More Pouches and Pockets.....

We are at the tail end of Karen Ruane's class Embroidered Pockets but I can see I'll continue to make pockets and pouches until the cows come home. I started out with some broderie anglaise and doodled a sashiko design with micron pen and then did some stitching with hand dyed thread. I added some bumpy bits and just folded it up and laid it to the side. The next time I looked at it, some of the dye from the thread had bled onto the white cloth. I had nothing to lose so soaked it into some oxi-clean and most of the dye came out so the piece was once again usable.....but I really didn't like it.

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

hand dyed thread bleeding into white cloth

washed in oxi-clean

 so.....I cut it up into pieces and started some patchwork with the fabric used for the bumpy bits.

cut up and did some patchwork

lots of embellishing

I created 4 panels and edged each with lavender piping.

only used 3 of the panels and made a circular base

I wanted the top opening to be rigid and circular.

stitched in a steel ring covered with binding. it measures 6" across the base, 25" around  the middle with the poufed out sides and it stands 9" tall. it's lined with white cotton cloth.

I now had one panel left over so another pocket was in order.

more embellishing and doodling....

for the back, I stitched all the little scraps left over together, made some patched bumpy bits, added some more doodling and it turned out looking like the face of a robot....to me, anyway.

and here is the completed front with a green cotton lining.

and the back with that funny looking patchwork piece stitched onto some white embroidered cotton.

I've also been playing with my Inktense Pencils and a hand quilted muslin piece that was done years ago just for practice. It's 2 layers of muslin with cotton batting in between.

I colored with the Inktense Pencils and applied textile medium over it to make it permanent. You can use water but the textile medium prevents the colors from bleeding to other areas of the cloth.

Once it dried, I added some stitch. More on this one next time.

Have a great weekend and do something creative for yourself.

pockets....

Pockets are so handy in any form. I finished up one of the pockets I started last week....

click on the images...

pink dupioni silk embellished with parts of an old hanky, my own printed cloth, lace and stitching

the other side....cording to mimic strings of a mandolin and hard to see all the stitching done here.

Karen Ruane is selling a PDF download of one of her doodles here. I have so many ideas on how to use this. So far, I've printed it on dupioni silk and made myself a little pocket for a small knitting project. There are so many different ways to use this and she talks about that here. Go on over and check it out. Here's the pocket I made this morning.

a silk pocket using Karen Ruane's PDF download

Once a year, my quilting bee has a gift exchange. We had such a wonderful time and exchanged so many beautiful items. Here's a pic of all of us. We sure do look happy in this picture....don't we....that's me in the white blouse up front.

Simply Quilters bee

Some of us stopped at a local quilt shop on the way home and there were some things I couldn't resist.

The garden is doing well and I actually picked Swiss Chard for my salad this week. It will be awhile before anything else is ready for picking. The temperature reaches 80 almost every day. It does feel wonderful spending some time outdoors this time of year.

Wishing you all a great weekend and lots of creativity.