Sensu - Phase 2-3 Class in April 2019

Hi !

I've been very busy lately (as usual). A lot of thing happened recently, but one ofthe most important : I had my first class for the phase 2-3 with Marian Preshing, a certified JEC teacher from Edmonton (Canada). A second calss in planned for Novembrer, because the Sensu is covering 2 phases. There a lot of technical elements, and a single 4-day class is not enough to see everything.

Before class, we had homework to do : Complete the foudations.

Here is a picture before class

This is the last picture I took, but the orange coud on the left was completed with temporary holding when i came to class.

And this is the result of four days of work, 58 hours from the beginning :

I have to say, i was very satisfied with the teaching of Marian. She has a lot of energy and can handle multilevel class (We were 3 people doing Phase-2-3 and 3 people on Phase 4). 

I got some homework to do before and i hope i will be able to do them with work and school at the same time ! I was asked to do the pine under the purple foundation on the right, and finish the elements that were started in class. 

Next things we will see are cords, stitching flowers on top of the orange foundation, gold couching and staggered diagonals. I look forward my next class in November!!

Sensu - Shippo Foundation (2)

Japanese Embroidery

Shippo Foundation (2)

Once a foundation is done, it needs to be secured so it won't snag. You don't want to ruin hours of work !
On the shippo foundation a holding lattice is stitched on the top of the cloud. It is the same technique i used in my phase 1 for the valerian flowers (which i didn't post about previously on this blog).

Usually, a holding lattice is used on a flat silk foundation as holding but also decoration. The lines are 5mm apart, 45° angle from the foundation, and the lines are 90° from each other, so its forms a square. 

When superimposed with shippo, the holding lattice isn't only for esthetic purpose but also a guideline for the shippos. Each line will have a small piece of paper in ellipse form stitched on the top. 

First, i need to twist a 2->1 thread in the same colour. This small thread is as thin as a couching thread. Then, my lines need to be 1,4 cm distance, so i used my 7mm grid.  

This picture is how i make sure i will get nice 45° lines. Now do you see what is genius here ? How the 7mm grid goes exactly in the middle of the squares on my triangle? Remember Pytagoras theroem ? A² + B²= C² 

This is exactly what we have here ! C =  0,7 mm, it's the size of the hypotenuse, the longest line between two corners of a square when the side of the squares are 0,5 cm.

(Yes, i majored in maths)

This little 7mm grid helped me a lot along with the triangle ! 

Once the cloud is covered with perpendicular lines, the next step is to tie them with couching thread. Usually, the ties are done at the intersection. But for shippo foundation holding lattice, the ties need to be done between the intersections, twice. Since the lines will be covered with the shippo almost not touching where the intersection are, tying it there would be visible. 

The ties need to pierce the couching thread so the foundation won't move. I've put them not exactly in the same place between all the intersection to make sure i could tie the most threads. 

Shippo foundation is now completed ! It took around 12 hours to do. I am very satisfied with my work. The worst part was clearly twisting the threads ! Holding lattice was fairly easy to do because i already had experience with yellow valerian flowers on phase 1. The most important thing is to make sure your lines are always 90° and evenly spaced. One on the line is 1 mm off but i will try to correct it when placing the shippo.

For the next part, i am working on the red cloud on the bottom left. I chose to work on this one because the purple is in flat slik, and since i'm going to travel with my frame next week for a monthly meeting with my group, i'm afraid i may ruin the foundation before it is secured with temporary holding. A snag on flat silk appears more than on twisted thread. 

WIPocalypse February 2019

Good morning:)
Welcome to the (always late) WIPocalypse post of January February 2019!
To participate, here is the Info Page :)

Since i missed the January deadline, i'm gonna put the two month together !

This was 2 very big months for me. I attended a University conference in Miami in the beginning of January (One week of vacation in the sun !! ), and was chosen to be lecturer (assistant professor) for an undergrad class in quantitative analysis. Lots of hours of preparation every week, but i am delighted to have this teaching opportunity, since it was my favorite class when i was an undergrad student. Also, i have to take more hours on my part time job to accommodate a colleague, while being in a lot of committees at University !! I feel very tired but i would be bored if i wasn't that much implicated in my community.

