Back to stitching and a fabric postcard . . .

Having a red and green stitching phase at the moment too - stitch sample strips I'm making into pages for a soft cloth book of stitching. I'm using any threads from my stash as long as they are more or less red or green.


And I've made my first ever fabric postcard - I was sure I'd cut it straight, but it looks decidedly wonky here. It's lying on a piece of dark blue cloth, it's not an edging.

Perfect tomatoes . .

. . as promised.









And a few more red and green bits -












The nearest we've got to one of the other complementary pairs are the irises, but I can't really try to make out the blue is lilac.
Have to wait for the purple crocuses in the spring.

reds and greens

There are so many patches of red and green in our garden. I'm looking out for the other complementary pairs, purple / yellow, orange / blue, but can't find any.



(Husband said why did I have to put a pic of these scruffy tomatoes in the blog when I could have chosen some of the 50lbs of perfect ones he's grown this year?)









Now just imagine waving a wand and getting blogger to put your pics where you want them . . . .

Here's the poppy pics mentioned in the previous entry! Intriguing shapes, the seed heads - a box, maybe? Click for a larger image and see.











Tthe perfect tomatoes will have to wait for next time, pics still in the camera.

from this to this . . .

Fascinating as the summer comes to an end what is happening to some of the flowers I posted pics of in earlier blog entries.

The crocosmia / monbretia (top set) has these lumpy sprays of seed heads that look even better enlarged. And the rosebay willow herb goes all long and thin with silky airborne threads that carry seeds everywhere, including my cup of coffee in the garden in the sun. (I wish I could line the photos up better.)

And poppy seedheads are always good value for stitching inspirations - pics in next entry.

And yet another textile technique ...

... as if I hadn't got enough to keep me out of mischief already.
The visit to Eyam included looking round the craft centre there. This includes Woolgathering, a lovely little workshop specialising in feltmaking and yarns and related gadgets.. I found this kit for stickweaving, (not the yarn, that's mine), and was shown how to use them by the friendly proprietor.
And since Wednesday I've made these -


It's a bit addictive.

It's an abstract piece, based on seaside colours, the somewhat unrealistic ones you have in your head, you know, the sky is blue, the sea is green, the sand is yellow etc, etc. The woven strips will be hung on a piece of worn stick found on a beach, and may have beads added, or a shell or two.

An unusual way of painting pictures...

Well dressings in (clockwise from top left) Eyam, Wormhill, Eyam (children's well), Eyam again, and Foolow, in Derbyshire, UK. They are made by pressing flower petals, leaves, seeds, moss, all sorts of natural materials, into specially prepared trays of damp clay, following a drawn design. They last about a week and money is collected for various charities as people come to see them.
Try the link for more info about exactly how and why they are made. The textures achieved are well worth examining, and the colour shading, a lot of the pinks and blues are done with hydrangea petals. The drawing is good this year, I think, and some of the borders could be stitching designs for seams, once again! I see them everywhere now!

I haven't mentioned a technical challenge recently. This post reminds me firmly that I need help in getting the photos exactly where I want them. Anyone out there reading this got any experience to share? (I know I could ask Jenny again . . . )

Lacemaking the Natural Way

Requirements: some brassicas and several cabbage white butterflies.
Outcome: a week or two later . . . natural green lace.

Husband, looking at these, wails, "Oh my poor cabbages!" (purple sprouting broccoli in fact). And didn't I knock the caterpillars off? Well, no, actually, they seemed quite happy. But now with a bit of technological wizardry the broccoli looks even more interesting. Though I'm not sure I'd want to eat it. May be time though to get the fabric out, and perhaps the heat gun calls.

Many thanks to Jenny, fellow blogger, for collaging these pics for me with her software.

Grand Family Gathering

So we're back from a magnificent week in an Edwardian shooting and fishing lodge in Scotland, about half way between Inverness and Aviemore. It was a bit cold, which I put down to altitude, but most of the rest of the country wasn't that hot either apparently. We saw dolphins, salmon leaping, red squirrels (had a conversation with one on a branch 10 feet above my head), golden eagles, deer, wolves, reindeer, a wildcat and bison (have to say the last 4 were at the Highland Wildlife Centre), but no monsters, even in Loch Ness (see awful photo below). Rosebay willow herb in great swathes at the roadside, heather giving a pinkish tinge to hillsides, like those old tinted photos, wild blueberries, and on the hill slopes around the house, masses of juniper bushes, like those in the foreground with the River Findhorn in the view down the valley from our bedroom.
Silver birches are everywhere. The ones round the house were short, twisty trees, looking very old, but these are in a forestry plantation at Rogie Falls.
The grandchildren managed to dig sand and get wet and have a great time on the beach of Loch Morlich in spite of the lack of summer temperatures. I like the contrasting strips in this pic, and the shapes made by the children.

