Still Stitching

The butterfly idea is growing, I have added some leaves and have oodles of teeny tiny leaf shaped cut outs to add. I have also learned a couple of new embroidery stitches. The leaf shows coral stitch, though I reinforced it with a bohkara stitch to keep it sturdy.





I have also been trying woven circles, my cloth is turning into a bit of a sampler, but that's ok.





An embroidery from the bottom of the bag has also been calling to me, a few more stitches and this will complete. I am not sure what I will do with it, perhaps a cushion or quilt block for Boo.



The house is littered with little snippets of thread which the vacuum stubbornly refuses to pick upp, still, at least it is sparkling and rainbow thread....

Going with the flow of change

The rainbow woven cloth just wasn't doing it for me, I also decided it was too small. So I began working on another woven cloth, this time about 20" square and using only white fabrics, in the hope it could act as a nice clean backdrop for appliques made from the first cloth.

I don't have a lot of pale fabrics so I had to attack some bed linen. I have to say the texture of used fabrics is much more pleasing when woven than the new fabrics I used on the rainbow cloth, I thought I would feel a bit twitchy about the frays and wayward threads, but I actually quite like it, the texture is lovely and soft, it feels nice to hold it and I am enjoying stitching it.

Last night I attached the first applique made from the rainbow cloth. I knew as soon as I decided I would make a large applique from this cloth that is had to be a butterfly. Butterflies are the symbol of change, and so it seems rather fitting to me right now, on a personal and circumstantial level at least, change is always afoot, but never more so than now.



The body of the butterfly is embroidered in a haphazard short and long stitch and then I used a metallic thread which I actually weaved through the embroidery. I have also used silver thread here and there.



Check out my Flickr to see the photos in larger size.

I am still working on this applique, but may move on and add more to the cloth and come back to the butterfly later, sometimes it helps to see it with a fresh eye.
I am becoming a bit obsessive about this project, it is a combination of the stitching being a real tonic and the creative possibilities.
I am thinking I might make one of these cloths every month, and stitch them together to form a quilt at the end of the year... kind of like a stitched diary or journal... I just might.

A Hoola Fairy for Katy

Katy has received her wee pressie, so I am able to share it here.



I first made one of these fairies a couple of years ago for a swap, this one is complete with ginger hair and twinkling butterfly polka dotted skirt (I want one!), her little wand is fashioned from a tiny branch of elder, and her shoes are in felt with dinky buttons.





Hopefully she will bring lots of good crafty vibes to Katy. I love the colours on this one, her body and skirt are both favourite fabrics from Kaffe Fassett.

I must dash, a second woven cloth awaits, I am oh so busy stitching, will share more in this space soon <3

Cloth Weaving

I am taking part in Jude Hill's Cloth to Cloth workshop. If you haven't heard of Jude and her amazing cloth weaving endevours then you really must pop by her blog. Her work is incredibly inspiring and oh so liberating for a beginner to quilting, like myself, who is prone to wonkiness and lack of precision.

The course doesn't start for another week or so, but I have already started a little cloth weaving experiment.
The cloth is woven and stitched to a backing (in my case an old baby muslin) to stabilise it, the cloth is then embroidered, appliqued and embellished according to ones whim, the blocks can be attached and made into a quilt as with standard patchwork.

Being as I have oodles and oodles of scrappy bits of fabric, and not many large pieces, this particular craft is well suited to me at the moment.
Most all of the Spirit Cloths (as Jude calls them) I have seen are very organic looking and mostly in neutral colour palettes, using recycled fabric. Alas, whilst I do like organic, I posses very few neutral toned fabrics and so I am conscious that my own attempts look somewhat gaudy and bright in comparison to the pale and beautiful cloths Jude turns out. Still, one must be true to thine own self, and I do like colour so.
Left over scraps from Amber's book bag have found their way in, same for some of the scraps from a project I did with the fabric Sena sent, and a few other scrappy pieces, including some wide satin ribbon in acid green.





I started weaving the cloth at about 8pm yesterday, and then began stitching it to the fabric, which I completed at around 2am. Quite a lot of work, and it is only 10" square, but I do stitch quite slowly at the moment on account of my illness, still at least the inability to sleep allows me the extra hours I need to make progress.
I am not sure how any embellishments will stand out against the psychedelic rhapsody of colour, so I may have to rethink the neutral debate after all if I am to achieve some contrast and tone....

