It looks just like a baby chick doesn't it? It's not though. It's going to be part of a little embroidered piece I'm working on.
We are all about the colour at the moment...colour for fences...& excitingly colour in the garden too. I'm going out to the nursery with Trace to check out plants this morning.
Mucho excitement.
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Taking a few slow & small stitches. I've been procrastinating with this one for far too many months!
It's light & airy & delicate and it seems lately I've been more about the speed so this has been "back-burnered" more than once.
Time to get on with it.
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I wasn't quite ready to pack away the remaining pony fabric.
Words scrawled by me & then embroidered using two strands of floss. Stem & chain stitches...play to your strengths I say.
I've never upholstered anything in my life so it's absolutely the have a crack make it up as you go along type of thing & really more for decoration than feet which is a bit daft...
Made for someone very special who occasionally needs a little reminder. xx
Mucho excitement. We will be the most organised house in Melbourne next year...ahem.
The piece I stitched (which now resides with Rita in mini-quilt form) is on the cover of the Notebook diary for 2011.
The floral spray was taken from a vintage pillow case & then stitched by me (under the influence of Ike Rosen).
I will be gifting these for Christmas...mothers, sisters, aunties...look out.
PS: A big giant thank you to all the lovely folk who left me gorgeous comments on the calendar post. I had such a great time making it & utterly thrilled that so many of you enjoyed it too. x
This is the finished mini for The Downunder Doll Quilt Swap organised by Kate.
The centre panel is embroidered using stem, chain stitch & a fair few frenchies too. You don't see much stumpwork about on blogs so I thought I'd break a bit of that out too.
The outside 3D border/quilty bit is based on the scrappy number I picked up at the antique shop.
I really hope my partner likes it.
Have a fabulous weekend everyone.
Wonking it up. I'm usually not good at wonk with hand work. My stitches usually end up even despite my best wonky efforts.
I've found the key to the wonk & thought you might enjoy being let in on the secret.
Hold your work at arm's length.
Lovely, lovely space (I've fallen quite in love - can you tell) right here.
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I like to stitch.
I like things to be useful.
Maybe you'd like to stitch with me? We'll work on a few basic stitches & then make an "x" bookmark to take home.
Maybe there's something else I've stitched that you like the look of? I can help you with that too.
Maybe you'd just like to come & have a natter & French Knot for three hours? Fine, great, love to see you. Just so you know you'll still get a little kit & supplies so plenty of bang for your buck.
It's all organised by Notebook & the classes are held at Amitie in Bentleigh.
Date: Saturday 28 August 9:00-12:00
I plan to focus on the bookmark at this class, but will of course be flexible.
You can book your tickets here.
There are other fabulous classes on offer. I'm seriously considering signing up for Andi's quilt as you go but there's something for everyone. View the August timetable here (we are on page 2).
I had a bit of fun mucking around with some thermal curtain lining & the embroidery floss over the weekend.
I've posted the details over on Feeling Stitchy with a link to the pdf template if you'd like to make your own.
Beris is the best name ever!
I picked up a gorgeous embroidered table cloth at Camberwell Antiques last week.
It's got a lovely collection of names embroidered all around it...
Mildred, Gloria, Wendy, Beris, Phyllis, Helen, Pauline, Noelle, Joni, Paddy, Vonnie, Trish, Isabelle, Paul, Beverley, Anita, Besse, Mara, Jean, Norma, Fay, Grace, Lesley, Jenny, Kath, Elvie, Glenda & the four Margs (S, T, B & N).
It's just the most beautiful piece of work. I wonder if these folk were card players (the cloth is card table size) or maybe a church group?
& did you see my other fabulous vintage find?
(faux).
If you're a die hard kootoyoo reader (thank you from the bottom of my teeny tiny heart) you might remember I went to a Kaotic Kraft Kuties day to make my own hand bound book. Then for Backtack 4 I embroidered a notebook cover & bound it myself using the same technique. I loved that book but it did make me a little sad to think that once all the pages were used then that was the end of it.
I know I've been guilty of buying lovely hand bound books and then not using them because I don't want to "spoil" them...such a waste. Maybe you have too?
Anyhoo, I've made a faux one as a gift for The Big Girl's drama teacher & I'm most chuffed with it. I followed my own notebook cover tutorial to make it up & I love that not only is it refillable time after time after time but it can be washed too.
PS: Most excited that Vic now has the granny square necklace for sale (& it's in Frankie this month too).
I staged a little hook intervention this week & I'm back on the stitching. I've been working on a little flocked embroidery project which I plan to finish off today.
I'm making plans for the upcoming school holidays & thinking a lot about basic shapes too.
Hope you're planning a fabulously creative day.
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for anyone...anytime.
It doesn't rely on tension, hook size, type of yarn blah de blah.
You just need to worry about making sure the rectangle of fabric measures...
circumference x head height = super cute 'x' stitch beanie
I was lucky enough to have recipients easily lassoed by the measuring tape but if you're making for a gift you might like to refer to this excellent size chart found via google this afternoon. Thanks Bev.
How to make a crochet & cross stitch beanieView more presentations from kootoyoo.
I knew the heart wasn't going to fly so The Big Girl & I went for something très sophistiqué. The kid hasn't taken the beanie off since it was gifted. Both The Little Guy & The Date think it's fabulous (& those fellas are a tough craft audience).
