Spring Reflections

It's that time of year: beautiful flowers, green grass, lovely butterflies and BIG bumble bees. Time to smell the flowers and admire their beauty, and watch the insects do their job floating from one flower to the next.

I like to take the time to also float from one book to the next: needlework books of all kinds. I ponder new projects, changes to old ones and improve my knowledge of needlework techniques and history. I recently won two silk ribbon books as a raffle prize at the SAGA Boston Stitch Party Retreat (thank you, Ingrid!!). And how wonderful, two that I didn't have in my collection. The Art of Silk Ribbon Embroidery by Judith Baker Montano, a preeminent silk ribbon artist and teacher.

It has a wonderful section on the background and history of silk ribbon work. Of course projects, stitch combinations, beautiful photographs and ideas abound. Good reading, lots of inspiration.

Satin and Silk Ribbon Embroidery by Lesley Turpin-Delport is another unusual ribbon book because the author uses satin ribbons for larger scale embroideries (as seen on the cover of the book). Perfect way to photograph the lovely peach roses on the book cover next to my big tulips!

There are shoes with satin roses (great for a bride), pillows with big roses on stems, but there are many projects with silk ribbon, too. Even an embroidered trinket box! There are instructions for working with satin ribbon to make the larger flowers and roses, along with stitch glossaries for "crewel" (what I call basic embroidery), and silk ribbon work. All in all, a very good read and an interesting resource to have on hand. A quick internet search reveals that both books are still available for sale.

So, on with my perusal of my books, antique ladies magazines and personal idea notebook...with beautiful Spring flowers to accompany my journey!