Even if I didn’t have a lot of time to stitch, I managed to find some ! I am very happy to report progress on my wips!! Canadian weather helped a lot, with the coldest winter storm in January in Montreal since 1920. We were freezing like crazy !! Also, we received another 40cm of snow in mid-february. Nothing better than stay home and stitch all day long! The sad part of this stormy winter is that my Japanese Embroidery group meeting for February was canceled. Good news : we will have 2 meetings in March ( and i hope no snow storm this time !)

Two big news this months :
1. A friend gifted me the long lost Charlotte pattern. I almost cried I was so happy ! I think it was lost in my last moving because i never found it in my new apartment. I will be able to continue my favorite Mirabilia !! But now that i have a new pattern, i predict that i will find the old one in two months. Just because (you know.. ) I did some work on this piece but forgot to take pictures.

2. I ordered a OTTlamp and just got its this morning ! (Thanks to Dima and her sister for bringing it to me !) I have very bad lighting in my apartment, and the only lamp i can work with is yellow and not bright enough. Since sun is setting very early in winter and that i never come back home before 6 pm on weekdays, i mostly work in this environment. I hope it will improve my pictures too !



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Japanese Embroidery

#1 Phase 2-3 Sensu 

My Sensu Project got some hours on it , i am glad the blue shippo cloud foundation is done, and the red cloud is coming well . I did a little bit (almost half) of the purple sayagata cloud too.

At this point, I have done around 22 hours of work.

Normally, the right part is not brownish but more mauve lilas . I try to remove some of the yellow taint from the light with instagram picture tools, but i can't do anything for absence of light xD Now that i received my OTTlamp, everything should go better :)

Unfortunately, no time for the bouquet this month! All my time on JE is devoted to finish my preparation for the April class. I am behind in my progress on this blog, i will maybe post new pictures while i am working on Sensu. If i have time.

*****

Cross stitch

#1 Villa Mirabilia

I did a lot of work on this project (If we compare to the amont of crosstitching i did in the last year) ! My frame is small and easy to carry so i bring it when i leave home for a few days. Now that airports have less severe rules these days, i can bring everything it in my cabin luggage. Some years ago, airport security threw away my scissors... hemmmm do i look like i will attack the pilots with my smol embroidery scissors in a bag full of cross stitch threads ? I was so frustrated!

So here are pictures before and after :

I don't know if i will continue this piece. Lastly it was a distraction from the fact that i lost my Charlotte pattern. I dont really like working on 28 counts : coverage is not the same as 32 and i won't use 3 strands for a big piece like that.
Only time will tell!

******

Question of the month

Each month, we have to answer a question.

For January :

What SAL’s are you participating in this year?

This year, i participate in two SAL : WIPocalypse and Stitch from Stash (if this is a SAL xD ) . Having to do a regular SAL is giving me a lot of anxiety because i already have a lot of deadlines in my professional life. Having to set deadlines in my personnal/hobbies life would be killing me, because i see cross stitch and embroidery as a pleasure and distraction from my stressful daily life as graduate student and part time worker in a government agency. There are times in the year when i don't get much sleep  (grant submissions, exams, etc), and embroidery helps me a lot in those hard times. It feels like meditation, a moment for me alone where i can put all my problems aside and concentrate one something i love and which i have no obligations.

This is why those 2 SAL are perfect for me. The WIPocalypse wants us to post when we have time, and skip one month or two.. or a complete year if needed ! There is no pressure from the community and i love it.
Stitch from Stash is a community who encourage people to finish their already started WIP instead of buying and accumulating new projects, and putting the old ones in the UFO basket. When you are done with a project, you can reward yourself with buying new stuff. I really love this idea that we already have enough projects for a whole lifetime and we don't need to buy more to be happy !! I try to apply this with my own cross stitch, and also with Japanese Embroidery. Even if I would love to buy all the projects, i have to be reasonable and stick with what i have. With my two projects on the go, i have for 2-3 years worth of stitching.

