RSN Whitework Diploma Course

I am a little slow updating my blog.  Last July I finished my diploma courses at the Royal School of Needlework in England.  

Our tutor was Jenny Adin-Christie,  (click here to see her website) she is a wonderful tutor.   I came home with a couple of her kits too.

This course was a real adventure!  My friend rented the Fish Court Apartment in Hampton Court Palace.  There were four ladies staying in the apartment and my husband.  The class was taught just across the palace from the apartment.  Loved the commute, in the past I rode the big red bus to class each day sometimes carrying my project bag and slate frame.

We set up our trestles in the dining room, no room to walk around the room or eat in there.  We had more fun than anyone can imagine in this room.

The night before we had to turn in our projects, my friend said we are going to wash your whitework.  I wasn't sure about it.   We left it in the slate frame, put it in the bathtub, warm water and eucalyptus wash, rinsed, stood it up in the slate frame to dry.  By morning it was dry.  I am so glad she didn't pay any attention to me and went ahead and washed it while I watched and took pictures. It turned out great.

After 8 days of class and many hours working on our own I finished my whitework, turned it in for grading.  Picked up my project  and sadly said good bye to Hampton Court Palace and the Royal School of Needlework for now.  

 The above picture is my drawn and pulled thread.  My Grandmother was Irish and her birthday was on St Patrick's Day, love the shamrock.

We also, had to do hemstitching . . . 

 Front

Back

I hope to go back to England to take a couple more techniques in a couple years.  It was sad to leave, but planning to return made it easier.

I hope you have enjoyed reading about my adventures at the Royal School of Needlework.  It took me about five years to complete the four Certificate Courses and  six Diploma Courses.  

I loved all of the courses!  I have made so many new friends around the world, it was a wonderful experience.

Needlepoint Stitching Chair

My ANG chapter has decided to make chairs, everyone is designing their own, I couldn't wait to make mine.  

The stitching is all done on congress cloth with size 8 DMC perle cotton and floss #800.  I crocheted the doily for the back and the rug is a Hardanger piece I made several years ago, but I am thinking about a new rug now.

This was a fun project, the base is 2 X 3 from Sudberry House.  The accessories are from Idee Creation, I purchased these at L'alguille en fete in Paris a couple years ago.  Not knowing what I was going to do with them until I finished my chair.

I have to say the Royal School of Needlework box making Diploma course was very helpful in figuring this out.  Things I learned - measure twice and measure a couple more times, take my time to do the finishing and think outside the box.

American Needlepoint Guild - Royal School of Needlework

My friend has written another article for the American Needlepoint Guild magazine, "Needle Pointers."  This time she included six students from the Royal School of Needlework.  The article is wonderful.  She ask each of us questions about our projects, what was your challenge, what we learned, why we choose the picture.  

My challenge was to make a round waterwheel on square needlepoint canvas.  My tutor suggested queen stitch, my favorite stitch, so it was easy to remove parts of the stitch to make the curves.  I learned two things that I could make a circle on canvas and make a reflection in the water.  I choose the picture because it is the perfect picture to stitch for a memory of one of our favorite places.

 Mine is the canvaswork project I did for my Certificate course at the Royal School of Needlework in Hampton Court Palace.  The others were done in England and/or San Francisco, California.  The courses are offered in San Francisco in the spring and the fall. 

The waterwheel is located in Bayeux France near the Bayeux Tapestry.  We visited France in the summer of 2008 when I was taking classes.

There are four Certificate courses Jacobean Crewel, Canvaswork or Blackwork, Silk Shading and Goldwork.  Each course is 8 days of instruction and 3 days working our your own.  The tutors are all trained at the Royal School of Needlework in England.  When your project is completed the tutors do an assessment so you know how well you have done.

I am not an employee of the Royal School of Needlework and do not benefit from the school, but I do love taking the courses and learning.

RSN - Box Making

The diploma courses at the Royal School of Needlework require either stumpwork or box making.  I decided to do box making instead of stumpwork, I didn't want to make a face and hands which are required for the stumpwork course.  

Back in the 1970's my Grandmother would ask me what I wanted for my birthday and/or Christmas, I would say a letter, she would say that is silly.  We lived in the same town, she wrote letters to all my cousins, but not me.  I gave her a diary for Christmas and the following year she wrote in it everyday, if she didn't have enough to fill a page she drew a picture.  When she passed I received the diary, 40+ years later my diary needs a safe place to be stored and I needed a box to make.

My Grandparents lived in a converted chicken house, it had low ceilings, it was long and narrow.  My box is similar to their house.

 The requirements were to have a moving part and a lid.  The roof opens and the shutters on the back of the house move.

 All of the flowers are the flowers my Grandmother had at their house, this end has sunflowers.  The front of the house has a clematis and lily of the valley.

