An Oldie but a Goodie

There hasn't been much in the way of progress to show you on my Groom this week - because there is hardly more than an inch that has been stitched all week. I worked last night on the background behind the groomsmens' skulls and thoroughly frustrated myself. I had trouble with this background on the bride but eventually "got it" but last night I stared at the chart and stared at the canvas and just couldn't seem to count anything right.  I'm going to give it another shot tonight.

I thought that since I had nothing new to show you that I would bring out something from the past. It is probably one of my most favorite pieces of needlepoint. Back in the late 1970s and early 1980s I stitched Maggie Lane's Dragon and Butterflies Panel. The design is in her Rugs and Wall Hangings from 1976. I worked on this off and on for several years. It moved with me from Augusta, GA to Charlottesville, VA and back again.

The design was worked from the chart in the book and is stitched in Paternayan wool on a 14 count canvas. When I look at this piece now, I think of all the fabulous threads and stitches that I could use other than wool and basketweave and Smyrna crosses. Paternayan wool was about all that was available to me 30 years ago. There were probably some metallic threads on the market then but my LNS at the time only carried wool.

Once I had finished stitching this piece, I took it to a local framer who blocked it and framed it for me. It wasn't an exciting finishing but again, 30 years ago, I didn't have many options locally for finishing. When I visited Needlepoint, Inc in San Francisco about 10 years ago, I saw that there were some extraordinary options for finishing a piece like my dragon panel. I talked with Dianne, the owner, about the dragon and she encouraged me to send it to her so that it could be finished properly as a wall hanging. As soon as I got back to Augusta, I took the panel out of the frame, rolled it up in a tube and shipped it off to San Francisco. Several weeks later, the finished piece came back to me as you see in the photo. It is beautifully "framed" in pleated, ivory colored silk. The back is finished in the same silk and is embroidered with my initials and the stitching dates. The tassels on either side are the cherries on top of the sundae. I love the lighting in this photo. I have a white sofa under the dragon panel and it was reflecting this lovely light up onto the dragon this afternoon. 

Next time I post, I promise I'll have some progress to show on the Groom. Our bride is tired of waiting on him!