A Finished Piece

Embroidery is, by nature, a time-consuming business.  Its intended to be – to spend endless hours absorbed in a pleasant colorful task is an enjoyable thing for millions of people.  But sometimes when working towards a goal it seems like it will never get done; when the number of stitches done is exceeded by the number of stitches yet to do and that proportion seems like it will never change.  So when a piece is finally completed, when it is stitched, assembled, lined and embellished there is a wonderful feeling of triumph and accomplishment.  I was going to wait to assemble all the pieces until I had finished all the embroidery but I really needed to see a final product to give myself a boost.  So it is with great delight and no small amount of happy dancing that I present to you the Moghul Elephant Scissors Sheath and Emory Fob.  For those of you who like the details, it is done in DMC stranded Floss on 18 ct Aida Cloth.   More in this series will follow shortly.

As for now, we are off to Pennsic until the 15th of August.  Hopefully I will come back with wonderful stories memories and pictures. 

Traveling in Style

We are almost ready to start packing for the Great Journey North.  Every year we set up on Merchant’s Row at the Pennsic War at Cooper’s Lake Campground in Slippery Rock, PA for 2 glorious weeks of camping in our palatial Medieval pavilion,  This is a kind of international annual convention for the Society for Creative Anachronism.  That’s a group we belong to that recreates the Middle Ages and has been a huge source of inspiration for my needleworking for years.  We will be selling our Dragonscale Jewelry and Phillip’s beautiful carved horns and other treasures in Merchant Booth #72 (right outside the back door of the barn – in case you’re looking for us) .  I will be showing off my latest Egyptian blackwork creation in the Arts & Crafts Exhibition as well as teaching my class on Medieval Egyptian Clothing from Period Sources.  If you will be at Pennsic please drop by and say hello – the teapot is always on.

One lovely advantage of a long trip like this is the endless hours in the truck that I will have to do nothing to do but sit and stitch – no TV, no phones, no distractions.  I am so close to completely my first set of smalls – the Moghul Elephant series.  I have two versions of biscornu – a large elaborate one and a smaller simpler version that only need backgrounding and detailng.  I have not yet started the glasses case but that will be along shortly and then the set will be done with box lid to follow soon after.

Because I really hate to be without a project, I am already deep into designing my next series. I have several that are vying for my attention.  One is sailing ships, another is celestial sun and moon, a third I am toying with is a cat in a garden.  And then there’s that peacock idea that keeps pecking away at me, or was it a stylized lotus.  LOL At any rate by the time I return I will hopefully have finished the baby elephant and will be moving onto the next round.  I will keep you all posted

Inspiration

Even while in the midst of a major project, I find that its important to always have something waiting in the wings - some new design cycle that will pick up smoothly when I finally finish what I'm working on. I have been thinking for a while about doing a series with a Celestial Sun/Moon theme. Those kinds of images have fascinated me since I was little and delighted in looking at the Proctor & Gamble Moon and Stars logo. I have experimented with one drawing after another, but a recent discovery has thrown all the old designs out the window. I have discovered the Prague Astronomical Clock. The colors, the nesting of circles, the symbols and motion are just what I had in mind. Now to spend a while translating it into a design. I love it when a plan starts to come together.