Not updated for ages!

I seem to have been very busy textile wise, but not so much to show for it!

Visited Harrogate Knit and Stitch yesterday and have lots of inspirational ideas floating around in my brain - so I will see which one floats to the surface for my next embroidery! Been to three other shows recently, Duxford Quilt Show - where I spent loads of money, but stocked up on lots of things I was running out of - like wadding and 30m of bondaweb!!!! Also visited the NEC in Birmingham, for the Stitching, Sewing and Hobbycraft exhibition and Crafting Live at Peterborough!

I made a bag, blanket stitched strips of Kaffe Fasset fabric on black canvas with fabric my daughter gave me to play with, already cut into very thin, but uneven strips.

I finished the stumpwork with felted acorn shapes, over embroidered, with threads and added to real acorn cups to fill in the gaps under the snail. Plus added an embroidered mossy stone.

I think it came out well, I have decided I like doing stumpwork - will try and do more!!

 Finished my needle painted hedgehog, on 5" hoop, he came out well and had a cute face.

 The flowers were needle woven and a request for a Travelling Book.

 Hand and machine doodle for another travelling book.

 Knocked up a Hunters Star quilt, the centre using pieces cut on a Accuquilt Go machine at a quilting demo but about to be thrown away - managed to find the same fabric for the sashing and binding.

 More needle weaving.

I mounted and framed a piece I did at a workshop, using a heat puffed plastic type stuff on lutrador that was burnt through with holes, dyed behind with a fabric dye, mounted on darker green cotton and embroidered with feather stitch and hundreds of French knots! It is supposed to look like an old garden gate overgrown with climbers.

Currently working on 3 quilts and a piece of Redwork - so still busy with my needle.

Sold an embroidery!

I have been very busy lately, knocked u a couple of quilts and competed a very complected Stumpwork. I even sold a small hooped embroidery of a blossom tree, hundreds of little french knots!

 This was a right old mix for the Travelling books

Finished Quilt

Something to do while stewarding Embroiderers Guild, Capability Brown Exhibition

Linus Quilt

Table runner - a gift done in a morning!

Yet more french knots - done in silk on silk, Birthday card

Gift for a friends birthday

Work in progress - now has 2 acorns as well and is mounted in a box frame.

Feeling autumnal - done in an evening

Embroidery fun and dyeing day

I have been having fun with lots of different embroidery lately, made lots of little sample brooches, each with a bit of stitching, either mini hardanger, bullion knot roses and flowers, gathered ric-rac flowers etc. to work up ideas for mini workshops. Also did a lily type flower on a 5 inch hoop and several pieces for Embroiderers Guild travelling books. My most difficult item in the last month was just a little sampler from the book Crewel Intentions, the patterned needle weaving was very taxing!!!!

Currently have several things on the go, still doing a needle painted hedgehog, a stumpwork mushroom and oak leaf picture.

I did a load of natural dyeing with friends at the beginning of the week, lots of lovely coloured fabric and space dyed threads to use over the next few years!!!!

More recent work

I have been fiddling with a few other bits for travelling books and gifts.

I had fun working out how to securely mount hoops for exhibition. Found malleable mirror plates that could bend in the hoop, then screwed to a board, fixed to the wall with normal mirror plates - a bit messy but as I normally display these embroideries in the hoops I could not think of any other way.

July and have been busy

Not put anything on here for a while, been busy with Embroiderers Guild Capability Brown - Stately Gardens Exhibition at a local National Trust House. I have been trying to organise the steward rota - my laptop has never seen so many emails!!!

The 4 embroideries I'm sending were all done fairly recently but needed mounting. Otherwise I have been working on a few small bits plus tons of work on a soft Stitch Book as an aid to help show stitches to EG members.

Already May

Just seen photo on Facebook, taken at the Crafting Live show in Belfast. It is nice to see that Tattered Lace are still using the quilts I did really quickly, for them when they launched the Crossover die cutting machine and the deep dish dies, on Create and Craft TV show!!!

Stumpwork

I have been having fun with a bit of blossom, not from a photo, but I think I got some of the colours right. I remember the streets where I grew up, were planted with Almond Trees and as the blossom fell we walked ankle deep in flowers.

I spent ages thinking about how to do the stamens and ended, up making them by dipping perle cotton, no 8, in dilute fabric glue several times, then when dry, mixing orange fabric dye to glue and again dipping to get pollen.

I have also started a new quilt for across the end of our super king size bed, it is an oatmeal colour with a linen weave look base I got in the USA (although it is from Japan!) I've bondawebbed hand cut leaves, now half way through blanket stitching them, then I will back and bind it with the lighter blue/grey batik, the colours perfectly match our bedroom curtains, hopefully it will take away the stark white of so much white duvet cover!