Jenny's Australian Needleart Journey

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T12:26:00.000+11:00

Snowflake mania hit my fingers at the beginning of December and by now they would have arrived at their destinations, decorating a tree of one of my family or friends. They are crocheted, with no pattern, only an illustration to look at. I am happy with how they turned out, and the variety is endless, looking so pretty hanging all together. Note to self...... must make more.

May the joy of Christmas be in the hearts of everyone today, along with love & understanding. No matter where you are this Christmas Day, snuggling by the fire, watching the snowflakes fall, tucking into roast turkey, or braving the heat, paddling the feet in water, & munching on prawns, may your day be a special one to share with family & friends.

Merry Christmas

One & All

Christmas Is Coming

2011-12-02T15:21:00.001+11:00

Every year try to make a new decoration for my Christmas tree. This year I have a fixation for crocheted snowflakes, & I have found so many different ones that it is hard to choose. I am not sure why the snowflakes as it is usually quite hot here in Australia over Christmas. Maybe I think they will cool it down.

This is the first crocheted one I have done, hung in a cheap metal bracelet from a $2 store. I was lucky that this one fitted in the ring, the other one I have done is too big, so I will have to find some other way to hang it.

At this point I would like to wish my regular readers a Very Merry Christmas & a creative 2012. I have put this out early as I know things around here will be pretty busy for the next few weeks. So until I return in January,

Christmas Wishes to All

Mediterranean Lace - Experiments

2011-11-23T11:33:00.001+11:00

This morning in my in-box I had a comment on my Knotted Lace post from way back in 2007. Mmm... suspicious, that's why I have comment moderation on so I can check out who is leaving comments before I publish or reject them. This morning I was pleasantly surprised when I checked out Couch Crochet Crumbs. It is a blog full of Turkish Oya & the writer of this blog can actually make those gorgeous edgings. I am soooooooooooo jealous! I have admired this kind of work for many years & so want to lean how to do it.

I have two books on Knotted Lace by Elena Dickson, one of which I have had for many years, & would you believe I have never used them. Opened & looked, yes, but never used. So this morning I have pulled them out, opened, read, & played with needle & thread. Above are my efforts. OK, I could do better, but this is my first go at this kind of lace so please be patient with me. My pyramid is a little warped & my flower is a little lopsided. I just have to watch my spacing, but I am sure that will come with practice.

The EG here in Sydney is offering a one day course in Armenian Needlelace in January so I have enrolled already. Armenian, Turkish, Mediteranean, they are all from around the same area so I am sure the differences will be slight. The course is for a small doily, but I really want to make the flowers & learn how to attach them.

Watch this space!

Pulled Thread Exprimenting

2011-11-21T13:08:00.001+11:00

I have been experimenting with some pulled thread stitching lately, wanting to find out what stitches produce what textures. It is amazing how thread choice, plus the number of threads stitched over, will change the whole look of a stitch. This is only a sample, stitched down the side of a major piece I am working on. No tidbits of the major piece though I am sorry, I am hoping to have that finished for exhibition in August next year. So if you can all be patient, I'll show it to you all sometime after then.

The Effects Of Colour

2011-10-26T12:01:00.000+11:00

Isn't it amazing how colour can change the feel of a finished piece? The above two little tissue pack covers are both made from the same hand dyed fabric and both have the same stitching pattern as decoration. The only thing that is different is the colour.

With the top one I started with a commercially dyed variegated thread in a harmonious colour scheme, then picked out some of the colours to use in plain dyed stranded thread. I think the end result is very pretty.
The bottom one is more of a triadic colour scheme, using the blue of the fabric with red & yellow stitching. A much more dramatic effect than the top one.

Out of the two, the top one is my favourite. I have always loved cool colours in a harmonious colour scheme. I am still not sure of the triadic colour scheme though, but many of the people from my stitching group loved it. All a matter of taste no doubt.

Another Quilt for Charity

2011-10-19T14:42:00.000+11:00

This morning I finished putting together another quilt for charity. It still needs binding, but someone else will do that. I have had this one in my possession for a while now & it feels good that is done & gone. Someone else made the crazy patchwork blocks, cut the sashings & borders, & I put them all together. It was done as a quilt-as-you-go method with 1" straight strips, something I had not done before. So I volunteered to do it so I could learn. An interesting method to put together a quilt, would I do it again?. Mmmmm........... maybe.

Black Work Experiments

2011-10-17T11:26:00.003+11:00

I have been making more of those little tissue packet covers for a sales table at an exhibition next year. This time I have been experimenting with black work patterns worked in colour. The one above uses one of my own hand dyed fabrics with a commercial variegated thread, while the one below uses the same hand dyed fabric with a combination of single dyed threads in various colours.

This one has given me some trouble. The red that I thought looked good actually looked too dark & heavy when stitched, so I have had advice on how to tone it down. Not sure if I like it or not.

A Glove Experiment Finished

2011-09-29T13:47:00.000+10:00

I have finished my gloves! An experiment for me, turning my Mothers old glove pattern that was knitted on two needles into one knitted on double pointed needles. They are a much better fit than the last pair, & no seams to sew up. Just lots of ends to work in because I changed colours. Why do they fit better? Well, for one thing I used the size needles that they said in the pattern instead of what was suggested on the yarn label. I also made the little finger a few rows shorter.

For an even better fit for the next pair, I think I will knit the little finger first next time & start it a few rows lower. Now I have worked out the stitches for each finger, it will be quite easy to knit them little finger first.

A little too warm for these gloves now, but at least they are finished & ready for next winter.

A Tissue Cover

2011-09-26T16:00:00.000+10:00

I have been busy stitching a cover for those little tissue packets we all tend to carry in our purses. One of the ladies in my embroidery group has been showing me how.

Worked on Dublin fabric with Perle thread in a pulled thread style of embroidery, they look so much prettier than plastic with brand names written all over them.

This is how they look flat, before being stitched up.My apologies for the quality & colourof the top pic, it was taken with my phone. The actual colour is more like the bottom pic which was done with a scanner.

Fabric

2011-09-23T14:55:00.001+10:00

I wonder what I will make with this?

Colour

2011-09-19T10:56:00.000+10:00

I had such a fun day on Saturday with my creative stitching group. One of the girls led us though a discussion on colour with some exercises to follow. I chose to use a pic from a food magazine & picked out the colours using some coloured pencils. I'd seen this done before of course but had never actually done it myself. I'd always seemed to miss out on this step in my colour choosing before. Later I matched up my colour swatches with some thread & fabric colours. It would be so interesting to play with these colours in a series of stitching exercises, where the colours are moved around from background to stitch, using different proportions of each colour in each stitching exercise. Mmmm................food for thought!

My Feather & Fan Scarf Finished

2011-09-16T14:31:00.000+10:00

My feather & fan scarf is now finished & ready for next winter. Just in time too as the weather is really warming up already & my hands were starting to sweat on occasions.

I've knitted feather & fan patterns before but not as a scarf. If ever I do another one I'll think about the pattern more. I'm really not happy with the ends looking different & am not quite sure what I could have done about it. I could perhaps have started in the center, knitted one way then the other, but I am not sure how that would have looked at the cast on area. Maybe a few rows of garter stitch would help & I am sure there is a method of casting on that will let you knit two ways.

I guess I could also start two ends separately then graft them together in the center. At least then I would end up with two wavy ends the same with the pattern going the same direction when the scarf is being worn. Mmmm........... food for thought.

Note to self:- make notes on my pattern, practice some grafting, & research cast on methods.

A Glove Experiment

2011-09-15T10:00:00.000+10:00

Back in June when the weather was cold I made an effort to knit my first ever pair of gloves. At the time I followed the pattern, changing only the yarn and needle size. The end result were these, complete with seams up each finger and one side of the hand. I declared then that my next pair were going to be without seams, & knitted on 4 needles.

