Little book

More like a booklet really ...it is just several pages.  With samples of my work to remind me of how I did certain things or things I want to try at some future point.


Anyway... here are a few of my pages.

Variegated embroidery thread.

I moved the white on white embroidery to a page with a bit of colour.   I wrote myself notes as you can see...for down the road when I'm sure to forget what things were.
Some day I want to do a pincushion with yellows and ruffles .. I still have some of the fragile silk hanky..just waiting to be used.......

The pale pink flower pounded fabric below is pretty but it never did become quite what I envisioned when I tried to piece it together so cut it into smaller pieces and have used it in my book.

I did a pincushion in taupes with a bit of another piece of flower pounded fabric and love it... I wish this one had worked out as well....but, it didn't and now...I'm just happy it's still good for something.

Wanted to show you my other flower pounding piece if you haven't see it before.  I posted it a while back. Lovely Olde Worlde tatting cut off a beautiful vintage hanky that I bought at a doll and bear show...for only pennies...I almost felt guilty.  I managed to buy 4 lovely hankies that day.  Thanks to that wonderful lady whoever she was.

doing something...

.... almost anything to stay busy ... I have things on my mind that are happening this coming week and not looking forward to them... plus the ribs are holding me back .. so I'm just "doing" ....

I decided to make some little books in the style of Karen Ruane...

Putting some of my stitchery samples in one for me... they've just been sitting in a pretty box 'til now.

We began a larger ledger in one of her classes ...for doodles, samples and other inspirations, but, I saw that she has been making cute tiny  books... only a few pages really.. so I decided to do one.

What is it they say?  Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery...... .. hahahaha ... oh, alright ...I'm just a copycat....

Here is a page ...

Lots of various stitches on the first piece .. which is a piece of linen with some sparkly bits on it.. a gift from another member of the first class we took together... thanks Lexxi ... and, the second is a bit of hand made lace that Karen made..and I won in a little giveaway .. to which I added some pink and some white French Knots .. then.. stuck it to some water colour paper and did a bit of paper pricking.                                                                                      

Egg-stra stitching..

.... oh, brother....I suppose I could go on forever with the eggy titles...but, I should quit...hahhaha.... but, why? .... it's kinda fun and ...funny to me..... good enough.

Doing some extra stitching on the scalloped edge of the lace on the top of this one.... Karen's little frilly dilly stitch...she calls it Frilly Picot.  I never know if I've got it quite right...but, it looks right to me and with the number 12 Perle cotton and if I pull each stitch pretty tight...I can get it tiny.  Click on the photo to "biggify" and you can see it so much better.  I love it.  And, I think it really enhances the flat lace.  Gives it more body or something... and makes it more interesting to look at.


See the four little tiny scalloped bits on the lace edge? ....  just above the umbrella looking machine stitched flower on the cotton fabric I used for the base fabric?  Those are my little frilly dilly thingies ..... with some French Knots above holding the lace in position.. until the whole egg gets a backing of white silk.




I'm debating what to use for trim on this other guy...and ... more or less leaning towards a bit of this lace on the top end of the egg......

Not much time to stitch today ....but, must do a few each day at the very least.........every little helps, as my Mum was fond of saying.... then she would add...... "said the little old lady who peed in the sea"....... must be an old English saying ..or ... maybe she just made it up .......

I'm egg-cited....

I dreamed up something else to do with my special fabrics and trims.   Egg day is not far off.  So.. I thought... why do pincushions or hangings have to be rectangle or stocking shaped? ..  and drew myself an egg shape too.

Look how cute an egg will be when made from a piece of the fabric I made using narrow strips.  The sheet I got busy and made and then had nothing to do with it once it was done... hahah... except for using as test pieces and perhaps on a page or two of my stitching journal......but, now.... I want to get busy and make me some eggs!

I just want to do some stitching...

Laugh a little....

Here's a good one that goes along with yesterday's post and several other blog posts I've done in the past...

Perfect!



"The secret of success is to go from mistake to mistake without losing your enthusiasm".

Anonymous.





Enthusiasm and perseverance ..   I've got those......

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yesterday I was playing with  my gauzy square and trying to get a pretty piece of FME (free motion embroidery) out of it.
It's much easier to stitch on than my cheesecloth for sure ... and look how it gathers it up between the stitching... tiny puckers and lovely areas ... I added some bits of tulle type lace and some edges of trim here and there to see what each looked like..... just a fun time of playing....

A page..

I cut up my fabric that I've been playing with ....and decided to make an opening on my page to display a portion of it.  It will serve to remind me of what I did with this particular piece... how I stitched it ... how I manipulated the bits of lace and silk... the actual stitches I used...

