I've been busy framing

These are some projects I completed late last year and early this year.
This first one is Summer Quakers designed by Karen Kluba of Rosewood Manor. It is a companion to Spring Quakers which I posted a picture of on August 29, 2015.

Next up is Champagne designed by Alessandra Adelaide. This is a souvenir of our trip to France last autumn which included a visit to Champagne.

I took an online class in Goldwork last year from Jen Goodwin. The design is called Goldwork Bluebell. This is my first attempt at goldwork using real metal threads (as opposed to gold-colored threads) and it was the hardest thing I have ever stitched.

This is another online class I took. It was taught by Barbara Jackson and is called the Berry Bandit. This is done in crewel embroidery.

I was invited to a 90th birthday party this year so I made this card for the birthday gal. It is all done in beads.

One of my needlework guilds organized a round-robin band sampler event. Each participant purchases a large piece of fabric and stitches a band of needlework on it. We were each given the name and address of one other person in the group. When we finished our band we mailed the sampler to our designated person and we received a sampler from another person in the group. We then stitched a band on this new sampler. When finished, we again mailed it to our designated person. In this way the samplers kept moving around in a circle until we received our own sampler back.
Since there was still some space left on the piece of fabric when I got it back, I added a few extra rows of stitching at the bottom. I stitched the white border at the top with the row of flowers and leaves below it. I also stitched the four bands and the border at the bottom (from the poppies down).

And last is another online class I took last year. It is called a Frenzy of Fringes and was designed by Jeanette Carmichael. It is a sampler of beaded fringes. A most unusual idea! It was a ton of fun to do.

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Christmas Ornaments 2015

Here are some Christmas ornaments I finished recently.

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Holidays!

 

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Marseille

Overlooking the Old Port is the Notre-Dame de la Garde, a Neo-Byzantine basilica built in the 1850s on a 490 ft high limestone outcropping. The 135 ft (41 m) square bell tower, topped by a 42 ft (12.5 m) belfry, supports a 27 ft (11.2 m) statue of the Madonna and Child made of copper gilded with gold leaf. (Jesus' wrist is 42 inches (1 m) around and the statue weighs 9 tons.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the front doors.

 

 

The interior is decorated with mosaics.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looking up is just as impressive.

 

 

 

 

This is a seafarers' church and there are models of ships hanging from the ceiling.

 

 

There is also stained glass.

 

 

We will be making our way back home tomorrow.

 

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Marseille

Today was a wander-around-Marseille day. This is very much a big city, especially after Vaison.

 

This view is of Vieux Port, the Old Port.

 

 

The port has two impressive fortresses at its mouth which were built in the 17th century under Louis XIV.

 

 

Located just off the coast are the four islands of the Frioul archipelago. The small one in the middle is If, the site of the Château D'If, built for King François I in 1531. This is where the main fictional character in Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo was imprisoned.

 

 

This is the City Hall with its bust of Louis XIV.

 

 

 

This is the Chamber of Commerce building. The relief on the ceiling shows great moments in Marseille's history.

 

 

 

 

This building, La Charité Museum, was built in 1674 as a poorhouse. It is now a collection of art galleries.

 

 

This is the church in the courtyard.

 

 

This is a department store.

 

 

And this is just a cool balcony.

 

 

The Cathédrale de la Novelle Major was built in the late 1800s.

 

 

 

 

This is the arch over the main doorway.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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