Smalls SAL - October

Hello Everyone,

Time again for the Smalls SAL, a linky party hosted by Heather at the Stitching Lotus where we show any small project worked on whether finished or not and link with others on the last Friday of each month.  Click on my sidebar button if you would like more information about this group.

This design by Abi Gurden from the Stitch Specialists was a free pattern for the Yahoo group years ago and after being carefully stitched and only lacking the embroidered surround, was incomprehensibly abandoned to the Dreaded Drawer, a drawer where unfinished projects await their completion or more likely never again see the light of day.

The pattern is called The Victorian Knotwork Garden and as always I love these designs where there are different embroidery stitches, in this case Square Rhodes, Eyelets and Rice stitch, all worked on 28ct. antique white evenweave fabric.  I chose DMC colours: 3777 - 734 - 732 - 301 - 3852 and 3820.

Now I want to combine this design with some autumn coloured hexagons and enthusiastically found suitable fabric in my stash and have made quite a lot of 1.5 inch examples although as yet I am still not sure as to exactly what I am going to make with them.

Probably cover a box or such, so I hope there will be some more progress to see in my next post.

I also had a nice surprise yesterday  on receiving these two pretty embroidery threads from the magazine Labores.  A craft magazine which I always buy or read at the library and which has a section that publishes readers work copied from the magazine  and with the promise of a gift if published. 

 I especially like the E211 from the Light Effects range of pearly pastel shades which I´ve never seen in the shops here although our LNS now stocks the DMC sparkly range of Etoile thread.

Now I´m going to visit the linky party. Hope you all have a lovely weekend, here we have a forecast of  storms and rain - ideal for stitching.

Sheryl

Biscobourse

Good morning blogger friends,

With DH away last weekend visiting relatives and me left to my own devices, I had plenty of time to plan some Christmas stitching and get some embroidery photographed.

The lilac fabric is a 32ct. belfast linen from Zweigart and the variegated mauve thread DMC Nº 99 of which I had to cut out some lengths when the colour faded to a pale tone and was hardly visible against the fabric.

I took different photos of the stages of sewing this biscobourse but when editing them I noticed that they all had smudges, well that is, there was a blob on my camera lens  -  didn´t I see this when taking the photos? .. well err.. no, I didn´t ... so couldn´t repeat the photos as the sewing had been completed.  The photo below is one of the awful smudgy ones but you can get the idea of how the biscobourse is sewn.

The three embroidered parts are backed with interfacing and joined as you see in the photo with a lining fabric underneath.

Note to myself.... check for blobs before taking photos.

The pattern for this biscobourse is from Les Chroniques de Frimousse and now completed with a ribbon fastening and a smattering of silver beads, it will hopefully be handy as a small Christmas gift filled with something or other....sweets for example?

Until next week.

Sheryl

Pouches

Hello friends and visitors,

I´ve missed the check-in for the Smalls SAL this month as I couldn´t get my embroidery photographed in time and have been busy making what seems like 101 sleep masks for my daughter. However I can show a couple of purses I made to hold sunglasses.

My handbag always seems to weigh such a lot, full of goodness knows what I suppose and the sturdy hard case which came with the sunglasses doesn´t help the weight problem.

I needed light softly padded pouches and used fabric scraps from stash.

A printed fabric for the backs and mixed colours on the front.  I added a piece of batting and blue cotton for the lining.

I was going to use a metal purse clasp as one of the fastenings but in the end I decided to use the yellow zip which was long enough for both pouches.  Now I just have to remember to use these pouches and not wear my sunglasses on my head like a hairband.

Some of the sleep masks I´m in the middle of making.

Thank you for popping by and looking.  Until next week.

Sheryl

Flower power

Hi Everyone,

I have had a really busy week stitching and enjoying the last of our wonderful summer days.  While I was lazing about outside one afternoon, I glanced at our mesh food cover and thought it to be the perfect base for a loom flower makeover.

The difficulty was in finding a flower loom as I had thought that our needlework shops would stock them, well no such luck.  I eventually found one at a local Chinese bazaar.

The packet contained several different plastic shapes and size looms, brief basic instructions on how to make flowers and a large eyed needle to assist with the future wonders one is about to create.

I chose to use scraps of wool from my stash but you could use yarn, ribbon or raffia or combine

them. 

There are lots of great tutorials on the internet but I didn´t make any fancy blooms, just stuck to the easy straight forward ones thinking to add embellishment with some bright pretty buttons from my collection which contrarily and unhelpfully only produced a couple of sad examples.

I had fun using this new toy and love my new food cover. I can see the little loom is going to be very handy for future projects.

Until next week.

Sheryl

Tote Bag

Hi everyone,

As I was glancing through a magazine last week I came upon a pretty tote bag which I thought I might make as I had very similar fabric in my stash and I liked it just as it was.  You can be sure that if I changed the colour or fabric then I probaby wouldn´t like the end result.

The picture from the magazine

I started out sewing the pocket, adding lace, ribbon trim, buttons and a small applique heart to the beige linen fabric.  The magazine didn´t mention lining the pocket but I did, with the same linen.

I also made the bag a shade smaller and lined it with a flowery fabric which in the end I had to buy because what I had chosen from my stash wasn´t large enough even with my change to the measurements.

A couple of ornaments to add some interest and inevitably get caught up on everything.

I like the end result and reckon I shall be making more of these.

By the way, if anyone remembers The Perfectly Pleasing Pincushion Parade linky party and would like Ida to continue this year, please let her know at mysismademe. blogspot.

Until next week.

Sheryl

Summer Days

Hello Blogger friends,

I hope you are all enjoying this wonderful summer and managing to get some stitching done while lazing about in the garden, that of course if you are in the northern hemisphere.

Last month I took a bag packed with good intentions to my mother in law´s house, including fabric, all my floss colours and several needlework magazines for inspiration.  I´m working my way through stacks of needlework magazines from 2009 which I discovered at a nearby public library.

I had decided to cover a sad dark wrought iron clock surround with something interesting and thought the design `Wild Flowers´ by Kazuko Aoki might be perfect.

Well perhaps not so perfect because I was going to have to juggle about with the pattern to make it fit on the clock face and buying a higher count fabric and so make the design smaller, wasn´t an option when spending a couple of weeks in a tiny mountain village.

Whilst enjoying the company of my three grandchildren I endeavoured to do some stitching in the evenings squinting and peering under the beam of pretty tiffany table lamps !  I made loads of mistakes and one day my daughter commented that she thought the design too light and airy for the dark heavy frame -  now she has a point.

So now I am in doubt as to whether leave the clock as it is or maybe paint the surround in a lighter colour.  I´m tempted to redo the design  making it smaller so it fits properly.

Sorry if I haven´t been visiting and commenting recently due to having been away but I hope to see what everyone has been doing and catch up on comments sometime this week.

Until then.

Sheryl