This is Trouble

Trouble came to my next-door neighbor's house the other day.

Today Trouble found our house.

And crowned herself Queen.

 

And then she crashed.



And then she woke up and played, trying her best to wear Cuthbert out.

Trouble is chasing Cuthbert's leash, thinking what fun it would be to drag him around the yard.

 

Cuthbert keeps two eyes on Trouble.

Emmy, who was not born yesterday, keeps her distance from Trouble.





Cuthbert was eventually worn out by Trouble:



But, being a cat, Cuthbert eventually woke up and decided to go looking for Trouble.

But Trouble knows all about camouflage and laughs and laughs at Cuthbert as he tries to hide. Ha. Ha.

Trouble likes to taunt Cuthbert, staying just a few feet past the end of his leash.

Trouble soon tires of cat companionship and decides to go in search of his home.
Is it here?

Hmmm. Nope, don't think so.
Where O Where did I leave my home, wonders Trouble.

Trouble waits for the neighbors to come home from the day's festivities. And bring her some FOOD.

And Cuthbert, now that the coast is clear and he has me all to himself, hops up on my lap for some "me" time.

Yes, that is Cuthbert. Standing on my lap. Waiting for pets. And wondering if Trouble will find him again.

The End.

 

Trouble is a little kitten who has been the victim of wanderlust. She’s about 5-6 months old and just showed up the other day. She’s very friendly and the neighbors are keeping her until they find where she lives. If her owners don’t show up, they have found another home for her in the neighborhood. But she is very happy with the neighbors.

     Meanwhile, we will all play with her and spoil her silly.

 

My B.E. Pincushion Factory

These are my Pincushions for Drizzles

Here in my Millefiori Brazilian Embroidery factory, I've been making them for other embroiderers to use while they are stitching - nice firm cushions for holding your needle so the drizzles will have good support. You can purchase them at my Millefiori-BE website or contact me via email.

I ran out of pincushions at our recent BDEIG Seminar and there was enough interest that I could re-open my Pincushion Factory:

The new and improved Pincushions for Drizzles are the same low price, but have been re-styled with cheery colors (read: "bright") and even better cushions for holding your needle.

To thank you for listening to my blatant advertising, I'm sharing one of my little designs here with a stitch you might like to try (I'll even show you how). It's called a "Barbed Bullion".

You'll thread two contrasting colors of floss into your needle, make (approximately) a 1/2" fabric bite and wrap the needle 4 times (bullion...). Then instead of going down and out at the end of the wraps, go down and out about 1/2" farther away. This makes the "barb". You might need to tug one color or the other to even out the floss.

I usually use Iris or Glory, but you can use any floss weight you want. The idea is that you use half as many wraps as usual (e.g., 4 wraps will give you the equivalent of 8 wraps when using two threads).

Now, I have another idea!   Look at that stitch. Think about caterpillars. You can use a heavier weight and a longer floss bite and make a nice striped caterpillar. See?

Of course, that little fuzzy critter would probably require a few more strands or colors of floss. But you get the idea.

That little Barbed Bullion flower is from a book I wrote a while back called "ABCs for Brazilian Dimensional Embroidery."  I collected all of the flowers from the book and a lot of the butterflies and bees and put them into a picture frame design (suitable for an 8"x10" frame). The design is called #904 "Alphabet Flower Sampler" and I also sell the print with all instructions in my Millefiori-BE shop.  Here's a picture:

Most of the flowers on that design are stitched with Iris and Glory.

By the way, if you enjoy using lighter floss weights, my most recent book, #955 "An Artist's Garden" is loaded with tiny traceable designs stitched with lighter-weight floss. Here's one of the designs from the book. Because it's close to 102 degrees here in western Oregon today, I thought you might like some watermelon to cool you down (or stitch...)



Stay cool, everyone!

Rosalie

I Do Not Understand Cats

A picnic dinner outdoors.  Absolutely convinced that she is A People, too, Emmy patiently waits for her portion. Rich points out that she is even wearing her bib:

Cuthbert, on the other hand, is obviously "A Cat Who Could Care Less" ...

Rosalie

Brazilian Dimensional Embroidery Veggies

Asparagus found growing in my Brazilian dimensional embroidery garden (no weeding required).

This is from my Millefiori "Veggie Patch" design (#829), a pillow top (or small kitchen quilt to hang on the wall next to the spice rack). OK - I'm still working on the website ...
     You'll also find instructions in my newest book An Artist's Garden by Rosalie Wakefield (and can email me any time for a copy of either the book or the design on fabric - with all instructions).