For Feburary :

What do you listen to while stitching?

The answer is : it depends what i am doing !! When i'm working on cross stitch, i love to listen to Netflix or an Anime Manga. Doing small x's doesn't require a lot of concentration so it's a good time to catch up on tv shows. 

When i am doing Japanese Embroidery, i have to concentrate very hard on my work. No TV at the same time ! But i enjoy listening to music. I heard or read somewhere that we should not listen to music while doing embroidery, only hear the sounds of nature. But living in downtown of a big city, my apartment is noisy all day, and it's small ! I'm living with another person and i can't impose total silence while i am doing embroidery xD So music in my ears, and i am good for hours of stitching ! 

So, this is it for February, i enjoy in advance to read about your own progress this month !!

Sensu - Shippo Foundation (1)

Sensu - Shippo Foundation (1)

Japanese Embroidery / Phase 2-3

Hi everyone ,

I am enjoying my new Phase 2-3 a lot ! I have become a little bit tired of working on my bouquet because this Phase 1 is way harder than the other phase 1, and the learning curve is very important. As a beginner of embroidery, this big bouquet with a lot of techniques is challenging.

On the Sensu, the homework before April class is to do foundations of the 3 clouds on the fan. We learned the techniques in phase 1, so it should be pretty easy (that's what i thought at first).

What i need to work on first, is the blue cloud that will have shippo on top, the geometrical pattern of ellipses that create a circle with a diamond in the middle

Shippo Pattern

I broke this post in 2 parts because it would be too long ( I write too much I know. )

When doing foundation, our first teacher told us to put guidelines along the weft to make sure we have straight and parallel lines on all the covered area. I could not put them anymore since the fabric has a very visible weft, but I have a problem of distortion in my eyes, and I have difficulty to see straight lines. I prefer taking more time for preparation than realize half way that my lines are not parallel.

And then, we can start putting some color inside.... or twist a lot of thread before, i should say.

I have been told to prepare a lot of threads before, so all of them will have the same twist. A difference of twist will become noticeable on the foundation. Here we have 4-1T , 4 threads into 1 twisted.

After twisting a bunch of threads, time to fill in the space, staying inside the white couching.

(Yes, i have to skip a line after ending each thread. I got 10 people telling me this, i will never forget anymore !! )

Tada !
Around 8h30 of work on this cloud up to this point.

And yes, I used a complete spool for this foundation. Did i had too much twisted thread ? Absolutely not ! After finishing my last stitch, i had one twisted thread remaining !!! This is why we have to buy 2 spools of 502 blue !

The amount of silk used for this foundation is unbelievable. 4-1T uses 4 strands to produce one. Also, the longest line from this cloud is 11 cm. Even if i did very long threads, sometimes i couldn't put more than 3 lines before having to finish it. It was very frustrating as i felt i was going very slowly. This piece is not about being easy (because putting straight lines of twisted thread along the weft is very easy), but about patience. On the Phase 1 Bouquet, i only had one big foundation on the bag (much more smaller than what i just did). On the Phase 2-3 Sensu, i have to fill 3 clouds that will use almost all of my silk spool.

Now i get a better perspective about the crazy hours needed to do a big piece like the Phase 9 Sake Box, and why we have to buy so much silk spools !! Pfiou ! The road ahead is gonna be very long ! But sure i wont let this stop me. I am ready to put the time needed into this to achieve my goals (Even if it takes 15 years xD )

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Next step on the shippo cloud is holding lattice. It is the same technique as used on the valerian flowers of the phase 1 (which i didnt post pictures here... i am a bit behind with my progression on this blog... sorry !! )

On the next group meeting, i hope to receive the Ott light i ordered with Dima. The light in my appartment is not very good. I only have big lamp to work, and it uses special bulb that comes only in a yellow-ish colour. This is bad for working at night, especially when i need good light. Also, pictures appears yellow sometimes and i hate it ! I try to put some instagram filters but i would prefer to have the real color !

WIPocalypse 2019 Kickoff post !

