Cloister Garden Group Instructions

Drawn Thread Group Projects

The first project is Cloister Garden. The leader is Sandy - TX.

Here we go!!!

Good afternoon, Cloister Garden stitchers. This is the first posting of the project – prep work and organization. I’ll post Week 1 next Friday, January 15th, so you’ve got plenty of time to get set up.

These colors look great on several different fabrics, so feel free to choose your favorite lavender, pink, or crème 32-count linen. Most of us will use the Lavender Mist, but you go with what goes best with your décor (I know we’ll all want to keep this project!)

If you want to set your margins and center line, do that with a light color of thread. The piece is 44 x 224 stitches, and of course each stitch is over two threads.

Cynthia has kindly supplied the number of strands of each color, so separate the hank into individual floss bags or bobbins as you prefer. The kit I have only had one strand of 3344 Brown, although I understand some of the newer kits have two. If you have only one, you’ll need to use it conservatively. If this is your first project with silks, congratulations! You'll love it, and you'll definitely be hooked forever.

Read through the instructions carefully. The stitch diagrams are very good, and it helped me to study them closely before I started stitching, especially the ones with lots of steps (the leaves, rapid stitch, queen, etc.) Please, please feel free to share your tips/secrets if you have an easy or different way of looking at some of the more involved stitches.

I have a mail loop set up so we can share tips, get help or request encouragement as we go along. So far, I’ve got Sheri, Patty, Lea, Janice, and Cynthia A on the list, so e-mail me if you want to be added to the loop.

Right now, I’m thinking we’ll do Topiaries, Rosemary, and Borage in Week 1; Thyme and 1/2 of the Garden in Week 2; 2nd Half of the Garden in Week 3; and Chervil, Marjoram and Tansy in Week 4. I know many of you are involved in round robins or have other big projects going, so this should give you time to work on other things too. Let me know if this schedule seems reasonable.

Last but not least, let’s do make this a fun, special project by sharing recipes, gardening tips, or whatever you’d like. I may have mentioned early on that I’m an "herb nut", so I’ll try to pass along interesting items about herbs as we move through each section. If you have the world's best recipe for Rosemary Bread, we want to hear about it!

I look forward to working on this with you—even though it’s cold and snowing in many parts of the country, it will bring a little spring into your home even as you’re sitting in front of the fire stitching away!

I know everyone is ready to go with this one, so let’s plunge right into it! The section for this week will be the topiaries, Rosemary, and Borage (plus the bands in between). Much of the stitching is cross stitch, but there are some specialty stitches that you’ll enjoy.

The topiaries have 3 specialties in the pots – 4 sided, elongated Smyrna cross, and elongated half Rhodes. Cynthia’s diagrams are great, but let me know if you have questions about any of them. I love how they give the pots "texture".

Dividing Band #1 is a regular Half Rhodes stitch in the Pale Rose. This was an easy stitch—just make sure it goes along with no threads in between each series of crosses.

Rosemary has the large and small leaf stitches, plus the small ray stitches. A tip—those leaf stitches look easy, and they are, but make sure you count carefully when you do the first couple of leaves. It took me frogging a little before I got into the rhythm.

There is one possible/probable error in the Rosemary section which Annemiek pointed out. See that renegade "u" on the lower left above the first "E" in remembrance? That should probably actually be a bright violet ray stitch, and the ray stitch to the right and below it should probably be a brown cross stitch. In other words, it should be a mirror image of the other side (look above the "nc" in remembrance). Does this make sense? It's perfectly fine to stick to the chart though--doesn't every piece of artwork have that little hidden error that only the artist can see?

Dividing Band #2 is a reverse cushion stitch in pale rose. Again, you’ll need to use your light and/or magnifier to count carefully since each set of stitches snuggles up against the next. I thought this was a great looking row when finished—it really shows off the sheen of the silk (one cushion is shiny, then the next is matte, and so on).

Borage is easy. All cross stitch—love that Glacier Blue color!

Dividing Band #3 is a double leviathan. Note the instructions say "Light" Rose, but of course it’s "Pale" Rose. This stitch is easy to do, but I initially had trouble making the little piles look the way I wanted. Keep that thread tension flowing smoothly and they will turn out great!

That’s enough for this week, although do move on and start "Thyme" if you wish. All that fun backstitching (LOL!) Depending on how fast everyone is moving, we may want to include the whole garden as next week’s assignment. Lots of fun specialties!

If you’ve never tried it, get some Rosemary this week (either a plant or some fresh herbs from the market). I have several plants in my garden that are four years old now, and they produce the most pleasing, pungent scent that I know of—all you have to do is brush it against your skin to release their wonderful smell. Rosemary is used in cooking more and more these days, especially in chicken and lamb dishes. It is a traditional symbol of lovers’ fidelity and is sometimes used in wedding arrangements.

Okay, here’s an interesting fact that I found this week about Rosemary! According to Christian tradition, the rosemary plant’s small flowers turned from white to pale blue when the Virgin Mary draped her cloak over a hedge of it to dry during the flight to protect the infant Jesus from Herod’s soldiers.

If you’re interested, I’ll be happy to share a favorite recipe for Chicken Apricot Salad – it’s seasoned with fresh rosemary, and it is wonderful! I’m not a gourmet cook at all, so anyone can make it! I'll post with next week's assignment. Feel free to post your favorites too throughout the project.

E-mail if you have questions, problems, or tips, and I’ll put them out on the loop for group input.

