cows in a magical forest....

That's what I've named this piece made up of leftover pieces of fabric from past projects that were done in black and white....mostly.

click on the images for close-ups.

the back of the magical forest

It all started with that center image of forest trees and a scattering of cows....added in some musical elements and a magical walking path. lots of hand embroidery...eyelets, stars, french knots and 2 shisha mirrors. This was fun to do. It's edged in piping and measures about 6½" x 6½". I did put some cotton batting between the layers to give it some body.

cows in a magical forest

I've had this coverlet pattern that I sent away for in 1974. I had remembered doing a few of the embroidered blocks but thought I had gotten rid of them remembering that I couldn't get all the wrinkles out.....Well, they turned up this week while going through some old projects that hadn't seen the light of day in years.I tried damp stretching the 10" blocks and was fairly successful except for the tomatoes. I'm going to try and do some free motion embroidery on the piece to see if that camouflages the mess I made. It would all make a nice kitchen wall hanging.

a picture of the coverlet as shown in the magazine

the blocks before damp stretching. I had started cutting out some of the elements to use in applique.

on the damp stretching board

And of course, there was some lace work. Experimenting with more snippets of lace on a lace background but this time in ecru and beige.

lace bits free motion embroidered onto a lace background

I can hardly keep up with all the projects I've started in the past few weeks....so I am keeping busy.

Hope you have a great weekend. We are in the over 100 degree temperatures the past few days so I'm staying inside and staying cool.
 

using scraps....

or 'snippets', as Karen Ruane calls them, some interesting pieces have been created.
This first one started out with bits of hand dyed silk and some used Color Catcher Sheets.

click on the images for close-ups.

all stitched down with free motion embroidery

lots of embellishing

 It started developing into a little garden house of sorts...maybe a fairy house....so there needed to be some vines and flowers.

crocheted vines and flowers

 Here it is so far, but it's not finished yet. It measures 8" x 7".

added windows and a door

Then....my favorite....working with vintage lace and embroidery.
This one also measures about 8" x 6".

scraps of vintage lace and linens

tiny prairie points in a lace pocket embellished with stitch

an open window and a shisha mirror.

There is another similar type piece I'm working on called 'cows in a magical forest'. I'll show you that one next time.

Wishing you all a creative week.

a week of distractions...

didn't accomplish half the things i planned to do this week. i am so easily distracted but sometimes the distractions lead to new inspirations so i guess it's a good thing. i started out making a bound button hole as demonstrated by Karen Ruane in Simply Stitch 3...well i wound up with this....

click on the images for close-ups...

an embroidered letter on free motion embroidery done on scrim

doesn't look anything like a button hole, does it. well this is how it started:

and there it went to a different type of letter...

it's been embellished and sits on one of the panels of my Fun Times Cloth. one more panel and corner block to make before it can be finished.

embellished on one side with ruffled lace, bullion knots and french knots

an F and a T for Fun Times

with the help of a couple of people, i finally was able to make a sample of this knitting pattern i really like. i had the graph but no legend and instructions so i was pretty lost. those little white bobbles are called nupps (rhymes with soup). here's a video if you'd like to try them. they give a nice little texture every once in awhile.

this measures about 3" square. made with a extra fine yarn and a size 2 knitting needle

 i'm thinking this pattern might be nice for the top section of a sock or maybe even a scarf.
i have done some more work on my knitted coat but not as much as i hoped...too many of these distractions taking up time.

i also wanted to show you this beautiful cotton embroidered cloth i purchased from ebay a couple of weeks ago. i'm sure it's machine made but i thought....very unusual....can't wait to find a use for it. it's said to be vintage 1930s.

vintage 1930s cotton embroidered cloth

it's been a cold and rainy week but should warm up a bit to the 50s and 60s in a few days. i'm really looking forward to that. hope you're all staying warm and cozy.

a slower week...

not much stitching done this week. the days seemed to fly by with other things that needed to get done. I did experiment a bit with a layered kind of lace work. the base is fleece with a couple of silk hankies (spun silk) over that and then some scrim. I scattered bits and pieces of lace and embroidered cotton over that and went to the machine to do some free motion quilting. i left lots of little open spaces to do hand stitching and x-stitch. this is a work in progress.

the x-stitched letters are a bit of a challenge over the scrim

the long bars were created on the machine and then some were wrapped by hand and the circle up top has some web stitching done in the center.