There is something incredibly healing about stitching and colour. It allows me to switch off from anxious thoughts and exist solely in the moment. I am looking forward to working on my cloth more tonight, and very excited about starting the Cloth to Cloth workshop in a few days time, my fingers are twitching at the very thought.

2 YEARS in the making

When I was pregnant with Miss Boo, I wanted to make me a quilt for the new babe. Back then, I had not been sewing for very long, and had not yet become acquainted with the sewing machine, actually, it is debatable if we are yet good friends.
I bought some scrumptious Lecien fabric with matching polka dot cotton, and looked at it for a while, stroked it lovingly and after much deliberation, realised that if Miss Boo was going to have a quilt before she left home, let alone before she arrived, then I probably needed to get someone else to make it.

In steps the lovely Miss Katy, she was my first and only choice, because not only is she a marvellous quilter with an eye for colour, but she is also charming and her dead pan Yorkshire humour always tickles my funny bone.
Anyway, Miss Katy did make the most lovely quilt for Boo, and it still sits atop her bed today, she snuggles it every night. It is a most perfect and prettyfull quilt. Miss Katy really is a super sweet treat.





Almost as soon as said quilt arrived in my posession, I set about making something for Katy. A stitch here, a stitch there, on it went, and on and on and on.
I have asked Katy for her address twice, in very bad form I have even promised to post said treat, alas, it has sat, rather lonesome, waiting to be completed, for over two years.

Today was a dark day. Sometimes I wake up and it is like someone has drawn a veil over me. I feel heavy, sad, fuzzy headed and often quite tearful. Today was one of those days, though I am thankful the good days are becoming more frequent and the dark days less so. Despite my inner darkness, outside was to be the first sunny, blue skied day I have seen in weeks, the whole house lit up under the soft glow of the low winter sun, and when I finally dragged my sorry ass downstairs, I noticed a pop of colour atop the dresser. There, twinkling in the sunlight, vibrant against the sunlit white background, was Miss Katy's treat.

It is difficult to sew when I am having a bad day, inability to focus or concentrate is a common symptom of PND. I can sometimes manage the sewing machine, but hand stitching becomes very laborious. Even so, I realised, right there in my dining room, admiring the colour and sparkle of this project I had started so long ago for Katy, that really, it could not wait one more minute. It represented, to me at least, a huge personal failing and indeed a failure to show grattude to a very sweet friend, and one failure I could not live with, one I felt I must address with immediate effect.

I gathered my tools about me, my beads and trinkets, scraps and a wee stick from the garden, and slowly, oh so slowly, I stitched.
As I stitched, I thought about the kindness Miss Katy had shown me in making a lovely quilt for Boo, the patience she has shown in waiting so long for a promised gift which never arrived, and she never complained and never asked, and really she ought to have the most lovely gift, and the more I thought about it the more I stitched, the more I embellished, until it was just so.

I even managed to catch some of the remaining afternoon sun in the garden, so that I could take a few photos of Miss Katy's gift. Once it was all done, I felt lighter and not quite as low, and pleased that Miss Katy will wait no more. I will post photos another time, as I would really like it to remain a surprise for it's intended recipient.

Thank you Katy, again, for the lovely quilt, and thank you also for unwittingly lifting me out of the fug today. It is true, I am getting better, slowly, surely, one stitch at a time.

A Brave Start

Somewhere between Christmas and New Year, I spent a whole evening, some seven hours or so and well into the early hours, getting rather tipsy with my sister Sophie. All the while, I cut and arranged what seemed to be a million and one pieces of my vintage scraps.
Sophie helped me arrange them into strips (this part was lots of fun actually and we were quite impressed with the overall impression when they were all lined up), and then I sewed until I could no longer keep my eyes open.



In hindsight, working whilst A/ quite pissed and B/ dog tired, was perhaps not the best move, my long strips are seriously wonky. I seem to be using that word a lot lately, le sigh.
Anyhow, yes the strips are for a quilt. Which I have rather bravely embarked upon prior to reading about how to actually make a quilt. After all this effort, and the resulting strips, I am now absolutely terrified of stitching them together length ways lest they end up even more wonky, and then there is sashing, batting, backing, quilting and binding and oh, I really have no clue how this is going to end up.