So behold my 4 needle glove experiment. I have used the same pattern as before, just adapting it to 4 needles. So far so good. Then one day at a lace meeting, (which has been combined with a knitting group), someone had a book on knitted gloves which they had borrowed from the library upstairs. In this book it mentioned about knitting the little finger first if it was set lower into the hand. My pattern knits the index finger first. When I looked at my own hand I found that my little finger is set a good 1cm lower than my other three fingers. Mmm.......... what to do.

To knit from the little finger first I will have to sit with my pattern & really work it out. To knit the index finger first, I think it will only be a little bit of adjusting the pattern, not so much thinking. Something I will have to sit in perfect quiet to do no matter which way I turn.

This pair of gloves is using remnants of the same red yarn as my previous pair, as well a a variegated yarn, both wool. Way too hot for gloves now but something else I want to get finished ready for when the cold strikes again in about 8 months time.

Knitting a Scarf in Feather & Fan

2011-09-14T13:41:00.000+10:00

I can't believe it has been so long since I have posted anything here. I have been creating of course, every day, I've just been slack in sharing.

Above is a pic of my current knitting. Way too warm for it now of course with spring well & truly here, but this scarf will be perfect & ready for when the cold hits next year. It's in a two ply Cashmere & a Feather & Fan pattern. I purchased the yarn at the Sydney Craft & Quilt Fair back in June, and when I did so I had the choice of a few different complimentary patterns. My intentions were always of making a scarf in Feather & Fan, & as this was one of the pattern choices, guess which one I chose. After all it saved me from working it all out by myself. The yarn sat there for a few weeks & I thought it might be a good project to take to do while away for a weekend back in July. The morning before we left I thought I would start it & have it on the way, so I could just pick it up & go. Mmmmmm............................ famous last words.

If I un-pulled that scarf once, I must have un-pulled it 50 times. The first few rows were fine, but after that I would end up with one stitch or more too many at the end of the row. At first I tried unpicking one stitch at a time, but the yarn is fine & I was having trouble seeing the tiny stitches. I even tried using my magnifier. In the end it was easier just to pull the needles out & start again. I think I went through this process about four times on that first morning alone. Needless to say I packed some other stitching as well to take with me that weekend.

I did get some quiet time to myself that weekend, so tried again, and still ended up with the same problem, un-pulling it another few times. At one point I thought that it may have been an error in the pattern, but as the error was turning up in different rows I dismissed that idea. Can you imagine the frustration? I am not one to let a problem beat me, & usually the bigger the problem the better the challenge. My mind was thinking of all the ways I could possibly solve the issue.

In the end, I sat in perfect quiet, with no distractions, & cheered every time I got to the end of a row with it correct. There were jumps of joy when I got the first repeat done with no errors. Yippee! Thank goodness also for my row counter, I haven' used it for a very long time but it sure has come in handy with this pattern.

My scarf is over half done now, taking much longer than I thought. The two ply yarn would have something to do with that I am sure. The weather is much too warm now for cashmere scarves, but I want to finish it before the weather gets too hot & while my hands can still handle the yarn without sweating. I fear if I leave it for something else now it will never get finished, and that is just not an option.

Texture

2011-08-23T13:05:00.003+10:00

Last Saturday I spent the day with my Stitchers Plus friends. It had been a while since I had seen them due to other personal social events. One of the girls led us through some texture exercises & we had some fun playing with paper, fabric & thread. I chose to only work with fabric & thread as paper upsets my hands on occasions.

Above is the small piece I came up with. I had fun with running stitch, using it to gather & pleat the fabric. Of course there was also the obligatory removal of threads from fabric, this time to create frayed & fringed edges. Not sure what this piece will be for yet, maybe a book cover.

I have been removing a lot of threads from fabric lately, and for anyone interested my piece of reticella, (maybe it is antique cut-work) is finished at long last. Finally, after 5 years from conception, 3 years of stitching, numerous samples, and one failed attempt, my piece was unveiled at Guild HQ on Saturday to a selected few. Where is the pic you all ask? Well, you will all have to be patient because the piece is set for exhibition next year.

Intermediate Retrospective Pt 3

2011-07-21T12:10:00.004+10:00

One exercise that we did during our course was with collage. I made two collages, one from leaves & bark, the other from papers. It was the paper one I used as a base to to create this design.

There was lots of tracing & view finding involved before I even got to the design below, then lots of applique & stitching to get to the final product. I was really happy with this one, & had plans of framing it to hang on the wall, but that never happened. It might though one day, because even after all this time, I still quite like this piece.

Intermediate Retrospective Pt 2

2011-07-13T09:57:00.005+10:00

This is a copy of a tracing from another still life that I did from early on in the Intermediate Certificate Course. It was this tracing that was the basis of a number of other designs. We learnt three different ways to take a sketch & turn it into a design, one of which was the age-old window view method.

If you look closely at the sketch above, you will find the shell that inspired this "One Stitch" exercise. We were only allowed to use one stitch in the whole piece to stitch with.

Intermediate Retrospective Pt1

2011-07-12T15:29:00.003+10:00

For some time now I have been having some correspondence with Linda, the most recent of which has been about our stitching experience & how we learnt our craft. Part of my experience has been through the Embroiderer's Guild here in Sydney, where I have participated in a few courses & classes over the years.

About 12 years ago I enrolled in their Intermediate Certificate, and as this was long before my blogging days I thought I would show some of the work that I did back then.

I'll never forget that first day. On our equipment list was drawing materials, no fabric, no thread. That alone was scary, let alone the still life that was set up in the middle of the room for us to draw. It was very cleverly done, boxes at different levels, covered with a multi coloured cloth. Then on top of each level sat something, a pot, a vase, a book, etc etc. It was done so that no matter where one sat around the table there was something to look at & draw. Guess what we did that first lesson.

Our homework was to go home & draw. We were supposed to draw for at least an hour every day. We were to set up our own still life, draw it, then interpret it into stitches.

Below is the drawing that I did, very faint so I do apologise. But the pic at the top is my stitch interpretation of the sketch below.
That is something that I still find hard, trying to find stitches that work for a particular design in surface stitchery.

Another Scarf

2011-07-04T09:51:00.004+10:00

This scarf was born out of a gift from a friend. Over six months ago I was given a hank of knitting yarn that was textured & variegated. It sat wrapped in it's tissue paper for 5 months waiting for me to think what to do with it. A scarf was the obvious answer, but what pattern? I also needed to add anther yarn with it to have enough to make a scarf. Then back in May my friend M___ & I ventured into the city to see what yarn we could find, and also a pattern that might inspire. I came home with 2 balls each of a green & a red/brown wool, and the pattern for a ruffled scarf.

After much experimentation with yarn combinations, needle sizes & patterns, this is what I have ended up with. The two different yarns required two different needle sizes so there was much playing with needle sizes alone to get something I was happy with. I even tried combining needle sizes, but ended up knitting the whole thing in just one size, somewhere between the two required.

Then there was the pattern. There were two colours involved & I was adamant that I didn't want stripes. That's when I ventured into the ruffles, but that gave me funny wedges which might be OK in different yarns than this. So the hunt was on for something else. In the end I settled for this drop stitch pattern, something that I hadn't done before and which was oh so easy.

I still had to experiment as to where to use my two colours, un-pulling a few times before I was happy with the result. I have ended up with something very textured in mottled colours, and not stripes which is on the plus side, something that should go with a few different colours.

My dilema now is whether to add something to the ends or not. I have no textured yarn left, only the green, and personally I think a fringe would be the only answer as anything else would add another texture which would be too conflicting. I think I might just leave it plain as is. What does everyone else think?

Irish Crochet Bits

2011-07-01T14:46:00.002+10:00

On & off for a while now I have been continuing with some Irish crochet. In particular I have been playing with leaves, wanting to get them with little bumps on the edges. I have found the leaves tricky, trying to start them over the cording. The thread is fine & leaves nothing much to hold onto when starting. Once I get going I am fine, & then it is the picots on the edge giving me curry. It is hard trying to get them the same. My biggest problem is that I don't sit at it in anyone hit, it might be two or three weeks between sittings & in that time I have lost my flow & have to find it again. I have many more of these little picoted leaves to make to finish the project I have to do. Maybe I should just sit & do them, but my scarf is nearly finished & the reticella is calling.

