Norma's band

This is Norma's band. It arrived in my hands yesterday morning.

The colours are richer than my photos can show. The base fabric is a lovely rich honey colour which shows the colours used to perfection. Norma describes this cloth as 28count Quaker Cloth pumpkin colour.



The top stitching above is Norma's own work, whilst the beaded work was added by Denise.



The enchanting birds, with their silk ribbon flowers were added by Sarah.

Beneath this comes Jenny's contribution. She added Wessex Stitching with a border of interlaced herringbone.

Then there is the gorgeous blue of Christine's blackwork.

The last section is Hungarian Cross Stitch stitched by Margaret.

I have not even started to put my own ideas together yet. However, I am going through a phase of looking at the developing autumnal colours. Picking these leaves up from the path in town before coming home to find the band sampler waiting for me.

I just loved the colours and the shapes of these leaves. Perhaps something will develop from here, but I shall have to keep you waiting and wondering for a little while as my brain begins to mull things over.

Norma's Sampler

Norma's Sampler now has another band to add to the collection. The stitching is a combination of Wessex Stitching & Interlaced Herringbone stitch.

The Wessex stitching is made up of long-armed lazy daisy stitch & needle-weaving. The background is one colour & the motifs are made up of a change in colour for the long armed lazy daisy with added needleweaving in a different colour. I interchanged the colours of the motifs to give added interest. This is the first time I have worked any Wessex stitching, something I have wanted to do for a long time.

The interlaced herringbone stitch border is one I was exposed to during my Intermediate Certificate studies at the EG here in Sydney about ten years ago, and have not worked since. It is a stitch which is found in common use on embroideries from Central Aisia & India. It comprises a double row of herringbone stitch, worked slightly differently to normal herringbone. Tricky to work, it must be worked correctly or the interlacing will not work. I have used one colour for the herringbone base & two different colours for the interlacing.

Norma, I hope you enjoy.