WIPocalypse 2019 Kickoff Post ! 

Hi ! I hope you had a very satisfying year 2018 not only in your Embroidery/cross stitch life but in every aspect of it. And I wish your year 2019 will be better <3

Long time no Wipocalypse ! My last post was in April, almost one year ago :) I did not post a lot because school kept me very busy. Now that things may calm down a little bit for the next weeks - courses are over and I am writing my thesis-  i may have more time to stitch and to post on the blog!

For those who are not familiar with the WIPocalypse concept, Melissa from Measi's Musings hosts a SAL where we are encourage to work on our embroidery WIP like it's the end of the world soon, and report our progress at the end of each month. We also have to answer some questions about ourselves, our work etc. You can read about it in the WIPocalypse 2019 Info Page

Topic of the month

January 6 – Introduce yourself, your projects, and any goals you have for the year!

I've been posting under the name of Merlynn for a while. I needed a name on instagram and it came like this (because friends of mine used to call me Merlyn like the mage when I was younger). Fun fact is I learned at 18 years old in my second year of college that the usual name i had was not my real legal name. It was not the first time i was aware of it, but my mom always told me it was a mistake on my birth certificate. But at 18 years old, governement issued all my cards passport, driving license, etc to my new name. I was confused, but my teachers and friends were more ! Imagine the friend/student you knew for some time has now a new name. Weird !

Someday I may post under my real name.. who knows ? I consider Merlynn is perfect for the moment xD

I am a 28 years old grad student in Population Studies in Montréal (Canada) and I live with my boyfriend from the past 8 years ( before you ask, we mostly marry after children in Canada, not before xD ). I know that he reeeaallly loves me because he bought me a secret stash that fits with our couch to plank all my embroidery things that where blooming everywhere in our apartment since the last 5 years.

(Very Non-Suspicious Furniture)

Tadaa !

(Yes, I post memes everywhere. Be aware)

I also work part time as a statistical assistant in a Governement Agency . I use my (almost non existent) spare time to do embroidery, mostly Cross Stitch and Japanese Embroidery. But as i wrote earlier, now that my courses, exams, etc are done, i should have more time to stitch (but we all know it's a lie).

I discovered embroidery when i was young, in 4th grade, a girl form my class was doing a Snow White embroidery in a homemade hoop, and i asked my mom if i could do the same. My mother, who didn't had any knowledge of embroidery at all - not like that girl who had been taught by her grandmother - bought me a very small cross stitch kit from a magazine. It was a porcelain cup, first of four kits of a China Set. I will always remember how much i was disappointed because i wanted a Snow White embroidery too xD I tried it anyway.... and i loved it! I did around 10 or 12 small projects from the kits i was receiving every month. (Maybe I should post about it !! )

Then, teenage hit me, and i left all the embroidery to concentrate my time on chatting on the phone about boys with my friends.
Fast forward ~ 10 years later, late 2013, my mom sent me a lot of stuff including my old cross stitch staff. And then here i am in 2019, still doing embroidery !! I really love it ... when I have the time !


About my projects... well I have a lot!

First, about cross stitch

# 1  Villa Mirabilia from Nora Corbett Mirabilia

My main goal in 2019 is to work on this.

My last picture from this project is the same as last time

Same picture as last time. The main problem with this piece is - there is always a problem !! - that I wanted to have 32ct linen to work on, but the lady at the small boutique i went only had 28ct in that colour. I got pressured into buying it to not displease the lady, but i realize years later that it wasn't a good idea. I hate to to work on 28, as i never liked 14ct Aida. I don't know if i will ever finish it, but try to do some work there and there on it. I put on some stitches this automn and during the Holidays, but don't have picture right now. Maybe in the next WIPocalypse !!

#2 Charlotte, from Nora Corbett Mirabilia

Oh my sweet baby Charlotte.

I still cry my lost of the pattern. It was my first Mirabilia i bought and I fell in love with the colours immediately.

If I ever find or buy another pattern, I will surely finish her.

#3 ????

