Yes, I know it’s been two weeks since this event. But what a two weeks it’s been! And, quite frankly, it was/is a difficult experience to quantify.

The workshop ran from Friday evening through Sunday noon, and was non-stop intense “destuckifying”. One of the other participants remarked Saturday afternoon that she thought there might only be so much destuckifying a body can take at one time. I agreed, and then we all went that step further, which was amazing, much like breathing into a stretch and extending the muscle just a tad further than yesterday.

We spent the weekend writing, doing brain exercises that truly evade description, and practicing Dance of Shiva. (Note, yes, that’s an affiliate link. If you decide you want to buy stuff, I’ll get a percentage. But I’d tell you about it anyway – really.) Now, I’m a very new practitioner of this (I bought the starter kit and started using it less than a month before the workshop) so my thoughts on the subject are still a bit half-baked and soggy in the middle, but here goes –

1. Havi promises hot buttered epiphanies – and it has delivered. In spades.
2. The basic focus – that of using new patterns to break down old ones in your mind is something I’ve been playing with for a while in my dancing – I tend to call it “sacred movement” when it is intentional and focused on creating something larger than just movement. The concept fits in with my rather wacky pagan view of myself. Shivanata takes the concept a step further and attempts to order the chaos even more. You are supposed to be confused and flummoxed – if you aren’t, you don’ t get those promised epiphanies. This is NOT easy for me. I don’t like what appears to be choreography to confuse me.
3. It takes the least time in my day of all the things I do for learning – you can practice shivanata effectively while your tea water boils!
4. It’s something I’ll keep doing.
5. Despite Havi’s repeated statements and assertions that it isn’t a dance, and it’s misnamed on several fronts, after watching her perform one of the higher levels in a dim room on Saturday night, i would state that the grace, flow and sheer beauty I saw fit my definition of “dance.”

But then again, I go to martial arts competitions to watch the “forms” (kata, poomse, what have you) because they’re dance-like/dancing/sacred movement as well, so maybe I’m not a good judge of the definition of “dance.”  (I also really really wish I could have heard Maude Gonne intone Salome, but that’s neither here nor there – that’s sacred sound, which while related, is different!)

What I learned at the workshop, other than specific techniques, was very personal, and some of it I’m not prepared to share yet. I need more space and comfort in my life. The state of my studio has become priority number one for a while. I also need to trust myself more and realize that when my intuition takes the time to tell me I need to do something,  it’s not because it likes the sound of its own voice. LOL

Oh. And Selma the Duck? Havi’s business partner. And a really, really cool fowl to hang around with. (But then again, I might be biased… I graduated from the University of Oregon, which makes me… a Duck!) So I had to knit her a scarf of her very own… which she proudly displayed in Havi’s Friday Chicken right after the workshop…

I was reading Havi Brooks blog archives the other day (it’s taking me a LONG time to get through them because there’s so much wonderful information that I have to stop and digest as I work through it…) And she said this about what happens at conferences:

Connections. Friendships. Torrid love affairs of the mind. This is sometimes also called “networking”.

~Havi Brooks (& Selma)

Yup. That’s it exactly. I MISS sitting around the table talking to Eileen Bennett about the 5 different ways we know to do a chain stitch and what’s the easiest to use when… I miss being able to go book shopping with Linn Skinner (of course part of that is the fact that we no longer live in the same town, but still…).

I met one of my best face to face friends on usenet – rec.crafts.textiles.needlework way back when and when I moved to NC, there she was. But for me, working on a computer 8 hours a day means I don’t necessarily want to see one when I get home, so the online community suffers a bit for me. I have what appears to be odd taste in needlework (I like a little bit of everything, from crewel to cross stitch, to stumpwork and everything in between), so I miss the big needlework shows and conferences.

All of which adds up to: I need to start attending art workshops and the few needlework shows that are still out there… we need to support them or they’re going to disappear in this economy. And dance workshops. And any workshop or conference that is part of something you are passionate about. There’s just SOMETHING cool about being in a room full of people who “get it” and don’t look at you like you’re insane when you start babbling about how mad youare that they discontinued DMC Medici wool — or that you just HAVE to have another jingly hipscarf, even though you’ve got thirty hanging in your closet… You may start out alone, but by the end of the first hour you’ve got more people to hang out with than you’d think. (Oh, and the “celebrities”? They’re just people who love what you love, too…

Block 1

I am taking Sharon Boggin’s Encrusted Crazy Quilt class this month through Joggles. Despite all the bellydance workshops and shows this week, I managed to get two blocks pieced.

