A Short Video of some Motifs/Techniques Learned in the Free Courses!
I've got four projects going at the moment...at the same time...which is how my muse is most happiest working it seems. But, it sure does make a mess of my work table! What a lot of clutter! And this photo is only about a third of the table.
I've been working on cabochons obviously. Thearica at crazyquiltsupplies.com has them for sale; and they are going out the door faster than I can make them! That good...and bad! Ha!
Also working on an organizational item which will be a tutorial later on...when done. It is stitched on wool, and I'm liking it a lot so far. If you are wondering how I got the design transferred to a dark fabric...and wool...I didn't.
I traced it to the fusible interfacing on the back. Stitching on the front but using the back as a guide is a challenge!
Yesterday, I made more laundry soap. I had give away ALL of the earlier batch I made...and now, my sisters, Mom, nieces can all get into the fun of creating their own (very inexpensive) laundry detergent.
The batch I made for me...is stored in a re-cycle container of baby powder formula (these are starting to stack up...and are so neat that I hate to throw them away).
So, I decided to use them to organize things...and for detergent etc. But, how to keep them from getting confusing? I decided to use a general idea from my friend Jenny of Elefantz...and create a wrap for the container. Each purpose will have it's on "label".
I searched the internet for "laundry embroidery design" and got tons of photos of prior projects and ideas...and liked this little vintage duck. So, I added him to some basic words...and will create my wrap from this basic design.
When finished...sometime next week probably...I'll show you the final result.
Last week was wonderful...this week...not so much. I have a terrible head full of "well let's not say"...and it's slowly moving into broncils and lungs. I'm coughing, sneezing, and drowning. Hopefully, it won't be for many more days...the allergies are really stirred up!
Last week, I managed to do a little embroidery piece. This is the motif on page 142 of Embellishing Crazy Quilts if you have the book. I just combined all of the circles into a long curved blossum of french knots, the leaves are fly stitch, and the stem is well...stem stitch. There is a tutorial on making the leaves on the blog...just check the tutorial page.
I did manage to get a little stitching done this week on Erma's block for the HGTV Round Robin that I'm in...a tree in the center of the block. More to do on this, then I'll post another photo for you. The tree is also from the ECQ book partly...the limbs and trunk are on page 143.
School is out for the summer...and Aidan is here this week. She wanted to do some embroidery work since I was working on this quilt design by Jenny of Elefantz (above). So, I gave her the rose floral design I did last week. It is in draft...but would be cute done as a colored pencil item for a pillow on her bed. So we started by me ironing some freezer paper to a piece of linen fabric, then I taped the pattern to the back of the freezer paper. Aidan used the light table to trace the design on to the fabric. The freezer paper helped to keep the fabric flat so she could trace easily. Here is the design after she had traced it, and after she completed the color pencil work.
Next, she is stitching the outline of the leaves in green perle size 8. This will take a few days, then she'll do the flower petals next.
She knows that it will take her a while to get it done, but she's still stitching this morning...so I have high hopes that she'll get it done eventually! She is doing a back-stitch..like I'm using on Jenny's design above.
Labels are great to work with to define embroidery shapes...because
they are sticky on the back...and can be positioned then removed without
any harm to most all fabrics. I trace simple shapes on the label...then
cut that out...and place them on the fabric. For this poodle, I only need the circular shape of the top of the head, the tail, the breast, the rear, and at least two lower legs.
For
a poodle...first find a photo or drawing (or make one) that you can use
to give you a visual reference for your own version. Here is the poodle
I created as a line art design...but you can download all kinds of
images on the internet for use...coloring book pages are great
resources.
Next
I drew out some circles on my label, cut them out, and placed them on
the fabric where I wanted the poodle to be stitched. Then I began
stitching French knots around each of the circles. After this first row
is completed, the label circles can be removed.
Here
all of the circles are outlined with the French knots, and I've added
some simple straight stitches to connect these circles into a dog shape.
There needs to be feet, legs, tail, belly, and snout stitched.
Sometimes you don't need very many stitches...that depends on how man
knots you have in place.
