Top butterfly wing

Last nights post created several comments. Stumpwork is fascinating to stitch, precise, and I am very persnickety, and I do hope you are not too bored to watch! I am definitely following the designer instructions as there are so many elements to this piece. Lastly, after these are worked on the batiste in the hoop, they will be wired to stick out from the piece.

That said, tonight I started the top butterfly wing, and couched the wired to the fabric, and then buttonhole stitched all around the outside.

Bottom butterfly wing

I finished the padded satin stitch tonight and then added the white seed stitches around the outside edge. This piece will now be set aside until another lesson to fill in the outline stitched areas. Tomorrow night I start the larger wing section on the right hand side.

Wired effects

I have set the frame aside and am now working on a piece of batiste in a hoop. I really enjoy working the wired effects on a piece of stumpwork, so bear with me during these parts! LOL First, I traced the leaf and the two parts of the butterfly wing. Next the wire is couched down around the outside of the design, and then buttonholed with a single strand of the DMC thread. Next, one side of the leaf is done and then the other, using the outline stitch. The wires will remain in place for attaching to the surface of the piece later on.

Next, repeating the wire attachment for the bottom butterfly leaf, I couched, then buttonholed the outline. Then I did an outline stitch for the wing segments, and have now started the satin stitch to fill in the outer sections to match the body of the butterfly on the frame.

Although delicate in appearance, these components will be fairly stable when added to the piece due to the wires.

Final bullion flowers and a ladybug

Today, I finished the bullion flowers on the bottom right, and then moved on and did a ladybug.
The bullions are done with six strands of the DMC as are those at the top.
The ladybug has a padded felt body. Then, padded sating stitch is worked in two directions on his body. The head is split stitched and then padded as well. French knots create his spots.
He is pretty cute!
I have also started working on the stumpwork leaf that is attached at the top, when it is completed. Details tomorrow.

The leaves are done!

I finished all the base leaves. All three colors of green are done. I then added the vines at the bottom on the right. Tomorrow I will add the bullion flowers on these stems, and move on to the ladybug!

The third green is started

The second green is in! I also started the third green on the far right leaf. It adds the final depth to the leaves.

Another shade of green

I am working on the next value of green, or the medium dark one. I got quite a bit of it filled in, and will finish the last couple sections tomorrow night.

Back from the fair-Updated link!

I took some pieces to the fair! Bargello Symphony won the Judges Choices Award in Amateur Charted Needlepoint. The Shaving Brush, by Sharon G. won a lst for Painted Canvas. ATulip Study, by Kathryn Drummond, won a 1st for Charted. The Holly Topiary won a lst for Amateur original design!
I am one happy camper!

Photos can be seen by clicking on the project name on the right for A Tulip Study. Other pictures are at my old blog.

http://360.yahoo.com/needleartnut

The next color is in

Jane suggested that I twist some of the thicker strands to keep the Appleton from apprearing fuzzy. Some of the Appleton is thicker and thinner, and I had not thought to twist it a tad. In person it is not really fuzzy, but I will implement that suggestion for the strands that are like that. Thanks, Jane!J

Judy--you will have to be patient as the wings are a lot later....still lots to do!

I did finish the next color of the green Appleton! It has been a very busy weekend, so I did not get as much done as I thought I would, and tomorrow I will start the medium greens.

If it's fall, it must be leaves

Now, I am working with the Appleton Wool again. I am doing outline stitches for all of the leaves. I have filled in the veins on all of them, and then the palest leaves. These are the overturned leaves and the top of the leaves. There are three more colors to fill in. It will all be done with one strand of the Appleton wool as well!

Is it a bumblebee?

Yes, his little head, complete with little blue bead eyes, and pink and black body are the start of a bumblebee! He is split stitch around his head and first band of his body. Then, we did the padded satin stitch on both parts. Next I added the eyes. Then, bullion stitches for his body. All of these were done with one strand of DMC floss.
He will get wings in the next lesson--yes, I peeked!

The Bullions

Tonight I stitched in all the Bullions in the top section of the piece. They are done in two different colors of DMC pink floss. I practice a few before stitching on this piece as it had been a while since I done any! I like the way they look....hope you agree!

Butterfly closeup

Here is another photo and you should be able to enlarge this one. Not sure why last night's would not enlarge for you.
I started working on the next step which you should see tomorrow night.

p.s. Nathan got all of his camera equipment, phone, and other personal effects back today!

Lesson Two

Finishing all the leaves was the end of Lesson One. Before I tell you what I did today, I again, would like to compliment Luan Callery on an excellently organized and detail stitch guide. It is very easy to follow, diagrams are clear yet detailed. Nice job!

