SAL 6 -Not quite a happy dance…

Three weeks seem to whizz past very quickly – and before I know it I am posting progress on my Christmas baubles by Kate Barlow (be it a lot or very little progress). Here is where I was up to last time…..

Sew….. first I finished off the fly stitching along the branches and then whip stitched around the branches to thicken them up.

Finishing fly stitches

Whip stitched branches

Overall

Then, using a slightly different green floss, I started to infill with more needles along each of the branches.

Adding to the needles

Overall

The last thing I managed to do was to add two of the three silver toppers to the baubles…

And now the whole piece looks like this…

Hopefully I will be able to show the finished piece the next time that we catch up.

Happy stitching and 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, LucyAnn, Kate, Jess, Sue, Constanze,DebbieRose, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Cindy, Helen, Steph, Linda, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Hayley, Tony, Megan Catherine, Connie, Clare

 

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Spot the difference…

Back to a little bit of canvas work – and following a day at the RSN it is really a case of spot the difference. Here is my piece at the start of the day….

And after a days work…..

The hand is finished as well as the little patches at the bottom right of the canvas. I also made a start on the eye of the horse, but am not too sure about it! I guess it might look better when it is completely finished.

On my next visit (in a weeks time) I hope to finish off the horses head and have an idea about the stitches to be used for the coat.

Happy stitching!

Plastic fantastic….

Possibly not the most ‘pc’ title I could have come up with – particularly with all the emphasis that is around at the moment on plastic waste! But, after using vinyl in a previous project, I decided to try a slightly more ambitious project and chose the booklet pouch – a design by Aneela Hoey. The pouch consists of four vinyl zipper pouches which are bound together. The design is quite heavy on material and there are lots of zips and binding to be sewn. Aneela Hoey’s instructions are clearly written and easy to follow. Here are some pictures of my progress….

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The final pouch is 9″ high x 11″ in length x  3″ wide and looks like this….

The final product…

Showing the pages…

Filled with metal threads…

……and it is currently home to all my goldwork bits and bobs. If I make the pouch again I think I will try to be a little more ambitious with the cover – maybe adding applique or working in patchwork.

Stitch happy everyone!

 

 

SAL 5 – ‘Sprucing’ it up!

Hi everyone, well since going back to school full time my stitching has had to take a back seat – including this project. So I am afraid that I have not made a huge amount of progress in the last 3 weeks. This is how my Christmas baubles looked last time…..

Now I have finished off the Japanese thread work on the pink bauble and moved on to stitching the Spruce branches. The needles were worked in closed fly stitch using 1 strand of DMC thread.

Sew……there you have it, see you all next time.

Happy stitching and a big welcome to Clare, the newest member of the SAL

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, Gun, Carole, LucyAnn, Kate, Jess, Sue, Constanze,DebbieRose, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Cindy, Helen, Steph, Linda, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Hayley, Tony, Megan     Catherine, Connie, Clare

 

Christmas Decoration Swap

Just wondering if anyone out there in the blogosphere would be interested in a handmade Christmas Decoration Swap. I love to sew, but like to have a reason to do so and sewing for others is always more fun. I also need to sew something that can be of use, so thought a decoration would be just the thing. I have never organised a swap before so could be going into this a little naively . I was planning to take the name and address of anyone interested – mix us up a little – hand everyone a partner and hey presto!

I thought that we could make one (or more) decorations in any media that we like – be that sewing, felting, knitting…..whatever. Decorations would have to be finished and in the post by the end of November (proof of posting can be photographed – just in case). We could post any progress or pictures of decorations received. Any thoughts?

Let me know if you would be interested by leaving a comment below (before 31st October if possible). We have about a month before things need to go into the post.

Happy Sewing……

 

 

 

Rabbit run….

 

How cute are these? I found a picture tutorial here, and decided to give these a go. They are a great way of using up scraps and the reels of cotton are rather old ones that were given to me when an old aunt had a clear out!

There were no real measurements given in the original pattern – so I had to wing it a bit.

I cut out the pieces (shown above) and made a body out of the linen semi-circle and large flowered piece of material – rather like an egg cosy. Then I stitched around the outside of the two circles and gathered them in to make two Suffolk puffs. The larger puff was stitched to the bottom of the body and the smaller was sewn on top of the bunnies ears – which were made from the oval piece of linen. For a better set of photo instructions go to the link above.

Buttons were then sewn onto either side of the little rabbit and a cotton reel secured onto the front by running a ribbon through the reel and tying it around the buttons.

Et voila!

Happy stitching to all!

 

 

Canvas…..reverse stitiching

Following a day at the RSN, Hampton Court, last Saturday I can show how much I have progressed with my canvas work piece. Or rather, I can show the lack of progress! I spent most of the day trying to work on the hand in the foreground. It took nearly two hours to decide on the stitch – a raised tent stitch and then the rest of the day on the colour combination and number of threads. The hand went in four times and was unpicked four times. I have to say that I am still not sure as to whether or not I like it!

I am finding stitch choice with this canvas piece very difficult – especially when so many tutors have such differing advice. I sometimes think that if I had a deadline to work to then I would just put down stitches without thinking too much and thereby stop getting myself into such a muddle! Hopefully I can get the horse finished and start on the coat before my next lesson at the end of October.

Meanwhile, Autumn has hit the garden. The kirengeshoma, late aconites and pinapple plants have come into flower. My trees (all in barrels because we have a smallish garden), are now showing autumn colour too.

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Enjoy the late autumn warmth and stitch happy!