some more rain magic...

we had a wonderful rain storm yesterday and it's still raining here today...a nice steady rain. my little  garden is oh so happy. look at the difference the rain has made in just 5 days.
CLICK ON THE IMAGES FOR CLOSE-UPS...

this is what it looked like on Monday

 

and here it is today, Saturday...and it's still raining

i have enough projects going so that i don't ever get bored. still working on lace making with fabric as learned in Karen Ruane's class.

hand dyed cloth, knitted scrap, sheer fabric all joined and embellished with embroidery

close up of french knots and bullion knots and open blanket stitch above

Karen's Simply Stitch class starts on June 17th. check it out here.

a bobbin lace friend showed a quilt she made using the 'disappearing nine patch pattern' and i had to try it.

click the link above to see how this started out as a nine patch

 decided to use this pattern in the making of a quilt. i have had these redwork hat blocks for many years and have collected some fabric to use for the quilt and it seems this is the right time.

there are 2 each of 6 different hat stitchings

these are the fabrics i'll be using

it will take a while but i'll be making the blocks little by little. you already know that i like working on many different projects at once.

hope you are all enjoying your weekend and i know some of you are celebrating Memorial Day weekend with family and friends (here in the US), so enjoy.

a new embroidered pouch

and this one is for me. i showed you sections of it in my last post. it's what i've been working on in Karen Ruane's lace class. i finished it today and i'm real pleased with the way it turned out. i filled it with small pieces of white cotton that i always pull out for embroidery and sampling. click on the images for close-ups.

the front is complete

joined to the back with a double ruffle at the bottom

the inside is lined with white cotton lawn and trimmed with lace

the back is a weaving i did in one of Jude Hill's early classes

filled with white cloth and added ties as a closure

Karen Ruane has listed a new class, Simply Stitch, that starts on June 17th. check it out here.


i also did some dyeing this week. a quilting friend had given me 2 pieces of a beautiful silk damask that were part of a blouse. it was a cream color and it dyed beautifully just using oak leaves and  tin cans.

the leaf under the string made the best marking

i'm pleased with the markings on the cloth. this one might get some lace work on it.

i've been spending some time in the garden this week. things are growing quickly since we had some rain this week. the rain water is very magical. i opened my front door the other day and standing right there, not 12" from me was this baby blue jay. he did not move...just stood there while i took his picture and walked around and went back into the house. i opened the door a bit later to check on him but he was gone. will need to sketch this one.

it was 95 degrees today. hope it's cooler where you are. have a great weekend.

lots of experimenting...

i'm enjoying using the basket i showed you last time to hold bits and pieces of experiments and things i'm working on.

 Karen Ruane's lace class started this week so that is what most of the experimenting and stitching is about right now.  you can see what others in the class are working on over here.

lots more embroidery to be done on this lace piece

a ruffle with a hint of pink

a cross stitched heart hidden beneath

i'm always working on more than one thing at a time so i did spend a bit of evening time with crocheting the edge of an embroidered cloth...

and knitting some more on the felted bag.

on the second ball of yarn...2 more to go

i finally got out into the garden this week and planted mostly flowers but did plant some radishes and lemon cucumbers. never planted the lemon cucumbers before but that's all i could find in the garden center. it's a bit later than usual so i didn't want to do the seeds. another experiment. we had a thunder shower this morning and more promised for this afternoon. saves me from going out and watering the garden.

haven't been getting to as many of your blogs as i usually do and i'm sorry about that. there just aren't enough hours in the day. hope to catch up sometime soon. wishing you all a good weekend.

a vintage basket

my grandma taught me to embroider when i was very young. she always had this basket around with embroidery threads, needles and pins. at some point, she gifted it to me so i've had it for about 65 years. i'm not sure how long she had it and until a couple of days ago, i didn't realize that it was probably gifted to her filled with chocolates. on the back of the basket, it says 'Barricini' which is a very well known chocolate company in NY. it measure 9" x 5" x 3"... a perfect size to carry around small projects i'm working on. it's kind of scratchy on the inside so i decided to decorate it with some of the pieces i made in Karen Ruane's class.

 CLICK ON THE IMAGES FOR CLOSE UPS

grandma's basket measures 9"x5"x3"

Barricini label on back

decorated with lace and embroidered cloth. silk ties added to hold things in place.

pink velvet ribbon around the bottom edge trimmed with stitch

i took advantage of  the holes created from all the circles i cut out from the toile fabric for the funky puffs i showed you last week. you can see them here if you missed that post.

some cross-stitching within the toile that will be part of a new cloth started.

not much else to show right now. wishing you some wonderful days this week. we have had the past 2 days start out in the 40s which is unheard of in May in these parts. we'll be in the 90s in no time which is a bit too hot for my liking but that's the way it is.