Lastly,
add one black French Knot for the eye; a couple of tiny pink straight
stitches for the tip of the nose; and a pink bow made of detached chain
and straight stitches...or bit of ribbon. And your sassy little Miss
Poodle is all done! Using labels means no marking on the fabric...which
is really helpful if you are working on black fabric like this poodle
is.
Last month I signed up, along with 20+ other ladies, to stitch the pattern "Merry Merry Snowmen" as a group stitch-a-long over at the HGTV Message Board Group. Each person is doing their own quilt...but, we have deadlines to get each block completed.
This is block one...and was not too difficult to create. This quilt is not as easy breezy as Erin Russek's "Jingle" quilt is...that I blogged about last week. Mostly because this quilt has more pieces and pieces that are smaller than the ones commonly designed by Erin. Still, this is not a hard quilt...and the pattern includes pages and pages of instruction and full size templates...no re-sizing! Got to love that!
The pattern is available at Bunny Hill Designs. You can get the idea for the entire quilt. I'm using my own fabric stash...and did not order a kit. One lady in the group is pulling blues instead of reds...and so far, her quilt is very nice...very "winter" looking.
Some of the ladies are doing machine applique...but mine is all by hand. I don't enjoy stitching fusible, and hand applique just looks worlds better to me....so, it is worth my time. So, if you are looking to start a full-size project for Christmas...this is a good pattern to work up.
Here's an interesting little embroidery motif.
It is simple enough to trace and enlarge for filling work; or reduce for a simple little beaded motif.
X is for cross-stitch of course!
Ha!
Y is for YOU!
Hugs!
Z is for nap time! Zzzzzzzz
W is for winter...today is cold and windy!
Thankfully, no snow or ice.
Hope you are not getting bored with these yet...cause, here's another one!
There are two additional symbols in this chart...for different size pearl beads.
This is the easiest one yet to stitch...only Stab Stitch ribbon leaves...Wrapped Stitch ribbon roses. And some free-handed featherstitch (or you could do fly stitches) for accents...done in a thin metallic thread (I used #4 Krenik braid).
As usual, here is the reverse pattern marked for punching out the little red dots...to show the placement of the leaves and flowers.
Here is the layout for stitching.
All of the PCD designs use the instructions and placement guides shown on the first tutorial for these pin cushions. And the How-To construction directions are in part 2...of that first tutorial...so page back to that as well.
I can't seem to stop working on these pin cushions...and my muse is so happy about that!
Here is the second design for you to stitch up.
It has simple Fly-Stitch roses...with French Knot centers. Here, the French Knot and two fly-stitches just below that...are stitched in 7mm silk ribbon...in the same color (purple). End with a third fly stitch in green for the stem....done in 4mm silk ribbon.
Some ribbon Stab Stitch leaves with 7mm silk ribbon are used to fill in some of the space around the flowers.
A second flower is the embroidered Bullion Flower with French Knot centers. Create this with 8-wrap bullions, using 2 strands of floss. Stitch 4 bullions to create a cross type design...then fill in between these with two additional bullion in each of the four open spaces. The finished flower will have 12 bullions...and a little space left in the center for those French knots (1-3).
This design has dragonfly charms (show as [] in the design), and purple montees. The montees could be substituted by other beads if you don't have them on hand.
As with the first design...here is a reverse chart...with red dots added to mark the top/bottom of the leaves and the center of the flowers to help in placement.
For the pin cushion tutorial...print these so that the outside circle is about 4 inches. Of course, you can use larger ribbon and print the pattern larger...for pillow tops, framing, etc.
U is for Uck...it's raining again!
My work on Darlene's block "Je T'aime Paris" is complete. After writing in the little journal, it will be in the mail tomorrow toWilma in the Netherlands to finish up.
The lamp post is my most favorite part of this block...and I did not stitch that (wish I had!). Cathy K did...and it is so wonderful!
My contribution were some seams (sorry one is so blurry)...
a charm motif...
and a poodle embroidery motif.
I also did some general stuff like attaching a ribbon that Darlene has sent along, and a piece of accent trim below that piece.
There isn't a lot of space left for Wilma to work...but, I'm sure she'll come up with a beautiful finish for the block that will just be gorgeous! Her work always is!