The Penguin Quilt

2011-06-07T11:37:00.007+10:00

This little penguin quilt is another one for charity that I have been working on. One lady has
pieced it all together & layered all the appliqué pieces. I have stitched the appliqués in place.

Some of the pieces are so tiny, like the fish tails in the corners & the eyes of the penguins that were only a few mm across. So with the combination of my own machining skills & my trusty Bernina I am happy with the result. I love my Artista 17o, she does anything I ask of her without complaint.

The quilt will now go back to my sewing group for someone else to quilt & bind, ready for some very lucky small child.

The Hippo Quilt

2011-06-03T11:09:00.007+10:00

My local sewing group is sewing for charity. This little hippo quilt is one of the many that are being made. The center features a cute little hippopotamus stitched in pinks, blues, mauves & black. It is a digitised design & has been stitched by another lady in the group. Other mebers have added scrap fabrics to the edges to turn this into a delightful little quilt.

For my part, I added the bind. I like stitching binds, especially creating the mitre in the corner.

A sick little girl should be happy to receive this.

New Gloves

2011-06-02T08:09:00.004+10:00

Behold, my new gloves! This is a first for me, to knit gloves that is. I always looked upon them as too hard.

The yarn is a red Merino Bambino 4ply by Cleckheaton, an Australian Pure New Wool . The pattern is one of my Mums, Patons Classic Book 50, possibly from around the early 1970's.

Besides the yarn & the needle size, I have knitted them to the pattern. The pattern was for a 4ply using a slightly smaller needle size than that listed on the label of my yarn. I opted to use what was suggested on the label.

When I knit my next pair, I will change the pattern slightly. The fingers are a little long, especially the fourth or little finger. I could do with a good 1.5cm off the length. I found this a little surprising as my own fingers are quite long.

As for the actual knitting, the only tricky part was at the base of each finger. The yarn had to be joined in, stitches picked up, knit part way, turn & cast on, all in a few short rows. I found I had to really concentrate for this small section. The rest was easy.

Now I have made one pair, I will quite happily make more. These are much warmer than my commercially made pair. I am on the lookout though for a 4ply pattern on circular needles as I am not fussed with the seams up each finger on this pair. I am also not fussed with the way the finger tops are finished. The next pair though will be a little more creative than plain stocking stitch. I'll see what I can find.

Finished

2011-05-25T12:32:00.004+10:00

My blue scarf is finished, just in time as the weather is wintry today. Cold, showery & windy. I really wanted it a little longer, but when I went back to buy another ball of the same yarn there was none left. I guess it doesn't need to be super long as the ruffles are enough to come up my neck & keep it warm. No need to wrap around, it would be too thick for that, and it's long enough to tuck into a coat neckline.
It rolls into a little ball for storing and I just love the picots along the edge, super easy. This one is made in a cheap acrylic yarn, not something I am particularly fond of, but it is warm & will serve a purpose.

Knitting Needle Box

2011-05-24T11:57:00.006+10:00

It is amazing what I find when I am not looking. Yesterday I was putting some thread away in a cupboard & spotted this box. I had forgotten I had it, I thought someone else had it. It is a box made for my Mother by a family member, especially for her to keep her knitting needles in. I have had it since she passed away & have not looked inside it since. So of course I had to open it.

Inside I found the remainder of my Mother's collection of knitting needles, and the box was quite full. There were a great variety of sizes, both plastic & metal. Some of the metal ones sadly had gone the same as mine, coatings coming off. They have since been cleaned & sorted, damaged & odd ones tossed.

The box now looks like this, and is full again, complete with a combination of my own, my Mother's, & possibly my Grandmother's knitting needles.

After hearing the story of the lady in the store last week & her experience with coatings coming off her needles, I have started to ask my other textile aquaintences. Most have never heard of it before, but one lady (J***) in my stitching group yesterday had also had the same trouble. Another lady said that it was from lack of use. Mmmmmm................... posibility. I have been knitting on & off over the years, but over the last 15 years it has been with large size needles, not the finer ones. What is interesting to note though is the needles that have remained in their packets are still OK, while the ones left out of their packets are not. Even the ones of my Mum's that I found yesterday ( & certainly would not have been used in the last twenty odd years) are OK if they were in their packets.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm......................................interesting.............

Knitting Needles & Yarn

2011-05-20T12:12:00.004+10:00

I had reason today to go back to my local store for more knitting yarn. While I was there I got chatting with another customer & low & behold all the coating on her metal knitting needles was coming off too. You may remember I mentioned it in my last post. I wonder why that is? We chatted about storage, which I thought may have been my problem, but as this lady used a different storage method to me, this was not the case. Her thoughts were towards humidity. Personally, I think it must be quality.

As to the yarn I purchased, the red is a 100% pure new wool, while the blue is a bamboo yarn. I haven't knitted with bamboo before so this will be interesting. I'll keep you informed. Both yarns are 4 ply for something special. Watch this space!

The Knitting Bug

2011-05-16T15:13:00.007+10:00

I've been hit by the knitting bug.

I was given some lovely textured yarn a few months back as a gift & it has been sitting there waiting patiently for me to decide what to do with it. I knew I had to add something to it, but first I had to decide what to make and a scarf was the obvious choice. So when my long time friend M... came for a visit from the country, we headed off into the city to Morris & Sons to see what we could find. Well of course there was plenty, & I came home with some 8 ply in two colours & a pattern for a ruffled scarf.

That night I dug out my knitting needles & as the 8 ply required a different size needle to my textured yarn, I chose a needle size halfway between the two. Nothing like a little creative knitting!

After a little play, I decided to go down a size, but found that my lovely needles that I'd had for many years had started to deteriorate. All the coating was starting to come off & the yarn was catching. Bugger! Not to worry, I had another stash that had belonged to my Mum & I found a pair of appropriate size in plastic which got me out of trouble.

So last Saturday I visited my local Lincraft store to stock up on my knitting needle supply. It had been years since I had bought any, I had a great range of sizes. So much variety! Which length to choose? Metal, plastic or bamboo? I am used to knitting with metal needles so kept with those in a long length. Then I spied these lovely wooden ones with turned ends which I can't wait to try.

So what am I knitting? My ruffled scarf of course! I started off with the pattern I bought, then found a similar one elsewhere but with great variations, so I am trying one variation in a cheap yarn to see if I like it or not. It has picots along the edge, something I have not done before. I hadn't knitted ruffles like this before either but they are relatively easy.

Once I finish this one, then I will decide how I can incorporate my lovely textured multi coloured yarn with my plain coloured wool. The weather has turned decidedly chilly with snow falling last week not to far away so scarves will come in very handy.

Weddings

2011-05-03T10:09:00.012+10:00

With all the attention on the Royal Wedding this past week, the talk for the last few days has been about "The Dress", who designed it, what it was made from, etc etc. As a dressmaker, embroiderer, & lace-maker, I want to be able to touch, feel, turn it inside out, & really look at how it was made. ( especially the bustle detail) . I want to talk with the people who were involved in its making to find out every little detail. Television footage, internet pics ( even with magnifiers) & even press releases from the Royal School of Needlework are not enough to satisfy my hunger. This video makes me even more hungry.

We all know by now that "The Dress" was made of lace, & motifs were hand stitched to the dress by skilled embroiderers. So now I would like to show you all a wedding dress that I made back in 2008 using the same process. The bride wanted a wide lace border around the bottom of her dress, but fabrics that included this were out of the price range. So I created the border for her.

I cut the border from the purchased lace fabric, then very carefully trimmed all the excess tulle away. This border was then hand stitched every few mm onto another piece of tulle that became the over skirt of her dress.

