Jasper & Janina..............

I have finally finished the July needlecase.  It was always going to cause me concern, these J months have been rather difficult for me to decide on a theme.  I purchased a fat quarter of fabric earlier in the year with the needlecases in mind, and when it came to finally using this particular lining, I decided grey might be the go.  To brighten up my journey, I kept making up little stories as I planned/stitched.  Perhaps this one could quite easily be the start of a childrens' book in years to come, as I've given it the title 'Jasper and Janina meet Jasmine in July'............  I know, it's weird!!!  Why??  Well, I love the semi-precious stone Jasper, and one of it's forms is Mexican Zebra Jasper which conveniently shows black/white/greying.  I've been trying to use a stitch or technique that starts with the same letter as the month in which I'm working, so the story was born.  I've used Janina Stitch, which is just another name for Roumanian Stitch [it is.........it says so in Mary Thomas' Stitch Dictionary!!!].  Janina is more of a 'band' stitch and doesn't really lend itself to shapes well.  Okay, enough already................. 

T

The Jasmine flower [it's my flower so I can call it a Jasmine......LOL] has been done by fusing two layers of grey crystal organza together prior to satin stitching around the petals.  I then padded the centre with felt circles, over which the Janina stitch was worked, and finally the Jasper bead was attached.   The 'stamens' have also been worked in Janina stitch, and what piece would be complete without some beadwork.....

I very much wanted to use grey felt for the 'pages', but alas my grey felt parcel just hasn't arrived, and I really needed to have this finished.  The black piping on the outside has possibly given me permission to use black felt for the needle pages.  Using these bland colours and one stitch in particular was a trial, but I think it has added something to the mix of needlecases I've been working on.  I must now move on to the August one, and possibly a little more colour.