I apologize to my legions of followers (all 8 of you -- ha ha!) for not staying active in my blogging! I don't know how good bloggers do it, and wish I could! I had every intention of doing step by step updates of this final phase of my Master Craftsman journey, with photos as I went, but I really wanted to finished it in time for the April 1st judging deadline, and that meant head down concentration and no time for anything else in my life for several months.
It is now finished. I think. The problem with original designs is you always want to tweak and add things! I have added several things in the last week to help balance the colors and the density to white space ratio. Unless someone points out something glaring, I declare it finished. There are a few things I am not 100% pleased with (and I won't say what!) so it will be very interesting to see if the judges point any of those out.
Here it is, the whole piece, and some close-ups of each section.
I am pretty happy with it.
One thing it has taught me is that I enjoy desgning original pieces! I have loved stitching designs I have obtained over the years, but there are so many other versions of the same design out there. Doing an original raises it to more of an art, in my mind. I sometimes wonder if there would be any market for original works of "needleart", like original paintings? I might have to give it a try!
So now it's on to the washing and blocking phase, then all the paperwork (I need to create a stitch diagram, where I indicate on a copy of the design every stitch along with thread samples and every color used. That takes forever!) for submission. It must be in the judges hands by April 1st which is not a problem at this point -- I'm usually doing all of that in the last 3 days and then paying for priority shipping! Hopefully, I'll be announcing a "Passed" decision soon!
I did take a small bit of time out a month or so ago, and shipped two completed pieces off to the Woodlawn Needlework Exhibit in Alexandria, Virginia. This is one of the largest exhibits in the country, and is actually a competition. I have no idea if I have won anything, despite the judging being complete, because the group that does it is apparently not very good about posting results or advertising! Personally, I think that's deplorable in this day and age -- how hard could it be to scribe the results and post them online? I plan on driving down to see the exhibit the weekend of March 16/17, and will report back any news. I'm not sure photography is allowed (the exhibit is in a Historical Home) but I'll see what I can do. Stay tuned!
Here are the two pieces:
An old Elsa Williams Jacobean Design, one in a set of six.
A Deerfield Early American Design
My next blogging goal is to go back and share the Master Craftsman Certification experience from the beginning! I'm also designing a small project to be taught at my local EGA Chapter later this year that I'm really looking forward to. I'll share that as well.
Enjoy!
