Queenie has completed her Alphabet of stitches and for those of us who have followed, the final handing in of work is Sunday.
From first lesson here     http://queeniepatch.blogspot.com.au/p/sunday-stitch-school.html

to the last, here            http://queeniepatch.blogspot.com.au/2017/06/

I only did one sampling of the first 5 stitches listed.  I had intentions of making some little totes for my GDs.  I have yet to do the others.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Top row.. X Ray stitch….Both X and Y stitches are Queenie’s creations.
The X was previously done as Cross and Upright cross stitch
and there seems to be no stitch beginning with Y.  Easy and fun as you can see by my yellow Y’s turning somersaults of joy.

The last stitch is Zig-Zag and all are so very easy to do.

 

 

 

 

The full band of stitches, which have been in earlier posts.

 

Thank you Queenie for a most enjoyable time of learning and saving samples for future projects.Visual records are so much better than printed pages.

I’ve no idea what Mr. WordPress was playing at today.  Three times I posted, with great difficulty, my work.  No categories or tags available.  photos nowhere they should be but each time when it looked like all was saved and posted…no post online??????

Back to square one and I loaded all 4 photos together, sorted them in sequence and with fingers crossed will try again.

Down to business.  This is the full picture to date.

 

Below is a close up of the shrub- far left corner- created with Sorbello stitch.  I used odds and ends of threads.  mohair wool and DMC.

    something about this picture is creating this text.  I have no idea why.  I added more filling to the shrub  and an agapanthus, made with silk ribbon leaves and fly stitch petals.

This is the front garden with extended path, little pink daisies, 3 hyacinth and 3 little flowers that I tried to copy from the purchased motif to the far right.
a bit of practise and this could work well in the future.  It was a little like making a rose.

 

Sorry about the messy post.

Here is where I am at today.  The water is now turned on.
Running stitch and  DMC Jewel Effects  metallic thread.

 

 

There is still more to do, especially re-doing the iris.  Too much handling has twisted the ribbon.

There will be greenery to the left but I’m unsure of how to treat the front right side.  suggestions are welcome  :-))          Sorry about the photo quality.

I can assure you, I had nothing to do with the layout of this post.  That was totally in the hands of Mr. WordPress. grrr.

I have added a cord for the wisteria vine.  It made a difference.

The tree trunk was random straight stitched in several fine wool threads.

 

 

 

 

I added silk Ribbon roses to the Knotted Cable Chain bush in my last post.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another addition is the leaves to the garden path-also in the earlier post. It was very dull without some green.

 

 

 

Yet another addition of violets to the hydrangea base.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My fountain.  Outlined with Stem stitch, Buttonhole base wall.  The lower section of the wall, is covered with flowers- obviously.   Normal DMC threads used for all except the fish, where I used DMC Jewel Effects metallic thread.
The water is just Running stitches with a thicker cotton thread.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I used a single DMC thread for the Bullion daisies, with 2 strands of green DMC for the Detached chain leaves.
I made a second version of foxgloves with the rayon braid in the 2nd photo.  It’s about 1 mil wide and woven.
The trick is to knot one end and stitch through your cloth as normal..then when one strand is pulled it scrunches into the lovely shape. The scrunched part has to be gently fed through the fabric.  It can then be shaped any way you want.  The stems are also made from the woven ribbon???
There are various types of this thread, some wider and looser too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I decided those yellow flowers must have been Jasmine.  I’ve added Feather and Chain stitch as the vine.
Also I added more Detached Chain leaves and French Knot Wisteria blooms.

 

 

Another addition is the green rayon threads  for leaves to lift the dullness of the flowers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Foxgloves.  Green DMC for the Satin (really?) stitched leaves..not too neat.
I used DMC for the buds and top flowers and Edmar Lola for the larger Buttonhole blooms.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The shrub on the left was made with 6 strands of DMC using the Knotted Cable Chain stitch and I’ve begun another rose bush with Lazy Daisy leaves

You are old, Father William,” the young man said,
“And your hair has become very white;
And yet you incessantly stand on your head—
Do you think, at your age, it is right?”