The asparagus is stitched with a Nova bullion. Glory lazy daisy stitches are added by bringing a smaller threaded needle up inside the bullion (you can do all sorts of things when you begin with a basic Brazilian dimensional embroidery stitch). 

The leaves are Glory straight stitches, couched with a technique I call "Carrot Feathers" -- a fly stitch across the longer straight stitch that has an extra long tacking stitch.  Then a second fly stitch is worked in the same way, but in the opposite direction, exactly across from the first fly stitch.

"Carrot Feathers" are an excellent choice, even when you are stitching carrots (big call for that!).   Lookie . . .

"Carrot Feathers" also make lovely filling when you need to fill an area with fine growth.

Rosalie

Showy

My Showy Evening Primroses are showy in the MORNING as well as in the EVENING.

On a cloudy morning, I can look out the window and it appears that Someone has turned the lights on outside. They absolutely GLOW! 

Occasionally, my Showy Evening Primroses are viewed as camouflage by Emmy, here patiently lying in wait for little canary finches or chickadees to drop by for a swim.

Pathetic.

Rosalie

What? I'm a Forest Cat....

 Well, what?

Oh, hai ... It's ME, Cuthbert.   Can you find me?

This is my FOREST, deep in the wilds of the Pacific Northwest, in search of tasty morsels (aka, birdies) which always seem to elude my tempting wiles.

See?  There I am!

In the FOREST.  I am a Forest Cat, after all. The ony difference is that this isn't Norwegia ...

Sort of a forest anyway. I had to put on my hiking boots and I labored long and hard to climb this mountain, over these rocks that have pierced the tender soles of my feet. You can see my climbing safety harness as I face the wilds of the back yard, undaunted -- a vision of courage in the wilds of my own personal forest.

Emmy, who could care less about The Big Guy, guards the portals of their home, tactfully suggesting that Cuthbert should just stay out there in his forest.

Rosalie

Casting-on with Z-twist Floss in Brazilian Dimensional Embroidery

This is the cast-on stitch made with Z-twist rayon floss that we use for Brazilian dimensional embroidery. The cast-on is looped over the needle with the left hand. Looping with the right hand will untwist the floss and make a flat stitch. Yes, there is a definite right and wrong side to a cast-on stitch, the same as there is to a bullion:

I looped the bottom cast on with my left hand. I tried the top cast-on stitch by holding the floss with my right hand and looping over the needle. Notice how the floss untwists, plus the stitch isn't nearly as pretty.

This is the same principle we use when we wrap bullions. When we use Z-twist floss, we wrap the needle in a clockwise direction so the plies of the floss will not untwist and flatten out. See:

For the top bullion the Z-twist floss is wrapped counterclockwise around the needle. Notice how the plies are separating and making a flatter stitch, not nearly as pretty as the properly-wrapped, clockwise wrap bullion at the bottom. Here's a picture from another angle:

You can see that the top bullion (clockwise wrap) even has more dimension. I used Nova and my #15 milliners needle so I could get the best picture for you.

This is basic Brazilian embroidery, but we are getting lots of new stitchers right along, so I hope you'll be patient while I share with you the things I've learned from other teachers and would like to pass along on this blog.

One of the really great places to ask questions - and a location many stitchers new to B.E. are finding - is our BDEIG Online Chapter, a Yahoo group. You can click the link here, or over there on the left side of the page (if you're reading this online). I've also mentioned that people can sign up to receive these posts in their emailbox, too -- there's a place to sign up, also over there on the left side of the page.

OK, back to casting on. This morning, one of our stitchers wrote that she is having a really had time casting on painlessly because of carpel tunnel. So I tried to figure out a way to keep her stitching. It actually can be done! I wrote a lot of this to the online group, but repetition is supposed to be like knowledge reinforcement
     I finally figured out how to do a proper right-hand cast-on, but also found that I really had to think outside the box (or hoop) since I've been doing the left-hand version for so long. I'm also adding some other cast-on notes while we are on the subject.

This is The Little "e". It looks just like a lower-case "e" when you do cursive handwriting. When you loop properly with your left hand, you'll have that little "e" and you want the tip of the needle to pass through that loop from front to back - just like in the picture.