In this particular case..it will also serve as a reminder never to stitch a piece directly onto my page!!  Wow!  What a tricky thing to try.  Why didn't I just use double sided tape like everybody else?  Oh, no..not moi.... I figured it might be just as easy to stitch it onto the paper.  Wrong!   the down stitches were just fine, but the ones coming back up again?  from beneath paper and several layers of fabric? ... arrrgghhh!  I couldn't see the holes even when I held the page up to a bright light... and ended up having to poke a needle through each hole from the topside... guide my sewing needle to the exact spot and withdraw the top needle and carefully poke up with the stitching needle.  As you can guess ... the air was particularly blue at several points during my ordeal.  And, yes, it was a bit of an ordeal.  Next time...play with paper stitching and just enjoy it ... .. tack on fabric later...

Oh, and... I also did the unthinkable.  Stabbed my finger a good one and bled on the paper before I even realized it.  Luckily, I also licked the bloody area immediately...  and then had to lick again because it just smeared... ... and then, luckily ... I was able to blot it off easily with paper towel.  Whew.
Saved the page after I had worked so diligently with my stitching...

I was having some fun with FME also... onto a gauzy square with a few little embroidered flowers on it.  I'm not sure what it is ...perhaps a table protector of some sort... too big for a hanky ...  not really a doily... too small for a scarf...... Maggi found it for me...

I love how the FME looks on it...I'll try a bit more and try for better photos of it...  I cut a bit of it and added it to this smaller piece of the fabric...

This is the first day of the rest of the year....

... stitchery wise that is ....

I stitched.

Only a couple of web stitches .....literally.... two.......and a few French Knots....

Disappointed?

I'm not.

I stitched.

I'm happy.

My pretty box worked a treat.....

And, it was cold and snowy...so I put out some sunny yellow flowers.... ahhhhh....that's better.

Today, I'm stitching away on my pouch... you remember those blocks.....that originally were going to be a wrapping cloth..but, I re-purposed them... now they're gonna be ...a pouch!

It's tricky to stitch through many layers...just as Karen said it would be.  In some areas there were 4 layers.  And, ... it is difficult to stitch together the blocks in the middle of the pouch too ... so much more so than at the edges or sides.

I managed some running stitch on one or two loose blocks... and some French Knots here and there ....so.... yes.... definitely some stitching happening...finally!

Blog fodder/embarrassing moment..

It's hard to know the difference.

Sometimes I used to think it would be almost too embarrassing to show you some of my erroneous or downright stupid stitching moments...but, hey, it's definitely nothing like all of Rob Ford's regular life ..so what's the big deal?  I'll just blurt it out and carry on like nothing out of the ordinary is happening.

Here's the morning's effort...

Merrily stitching away on the machine...which is not my fortè anyway...but...onward... it must be used for FME.  Well, I suppose you could spend all day doing backstitch by hand over a rather large area....but, no... not that necessary to waste time doing that.  I need a new 'master sheet' of fabric from which to cut some new pin pillows/cushions.... and I do need to get on with it...I want at least one finished before Christmas.

This sheet is off white compared to the pristine whites I used for my first sheet  ....   and I've found some lovely bits of fabric including a piece of satiny one side stuff...it might be crepe of some kind...I'm not all that knowledgable about fabrics.

Anyway..back to my story...which by now is reaching novella length and I'm not even into it yet...hahhaha.... I'm going to say it.....I sound like Karen.... whittering on at length... ooooh, there; I've done it...I'll be on the "naughty step" in our class for sure now.....

oh, sorry....another detour...it's like driving around our city..you can't find your way on any of the streets just now due to construction, road repairs and so called flood mitigation antics ...

Pay attention to where the edges and corners of your fabric sheet are once you get whizzing along, doing great circles and chortling to yourself about how wonderful it is looking..... with the stitching creating lovely artistic swirls and satiny bumps that look like little pearls......sigh.............because sure as the dickens, something like this will happen while you are congratulating yourself.

Can you see it?

Yes, I did.  Stitched the front to the back with FME .... and it's even stitched it into the darn hoop.  What the ?? .... aarrgghhhhhh!!!@%&*

Great.  This could take a while..... where is my trusty little picker thing-a-ma-jig?...

Found it.  Picked it and ..yes, I did say some blue words......but, mostly under my breath, while trying not to ruin my pretty satiny fabric... cuz it will leave marks if I poke around willy nilly.

HAH!! Salvaged it.  And, it looks fine if I say so myself.  Okay then.... now, I can brush my teeth and get on with the rest of my day.....