“In my youth,” Father William replied to his son,
“I feared it might injure the brain;
But now that I’m perfectly sure I have none,
Why, I do it again and again.”……….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“You are old,” said the youth, “As I mentioned before,
And have grown most uncommonly fat;
Yet you turned a back-somersault in at the door—
Pray, what is the reason of that?”

“In my youth,” said the sage, as he shook his grey locks,
“I kept all my limbs very supple
By the use of this ointment—one shilling a box—
Allow me to sell you a couple?”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“You are old,” said the youth, “And your jaws are too weak
For anything tougher than suet;
Yet you finished the goose, with the bones and the beak—
Pray, how did you manage to do it?”

“In my youth,” said his father, “I took to the law,
And argued each case with my wife;
And the muscular strength which it gave to my jaw,
Has lasted the rest of my life.”…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“You are old,” said the youth, “one would hardly suppose
That your eye was as steady as ever;
Yet you balanced an eel on the end of your nose—
What made you so awfully clever?”

“I have answered three questions, and that is enough,”
Said his father; “don’t give yourself airs!
Do you think I can listen all day to such stuff?
Be off, or I’ll kick you down stairs!”.

 

 
The poem is by Lewis Carroll and included in Alice in wonderland, where she recites it to the Caterpillar.

I found after I managed to sketch the rabbit, I could stop being wimpy and tackle this lot.  I recommend daily sketching to anyone who thinks they can’t draw.  I’m proving it does work and know I still have miles to go, especially with faces, hands and feet.
…and the bonus?  my sleeping pattern has improved 100% since I began.

I hope this is clear enough to see.  It was more difficult to make clear than to actually sketch it.    One of the drawings that was mislaid some weeks ago.  Meant to look like a vase or profiles.

 

 

 

 

 

 
One of my daughters gave this as a gift to her sister and before she received it I drew the tiny daffodils.  I’ll be adding water-paints to it soon.

Tomorrow I will post 4 as they need to be in sequence and I’m happy to say they are better than these two.

Today I had fun quickly stitching this sample.  I was eager to reach the Sunday Stitch School to hand in my work.

Only three more alphabet letters to go.  X,Y and Z.  The tutorial for this stitch is here

Here I used  Edmar thick threads for the top line and also the base for the second row, which was whipped with a fine cotton.

Top row was stitched over 4, then 3 holes.  The lower row every 2 holes.

I  discovered one of the missing sketches.

Egrets.  I used masking fluid on the narrow sections of the birds – Bills, legs, long feathers and the snow dots.  Then I painted around the negative parts with black and grey watercolour paints.

The snow was easy to rub off but the legs were more difficult, seeing that they are so narrow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This week I coloured a sketch of Pooh Bear and friends, playing “Pooh sticks”, which is a game where everyone tosses a stick into the river, then runs to the other side to see who’s stick is first to arrive.

Playing Pooh sticks

The books about Pooh were written by A.A. Milne and illustrated by Ernest H. Shepherd and were a great joy to my children.

The characters here are Eyeore, hiding his head, Christopher Robin, Tigger, Kanga, Winnie the Pooh, Piglet and Rabbit.

the drawing is 12″ x 10″ and I used Caran d’ Ache watercolour pencils.

I have to confess that  life has been a bit messy lately.
We’ve been away from home several days at a time
and I have mislaid a couple of my sketch books.  I think the gremlins have stolen them.

I’m unsure if I will continue numbering the days or just post as I finish them…  I have several that have taken more than a day or two to complete but everything has been a joy to me to realize I Can draw at last.

Here is Alice, originally drawn by Peter Newell in 1901.  Alice obviously ate or drank something to make her tall.

and here is something that I still find hard to believe that I did.