THOUGHTS

  • The Evolution of Beauty 2

    I previously had left this piece when it was so far all in red and ready to have some more additions. Like dark chocolate to a Cherry Ripe, adding some rows of deep brown. Here it has further rows of cross stitch and back stitch in both brown and red.  This is what Uki embroidery… Read more

  • Cross Stitch From Scratch ~a how to post~

    I had a really chilled break recently, visiting some very old friends in Grafton.  During that time, two special little people became interested in my most recent monster of a servetka project and wanted to cross stitch with me.  So I taught them how to cross stitch just the way my Baba taught me.  The day after arriving… Read more

  • The Evolution of Beauty 1

    There is a special way in which a piece of embroidery in the working takes on a evolved beauty as it progresses.  One can start with the backbones of a design or a particular element.  As colour or detail are added, there is a genuine maturation of a design as it approaches its fullness.  Seeing… Read more

  • The Flip Side

    There is a great emphasis in Ukrainian embroidery on having a very tidy reverse side.  This is part of the no knots caper, and was also taught to me by my Baba Zina.  Along with knots, one also does not want loose threads on the reverse side or long bits of thread navigating from the end of… Read more

  • No Knots! No Knots! ~a how to post~

    I am pretty sure it was my Baba who taught me that there are to be no knots in one’s embroidery. As a slight aside, and I will come back to no knots in Uki embroidery, this reminds me of a visit to the National Museum of Ukrainian Decorative Folk Art in Kyiv https://www.mundm.kiev.ua/INDEX_EN.HTM.  This museum… Read more

  • My Paska Recipe

    Paska, made with love… this is the recipe my Mama used, I think its actually a babka recipe from the green book.  I put a whole day aside for this – what you see documented started at 8am and was finally finished at 9pm.  There is some time for other things over the day (like… Read more