Stump-work Started on Lady Pilgrim!

Another Sneak Peek of Rebekkha:

The Eggplant and Acorns!

Dimension under way!!!!

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Call today and sign up!  

1st Lesson to ship out on November 1st!  

Kelly's Stump-work Sampler

Good Morning, All!

A Few of my Favorite Things Sampler

I have posted several pics of my Stump-work Sampler piece, above, on Stitcherie, and got to thinking it's about time to blog about it.  The idea came to me last summer (August 2010, to be exact!), when doing some research on Stump-work.
Research?  That's a fancy justification for loading up on books at Amazon.com! Ha-ha! LOL!
Anyway, looking through the books, it became apparent that the majority of the work was coming out of Australia, and was worked on linen, in the form of Traditional Embroidery.  What's up with that?  Hum?
We could work the same type imagery into Needlepoint!  What about a Sampler, of sorts?  A sketch was begun with my vision starting to form.  What should I do? Paint a Canvas?  Well, maybe later...I wanted to get started, immediately!...and it was after 11 pm!
There I was pulling out a piece of Ecru 18 Mesh Canvas, drawing the outlines for the Sampler, pulling threads, figuring out some of the stitches.  Stretcher bars?  I didn't have any the right size!  AGH, Darn the luck!  Not to be stopped, I found an old plain wood frame that was roughly the same size...?  Out came the stapler gun, and I was in business! (Don't worry!  
First time Colleen Church saw the piece, she whisked it away from me and put it on a set of proper stretcher bars!!!)  
Here is the beginning with first few backgrounds started:

and then with Rooster in oval, standing in his Silk Rose Garden:

and Rooster today:

One of my goals with the Sampler was to show the same image in several different forms or stitching techniques.  Hence the Pansy in Silk Ribbon, Silk Floss and dimensionally in Needle Lace on wire!  I will continue to blog about and show different sections and why I added them to the Sampler.  Oh!  I collect Roosters, and they are all over my Kitchen and Family Room!

So, that's all for now, Folks!

Happy Stitching!

Conspicuously Absent!

Hi Everyone!  I am back!  When I signed in to Blog just now, I already had the title for this post in mind.  But, truly, I was blown away to realize it's been more than 2 weeks!!!  Yikes!!  Well, I did have a good excuse...
I have traveled to teach back-to-back weekends...July 9th in Austin...July 15 & 16 in Portland , OR at In Stitches, plus a Thursday class in Houston this week at Needle House.!!!  
FYI...That is A LOT of teaching! 
There were fabulous students in all three locations...and such gracious nice women.  Please don't ever think I am complaining. It is truly an honor to be able to travel and teach my designs.  But I am officially exhausted!

 The pictures above were taken at In Stitches, Portland, OR.  There I am looking ghastly and gray next to
cute, adorable, effervescent Lori Hennessy, owner of In Stitches.  She is a delight and a fabulous Hostess!

And This is the only picture which turned out from my class at The Needle Works

in Austin, TX.

This pic is with the lovely Colleen Church, Owner The Needle Works

So, my trip to Austin had the dual purpose of being the first official planning meeting for 

The Elegant Thanksgiving Series,  

for 

Stitch Along 

with Kelly!

Here is the Elegant Rebekkha...

just look at her gorgeous threads and a few sneak peeks at preliminary stitching!:

so join us for this fabulous series....

Call The Needle Works and sign up today!

1-800-851-6931

  

Invitation to Stitch Along!

Crazy Quilt is DONE!

Hi All!  Crazy Quilt is DONE!  Here she is:

Fancy, Crazy Quilt!

I experienced something last night that I have only felt when finishing a great book...

I was Sad.  Sad that my Crazy Quilt Square was over.  Truly.  I have never felt this about a needlepoint piece.  Usually, I am turning cartwheels that a piece is over and done with!  Seriously.  Last night, I felt this sad tug at my heart-strings.  Do I have other projects to start?  Yep!  Old pieces that still aren't finished? Yep!   But somehow, 

I just couldn't make myself do anything.  I held Crazy Quilt on my lap all evening and just kept looking at her!  Am I pathetic or what?

John popped in a movie, Tue Grit with Jeff Bridges, and that fabulous young

girl actress...I just watched the movie and held onto the Crazy Quilt!

 Buttons, Beads & Silk!

The Beaded blue & green seam was the final seam!  It runs from bunny down the whole length of the mish-mash red checkerboard on the right side.  I added a couple of funky colored buttons attached by silk ribbon.  I love how the buttons go with the Bunny Garden, It looks like they just kind of spilled over!

Fan in full Glorious Regalia!

