A Look Back . . .

Since I'm not working on anything new at the moment, here is a piece of Hardanger that was done quite a few years ago. It was a challenge but well worth the effort. Not sure I would do another one like this. 

Gold Work on silk.

Theodora (2007) stitched with single strands of silk. Some beading added. Original drawing.

Applique with hand embroidery and free-motion work. Original design

Enjoy!

Goldwork Poinsetta Kit

On November 8, I posted about winning a prize from Australia on Arlene's Blog. Well, I received it earlier in December. You can find this Goldwork Poinsetta  pattern / kit in her etsy store. I have a year to complete this project if I want it for next Christmas. Thanks again, Arlene!

#4 Textile Art From England

I was asked by the Newfoundland and Labrador Craft Council to do a photo essay for their newsletter of the textiles I saw while on the England tour. This is part of the essay showing photos from the embroidery guild tour.

Hampton Court Palace, built during the reign of Henry VIII, is the home of the Embroiderers’ Guild of the UK and the Royal School of Needlework. We were very fortunate to have behind the scenes tours of both organizations. 

The president of the Embroidery Guild of the UK gave us an entertaining lecture and display of work. I have many more photos but these were a sample from this part of the tour that I selected for the newsletter. 

Or Nué on Book Cover

Embroidery by Constance Howard

The Or Nué (Gold Work) is on the cover of a book. I could not get the photo to turn the right way even though it is rotated correctly in my files. Go figure! I tried everything but this is it. The piece beside the book cover was done by Constance Howard, a well known British embroiderer. She wrote The Constance Howard Book of Stitches, first published in 1979. I have this book and it is an excellent one for hand embroidery.

The box cover below is another stunning addition to the guild. It was a gift of Miss Hester Clough, founding member of the Mid-Wessex Branch of the Embroidery Guild. More information about this box is in another post.

Stump Work on Box Cover

Chinese Connection

I took a visit to Chicago's China Town. The weather was hot but the food was delicious! The area has a lot of little shops with all kinds of nooks & crannies. I did see some beautiful hand embroidered pictures of various sizes. I didn't particularly like the frames but that could be fixed. No, I didn't purchase one although I was tempted. Some were done in single strands of silk while others were done in magnificent gold work. I liked the koi fish embroidered in gold and silk.
I did take some pictures around the area of some ceramic tiles with Chinese motifs. That will be on a future post as I'm not set up to transfer pictures at the moment. You'll just have to wait and wonder (grin). On that note, here is some eye candy with a Chinese connection.
Chinese Coin Quilt
Chinese New Year
Chinese Lantern free pattern
Chinese Fan Quilt Block
Chinese Dragon
Art Quilt by Diane Wright
China Rose by Melody Crust
Chinese Embroidery
Chinese Silk Embroidery
Antique Chinese Textiles 
Photo Gallery
Asian Art - this one is not Chinese but worth a look. The pictures are beautiful!
The photo above came from here.
I did find out that in my search for Chinese hand embroidered gold work, that I had more success when I searched for Chinese metallic & silk embroidery.

Canada Wins Gold!!! Congratulations to all

To celebrate Canada's gold medals at the Olympics in Vancouver, here's gold worth stitching! According to Wikipedia, 'goldwork is the art of embroidery using metal threads'. This is a very specialized type of embroidery requiring a certain level of expertise. Using the proper materials is important.

The gold and blue sampler piece was stitched as part of a hand embroidery (level 5 ) course I took. It is worked on silk.

Inspirational pieces! Have a look at this sampler and this piece.







Check out these books on Goldwork:   
Beginner's Guide to Goldwork by Ruth Chamberlin provides a good introduction to Goldwork embroidery. This book explains the historical development of the style and includes a complete introduction to supplies and techniques used. The photos are excellent!

Goldwork by Valerie Campbell-Harding, Jane Lemon and Kit Pyman
New Ideas in Goldwork by Tracy A. Franklin
Metal Thread Embroidery by Jane Lemon

These are excellent books for Goldwork but I find them to be inspirational as well. You never know what will lead to a new piece of work!

Tanja Berlin has a free Goldwork Heart Design on her site. She has excellent instructions for anyone wishing to try out this particular technique. I've been fortunate to have taken a course with Tanja (not in this technique) and I hightly recommend her as a teacher.