SAL 26 – Tweetings…

Yay, happy dance! Hello everyone, I have managed to finish another project, and I actually love the results! I have been working on a beautiful goldwork robin that has been designed by Georgina Bellamy of ‘That Embroidery Girl’. Here is where I was at the last time we got together…..

Once I had completed the breast of the robin I coloured the throat by stitching long and short stitch in red DCM threads.

The top of the robin’s head was sewn in both bright check and smooth purl. As you can see I haven’t laid the metal threads flat like the sides of the bird – instead I have overlapped them all to add texture. Unfortunately I have packed away my little fellow in the attack until next December and forgot to photograph him – but you can see a video of him on my IG page. Here is Georgina’s finished bird – and mine looks very similar.

 

Thank you for popping in. Happy stitching and I hope to see you all in another 3 weeks.
We are a small group of crafters using a variety of different techniques. Please check out the fabulous stitching by all the other members of the SAL.

If you are interested in joining us you can contact Avis for details. Avis,  Claire,  Gun,  Carole,  Sue,  Constanze,  Christina ,  Kathy,  Margaret,  Cindy, Heidi, Jackie,  Sunny,  Hayley,  Megan,  MaryMargaret,  Renee,  Carmela,  Jocelyn,  Sharon,  Daisy , Anne,  Connie,  CJ,  and welcome back to Jenny

I sea no horse…

I thought you might like to see the finished 3D seahorse that I started a few weeks ago on a fantastic goldwork course with the amazing Georgina Bellamy of ‘That Embroidery Girl’ . This is where I was at the last time I posted…

The padding work had been completed and I had released the head by cutting around it and pulling back hard on it. A few stitches then held the head in place. I had nearly finishing outlining the little fellow in gold pearl purl. This padding part of the goldwork process is most important to get right as all the metal threads will sit over it – and it took the whole weekend to get this far!

I forgot to take photos of my progress – the stomach area was segmented and a geometric design was used to cover it. The middle of the belly was covered in cutwork using 6 different coloured metals in a bargello effect – I particularly like this part of the seahorse. After that the back and head were covered and  I made a fin by applying cutwork over felt. Here is the finished seahorse….

And here is a close up of his head.

This was quite a tricky little piece, with lots of provisional work needed before applying goldwork – but I am very happy with the result. I think I might mount this little fellow on a deep blue background and maybe add some seaweed fronds (somehow!).

Thank you for popping in, happy stitching…

Horsin’ around…

Another weekend and another fantastic goldwork course with the amazing Georgina Bellamy of ‘That Embroidery Girl’ This time we were learning how to make a seahorse. This piece, although small needed quite a considerable amount of padding work to be completed. So much so, that this took most of the weekend. There is at least 5 layers of padding below the thin white felt that you can see in the picture below.

Once the padding had been completed, and covered in a thinner felt, the head was cut around to release it and folded back on itself. – This gave a more 3D effect to the piece.

A bead was sewn in place for the eye and an eyelid made by the addition of a strip of felt across the bead. The seahorse was outlined in a stretched pearl purl. I decided to add a little crown at this point be twisting jewellery wire around fresh water purls and purple crystals. This was sewn in place along the head of the little critter.

I think he is looking quite cute already. What do you think?

Thank you for popping by, happy stitching.

SAL 25 -A bird in the hand….

Hello everyone, I do seem to have managed to get a little bit of sewing done in the last three weeks! Last time we got together I had just attended a day course with the wonderful Georgina Bellamy of ‘That Embroidery Girl’ and was in the process of stitching a metal work robin, I had finished off all the padding and made a start on adding the metals. Here is where I was at….

The next step was to add the wing feathers – these were made by dying some cotton material with acrylic paints and then covering with gold and bronze gutta in quite a haphazard design. The wing feathers were sewn above a layer of vinyl feathers over the felt backing.

The breast of the bird was sewn in smooth purl. I used three shades of red and looped the metal as you can see here….. The loops were interspersed with bright check chippings.

Here is a close up of the looped metal… Cotton thread is passed up through the felt and into the little metal tubes before being plunged back down into the padding.

And here is where I am at as I write this (however, I have written this in advance – so might actually be further along when this is published! – Is that cheating a little?).

I am really enjoying sewing this little project as it is not too difficult so I can pick it up and do a few minutes each evening. I do hope you are all having fun with your projects, can’t wait to see what you have been up to!

Thank you for popping in. Happy stitching and I hope to see you all in another 3 weeks.
We are a small group of crafters using a variety of different techniques. Please check out the fabulous stitching by all the other members of the SAL. If you are interested in joining us you can contact Avis for details.
Avis,  Claire,  Gun,  Carole,  Sue,  Constanze,  Christina ,  Kathy,  Margaret,  Cindy,  Heidi, Jackie, Sunny,  Hayley,  Megan, MaryMargaret, Renee,  Caremla,  Jocelyn,  Sharon,  Daisy , Anne,  Connie,   CJ

Canvas – happy dance!

Yay, I am pleased to announce that I have finally finished my canvas work piece for the RSN certificate. I had hoped to finish 3 lessons ago, but snagging took a week and I am very slow when it comes to mounting. I find cutting mounting board accurately particularly difficult.

As you can see I finished the collar around the ladies neck – this was done in turkey rug, a stitch that I am particularly fond of. But the woman’s face is not quite right. Her nose looks rather bumpy to me, but my tutors assured me it was just because of the stitch that I had chosen and the fact that I was too invested in the piece – they suggested I put it away and look at it again later. I have done this and I still wish I had removed a couple of stitches before mounting! The whole point of this piece is the stylised nature of the horse and her face – Oh well, too late now!

Sunrise by Sergey Smirnov.

I haven’t quite finished the mounting process yet and still need to herringbone around all the edges and add the backing – but I am so close that I feel I can begin my happy dance! Here I come goldwork!

Happy stitching one and all.

SAL 24….

Hi all, well I am not around this week as I am still away on my Christmas holidays. I hope you all had a wonderful festive season and hope to catch up in the New Year!

Thank you for popping in. Happy stitching and I hope to see you all in another 3 weeks.
We are a small group of crafters using a variety of different techniques. Please check out the fabulous stitching by all the other members of the SAL. If you are interested in joining us you can contact Avis for details.
Avis,  Claire,  Gun,  Carole,  Sue,  Constanze,  Christina ,  Kathy,  Margaret,  Cindy,  Linda,  Heidi,  Jackie,  Sunny,  Hayley,  Megan,  MaryMargaret,  Renee,  Jenny,  Jocelyn,  Sharon,  Daisy ,  Anne,  Connie

Merry Christmas…

Merry Christmas everyone! I just thought you might like to see my finished stocking. The pattern is a free download from Sunny day Supplies who hold a stocking SAL every year – although I was a little too late with this one.

So here was where I was up to last week….

I had patchworked 2″ squares together using the interfacing method which I find allows me to be more accurate when matching up smaller pieces of material. It also means that you can sew whole rows of squares together rather than individual pieces. All that was left to do, before I could sew everything together, was to decorate the top half of the stocking. I used a mini-Dresden on both the back and front of the stocking and then embroidered around these in a sparkly thread. I am quite pleased with the result and may try making a few more next year.

Happy stitching and have a wonderful stitchy Christmas!