Miniature crewel kit from Cookie Ziemba

I received my miniature crewel kit in the mail on Friday from legendary miniaturist and IGMA Artisan Cookie Ziemba. The pattern I chose is called "Buckingham", and  it's about 1.75" high and 2" wide.  The kit comes with everything you need to make the piece, except for the 4" hoop:  schematic pattern, colour photo, order of stitching, stitch instructions, tons of thread, 2 needles and the piece drawn out on the finest cotton twill I've ever seen :)  Best of all, is Cookie herself -- so nice and helpful and kind!  It's so nice to meet (even virtually) another miniaturist who loves the 17th century!

Because I live way the hell out in Nova Scotia, my access to things like workshops is really limited.  Like, completely :)  I thought that working on a kit from the woman with whom I'd most like to study would be a reasonable (if pale) alternative to learning from her in person, and I was right!  It's a great kit and I could only be happier if it came with Cookie herself.

Here's what I've done so far -- yeah, my stem stitch sucks, but then it sucks in 1:1, too :)  I'm just consistent!

Seriously, I'm very glad to have done some crewel stitching in 1:1 -- it makes doing it in miniature much simpler.  But I was surprised to find how easy it is -- it's partly BECAUSE it's so small, that one can make a fair amount of progress in a relatively short time.

Which is a good thing, because I want a LOT of crewel work in my WAMH!

Cookie, thanks again -- I'll order another kit, and keep dreaming my dream to meet you one day in person!

If you want your own crewel kit (or want to buy a piece already stitched by the master herself), drop by Cookie's blog and admire the beauty:  Cookie's world of historic dolls houses and miniatures