Just some more fill in type stitching today. This is the beginnings of a little bag I started with one of my classes. The idea was to strip some scraps of fabric together & then add stitching. We would open a stitch book at any page, & take the stitch from that page & play with it. The idea was to extend my student's knowledge of stitches & see how creative they could be. I have had enough of stitching on this & now need to make it up. Just something else that my sewing machine is waiting to do. When it is finished I hope to use it as a thread bag, as lately my project threads are all over the place, unwinding themselves into messes. So I thought this might help to keep them tidy.

More Patchwork

Just another "flower" block today. I figured out that I would need at least 50 of these if I want to make a quilt. M......, is that what I want? Not sure. I have plenty of scraps of fabric that I can use to make all these blocks, but I think I would get very bored very quickly. If it is going to be a quilt, then it is going to be a very long time happening. This is only the fourth one I have done. I need to re-think that one.

I am really only filling in time whith this patchwork while I get my next major project underway. I want to do another piece of Reticella, but the fabric I have chosen is different to what I have used before, it is much finer. So all the counting & graphing that I have done has to be re-done to fit the fabric, otherwise my spaces will not be large enough to fit the fillings in that I have chosen. I am in the middle of experimenting, but the piece of linen is patiently waiting for some fabric strips to be atached so it can be put in a hoop. Just something else to add to the "must do" list.

Time Out

What a year! I'm saying this now & it is only October? Well................................................................

One of my challenges for this year was a wedding. Yes, a wedding. That means one wedding gown and three bridesmaid's dresses, all patternmade & made by Your's Truely. Well, challenge it certainly has been, in more ways than one. Today, though, I officially class it as "challenge complete"! The bridesmaids dresses are all packaged & have left the house. The wedding gown is all packaged & ready to be collected by a courier to go 300miles up the coast to be professionally pressed, ready for the big day. Photos ? Maybe later, the groom may be reading.

At this point I would personally like to thank my friends Robyn & Christine for being at the other end of the phone when I got stuck, & needed both technical advice & moral support. Without them this dress would not be at the point that it is today.

That said, what am I to do with myself now? I am not sure. I have so many things that I want to do I just cannot make up my mind. I do still need to stitch though, and lately it has been some mind numbing English Patchwork. The piece above will be added to my collection of "Grandmother's Flower Garden", and may one day be made into a quilt.

A New Book

Look what I acquired! I am so excited! I have wanted to do some Teneriffe lace for some time , and even borrowed this same book from the Embroiderer's Guild library. The library book has been sitting on my coffee table, just looking at me waiting for me to start, but I have other more pressing matters at the moment. The book also has to be back at the library in a week. Then yesterday I attended my local lace group and one of the ladies had just come back from overseas with two copies of this book that she was hoping to sell. One was instantly mine, brand new, at a bargain price. So now it can reside on my coffee table, taunting me to start, and the other copy can go back to the library for someone else to enjoy.

Needle Lace Autumn Leaf

On one of my on-line groups someone commented about the use of colour in needle lace and that they would not like to see a piece in more than one colour. So I just thought I would dig out my needleace leaf that I did years ago in a workshop with Margaret Stevens, a tutor with the Australian Lace Guild.

This little leaf uses about five different colours, including a variagated one, and personally I think it looks fine. To me, the use of colour, and more than one colour, in the same needle-lace piece, just depends on the end use of the piece. Just my take one the subject.

Just A Snippet

At the end of last year, the Stitcher's Plus group that I belong to decided on a major project to celebrate our group's 10th birthday. I have been madly stitching trying to get my section ready on time. Two nights ago I finished all the stitching & now have some final decisions to make with the piece. The little piece above began here & is just a tase of what my section will be like. Yes, you will all have to wait some more to see the final product. What do they say? Patience is a virtue?

Just filling In

Anyone who knows me knows that I have to stitch every day. If I don't, there is something seriously wrong. I am at the point now where I really need to plan my next serious stitching, because I am just filling in with fiddly things. I am on the down hill run with all the wedding sewing, with just hems & fiddly bits to do, the stitching on my Stitcher's Plus Challenge (which started here) is finished, my wrap for the wedding is finished, & I am looking for something to stitch in front of "the box" at night. So last night I pulled out a stitch challenge I gave to one of my classes some time back, and stitched this eyelet. Well, I stitched a few of them, and really want to stich more. The piece really needs some more fabric strips sewn to it before I can do too much more. Mmmmmm.................. maybe that is something to put on my "to do" list. Now I just need to find something to stitch tonight.