The first wasn’t as successful as the second, initial design-wise, but I’m hoping I can fix some of the problems in the embellishment stage: the most glaring being the horizontal line a third of the way down that goes all the way across the block! That came from using a block that was too big as my first block, and putting it down too close to the bottom of the block off the bat… Lesson learned. But I REALLY wanted to use the entire leaf!

Block 2

The second block is better balanced, but to my eye it seems VERY busy. Of course, I was told to “overload” it, so this may be a good thing!

As usual, click to make bigger.

Luckily, I’m (theoretically) up near the beginning of the show, so I’ll get to enjoy watching the rest of them without worrying about whether or not I’m going to fall off of the stage or bean someone with my zill (finger cymbal).

The show is the beginning of a weekend-long workshop, so I won’t be posting my yellow post until Sunday afternoon at the earliest. Hopefully I’ll have bellydance pictures for you, too!

Geometric Stitching (Hardanger, etc.) Techniques

Some of the same principles apply to stitching geometric-type designs, for example, any type of satin stitch.

For the example in Figure 12 (the chart is figure 13), I used one strand of Caron Wildflowers in the Nefertiti color, with the graph to the right (each grid line represents one thread of the fabric. This design works better on a linen fabric or other evenweave than on aida.)

Play around with this one. Don’t be afraid to cut colors out of your threads. In the example in Figure 11 (last post), I did just this in several places around the outside “petals”. I wanted them green, and durn it, they were going to be green! (or entirely pink, for that matter…) On the other hand, I’m generally lazy when it comes to starting and ending threads, so they aren’t entirely green!

You can get completely different looks from the same color of thread by stitching the color in a different location on the chart.

Using a different color or type of thread to stitch the design will give you a completely different effect. It’s always amazing to me the difference that stitching the same design with Tropics instead of Nefertiti creates.

Conclusion

This article is just an introduction to some of the effects you can achieve with this type of thread. Each different type of multicolored thread, whether the evenly spaced variegated floss, or the random overdyed types has its own peculiarities. In a stranded thread, each strand will have the same color changes, so if you need a mirror effect, keep this in mind if you are using a randomly dyed thread.

The more colors there are in the thread, the more bizarre the “blended thread” techniques can look. But this might be just the effect you need. Remember to keep experimenting. Even the most expensive threads are relatively inexpensive when considered individually. The amount of pleasure gained from learning their tendencies becomes worth the cost when you create a project that is truly your own.

I hope this small discussion has made you more aware of the possibilities multi-colored threads have for your stitching. Remember, when you’re stitching, you always have the last word as to how your piece looks. If you like it, it’s right!

English Method

In the English method, which I teach below, you complete each stitch individually. The only difference from the Danish method in looks is on the back of the piece. The English method uses more thread, but creates a more durable backing to the fabric. In addition, there is some evidence that it may preserve your fabric by placing a more even tension on the threads than the Danish method. This method of stitching a cross stitch uses more floss than the Danish method.

Each cross is stitched in its entirety before you move on to the next stitch. Using this method makes the colors stand out very strongly. However, this can result in the colored piece looking “stripey”. But you might want stripey. See Figures 5 and 6. Figure 5 was stitched horizontally, in the usual manner, and Figure 6 was stitched in the basic direction of the petals, making the stripes follow the petal lines.

Directions

Work from the top of the petals downward in the English method as described below. You’ll notice that the wider the petals become, the thinner the stripes become. You could also work in the English method vertically on the center petal, and horizontally on the outer petals to accentuate the stripes and make them part of your design. Remember to experiment.

Working on Evenweave:

When working on an evenweave fabric like Jobelen or linen, cross stitch is generally worked over two threads of the fabric. Look closely at your fabric, and you will see that threads alternate going over and under another (Figure 7).

This is a trait of an evenweave. When stitching cross stitch on an evenweave fabric, begin at a juncture where a vertical thread will be to the right of your needle. In other words, bring your needle from the back of the fabric to the front at point A, as shown in Figure 7. The stitch comes up at A, down at B, up at C, down at D. The next stitch would begin by coming up at C, which becomes your next “A”.

On the second row, work right to left, still making crosses from the bottom left to upper right, and then from the bottom right to upper left. This will ensure that all of your stitches cross the same way. See Figure 8.

Continue to work row by row, one color at a time.

Filling the Design

If you want the defined color changes of the English method, but don’t want the striped effect, you can achieve that, too. This takes a bit more planning than either of the other options. In addition, it requires breaking the habit of stitching straight across or up and down a design.

