crewel along

look what 2 million bought in 1920

2006-04-23T21:33:00.000-07:00

we had teh extreme good fortune to visit scottys castle in death valley last week. The vacation home of Chicago millionaires Albert and Bessie Johnson. It belongs to the park service now, actually it belongs to all of us now, so I think we should demand some of the most excellent crewel work. Anyway, it is a gorgeous home modeled after a moorish castle and the inside just bristles with Spanish and eurpopean antiques: paintings, furniture, tile, etc. But in a tasteful way, not in an audacious way like at that other McMansion builder's home Hearst Castle. Aloto f crewel work too. I could not find out if it was made abroad or done in California by local artisans. But just gorgeous. Feast your eyes.

On a more mundane note, I had hoped to bring along some thread and linen and actually do some crewel, but with all the rush to get ready to go, it was low priority and got left behind. But, I keep seeing fantablaloso things I want to create in my own style.....,so more inspiration.

a table runner in the lower music room..or was it the upper....there were 2 you know.

in mrs johnson's dressing/writing room.

a guest bedroom bedspread

drapes in yet another guest bedroom. I could not get close....a velvet rope at the doorway prevented entry. Teh bedspread and headboard where great too....but the colors are those drapes are out of this world.

the curtains in the kitchen....not crewel, but I love that fabric!

Pretty in Pink

2006-04-17T01:42:00.000-07:00

I had some time to stitch this weekend! This little number's supposed to look like a cameo broach.

While it's not a pattern out of The New Crewel, I did make it using a few of the stitches I learned from that book. The face is done in satin stitch, the hair is overcast stitch, the oval background is vertical lines of split stitch, and around the oval are a ring of french knots.

I used a chenille needle for this too, just as mimulus did below for her needle book, and I say YAY CHENILLE NEEDLES. For me they've been working great. What didn't work all that well for me was drawing my design on with pencil, and then stitching through it with almost-white thread. hello gray streaks. I mean the thread was sort of white/gray to start with, but I think the pencil definitly added to the gray in parts. Oh, well. I may try washing it to see if I can get it any whiter, but generally I'm pleased.

Oh yeah, and it's sewn onto a piece of pink corduroy because the plan is for it to become a couch cushion, I just have to find a good fabric for the back first...

Pesto is served, dinner party done!

2006-04-09T22:36:00.000-07:00

P1010049
Originally uploaded by mimulus7.

It turned out well, for my first project. I think i have the courage to do something more ambitious next. The bookbinder stitch was easy; making the backside neat, not. The satin stitch was fine for neatness..you can bury your anchoring knots under the infill and within the layers of felt, butI fail to see how you can hide knots while doing a french knot.

Also having a chenille needle made a huge difference for the better. I had to go to three stores before I found them though and I bought the last package they had. There does not seem to be alot of hand embrodiery being done here...the fabric stores only have quilting/sewing notions and I did not want to drive all the way to Petaluma where there was a needlework shop.

free patterns?

2006-04-04T19:03:00.000-07:00

I am looking for any free beginner-type crewel patterns! i'm probably the last person who doesn't have the new crewel book. (as my credit card about it).

I think I might try just a section of this jacobean pattern at the embroider's guild.

Does anyone know of others?

I'll also post them over at the "How can you be so Crewel?" group blog. Anyone reading, please join over there too, if you want to share other crewel-specific links, tips and finished work~!

2006-04-04T07:25:00.000-07:00

Here is my warm up project for the crewel-along. I blogged about it here. You'll have to link to the blog, because for some strange reason, even after repeated tries, I can't get this photo to post.

Welcome to the crewel along!

2006-04-03T09:17:00.000-07:00

arts and crafts crewel handbag
Originally uploaded by mimulus7.

Whether Jacobean tapestry, May Morris or Katherine Shaughnessy is your muse, you are welcome here. Email me and I will add you to the crewel along. Lets have fun sharing ideas, projects, techniques. No timeline, no pressure.

"...an old world air clings to the place, an atmosphere of quiet, and some of leisure, in which the workers, not harried to death, have space to breathe, and to enjoy something of the repose and beauty of the world ..." William Morris speaking of Merton Abbey, the guild he established for artisans producing his designs. From Lesser Arts p.5-6