Stitching AND finishing

Since the start of the year I have taken up some stitching again, some needlepoint pieces from my late mother's stash and one cute little cross stitch piece. For the needlepoint there have been some supply problems from one of the needlepoint yarn makers (like, they have not shipped anything for over 2 years due to the economic downturn), and as a result I was at a standstill for a while on my large Iris.

So while I waited for more yarn to come in, I also completed some socks:


. . . and the back of my Rayon Blue Heron sweater (with help from our new kitty who loves to chew the yarn in twain. But that's another posting . . . ):

Blue Heron Rayon sweater with bust shaping. I really, really
like the shaping on this pattern - it's slinky and is going to be just fabulous
for a spring or summer event. Starting again on a
smaller size is going to make all the difference.
And with that nice lace pattern, I think this means I get to treat
myself to a nice, lacy camisole??

Finally, about early March, some yarn finally arrived and I was able to finish my large Iris!! I was able to take it off its frame, too, and this is a good thing because I found yet another piece of my mother's that will fit perfectly on this frame. I had fun playing with choosing the colors, as she had received it as a gift with DMC embroidery thread as the yarn/thread for it, and she just couldn't figure it all out. She had started stitching the background with 1 strand of Persian yarn and it was really hard for her to see it. I got to play with new and pretty colors back in January, so this is going to be something all of my own when I finally start on it. Probably this summer.

In the meantime, I finished stitching the background of my large Iris which was the only thing missing:

I am so happy with how this piece turned out. With Persian yarn, I could combine strands from the old and from the new dye lots and the RH final corner looks seamless.

Now comes the blocking portion of it, which I'm not going to do until I decide how I want to frame it. Which, I admit, may be a while; I have a ton of needlework already to hang in our house, and this piece will block back into shape. I know - I've done it a hundred times with pieces much more cockeyed than this one.

The other stitching piece that I finished recently is my little bird. This was one of 3 birds of a series I bought when I learned that the Danish designer, Eva Rosenstand was going out of business. Her company later found a buyer, but they no longer weave their own linen nor dye their own threads. This latter, especially, is sad for me - her view of colors was unique in all the world and only her kits made prior to 2002 or so will have her original vision to them. Fortunately I have several of her kits, one of which involves the rich Dutch blues, that I will begin someday. It will match the one that I finished a number of years back.

ANYWAY. This little bird is the final in the series of 3 - the first was the Wren in the Furze (yes, there is a nursery rhyme that starts "The Wren, the wren, the king of all birds/St. Stephen's Day was caught in the furze"); the second was the little bluetit; and this one is a little brown bird in a Cherokee rosebush (or its Danish equivalent):

Here s/he is! Standing so proudly, and the leaves which are yellowish-green and colors I would not ordinarily use are really quite a complement to her brown-ness and the pink of the roses.

The beauty of this design is the simplicity of the color changes - the bottom petal on the top rose just looks like it is folded up a little bit. And what suggests this? The sudden color movement from mauve to pink with a single strand of light grey backstitching to delineate the edge of the petal from its back. The human eye does the rest. People asked me frequently "Surely you must design your own patterns?!" to which I only have to show this picture to explain that there are some of us who stitch and bring pictures to life, and some who can imagine and create. I am in awe.

I have also been making great strides with the other Iris picture, the one that looks more modern? Not cubist, but not as realistic as the large Iris by Lee Designs. It has no shading, but each of the petals and leaves is its own patch of color. Which makes the entire piece very striking. Strides of it are here:

Part of what gives this piece its beauty is the intensity of these blues and purples. I needed more of the dark green DMC needlepoint yarn, and it did not go as far as it needed to. The Rolaframe is a doozy to set up - it takes 2 people to mount a piece of needlepoint onto it, and many were the times my staff and I spent setting one up for a customer.

And one more thing: my infamous swan piece is finally done!!