Christmas, 2009 In Review & 2010 challenges

Well, this will probably be my last post until January, so I will take the time to sit back now & see what I have achieved over 2009. It really is a bit early I know, but Christmas is comming & there is much to do. I set my 2009 challenges here, whether I achieved them or not is another story.

1. The quilt - still hasn't happened, still a pile of fabric in a container under the bed. Maybe 2010.

2. The reticella - still happening. It has reached a point that it has to go in a frame. I have pulled out the frame, then promptly put it away again. At this point in time it can wait until 2010.

3. The Bedfordshire lace - has definately been happening & what a learning curve! All my samples can be viewed in amongst all my other lace here. Hopefully there will be more to come.

OK, so I may not have achieved all of my goals for 2009, but I still achieved a lot. 42 items started for the year, 33 finished, and if I put my mind to it another 6 could be finished today. That would leave only 3 left to finish. Not too bad I guess, but those three items will go on my WISP file.

So what have I got planned for 2010? The list goes like this:-

1. To cut down my WISP file of course, it grows every year. I am ashamed to say I have a list that is over 50 projects long, (that's the ones that I have actually started, not just have planned) and something needs to be done drastically. So, my goal for 2010 is to finish at least 10 of them. Besides, there is an exhibition comming up & I need something finished .

2. The quilt. I know, I know, sounding like a cracked record, but 2010 is my year for WISPs remember.

3. The Reticella, I know, another cracked record, but when you see it finished you will understand why it would take so long.

4. To pull my sewing machine out of mothballs. The poor girl has sat there most of the year just crying to be used. A good clean & oil at the beginning of the year & she will be ready to hum. I have curtains to make, safety vests to digitally embroider, boxer shorts on order, & a whole cupboard of fabrics aquired over time to make into stunning clothes for me. The latest piece (aquired yesterday on a trip to the City) is a stunning silk/linen mix in a self stripe, just beautiful.

So that is it from me for this year. I wish everyone that has taken the time to read this far a very Merry Christmas, & Happy New Year. Stay safe over the holidays, & return here next year to see what I get up to in this wonderful world of textiles.

Teneriffe Trial 3

My latest trial of Teneriffe Lace. This time I used a different set-up method using discs & pins, as well as a different thread & different pattern.

OK, my samples still need work, but in general I am getting better. This sample sits flat, which means my set-up method is stable. Yippee! It is also firm, so my thread choice is good. Yippee! What I need to work on now is pin placement & design. Precise pin placement will give a more even design, especially the picots around the edge, & design, well that is just practice isn't it?

So watch this space to see what improvements happen next.

Teneriffe Lace Sample 2

My second sample of Teneriffe lace has just been cut from it's backing. I used a different thread this time, a cotton one, which was a little better to handle than the synthetic of last time. The final product is really a bit soft & floppy, so there will be more trials with a different thread again.
I have other cotton threads that have more body than this one, so I will give them a try

I played with a different design too, only because I miscalculated with the count of my spokes, so I improvised & came up with this one. I'll have to study my design better next time & count properly.

I also took care as to how I set up my spokes this time too, making sure they were even, but the end result still ended up a little lopsided.

So the only thing to change for the next time is the set-up. I still used the hoop method that I used last time, so for my next trial I will choose something else. I am thinking about lacing the backing into a frame of some kind to help keep it tight. I'll let you all know how that works out.

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OK, forget lacing in a frame, I tried it & all I ended up with was knots. Well, maybe not forget this method all together, I just think it didn't work for me with the pattern I am trying. I have lots of spokes, therefore needed lots of thread to set them up, hence the knots. So now I am back to the drawing board with the set-up.

I've thought of pins in a lace pillow, but my lace pillow is quite large & heavy & I want this for travelling. Then I thought of a piece of polystyrene with pins & thought that the pins would drive me crazy. After all, this is a wheel shape & I would be working on the center of the wheel & I figure the pins would catch the thread constantly.

So now I am going to try something that I saw at embroidery earlier this week. A disc set up in such a way that the pins go around the edge. This looks promising, so there will be more experiments to come. Stay tuned.

Teneriffe Trials

Teneriffe lace has been one of those things that "I must do one day". This is my first attempt, and I must say not bad for a first time, though I know there is room for improvement. I have read various sources as how to set it all up, and chose a method similar to needle-lace, pattern under contact, on top of two layers of calico, all set into a hoop. I wonder if I need to re-think that. This little motif is a little lopsided, and I have put that down to a few different reasons:-

1. Fabric not taught enough in the hoop. I did notice it getting slack over time and will need to watch that in the future.

