Final (and fewer) ferns

Things have been really hectic at work leading up to a new product launch, which happened today, but which won't be of much interest to you unless you happen to work in the construction industry.  Late nights at the office have meant rather less time for sewing, but I've done bits when I can, and am very happy to say that I have now done the last ever ferns.  Even better, there were not only fewer of them than for the last couple of panels, but fewer than there ought to have been.

What do I mean by that?  Well, you may recall that throughout I've been hopeless at either tracing or stitching the right number of leaves, and ended up with more than I needed.  I saved these up, however, and the spare leaves make up most of two whole ferns:

All I needed to finish them off are a couple of trefoil tops and an extra leaf.

A also had a spare transfer for one fern (I miscounted an entire fern at one point), so I just needed to make new transfers for three full ones and the additional bits:

Going out with a flourish, I managed to miscount the number of leaves on one of them again, but at least I spotted this in time (or at least I think so; we may find I've gone hopelessly wrong one last time when I come to stitch them to the background).

Ironed on, framed up, and ready to go:

Outlined:

And finished!  Hooray!

(By the way, apologies for the ungrammatical 'St Cuthberts Banner' label; the new version of Blogger insists that the apostrophe in the label is an '&' and won't allow it.  Go figure.)

The last pearlworts

Things are still very busy at work so I haven't managed to nearly as much sewing as normal, but I have done a bit here and there, and so do have something to show you.

As this is the final panel, I can start ticking off the 'lasts', starting with the last sheet of pearlworts.  Here's the linen piece with the transfers applied, mounted on the frame and ready to stitch:

With their centres and sepals:

The buttonhole stitch outlines for the petals:

The first colour:

The second:

And the third, with the petals completed:

Finally, with French knots in the centres, to finish them off:

I thought I'd get the ferns out of the way next.

The final panel - making the transfers

At last, the Banner's final panel, the top one.  This is similar to the bottom panel, so no foxgloves and fewer ferns, but more pearlworts and wood avens.

For reasons now lost in the mists of time, when making the flower transfers, I only did the ones for the first three panels, not the final one.  Why I didn't go back and do them I can't remember, but the upshot is, I need to do them now.

So, a little earlier in the process than normal, I cut out the working design for the panel and taped it to my drawing board:

To make the transfers, I need to trace the design with a special transfer pencil, that will iron onto fabric.  However, a transfer is placed face down on the fabric to be ironed on, and so the resulting design on the fabric is a mirror image of the design on the paper.  I want it to be the same way round, of course, so I need to trace everything twice.

With an ordinary pencil, I first traced the flowers, in batches, with enough each time to make up a sheet to be embroidered:

Here's one of two complete sheets of wood avens:

I then turned this over, and on a fresh piece of tracing paper, traced it again, this time with the transfer pencil itself:

I've got a pile of tracings made, so now I just need to retrace them to make the transfers to be used:

Things are very busy at work at the moment, so I don't think I'm going to have much time for sewing for the next week or two, sadly.  I'll fit in some stitching where I can, though, so hopefully I won't go completely quiet!

St Cuthbert's Banner - all work so far

I promised I'd show all the work done so far, and here it is!  It's just laid out, not even pinned, so try and ignore the fact that it's not quite straight or smooth:

It's really starting to come together, isn't it.  I must admit I'm pretty pleased with how it's looking - what do you think?

Just the one panel to go!

Finishing the stems and tendrils

Just a bit more to do to finish the third panel.  There's the tangle of stems and tendrils to the right of the cowslip:

Then the stems for the last three ferns:

Then finally one last flower stem and a couple of goldwork tendrils:

And that's it!  Here's the finished panel, still with the grid I’ve been using to guide the placement of elements:

And finally, with the grid removed:

I need to take a photo of all work I've done so far - all three completed panels and a central cross.  It should be starting to come together now, so I'm looking forward to seeing how it looks.

Goldwork stalks and tendrils

My internet connection has miraculously righted itself, with no intervention from me or anyone else, which I think demonstrates that it was at my ISP's end all along, as I've been telling them.  I'm a bit nervous about whether it's back for good, however, so I'd better write this post quickly, just in case!

While I've been quiet I've been making good progess with the various couched gold stalks and tendrils.  There are the first three ferns, the ones on the left:

Then the stalks for a couple of flowers and a tendril or two:

A tangle of tendrils:

The cowslip and a pearlwort:

And the three central ferns:

So here's all work so far:

See, I really have been busy!

No Internet access. Again.

I've lost my Internet connection again, and am currently engaged in a debate with my ISP over whether the fault is at my end or theirs (I think it's at theirs. They don't).

This means I can't upload photos or do anything useful, I'm afraid. I've got quite a lot to update you on, so please bear with me until things are fixed.