SAL 70: Feathers are everywhere!

Another three weeks has flown past and we are nearly at the end of January! I have made a little progress on my SAL project , the little peacock sewing etui designed by Jenny Adin-Christie. All the large tail feathers are now complete. Last time I posted the tail looked like this…

But now it looks like….

A variety of materials and techniques have been used in these little spaces including, goldwork, silk shading, ribbon work and stitching with gimp thread (a new one for me). Below are close up of the little feathers.

Not sure which part I will tackle next – but I will have to do the rest of the stems at some point!

Many thanks for popping in and look forward to catching up in three weeks time.

Happy stitching.

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, Constanze, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, 

Megan, Sharon, Daisy, AJ, Cathie, Linda, Helen, Connie, Cindy, MaryMargaret

Pick up a Penguin….

I have found another gorgeous 3D goldwork design by Georgina Bellamy of  @thatembroiderygirl . The pattern and instructions can be found in ‘Passion for Needlework’ published by @inspirationsstudios . As always they provide a good set of instructions with lots of diagrams included, which I find very helpful when trying to envisage each process along the way.

As I have said before -the basis for all goldwork is the padding – and this little fellow had a lot of different layers of felt – he is far more complicated than the turtle I made last year. Unlike other patterns I have used before – the penguin has parts of him that are covered in purls and bright check before all the padding has been completed, which can make stitching complicated as the metal threads catch very easily.

At the moment I have reached the ‘road kill’ stage – here is a look at my progress.

The feet are made first as these will be added under the many layers of the penguins body.

And here is my little bit of road kill – with the feet just being sewn into the body of the penguin. A few more layers of padding need to be applied, before covering in a final layer of thinner felt. It will be a little while before I can start to add the metal threads.

Thank you for popping in, Happy Stitching!

SAL 69: A little progress

Happy New Year to everyone – where did the last year go? Time just seems to fly past (I think it is a sign of age!). Despite all the promises of working hard on my SAL project , the little peacock sewing etui designed by Jenny Adin-Christie, I could not resist starting a new goldwork penguin by Georgina Bellamy – which was a Christmas gift.

I did manage to get a little bit done – mainly in panic today! So here is where I was up to last time….

And here is what I managed to get done this morning……

As you can see I have managed two more leaves – both have been shaded in silk thread using long and short stitches.

Here is a peak at what grabbed all my time and attention over the holidays…..

Isn’t he magnificent – I am currently at the ‘road kill’ stage of the project, so it looks nothing like the picture!

Many thanks for popping in and look forward to catching up in three weeks time.

Happy stitching.

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, Constanze, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, 

Megan, Sharon, Daisy, AJ, Cathie, Linda, Helen, Connie, Cindy, MaryMargaret

SAL68: No tail to tell!

Another three weeks have passed since I last posted my progress on I the little peacock sewing etui designed by Jenny Adin-Christie and since then I have been busy Christmas sewing – so no time to work on my SAL. Hopefully now that I have everything in the post I will be able to get back to a little embroidery. So I will leave you with a picture of where I was up to……

This is the last of my Christmas projects – a lovely little handstitched square pocket pouch. The design is by @tomatocandy.

Many thanks for popping in and look forward to catching up in three weeks time.

Happy stitching.

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, Constanze, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, 

Megan, Sharon, Daisy, AJ, Cathie, Linda, Helen, Connie, Cindy, MaryMargaret

Sal 67:the tale of the tail

The leaves have dropped and there is definitely a chill in the air as we head into winter – not to mention the fading light. Another three weeks have passed since I last posted my progress on I the little peacock sewing etui designed by Jenny Adin-Christie. I have made a little progress – but it is little!

Last time you saw her she looked like this….

The next job was the little feathers….

The feather on the left is worked in gimp thread. Gimp is a thread formed from a central core (polyester) which is smoothly and solidly wrapped in very fine, untwisted silk thread. I like the raised effect it gives, but it was horrible to work with. Every time you plunged the threads or threaded a needle – the outer coating with unravel. The middle leaf is worked in a green a chenille thread and the final leaf in ribbon work. So that is as far as I have managed to get this time round.