You want to achieve the same effect as in pointellism paintings. Rather than stripes of color, you want to create spots of color, which are more easily combined by the viewer’s eye. Alternatively, you can arrange the colors so that they create a more even gradation of color. In the example in Figure 9, I grouped the colored stitches so that the pinks were all in the middle of the petals, surrounded by the more subtle colors in the floss.

Grouped colors

The effect in Figure 9 was relatively easy. I threaded my needle with a strand that had little, if any, pink in it. Then I stitched in the English method, around the outline of the petals. In some places I stitched only one stitch at the outside, in others I stitched a bit into the petal itself, for a staggered effect.

Then I threaded the needle with the leftover, pink parts of the floss and filled in the petal centers.

Mottled colors

In Figure 10, I worked for a more mottled effect.

To fill the design in this way, you must constantly be aware of where the edges of the motif are located. Because you are not stitching in a traditional methodical manner, it is sometimes easy to get lost.

Start stitching near the top of the design. Work in the English method, but jump around a bit as the thread changes colors instead of stitching rows. For example, you might work 4 or 5 stitches in the area marked with the letter A in Figure 11, then jump over to the area marked with the letter B, work 4 or 5 stitches there, and then move to another area.
Doing this for the entire motif will give you the more mottled, but not striped, image shown in Figure 10.

I’ve had the opportunity to begin teaching bellydance at my local community center. So I did a brush drawing of myself for publicity purposes:

And then I did a Flyer (flier? Fly-er? hmmm and *I’m* the writer!).

The whole thing happened so quickly that none of the publicity got put up before the first session. Because of website issues, potential students missed me as well. In fact, there weren’t enough students for a class… So for session 2 I’m hoping to nip that in the bud. I’m now listed with the statewide “find a teacher” website, and I’ll be putting up posters at the local community college in the next week. 

The community center programs brochure is located here (pdf format, 7 megs). It’s kind of hard to find from the main web page, and it’s easy to get sidetracked by program information listed that’s WAAAY out of date, so that’s a direct link.  

If you’re near Fuquay-Varina, NC and at all interested in wearing pretty coin scarves on your hips and shimmying like there’s no tomorrow, come see me!

P.S. I’m also stitching sequinned appliques for our new dance troupe like it’s going out of style… more on that later.

And just because I mentioned them, I’ll try to post some of my colored pencil work tomorrow, since I don’t have digital copies at my day job.

This is the project after all the low-relief (and a few french knots) have been added. Not looking much like a beach right now, is it?!  I know from my colored pencil work that the beginning layers you put in often don’t look anything like the final work — people become orange and hot pink before they look like a real person! If there wasn’t a point behind this, I’d be tempted to turn it into a shooting star of some sort. But I think it will look much better as it progresses… So, I’m off to add more, which is the focus of week three of the class.

Adding more… that’s something that’s hard for me, whether I’m writing, drawing, or stitching.

The design process started with a mind map that began with “Peace”. Since the supply list had encouraged not just monotone, but neutrals I had chosen whites and ecrus for my color palette. Not something I usually work in, unless I’m doing dresden work. But hey, is challenge, yes? I’m going to need to expand what I have further into the beiges as well, I think.

I ended up playing with thumbnails on the theme of “sea changes”. The first set of thumbnails I still like, but I think they’re going to require full stumpwork, and possibly a slightly larger color range to realize properly, and I just don’t have time to fiddle with it right now.

So I moved on.

The second set of thumbnails is decidedly abstract, something I don’t normally play with. So this ups the challenge for me. I liked my last one, with it’s slightly curving lines and stars. No, I have no idea where the stars came from, unless it’s starfish. The thumnails are messy – just a way to get an idea on paper so I can remember it later, and maybe get an idea of how it may work. They are only about one by two inches.

The final design sketch is a lot less messy, and has a lot fewer lines on it. This is just the outline of the main areas, with no hint of the stitching, but a LOT of notes!

And I’ve had a chance to play a bit with the beginning of stitching this little monster. I used the Portuguese stem stitch to mark out the diagonal lines in the sand, and am using pulled work to add a little texture to the negaive space, letting it follow the same refinement the center line will follow: from rough texture at the bottom moving up through the buffing that sand and sea does to the smooth and even top right corner. The upper corner is pulled with small pulled cross stitches over three threads with silk floss. Just below that is an area of pulled cretan stitch, in a silk twist that’s the equivalent of #8 perle cotton. I’ll finish the bottom area, rougher, with pulled cretan stitch in a silk ribbon of similar color. And I may actually then lace the pulled stitches so that there is more ribbon on the top as well… I’ll have to see how that actually works in the white.

So, that’s the project so far. I should actually be caught up by Wednesday!