The saga continues

I am still working on this pelican hat. I intend to post more pictures soon!

Let's see who is watching.....

So on my pet project of the "Pelican Hat" I am undecided about whether to do rubies or garnets for the blood drops and what jewel to use for the mother pelican's eye.... what do yall suggest??

Now on to the fun part...

Alright yall, remember that I am ONLY posting these on this blog. So if you are seeing it yer special <smiley face>!

In this photo I've outlined the little chickadees in gold split stitch and finished off all the goldwork on the beak and legs. As you can also tell I've started putting the pearls down on the wool underlay.

This is the fun part in my opinion, it's where the design and beauty all start coming together in a neat little bundle...

Been a little quiet lately....

So i've been a little quiet on things lately. I've got a slew of projects I am working on for people going to Pennsic (the largest SCA event in the US), and other stuff for some of the leather and fetish groups in the area. I have been sneaking in time here and there to continue working on the hat project.

I got the hubby to snap a better picture with his phone than my little craptastic phone does.
Here is where I am at on it. The foundation layer is all couched down with wool yarn which should give a nice stable bed for the pearls to rest on. It looks really nice as it is, but you know I can't rest at just nice.. it has to be f*ckin fabulous b*tches! LOL

Enjoy and i'll post more as I make progress....

In progress... only blog followers are going to see this.

Here is where I am at on this project. I am not going to broadcast this blog for this project so if you read are reading this you get a preview :-) Forgive the quality of the pictures, i'm using my new craptasticly cheap phone and it takes horrible resolution pictures. My smartphone died and I just can't afford a replacement at the moment. You can still get the general idea of where it's at and just think.. after seeing this it will look a zillion times better in person. :-)

And no, I don't plan to wear it because I am not a Pelican in the SCA. It will be a gift for someone I know when they receive their Pelican...

The design on paper.

The design on fabric with a running stitch. Yes I cheated and digitized for my embroidery machine. It's the only shortcut I'm taking on this project since my hands are both always numb.

The start of the gold outline.

Here is the pelican with some of the gold outline couched down. I'm adding this as an additional decorative element. It's typical in Russian pearl embroidery to do this outline in gold but it does not seem to be done on the original hat. I'm Grishka-tizing it for additional fabulousness!

Distraction...

I haven't posted anything lately as I'm sure you have noticed. Rest assured when I finish with this super secret project I am working on there will be a flood of pictures to show. I got really inspired by this photograph and am on a mission to make something fabulous!

I don't have any more information other than what is written on the painting and that it was done by Hans Maler, but for me the painting alone was enough.

Yesterday was a little diappointing...

Here is my sampler of the embroidery I am wanting. I'm most impressed with my split stitch (the outline on the left in red), but my brick stitch (the middle fill stitches in red), and the stem stitch (black outline at center bottom) are going to need work. With no feeling in my hands I am going to have work harder on visual precision more so than the "feel" of the needle on the linen.