The Fifth Cushion....

The Hound And His Mate....

I Hope you will Not be surprised, Dear Readers, to learn that the fifth cushion design also would need to be altered by the addition of the Mate for the Hound. As tempting as it was to just stitch the design as it was printed, with just the single hound, I knew I would always wonder where his mate was! I began the framework for this cushion before I had even finished the squirrels cushion, in part because I wanted to find out whether there was enough of the dark red silk thread to stitch the entire outline. As you can see, there was. And you might not be surprised to learn that I started drawing the second hound before I even started to stitch the first.... just in case there was a need for also moving the first one.

I drew the hound at about the size I wanted it to be in the chart I had printed out, so I could get an idea of what would need to be moved out of the way.

Here you can see the position I wanted the hound to take. And this is where things get complicated. Because the graph paper of the drawing is not the same size as the printed chart, (it is close but not exact) the number of squares in the drawing (ie stitches) is too many to fit in that space. So I needed to count the number of stitches for the length and height of the space on the printed chart that the hound needed to fit into... and redraw a chart to stitch from that would fit within that size.

 Here you can see the new drawing compared with the first drawing. It is smaller in the picture, but has the right number of stitches to fit into the space available on the chart. 

 Here I have taped the drawing onto the chart, with the front paw at the spot where the stitching needs to start. It doesn't look right here because the scales are just a little different, but once it is stitched it will fill a larger space!

 

Here I have begun to stitch hound number one!

 

And before long he was finished!

And the second hound is begun....

 

 

 

You can see that the proportions look right in the stitching.

 

 

Both hounds have been stitched and the outlining in the dark red is begun.

 

And here you can see both hounds outlined and the blossoms are begun!

 

 

And more flowers! I have started to design the expanded corners too.

 

 

And even more blossoms! 

And while it might seem like that didn't take long Dear Readers,

 it was actually two weeks of work! 

But the Fifth cushion with the Hound and his Mate

 is looking the way I hoped it would!

 

Stitching Update....

 

Tiny Stitches... 

It Has been a while, Dear Readers, since I showed you any stitching project progress! That is because until recently there hasn't been any progress. From the beginning of December until the middle of January my energy was devoted to the Christmas Card and little stitching projects were strictly forbidden as way to distracting! I had been making good progress on the Tiny Mille Fleures Tapestry pillows, little kits by Mary Corbet of "Needle 'n Thread" blog. Her designs were meant to insert into jewelry bezels or make into scissor fobs.... but I wanted to make them into dollhouse pillows! this meant extending the frame to a square shape and adding details in the new corners. Above you can see where I left off at the start of the Christmas Card work. These are stitched on 48 count silk gauze..... and believe me it is challenging! It requires very good light and a magnifier, which I use for all the stitching over 30 count. Even so, the evenings are long and too dark to work at this time of year. And when I was delving back into the petit-point projects I came across one of the Baktiari carpet inspired pillows I had started.... and it being on only 40 count silk gauze, I gave it a try in the evening light.

You might recall that I had decided to make several pillows

 by taking parts of the design from the still not quite finished carpet

 (it needs the fringe added once it is removed from the frame)

 and adding a small edge border. 

The first one was not square.... 

a detail I overlooked when beginning the project!

The second one I am trying to make closer to a square shape.

 

I still think it is off by one stitch....

 but keeping the design balanced meant I had to compromise.

The stitching goes quickly compared to the tiny Mille Fleures designs.

 

As you can see I am using a different colored

 section of the carpet for my second pillow.

I still have not decided how the border should go.

And meanwhile, I did get back to work on the Mille Fleures pillow.

I started adding in the bright red background color,

 beginning in the upper right corner.

And I finished designing the added flowers for the new corners.

 

And because I was getting close to the finish of the first pillow...

I decided to stitch the framework for the next one.

 

Here you can see I have finished adding

 the flowers to the new corners of the first pillow.

 

And here you can see the bright red 

background is all completed too!

