Woodlawn Plantation 2010: Pillows

Judging from the online photo album that Woodlawn Plantation folks posted of all the ribbon winners for 2010, it didn't seem that there was much embellished needlepoint on display.  The photo album is a bit deceiving.  I saw quite a few embellished pieces, some of which won ribbons and are in the photo album, but their photos don't show the many stitches very well.  And many of the more embellished pieces did not win ribbons, so they aren't pictured.

Woodlawn has two classes of "canvaswork" defined in their guidelines.  One is Canvaswork Traditional. This uses one to four stitches such as "needlepoint, Bargello or petitpoint."  The other is Canvaswork MultiStitch, which uses "five or more embroidery stitches on canvas."  Using that definition, at least two-thirds of what I saw at Woodlawn was Canvaswork Traditional.  And half of the Canvaswork Traditional was executed in all tent stitches using a mix of metallic and non-metallic fibers.  The other half had 1-3 other stitches besides tent used as accents, such as the background or border.

This trend of all tent pieces using a mixture of different thread textures, especially with metallics for accents, has been going on for at least the last three years.  A second trend, of pieces with traditional themes (such as Art Nouveau, Navajo rug patterns, crewel-type florals, bargello, quilt pattern blocks, Chinese fretwork with flowers, or Medieval) made into pillows has been coming into focus for two years or more.

When I first taught myself to needlepoint in 1988, most painted canvases were intended to be made up into pillows.  In the last 15 years, framed needlepoint has been more a trend but there is great interest in needlepoint that can be made into useful items (shoes, purses, etc.) lately, and I think there is a renewed interest in making pillows.

From the award winners photo album, this floral pillow is a perfect example of what I saw at Woodlawn.  I don't remember it having any metallic in it but I think the flowers were a silk blend and the background wool.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/preservationnation/4416823511/in/set-72157623455198693/

These two primitive pieces were mostly tent stitched with a few other stitches as accents and with metallic threads incorporated.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/preservationnation/4417590688/in/set-72157623455198693/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/preservationnation/4416826847/in/set-72157623455198693/

This Halloween pillow used lots of fancy threads and a few stitches besides tent.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/preservationnation/4417591074/in/set-72157623455198693/

This rooster pillow used what looked like a silk/wool blend for its all tent stitched design.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/preservationnation/4417590150/in/set-72157623455198693/

There were several Navajo pattern pillows, but this is the only award winner.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/preservationnation/4417592522/in/set-72157623455198693/

Here's a quilt block pattern pillow.   It's very traditional except for the more muted color scheme.  I think it and the Navajo pillow were both executed in all tent stitches.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/preservationnation/4416825893/in/set-72157623455198693/

If you look at the technical skill of these pillows, the quality is high. Believe me, I know how hard it is to do a piece in all tent stitches!  We might think of them as boring but the photos in many cases are not detailed enough to see the beautiful stitching, a few fancy stitches tossed in as accents, or enjoy the beauty of the chosen threads.  We have to remember that there are probably 75,000 needlepointers in the United States alone (from the last TNNA survey) but only 8-9,000 of them belong to the American Needlepoint Guild.  Far fewer participate in things like the ANG email list.   Those of us online and obsessed with needlepoint are probably a small percentage of a traditional craft.  The only way to expose those without the time or interest to explore all that NP can be is to exhibit more at places like Woodlawn.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Woodlawn 2010: Silk Ribbon Embroidery

Since there is so much Woodlawn Plantation information this year and even photos of ribbon winners, I'm not going to write one large article about the 2010 exhibit.  Instead, I'll just mention things I noticed over several blog postings.  I don't want to repeat what you've already read or seen elsewhere, after all.

I saw a great piece of silk ribbon embroidery at Woodlawn. It didn't win a ribbon so it's not in the photo album Woodlawn Plantation folks posted online. I'll have to describe it for you:  It is a tall and narrow piece, probably almost three feet tall and perhaps a foot wide, framed in a plain glossy black frame. The design is of bamboo, a large round upright stalk and a smaller curved stalk making a sort of backwards D shape. Both stalks were covered with tiny branching stems and bamboo leaves. 

The piece was 100% ribbon embroidery. The bamboo stems and leaves were in 5-6 shades of green, ranging from a very dark, almost black, green to pale green for the smallest and newest bamboo leaves. The background was done in upright straight stitches using cream silk ribbon. The stitches varied randomly in length but the overall effect was of either handmade paper or a fabric either painted or stitched in the Japanese style. It was very effective. 

I think the size helped make this a wonderful piece. The amount of background helped give the silk ribbon embroidery room so that it didn't look crowded and the overall size of the piece helped make the silk ribbon look natural from a distance.  This really did give the impression of a Japanese painting on rice paper.

The stitcher's name was Lynn Krysicki Bayer and I think that the canvas was labeled Commercial, meaning it was a painted canvas.

I browsed all the great silk ribbon embroidery shown on the River Silks website and found this Terry Dryden piece to show you a vaguely similar background.  

http://www.riversilks.com/Site/Site6/FEATURED_ARTIST_TERRY_DRYDEN.html

This piece opened my eyes to what silk ribbon embroidery can do for a background.  Thank you, Lynn Bayer!


Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Stars: Clark Gable Underway

I've started the second quilt block on my Stars for the New Millennium piece.  This is called Clark Gable and it is made up of six general steps.  In the photo above, the first three stitches are done and I've completed one of four sides using the fourth stitch.  I'm working this piece upside down or on the side so I can reach everything easily.  My colors are A-violet, B-black, C-terracotta and D-copper.

The first area worked is the center starburst, which is done in C1, which is a lovely Alyce Schroth silk perle in Lt. Rose 241.  I used a different C1 thread this time, thinking that the silk would make a nice central area.  It is surrounded by four plies of my D1 thread, Lume H13, although you don't add the outlines until the second and third areas are finished.

The second areas are all the "kite-shaped" areas in black that surround the central starburst.  These are done in a bargello pattern of upright stitches, mostly over four threads.  The top of the pattern is B3 (Burmilana 3641), the next row is B4 (Gumnuts' Tulips 999), the third is B5 (Felicity's Garden #12), and the tip of the pattern which touches the outside borders is B6 (Tweedie 18 in T491).  I used three strands of Burmilana, two strands of Tulips, but only one of the Felicity's Garden and Tweedie as they are much heavier threads.  The shades of black move from charcoal to deep black from the center out to the tip and the different thread textures come into play in person. This is a subtle and masculine square block in many ways.

Once the black "kites" are in, you fill in the triangular shaped area with A4 (Impressions 6043).  All this went pretty fast but the fourth step, which is patterned couching, took almost as much time as the first three steps combined.  The thread that is being couched is violet A5 (Rainbow Linen R453).  It is held down with one ply each of the black B1 (Soie Crystale 0020) or C2 (DMC 758) worked in a pattern.  There are 15 rows if I remember correctly, and it is a pain to keep checking to see if I'm working the right row as the couching pattern on each row is different.  Still, hopefully I will get the other three sides of pattern couching finished tonight so I can move on to the last two steps which are going to be pretty involved.

In other Stars news:

Donna has stitched her border five times now.  But you are going to be happy with the final version!  Sometimes all that pain is worth it in the end.
http://majtravaux.blogspot.com/2010/03/stumpwork-dreams.html

Sara Leigh has redone her corner design and it looks great to me.
http://remedialstitcher.blogspot.com/2010/03/so-much-to-stitch-so-little-time.html

The biggest Stars news comes from someone who isn't stitching Stars at all.  Glenis just noticed that my photo of Stars in the left column of blog was upside down!  I looked at my copy of the book and the photo there is also upside down.  I wonder how many of the books were assembled this way?  It might have been deliberate, to showcase the design.  When Stars is finished, it won't matter whether the row we stitched first is on top or bottom.  Or it might have been a mistake in assembling the booklet.  I don't know.  It'll be fun to look at all the photos of the book cover we see online and find out if they all have Stars upside down from the way it is worked in the instructions.

Thanks, Glenis.  I've turned my photo upright.  I think you might be Tony's favorite pupil today with your careful observation.



Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Future Fun

I took last night off from needling.  Instead I read through my Stars for the New Millennium book, looking at the directions for the next quilt block, which is in the top row to the right of Marilyn Monroe.  This block is called Clark Gable.  The star pattern for Gable is make up of six sections, most of them repeated four times.  A lot of color B is used in this design which will be a challenge for me as my color B is black.  I expect some fancy footwork to make black-on-black patterns show up.  We'll see how it goes. I'll start this tonight.  I hope to get most of it finished by the time I leave for Easter vacation on Friday.  Blog probably won't be updated on the weekend as I won't have easy computer access and probably won't get any stitching done while I'm away.

The Tardis is going with me as it is a birthday present for my niece.    I'll let you know how she likes it.

I went to the Woodlawn Plantation exhibit yesterday.  I met friends for lunch and a browse among the stitching, then I left them to make a slightly meandering way home via three shops.  I didn't buy a lot, just a blue star-shaped bead at In Stitches, two skeins of red Trio that were on sale to try, my favorite color of Kreinik (4002, a milk chocolate/silver mix), a red Hologram Kreinik to try, a skein of royal blue Vineyards Silks, and a card of red Splendor at Needlewoman East, and a packet of Piecemakers needles,  a skein of navy overdyed Gloriana Lorikeet wool, and a pair of stretcher bars in the size I need for the next project at Waste Knot.  I will update my stash credit number by removing 7 from the total shortly.

The blue star bead is for the Tardis.  Last night I glued a straight pin into the bead hole and today I stuck the decorated pin through the Tardis' door to hold it closed while it is wrapped.  The inner core of the ornament is finishing foam, so the pin will stick there safely and keep the door closed.  I included a photo above.

I also put my next painted canvas on stretcher bars.  But that is a tale for another day.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
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The Tardis is Finished

The back side is a thin black velvet that resembles light weight Ultrasuede.  I am quite happy with it although I could have done a better job on the roof.  Stitching it to resemble the photos wasn't as successful as I'd hoped.  Somehow the angle made the stitches look odd.  I would have done better to have ignored the photos and do stitches to fill a triangular space instead of doing stepped satin stitches.  But that only matters to me and it is a lesson I'll remember the next time I stitch a building.

Hope you like it!

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow