.

One of the projects I wanted to work was my seminar piece Bearded Iris by Alison Cole. I put in the last piece of felt and cleaned it up a little. I had to take out some cutwork and chipping that was applied with a single thread (we're supposed to use a doubled thread). I also cut out any outline stitches that were showing.

I also put in the last petal. I forgot how fiddly these things are. I'm looking at the overall shape and it looks okay, I just hope I'm able to hide those stitches when I go in to outline the petals.

I finished the leaf I had started in class and plunged all the passing. These are not the regular Japanese passing I'm used to. These suckers are slippery! I didn't realize till I started plunging the other end that I had pulled too hard on one of them and it slipped way to far. I had to carefully pull it out and re-couch it. It did unravel a tiny bit but it probably won't show unless you look at it too closely.

It looks good from the front, but I still have to clean up the back. I'll leave the boring work for the days when I'm too tired for a long stitching session.

I started beading the background on Hanabatake. I had initially started on the lower left corner but felt like I was crowding my beads too much and took it all out. I re-started this time on the lower right corner. They're not as crowded as my initial start but it's still more densely beaded than the original design.

I've decided that I like how it looks and will just keep going. I only hope I have enough beads to do the entire piece. If I thought the leaves took a long time, the background will feel like it will take forever. I've gotten into a rhythm where I stitch a scoop of beads at a time. It's not a huge amount, about 20-30 beads I think. Once I finish those, if I still feel up to it, I would get another scoop. I'll have to keep at it if I want to finish before the end of the year.

Here's a project that hasn't appeared for a long time. It's been almost a year actually. I've been finding that my eyes have been too tired lately. I think it's because of the materials I've been stitching with. I decided to test it out with some cross stitch. Every time I felt like stitching but too tired to work on my bigger projects, I would take out Bramble and the Rose and put in a few stitches. I've been doing that on and off for about 2 weeks and it seems to be paying off. I just might be able to reach my goal of finishing one page this year.

For this week's stitching plan, I want to try to put in some time on Hanabatake between today and tomorrow. Maybe reach the lower left corner?

This weekend is my monthly Japanese embroidery meeting, but instead of a single day we're doing a retreat over Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The group is also meeting Monday but I have work, so I will join them at the end of the day. It will be great to play hooky from work on Friday at least and spend the entire day stitching. My plan is to work on the cords that wrap around the bouquet's paper. That should keep me busy and if I get bored I have a ton of twisted thread to make for the stems.

Hanabatake - Part 10

On Sunday, I had a very lazy morning as I was resting from Saturday's fair and the drive back. After lunch I sat down to put in a little progress on Hanabatake. I never imagined that by the end of the night I would put in the last bead on the last flower. You read it right, all the flowers are done! I made a little animation to celebrate.

(click on the post to see the animation below)

Looking at it now, I think it's those little flowers that are really what attracted me to this piece. Especially the light pink.

I couldn't help taking a micro shot. I think this will be my new wallpaper on my phone.

Now I just need to fill in the background with seed beads and it will be done. I think it's time for me to take out the instructions and take a look at them. If I remember there are some steps that might require a sewing machine. Since I don't own one, I'll have to figure out how I will handle that.

Every Stitch Counts

I haven't had the chance to really put in a lot of time on Hanabatake for two weeks now. I'm thinking back and it seems like I'm putting in less stitching time than I did last year. I seem to remember making more progress. I'll have to figure out why. However, I did try to put in a few stitches every other day. By doing that I was able to finish the upper right corner.

This means I'm one step closer to finishing all the flowers. Now I just need one good stitching session (or many smaller stitching sessions).

Tonight I'm off to Kingston to attend the Cataraqui Guild of Needle Arts fair being held tomorrow. It'll be great to see stitching friends who live in the Ontario area. If your attending, look for me at L'atelier de Penelope's booth. I'm looking forward to this year's fair, as they will be having demonstrations and an auction.

We're driving back on Saturday, so might or might not have stitching time on Sunday depending on how tired I am. So no stitching time, but I'm looking forward to the stitching marathon on the coming long weekend for Thanksgiving in Canada.

Weekend Progress

We had our monthly Japanese embroidery meeting. We spent it going over the flax leaf effect on the wrapping paper. I didn't get far and it all has to come out as the shape isn't exactly right, but still I got the idea. I'm going to give it another go this weekend.

Bouquet from the Heart of Japan - JEC

We also talked about the next phase. Our aim is to finish phase 1 before March-April when we plan on bringing in a teacher to start the next phase. I decided to do a combined phase 2-3 piece that way I'll only have to pay for one kit. I've already picked my piece out. This time we'll have homework to do before the teacher comes so I'll have to work hard on finishing my bouquet before March. It's either that or buying a second frame.

