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

 

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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!

SAL 4 -more glitz

The weeks have past quickly again and school life is in full swing – meaning my sewing time is limited but I have managed to make some progress with my Christmas bauble kit by Kate Barlow. Last time it looked like this…..

I then made a start on couching the Japanese thread, starting with the long blue bauble.

Of course this sort of stitching then results in a lot of threads that need plunging to the back of the work so they can be stitched or held in place in groups of 3-4 threads.

Couching threads

After plunging

I had set myself a target of finishing all the Japanese thread work, but time (and other projects) meant that I only made a start on the big pink bauble. So here is where I am up to now….

Next time we catch up I hope to have all the Japanese thread work completed and to have made a start on the pine branches.

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

Weekend at West Dean

Last weekend I had a wonderful two days of stitching with a lovely group of ladies at West Dean College. Our tutor for the weekend was the very talented Charlotte Bailey of Hanging by a Thread. After a very substantial evening meal we attended our first lesson which gave us time to peruse some of Charlotte’s work….. Her grey parrot was particularly clever.

The Saturday and Sunday were spent making a little sampler, exploring different textures, colours, weights of thread… Although I already had a little experience with most of the stitches it was fun just to stitch and not worry about the outcome. The Shisha mirror embroidery was new to me and great fun to stitch. On the Sunday we were able to spend time with Charlotte talking through any projects that we were planning and getting a professional opinion as to how to proceed.

West Dean is a lovely place to spend the weekend and the gardens are wonderful, so I decided to take full advantage of the late summer weather…

On a final note….on my drive to West Dean I pass a house that always makes me smile. The front garden is full of gnomes, statues and soft toys….

Happy stitching everyone!

Bags of fun….

I recently made a little appliqued bag for one of my cousins little girls, but wanted to make a second for her older sister. The bag was based on an original that I had seen at Flutterby patch.

Front

If you are interested in how I made this bag you can read a more detailed account here . I decided to make the second bag slightly bigger – so added 1″ to the bottom section of the bag and 1″ to the width of all the fabric pieces. I also included a little ribbon tie at the top of the bag and extended the bobble trim around the back.

I added another appliqued figure in the window at the back of the bag.

The front of the bag.

The back of the bag.

Here are both the bags as comparison…

Front

Back

I was really quite pleased with the results, and hopefully the girls will be too!

Happy stitching one and all….