Finally, I have a lot off UFO lying in my secret stash. If you read some older posts on my blog, you can see all of them. At first, I don't plan to stitch them but maybe I'll pick one to work on this year, we never know what can happen !!

_______

Second, about Japanese Embroidery

In 2017, i had my first class in Japanese Embroidery, and it was love at first sight (almost). I now have to pieces in progress that i will absolutely work on this year !

#1 Sensu, Phase 2-3 of JEC

In April, I will follow my second class of Japanese Embroidery, with a Teacher from Edmonton that will come to Montreal. I chose to work on Sensu for this piece

© JEC/Dima Santina

Before class, we have to do some homework : filling foundation in the 3 clouds. I worked on this in the last two weeks

Light is bad, sorry !!

This represents 5.25 hours of work, and I haven't filled the half of it !!! Japanese Embroidery is very time consuming !

Since I have to finish everything before April, and realizing the crazy amount of time i will have to put on this, this is my very main goal in the next months. I can't wait to see this piece finished !

My friend Dima is working on the other project from the same phase, Hiogi. You can follow her process here on her blog D1-D2 . She also does a lot of exquisite other types of embroidery !!


#2 Bouquet from the Heart of Japan, Phase 1 of JEC

© JEC/Andrée Domeyne

My first project of Japanese Embroidery ! I had to put it on the side to concentrate on my phase 2.
Here is what it looks like as today

© JEC/Merlynn

I don't know when I will work on it. Maybe when I will get tired of twisting threads !

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So that's it for this long post about me and me embroidery projects for WIPocalypse 2019 ! Thanks for visiting, i hope you will enjoy my blog that i try to resurrect from time to time. I hope I can write more  about interesting thing hat I come across and related to embroidery, my challenges but also my small victories.

We will see ! Trying to post every month for WIPocalypse will be a small victory in itself !
You can also follow me on instagram with the @merlynn.stitch

Sensu - Framing and Fan Outline

Hi everyone, long time no see !
I have been really busy with school lately and didn’t have a lot of time to stitch. I went to a research internship in France for 6 weeks and couldn’t bring my big frame in my luggage lol. I did a little bit of cross stitch (easier to put in a bag) but not that much because i was very busy at the univeristy there.
Because I was in Europe, i missed my monthly meeting of Japanese Embroidery in November, but would never missed the December one .

This meeting was special : we just received our Phase 2-3 kit and we planned to frame it before our April class ! While all the other stitchers chose Hiogi, i went with the Sensu !

(Thanks to Dima for the lovely picture ! ) 

(If you ask, no my phase 1 is not finished - far from it - but I need a rest from this frustrating piece xD )

For those who are not familiar with the Japanese Embroidery Center curriculum, instead of doing two separated pieces for phase 2 and 3 , there is the option to combine both in one piece . To be honest,  I don’t like the phase 2 fan so I find this option 2-3 very convenient . Phase 3 projects are appealing me, but it means going throught phase 2 first. I prefer enjoy one of the Phase 3 later when this 2-3 will be done .... In 5 years at my actual pace, i suppose xD .

The kit arrived with all needed threads, cottons to sew in fabric ends, chart box, one pair of lovely komas, and ... no indication on where the colours go ! Should I guess where to put all those 19 colours??  I can’t even tell the difference between the greens xD  Dima emailed the JEC and they gave us the colour chart. We were glad they answered very fast.

It took all day to sew our fabric ends, frame and double-lace our projects. A very long process, but since our piece may sit on the frame for a long time, it's a better idea to have it double laced.

Before class, we have some "homework" to do : Outline of the fans, and foundations.

As you can see, the top of the fan et the outline of the small one are not printed on the fabric. Nancy told us it was because the fabric may distort on the framing process. In order to have a beautiful piece with straight line, we have to trace the design on the fabric ourselves after framing.

I used tracing paper to trace the shape of the fan, and some of the cloud lines . As you can see, my blue lines for the cloud don’t match the ones printed on the fabric . This is the distortion. You can’t see it on the picture, but I had to add 1-2 mm to each end of my tracing to martch the fabric .
When satisified with everything , i attached the paper to the fabric , making sure to put my needle in places that will be covered. This fabric looks forgiving if I pierce a hole in the wrong place, but I prefer to develop good habits now.