2. My tensioning is too tight, always a problem with me & needleweaving.

3. Base spokes not set up correctly, something I have to watch.

4. Type of thread could make a difference. Why did I start with such a difficult one? A nice cotton would have been much better than this synthetic.

Well, the Teneriffe Bug has well & truely bitten, so watch this space for more trials.

A New Scarf

About a month ago I was playing with a daisy wheel, one of those little wheels with spikes. Since then I have been joining them together with some crochet. It took some playing to find just the right thread to use & in the end I settled on a blue perle 8. The next problem I had was how to finish the ends. I knew I didn't want a fringe, I was sure it would not suit, so I ended up with this croched edge.

Something a little different, & something I have wanted to do one for a while. I have made the daisies many times before, but they were always white & always went into baby shawls. Then last year I spotted a shawl done with these daisies, all multi coloured, and joined together with black. I had seen the shawl from a distance, as the new proud owner showed it too her lunch friends, and immediately thought to myself " I could do.....................". Now my mind is still racing with ideas of how to use these cute little daisies.

A Quick Challenge

One of the groups I belong to decided to have a challenge. We were asked to bring along a bag with some fabric, any fabric, around fat quarter size, and more than one piece if desired, complete with our name. The challenge was then to swap the bags, and we would then have to make something usefull with the bag contents we had swapped, to give back to the person who originally gave the bag. We didn't have to use it all, and we could add anything else that we wanted.

The above covered coathanger is what I made with the fabric in my swap bag. There were three pieces of fabric, one purple & two green. As the purple was the largest piece, I used it as the main fabric. Then I used one of the greens to add a piped edge. In my calculation, purple & green need to have a third colour to make it all "sing", so I added a digitized embroidery motif in green, purple & yellow to give decoration to the front.

The motif is one that I put together with parts of a couple of different designs, so making it my own. Although I was happy with how the finished motif looked, there were lots of jump stitches and the flower section was really thick with stitches. I have made notes that if I want to stitch this design again, I would be better re-digitizing it to avoid these problems.

Overall am happy with the final product, I hope the recipient is too.

My First Bedfordshire Bookmark

One of my personal challenges this year was to start learning Bedfordshire Lace. Anyone who wants to see my progress so far can check out my bobbin lace pages.

The bookmark above is my latest attempt, and my first attempt at designing this type of lace. That is if you call it designing. It is just an edge pattern that has been mirrored with some extra tallies & plaits down the center. I also experimented with some different picots, and some DMC stranded thread. It will be a while before I use either of these elements again. I found the stranded thread a little too soft for bobbin lace, though I would not rule it out altogether as there are some great colours available. As for the picots, these were just simple ones, and I like the twisted ones I did before much better as they hold their shape better.

Anyway, the book mark is finished, and now I can move onto the next piece

Christmas Is Comming

Scarey isn't it, the fact that Christmas is not too far away. I attended my local Sewing Guild group today & we were making Christmas goodies. I wasn't really sure what but I went along with a whole bag of bits & pieces. The above piece of fabric was just one that I went with. Watch this space to see what I do with it.

Jessica In Pink

Away from the stitching now just for a bit. The news headlines lately have been full of a corageous young girl, Jessica Watson, from Queensland, just 16 years old, & off on an andventure of a lifetime. Her ambition is to be the youngest to sail solo, non stop & unassisted, around the world. Jessica has her own blog so that we can all follow her progress. As a mother, I am not sure I could handle my child of 16 doing something like this, but then it depends on the preparation that has gone ito it. Brave parents for letting her do something like this. I will be following her progress with anticipation, and wish her well.

One-A Daisy, Two-A-Daisy, Three-A-Daisy,More

It's been a while since I posted anything here. I have been stitching though, I stitch every day in one way shape or form, well at least have some form of textile encounter.

I have been slowly working on a major piece of counted thread work, now patiently waiting to be laced into a frame ready for some cutwork to happen. I have also knitted a scarf ( started purely out of boredom when my home was invaded with football final fenatics), nothing fancy mind you, just a K2tog, wool over needle, repeat pattern in a gorgeous colour textured yarn, now waiting patiently for next winter.

Hardanger Christmas decorations have also been on the stitching list. I've made 4 so far, all to be given to a charity which my local embroidery group has orgainised. The decorations are beautiful & I want to make some for me.

Then there has been the bobbin lace, slowly but surely my next piece is happening. Just a bookmark, but it is one that I have sort of "designed" myself. I say designed, but it really is only an edge pattern I have made before, mirrored, and added some tallies to. It is nearly finished, so maybe there might be a pic here in the not so distant future.

