Always playing catchup...

I guess I should just resign myself to posting whenever I have a few projects finished! I just don't think about the blog until someone points out that I haven't posted in some time, or some other reason happens.  Time just runs too fast!

Since last I posted, I finished the capuchin hood that was commissioned.  I entered it into a Regional A&S, and got a 17.5 on it.  It is split stitch throughout, but since it had no actual goldwork it was pointed out to me that it wasn't 'quite' Opus Anglicanum.  I'll be recreating this on a different color fabric, with the goldwork, for our Kingdom A&S this year in September.

I'm a member of a secret swap called Nobelese Largesse, which pairs 50 people up with one another to create beautiful and useful things for each other.  I drew a lady name Cateline la Broderesse, whose persona is 14th century.  Her arms are purple and white, and one of the things she stated in her information document was that she would carry an aumoniere and a paternoster.  So that's what I created.

 

The red is split stitch, the purple is klosterstitch, done in alternating directions, and it also has couched goldwork on this side.  I didn't put it on the other side to prevent it from catching on clothing as it was hung from a belt.  The cords are fingerlooped braid from the same silk I used to embroider the pouch, and it was lined with purple linen.  The paternoster was made of amethyst and goldtone filligree beads, with a goldtone cross, strung on four lengths of the same purple embroidery silk and embellished further with a purple tassel.  There is even room for the beads to move as they are being counted.

This next project was for a friend who was getting married.  She requested a wedding hankie with several of her favorite motifs - her household badge, a treble clef, the Kingdom badge and a fluer de lis, which is one of the charges in her arms.   In the center she wanted a spiral with a single leaf.  All of this was done in split stitch.

I've been doing a lot of split stitch lately and haven't had a chance to do much blackwork, but I will get back to it since it 'is' my favorite.  I do have to say that split stitch is faster to work sometimes though.

One of my most recent finished projects was for our Embroidery Guild's annual Gulf Wars projects to gift the Royals with something pretty and handmade.  This year it is hankies, and I created a pair of hankies for Trimaris, a pair for the East, and a single one for Calontir (by mistake - I saw purple and gold and had Calontir in my mind, when I was actually supposed to do the East!) Generally speaking I make these with Kingdom symbols, but seeing that the main symbol on the East is a crown, I went with their Royals' personal arms instead.

The only other project I can think of that I did since October was to make some War Horn belt tokens.  This is our Kingdom's award for prowess in large battles at war, and this is the regalia for that award.  This one is also done in split stitch throughout.

Projects that I am currently working on:
-Embroidered silk veil for (currently) Her Highness,
-a pair of blackworked cuffs, also for Her Highness,
-a Jorvik cap
-a blackwork sampler basket cover (forever project)
-more hankies in case there are holes needed to be filled in for the Gulf Wars project

Projects that I want to (must) do but haven't started yet:
-putting embroidery on an underdress so that I can show five basic embroidery stitches for a class (MUST start on this soon, I'm giving the class in two weeks!)
-Redo the capuchin hood for Kingdom A&S (and improve the documentation)
-a blackwork scroll for our Kingdom's Arts and Sciences consulting order (Silver Lamp)
-a blackwork coif with flowers and squirrels

Projects that I've laid aside indefinitely:
-blackwork book cover
-blackwork coif with flowers and greyhounds (ruined by cat, eventually I will come back and fix it)
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