Finished!

I posted some photos of Fiona's quilt last year when it was a WIP.  I actually got it finished a while ago now but didn't get round to photographing it until today so here it is together with the cat that spends a lot of time on it.  Today she is surveying the world from the shed roof but I digress!   The quilt is  two sided which made me think long and hard about how to quilt it particularly as many of my quilting friends thought I should make two separate quilts (but I couldn't face that as I desperately wanted it finished).  In the end I used a varigated thread to machine quilt freestyle leaves on one side but used an invisible thread in the bobbin so the quilting pattern did not interfere with the crazy log cabin on the reverse.  I prefer the reverse (log cabin) but Fiona still likes the animals so we are both happy!  I found the strippy border in a brilliant book called "Sensational Sets & Borders" Rodale's Successful Quilting Library which has lots of excellent ideas for borders.

Stitching Weekend

I've managed to spend most of this weekend doing what I enjoy best - designing and stitching!  Here is the result - no problems with finding a title for this one.  It could have been "How much further?" or "Are we there yet?" but I finally settled on "Wait for me, Mum?"  All familiar refrains to most mum's I'm sure!  I have used  free machine embroidery for mum's shell, facial details and for the ground and needle lace for mum's legs and the babies shell.  Hope they make you smile!

Just spent the last couple of hours lacing my most recent pieces.  Well, actually lacing two - I got so fed up that I used double sided tape for the last one which is an example for a workshop rather than a 'proper' piece.  It is such a boring job but they always look better for stretching properly.  Here is a photo of the latest offering.  I have used ribbonwork to embellish a photograph that I have transfered to fabric.  For this one, I scanned an old copyright free postcard and enlarged it before printing it onto photo transfer paper.  It was then ironed to transfer the image to calico.  It did stiffen the fabric and transfered a bit patchily but I quite like the aged effect for this piece.  Generally though I prefer to treat my own fabrics with Bubble Jet Set which I find does not alter the handle of the fabric.  This was an experiment but I think I might now dig out some old family photos for this treatment.  Can't think of a title though - any ideas anyone?

Spring at Last?

Today has been beautiful here so perhaps spring has come at last.  I saw 8 swallows yesterday so maybe summer will not be too far behind.  Thinking of summer, I have just finished this ribbon embroidery inspired by summer fields so thought I would add it here.  It is worked mainly in silk ribbons on painted calico and now just needs mounting.  I think an oval mount will set it off nicely.

Regular visitors may notice that I have added a page to this blog.  Please take a look

Chinese Embroidery

I've spent today at the Oriental Museum here in Durham amongst some wonderful stitching.  A small group of us from the Durham Branch of the Embroiderers' Guild volunteer at the museum each month and are privilged to see and help to conserve some amazing needlework. This butterfly is from a silk jacket and you can see more pics like this in my picassa album here http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/patashtonsmith/ChineseEmbroidery#

The jacket is currently on display at the museum along with many other treasures.  http://www.dur.ac.uk/oriental.museum/  The museum celebrates its jubilee on May 28th with a special exhibition which will include a fabulous Dragon Robe (right) there are some more photos of this at the link above but it needs to be seen up close to really appreciate the incredible stitching.  Some of the Pekin Knot work is so fine you need a magnifying glass to see the individual knots!  If you are in this part of the world do pay the exhibition a visit just to see this.

A Belated Happy New Year

I can't believe it is February already and how long it is since I have last posted - where do the days go. Four weeks of snow didn't help. When it first came it was too tempting to take Oscar for long walks as everything was so beautiful and as all was frozen he couldn't get muddy but then it froze and driving and walking was such hard work. I did get some stitching done though and finished Fiona's quilt and a textile figure inspired by the weather. I have called her Frost and really enjoyed stitching her. I used tyvek layered with chiffon and machine stitched and beaded the fabric before using the heat gun and iron to shrink the tyvek and I used angelina fibres to make the sleeves. I hand stitched while watching old musicals like South Pacific and the King and I which I haven't watched for years. I also stitched an A4 size mini quilt which I haven't photographhed yet so will write about later. Actually writing this makes me realise that perhaps I haven't been quite as idle as I thought although I have spent too much time playing Wii games with the girls. Now I have lots of work to do to prepare for workshops in the coming months and need to get motivated again. I have so many ideas and things I want to make - just need to get stuck in.

Holiday Stitching

The long awaited holiday has finally arrived and I set off tomorrow so this will be the last post for a while. I have finally decided on what stitching to take with me after much dithering. I didn't want to take something complex and then find that I didn't have what I needed to work it and as I have been accused of packing my whole wardrobe I didn't think I could add my workroom as well! So to keep it to a minimum I have packed a Montmellick design (which I finished drawing out last night) as that only needs 3 weights of white thread and a blackwork chart by Calico Crossroads - 'Purrfect Pitch' - which as you can probably guess features cats, as again it doesn't need much in the way of supplies and I think will be relaxing to stitch. The pic shows what it should look like when it is done. I have already stitched two of these designs and thought it would be nice to do some more and then frame them all alike and display them together. There are lots and lots to choose from so I might have a problem making my mind up. If you are interested you can see them all at www.calicocrossroads.com.