Many thanks for popping in and look forward to catching up in three weeks time.

Happy stitching.

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, Constanze, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, 

Megan, Deborah, Sharon, Daisy, AJ, Cathie, Linda, Helen, Connie, Cindy, MaryMargaret

Seeing double!

Autumn is upon us and the leaves are starting to turn and fall – where does the time go? Another three weeks have passed since I last posted my progress on I the little peacock sewing etui designed by Jenny Adin-Christie. Here is where I was up to the last time you saw it…..

Progress has been slow – but there is something to show you all. I managed to get the second half of the ribbon work complete. The two sides are not identical, but Jenny does advise that you cover up the first half and try not to copy it – so that is what I did. Here is my progress….

I know it doesn’t look like much progress, but 1 side is an afternoons stitching – would you believe!

Many thanks for popping in and look forward to catching up in three weeks time.

Happy stitching.

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, Constanze, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, 

Megan, Deborah, Sharon, Daisy, AJ, Cathie, Linda, Helen, Connie, Cindy, MaryMargaret

SAL65: A tall tail

Hello everyone, it has been a busy three weeks but I have The little peacock sewing etui below is designed by Jenny Adin-Christie and this was where I was up to the last time

Peacock tail

I had sewn the inner potion of the tail and had began to sew the feathery stitches in a metallic thread. The next challenge was to add the fettuccini ribbon to the outer edges. The ribbon is beautiful when you get to grips with working with it as it does fray so easily. It does give a wonderful shiny texture to the tail. I did not try to get the two sides symmetrical as I think this would have been near impossible.

The picture below shows an afternoons work! So it was very slow going.

fettuccini ribbon

Many thanks for popping in and look forward to catching up in three weeks time.

Happy stitching.

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, Constanze, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, 

Megan, Deborah, Sharon, Daisy, AJ, Cathie, Linda, Helen, Connie, Cindy, MaryMargaret

SAL 64: A little progress

So I this is the post that I thought I had scheduled to post three weeks ago whilst I was on holiday – but unfortunately I must have done something wrong and when I got home it was still in my drafts posts! So I am using it this time around as I have not progressed any further. The little peacock sewing etui below is designed by Jenny Adin-Christie and this was where I was up to the last time you saw it….

I had completed all the padding on the tail section and just started to apply satin stich to the central panel. This is where I am up to now….

Peacock tail

As you can see I have stitched the inside middle panel and added spangles with gold thread. Then a chenille thread has been used to outline the central semi circle. I have also started to stich the background in a sparkly metallic thread. Here is a closer look…

Many thanks for popping in and look forward to catching up in three weeks time.

Happy stitching.

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, Constanze, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Cindy, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Megan, Renee, Carmela, Sharon, Daisy

Goldwork Octopus

Well it has been along time since I have posted on my goldwork module for the RSN certificate – to tell the truth I lost all enthusiasm for the project during lockdown. But I have slowly started to make some progress. Last time you saw him (and it is a him!) he looked like this…

The design had been placed onto a silk backing and string padding put in place. But now all the felt padding has been applied. The inner section of the top area of the head has been covered in couched Japanese threads with couched mixed threads around the edges.

I have used mixed couching threads down each side of his body and he now has two Swarovski crystal eyes.

The next step is to work on all of his tentacles and then add cutwork over the string padding. He will get there slowly!

Thanks for popping in, happy stitching.

Posing pouch

I joined a sewalong on IG hosted by Larisa of @stitchingnotes and Irina of @nordicrafter. The end product was a surprise, only being revealed a section at a time. It was super fun and we finally ended up with a lovely little dumpling pouch. I got a little carried away and made quite a few – but they will be put away and given as gifts at a later date. Here is a little work in progress……………

The final pouches looked like this……

The pouches came together very quickly and were easy to personalise. I think I might make a few more to put away!

Thanks for popping in. Happy stitching.