When this holding was done, I made an outline of held thread following the traced blue line.

I also had to outline the folded fan on the bottom

Eeeek. The lines are not perfectly straight. This thing is hard, and I LOVE perfect things!! 

I suppose i have to do a third line on the bottom but i am not sure, i prefer to have more instruction before doing anything. I only did the outline for the part that will need foundation inside.

And completed, with paper removed  :

Sensu is now ready to be stitched !!! 

Now that I’m back, with courses and exams done, I expect to do a little bit of embroidery before going to see my family and leave my frame all alone for another 2 weeks for Christmas . I can’t wait to put some colors on this Sensu !

I may post some pictures of my progress on foundations, and give some news about the phase 1 Bouquet, that is growing quite slowly . I progressed a lot since my last post in May, but left it untouched for the last 2 months. Since i have some thing to do before my april class, i prefer concentrate on this Sensu. I will go back to the Bouquet after ... or maybe if i get tired to do foundation and twisting thread. It becomes boring after some time xD 

JE May 2018 Report

Hi everyone :)

Even if I shouldn't have had time to stitch in April, because of school... guess what happened !

I did some nice things in the last month, and I had my group meeting. This time, almost everything went well. I got a little bit frustrated on my orange chrysanthemum at some point, but now it's over. No «hours of angry removing» this time. 

This is my progress since my last report and everything I worked on last month. 

• Paperbag

Foundation is done ! 

Last pic is «light test». It's to make sure there are no holes or empty spaces in our foundation. It's done by putting a lamp under the fabric. I suppose everything is okay for me, but in cas something is incorrect, I still have a part of twisted thread ready.

• Blue Iris

Flower is done ! 

It was a little bit hard. I think there is too much space in the middle of my right outter petal, but it's okay for me. I will leave it like this. More about the process here -> Blue Iris Progress

• Orange crysanthemum

Almost done ! 

Bigger petal on foreground has to be done first. Then you work clockwise, and counterclockwise. I feel the right part looks better than the left part. I've got better at this. The biggest petals took me almost 1 hour each to stitch, including self padding. I am a VERY slow stitcher. It take me a lot of time to decide where i will put my next stitches.  

The only thing, i feel my thread is not twisted tight enough for the first petal and those going to the left.  Or maybe i am looking at my piece too close. I suppose time will tell me what is the best. Alors, I am not too satisfied with my smallest petal in the back. Maybe i'll redo it in the end. Maybe not. 

I need to finish with random size layers in the middle and japanese knots all around. At the end. I hate knots.

More about the process on another post :) 

• Blue chrysanthemum

I had a flat blue thread from my iris that i didn't want to throw away. I decided to stitch to not lose it. I began my blue chrysanthemum, with flat silk and no padding. 

Actually, following the Japanese Embroidery rules, i should do the Purple Chrysanthemum on the left before the blue on the right, because the latter is in background compared to the other. But since this petal is notre overlapped by the purple ones, I decided I wont lose my precious (and expansive!) silk. 

For now I won't work on this flower until the purple is done. 

• Yellow Valerian

I wasn't ready to go back to pinks. I decided to work on my yellow flower. It's made with flat weft foundation. I have to make sure all my stitches are parallel. 

In this picture, I see the difference between my day 2 of formation, where I had so much difficulty to stitch parallel, and now. Lots of improvement needed, but very satisfied with my progress from the begining.

Nancy made a light test for me. My first stitches on the top have some spaces between them, I will have to add some more libes to cover it. 
I will put lattice on the flower at the end. And some knots to finish. Someday. Did i said i hate knots? 


So now here is what it looks like, Before /After

I am very glad with my progress so far. It is so satisfying to complete elements. 

23 hours in this since february :)

Next thing : 
Working on my valerians this month... and maybe pinks !

I look forward to put the layers on the Paperbag on next group meeting in end of May.