It was very very challenging to get all those

 red stitches located and properly stitched!

Because the stitches are so tiny

 it was nearly impossible to notice missing stitches.

 I had to consult the chart very closely!

Holding the stitching up to bright light helped too!

(Those missing stitches showed as a tiny prick of light!)

 

 

And then I was off and running with pillow number two!

Here you can see I didn't even stop to take pictures

 'til after the bunny was nearly complete!

And then, Dear Readers, the usual thing happened....

I wanted to make changes to the design!

*sigh*

(Why does this happen so often?)

I looked at the pillow shape 

with that lonesome bunny off to the left side... 

and thought "surely where there is one bunny another is nearby!"

 

I got out my graph paper and colored pencils

 and sketched a companion bunny using

 the approximately same amount of stitches tall and wide, 

but in a slightly different position. 

I tested it the best I could against the chart....

 

The graph paper is almost the same size as the printed chart....

 just a tiny bit smaller, so the actually stitched bunny will be a little larger.

 But it looked as though it could work

 without making too many changes to the blossoms.

Close enough that I went for it!

 

Here you can see both bunnies have been stitched.

It remains to be seen how the blossoms will have to shift...

 I will address that as I get to them!

 

Here you can see I started with the blue blossoms

 that would not need to move at all.

This is so I could have a good reference for counting

 the stitches in order to place the yellow blossoms.

 Some of them needed to move a lot.... 

most only one stitch to the side.

Later I added an additional one on the top of the bunch.

 

Adding more blossoms....

The blush pink ones to the right of the

 new bunny mostly had to move over!

 

Here you can see the blossoms are mostly done

  and I have begun stitching the greenery.

It is impossible to tell at this point,

whether or not the new Bunny has improved

 or spoiled the design balance.

With the addition of the blossoms in the corners, 

there is a shift of the colors overall.

The two tan bunnies in the center

 with the bright yellow flowers

 might look imbalanced when finished.

But even if it does, 

I think I will be glad I added him in the end!

So that's what I have been doing, Dear Readers,

 in this cold winter weather....

 Stitching teeny tiny flower blossoms

 and warm brown bunnies!

Tapestry ...

 

Progress...

I am Sure you can imagine, Dear Readers, that I have not neglected my Tapestry stitching during the past few weeks. In spite of the very hot weather (which has subsided, thankfully) I managed to get a lot of  stitching done! This required that I continue with designing my own additions to the Tapestry, and the options were wide open. Should I add another figure (a page, perhaps?), or more animals?, or more landscape...? A castle in the background?..., a forest...? or a Formal Garden....? The space available was not large, and I needed to stay with the theme already in play.... the flowery meadow and Ladies... so I decided the easiest and most necessary part was adding another hound. You can see her above. I only had to make a few adjustments from my sketch as I stitched... mostly with where exactly the shadows needed to be. But this left still plenty of space to experiment with. I had already decided that this was becoming a bit of a "Sampler" for me.... seeing if my design ideas worked okay when stitched. And because I was unsure about what else to add, I decided to stitch the flowery background as close to the original kit design as I could.

And perhaps you recall that I had added

 a whole range of my own flowers to the original designs...

The little white daisies and the tiny bluebells

 were not part of the original designs.

Here you can see the current Tapestry

 next to the already completed one.

Because they are so obviously a "continuation" of the theme,

 I am assuming they were once a much larger Tapestry

 that was cut up into smaller pieces at some point in its history.

 Only some of the pieces have survived.

Which allows me to add parts that "continue" the theme in a larger sense.

I followed the flower placement as nearly as possible

 to the kit instructions before adding my "additions".

This way the new Tapestry would look similar to the first one.

Here you can see the two together again.

I wanted to be sure the flower placement was balanced.

But this was really just delaying the challenge

 of adding my own designs.

At some point I just had to add something!

I decided to add a trellis with a Rose growing on it.

Here is my sketch.... 

set beside the Duchess...

