Catherine, Laura and Jen joined us for last weekend’s embroidery session. All of them have been here before and so are considered “veterans.” They certainly showed their experience; they all accomplished a great deal.

Catherine was working on the unwieldy back piece, and stitched three complete roses along with a few odds & ends here and there. Laura mostly worked on the collar & cuffs frame, finishing the cuffs to the point that they are ready for goldwork. She also stitched the detached butterfly wing piece, and then sewed it to the collar, which made the collar done-done-done.

Jen was working on an equally unwieldy front, and did some of everything, including fancy worms. Fancy worms are composed of two parallel rows of ceylon stitch, in two different colors, with the head stitched separately in a third color but also in ceylon stitch. These worms also get black back stitched antennae (thus making them not technically worms, I know) but are not wrapped like the plain worms.

Here are all of them with their frames. They were friends from before this project, and traveled here together sort of like a girls’ weekend away. They have such fun together, it makes the atmosphere of the weekend sort of like a party. A few different times we’ve had friends meet here both to enjoy each other’s company and to work together on the project. It puts me in mind of all the different sorts of women’s gatherings to work and talk, like quilting bees or houseraisings (OK, there the men are working I guess but if you don’t think it’s a lot of work to feed timberframers, I’d like to introduce you to a couple of cooks I know…..)

Linda H came all the way from Pennsylvania to work on the jacket this weekend. Here’s a picture of Linda pointing out one of the motifs she worked, a butterfly.

Linda brought some of her needlework for show and tell, which was today. Here’s a picture of some of her stitching, which will be part of a beautiful needlework accessories book.

Linda was inadvertently part of a very rude awakening I had today. Wendy was showing her some of the frames, and pointing out what remains to be done. I had thought that the plain worms were stitched in ceylon stitch, like this. Ceylon stitch period. Stop. Done.

So Wendy was saying, “and then the worms get this funny wrapping thing.” And I said, “The Fancy Worms.” And Wendy said, “No, the plain worms.” And she started telling Linda how the wrapping is done. And I said “The Fancy Worms. The plain worms are done.” And Wendy said, “NO. The Plain Worms.” “WHAT?” So apparently the plain worms are NOT DONE. They need wrapping, like this. And I am getting used to that idea.

A couple of updates - Robbin explained in the comments that Laura didn’t have a name tag yesterday so we gave her a spare. Her grandmother’s name is Irene so she picked that one.

I ran into the interpreter whose stays Lacey altered over the last couple of days, and she was all appreciation. Her stays fit so much better and she is much more comfortable. The only problem now is her waistcoat is too big! We can fix that - over her next weekend.

Here are more of my needlework challenges.

This is the first try at a wavy line of ceylon stitch. A straight line is OK, but the worms “squiggle”. (Click on “ceylon stitch” for the pdf of the instructions.)

A subsequent (I won’t say how many tries were in between!) attempt yielded this red worm. It’s still a little wonky, but getting better!

Nicole R left this in the comments on “Hooked” from May 24, 2007 about how I got hooked on embroidery:
I came from a family of knitters, quilters, and crocheters too, but I’m the only one so far for whom embroidery is the needlework of choice. But we all know how to do it, and learning it seems to have been a matter of course, because I really don’t remember not knowing how. Until I was about 20, though, it was the other thing I did. I was primarily quilting and making garments then, but I wanted more of a challenge. A friend showed me counted cross stitch, and soon after that, I saw Sharon Cohen’s pieces in Just Cross Stitch and decided to try. JCS used to publish much more challenging pieces then, and I taught myself detached buttonhole, trellis, cutwork, etc. from those illustrations. I’m working to learn crewel now–if I can find the time! Of all the things that have been cut back since we started a family, I miss my stitching time the most.

Thanks for sharing your story, Nicole. Do you remember how you got hooked? Leave a note in the forums (link on upper right of the page).

Carol asked how wide is the frame that the jacket front is on. I’ll have to measure, but for now, the actual width of the embroidered part of the linen is about 16″ wide. Add to that the blank linen on either side, the lacing, and the wooden bars. Long arms helpful. This one may be the widest frame, though; if not it is only an inch or two smaller than the widest one.

Tonight I have more pictures from the February 29th embroidery session.

Here is Ellen working a ceylon stitch worm in Gilt Sylke Twist. I love the worms.

And here are Ellen and Wendy looking at two antique samplers Ellen brought for show & tell. The samplers belong to Ellen’s family, and within a few minutes Wendy had found genealogical info about one of the embroiderers on the internet.

We have room for a few more embroiderers and one lacer in the April 11 - 14 session. We’ll also be embroidering and making lace May 16 - 19. If you’d like to join us, please let me know.

Thanks, Cate, for the information on using wood basket staves as a baleen substitute. I think I will look into that a bit more.

We received two pair of gloves from Linda F recently, and a pair of blue stockings from Martha D.