The lace fabric had different sized motifs scattered all over it, so from the scraps left from cutting the bodice, I very carefully cut lots of little lace motifs and appliquéd them onto the tulle above the border into a different pattern.It was 7.5 meters around the hem of this layer, so with hand stitching the border both top & bottom, and hundreds of little motifs being appliquéd in place, I think you can all imagine the work involved. I may not have had the Royal School of Needlework to help but I did have help. The bride, her bridesmaids, and my dear friend R.... helped to cut out motifs & to appliqué them in place. My friend & I are both members of The Embroiderers Guild here in Sydney.

When the lace was purchased for this dress, we found out that we could have lace especially made into any design we wanted. It was a little late for that, but still interesting to know, though the extra cost involved still may not have been in the budget

This dress may not have had the amount of lace or work that "The Dress" had, but it sure had a lot of love with every stitch. I think it is one of my greatest creations.

Special Book Marks For Special People

2011-04-27T07:58:00.023+10:00

Back in late February & early March I made some bookmarks to say thankyou to some special people. It was a spur of the moment decision to make them, and as I was going away for a few weeks R & R, I packed some of my own hand dyed linen, what I thought was some co-ordinating threads to stitch with, & just one book for inspiration. They have all been recieved now so I can show you all what I did.

This was the first one, and I started by buttonholing the edge first, no counting. Then I decided I had better count what threads I had to work out what would fit in. The book I had taken with me was Gay Eaton's "Wessex Stitchery", so I found a motif that I liked, worked out placement & started stitching. I could fit three motifs in the space, but they needed something to link them together, so the back stitch borders were born. There are three in all, one is in a fine gold thread which is not really clear in this pic.

The second one I made was this pink one. After having fun trying to fit patterns in the last one by not counting the edge, I decided to count fours on this one, that way I would be able to fit in lots. Mmmmmm............. So the buttonhole stitch edge was first, and all the while it screamed "drawn thead " at me, so the satin stitch & eyelets were born. The coral knot channels were first, then the needlewoven center channel. It was fun, because by the time I got to working the center channel, I had decided I wanted to mix up colours & patterns, & this is where my counting by fours didn't work, hence the dominant three needle woven bars in the center. In retrospect, I wish I had of placed this section one block lower, it would have made it more interesting. Maybe next time. The back stitching in burgandy was an after thought to bring out the burgandy backing.

Finally we have bookmark number three. This one was born following a day with my creative stitching friends. On the day, one of our members had us closely looking at pieces of work with a list of questions. I had picked out one piece from across the room which I thought was a piece of counted thread work, but on closer inspection found to be smocking. The patterns were interesting, so from across the room I drew in my sketchbook the patterns that I saw. It was these sketches that I tried to interpret into this bookmark, but they didn't quite work. All that did was the yellow line. So the yellow line got repeated, stitches added in between, & thread colours changed as I felt, usually when they ran out in the needle. The extra yellow lines were added to give balance.

So the bookmarks have all been recieved, & I had some creative fun. They are all original

one-0fs that I am proud of & I know the recipients are enjoying.

For Charity

2011-04-20T12:12:00.000+10:00

My local sewing group meets this week & one of the tasks I promised to do was to add some fabric to these cute little digitised animals. The blocks are to be a certain size so they can be cut down & patch-worked together with sashings. The end result will be a quilt to be donated to charity.

My sewing machine nearly had a fit this morning it has been so long. Poor girl has been neglected after all that wedding sewing I did a while back. Must get back into it & do my quilts that are hanging around.

Fun & Frivolity

2011-04-19T07:31:00.004+10:00

Last Saturday was the monthly meeting of my creative stitching group. It was a coolish, very wet day( it absolutely poured!) so what better way to spend it than stitching with friends.

Part of the day was spent study a particular embroidered piece, in particular how the stitcher had used her stitches to effect. So the afternoon was spent playing with stitches on a doodle cloth. As it happened, my doodle cloth was a piece of scrap linen left over from something, and my stitch play has turned into this bookmark.

Anyone interested can read about the remainder of the day here.

My New Book

2011-04-14T15:33:00.003+10:00

The latest edition to my library. It's in Italian, but who needs to read when the diagrams & photos are so clear? Watch this space!

Irish Crochet Play

2011-03-25T15:33:00.005+11:00

I've been playing with some Irish Crochet lately, getting ready for a challenge for one of my groups. My Mum taught me to crochet when I was very young & I have wanted to do Irish Crochet for many years. I thought it was just crocheting motifs & joining them together, but on doing a little research I found it to be much more involved (isn't anything?) , and much more challenging that I thought.

So after practicing some new techniques & getting the feel of them, I present my first ever leaf. It is far from brilliant, and I am sure they will get better, but it is the best motif I have done in my practice. With all the other motifs I have been practicing on, I came across challenges, two of which have been solved on this leaf. So now I am off to find some matching thread & cord, to have another go ready for the real thing.

Round Robins - The Good & the Bad

2011-02-24T15:23:00.005+11:00

Way back in late 2006 I signed up for a Counted thread round robin. In case no-one has noticed, counted thread work in it's many forms is one of my most favourite needlework types to do. At the time I was still doing a course which was taking all my time, so the group waited until the new year. That was the beginning of 2007, and there were 9 of us participating from all over the globe.

Today in the mail my sampler has finally arrived home, with only 5 people stitching on it including myself. The stitching is exquisite, and the introduction of the red colours are just amazing. They have made the sampler pop.

The stunning band on the left has been stitched by Norma, the gorgeous blackwork fish are by Mandy, and the fabulous seahorse & shells are by Margaret. Thank you so much girls for such beautiful & inspiring stitching. The hardanger panel is mine.

I have participated in RR's & swaps before & have learnt that you never know what you will end up with, so I decided right at the beginning that this was going to be made into a carry bag, that's why all the bands are going vertical. I would mount it to a backing, add some other fabric top & bottom, some handles & some lining, & I would have a usable article. Well, that was the plan, and hopefully it will still be the plan.

However, did anyone notice the two fine rows of blue & green? The lady who did these had so much trouble that she gave up , but it has left me with a problem.

With all the unpicking that went on, there are now three broken threads that I have to deal with. I have known about them for some time & said I would deal with it when the sampler came home. All the while I thought I would cut the fabric & add some faggotting, the type that joins two pieces of fabric together together. But I am faily certain I need to add a hem to do that, & the broken threads are way too close to my hardanger band.

I have thought about removing the offending broken threads & re-weaving others back in, but I need a place to start & finish. I think I can just cut them back to the hardanger buttonhole, then start a new one from under the buttonhole stitches, weave it in, & finish where? I can't take it all the way to the other end as there is such beautiful stitching in the path.

Anther idea I had is to scatter eyelets everywhere, but in reality I don't think they suit what I have.

A fourth thought was to cut each band apart and applique it seperately onto a backing fabric. Personally I don't think this would work either as there is very little room between my hardanger band & the damaged threads.

So I am appealing to all the stitchers out there as to how I can fix my problem. At this point in time it looks like it will be a case of removing the two lines of stitching, & designing a new band to allow for somewhere to end the old damaged threads & start a new one.

Any one got any other ideas? Feel free to add comments.

How many Eyelets?

2011-02-17T15:16:00.004+11:00

At long last I can show my table mat, finally finished. It began as something small to take away on holidays last year and grew and changed lots. At first I decided on the border, then the hem. I wanted to do another type of picot hem but didn't have enough fabric so settled on a buttonholed hem. Then when everything was finished it looked to plain so I added the bullion picots. This is the first time I have ever added them to a piece of work and I think they just finished it off nicely. This was also the piece that was supposed to feature some filet work in the center, but instead has a considerable number of eyelets.

Just a closer look at the corner.

Filet Bookmark

2011-02-10T14:25:00.004+11:00

This is the second sample of filet that I worked on the side of my table mat. I showed you the first sample here. This one had a different drawn count than the first one, so leaving slightly larger holes. I've also worked a linen stitch into this one in a pattern that I adapted from Pauline Knight's book "The Technique of Filet Lace". There were no instructions of how to work it, I had to work that out for my self, and it certainly got my brain working!

In retrospect, the linen stitch would probably sit better if I had worked it on smaller holes, but that after all is what samples are for. Something to put in my notes for future reference, and in the meantime I have another bookmark to use.