Just to try to get the placement correct.....

I am trying to keep a color balance in the overall design...

And I am trying to work with the greens already in use.

And adding the trellis...

which seems so formal and rigid in this meadow...

But perhaps we are at the edge of the meadow...

(because I wanted to try a tree...... a little Medieval Tree...)

I had to make several sketches before I could start to stitch this!

And again, I am staying with the colors already in use...

 just trying to make the tree look "Medieval".

I really think I will not be able to tell if I am successful

 until the background has been added.

You must remember that it will be a midnight blue

 background like the other tapestry.

The colors look one way on a white background,

 but have a reverse effect against a dark background.

This means the darker colors will "disappear"

 and the lighter colors will "jump out".

But it is way too late to change my mind! 

I must just keep to the design...

(I have to keep reminding myself to trust the charted design!)

But I didn't chart the background flowers.....

I am just adding them in as balanced a way as I can...

and "borrowing" the designs from the other tapestry chart too...

Here they are all added!

Ready to begin the background stitching!

There is a Lot of background to stitch!

And when finished it will join the other

 Tapestry "fragment" in Rose Thorne Cottage.

This one is only 5.5 inches square. 

It is way too small for the Huge Old Castle walls!

I am working my way up to designing one

 large enough to be worthy of the Castle.

So you can see Dear Readers,

I am making Progress on the Tapestry stitching!

More Stitching....

 

Great Progress...!

It was Dreadfully Hot all last week, Dear Readers, making it impossible to even Think about working on anything at all, no matter how little! The temperature was in the nineties farenheit nearly every day. A few thundershowers passed by every other day, but most of them missed us and we remain much too dry in this part of the Valley. Where I work, only 35 miles to the North of here, they have had twice as much rain as we have had all month! It cooled off on Monday night and has been quite comfortable, even chilly in the 50's in the morning! Needless to say, I got very little done last week. But I actually surprised myself by finishing the stitching on the brocade gown.... just a few stitches at a time! In the above picture you can see where I had gotten by Saturday morning. My chief problem at this point was figuring out the folds for the cloth as it "pools" on the ground. My first sketch was very inadequate!

Here you can see the chart before I had

 refined any of the details at the bottom.

And while I didn't get the design all figured out before stitching more... 

This picture shows the final chart. 

I had to really try to see where the folds would fall

 and where the highlights would be the most pale

 and where they would fall in the Lady's own shadow.

I started by completing the highlighted side of the gown

 because the folds there were the simplest.

I worked the blue trim at the hem first,

 and then brought the folds down to meet the hem.

It stayed pretty much the same as the original chart.

The tricky part was the front center folds...

 the cloth needed to angle differently than the tapestry Lady's gown,

 so I needed to really think about placement of the folds.

And as always, at a certain point,

 I needed to just start stitching to see if it would look okay...

 and after a while it is too late to make changes!

And it was so hot... I was taking a lot of breaks

 and forgetting to take any pictures!

So here the front fold is completed.

And I think it works pretty well!

This cloth has to feel heavy... not light and flighty!

And then starting to work the "shadowed" side of the gown.

Notice I stuck one of the spring meadow blossoms in

 to overlap the hem a little bit...

(it is hard to spot!)

And then I needed to make the hindmost folds

 look natural and fit in the space...

The Lady in Waiting is Not treading on her Mistress's Gown!

And I did the last shadowed fold after I had done the farthest back one,

 the better to judge how they related to each other.

It needed to be shadowed, but highlighted enough to look like a fold.....

Yes, I was overthinking all these parts!

And now the gowns are finished!

But the "Tapestry" is far from done, Dear Readers!

I have plans for the remaining space...

 as well as all the lovely "meadow flowers" to add.

But here you can see the "tapestry" sections together....

And I am aware that there is all sorts of extra canvas above the Ladies....

The only limitation is the space it needs to hang in!

So all in all, Dear Readers,

 while it seemed like only a little more stitching...

 I actually made Great Progress!