I added a triangular pocket to a section of my Fun Times cloth with a button covered with a bit of toile cloth.

a pocket with a toile cloth button

I did finally get started on my knitted coat. it took a couple of gauge swatches to get the gauge right. i had to go down 2 needle sizes from what the pattern suggested. need to make sure this coat will fit.

pattern called for a size 8 circular needle but I had to go down to a size 6.

I've been wanting to get started on learning Tambour work and was able to get the library to find this book for me that is just too expensive to purchase. I have all the equipment. just need to find the time. Mary Corbet of NeedlenThread has been posting info on Tambour work that is quite helpful. and if your interested in seeing some gorgeous tambour work, check out Susan Elliott's post here.

I'll save the story about the Ballet 101 video for another time.

It is bitter cold here today and will be for the next few days. the leaves are finally falling from the trees and my front yard is a blanket of yellow as the Chinese Tallow tree is freeing itself to become unburdened. it's a constant shower of leaves so there's no keeping up with it. i'll just let them be for now.
have a great week and stay warm.

looks like my house is the only one inundated with falling leaves.

as always...click on the images for close-ups.

some unusual lace...

i found this lace on ebay and had to have it. it was referred to as 'turtle lace'. i guess because it looks like a turtle...i wasn't sure. i first just acquired a few pieces and was curious to know if it was hand made or machine made so i started taking one turtle apart. it is about 3/8" wide.

click on the images for close ups.

looks like a warp of fine thread and a form of needle lace and picots done with a thicker thread

i still wasn't sure but was leading toward machine made. and then i found some more on ebay with a label. it was made by the Bear Brand company in Germany so obviously machine made. i did acquire 5 more yards and have already found a couple of places where i will use it.

the 5 yards were wrapped within this very old, worn out band. i washed it all in oxy-clean and it came out beautiful.

still playing with cloth in many different ways, all inspired by Karen Ruane and my fellow classmates.
i tried some lattice smocking this week. it's very fiddly and at first tedious but once i really understood what i was doing, i got a bit obsessed. will have to go back to this and play a bit more.

not yet perfect but i'm getting there

also did some stitching on printed paper as demonstrated by Karen.

printed one of my cloth images on cardstock, added a bit of lace and did some free motion stitching

here, i printed the crochet nest dolls image (from last post) on heavy printer paper with some white lace on the right edge.

the knitting and crochet patterns i've  been printing out, when i see something that inspires me, have been piling up...will i ever get to them...i wonder.

103 degree yesterday and 104 today and no rain yet. the lake levels continue to decrease....but, Autumn is on its way so there's hope.

wishing all my Jewish friends a Happy New Year. wishing you health and happiness and lots of miracles for the new year.

a week of many projects...

i traveled from one project to another this week...trying to get it all in...so just a little progress in each, but that's ok. eventually, each will be completed.
click on the images for close-ups.

a web stitch on a bit of lace. i'm told it looks like a dream catcher.

did a bit more stitching on this piece. i thought it would be some kind of a vessel but plans have changed.

  and then some dyeing using spent flowers that i bought and from the garden.

rose petals, rose leaves, cosmos

all bundled around a tin can and ready for the dye pot

the garden is growing since we had 4½" of rain last week. these orange bulbs went from nothing peeping out of the soil to full blooming flowers in 6 days. i could almost watch them growing, it happened so fast.

May 25th, after a day of rain

May 30th, in full bloom

and almost forgot about this granny square afghan i started with a lace, variegated yarn...

trying to keep the blocks in order for a variegated look when stitched together

we're hoping for some rain this evening. it's hot...in the 90s...and very humid. hope you're all having a good weekend and are out of harms way. lots of weather creating havoc these days.

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.