Stitching a Story

Karen's class, Stitching a Story, is coming to an end. It has been 12 wonderful weeks of embellishing a storybook of our choice. My choice was THE BEDSPREAD by Sylvia Fair. It is a story of two old sisters who decide to decorate their boring bedspread. I have made a short video where I flip through the pages of my embellished book. There are pages with collages, embroidery, paper work, fabric pajamas, stuffed figures, etc. Some of the pages are kind of blurry in the video but you can still get a good idea of what it looks like. You can see the video here. I did run my fingers over some of the areas embellished in the video to distinguish from what was already on the page.

Here are some stand alone pictures of some of what you will see in the video and a few pieces that are stand alone pieces. Sorry for the poor quality of these images.....I think I need to go back to using my camera instead of my phone. click on the images for a closer view.

Karen's classes are always inspiring and motivating and allow you to move in the direction of your own personal creativity. The next class, WRAPPED AND BOUND IN STITCH, begins on Sept. 5th, so check it out here.

a pocket with the book jacket printed  to hold the book and a zippered pocket embellished with embroidery and a 3D fence to hold all the patterns used.

an embroidered door, a tiled welcome mat and a collaged tree with embroidered flowers.

some of the embroidery and stitch done on a stand alone bedspread piece.

The book is opened to the page where Maud and Amelia are embroidering on their boring bedspread. I created a stand alone piece with bits of fabric and lace to mimic their bedspread. It measures 30" x 11".

Back for an overview....

I haven't posted in so long that I'm hoping I remember how to do this....I post mostly on Instagram these days and some of you have been following me over there....so thank you. Some of you have wondered why I wasn't posting here anymore and there just isn't enough time to do it all so I hope you'll come on over to Instagram and follow me over there. You do not need to set up an account to follow me.

Thought I'd just load this post with some of the images that I've posted over there so you can see what I've been up to....click on the images for close up views.

There have been more pouches:

pouch  with hanky and lace

embroidery cut up and stitched with fabric into a bucket pouch

Lots of embroidery:

monograms on some free motion snippet lace

a tree embroidered onto a page in a story book 

embroidery on cotton. pattern from story book

embroidered names of characters in storybook THE BEDSPREAD

miniature pajama tops with monograms for the 2 characters in the book

The storybook is what I'm working on in Karen Ruane's class STITCHING A STORY. It's not too late to sign up....Go Here

and I've also been working along with Pat Sloan's Splendid Sampler group. Two blocks are posted each week to work up. I'm refreshing my memory on so many techniques I haven't used in years....and it's all FREE....so check it out and see if you'd like to join in. Go HERE Scroll down at that link and you'll see all the blocks presented so far. There will be 100 total so it's an ongoing project done a little at a time. It's amazing how fast the blocks add up. Here are some of mine. I'm working in two different colorways so I'll have 50 in each when it's complete.

a block with lots of embroidery

this one was a challenge with foundation paper piecing

and here are most of them in one colorway

and in the other colorway

Well, I guess that's all for now. Not sure when I'll be back here but hope you'll come see me on Instagram. Hope you're all enjoying life.