Another section done

Here's the latest round of stitching. I'm working on the outside edge of the purple & yellow flower but have finished one segment of the quilt pattern.


Here's the detail of the quilt pattern. I'm doing Byzantine and keeping the pattern in sequence with the rest of the background. The interior diamonds/squares are done with satin stitch in 2 strands of Baroque Silk.

Next section of the Zecca purse

Here's the next section I've finished on my Zecca Purse. Doing the Byzantine required quite a bit of compensation in the middle of the tree, which took more time that doing some of the rest of the background. But I'm happy with the way it turned out.

Zecca Purse - Back In Progress

I started work on the back of the bag at the beginning of April and am making pretty good progress. As with the front of the bag I'm stitching it all in Baroque Silk.

A portion of the right side is complete. The background is Byzantine and it's stitched so that each section meets up with the previous one. I'm intending to use that as the unifying background throughout the piece.

The satin stitches are done with 2 strands of Baroque Silk, including the Byzantine background. The square in the upper corner a one direction in the brown and the opposite direction in the other colors.

The leaves are done with Encroaching Gobelin but each leaf was angled differently and mirrored. This is done with one strand of Baroque Silk.

Zecca Purse Front Is Done!

I have finally finished the front of the purse - after detours into working on many small projects. The stitching is completed on it and I've started on the back piece. This is not yet blocked so it looks kind of buckled. I stitched the background (Byzantine) sewing motion which distorts the canvas more. But the blocking that needs to be done on it will fix that. I'm quite pleased with how it turned out.

Each of the circles is done with a different stitch for a little variety. The large circle below the bird's beak is Encroaching Gobelin for a little texture. If you click on the pictures you'll get the larger photo, which shows the detail more clearly. When I get it blocked I'll create a map of what stitches are used and where they are used. I also have some buttons I got from Karen (who's the wonderful designer) that will go over some of the circles before it's turned into the bag/purse it's intended to become.

Fun with stitching and solder!

In addition to stitching, I love to make jewelry and learn new techniques for doing so. Back in December I took a jewelry soldering class at Baubles & Beads in Berkeley and had a grand time. I've admired jewelry made this way for some time and wanted to try my hand at it, especially since I was making stitched smalls for several friends and my staff. These are stitched on 40 count linen over-one, with Soie Surfine. The letters are all initials from The Heart's Content Splendor XV.

The solder is lead free, since it's to be worn on the body. The copper strips are cut with a Fiskar's rotary blade before being attached to the glass. I found the scallop works the best but I've used Victorian and Tiara as well, although they work better with the larger glass pieces. Most of the square ones pictured are 1x1, with pre-cut beveled glass from Stained Glass Garden in Berkeley. And my friend Vicki at Bead Inspirations helped me with many little black silk cord necklaces and fun attachments for the baubles.

If you come by the shop you'll see many of us wearing ours. Click on mine at the bottom to see a full sized photo of it.

Ali's	Anne's	Caroline's
Deb's	Debi's	Donna's
Janice's	Jean's	Jeannine's
Jennifer's	Leila's	Margaret's
Pat's	Roz's	Susan's
Mary's	Mary France's	The Floss Queen's

Zecca Purse - Front Progress

It's Ground Hog Day 2010 and I'm almost done with the front of my Zecca purse. The background is complete as is all of the bird (including the beak).

Each of the circles id stitched with a different decorative stitch to keep it interesting. I'm not quite done with the circles - I still have 6 of them to do along with the large circle and the two leafy sections. But it's at about 90% complete now so hopefully the rest won't take too long. Then I can start on the back piece!

Progress update on my Zecca Purse

I've made good progress on the background the past few weeks. I'm about 65% done with it. The gold areas that appear darker in the photo are what has not been stitched yet. I should be able to finish the lower left in the next couple of nights and start on the lower right section.

I do still have to figure out what to do with the circles. I have some buttons that Karen at Zecca sent me which will take care of a few of the smaller circles. Given this is a bag the stitches I chose have to stand up to the wear 'n tear of being a bag that gets used. So a few things I've tried either didn't look right or would be too fragile. Hopefully I can figure it out soon...