Hiogi - JEC

Sunday I spent it working on my other Japanese embroidery project. I'm at the halfway point. I think I need one or two more sessions to get all the flowers done. After this, I'll have to put in some scattered seed beads in the background which would take another session or two. 

Hanabatake - Margaret Lee

I started this piece at the end of December 2017. I'm aiming to complete the embroidery and finishing before the end of December of this year. I have a few things starting in October so I hope I don't get too distracted.

Hanabatake - Part 9

Why part 9? Because the leaves are all done! I spent the day at home Saturday and powered through the rest of them.

There are still a few leaves here and there but I can now work on something that isn't green and gold. It will be a relief to add more colors to this piece.

Not to say things are moving any faster now. It takes some organization keeping track of the different bead combinations for the smaller flowers.

Good thing I have a plan already. Before starting, I marked out my color chart so I know exactly which color combination I'm using it.

It helps me stay in the flow and not have to stop and consult the pictures in the magazine.

The piece is moving along nicely.

Leaves, leaves and more leaves

Even switching projects I can't get away from them. We had a long weekend in Canada and I took advantage to work a bit on Hanabatake. The plan was to work on it one day and go back to working on my Japanese embroidery piece (where there are still leaves to stitch). Things were going so well that I never switched. Here is what it looked like from the last update.

I started on Friday afternoon, putting in seven leaves.

Sunday, I put in 15 leaves.

Monday, I put in 18 leaves.

It was very slow going. There's lots of starts and stops, which I dislike immensely. Each leaf takes about half an hour or more to do. Surprising since they're so tiny. I have about 15 more leaves that I can stitch before I move onto the smaller flowers. There are a few leaves that I've skipped as they are behind flowers, so they'll have to wait.

With this weeks progress, I'm confident that Hanabatake will be finished before the end of the year. I'll be happy to finish it. I'm all leafed out.

Hanabatake - More Leaves

Things are still progressing steadily on Hanabatake. I've been working on a small section every night. I'm still a long way off from finishing, but things are progressing much better. I'm not falling in love with the piece again, but I am liking it more than I have in the past few months.

(click on the post to see the animation below)

Here is what it looks like now after three evenings of stitching. I have maybe one more opportunity tonight if I don't get caught up with anything. I have to make brownies for an office BBQ we're having tomorrow.

Tomorrow night I pack my bags as we're leaving early Saturday morning. Seminar doesn't start till Tuesday but we decided to take our time getting there so we can make a few stops along the way. We're visiting Quebec City, Rivière-du-Loup and Moncton before arriving at our final destination on Monday evening.

I scheduled some posts to auto-publish next week. I will finally unveil my EAC board challenge piece I embroidered. If you want to follow along on what I'll be up to next week, as always, you can do so on Instagram.

Hanabatake Came Out

For those who had been wondering: What happened to Hanabatake? The last time I showed a picture of it on the blog, I had finished all the bigger flowers and decided to start on the stem. Things started to go wrong when I was trying to decide whether I should do all stems first (this would involve lots of starts and stops which I hate) or do stems and leaves as I went. The technique itself is fine, I know what I need to do, the problem was in the bead combinations.

The instructions in Inspirations are pretty vague. There are two combinations for the larger leaves and each one uses three or four different bead colors. There is no mention how many of each bead to use for each line and the pictures are not good enough to make out what beads are used. So after stitching that lone green leaf on Wednesday, I decided to do stems and go back to leaves later. I had also made a commitment to stitch at least an hour a day on Hanabatake until it's time to leave for Seminar.

Easier said. I kept my word for one day and skipped the next two. On Sunday morning, I realized that doing only stems was not going to work. I needed to make a decision on those leaves. I set up my desk for beading and laid out the beads to be used for the two leaves deciding to simplify them to just two or three bead colors each.

That worked, I was able to get more of them done in a few hours. I more than made up for the two days I skipped. I've also decided to ignore how the leaves on the model were stitched as they completely disregard the actual line drawings on the fabric in the kit. I think things will go much smoother (I hope) from now on.

I really wish I had more space in my room. One of the reasons why I didn't touch Hanabatake for so long is that I'd put it away to clean up my workspace to do goldwork and never took it out again. If I had the space to keep it out, I could just sit when I have time and put in a few stitches. Instead, I have to spend a few minutes taking out everything and setting up my desk for beading. There are days when I can't be bothered. I still don't have a dedicated space, but it's no longer sitting in a drawer. Right now, it's on my desk, in plain sight, waiting for me to come home and work on it.