connections....

I love when this happens....someone from the past resurfaces in the present in a most unusual way. When I first came to Austin, TX, in the 1970s, I took a community school class that was offered in quilting for beginners. I'd always been a stitcher but never did any quilting. Connie, a very accomplished quilter, taught me the basics and then I was on my own. I never did come in contact with Connie again. Some  25 or 30 years later, I joined a quilting bee and met Barbara and Margaret who talked about Connie as they were all members of the Austin Area Quilt Guild. Connie had passed away in the early 90s and Barbara had quite a few of Connie's pieced blocks that had never been quilted. About two weeks ago, Barbara showed some of those blocks at quilt bee and there was one that I admired because it looked like an old cotton hanky. Barbara generously offered it to me and I said I would make a pillow. Well, I so enjoyed hand quilting that block that I did nothing else for a couple of days. I put an edge on it with some fabric from my stash and made it into a pillow. I just love it....especially the connection that this is Connie's pieced block and she was the one who taught me the basics of quilting. I will gift the pillow back to Barbara if she likes it.

click on the images for close-ups...

hand quilted and edged

the backside showing the quilting

the finished pillow measures about 12" x 12"

I was also given this small patchwork piece that I hand quilted and edged with piping. It will become an outside pocket on a future pouch.

measures 4½" x 9½"

I stopped at the thrift store this week looking for something specific and couldn't pass up this beautiful white tablecloth, in pristine condition, that measures about 36" x 60". It was $4. It looks like Indian Chikan Embroidery.  Hoping Anita from India will weigh in on this and tell me if I am right.

I have managed to spend some time knitting in the evenings and made some headway on this Love and Loyalty Pinball. It is done on size 0000 double needles so it's quite fiddly to handle. I do love watching the pattern emerge with each row.

Love and Loyalty Pinball

Have a great week and enjoy the present moment.

the mending continues...

i mentioned in the last post, i think, that i purchased a size 2X dress from the thrift store that i was going to re-design so that it would fit my size 8-10 body. it's not as easy a project as i thought it would be. it took me 3 days just to take most of the seams apart and remove the sleeves. i did make a smaller sleeve and basted it on to see how it would work. it's ok but i think i'm going to redo it and make it a straight cuffed sleeve instead of the gathered look pictured here. just below the waist, there is a band that i'm going to embellish with lace and embroidered bits and pieces. it's just in pieces now and will be narrower after it's all stitched. the dress is slightly gathered in the back with a huge long tie that i will shorten and just fasten  with a home made button. here's just a peek at what it looks like so far. i'm working on this project as part of Jude's Contemporary Boro class.

the dress as purchased with long, wide sleeves that tied with bows at the cuffs.

the side seams have been taken in, and a new sleeve was constructed. the embroidered lace pieces are covering a band just below the waist...not yet stitched down and incorporated within the garment, so it will be a bit narrower.

stopped in at the thrift store this morning and 3 items came home with me...

that cap is made with a beautiful embroidered linen and it's brand new. the tags were still on it. also picked up 3 cotton napkins that will be perfect for dyeing and embroidery and a wool scarf.

you never know...

who or what will send you love...

a double heart

the garden is doing well what with all the wonderful rain we have had in the past couple of weeks.

the cucumber plant is kind of taking over everything else

lots of little cucs...can't wait to eat the first one

and the Chikan Embroidery is finished and blocked. it's hard to photograph white. click on the images for a closer view.

love the texture and the shadow effect

Anita of Artistic Fingers did a great job of teaching the individual stitches. if you click on Chikan Embroidery on her side bar, all the lessons are there.

off to do some stitching before the day gets away from me.

a nice thrift store find...

I stopped in at the thrift store this afternoon and so glad I did. I found this lovely example of Chikan Embroidery in this blouse that looks brand new. It was only $2 and it actually fits.  I really bought it just for all the stitching that I could see close up since I'm taking a class with Anita of artistic fingers. More about that at the end of this past post. And for those of you who were interested, here are some good examples of what the stitching looks like front and back.

Chikan Embroidery---blouse front

Chikan Embroidery---back of stitches

And, of course, the experimenting continues in Karen's class:

making lace on the machine...I started blanket stitching over it for a different effect.

stitching layers

needle weaving on a small stitched sample

I started planting seeds this past weekend and really wanted to plant purple carrots for eco dyeing. Jeannie was so kind to send me some seeds and also some of her beautifully dyed indigo cloth and embroidery thread. Can't wait to dive into that pile. Thanks Jeannie.

goodies from Jeannie

the experimenting continues...

The samples, from experimenting in Karen's class, are piling up. Recording them here helps me to remember what I have as the time is coming near when we will be joining them into some sort of design. Click on the images for a closer view.

left: tucks and pre-programmed stitch   right: scrim backed with blue and white cotton. hand stitched holes.

double layer of mulberry tissue...pre-programmed machine stitches

hand made paper cut out and machine stitched grid ready for weaving

bits of scrim and cotton leftovers woven through a dried up tissue wipe

And as if I'm not over extended already, I'm learning Chikan Embroidery, from Anita at artistic fingers. It is an Indian embroidery that is a form of whitework. Check out the links, if you are interested. The class is closed but all the lessons are posted on her blog. I'm working on the double back stitch which is the first lesson. The back looks like a herringbone stitch and creates a shadow on the front of the cloth.

double back stich creates a shadow effect on the front of the cloth