Free machined seed heads

26th June 2021

It has been a while since I was here!

I have been spending time with my grandchildren which is always lots of fun.

I made this background in December, a winter background....

....I drew seed heads on a piece of 'stitch and tear'...

.....attached the right side to the back of the fabric....

....stitched and tore the paper away, this is the back.....

.....the front....

....more stitching for definition.

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I have really enjoyed walking in the parks with wonderful wild flower meadows...

...a field of buttercups...

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A card for my granddaughter made using hand dyed scraps of fabric.

 

3 hand dyed cushion covers

3rd May 2021

A friend asked me to make some cushion covers for a gift, one turmeric and 2 indigo.

This is the old french linen ready to be dyed in turmeric, unfortunately the elastic bands perished in the hot water!! There was hardly any pattern on the back pieces of the cushion!

Approval sought before making up the cushion...

....finished,

Linen prepare for dyeing, The centre piece is lots of small running stitches, 2 hours stitching...

....the result, the fabric came out very pale maybe because the indigo kit had been opened for a while!

All that stitching gives a lovely rippled effect and well worth the preparation....

....back, a simple envelope design.

Fabric prepare, cotton lace, pebbles wrapped then twisted and bound fabric for the back...

....cotton lace used for a button flap on this one.

 

Daffodils

 9th April 2021

This has been inspired by a textile artist I have followed for a long time, Emma Wigginton, who has been providing free workshops on U-Tube during lockdown.

Strips of a variety of fabrics in shades of green, mostly hand dyed layered on a cotton wadding backing....

....embellished then free machined...

...stems and leaves machined in place...

...then daffodils, I intended taking more photos of the stages but got carried away and forgot!!

I really like the textures and have used some of my turmeric dyed silk for the centres. I didn't stitch all the petals as I wanted the texture.

Thank you Emma for the ideas, will definitely use this idea for backgrounds, think I might make tulips next, watch this space!

Bookmarks and slow stitching

 28th March 2021

Just a quick up-date....

....the centre bookmark is for my gorgeous granddaughter who is now enjoying chapter books being read to her, we have started with 'The Twits' which she is really enjoying. This was an off-cut from a postcard I made and as she loves the seaside decided to make her a bookmark with her name embroidered on the back.

The other two are made from an experiment using my hand dyed fabrics and wavy line weaving, thought they would make fundraising gifts later in the year.

This is a slow stitched piece which has taken a while to do! Thought I might mount it on a canvas frame when shops open again.

The background is some of my indigo dyed calico and used the circular pattern and extended with stitch circles.

Close ups, some of my favourite simple stitches....

....used washers to fill small spaces.

I am now slow stitching some wool I eco dyed with eucalyptus leaves but need more variety of colours in my embroidery threads so again am waiting for the shops to open! I have tried ordering on line but the colours are never what I was expecting. 

I miss the craft shows for hand dyed threads.

Mixed Media Experiment

 21st March 2021

Hello, it's been quite a while!! Unfortunately haven't felt very creative and have found this lockdown quite difficult but the end is in sight.....

I have had this book for quite a while and decided to do some experimenting.....

....strips of a variety of fabrics were layered on calico and backed with 'stitch and tear' for stability....

...these were machined down and more details added, threads and lace...

...the background was painted, I used acrylic but wished I had used my Ko in Or dyes as the acrylic made the hand stitching quite difficult....

.....layered some yellow silk and free machined to represent buttercups then addd daisies, mostly using free machining....

.....I think the hand stitching improved the texture. 

Fairly pleased with the result and liked the background.

I have also made a variety of birthday cards but forgot to photograph!!!

See you again before too long I hope.

Tags and experimenting with my embellisher.

 30th January 2021

More tags, one per week, theme was heart.

I wove through hessian for the background and used some of my ice dyed fabric for the heart.

Tag 3 was scraps...

...Tag 4 was fly stitch...

...Tag 5 cross, used cross stitch to attach.

I have kept the tags fairly simple as my tags are quite small, I have a box bought a few years ago that I need to use!!!

  

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I used felt as my base and embellished man made fabric from my stash, the lower part of the photo shows the fabric before embellishing....

....next embellished organza over the top...

...then more man made embellished...

....the result, think I will enhance details using free machine embroidery.

I had some handmade felt which again I embellished with a polyester scarf and added hand dyed scrim for the flowers, only embellishing the centre for added texture, wool for the stem and leaves ready for machine embroidery.

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Another small project using hand dyed fabrics, a work in progress, I am fast running out of embroidery threads!!! 

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Last but not least my fantastic amaryllis bought a week before Christmas, amazing because it has 3 stems, these beautiful flowers and another bud not yet opened! I cannot believe all this has come from I bulb, it really has cheered me up this week.

Hope you are all keeping well, I am still finding this lockdown difficult and missing my little people and family. One day soon fingers crossed x