Figuring out the seams for the Fan was a bit tricky.  They had to be skinny seams in order to fit in the tight triangles.  That automatically limited the stitches to only linear.  Then I wanted to use colors which contrasted with the triangle on either side.  Once I figure out the twists and beading I was a happy camper!  

Notice the beaded Fly Stitch Seam which runs

between the velvet Paisley and the Celadon Stripe.  In the previous posting it was a simple black silk twisted cord.  It was bothering me...something wasn't right.  Is it the Fly Stitch?

Maybe I did the stitch wrong, so out it came.  Then I stitched it again, being sure to count 

threads for precise placement.  Something was still wrong...then I tied a few beads.

Wha-lah!  That was it!  Once it was beaded, it just looked wonderful!

Featherstitch and beading finished! 

I just love the playfulness of the featherstitch in contrast to the rigid checkerboard underneath.  Yin & Yang in harmony!

The piece is now on display down at The Needle House on Bammel Lane in Houston, where, 

I will be teaching the Crazy Quilt as a workshop

beginning July 21st, 2011.

Call The Needle House for details:

713-522-9704

So, if you live in the Vicinity, come check out the piece and sign up!

I will miss the Crazy Quilt for awhile...

but soon it will be a gorgeous pillow living on my bed!

What will I stitch next?????

  

Crazy Quilt is Almost done!

I have been working like a demon since mid-day Sunday!  We dropped the girls at sleep-away camp and,  you know, that does not mean 'slow down and roll 'em out of the vehicle'!  No, 'dropping' them at camp took about an hour and a half and we went through 7 'stations'.  The final being leaving them in their cabins with the Counselors and new cabin-mates after making their beds.  John and I high-tailed it outa there! After stopping for a nutritious Taco Salad at 'the Bel', we were finally on our way back to Houston!  I pulled out the Crazy Quilt and haven't put it down since!!!  Here are some pics:

Here is the over-all view.  There are only about four seams left to Embellish!!!!  Nearly there!!!

This is a close-up portion of The Blue Ribbon Seam...full of beads and crystals!!!

Beaded Tassel Trim! 

This seam was so much fun! It started as a simple chain stitch in brown...Way too boring!  I  had a scrap piece of the hot pink silk left-over from stitching bunny's garden, and decided to weave that through the chain.  Better.  But, something was still missing?  Hum?  I was stringing some beads for another area, when it occurred to me to add a beaded tassel fringe to this chain & ribbon!  That was it!  Eureka!

The Fan in almost full Regalia!  I have three seams left to do!!!

Featherstitch with beading...this section is still a work in progress...more feathering and beading needed!

This is a close-up portion of The Pink Ribbon Seam...full of beads and freshwater dyed pearls!!!

At bottom, the Beaded Wheat seam!

Well, I just wanted to keep everyone upto date.  My goal was to finish last night.  I stitched until 3AM on Sunday, and 2AM last night.  Sunday night was productive late night stitching.  Last night not so much!  I hated everything I had stitched from 11:30 TIL 1 AM, 

then spent an hour 'un-stitching!'

ARGH!!! 

But, in the morning, it all looked wonderful.  I fixed what I had not liked last night!

And, it's nearly done.  So my goal was off by 24 hours!  It will be done tonight!!! :~)

Happy Stitching! 

Quickly, more CQ & Stumpwork this time!

Hi, again, Everyone!
If you saw this post earlier, check it again!!!...I just figured out what I was doing wrong to make my pictures so blurry....and was able to correct it!  So the pics are much better
and show the stitches very well!!!!!!!
Olivia & Grace go off to camp tomorrow.  They are creating 'piles' of clothes on their made beds, that they want to take.  Actually, they are being quite diligent....so I snuck off to blog-post!  :~)


Just wanted to show you the fruits of the last 2 nights labor!

 Mr. Bunny in his Gorgeous Ribbon-work Garden!

The stump-work bunny was a wee bit of a challenge...yikes!  I decided to give him a garden first because I was intimidated to stitch him.  As I was working with the silk, I was noodling on how to tackle him and what shape I really wanted him to take.  He really looks amazing, especially considering that he is just done in padded satin stitch!  Oh, and the dimensional ear is picot needle-weaving!

Daffodils, finished and with beads in the greens, finally!

Embellishment on the fan is under way!!

The embellishment is a bit intimidating to me.  Why?  Because the background stitches are so lovely and perfect, that my 'Needlepoint Psyche' tells me that the piece is done.  I need to think out-side of the box, like oh perhaps, a Crazy quilter!  Then let loose and start stitching!

All for now!

Happy Stitching!