A blogging defecit

Sorry for the lack of recent blog posts - I have had rather a lot going on and very little time to create or blog! I did however attend a lovely hand stitching class with Sandra Coleridge recently and we made these lovely space dyed felt and fabric book covers:

I was quite pleased with the result and I intend to use the book and not just keep it in reserve as I usually do.
Hope to gets lots more projects up and finished this weekend, and as I have just taken delivery of a new embellisher machine I am going to be busy!

Workshop wonders

I recently attended a workshop with Patricia Barrett which was all about darning. My only ever foray into darning prior to this has been a weak attempt at darning old socks when I was a Brownie which ended in tangled wool and tears! No badge for me that day!!!

However ..... this workshop was something entirely different - same technique but brilliant results.

Patricia brought along numerous examples to inspire us all to get started, and the great thing is you can use up all those bits of ribbon and thread and ake a great picture in a short time.

My first go was a landscape on calico:

I was quite pleased with this first attempt and almost completed it in the afternoon.

Gaining confidence from this I moved on to something bolder on hessian. The hessian allows use of wider threads and ribbons and I even used an old roll of cassette tape on this one so it really is a great way to recycle too!

Busy hands

I have been doing a little bit of knitting and a little bit of stitching and managed to finish off a couple of projects. This is a seed stitch cowl knitted up using Colinette Point 5 yarn. I bought this yarn ages ago and only had the one hank and wondered what to do with it. I love the colours - they remind me of the seaside in summer, so I thought it may be a good idea to make something for the winter to remind me of summer days!

This yarn knits up really quicky and I used huge needles and it is really chunky and cosy.

I need to get more of this yarn as I have seen a lovely sweater pattern I want to try out......

Also been busy with the embellisher and used some sari ribbon and black felt to make this super bag. I am really pleased with the result and lined it with black spotty cotton.

I love working with sari ribbon and the effect is always random and the colours so bright.

So much to do so little time.....

Had a great time with some felt and silk strips and produced a couple of panels. I think I may use them to make another bag.

I seem to have so many projects on the go at the moment and never have enough time to get them all finished - I suppose nothing unusual in that. I really must have a good old sort out and decide what I want to finish first.

Blackpool and Lytham St Annes Branches of the Embroiderer's Guild held a joint exhibition last weekend in Lytham. We had quite a few visitors and some really nice comments which is always good for the confidence. Next one is in two years so maybe I will manage to finish something by then.

Weekend again

Weekend again and I was all settled to do lots with the embellisher - only to find I had a problem. omething wrong with the pressure I think - need to sort it out this week. So what to do ...

Cut out two new bags to sew plus finished a couple of pieces I started ages ago. Not really happy with either of them but maybe I will add something else to them. This one is a fabric collage made with tweed pieces and buttons with a bit of hand stitching. Still have to go off to work and it looks like a busy week so stitching will have to wait until weekend (again)

Summer School

I recently went to Summer School and enjoyed a great course taught by Liliane Taylor. Just my thing - quite modern and funky and loads of inspiration over a fantastic weekend. We started by dying our own fabrics and threads then lots of drawing and finally into stitching our projects. Everyone produced something very individual and all so different from the other - here are a few pics:


Dyed fabrics - messy but fun and with great results

Messy workstation - never mind!

And Work in Progress......

Almost done.........

What a difference a mount makes.....

The great thing wa I actually finished the piece in a weekend so no need to add it to the heap of WIPs!!!

Just got it framed and really pkeased with the result - can't wait to start another one!

New challenge

Our second challenge for the Embroiderer's Guild was to design a book cover for a favourite book. My chioice was The Jewel in the Crown so of course the theme had to be Indian and of course just had to have sari ribbon on it:

I was quite please with the result, which was not at all what I started out to do but it just evolved. Sometimes that is the best way and it just turns out!

Lots of sewing!

I have just finished my very first quilted project! I decided to make a HOPE bag from a pattern bought from Cotton Patch. Profits from the pattern go to Hope Hospice. I had some lovely Amy Butler fabric in my stash that I had been keeping and thought it was time to use it!
However - all did not go according to plan! Somewhere I must have mis-measured something as I ended up with all my bits not quite matching!!!! With a bit of adaptation and some minor changes I managed to end up with a very nice (I think!) bag which may be not quitw s the pattern but I still like it and it is a very useful size. Photographs to follow soon as I am having camera problems at the moment.
I also completed a tote bag with some retro fabrics from fabric rehab. This is also pink so I think I need to make something not pink for my next project.

And at last here is the bag:

Challenge

This book cover is for a challenge set at our local Embroiderer's Guild this month. The challenge is to make a book cover for our favourite book. My favourite book (well one of them) is The Jewel in the Crown and I also love Indian embroidery so I put the two together and this is what I came up with. It started off to be something entirely different with elepahnts and all sorts of images, but it just sort of evolved into this simple quilted shape with lots of gold machine embroidery and sari ribbon. I extended the ribbon so it doubles as as a book carrier as well as a dust jacket.

This is an embellished postcard done for a Flickr swap. I have recently had loan of an embellishing machine and love the effects I have been able to achieve.

This postcard was just using a bunch of threads and fibres I had in my box. I used the embellisher to felt them together and overstitched with metallic threads. I love free machine embroidery - you can just wander over the fabric as the mood takes you! I hate working in a structured organised way, and would much rather just go with the flow...

Having had no formal training in textiles my techniques just tend to evolve. Sometimes I like the results - sometimes not - never know until its done.

Part of this project was that it had to include metal elements so I added some metallic sequins and beads just to finish off. I rather like the end result and my do a larger piece using this technique.

WelcomeWelcome to my new blog

Welcome to my new blog. I decided to start a new one to showcase my needle related projects.

Photographs will hopefully be a major feature. Intention is to update at least once a week so please keep coming back to check on me!