A Bookmark Sample

2011-02-09T13:16:00.004+11:00

When I had the idea of working some filet on the inside of my table mat, I first played with some samples along the side of my piece of fabric. The above book mark is one of those samples & I deliberately made it bookmark size so that it could be useful.

This one is worked by first creating a mesh, withdrawing threads in two directions, then whipping over them to make them strong. As I wanted a special hem finish around the edge, I very laboriously wove all the ends back in to give solid fabric again along the edge. I then worked the filling stitch & finally the hem. Just for the moment I can't place my hand on the reference I used for the filling stitch, but there is one very similar in Moyra McNeil's book "Drawn Thread Embroidery".

A very pretty, useful sample.

Filet

2011-01-31T14:50:00.004+11:00

Well, the cream table mat that I mentioned in my last post is finished, well almost. All the stitching is done, & it just needs to be blocked & cut from the remainder of the linen. So you will all have to be patient to see pics.

One of the ideas that I had for this piece was to work some filet in the center. I set myself a challenge way back in November 2007 to try the technique & did so here & here. Filet can be produced a few different ways. It can be crocheted , made with pre-made purchased nets, or on nets made by ones own hands. Adriana over on her blog has shown us some of her stunning examples here, in which the netting is made with a needle & thread, sort of like a fishing net. A different type of net can be made by withdrawing threads from fabric, like in the photo above.

I have tried filet crochet, & working on pre-purchased nets. The crocheting is easy, the purchased nets upset my hands & give me dermatitis, so working on meshes made from withdrawing fabric is my next mission, and was to be included in my cream table mat. However, after working the above sample, I decided that the filet would not suit the border that I had stitched, so scrapped that plan & looked for another filling. That still left me with this sample that I had to find a design to fit the space. It needs to be stitched before I can block my cream table mat as the sample is on the edge of the fabric.

So on Saturday I went searching for a design that would fit. I have graphed it out, & spent hours on the stitching order ( which has to be worked out first). Finally yesterday I got to stitch my little design, ( a practice on my pre-purchased mesh), hours of planning for 5 minutes of stitching! Oh well, I put it all down to practice & the planning maybe won't take so long next time. There should be pics of my practice piece soon & then I will work on the fabric mesh above. All have to be done before I can block my cream table mat.

Bullion Picots - Something New

2011-01-26T09:14:00.000+11:00

As I do every time I go away, I work out what piece of stitching I am going to take with me. I have to consider where I am going, how good the light will be, how much room I have to pack reference books etc. So last year when I went on a cruise for 11 nights, it had to be something small & mind numbing, in other words all the thinking had to be done so I could just sit & stitch if I had the time. It also had to be easily visible as I was not taking my portable lamp in my luggage. So my cream table mat was born. I had scoured my books for something new that I had not done, worked out a border & hem, & got it started before I left. Since then the mat has grown, with a filling in the center and decoration on the hem.

The photo above is my sample of my hem finish. It just needed something, and some of my stitching friends suggested a few things, including these bullion picots. I hadn't done them before so I had to practice. I am happy with the result & feel they just make the finished piece. I'll certainly do them again, & it has made me think of other finishes for something different. This piece will be totally finished in a few days! Yippee! Now I have to think of what's next.

Waste Not Want Not

2011-01-25T08:42:00.003+11:00

A few years ago I was given a bag full of scrap triangles. They were off-cuts from someone's quick method of making a Flying Geese quilt. I brought them home & had a play, thinking I would join them together & just see how far they would take me. All the triangles were slightly different sizes but they all had one thing in common, they were all right angled triangles. So over time I have joined them together, and then re-cut them into the same size squares. I have 157 of thes little squares, & have worked out that if I join them together into strips, and add in some strips in a plain colour, I have enough for a quilt. As I child I was taught not to waste anything, so I am making use of someone else's waste, making it into something very useful. What a shame though that I have to visit the fabric store to purchase fabric for the other strips!

Happy New Year & 2010 Review

2011-01-06T14:07:00.005+11:00

A few days late I know, but I would like to thank all my readers & wish you all a very happy, joyous, prosperous, & productive 2011.

In the past, I have usually set myself challenges for each New Year, but in review, I usually set myself too many and then get disappointed when I don't finish them. So this year I am going to go with the flow, and go just wherever my needle decides to take me.

My 2010 review reads like this:-
Challenges set 4, challenges achieved 1 ( to reduce the WISP file)
Pieces started 13
Pieces finished 10, one of which was a UFO

So what does this all mean? More WISP'S of course, something I do not need.

However one of the pieces I did start & finish in 2010 was this Christmas decoration. I like to make a new one every year, and I managed to make a few of these to give to family & friends. It is playing on the Teneriffe lace theme again, set into a gold ring & hung with gold ribbon. I wonder what my new decoration for 2011 will be. You will all have to watch this space to find out.

Lace For a Friend

2010-12-14T11:57:00.003+11:00

Well, it's been a while since I have posted any new work here, so I thought I would show you all what I have been working on the last few months.

I have been obsessed lately with teneriffe lace, and as well have a friend with an "0" birthday. I wanted to make her something special, & thought of a few different things, and settled on this. At first I just stared making the motifs in a thread that I had been using, as I had plenty of it & I didn't know how much I would need. I was also using the same sized wheel as before, but soon scrapped both the thread size & wheel size as the whole project was going to take me way too long and be way too big. So back to the drawing board I went.

I knew roughly what design I wanted, & approximate size, but had to work out the individual circle size. I also wanted the circles to touch, but how to physically work out a pattern? I knew it was a geometry thing but it took me a while to get my head around it and even then I needed some help.

Once the maths was worked out, I knew my circle size & could try another thread, which in the end was better as one motif only took me two days to do. So with six motifs complete, I then had to think about how I was going to join them. I did some reading, & drew on my needle-lace experience to join them together & create the filling in the center.

I am not sure if there is a right or wrong way of doing this, but it was my very first attempt and for the next one it may happen differently. Just for the record my friend has had her birthday & this piece of lace is now in her possession.

In Loving Memory

2010-12-03T10:06:00.005+11:00

Over time, people come into our lives & touch our hearts. Quite often it is too late before we realise just how much they mean to us. The little pouch above has been made by one such person, an exquisite stitcher, who gave her knowledge freely to anyone who would listen. May you rest in peace, knowing that your stitching legacy is alive & well.

In Loving Memory
of
Heather Daphne MATTHEWS

Missed dearly, loved always, never forgotten

Experimental Fun

2010-09-21T10:49:00.003+10:00

A few years back I salvaged this piece of disgustingly (to me) coloured fabric. I thought it might be good to play with some experimental drawn thread work on it. It sat in the cupboard for a long time, then about a month ago I needed something to take to my creative stitching group, so out it came, along with some coloured threads that I thought would go. On the day, I just threaded a needle & started stitching, letting the needle go where it wanted. I soon discovered that the fabric would pull to a certain extent, so a piece of experimental pulled work it became. The most fun I had was with the eyelets.

I'm not sure what I will do with it yet, it might somehow get turned into a little notebook cover. Time will tell.

Photo Play

2010-09-08T11:26:00.008+10:00

Another one of my textile inspired groups is Stitchin Fingers. This group is such a wealth of information with it's member list of over 2,000, & has specialized groups covering all kinds of textile inspired topics. A while ago, I joined another one of these groups called "Digital Designers", who chat about & play with graphics programs. This morning, with thanks to this group, I have been playing with Photoshop and all it can do. I have used Photoshop before, but mainly for cropping & resizing photos, & sometimes rotating & straightening them. Once, I had to change some pics to black & white for a particular purpose & found that very easy to do.

Some of the book pages I made a few years ago used images I had manipulated in another photo editing program, but it's been a while. Back then I learnt about layers, and this morning I have learnt to take the layers to a different direction, and about things to change within each layer itself.

My play this morning has taken this pic of one of my begonias,

to this...................