It seemed like a good idea at the time, I will let you know how I get on, though for the time being, the strips are slung over a chair whilst I muster some dutch courage to proceed.



Wish me luck.... you know I will bloody well need it!

Time for Tea

Miss Boo got a new tea set for crimbo and a farm, amongst many things. I have gone drawstring bag crazy and have been sewing up wee bags for her toys.
The first is for the tea set, the second is for the farm, but as yet not quite complete.

Both have embroidered reversed appliques, stitched to flowery felt shapes which were then stitched to the main body of the drawstring bags. The embroideries are my own design, and were drawn freehand straight on to the fabric. I am a dab hand at these now, they are so quick to make and I find myself thinking about all the bits and bobs floating about the house that also need a wee bag. Now I just need to buy a ton of hooks to hang these little babies from!

I love the colour combos on these.... ah, sweet colour.

Christmas making

Phew, 2011, didn't that come round fast?
I did manage to get a few handmade goodies on to santas sleigh in time for Yule delivery, it was quite busy and lots of fun.

My lovely sister Sophie visited us from Spain and spent a whole week pottering about with us, making, playing, cooking, talking, walking, visiting friends and rather a lot of eating and drinking, we had a lovely time!
When Sophie saw my doodle monarchs, she was most enchanted and asked if I might make on for her, and make one I did.





Young Princess Sophie of Marbella, AKA my little sister, and she is a Princess, oh yes.

Just a few days before Christmas, if I am honest, I was having a bit of a crap time with PND until Christmas cheer arrived, wrapped up in a box from Kentucky, USA. It was jam packed with so much, SO much loveliness. Prettyfull fabrics and pillow panels for moi, wee boxes of vintage buttons, a Book about a Miss Tallulah who makes Blueberry Pancakes, oh yes. For each of my 4 sproglets there was a gift, dolls for the girls and the most darling vintage snowsuit for the Bear, everything was wrapped beautifully and dripping with satin ribbon. Oh and there was more, a whole raft of Kentucky souvenirs, including chocolates, sauce, wine glasses, oh, just SO much. Needless to say, I was quite overwhelmed, and so deeply touched by the incredible kindess of my dear friend Sena. It was such a delightful and unexpected treat, and touched me so. Thank you Miss Sena, you rock so hard <3 I will snap some photos of the prettyfull gifts from Sena, first I think the pancake recipe is going to be knocked up tossed in action oh so soon, with blueberries, of course.
In the meantime, I have already started using some of the fabrics and pillow panels, a few went into christmas gifts for the little ones.



This cushion was for Hazel, the blue and red fabrics are from Sena's stash. This is my first real attempt at something patchwork, it is a bit wonky donkey, will mark where the seams need to be stitched next time, so they align properley. Hazel was super pleased with it. I made her a wee bag for her dolly clothes with the left over scraps.





Sena also sent me a super cute vintage christmas pillow panel, which included these charming little snowmen. I sewed up one for each of the children and added a ribbon hanger, they have each had them dangling from their bedroom door.



Ambers cushion was finished on time and turned out square-ish!



Amber also got the book bag she asked for, I chose the owl fabric from Tina Givens because Amber has a thing about owls, the polka dot was kicking around in my bag. The appliqued spots that cover the strap stitching were quite necessary to cover up the masacre of thread beneath. I have discovered that I am abismal with the machine on little fiddly bits like this! Practice, practice...





Miss Boo got a rice bag number set, with a little + - and = to get her going with some easy maths, not surprisingly she currently just stacks them into piles (they do feel nice) and can more or less name each number, but not quite ready for the sums yet. I made a wee bag to tuck them into too.





And a dolly from the Sena stash (thank you again!) a vintage fabric doll panel, this is Mary and her little lamb is included and still needs to be sewn, the lamb is melt your heart gorgeous.



Hoozel got a stocking at about 9pm on Christmas eve..... bit um, last minute, but I more or less beat the deadline.



Phew! Busy, busy, busy. Oh and there is more, I will be back.

Best Wishes for 2011!