Article in Inspirations 79

As usual the latest edition of Inspirations - the world's most beautiful embroidery magazine - are filled with an array of delicious embroidery projects covering a variety of styles and methods. 

I love the pink and green cover - it is my favourite* colour* combination! 

The other reason I really, really like it, is because there is an article on pg 10, I wrote about my African Flower Chain. It's already a year ago we took that trip around South Africa. I can't believe how time flies! That icy cold day in early August when we left Pretoria (and had a very rare snowfall) feels like yesterday... 

And here we are, all settled in Australia, with many new friends and new stories to tell.

*One of the many great things about living in Australia now is that I can ignore the spell checker when it tries to tell me to omit the 'u' in favourite and colour. This is the way we spell it in South Africa and in Australia. Is it a southern hemisphere thing, I wonder?

Embroidery Magic

One of the treasures I found at Junktion yesterday: An Embroidery Magic binder filled with embroidery patterns.

The binder contains 120 (yes, really!) pattern sheets, each with a different design. The sheets are A3 size with a photo of the finished design on one side and the instructions on the other side.  

There is no information anywhere on the binder about the publisher or designer(s). 

I tried Google, but can't find anything either.

If you know anything about this folder (I think it is part of a series), please let me know. I am mystified..

Oh, and can I just add that I paid a full $2.00 for this file...

On show in New York

For the very first time I have a piece of my own creation on display in an Art Exhibition.

If you are in the New York area, please go and have a look at this great show, 

curated by the very talented Joetta Maue. 

The show opened last night.

Project ABC: K is for Keffiyeh

Also known as a ghutrah.

A traditional Arabian head dress.

In a War someone has to Die

I few weeks ago I came across the website of Hanne Bang, an artist from Denmark.  

She is working on a project called "In a war someone has to die" 

Hanne says: "A couple of years ago I happened to zap by a TV program, in which a journalist was interviewing a professional African soldier. To the soldiers great disappointment he was out of work at the moment – because there was no war in his region. 

The interviewer asked the soldier if he was afraid of dying, and the soldier said: “No I am not afraid of dying. Are you afraid of dying?” The interviewer answered: “Yes I am afraid of dying”. Then the soldier said, without any sentimentality: “In a war someone has to die”. 

This little dialogue, and the words “In a war someone has to die”, returned back to me over and over again. Of course I knew that in wars people die, but suddenly I saw the essence and the reality of it very clearly." 

She then goes on to invite people to participate in a project inspired by these harsh words: 

"I am going to find women from all over the world. Many women from each country.

I would like to invite you to embroider/sew the text "In a war someone has to die" on a handkerchief. The text has to be in your own language. You may supplement with a symbol ore something else if you want to.

The handkerchiefs (hopefully 200-300 pieces) will eventually be sewn together into a great wall blanket. One universal voice. A commentary on the war and an act of solidarity to all those who must send husbands, fathers, sons, daughters and sisters into war.

In a war where someone has to die."

This is my contribution.  Written in Afrikaans.

If you want to be part of this project visit Hanne's website for more information.

Project ABC: I is for India

So, I am a slow starter... It is already end of January and I am only now getting back on track with my Project ABC. For my India project I used some of the sisha-mirrors I bought years ago at the Haberdashery Souk.  I have used some of them before but I still have a whole box full of them in the cupboard.

This is not a complete item, it is just a doodle.  My self-imposed limit of 3 hours do not allow me to actually finish anything. (Did I mention I'm slow?)  The blue circle filled with the green french knots is where one of the shisas fell out.  I did not make the overlap big enough. But so you learn...

I still have enough sishas for a few more projects... or doodles...

A quick recap of 2011

Before I get into 2012, let's have a quick look back over the past year to see what have been accomplished:

Tried black-work for the first time:

black work portrait

Started knitting again - first time since childhood:

knitted portrait

mystery knitted project - unfinished

Did only one crochet project (unfinished as yet):

babette

Made two tutorials:

templates

embroidery pattern

Made two quilts:

stash-buster 1

stash-buster 2

Traveled to three countries:

Kenya

South Africa

Oman

Started a few long term project (still going...):

Project ABC

Arabian inspired designs

And a few other odd things:

I revamped the blog and designed a logo

I visited a few souks

I have many plans for 2012, which include lots of stitching, monetizing and travel.

Now, lets get to work!