 Hollyhocks and iris on this end.  The iris and clematis were her favorites.  I almost didn't plant these, but I heard my Grandmother saying they were her favorites.

 She had roses on the back of the house and alysumm were planted in several places around the house.

 Before I left home I stitched the family tree for the back wall and the ceiling.  The tree is stitched on two pieces of 36 count linen.  There are only three generations, not enough room for more.  I will add the rest of the family in a booklet to put in the box later.

 Here is the diary with the house, I tried to match the floor and wallpaper (fabric) with the diary.  I didn't want to use a striped fabric, but when I saw this fabric nothing else would work.

 Grandma's handwriting was so pretty, we all love it!

This is a picture of the inside or the window with the diary inside.  I will add pictures and other treasures as I come across them.   

Thank you Jacqui McDonald for all your help and encouragement.

I hope you enjoy reading about my latest project.  Questions and comments are always welcome.

Royal School of Needlework

 

Hampton Court Palace, home of the Royal School of Needlework

This morning on CBS "Sunday Morning" was another report on the Royal School of Needlework located at Hampton Court Palace in England.  Always fun to see the people, what they are working on and the school/studio. 

The RSN will be teaching courses in San Francisco again in September.  Check out the  courses.  All of the tutors are trained at the RSN in England.  We always have a good time, learn a lot and work very hard.  They will be teaching Certificate and Diploma courses.  There will be day classes too, check the website for the day classes they will be offering.

Seattle Skyline in blackwork

Seattle Skyline in blackwork!  

This is the course that I recently completed at the Royal School of Needlework in San Francisco, California.  Lucy Barter was my tutor this time, she is a wonderful tutor.  

This project was a little big for the 12 days I had to complete it, I worked about 110 hours with very little sleep some nights.  The actual size is 15 1/2" X 11" stitched on light blue 32 count linen with different weights of black thread.

The buildings are left to right - 

Space Needle

Bank of America (AKA the box the Space Needle came in)

4th and Blanchard building

Washington Mutual building (AKA art deco refrigerator)

Westin Hotel

Pacific Science Center and the Coliseum at the Seattle Center

Smith Tower

You will notice that the buildings have moved.  I had to include the Smith Tower even though it would be behind the other buildings when looking from the north to the south.  I wanted to include the Westin Hotel because it is round, an interesting challenge. 

Thank you to Dale Baskin Photography for permission to use his photograph.  I had to remove a few buildings, move a couple and moved Mt Rainier a little too.  Thanks Dale!

Royal School of Needlework and American Needlepoint Guild

In my last posting I shared the information about the story that my friend wrote for the Needle Pointer magazine published by the American Needlepoint Guild (ANG).  You can now read the entire article via the Royal School of Needlework website.  


Just click here for the RSN website:  Royal School of Needlework  There is the link to the article in the second paragraph.  "Find out what it's like studying the RSN Certificate in Technical Hand embroidery - read Linda Kilgore's article here"


You can locate information about the classes offered at the RSN on their website and contact information.  The classes will be taught again in the spring and the fall of 2012 in San Francisco, California. 

Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Advanced Applique' Class

Just returned home after completing my third Diploma class at the Royal School of Needlework in San Francisco, California. The above picture is the view from the hotel . . . the weather was beautiful, not that we had time to enjoy it.

This class was Applique, I have never done applique, so it was all new to me. I loved the class and my tutor was wonderful. There were six ladies in my class, one doing advanced silk shading, one doing advanced tapestry shading with goldwork and three doing stumpwork. We had a great class and everyone completed their projects. Now we wait for our assessments.

The design is my own funny creation!

If you are a member of the American Needlepoint Guild, check out the article beginning on page 16 about the Royal School of Needlework.

Next class will be blackwork in the spring.

Silk Shading Diploma Class

I returned home recently from taking another diploma class with the Royal School of Needlework. It was pretty exciting as we gathered to meet everyone on April 29th, there was a lot of talk about the wedding. The two tutors who came to the States from England worked on Kate's dress.

Saturday we got to started framing up our slate frames, working on our design and transferring it onto the silk fabric. I stitched a red fox, Freddy, on white silk with Anchor and DMC cotton floss. The CBS Sunday Morning program had a story about the Royal School of Needlework on their show a few weeks ago.

I have to say this project was done with blood, sweat and tears. I can't say how many times I poked my fingers and the last time was my thumb on the second to the last day. I was working on the rocks in the snow, I pulled the thread up and there it was a big spot of blood, well it was actually about 1/8 - 1/4" but it looked huge. I said a bad word and started to cry. Within seconds there were three of my fellow students around me, one took charge the other two rubbed my back, prayed and gave me a drink of water. She said suck on this, a piece of buttonhole thread. She threaded a needle and started taking the needle down through the blood. It wasn't too long until she had most of it removed. Then she said I have something in my room that will take out the rest. She returned with eucalyptus wool wash, cotton swabs and water. She mixed a little of the eucalyptus wool wash with water and very carefully blotted the spot and patted with a paper towel. You can look at the picture below, where is the blood?

