Intermediate Retrospective Pt 3

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.