Pre-2002

SINISTER STITCHES
PRE-2002

PRE-2002

Yay! I finally put something up here. How cool is that.

Since I don't really have a whole heck of a lot to say about these pieces, other than they were all made prior to 2002, I've decided to simply list them all on one page with some relavant notes.

As you might have read on the front page to Sinister Stitches, I dove into projects well over my head once I got the basics down for embroidery. And these projects are the height of that . . depth. Hm. Anyway, I didn't do too terrible a job at them, and happily hang them on my walls. These three are my favorites so I documented them first; I have two more in my posession that I will get to later, plus two more in Bakersfield that I will need to take a road trip in order to get pictures of.

So - on with the show . .

These designs come from two sources, Nora Corbett and Marion Leavitt Imblum. Their designs were the coolest I had ever seen and which I eagerly bought up as I found them. I enjoyed Corbett's designs a little bit more than Imblum's, but they're both wonderfully awesome designers that I could never hold a candle to.

The first is my all-time favorite, The Dreamer by Nora Corbett. I made her near the end of my senior year of high school and into the following summer, finally getting her framed on 10/28/97. Which makes her 10 years old as of not too long ago - happy birthday! I truly enjoyed working with the rich and subtle color gradations as well as the glass bead highlights. I was never a fan of Corbett's roses, but they're a small price to pay for the overall effect. This piece is done entirely in counted cross stitch, zillions of tiny x's in DMC cotton on Aida cloth. It took me a LONG time to trust myself on linen, which is funny to remember as now I can't imagine using anything else.

I have used my trusty red silk velvet as a backdrop. It won't last long, as it will become my 12th Night dress. Yum! The framing was done at Michael's, chosen to pick up my favorite color in the piece. Try not to get too close to these pictures, as they tend to become a mess of x's the closer you get.

This next piece is my second favorite, I believe done shortly after graduating from high school. I'll update this page if I find a date. This is an Imblum design, entitled Angelica, again in counted cross stitch in cotton on Aida cloth with glass bead accents. You know, since that's what they all are, I'll let be the last time I repeat myself.

I really liked the ropes of roses and the wings, although I blinded myself trying to see the different shades of cream and pale tan in the latter. This is why I wear glasses now!

And proving I can be contrary when I want to be, here is the first large-scale piece I did (listed last, HA!), Imblum's Earth Angel. I don't know why I chose her for my first big project; I can only remember the overwhelming sense of pride upon seeing this on my parent's wall for the first time and every time after that, knowing that I had finished what was at the time a huge endeavor for me. The date on the back is August of 1995.

Here's a bit of me-trivia: whenever I stitched a lady who had her eyes open, I always made her eyes hazel like mine, using one strand of brown and one strand of green. This was my hidden maker's mark, apart from the combined initials in the lower right hand corners.

So - perhaps you can now see why moving into the SCA world of linen and free-hand techniques was wildly out of my comfort zone. Not too shabby for a counted cross stitch nut.