Elizabethan Pencil box: Barbara Jackson, designer

Project: Elizabethan Pencil box

Designer: Barbara Jackson

Type of needlework: Crewel embroidery

Photos: 6

Tristan Brooks Designs web site: http://www.tristanbrooks.com/

Comments: I had always been a bit nostalgic about old times when I had my own wooden pencil box when going to school and I had been looking for one for a long time when I saw this one on the Tristan Brooks website. The design was a crewel one,  not a cruel one, and since I love crewel, it was an easy sell for them to make. I also thought that the Olde Colonial pencil box was just so pretty. How can anyone possibly resist that? If you go to their website, you will see lots of lovely boxes that you can purchase, if you are so inclined.

(Photo showing the stitched design)

(Empty box)

(Left side section of the design)

(Middle section of design)

(Right side section of design)

Crewel embroidery design: Joanna Reed, designer

Project: Crewel embroidery design

Designer: Joanna Reed

Type of needlework: Crewel embroidery

Photo: 1

Design coming from the magazine called "Victoria", September 1993

Comments: This is the very first crewel embroidery project that I stitched and I discovered that I truly enjoyed stitching on fabric instead of on canvas. I have only stitched a couple of crewel projects, Edwina Gorey, being the other one, so I am thinking that it is high time for me to stitch some more. I just happen to have one waiting for me.

One of my goal these days is to work on my UFOs as I have got way too many of them sitting here and there. I am presently working on one of them called Persian Fantasy and my intention is to stitch exclusively on it until it is completed, then pick another UFO and do the same. Some of them have very little left to do before I can take them off the stretcher bars, so perhaps 2010 will be known as the year of the UFOs in my household.

Edwina Gorey by The Sampler Needlework

Project: Edwina Gorey

Designer: Unknown

Type of needlework: Crewel embroidery

Photo: 1

Website: http://www.samplerneedlework.com/

(you need to call them, if interested, as this kit is not listed on their website)

Comments: Another project that I just love. This project has everything that I love and I have enjoyed every minute of it. The section that was the most fun for me was stitching her hair with bullions and I love the way it has turned out.

I love what it says about her on the instruction pamphlet:

Edwina Gorey:

 Our heroine reflects an earlier time when mourning samplers became the fashion. Her distress is still felt today but for a different reason. Her every fiber cries out. "but you don't understand, I can't do anymore!"

Her name owes a debt to Edward Gorey