There's a pdf here if that helps you out.
It goes without saying that you don't have to be able to crochet to make this beanie. You could follow the same formula & use some lovely wool jersey & the machine. That'd make it super quick.
A question for those who stitch.
Do you back your work before you stitch? always/sometimes/never?
This is my favourite interfacing for the job.
As I haven't made clothes for about a hundred years I don't know what weight it is or what you would normally use it for but it is absolutely perfect.
I don't always back. For me it depends on the chosen (or allocated) fabric, the type of stitches used & the density of the stitching.
for their stage.
Embroidered stumpwork leaves filled with chain stitch. So much for the sampler...I'm loyal to my favourites that's for sure.
The little guy had a gym competition yesterday, so plenty of time for stitching for me.
When you're away from the shoulds of home it's really much easier to enjoy the coulds. Don't you think?
The red dust was flocking.
I'd had the embroidery finished for a couple of weeks but I just couldn't figure out how to treat the clock hands. I knew I didn't want to leave the black plastic naked but I was worried my other ideas about fabric & stitching would make the whole thing look tacky. When you've spent a couple of hours on hand embroidery you don't want to wreck it with a couple of minutes of glue (yes, speaking from experience).
I've got Changing Rooms (UK) to thank for the flocking thing. I'd seen an episode about three years ago where they flocked all sorts of hard surfaces (including the bannister if I remember).
Anyway, I'm chuffed with the way it's come up. The clock face is an old record, the mechanism & hands from an Opped clock, the fabric is an old sheet & the floss was in the stash.
Half full print by Lisa...Robot by Jodie...Clock by me.
It was hanging in the little guy's room when he went up to bed last night. He was very generous with his admiration & congratulations (he's nice like that). After I'd kissed him good night he called me back & said "Uh oh, I don't think I'm going to be able to sleep with that Tick Tocking in my ear"....
I've mentioned before that I never use a hoop. Even though I'm really careful & I stretch & ease as I stitch my finished pieces are often a bit puckered. They never look it do they? I'll show you why! This might be the totally wrong thing to do but it works for me. If you're a traditionalist & you're tsking at me now...I'm sorry & don't read on.
First of all you should know that I HATE ironing. I do not iron a single item of clothing. The iron is reserved strictly for crafty activity. When it comes to embroidery however, the iron is my very best friend.
Secondly, I always transfer my designs (or freehand draw them) with a wash out marker. I'm not snobby or loyal about the brand. Whatever is on offer is fine for me. That means that every piece of stitching I do needs a little bath before I press it.
Now prepare your ironing surface. You need a nice squishy towel. This will help absorb the moisture as well as protect your stitches.
Next pull your embroidered piece out of it's bath & give it a gentle squeeze to remove excess moisture. Place it FACE DOWN on the towel.
Now begin ironing the piece. Yes, while it's still wet. You are going to iron it dry. Use a dry setting on your iron & go slowly. Just waving the iron gently over the back of the work. Keep watching (& smelling) your work. Do NOT burn it. Once all the fabric is dry you might notice the stitches & fabric around the stitches is still a bit moist. That's OK, just leave it to dry lying flat.
This piece was fairly simple & really didn't show any signs of puckering but was certainly covered in wash out marker. If you're working on a larger piece I would suggest ironing from the centre of the work out. Smooth & stretch your embroidered piece as you go.
Just a bit of fun. I really like the way this has come up & I think I'll make a little series for the craft room wall.
Next time I'll experiment with fabric & shading though.
Sorry for being a tease. Quite a few people had guessed they were slippers anyway so I don't feel too awful.
I really didn't mean it, they just took so long to make up. Stitched entirely by hand over the Easter break & finished off in haste this afternoon so I could snap a couple of pics in the fading light.
I think that I probably could have achieved a very similar effect by sewing them up on the machine (in around 15 minutes)!
I do feel enormously proud of them though & maybe I wouldn't have if I whipped them up on the Janome?
The embroidered embellishment came about because after I'd stitched the first slipper I noticed the blanket was almost worn through on the soul. I did a bit of decorative darning to buy a bit of time & liked the way it looked so much that I've added it to the top of the slippers as well.
So there you have it... Urchin Mary Jane slippers fashioned from an old blanket.
Did you guess?
You might remember last year I made the perfect bag for a friend. Well, this is my perfect bag but it's also for a friend. I plan to make myself one over the weekend! I based the bag on one I already owned...a very nasty op shopped piece of rubbish but with great bones.
I love the way the embroidery finished up & I've added the bright red zip to keep things interesting.
Everything came together really well except the flaming zip! That thing drove me nuts. I've got a "can do" attitude & I'm pretty confident with zips but really sewing a zip into a curve (& then trying to top stitch) proved impossible.
I ended up unpicking the top stitching. You know that rule about cooking something new for a dinner party? Well it's the same for gifts for friends, I've discovered. I'm pretty sure that she won't mind though.
Just a peek of the vintage sheet lining.
worn across the body, single strap, slouchy, soft
tick, tick, tick, tick
(with the added bonus of being machine washable)
I hope she likes it too.
Things are progressing quite well with the circling & I'm hoping to finish off the stitching today & get on with the making up.
If you're vaguely interested in this project you can see...
-idea
-nicked colour scheme
-"design" process
Visit my favourite space from last week right here.
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