Adventures in Plunging

Good Afternoon Gentle Blog Readers,

No, I haven't taken to unplugging toilets in my spare time--that job belongs to DH.  Instead, I am bravely attempting to finish The Uptown Stitcher.  She is the brainchild of Libby Sturdy, a local designer, who is more than a little diabolical.

"What is this?" you may be asking yourself.  Why, it's the outside of a purse.  Let me show you where it goes.

The green basketweave area above is the top half of the "lining" of the purse.  Ms. Sturdy told me and my fellow stitchers (in a workshop long ago) that we did not have to stitch the entire lining, as no one would be able to see it.  She then went on to explain that after we stitched the outside of the purse on a separate piece of canvas, we should unravel (unweave) the canvas and leave the canvas threads that were attached to the purse intact. 

We were then instructed to position the outside of the purse carefully over the outline of the purse on the main canvas and "plunge" (her word) all of the unraveled canvas threads down into the main canvas.  Heheheheheheheeeee!  That is my hysterical cackling.

Here is a peek at the reverse side of the piece, showing the plunged canvas threads in the back.   There are many more still to be plunged.  Once all the threads are plunged, they are all to be woven into the back of the design.  This may be the only time I ever take a photo of the reverse side of my stitching.  Notice how I cleverly used depth of field so that most of the stitches are blurry?  Heeeeeeehehehehe!  More insane cackling.

I have never done this technique before, and it is the main reason why this project has stayed a UFO for 8+ years.  However, I have some very smart and helpful ladies in my ANG group who are giving me pointers and moral support to carry me to the finish of this project--that and lots of California jug wine!

Here are a couple of more reasons for my procrastination:

Her faux fur stole (yes, it has to be faux fur if she is to be a friend of mine and be given a place of honor in my quilting room) is made up of dozens and dozens of french knots, not really that hard to do, but very labor intensive.  But, I'm over half done with them!  The turkeywork depicting lace at the collar, cuffs and hem of her dress?  Completed last weekend!

The design also calls for some free-form flowers to be made out of ribbon and positioned on the band of her hat--yet another technique I haven't yet tried.  But I'm going to be getting help with that from another one of my ANG friends.

So, all in all, I'd say it's looking good for this project to be finished this year.  Don't want to get more specific about time than that!

Thanks for visiting and thank you so much for the encouraging comments you've made.  They make my day.