Now we all need to add to our sewing tools the following items:

Buttonhole thread and needle
Eucalyptus wool wash
Cotton swabs
Paper towels (maybe just a couple in a Ziploc bag)

The good news is it was a wonderful class with the Royal School of Needlework in San Francisco, California, Lucy does an excellent job of organizing the three classes for about 20 students and day classes too. This is the second time I have had Sarah for my tutor and learned many new tips from her. I am sure she told us some of the same things last time, but it was my first class and I was to scared to remember.

Next class is in the fall, applique . . . . need to get my design ready to be approved and gather supplies.

Royal School of Needlework on "Sunday Morning"

Last week on CBS on "Sunday Morning" they had a story about Hampton Court Palace and the (click here to see the video) Royal School of Needlework. It is worth taking a few minutes and watch this. Get a cup of tea and enjoy the video.

It made me want to go back to England to take another class. We have the same tutors and the same instruction in San Francisco that we have in England, but it is not the same as being at Hampton Court Palace seeing Henry VIII walking around.

Classes are being offered in May and October in 2011 in San Francisco with the (click here to see the classes being offered) RSN.

RSN and Henry VIII

Henry VIII is celebrating his 500th anniversary of his reign and was walking all around Hampton Court Palace. He was telling stories around the palace, we had the opportunity to visit with him and his servants one day and take pictures.

We told them that we were taking a class at the Royal School of Needlework. They showed us the blackwork that someone had done for the sleeves of their shirts. They were proud that one of the ladies had taken the time to do the stitching for them.

And now for the reason I was at the Royal School of Needlework. I took the last of the four certificate classes.

The pumpkin was drawn by our daughter for my birthday with the idea that I would use the design for my gold work project. I loved the design and am happy with the way it turned out. I haven't had a lot of experience with Gold Work, took a one day class and that is all before taking the two week intensive certificate class.

I am happy with my overall score for the four classes and can now look forward to the diploma classes beginning next year.

Hope you have all enjoyed following my journey to complete these classes . . . . . more when I take the next class or complete something exciting.

Now for a little advertising - The Royal School of Needlework is offering classes in San Francisco in the spring and the fall.

You can check here for more information about the dates and class offerings: http://www.royal-needlework.co.uk/

Thanks for checking back.

Silk Shading

I finally finished the silk shading project from the two day class I took at the Royal School of Needlework last May. A friend flew over from the states to stay for a week and take the class with me, we had a great time visiting Hampton Court Palace, Sunbury Embroidery, Kew Gardens and Richmond Park.

Anyway I have finished my sunflower and I know it isn't perfect, but I also know where the errors are and I will have time to practice more silk shading before I take my Certificate Class next spring.

I haven't pressed it yet and not sure if I will frame it or what yet. I will decide later when we return home to the states.

Certificate Classes at the Royal School of Needlework

The Royal School of Needlework (RSN) has a program where people can take four classes to earn a Certificate, the classes are Jacobean Crewel, Canvaswork, Silk Shading and Goldwork. After the four basic classes are completed successfully there are additional advanced classes that can be taken in other techniques.

All of the projects for the Certificate Classes are worked on slate frames. It takes between 1 and 1 1/2 days to create the design, frame up and transfer the design to the fabric. The slate frame is wonderful to work on as it keeps the fabric very tight, it is worth the time it takes to frame up and have the fabric stay tight while stitching the project. Each project is assessed and the student receives the assessment with the score and comments from the tutor.

I have completed the Jacobean Crewel and Canvaswork Certificate Classes. I took the intensive classes, which are two weeks, Monday-Thursday from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM each day for each technique. I brought each project home over the week-end in order to finish on time. The mounting takes another day or so to complete.

The projects are suppose to be original designs. For my crewel project I looked at 3 different designs and took parts from each to create my design. We were suppose to use 2 colors with several shades and one contrast color also with several shades. We used Appleton wool for the crewel projects. The design was suppose to be a tree of life with an insect or animal.

My canvaswork project was taken from a photograph that I took while in Bayeau, France. The water wheel is located near the Bayeau Tapestry. We were suppose to have a water design to learn to do the reflection. The design was traced and then transferred to the canvas which was on the slate frame. We had to use a variety of stitches and threads on 24 count canvas. I used about 22 different stitches, DMC and Anchor floss, metallic thread and flat silk.

I will take the Silk Shading class next spring in San Francisco and return to Hampton Court Palace in England for the Goldwork class. I will be working on small projects to improve my skills.