My mind is boggling, and all I need now is time to play more. Many thanks girls for all the inspiration.

An Exhibition

2010-09-07T15:28:00.000+10:00

Those people who know me well know that I belong to a few different textile inspired groups, one of which is called "Stitcher's Plus". We are a group of creative minded stitchers, and have been meeting & stitching together for over ten years now. Recently, we put together a collection of our works into an exhibition. Below are the pieces that I had in this exhibition.

First up is a book cover. This was the piece of Reticella that I worked for our tenth anniversary calendar. The piece has been sitting for quite some time waiting to be made up into a finished piece. I needed a book cover, so a book cover it has become, & how fitting that it should be a cover for my lace journal.
Next is a piece of Teneriffe Lace that I inserted into a handkerchief. Inspired by pictures of teneriffe lace that I have seen on the internet, I have been playing with different designs using the technique. This was one design that I found, & had to work out the method by myself as there were no instructions. Not my design, but definately my stitching, and was great fun using the brain to work it all out. It was relativley easy once I thought about for a few minutes.

Piece three is my first piece of Reticella which I showed you all here. This piece has been in two other exhibitions, and will probably go in at least another one or two. I am extremely proud of this piece.

Piece four,"A Summer Sanctuary", has also been exhibited twice before. The challenge proceses involved can be read here.
Next is a bag that I made from a challenge we were handed invoving faces. The face has been created using applique & FME, then pieced into the front of the bag.

The back of the bag has been pieced using the Flying Geese pattern & the whole bag has been machine quilted. This face has become my internet face & anyone who knows me personally will tell you I look nothing like this. A bag I use a lot.

Then there was my scarf. Made with a daisy wheel using a fancy knitting yarn, then crocheted together. Very slinky & warm.

Finally, my "Bugs In Boxes". These were another challenge & both consist of a painted canvas backgrounds which have been threaded with various yarns . Both also consist of couched yarns for the tree branches & leaves made from hand dyed fabric that has been FME'd with a metalic thread. The caterpillars in the top one are stuffed rouleau tubes featuring surface stitching, while the butterfly on the second one has been digitized & stitched onto water soluble fabric.

The exhibition is now closed, but for some more pics please visit our Stitchers Plus pages.

Wild & Free"

2010-09-04T13:33:00.000+10:00

This page was created for the book called "Wild Side". I felt it was a bit dark but wasn't sure how to lighten it up without starting all over again. I created a spiral design with the words "wild & free" & various sized paw prints in my drawing program, & imported it into my digitizing program. The design was stitched onto gold fbaric which was layered over a background created by joining strips of black & green fabric & digitized leaves. Once stitched, the excess gold fabric was cut away to reveal the background. All the layers were then added to another background of brown felt with added brown fabric leaves.

This is the last page in this book series. On reflection, it was great to go back through them all & see just how much I learnt. My main aim when entering this Book Page Round Robin was to learn about my digitizing program, but I learnt heaps about my drawing program & the power of photo editing programs, about layers & effects & merging two or more images together. I learnt not to be scared of computer programs, but to experiment & see what they could do. I also learnt not to be scared of FME, it was not as hard as I had always thought.

The pages have long since gone to their new owners, I hope they have as much fun looking at them as I had creating them.

Regenerate & Recycle

2010-09-03T13:24:00.000+10:00

A different shaped page this time, this one for a book called "Regenerate & Recycle".

I started with a pile of plastic rings, the kind that come from milk containers & soft drink bottles once the seals have been broken. I dumped the rings on my scanner to create a pic, which was then manipulated a few times in my photo editing program. The final image ( which looked nothing like the plastic rings any more) was printed onto white polycotton & then layered with net & organza & FME'd.

Pansy Passion

2010-09-02T13:06:00.002+10:00

My "Pansy Passion" page was for a book called "Purle". I had thought of using the iris flower for inspiration but settled on a pansy instead. Once again I played with a lot of photo manipulation. The pansy pic went through a number of effects including distortions, rotations, stretching & adding twirls. The final image was printed onto textile transfer paper, ironed onto white cotton, then embellished with layers of shot organza, net, chiffon, FME & a button. All was appliqued onto yellow felt.

Money Tree

2010-09-01T12:07:00.000+10:00

"Money Tree" was the page I created for the book called "Nonsense". How much nonsense was this? We would all want one, but we all know that such things are complete nonsense.

I started with a hand painted background which I layered with brown satin & brown lace. A tree picture was digitized in outline only, then stitched through all layers. The brown layers were then cut back to reveal the background. $ symbols were also digitized & added to the tree, along with some leaf patterns & FME.

Not one of my better efforts but it filled the criteria.

My Fuchia Page

2010-08-31T11:35:00.000+10:00

Fuchias were my inspiration for the book "Nature Enfolding". This page was more about playing with photo manipulation than anything else. I used one photo, then cut two different sections from it to make two different images. Both images were resized to make them the same size, one was manipulated using the effects - texture - polished stone menu, while the other had the background removed just to leave the flower by itself. The two images were then combined, printed onto white cotton, then FME'd.

Hexamorphis

2010-08-30T11:10:00.002+10:00

"Hexamorphis" is the page I made for the book called "Metamorphose".

Beginning with drawing a hexagon in my drawing program, I changed it's shape just by playing with the nodes on the corners. The hexagon morphed into a star shape, and all kinds of other weird & wonderful 6 sided shapes. So these shapes became the basis of my design. Cut from hand dyed fabric, appliqued onto purple cotton, added machine stitching & all appliqued onto yellow felt.

Rainbow Lollipop

2010-08-29T10:39:00.001+10:00

"Rainbow Lollipop" is the page that I made for the book called "Just For Fun".

"Just For Fun" is the catch cry for Luna Park, the fun park here in Sydney located just at the base of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, so this became my starting point. I thought of ferris wheels, lollipops & fairy floss, bright colours & noise.

The basic petal shape was drawn in my drawing program, then imported into my digitizing program to be played with again. Seperate files were made then combined into one before the final design was stitched onto a FME'd background.

Fragile Fragments

2010-08-28T15:04:00.001+10:00

"Lace - A Frragile Textile" was my page that I created for the book "Fragile Fragments". Lace is my other passion, and though it appears fragile, if it is made correctly it is quite strong, and will outlast most fabrics that it is attached to.

For this page I chose a lace doily from my collection that I bought at an op shop. (The aim was to reproduce it one day) . I then scanned it, cropped it, added 3D effects, embossing effects & printed the final image onto seeded homespun. Digitized flowers, lines of stitching to reflect the shapes in the doiley, & stretched lettering were stitched into tulle which was then overlayed over the doiley image.

Earthsong

2010-08-27T13:55:00.000+10:00

My "Sea Shell Whispers" page for the "Earthsong" book was once again inspired by water. I love water, & eveything it holds. Many holidays at the beach have resulted in a collection of shells, & if we hold them close to our ears we can hear the waves of the ocean.

For this page, my own digitized design of a shell was stitched onto tulle. It was then placed on a background of layered hand dyed fabric & organza which had been stitched with lettering & FME.

Flight

2010-08-26T14:56:00.000+10:00

"Fly Ladybug Fly" was the page I made for the book called "Flight". My drawing of a ladybug was digitized and stitched to a background which I made by stamping painted leaves onto fabric.

All Creatures

2010-08-25T10:43:00.000+10:00

This page, "The Pelican - My Forster Friend" was created for a book titled "All Creatures". I love pelicans, & photograph them quite often, especially along the Mid north Coast of NSW. This page was inspired by one of those photographs. The background was created using layers of blue polycotton & organza, using FME to hold them together. Some sections of the organza was cut away to give a different texture. The pelican itself was sketched, digitized, & stitched onto the background.

Hundertwasser

2010-08-24T13:02:00.007+10:00

When I received the title of this book to create a page for, I was in a dilemma. I had not even heard this name so had to do lots of research. In the process I learnt about the artist Hundertwasser, his life & his works. Not really my cup of tea, but the challenge was real & I still had to make a book page.