Project ABC: H is for Hand

This is my daughters hand at 2 months old.  I took a photo way back then with the idea of turning it into an embroidery, but never got around to it.  Fortunately this project now gave me time and permission to do it.

Here's that same hand three years later...

and here's the original (blurry) picture:

I used the same method as described in this tutorial to make the pattern

I think it turned out really sweet .... x

Tutorial: Turning a photo into an embroidery pattern

Here is how I turned a photo into a pattern:

Pick a photo of your choice.

School photos work very well as the lighting is good and the face is usually without shadows

Use any photo editing software of your choice.  There are lots of free software available online.  I use Picnik.  Use the posterize function to get this effect.  Play around with the colours until you are happy.  I settled on 10 colours.

Save the posterized picture and go to the Pencil Sketch function.  Without any further editing I got this result.  Play around until you are happy with the amount of lines and the clarity of the picture.

You can use the picture as is, or further simplify it by hand.  I printed the previous picture and traced it against the window (you can use a light table if you are more sophisticated than me!).  Here you can make it as simple or as complicated as you wish.

I scanned this version into my computer and printed it on to a wash-away stabilizer.

And Voila!  A perfect embroidery pattern.

A friendly request:  

This is a picture of my son.  I used it to demonstrate the process.  

Please feel free to link to this tutorial, but please do not re-post this whole post with pictures to your blog.  If you need one picture to illustrate the post, use one of the sketches.

Thank you.  

Project ABC: F is for Face

I have done several projects before where I used my youngest son's face for the design.

(Have a look here, here and here)

This time it was the turn of my eldest son to lend his picture to a project.

I've always wanted to try freehand machine embroidery but always put it off because I thought I didn't have the right machine for it.

Today I just gave it a go.  This is the result.  

I used a variegated thread on a fine polka dot fabric.

It is not perfect but it is a start....

  

New logo

I am playing around with a new logo for Sol y Sombra

What do you think?

Any constructive criticism welcome...

Henna

In my street wanderings this week, I found this little book

It has wonderful Arabic henna designs for hands and feet

Isn't this beautiful?  Who needs shoes?

The book is part of a series.  There are others with Indian designs, Wedding designs, etc.

I can see a few embroidery designs in there.  Can you?

Blackwork project finished

Sometime last year I decided to try my hand at blackwork. I studied a few books and online tutorials, then I picked this tried and tested picture to start with.



I turned it into a grid using KG Chart LE for Cross Stitch and played around with a few designs. After a few trials I decided to use one continuous pattern building it up in layers instead of using different patterns. The picture had too many small corners to make this workable.



I made a sample grid to test the pattern first.



First I did the outline. I lost track of my counting a few times and had to undo. I must admit I found the Holbein stitch very slow-going, and the going back and forth added to the confusion.



Then I started to fill in the layers. The first two was relatively easy and hassle free,



but as the layers became more dense it was difficult to keep track of the outlines.



(Sorry about the blurry pic - I am still getting to grips with my camera's macro-function...)



With the last layer it was difficult to still see the little holes for the needle to go through, fortunately it was just a small area.



So, that's blackwork done. Now I am off to something new. (All the time while I was working on this I was asked 'why do you only do his face? When will you do mine? So I guess the next experiment will have a new face...)

Blackwork

I am trying my hand at blackwork...

watch this space...

So true...

Running out of thread when there's only four more stitches to go is one of the Absolutes in the Life of a Stitcher.

Mary Corbet

Needle'nTread

I can relate...

Du-bye embroidery finished

Finished, framed and presented. This is what the completed picture looks like:



I tried to tell the story of their life in Dubai as I saw it. They came to Dubai 7 years ago to work on the construction of the Madinat Jumeirah...



...they came here as couple, but only got married in Dubai. They stand under the cross of Jesus, on the top of the dune, to symbolize their relationship with the Lord



The writing in the clouds are the time they spent in Dubai...



...and is written by his own aeroplane



The FJ Cruiser with the roof tent represent all our camping and fishing trips we shared with them. It contains a few details representing specific incidents which has become treasured memories for us and them





The Harley is a treasured possession and represents his love of motorbikes and travelling. The Harley and the plane goes back to SA with them and are shown 'in motion' to symbolise them flying and riding into their future.



I used an Arabic-design border to frame the picture, showing how their life and time in the UAE has limits. No expat can stay here forever and we will all come to the end of our time here...



Finally, just a few close-ups of the stitching. I used mainly back-stitch with a few chain-stitches here and there.