Tropical Flower Garden

As many of you know, I sold out of my book "Tropical Flower Garden" this summer. I've had so many requests that I have decided to do a new printing. I'm hoping to have the book available before the end of the year. Thanks, everyone, for your support. I'll post a notice here as soon as it's ready.

Rosalie

New Stitch Technique for Brazilian Dimensional Embroidery. . .and the Cats

It took me most of the afternoon to work out this little stitch (yes, it's very tiny, and yes, I dreamed it last night), and it will be part of one of my BDEIG Seminar 2013 classes next June. I named it Staccato - and there's a reason (if you go to Wikipedia.org and look up the derivation of the name). I guess this is a teaser, because I won't say more until it's actually part of the final design. It is fun, though, and it's easy to do.

Meanwhile, here's another teaser:

Cuthbert.
       He has the "good" spot.  (and I need to buy a can of white spray paint and give that poor chair a makeover...)

Emmy, meanwhile,

has to nap on the cold, hard floor.

Does Cuthbert care?

Maybe. Maybe not.

Rosalie

 

Teacup of Kitten - Brazilian Dimensional Embroidery for the BDEIG Scholarship Quilt Project

Each year the Brazilian Dimensional Embroidery International Guild, Inc., asks for stitcher volunteers to sign up and complete a quilt block for our Seminar Scholarship Fundraising Project. I wrote about it a couple of days ago, but you can read it again at this link. ALL of the money received from ticket sales goes towards scholarships at our June seminar in Portland, Oregon, and one scholarship will pay for ALL of the week's classes, or registration, or other seminar expenses.

 

For our 2013 seminar theme, "Tea, Thyme and Lavender", we each received fabric with a design area of 6"x6" and the outline of a teacup, along with a color sample of the fabric that would be used to complete the quilt. 

 

 

My teacup is finished. 

The flower on the teacup and the rosebud are both a made with one of my original Millefiori stitches. I named it "Archie" -- it's an accidental drizzle that arches. Latin: Archie R. A. Drizzle. Instructions are in my book Take A Stitch by Rosalie Wakefield. You'll see the book at my Millefiori-BE website. (or you will whenever I stop playing with this blog and finish posting to my website).

    Here's a picture of the book cover:

Those purple flowers in the lower right-hand corner are also made with "Archie". The flower is named "Olde English Rose". Here's a close-up of Archie:

Notice that I enjoy adding beads and sparkly threads to my embroidery. Dimensional embroidery is just that much fun! You can add whatever you want and you can be as creative as you wish.

 

Here's a close-up photo of my Archie Rosebud, just one "Archie" drizzle that zigzags its way back to the fabric and is held in place with a tacking bullion:

 

The picture above is the border and background fabric that one of our Colorado BDEIG chapters has chosen. Everyone - both BDEIG members and anyone else who enjoys beautiful art quilts will have a chance to win this beautiful quilt when it's completed. Visit our BDEIG website often to stay updated, but the final photos will be published in our February 2013 newsletter, The B.E. Wrap-Up.

Rosalie

 

Wouldn't You Think . . .

. . . that for as long as I've been doing Brazilian dimensional embroidery, I would know to have enough floss to finish a project?

I must have forgotten. Using Cire 119 to stitch a cute little orange kitten for my BDEIG Scholarship Fundraising Quilt project square, I was just sure two strands would be enough.

No.

And I looked high and low, and the only other dye lot I had made the kitten look like a little raccoon when I added stitches (No, I didn't take a picture - I "deleted" the stitches).

So I regrouped.  In this town we have 3 needlework stores (lots of nice fibers) and a quilt store that carries rayon floss. I made a field trip. And found this pretty thread called "Fuzzy Stuff" and am now stitching a blue-gray (Right! I also didn't have any Cire 146 or 147) kitten.

You can read more about this quilt in yesterday's post. I'll send more pictures in a day or two ... now that the kitten and I are on the same wave length.

Rosalie

 

I Will Now Brazilian Embroider a Teacup

Here's my project.

Each year the Brazilian Dimensional Embroidery International Guild, Inc. (BDEIG) has a fundraising project for scholarships to our annual BDEIG Seminar. You can read more about it here. Our theme for the year 2013 is "Tea, Thyme and Lavender", so our Scholarship Quilt Committee is planning to make a wall hanging. Members sign up to stitch a block.

We can stitch flowers or anything else that we choose. So I went in search of pictures and templates, floss, beads and pen:

I will stitch a flower and the "anything else" will be a cat, tucked comfortably into the teacup. I've done this a time or two before:



This little kitten was inspired and adapted from a graphic I found on the Internet. I stitched the kitten and teacup as part of a gift for one of our guild's outgoing presidents. Several of us stitched our choice of designs. I knew she liked kitties, so that's why a kitten was my contribution.

One of our BDEIG Scholarship Fundraising Projects was the "Critters in a Jar" quilt and so I stitched a similar design with a kitten holding a label:

I like this kitten best and will probably use it. I'm not the best artist when it comes to drawing animals correctly, but if you think about it -- everything is just an oval or a circle or a triangle. When you look at it that way, you can draw almost anything! Cire is great for silky kitten fur and can even be brushed a bit.

Speaking of cats ...
     I wrote to our BDEIG Online Chapter the other day, asking about a remedy for those little finches that keep crashing into our window. You might have read about them here. Several people suggested window stick-ums, but I found another solution. It's temporary, and VERY moveable, but when it's in place the little finches scatter to the four winds:

Yes, it's Cuthbert.
    Not only is the view just like "Television for Cats", it also saves the finches a lot of headaches, concussions, whatever.

Oh, wait.  We were speaking of flowers, somewhere in here. I just happened to wander my Back 40 the other day and found some interesting things in bloom.
This is a hollyhock in my side yard with a bee visiting:

The hollyhocks are so tall that I just pointed my camera UP to get this picture:

The coneflowers are blooming. This year I remembered to tie them up.

And this is the seed pod:

But this is my favorite picture today. It's my polyantha rose named "The Fairy" and each batch of flowers is like an entire bouquet. It's been growing in my Oregon garden for over 30 years. 





Maybe I should go shopping for some NEW roses. But I think I will stitch my teacup first.

Rosalie



 



If I Wanted To Embroider A Finch

It's not like I don't have enough material:

These little critters are always flying into our picture window and knocking themselves silly.  I can tell by the "BONK!"

 

My kitty Emmy can always tell, too. But I raced outside just as Emmy was on her way to explore that interesting sound, and I found this little birdie, almost with "+'s" on its eyes.

So I rescued him.  (All together now, say, "aaaaaaw!") I placed him on top of our barbeque, out of Emmy's reach, and ran to get my camera. He wasn't planning to go anywhere any time soon.

 

And I promised myself I wouldn't post any pictures if he toppled over on his side, feet in the air, a real goner.



 

But he re-grouped and flew off after a while. Emmy slept in the lounge chair the entire time, oblivious to the fact that her "wannabe dessert" was within a short hop.

 

And I was lucky enough to end up with some pretty close-up photos ... just in case I ever decide I want to embroider a finch.

Rosalie



 

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