I started by cutting small pieces of fabric & ironing them onto vylene. Machine stitching was added, followed by strips of the same fabric also machine stitched in place.

The spiral shape was drawn in my computer drawing program, imported into my digitzing program, digitized & finally stitched onto the created background. The angled shapes were also computer drawn & digitized, but stitched onto another pieced background, which in turn was appliqued onto the main page. The final page was finished with a twisted cord made from fancy knitting yarns.

Interplay

2010-08-20T15:00:00.000+10:00

This is the page that I made for a book titled "Interplay".

I'd been having fun playing with a photo program & all the effects that could be created, so believe it or not, this started as a photo of a nodding violet. I used two different effects, one after the other to get the base image, which was then printed onto textile transfer paper and subsequently ironed onto fabric.

The image was then used as a background in my digitizing program to design swirls of stitching. These were stitched onto net, which was then appliqued over my base fabric image.

Certainly something different for me, but I was having fun with photo editing programs.

Colour & Shade

2010-07-19T13:02:00.000+10:00

This was the page that I created for a book called "Colour & Shade". Corrugated cardboard pages were provided for us to use, & I seem to remember there were various colours to choose from.

I used a frangipanni shape, overlapped, traced the outline, then mirror imaged. The lines were then digitized. Purple satin was overlayed with hand dyed cotton, the lines stitched, fabric cut away, then more layering with net, more stitching & more cutting away. The final touch were the buttons stitched on with beads, all over yellow felt.

I know I had trouble with this page, everything was always dull. I think I was trying to keep the "shade " part going with the use of shades of purple & it wasn't quite working. Hence the introduction of yellow. Much better.

Another Time Another Place

2010-07-08T10:34:00.000+10:00

Now for the pages that I created for this book RR.

This one was for a book titled "Another Time Another Place, " and my inspiration was water & the coastline. I love the coast, & hope to retire there some time in the future. So the coast was my "other place" & retirement my "other time".

I started with a postcard of the Great Barrier Reef, scanned, cropped, manipulated, then printed onto textile transfer paper & ironed onto white cotton fabric. The flowers were made by trapping threads in between two layers of sheer fabric, then machine stitching in the flower shape to trap the threads. The "Sun, Surf & Sand" has been digitized.

I was proud of this page & it was like nothing I had ever done before. It was my first attempt at using the transfer paper & I learnt lots about editing needle points in my digitizing software.

Loopy Lace Page 13

2010-06-30T09:29:00.000+10:00

Made by Dale Rollerson, a background has been created using black felt gilded with gold foil. The letters were digitized, then stitched onto black felt, burnt out, then applied to the background. Other small digitized lace motifs were stitched & applied, then all were covered with a layer of "lace". This lace layer was made by using a fancy machine stitch on Water Soluble Fabric.

This was the last page that I received for my "Loopy Lace " book. It's been nice to go back over them all again after so long. Now stay tuned to see the pages that I made during this Round Robin. There were 16 in all, counting this first page of my own book.

Loopy Lace Pg 12

2010-06-29T10:13:00.000+10:00

A "Loopy Lace Angel" by Robyn Eccleston. A spider web image was manipulated on the computer, then printed & stitched as free machine lace onto a painted nappy liner applied to black felt.

Painted nappy liners are not something I have played with, at least not in a creative sense. Mmm............ maybe one day, but there are too many things at the moment that are higher on my prioity list.

An Exhibition

2010-06-22T13:12:00.004+10:00

Loopy Lace Page 11

2010-06-22T07:02:00.000+10:00

Page 11 is by Anita Jenkins. Digitizing software was used to create the gold patterns which were then stitched on to felt & later burnt with a heat gun to produce the lace effect. The border was created using FME over threads sandwiched between two layes of water soluble fabric

Loopy lace Pg 10

2010-06-18T13:48:00.000+10:00

This page is not signed and also has no notes, so am not sure who has made it. The background is hand painted card with a fancy machine pattern stitched in straight rows of orange. Another fancy stitch has been used in curves in a thicker thread which means it is probably bobbin work. An overlay of orange tissue paper covers the painted card, with just a small window to view the stitching.

I am not sure where the computer has come in, possibly in the curved rows of stitching. They could have been digitized. Still, it is a page that some nice person made for my book.

Loopy Lace - Page 9

2010-06-16T10:05:00.000+10:00

Page 9 is by Kirry Toose. A graphic face stitched onto tulle then appliqued onto wool fabric. A digitized spiral motif, repeated along the sides, was stitched onto felt which was then burnt to give the lace effect.

Burning of felt with a heat gun is not something I have tried. I would imagine it would smell & I am not sure my sinuses would approve.

Loopy Lace Pg 8 "Betwixt The Two A Century Has Past"

2010-06-15T14:49:00.000+10:00

Page 8 is by Gloria Allport, and contains beautiful antique lace as well as more modern digitized lace. Both laces have a sparkle, the digitized one being stitched in a bronzed metallic thread on water soluble fabric. All has ben stitched onto black felt.

Loopy Lace Page 7

2010-06-11T07:48:00.000+10:00

Page 7 was made by Margaret Roberts of Digital Gran fame. There are no notes with this page, and nothing in my file so I will take a guess at what was done. Margaret, if you get to read this, please correct me if I am wrong.

It looks like Margaret had some fun with with her digitizing program as I can see some shapes that have been repeated. They are different sizes & different colours & look like they may have been produced with a kaleidoscope tool. All have been stitched over some free standing lace made on water soluble fabric, with ribbons & fancy knitting yarns included for texture. There are other small digitized shapes repeated over the base fabric to give background repetition & continuity. All have been stitched onto a background of organza layered over felt.

Loopy Lace Page 6

2010-06-10T09:02:00.000+10:00

Page 6 came from Leonie Bryant, who created an image with a paintbrush tool using a few different colours. This was then printed onto hand made paper. The fish were created from fabric, then FME lace was created around them using water soluble fabric. The fish & lace were hand stitched to the paper, then everything was stitched to felt.

Using a paper background is not something I have tried, though I have used small pieces of paper in my work, like this bookmark. Paper tends to blunt everything, including scissors & sewing machine needles. I do have special scissors just for paper, & I could mark a packet of needles just for paper, but the reality is I love fabric better.

Loopy lage - Page 5

2010-06-09T09:24:00.000+10:00

This page came from Toni Valentine who used Photoshop to blend layers of a photograph. The image was then transferred to pelmet vilene using image transfer paper. Pieces of digitized free standing lace were added.

By the time this page was produced, I had already played with the same type of image transfer
paper on a page that I had produced for someone else. I have pics of those pages too, so I'll post them at some stage too.

Loopy Lace Pg 4 - Reflective Alliteration

2010-06-08T10:32:00.005+10:00

Pg 4 was made by Sue Martin, who also used digitizing software to play with letting, circles & pre-programed lace fill stitches. Stitched onto fabric backed with something farlly stiff, like heavy vilene & backed with more fabric.

Loopy lace Pg 3 -

2010-06-08T10:09:00.007+10:00

Page 3 was made by "Vonraj", who used an image as a source of inspiration in her digitizing software. The image was digitized a number of different ways including fill stitches, lined stitches & patterned lines. All the pieces were then pieced together into a crazy patchworked effect of a mini quilt.

Loopy Lace Page 2

2010-06-08T09:49:00.007+10:00

Pg 2 of my book was made by Marj Long. Clip art icons were played with in a drawing program so they overlapped. The image was then digitized & stitched onto tulle, which was then applied to black felt. The background was scrunched paper that had been printed with a scanned lace image. Other lace motifs were stitched onto felt & cut out with a soldering iron, then placed around the edge of the background.

Scanned images printed onto coloured paper as well as playing with a soldering iron are two textile encounters I have yet to try.

Loopy Lace Page 1

2010-06-08T08:46:00.004+10:00

Page one of my book "Loopy Lace" was my first attempt at creating a piece of digitized lace. I'd wanted to create a hexagon background but everything I tried ended up with massive amounts of jump stitches that were too small & tedious to remove. Then there was the problem of the lace actually holding together once the water soluble fabric was dissolved. I ended up with just rectangles that were copied, pasted, & rotated. Not what I wanted but it worked.

