Tulip Festival 2012

I took the Community Center bus with a friend to the Tulip Festival a year ago, forgot to post the pictures.   I think it is never too late to look at spring flowers.  The tulips were beautiful, the colors were amazing and we even had nice weather for the day.  Here are a few pictures, enjoy!

 They planted tulips in this tree, beautiful and a fun idea too.

There were tulips in every direction, love all the colors. You can tell I like trees too!

Biscornu

 

This is a Hardanger biscornu I finished from a pattern I purchased at the Needlework Show in Paris, France.  I lined it with silk and filled it with ground walnut shells, could be used as a pin cushion or a paper weight.

 

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This on was made from a pattern in the English magazine Stitch, but I made several changes including the flower, it was originally a poppy.  Each petal long and short stitch with blanket stitch around the edge over wire.  The leaf is made the same way.

 

  

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You will notice I did not put the button on this on to pull the center.  I think this one would be better as a paper weight, not sure I want to put a pin in the needlepoint.

 

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!

MIVAL "Treasures in Miniature" Show

The Mercer Island Visual Arts League is currently having a Treasures in Miniature show at their gallery.  The size of the pieces are under 64 square inches.  If you have an opportunity to stop by and see the show you will not be sorry.  There are about 300 entries from about 80 artists.  The show ends on April 28th.


This is one of my entries "Just White #1."

Canvas work on congress cloth, the many different stitches are stitched with silk and cotton threads, the gold heart is couched on after all the other stitching was completed.

NSG - Annual Tea Party Challenge

The Northwest Sampler Guild held their annual tea today.  

The stitching challenge this year was anything related to tea.  A few years ago my cousin bought this tea set for me to use for stitching tools.  My Grandmother used tea sets like this to serve dessert and ice cream with coffee or tea to the "Welcome Club."  She always put a paper doily under the dessert to keep the ice cream from moving around on the plate, I thought is was kind of funny at the time.

I made the fruit tart scissors case and placed it on antique doilies purchased from The Antique Lace Museum in California.  The cup can be used for thread orts.   I have added a pin cushion, (not shown) which looks like the tea bag in the cup and a thimble.

The picture below shows the inside with the scissors. 

Next year's challenge is "houses."  My wheels are already turning in my head, I have an idea, so please come back next year.

Paris, France - l'aiguille en fete (needlework trade show)

We recently returned from a trip to France and England.  The purpose of our trip was to  attend the  l'aiguille en fete (needlework trade show) with friends from The Sampler Guild in England and met up with members from Holland.  I had the opportunity to take the Euro Star from London to Paris with a couple members, a fun way to get to Paris.  We had a great time, but wish the weather would have been warmer.  

The pictures are inside the convention center where the show was held, I took the picture from the upstairs, the vendors were not happy about people taking pictures and I didn't want to get yelled at.  You can see the number of vendors, too much to buy!  They had needlework, knitting, quilting and sewing, so there was something for everyone.

We arrived in Paris early and had time to visit some other shops, here are the links for you to check out before you visit Paris:


Des Fils et une Aiguille - this is my favorite shop, it is near a Starbucks, which is a great place for spouses to wait while we shop.  The shop has a new owner who speaks English.  The shop is small, but packed with charts, fabrics, threads and lots of samples on the walls.


Bonheur des Dames - I have visited this shop several times too, they have their own designs that they sell as kits and some charts.  It is a large store and there is a restaurant across the street for spouses to have a drink.


Marche' Saint-Pierre - Six floors of fabric, they have every kind of fabric your can imagine.  I purchased silk and organza.  The street has fabric stores on both sides, you could easily spend a week and not see it all.


Declercq Passementiers - A friend told us about this shop and I loved it!  The shop sells tassels, they are made in France and Vietnam.  I have never seen so many beautiful tassels, they are expensive, but worth the Metro ride to see.


Le Bon Marche - This is a department store, but they have a very nice needlework department.  When we were there they were remodeling, but still had a nice selection of supplies and tools.  Also, a good place to have lunch.

Pierre Herme - If you want a real treat, go to Pierre Herme.  The macaroons are the best.  My favorite are the pink ones, rose flavor with raspberries.  Not cheap and not very big, but try at least one.

Mariage Freres Tea - Want a cup of tea to go with your macaroon, try Mariage Freres.  They have many different kinds of tea, I like English Breakfast.

Thanks to The Sampler Guild in England members for planning this great time in Paris.  We had meals together with lots of visiting and laughing, visited the l'aiguille en fete and Au ver a soie.  They also, helped me to leave some money in Paris.  

A wonderful trip that will be repeated someday.