First, I outlined the wing with a single strand of black DMC using the split stitch. Then using the outline stitch, again with one strand of black, did the teardrop in the top of the wing. Then the wing is filled in with a satin stitch, one strand. Next, outline stitch to shape the rest of the lines on the wing. The seed stitch is used to make the specks on the wing with a single strand of white.

Next the body and tail are worked with the split stitch and around the head using the black. Then three strands padded the body and head. Then a single strand of black going in the opposite direction using the satin stitch. Antenna are outline stitches and french knots in a single strand of, you guessed?, black DMC. Lastly the legs are worked using straight stitches. The rest of the butterfly is worked in a later lesson.

You will remember that stumpwork usually requires that all the background design is put in before the dimensional pieces are worked and attached. This does prevent smushing-fancy, technical term-all the wired pieces.

More leaves and some tendrils

All the rest the leaves that I have added are done in closed Fly Stitch using one strand of DMC floss. I also did the tendrils, and they are worked in the Outline stitch, again, using one strand of DMC floss.
By the way, Mom received her birds yesterday and has them all posed in her house! I hope they had a great flight!

He is home!

Thank you for all your support, emails, and comments about my photo-journalist friend!
Nathan Weber is safely back in Chicago today. I talked to him this morning. He does have to return to Minneapolis on Monday to retrieve all of his equipment. We called the jail's property room to find out why he could not obtain that before Monday and were told that the building was locked to the public for the duration of the RNC for security reasons and everyone would have to wait until then. We are uncertain as to what will happen with the charges against him and his peers.
Here is a link to the National Professional Photographers Association website that gives some information about the uproar this has caused.
http://www.nppa.org/news_and_events/news/2008/09/object.html

If you google "nathan weber arrested" you will find many articles and more news stories published about this.

Thanks, again, for all your concern.

Tomorrow, there will be pictures of Summer Dream again!

Question answered and a very unusual post

Judy asked me the size of this piece, and I wanted to let you know that the overall piece is cut 14 inches wide and 20 inches long.

I did not get to stitch tonight. A young friend of mine is a photo journalist who went to Minneapolis to take photos of the convention. As he was arriving Monday, people were protesting the war and he and his friends went to take pictures. He is in this video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ktyEPQHbvM
He was arrested and charged with gross misdemeanor rioting. He is pictured at 1:20 on the video and it clearly shows he was loaded down with camera equipment and after the cops ran up, he is walking away with his hands up. Yet, he was struck in the head and leg, hand-cuffed and taken to jail along with a multitude of other reporters and photo journalists. He is the far left photographer on the brick wall at 3:08. There are many other clips on You Tube from the protest that detail how many others were treated the same.
He was not charged with anything for the first thirty-six hours, but held with all the others.
After 52 hours in jail, he was released tonight and we spent time with his father, and some other friends. We will all sleep well for the first time since Monday.

Having known this person since he was fourteen years old, knowing his work ethic and commitment to providing photographic images, not opinions, through his free-lance photography, I am appalled by the lengths that law enforcement went to during the protest. It is obvious that he was carrying about twenty pounds of camera equipment, and did have a gas mask on due to the tear gas released by law enforcement on the entire gathering. It is also obvious that he was only walking, and moved away as not to appear to be aggressive. His father has talked to him, just moments ago, and he was in fact, moving away and telling the officers he was a photographer.
Approximately 60 protesters did in fact cause malicious harm to property. I am not condoning that at all. They should have been arrested. The reporters and photographers that were recording the proceedings is another story. There was very little news coverage about the entire event, yet alone, the disclosure of the "round-up" of over 200 reporters/photo-journalists.
I normally do not soap box politics at all. Knowing the events, as they unfolded over the last days has left a very bad taste about what is really going on and how little we are actually allowed to know. I wonder what is happening to freedom of the press and our right to know both sides of a story.
One last note, he will be able to recover all of his equipment, after the convention is over.
I am very proud to know this young man and I encourage him to continue his capturing the moments of our lives, whether they are pretty or not. Enough said.

Back to stitching on Thursday.

One large, three little

As you can see, I added the medium size leaf on the inside curve on the upper right. Then, in the middle, I added three small leaves in the light green. These are all being done in the closed fly stitch with a single strand of the DMC floss.

Oops.....and a few more leaves

Last night, after blogging the new picture, I realized I had made a mistake! The leaf I had done was in the wrong color. After pondering this, I decided to leave it as it is. It was supposed to be a shade darker than it is, but I decided to move on. I added two more leave in the top section.

Tomorrow, I will do the next leaf down on the vine, and start some of the smaller ones, even further down.

Today, I dropped a few pieces off at the fair for judging. I will let you know Friday if we had any ribbon pieces this year......keep your fingers crossed!