When I was knitting the scarf, I was having all these ideas as to what to do with all the yarn that was in the bag, one of which was to pull out my Mum's daisy wheel & see how many I could make till I got bored. It's a bag of mixed yarns, left over from other projects, and I wanted to experiment & see how the textured yarns made up into daisies. I had only ever made them with baby yarn before. So far I have made 40 daisues, experimented with two different yarns, ( ditched one) and have a sort of an idea as to what I will do with them all. You will have to come back another time to see what I do with them. Some of them are in the pic above.

Now, for those of you that have read this far, I need you all to do me a favour & leave a comment on how this page is loading. I have been having a **** of a time with it over the last few days & don't know why. I have had some fun with backgrounds & thought it may have been that, so I ditched those with no improvement. I have also ditched some other links which I added in the last week & thought it may have been, ( not that I wanted to as they were lace links), and still no improvement. I am still having hassles so I thought I would add another post & see what happens then. Feedback from readers about how the page is loading elsewhere will be greatly appreciated and let me make decisions as to what to do about the problem.

Thanks all for taking the time to read this far and for making comments.

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OK, so a few hours have passed since I posted about my problem. Those people that know me know that I don't stop until the problem is solved. Well, the problem is now solved. I "phoned a friend" to see if they were having the same problem as me with this page & yes, they were. So that meant that something had to be eliminated off the page. So I have cleared a few things & wallah! no more problem. Good stuff! At least I didn't have to eliminate all my places to visit. So my page might look a little empty down the side bar, but at least it will now load & you can all read what I have been up to.

A Wessex Bookmark - A WISP Finished

It is amazing what one finds in a clean-up. Last week I was sorting through some "stuff" & found none other than another three WISPs. The above bookmark is one of those three. Stitching all done, just patiently waiting for a backing & to be fringed. Mmmmm............ just a few minutes work. I wonder why I left it so long?

Wessex Stitchery, worked onto my own hand dyed even weave linen, using a mix of Perle 8 & stranded threads.

One WISP finished, just approx 50 to go. Now that's a scarry thought.

A "What If" Leaf

When I have finished a piece of bobbin lace, the problem then exhists as to what to do with the left over thread on my bobbins. In the past I have back wound them onto something else to keep for joinings, but there is only so many of these I can keep.

So I have decided to put my left over threads into something useful. The above leaf was born from left over thread of my beds edge 4. Worked in a base of c., tw.,c., tw, giving a grid that was a little warped. Mmmmmmmmm........................grids........................................................... My mind started racing, my fingers started stitching and this little leaf came about.

Bedfordshire Edge 4

I have finally finished another sample of bobbin lace. This time it is Pattern 4 from the Pamela Nottingham book "Bedfordshire Lace Making". I have tried a different thread, Finca No 60, & at first I thought it was a little fine, but now that it is finished it looks OK. It is after all just a sample, and gives me an idea how different threads react, and work up. On the right fabric, this edge could look very pretty.

I tried so hard to get the pins in the right place on the footside edge, but still managed to miss one. I also thought I took special care with my picots not to get them caught around other pins, but missed one of those big time. I'll have to look for other ways to keep check on these points. Any ideas out there from other bobbin lace makers?

A New Shopping Bag

I've had the opportunity to make a shopping bag for a lady. I was asked first, & was told " tapestry fabric & something pouchy". So the above pic is what I came up with. The fabric was supplied & was horrendous to stitch through, requiring a jeans needle in my sewing machine. Very thick & stiff especially where it is tucked. I did think of gathering but didn't think that this fabric would gather very well. The lady that it has been made for is very petite so I couldn't make it too big, otherwise it would swamp her & if the handles were too long then the bag would drag on the ground. I hope she is happy with it, I am, & now I want one for me!

SS Band Sampler

I have finished stitching the last sampler of the Stitching Sister Counted Thread Band Sampler Round Robin.

This sampler is for Margaret, who has stitched the up/down tulip design at the top. For my band at the bottom, I tried to keep the flow of pink & green that seemed to be happening. I played with designs on graph paper first then decided the colour. The stitching started with two rows of 4 sided stitch, with 6 threads removed between the rows. I then needleweaved the remaining threads to keep them strong. Above the 4 sided stitch I worked groups of radiating straight stitches, while below is a row of large eyelets which have been outlined in back stitch. The top row was then mirrored below the eyelets.

I feel a little sad now that this is all over. I love stitching counted thread work of all types and this RR has been an excuse to venture out with colour & stitch combinations.

A Parcel At The Door

Look what arrived at my door yesterday. This beautiful book on Bedfordshire Lace. Now I have plenty to keep me busy & inspired. Mail order is wonderful.