The coloured sections were me having fun in my drawing program again, playing with circles & what I could do with them, elongating, rotating etc. Once the basic "petal" shape was achieved, it was imported into my digitizing program where I used a kaleidoscope tool to create the 7 petals. The fun part was making the machine stop stitching so I could change the colours. This had to be done in my program or I would end up with a single coloured piece of lace. Something else I had to work out.

The lace itself is mounted into a piece of painted card (not seen here) so that it could be added as a page to my book.

I might also add here that I am closer now to achieving my digitized hexagon background. What wonderful help the internet can be.

A Fabric Book Cover

2010-06-07T11:10:00.004+10:00

Over the last few days I have been having a discussion with one of my on-line stitching friends in England. Mandy is making book pages & I promised I would show her the pages I received in a past RR. When I went looking, I realized that this RR happened way back in 2005, before I even started blogging, so I thought I could reminisce a little & show you all the lovely book pages I received .

OK, the back story is I was encouraged to join my first on-line group by a real life stitching aquaintance. This group ( sadly no more) was about using computers to create textile work & sounded interesting. I had dabbled a little & could definately learn more. I had also just recently begun to play with my digitizing program, so I was hoping to use this to the max & learn as much as I could about it. When I joined the group, they were just about to start the book RR. We were to decide on a title of our book, the layout, page sizes etc, then make the cover & the first page. This was then sent to the next person on the list who would make & add in a page to suit the book, then send it on to the next person. So the process would go on until my book arrived home.

The pic above is the cover I made for my book. I used a drawing program that was compatible with my digitizing program, drew up the basic loopy lines & added lettering. I remember this was a learning curve about how to get the lettering to follow the curve of the line. Once drawn, it was then digitised & stitched onto fabric. The little dots of colour were just glued on, but the FME lace at the sides was sticthed onto water soluble fabric, dissolved & layered over another base fabric. It was one of my first attempts at FME.

Looking back, I would definatly do a better job now, but at the time I was very proud of what I had done & had learnt more about my drawing program.

A New Aquisition

2010-03-30T14:49:00.003+11:00

Check out this new aquisition to my library. I have borrowed this book many times from the library, then last weekend a very special friend gave me my own copy. Although it's been pre-loved, the book is in excellent condition, and will now take pride & place on my own library shelf. Thank you, thank you thank you Miss R.

A Fishy Tale

2010-03-25T16:36:00.004+11:00

My little bobbin lace fish is finally finished. He is worked in cloth stitch, with a giant spider in the center. I have used three different threads including a variegated, a plain & a metallic. He is double sided & padded with pellon & felt, covered with crystal organza. I gave him a bead for an eye so he could see when he goes travelling to Japan for exhibition later this year. If anyone is interested he can be seen unpadded here. I think he looks much more dashing with his yellow undergarments.

A Drawn Thread Challenge

2010-02-25T12:57:00.003+11:00

Ive been playing with some more drawn thread work. This is just a snippet of a current piece. It started as a personal holiday challenge and is growing slowly. As I was packing to go away last December, I found the bag with this piece of hand dyed linen & threads inside so threw it into my sewing tin as well. The challenge to myself was to see what I could create with no reference books. So it is another work in progress, and now that I am back home with access to my own library, as well as others, it will be interesting to see how this piece grows. It has already taken on a life of it's own.

Crochet Flowers

2010-02-24T10:38:00.002+11:00

I've been crocheting flowers for my local lace group, for "goodie" bags somewhere in the future. These are only a few of what I have done, all out of donated crochet thread, so all they have cost is my time. It's been a long time since I have done any crochet work & they were enjoyable to do, as they are so simple to make. I could manage two in a sitting, & if my hands cramped up I could change to some stitching & still feel like I had accomplished something.

Seafood Anyone?

2010-02-23T09:53:00.004+11:00

My local lace group are busy making fish, ready for a display somewhere. (Japan I think) This is part of my effort, as there is another side to this fish yet to happen, then he is to be padded. This little fish was certainly something different for me. I had tight curves to deal with, sharp corners with sewings, adding in pairs, & brushing up on how to work a spider ( yes , it has been a while!) The thread was also a bit of a challenge. I used a variagated green crochet thread combined with a green metallic for the passives, and as always, the metallic did not want to play nice. I persevered though & this little fellow is the result.

An Award

2010-02-01T11:31:00.005+11:00

Mandy over at Crazy Daisy has given me an award which has been a humbling experience. It is the Sunshine Award for "for bloggers whose positivity and creativity inspires others in the blogging world." There are rules of course, as with all these blog games, & I am supposed to pass it on to 12 other bloggers & leave a comment on their blog. How can I name 12? All the bloggers who inspire me are listed on my side bar under "places to visit" & there are way more than 12 over there. So, if you are reading this, & your blog is listed over on the side here, then consider yourself awarded the "Sunshine Award"

A Fabric Challenge

2010-01-19T12:36:00.003+11:00

Back before Christmas, I was packing my stitching bag to go away on holiday. I had already packed some stitching , but thought it might be fun to add in a piece of fabric & threads to see what I could create without planning. So I went searching for a piece I knew I already had sorted complete with threads. I didn't find the piece I was looking for, but instead found the above piece of mauve linen, & yes there were threads packed in that little bag as well. OK, maybe not quite what I had in mind but the purpose was still the same, create something with given threads, no reference books & use only the knowledge I had in my head. The above pic is just a snippet of what came about. The interesting part was the discovery of what the fabric could do, the fact that it was very open & would suit Pulled Work beautifully. My knowledge of Pulled Work is very limited ( something that I intend to change in the near future), so I had to settle with my knowledge of Drawn Thread Work. Now I am back home, my Pulled Work books have come out & now I have a definate idea of what this fabric piece will end up like.

A Heart For PassionART

2010-01-13T16:27:00.005+11:00

My first project for 2010.

The call has come out for hearts, any technique, no larger than 20cm x 20cm, embroidered on one or both sides, lightly padded for dimension & with a loop so that they can be strung.

So the above heart is my contribution. Pieced with three different fabrics, I then machine embroidered rows of hearts in red & white, layered with batting & backing, cut the heart shape, finished the edges & attached the ribbon loop.

All the completed hearts will be displayed at the PassionART Outdoor Twilight Festival on Valentines Day.

Goodies

2010-01-13T16:04:00.006+11:00

Happy New Year to everyone. What a better way to start the year than with some goodies.

The bottom two lace bobbins are commemorative bobbins, beautifully hand painted, from an Australian lace internet group that I belong to. I've had them since before Christmas & have only just now had time to show them off. They still need spangling, something I must do soon as I am bursting at the seams to use them.

The top bobbin & the lapel pin are gifts from a visitor the we had from the USA to our small local lace group. L--- put the call out towards the end of last year to Australian lace-makers, made e-mail contact, & armed with directions, braved the public transport system to visit our small group. Shows how keen us lace makers are. We spent a wonderful afternoon with show & tell. & L---, if you are reading this, thank you so much for taking the time to visit.

Christmas, 2009 In Review & 2010 challenges

2009-12-03T13:11:00.005+11:00

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

2009-12-01T08:38:00.004+11:00

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

2009-11-26T14:45:00.005+11:00

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

2009-11-19T11:04:00.004+11:00

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

2009-11-19T10:03:00.009+11:00

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

2009-11-19T09:25:00.008+11:00

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

2009-11-08T14:18:00.002+11:00

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

2009-10-21T16:13:00.003+11:00

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

2009-10-20T08:30:00.003+11:00

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

2009-10-19T13:48:00.006+11:00

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

2009-08-25T15:33:00.007+10:00

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

2009-08-10T16:10:00.003+10:00

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

2009-08-03T07:24:00.004+10:00

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

2009-07-31T11:09:00.005+10:00

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

2009-07-24T09:44:00.010+10:00

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.