In Brazilian embroidery we cast on with the left hand because of the Z-twist rayon floss. Just as there is a right and a wrong to wrapping bullions clockwise or counter-clockwise (the no-no) using Z-twist floss, there is also a right side and a wrong side to a cast-on stitch, as you'll agree if you study that picture above with the red floss. Right-hand looping over the needle will "untwist" the Z-twist causing the strands to separate. Here's a better picture:

See how the floss separates?

But sometimes a situation arises where you need to make another choice and still be able to do this beautiful embroidery in the proper manner. I finally figured out a way to get the same end results, but using your right hand to loop the floss over the needle. (I used a pen because I needed my hand for snapping pictures.)

  ...or, in lieu of a pen, my right hand pointy finger:

--always remembering that you need that little cursive "e", here I will lift my looped finger up over the tip of the needle and slip the loop over the needle, front to back. (This would be MUCH easier if I just made a video...)

Back to the purple pen! Use the pen to form a Little "e". Lift the pen waaay up...

...and then up over the tip of the needle!

Easy as pie!
Here are a whole group of right-hand cast-on loops:

As I mentioned earlier, it’s best to get in a habit of looping with your left hand, but sometimes we need to learn a different way of doing the same thing.



And now for all of the extra little hints and tips. Whenever I finish making my cast-on stitches, I place the floss behind the needle before pulling through. This prevents those little kinks that sometimes happen. (It also helps to pull all of the floss through the eye of the needle and then back it out to a short floss tail before finishing a cast-on stitch. You've probably noticed that the more loops you put on the needle, the tighter and more twisted the floss gets. Changing gears - reverse and forward - will solve that little problem!)

Finished, and settled in place - ready to make another one!

Here's another handy dandy hint. Have you ever had to undo a cast-on stitch, but you didn't want to cut it out? Well, you can pull all of the loops off in one easy process. Remember this: The last place where you came UP is where you pull OUT.

When we make our needle path through the fabric, we often talk about A (up from fabric), B (into the fabric), C (back up again to start the loops or wraps) and D (down and out to finish the stitch).

"C" (that dark arrow above) is the last place where you came UP. Slip the eye of your needle under that thread (it's the carrying cord for the loops or wraps - you can see the cord running through --indicated by those 3 arrows), and pull it up, or away, from the rest of the stitch (in this case, I'd slide the needle eye to the right).  The carrying cord pulls out of the stitch and all of the loops fall right off.  I did say "handy dandy", didn't I?

One more thing – you can always take loops or wraps OFF the needle before finishing a stitch, but it you want to add more, you’ll just have to start over.

If you have questions, be sure to drop me a note - in the comments below if you want. I love to talk about B.E., as you have probably already noticed.

Rosalie

 
 

What? Two Whole Weeks??

Well, I've been away ... busy at our BDEIG Seminar, teaching, learning, visiting with some of the nicest people ever.  Thanks to you who mentioned this blog. I hope you'll sign up ... that little space over there on the left side will bring these messages into your email box each time I write.

I'm planning to write about a new flower I just thought up, will include instructions and a photo, and I'm also going to do a picture tutorial on our detached buttonhole stitch -- something most of us avoid with great enthusiasm. I guarantee you will like it when I've finished showing you some tips and tricks.

Meanwhile, I've taken the days since I've been home decomposing, or de-compressing, or whatever it is you do when you've been playing at working for a fun-filled week. I've been catching up in my garden -- the weeds were enthusiastically having their way with my yard while I was gone.

You all know I have a chickadee tree. If you look at that cloud of subjects over there on the right, you can read all about them. Well, we have lots of little chickadees hanging out. I know they are babies because they are busy dive-bombing Emmy. Silly Emmy, thought she might catch one, but I outsmarted her and lured her into the house and shut the door.

There were so many baby chickadees that I just pointed the camera and snapped pictures. Of course, I deleted several that were just leaves. But that's one of the babies up there!

Next to the chickadee tree I have a cherry tree:

It's a three-way graft - Van, Royal Anne, Lambert. This year it was LOADED with cherries, so I pulled out the stepladder and the pruning shears. I prune a high branch, pull the cherries off and go on to the next branch. While I was up there, I looked over and saw one of the baby chickadees happily munching on a cherry. (There are enough for all. I picked 2 gallons from this one tree.)

Usually the bluejays telegraph their friends and family that the cherries are ripe, but this year, I put up the Bluejay Discourager:

They never came.

Again, thanks to all of you who come to visit this blog. I'll do Brazilian embroidery next ... unless the cats do something silly.

Rosalie