Tip of the Day:::  pay attention to what I am doing.    Think before pressing the pedal.

Beginnings...

... of my next pincushion... my fourth now... wow!.... not that I'm speeding along or anything.
A few little French knot flowers.  Look like Forget-Me-Nots..

It's so much easier and pretty quick too when I already have the 'master sheet' of fabric ready to go whenever the spirit moves me.  Remember the master sheet of pretty fabrics?  So much easier than putting each one together separately.                                                                     















Pick a nice area, figure out exactly the size and shape the cushion will be and begin embroidering..

Decide on some trims... embroider a bit more and soon, it begins to take shape... I love putting them together.  They are so tiny and dainty and I love working with tiny things.

Cabbage butterflies...

... they are pretty little things... they like to visit my colourful flowers in the pots.

                                                                         




Wow!!  the middle of August already!  Where has the summer gone?  We had a pretty wet one and now?...really hot.  Yesterday we golfed in +29C .... and today it is supposed to be the same.... not golfing today that's for sure.  Not that I usually golf two days in a row anyway...how do the old farts do it?  Oh, yeh...I am an old fart, I should should know this one.... but, I don't.  Some of them must have a lot more oomph than I have, that's all I can say.

Still doing a bit of stitching here and there .... but, not regularly, and have taken a bit of a break from the wrapping cloth pieces.  I have decided to try my hand at making a little pin cushion...not showing til it is finished though....

However, here is a bit of the stitching I was doing on the wrapping cloth piece.... utility stitches...patching .. and just making things pretty ... we were making little squares but, this time folding the edges over on the working side..  I stitched one onto the hanky corner... added some knots and then thought about tucking one just under the corner ...

Then, I got to thinking it might look cute added on to the first little square on top of the hanky corner instead of underneath it... still deciding....

The lacy edged hanky is one my Mom gave me many years ago... it has been hiding in a drawer ...  as so many beautiful pieces usually do.  Karen's suggestion is...why not use it in our project.  Give it new life and enjoy it .... even if we have to cut it to incorporate it into our creation.  I'm betting my Mom would love the way it fits in with all the other pretty pieces I have gathered and used in my little project.  She was always our biggest cheerleader and supporter no matter what we attempted in our lives....I'm sure she would be thrilled to know I kept my hanky (well, not just this one either, ... ...but, all of them that she gave me over the years) and am now getting to use them like this.  She wouldn't be totally surprised at my keeping them in pristine condition ...that was always my way..... I had dolls and things I never played with...just kept and looked at and enjoyed in their new condition... I was a strange kid....

After I added French knots and a few other stitches to the square ...I turned it over and thought.... gee if I am going to leave it loose... you will see the messy under side... maybe I'll just cover the stitching with a piece of silk to make it look nicely finished ...

and.....so I did.  There now.... nice and tidy underneath as well.  Love and devotion, as Karen would say..... care and attention to detail.... always me anyway....... and, just like Karen, I'm kind of proud of that in me.  Sure, some folks find it strange... but, there you have it.  It's good to like your own quirks and foibles don'tcha think?

big and little..

I was so happy to be able to get one of Karen Ruane's little pin pillows because it lets me see the stitching of a master.  Right up close and personal.

Her pin pillow on the right....my own block of fabric on the left....

Her photos of her works are amazing and she definitely gives all the information we need to complete beautiful projects...her videos are fun and full of detailed explanations...  and she does the best job of instructing, but, it still just isn't quite the same as being there.  How I wish I lived close enough to be there watching her in person and seeing the sizes, the fabrics, the textures .....  even watching her hands flutter daintily around her fabrics isn't enough to give perspective on size.... and, believe me, I've re-watched things umpteen times in my own attempt to copy her stitches.

Yesterday I did some buttonhole lace stitching ... "Karen size".... on one area that was perfect for testing it.  What a difference it makes in the overall appearance ... not that my original stitching is bad or poor or does't look perfectly acceptable on the size of the block....but, just to see some stitching done in the same size she does on my own piece produces a whole different look.

That unfinished edge of the broderie Anglaise, next to the ruffled ribbon, ..  just above the fan shaped bit of lace is where I am talking about.

I'll be using different sizes of the exact same stitch in different areas now....and of course, on the day I make my very own tiny pin pillow.... tiny stitching will be perfect...

Here is a sample of my original buttonhole stitching.... and below it...the new area of tinier buttonhole stitching  ....

See?  It looks like a whole different stitch doesn't it? ... and gives a totally different look to the edge.  I love it.