Note: Annemiek has a much keener eye than I did. If you're moving on into the "Thyme" Square (LOL!), there appear to be two dark olive stitches missing on the top line of the upper right of the "plant". Look over to the left side and you'll see it. When I post Week 2, I'll mention this again, but wanted to get it out there in case any of you quick stitchers are moving on through.

Let’s finished Area 3 (Thyme) first. I started with the Terra Cotta cross stitches on the pot, then filled in the queen stitches. Saw a good tip recently on how to do these. Keep your vertical stitches kind of easy (not slack or loose though), then when you do your small horizontal stitches, give each a slight pull. This actually made mine look better!! Try a few on a separate swatch of linen, then you’ll have the hang of it!

The "trunks" and the vines are done in Brown, and the leaves in Dark Olive. You may have seen my earlier post about the missing leaves—look at the upper right of the plant, then check over to the mirror image on the left. See those two missing ".’s"? That’s what I’m talking about.

The Dark Rose Smyrna crosses will complete this section.

The Garden
This section is such fun! Some of the things that looked difficult at first (rapid stitch, spiderweb rose) turned out to be the coolest stitches.

Borders
Start with the Rapid Stitch board using the Dark Olive. I think this is going to be one of my favorite stitches—it looks like a row of little shells all lined up. Work your Pale Rose eyelets in the corners—remember to give them a little pull to open up the eye.

Next, define your corners with the Dark Olive cross stitches, then create your 4 squares with the Bright Green. You know, I never would have picked that Bright Green (or the Bright Violet either), but it looks super when the whole thing is done. Cynthia knew what she was doing!

Areas A & B
Easy stuff—just cross stitches, back stitches, Smyrna crosses (in A) and Small Ray Stitches (in B).

Area C
Also an easy step, but watch carefully as you move from flower to flower. There are no threads between the Reversed Cushion Stitches as you move diagonally. Count carefully!

Area D
Backstitches and Horizontal (elongated) Smyrna crosses—they look like little stacks of wheat!

Area E
Arrow Stitch Flowers are also pretty simple—just follow the diagram.

Area F
Now don’t panic on me! I thought these would be hard, but they ended up being pretty simple and cute as can be. Try some on a light linen swatch with darker floss so you can see what you’re doing. Mine started out looking like cow paddies, but they got better after a little practice!

I recall that Marci had a good suggestion on this section. Do the Gray-Green cross stitch leaves first, then start with the bottom rose and work up to the top. She said she had some problems working down with getting caught on the threads in the previous flowers.

The key is to get your five "legs" placed correctly. You’ll be going down at the same center point, but make sure that when you start to place your third leg (you’ll be coming up at #5 on the diagram), that you are three threads above point 3. Also, when you come up at #7, you’ll be three threads above point 1.

The weaving is easy—just feel your way over and under with the needle as per the diagram. Keep good tension—don’t pull, but don’t leave it loose either. Make sure that each "turn" lays outside the previous row, not on top of it.

Area G
Work your Smyrna crosses first, then the Foliage stitches.

Congratulations! You’ve done it—sit back and admire your work for now, then we’ll move on in about ten days or so (unless everyone speeds through it!)

WEEK 4

I hope everyone has enjoyed working on the knot garden this last week—it’s just challenging enough, but didn’t make me completely crazy. Here are the rest of the instructions for those of you ready to move on.

Chervil

Chervil is used in potpourri and as a culinary herb. Its scent has a hint of myrrh, and the taste is somewhat like parsley.

Drop down four threads from the bottom of the garden to the top of this section. I did the cross stitch leaves and backstitch stems first, then finished with the lazy daisy stitches. The diagram is very good here—come up at 1, make a loop, go back down at 2 (into the same hole, but don’t pull out your loop), come up at 3 and catch the top of the loop, then anchor it by going down at 4. Tension is very important on lazy daisies, so you might want to practice a few. You don’t want them too tight or too loose.

Basket Stitch

It took me reading the diagram about 3 times before I "got it" on this stitch! Using Pale Rose, do all your sets of horizontal stitches first (moving from left to right across the row), then do the vertical stitches as you come back right to left. Now why couldn’t I see that? (LOL!)

Marjoram

Since you’re already a pro on queen stitch and spider web roses, this section shouldn’t be hard but will probably take some time and patience. Needless to say, I didn’t do it all at one sitting.

I recommend that you do your queen stitches first, then your spider webs last so you won’t accidentally snag any of them.

Marjoram is a wonderful herb that smells delicious. It’s in the same family as oregano, but isn’t as strong. The little pink or white flowers and the sweet smell attract bees to the garden which help with pollination of all your herbs and flowers. However, it’s very sensitive to cold and I have a hard time keeping it going even during the mild winter.

Large Ray Stitch

The large ray stitches are done in Pale Rose. Remember to snug them up next to each other—no spaces in between, so count carefully.

Tansy

Our last section is easy—all cross stitch. I have some Tansy in my garden, and the yellow flowers look great in dried arrangements. They are bright gold and dry into little knob-like buds.

Note: remember you’re going "over one" with the yellow centers, so check the pattern carefully to see where each stitch is placed.

If you haven’t done so throughout, backstitch all your words and you’re finished! This project has been great because it looks very impressive, but it also seemed to go quickly.

I’d love to hear what everyone plans to do with their finished piece—framing, bell pulls, etc. Are you keeping it or giving it to a (very special) friend?

I’ll check back next week and see how it’s going—remember to e-mail if you hit a bump or have a question.