Embroidered Bag Progress

Pretty needle minder

I hope those of you in the Northern Hemisphere are managing to stay cool. It's been pretty hot here, getting to 101 ℉ (38℃) on Monday. Tomorrow we may get some cooler weather, and I must say I am looking forward to it. It's been over a year since I posted on the Embroidered Evening Bag, but I've been working hard lately to finish it. Above right, you can see that I've finished the blue/purple flowers. Since this project is worked entirely in Soie d'Alger silks, it's pretty expensive. I had run out of the light blue, but ordered more from Hedgehog Handworks. To save the silk for surface stitching, I made the padding of the blue flowers from a corresponding color of DMC floss. As the silk is upwards of $4.90 per skein vs $0.39 for the floss, this is quite a savings, especially if you do a lot of padding.

Pink buds almost finished

Here I only have the tips of the pink buds to finish, along with the center of the large flower. Since the center will be Ghiordes knots surrounded by beads, I'm saving it for last.  This will help to avoid any snagging.

The grapes are a bit more grape-like

If you look at the link to the previous post (over a year ago!) the grapes sort of flowed together in a mash up. I seriously considered taking them all out, but after thinking about this for maybe five minutes, I added a few strategically placed French knots which seemed to make them rounder and more grape-like.

What is the mystery bud below the blue flower?

I finished the little blue flower, again padding the petals with DMC floss. There are some sketchy lines just below the blue flower that don't seem to correspond with the original drawing. I'll have to figure out just what to do with it. Besides the mystery bud(s), I only have to finish the centers of the blue and pink flowers, the pink flower buds, a few tendrils and stems here and there, and add a lot of spangles overall. Then comes the construction, which looks pretty easy.

One aggravation that creeped in a few days ago is that I broke the broke the post of this embroidery hoop. It is a large sit upon hoop so now I have to hold it in my hands to work on the project until I can find a replacement.

I'm sure you are all wondering why I have picked this particular project to finish now. Well, there is a very good reason for it. In September, I will be attending the SAGA Convention in Hampton,  Virginia. This particular project is from a class my SAGA chapter in California held back in November, 2013, almost three years ago by the talented Susan O'Connor from Australia. Besides wanting to have a nice bag for the annual banquet, I will be taking three days of classes from Susan. I will definitely want to show this evening bag off!