Back to stitching again, didn't get any done while away, but I did make small books with the kids, and helped them thread necklaces.

We're Taking the High Road . . .

Time for a quick note before we go off early tomorrow for a week in Scotland, just south of Inverness. Its a Grand Family Gathering, in a big house, near Loch Ness. 4 daughters and husbands/partners/children (6), and sister-in-law, DH and me. The first time all the cousins have met since 2 of them were babies. They are all very excited. I hope they won't behave like monsters, or we won't need to go looking for the one in the Loch! Won't get much stitching done, though I can't go away without some.

This pic is the top strip, pictured unstitched on a previous post. It is up and down buttonhole with 2 bullions. I do like the way you can cover the ground and make it all spikey by varying the direction to the next stitch. There is also some feather stitch, and some alternating barred chain.
Back in a week, och aye the noo, which I am told no one actually says in Scotland.

Stitches are Clever but Flowers are Cleverer

I've still not mastered the art of arranging photos in the order I want, but there is nearly a nice colour gradation here with this series of pics from our garden at the moment.
Last year we had nasturtiums everywhere, unbelievable variations of yellow, orange and red. The only snag was they strangled other plants we wanted alive!
Day lilies come in similar colour variations. I think I'll have to collect a few more.
And we do have the common, light orange version of this crocosmia but they aren't out yet

This one should have come at the end of my sequence, introducing a bit more blue to the pink and magenta.

I just can't believe the intensity of colour in petunias sometimes.

Look at the enlarged version of this rosebay willow herb. Its so beautiful. Why is this a weed? We let a whole bank of it grow every year, down next to the canal. Makes a change for it from waste ground. (Now no rude remarks about our garden please!)

Insane Patchwork

When I joined the StitchingPost yahoo group a few weeks ago various people were mentioning 'sane patchwork / quilting' in their messages. I decided the opposite of that must be insane p& q. Don't feel too sorry for me, my brain works slowly sometimes. Anyway, maybe I'll try some insane patchwork one day (maybe I already do it!) and meanwhile put up a few pics of some Victorian style crazy p.

Japanese style bag, with a drawstring top, with cp blocks and plain.

Lap quilt / throw,16 cp blocks with black velvet border and corner blocks. Its backed with a woven wool shawl and feels cosy round the knees on a draughty winter's day. The colours look a bit odd, strange. Details follow. I had no fabric suitable to bind the edges, so stitched over strips of unsuitable fabric and think I got away with it, maybe. At any rate the stitching distracts a bit.

Small Technological Victory

Had great traumas yesterday trying to post a tutorial on melting plastic wallets (see earlier posting) on the Stitching Post blog. The saga is explained there in a comment. But today it was done successfully, though not because of any expertise on my part. I did check to see if my cookies were enabled, all on my own. I'm proud of that. (If that wasn't computer-speak whatever would it mean?). Also I managed to move the pics around, because they had uploaded in the wrong order. For my next trick . . . I may need a beautiful assistant.

So here's some more embroidery to help calm everything down.

This year the UK Embroiderers' Guild, NW Region has been having a series of three exhibitions, Embroidery in Trust in 3 National Trust properties in the region. I belong to the Macclesfield branch and the house we focussed on was Little Moreton Hall, a wonderful black and white half timbered house. Our work had to be based on things seen at the house. Many people picked on some aspect of the timbering patterns. Included here are 2 more pieces using the quatrefoil shape with different techniques. The one above is shadow quilting with black net over white silk and a black fabric with a bit of a sheen, plus cords I twisted, and some beads. Some of us went to the costume museum in Manchester to look at Elizabethan artefacts, to help us with ideas. One item there is a 'book cushion', about 8" square. Mine is a bit bigger. Funny thing is, I do rest a book I am reading on a cushion often, to get it at a better height for my varifocals!

Here's a lap quilt, with printed shapes on calico, quilted round with stem stitch and the thicker perlé, which looks like a cord. The shapes in the corners are '3D', free stitched over, beeds in the centres. I want to add some more beads to other parts.

This is just under A4 size, made from metallic chocolate wrappers, machine stitching, and a painted nappy liner zapped with a heat gun. Mounted on black felt on an artist's stretch canvas. The yellow bit is a corner of a cushion, next to my piece in the exhibition!

The idea came from a class in workshop on the web.