Embroidery from the past

  
I've left yet another empty space in my blogging. I've just been lazy. My apologies to those who keep checking. At least that's what the hit counter keeps showing. 

I don't really have anything new that I'm working on that I can show you. I am plugging along on an incredibly boring knitted pi shawl. I'm too far along to let it go, so I have to finish it. I get maybe one to three rounds done in a day. It actually is progressing well and I think I have about 25 or so rounds left, with about half of them plain knit stitch only. Not too bad. Because it's all bunched up on circular needles, there's nothing that would show up in a photo. You can be sure you'll see it when it's finished!

I looked up at the wall a few days ago in my sewing room and noticed a past project (from 1999) that I would like to show you. You know how when you have something hanging for so long that it's part of the decoration and you don't notice it anymore? Anyway, Mary Corbet of Needle 'n Thread posted last week about her experience with the  bullion embroidery stitch and thread twist. So, I was reminded of this project.

I guess it was about 12 years ago that a friend who was a member of a small mailing list I belong to shared some photos from her garden. One close up of a flower from the garden really grabbed me. It's called a King Protea. I felt the need to duplicate it in embroidery.

First I enlarged the photo and printed it out on a plain white fabric in order to embroider right onto it. The center is made of really long bullion stitches with straight long stitches as fillers and French knots in the middle. I used the turkey stitch to make the long green and white things (there's got to be a better, flower related, word for it) that surround the center. For the pink petals, I took a wide organza ribbon and machine zigzagged (or maybe it was buttonhole stitch, I can't remember) down all of one side of long lengths. The whole piece is about 8" in diameter. 

Enjoy!

Debbie