Finished Kerry's Fool's Gold

I am fairly certain I finished this yesterday but am looking at it a couple days just in case.. Then it goes to Australia... I love the lace and CQ under the goldwork and even the little lace butterfly... I used a single strand of variegated silk thread for the flower satin stitch and some awful white rayon stuff called "Glossilla" on the butterfly wings. I wasn't sure where I acquired it but it's in the trash now..

I had planned to take it with me to Seattle this weekend.. We were going to go Friday because Snoqualmie Pass was clear and then our room wasn't available so we were going this morning and a blizzard blew in so we are staying home.

The pass is open but chains are required... Last month we were trying to go so we could see our granddaughter's special concert and again a blizzard closed the pass.


Even here in Spokane we've had about 6" and it is snowing hard...in fact the snow is coming down horizontal....

Progress on Kerry's Fool's Gold 2

The leaves are done. I cannot emphasize enough how well the process of laying and aligning the cord works against an outlining of a tight chain stitch... I know I will use this technique throughout this whole fool's gold experiment and certainly beyond as well.... It's like getting a new tool.

I've started this butterfly on gold brocade using this same technique. There will only be a small amount of satin-stitch fill on it as I want the gold brocade to show....

My stitchers are coming again today and I'm excited to see how they did during the week... We'll be starting to work on stitching today and I'm demonstrating and sharing my Carole Samples templates.

Just a note about blogger. I had trouble getting it to work yesterday and even this morning again. So after I had restarted my computer several times and it still wouldn't work, I went into settings and changed back to the "old editor" and it worked...

A source to share....

Pat Winter sent me some  Kreinik metallic threads to try a while back and I love them... But they are not sold locally and I had gone over my budget when I was in LA.  But now I wanted golds and went looking for them on the internet and the prices varied widely... So if you use Kreinik metallic thread I found a great buy....  http://dcbcrafts.com/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=1719_1720_1963 Their very fine metallic threads were just $2 a spool... 

The catch is there is a minimum of 3 spools in any color... but that's a perfect opportunity for a group buy.  Susie and I are combining our order and the shipping rates are incredibly cheap.  In fact if you can get an order to $100 the shipping is free....

WooHoo It works.....

As planned on Kerry's block I'm doing an outline of the design with a chain stitch and using Krienik "Japan Gold" to do it.  It was my hope that I could use the chain to stabilize the cording and I'm happy to report that it's going to work beautifully..  No cord shifting at all...  As on Janet's block I reversed the design and transferred it to the back of the block and basted the outline to the front...... I got up extra early to have an hour's stitching time to see if it was going to work as that is probably all I'll get today..

I 'm in a mood I could stitch nonstop all day but we're having friends over for a fun day... I bought 4 different Krienik golds... gold coin, gold, vintage gold, and Japan gold... For this project I like Japan gold the best as it is the "goldiest"!!!  And BTW I'm loving the look of gold over the lace...  Whatta ya think???

A block on a block

Four or five years ago I did this block for Jo in NZ for a fan DYB RR so this is a 6" block which looks like this when I received it... The fan shape was clearly defined and stitched in place so those decisions were already made for me... I started out to work it as a "block on a block" The tone on tone would be an entirely separate concept and the fan would not connect with it other than the cottage image.

Again it is only a 6" block so it is pretty busy.  The tree on the lower right is all tiny bullions.. But I liked the contrast of the tone on tone against the beaded fan.   I had always wanted to try it again with a different twist..  So now I am going to try it again with Kerry's goldwork 2 block which I received late this afternoon...

I scanned this so the image is not too great but she constructed her block with bridal fabrics and wanted something really romantic.  To  me nothing is more romantic than lace so I am embellishing the  block with lace and white seam work.  I will finish the block as if that were the primary goal.... white on white.  Once I get that done then the "top design" of gold work will be worked over all  the white work.

It probably doesn't make a lot of sense now but you can see it as it develops...

I am doing some of the goldwork on gold brocade and will then attach it with gold cording... I did back the brocade with Allie's miracle knit interfacing and I will do the cutaway tranfer tutorial as promised.