Orange Blossom with Strawberry Leaves

For the pattern that will be embroidered on the first dress, I want to combine orange blossoms with strawberry leaves. The coronets of English Dukes and Duchesses are a design composed of strawberry leaves. I am treating this embroidery as a sampler and executing each leaf and the blossom in different techniques. I chose to do the composition of this and the previous sample in a similar form to the 17th Century floral slips that women would embroider to both study flowers and practice embroidery.

Toronto Photos

I have been uploading photos from my trip to Toronto to my share site. Please enjoy looking at them! I visited the following places:
- Royal Ontario Museum
- Bata Shoe Museum
- Toronto Textile Museum
- Art Gallery of Toronto (no photos taken here)

http://katherinediuguid.shutterfly.com/

Finished Padded Orange Blossom on Velvet

This sample was composed of all the left over ends from cutting the silver smooth purl and bright check for other samples. After finishing the the Silver Blossoms samples, I almost a large enough group of ends to finish it.

Silver Orange Blossoms

From Left to Right:
Blossom A: Petals: silver #6 smooth purl. Center: silver #6 bright check, silver lined Japanese Delica beads, silver lined Japanese drop glass bead. Steam: #5 imitation Japanese silver.
Blossom B: Petals: #6 broad plate. Stem: medium rococo.
Blossom C: Petals: #5 imitation Japanese silver. Center: silver #6 smooth purl, silver lined Japanese drop glass bead, matte silver glass beads. Stem: silver lined Japanese glass beads.
Bud A: Outline: silver super fine pearl purl Bud: scattered silver #6 bright check, silver lined Japanese Delica beads,matte silver glass beads. Stem: T sized imitation silver
Bud B: Bud: medium rococo (plunged at every end at base of bud) Stem: T sized imitation silver

Photos of my adventures . . .

If you would like to see the photos I took while in England, I have created a share site through Shutterfly with each place I visited organized in albums. My share site is:

http://katherinediuguid.shutterfly.com/

I hope you enjoy!

I'm back !

I am back from my UK adventure! I am currently uploading all my many photos and will post links to these once I have finished. The following are the places I went and exhibitions I saw: Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew Palace, Gardens at Hampton Court Palace, the Bowes Museum, Blenheim Palace and Gardens, Victoria and Albert Museum (specifically the Medieval and Renaissance and British Gallery wings), Grace Kelly exhibition at the V & A, "Albert and Victoria" exhibition at the Queen's Gallery at Buckingham Palace, "Enchanted Palace" exhibition at Kensington Palace, St. Paul's Cathedral, and the Museum of London.

Highlights of my trip:
- Seeing the ecclesiastical vestments and textiles at St. Paul's Cathedral.
- Seeing a gown Queen Victoria wore to a Charles I costume ball at the Queen's Gallery.
- Seeing the Syon Cope and other pieces of Opus Anglicanum in the newly renovated Medieval and Renaissance wing at the V & A.
- Seeing beautiful lace pieces at the Bowes Museum.

I also took the Developing Goldwork and Advanced Goldwork classes (4 days total) at the Royal School of Needlework. Below is a photo of the piece I completed during my class. I am working on a sample of orange blossoms using some of the more advanced techniques that I saw and learned on my trip.