A walk in the park!

Several months ago the Embroiderers Guild sent out a request for contributions to a forthcoming exhibition to be based around books. The exhibition would be called Page 17, although the solicited exhibits could be based upon anything to do with a book not just the 17th page. The exhibits would be on display at the Knitting and Stitching shows in Harrogate and London and, it was hoped, would also travel to other venues later in the year.

Existing works that might suit the theme were to be submitted by the end of April for consideration and a deadline of the end of August was set for exhibits created specifically for the exhibition. At the time I think this distinction created some confusion as I saw several comments on how little time there was to submit a piece. Undaunted I sent off an email to say that I was interested in submitting a new piece and then started thinking ... and thinking ... and thinking :)

You will not, I am sure, be surprised to know that I finally finished my piece for the exhibition the day before the submission deadline!

When our boys were little one of their favourite books was Lynley Dodd's Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy, and now it is a favourite of our gorgeous grandson too. So, I decided to have some fun with the characters in the book for my embroidery. I knew that my drawing skills were not up to reproducing the characters exactly so decided to show bits of them as if they were being seen through holes in the fence.

Each of the dogs in the book has an accompanying description, so Muffin McLay is like a bundle of hay.

My Muffin McLay is a bit curly for hay but I think he is still recognisable! I used a New to Me stitch for Muffin, drizzle stitch, which is apparently Brazilian in origin. It was great fun to stitch and is definitely a great addition to my stitching repertoire.

I stitched all of the dogs, apart from Hairy Maclary, on to a cotton backing fabric then joined the sky and fence fabric together to place over the top before adding Hairy Maclary and the fence and tree detail.

I spent a while trying to work out how best to deal with the cut-outs for the embroidery and finally used another New to Me technique.

Spray starch sprayed into the aerosol lid

then painted on to the seam allowance of the circle cut-outs and ironed in place before being placed in front of the embroidered cotton. To my surprise it worked!

I wanted Hairy Maclary to stand proud of the rest of the embroidery so used wool on canvas and another New to Me stitch, Turkey Stitch, to create his fluffy self. (Apologies for the somewhat blurred photo I was running out of time when I took it!)

I was very pleased with how it all turned out and when the piece has finished travelling it will be another addition to the gallery on the gorgeous grandson's wall!

If you haven't read the books the characters are from the left;

• Schnitzel von Krumm with a very low tum
• Muffin McLay like a bundle of hay
• Bitzer Maloney all skinny and bony
• Bottomley Potts covered in spots
• Hercules Morse as big as a horse

and Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy :)

 Linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts

Pastures New

It is the 25th of the month so time to celebrate all that is new in your world and mine!

This month my New to Me's have been very different to say the least.

First up,

We have packed our bags and left the NE of England after 25 happy years here. All our worldly goods and chattels (including most importantly my sewing supplies!) headed North and are currently resting, I hope, in a cavernous warehouse somewhere in Scotland!

We on the other hand are resting in the sunny climes of SW France. One day in the not too distant future (!) we will meet up and the next chapter in our lives will begin.

As anyone who has sold a house in England will know, it can be a tortuous process, so our R & R in sunny France has definitely been earned :)

Before we left the NE, I had time to enter this piece for the Capability Brown exhibition at Wallington Hall.

What I didn't mention in my previous post is that the piece is up for sale, definitely a New to Me experience! All exhibitors were given the chance to sell their pieces at the exhibition, with 25% of the asking price being donated to the National Trust. I have never sold any embroidered pieces before, and thought that I might never get the chance to have a piece viewed by so many potential purchasers again, so went for it. I have no idea whether it will sell or not, and I am quite happy whatever the result, but delighted to have the opportunity.

So that is my New to Me this month, now it is your turn.  As ever please help to spread the word by linking back to this post in your post and/or adding the blog button to your sidebar.








Check out the other links too and, maybe, leave an encouraging comment along the way. The emphasis of this link party is to celebrate the trying so a little encouragement here and there would not go amiss! 
The link will remain open until 23.59GMT on June 30th, so you have some time yet to try something new and link up and join the party :)

An InLinkz Link-up

If your New to Me involves some Christmas or Holiday crafting don't forget to link it up to this month's Ho, Ho, Ho and on We Sew Link Party here

You could be the lucky winner of these gorgeous screenprinted FQ's

courtesy of the lovely Lu at Summersville

Ho, Ho, Ho'ing all the way home!

Welcome to another month on the yearly quest to have you organised for that big holiday in December, yes it is time for another Ho, Ho, Ho and on We Sew Link Party!

This month my HHHaoWS crafting has necessarily been a bit curtailed as we are in the middle of moving house! Actually by the time you read this we will have moved out and my sewing supplies will be heading North whilst I am heading South. I have no idea when we will meet up again :)

In the midst of the decluttering that moving house after 25 years entails ( I am sure you can imagine it!) I came across this.

I have no idea what it was originally intended for or why with only the embroidery of 4 leaves left that I didn't finish it! However, I knew that it was perfect for something else that I had come across in my rummaging through long-forgotten boxes.

So, after a quick search through my embroidery threads to find a match for the green thread and no more than 15 minutes later, I had a handbag mirror with embroidered back.

Another stocking filler added to the stash, if only all of my Christmas makes were so straightforward! I have been working on and off for a couple of months on a reverse applique cushion but not making much progress. Still it has come South with me so maybe I might have it finished for next month, then again the distractions of a summer in France might just prove to be too attractive :)

So, that's my contribution to the gift stockpile. If you are looking for inspiration for a Christmas/Holiday project head on over to this month's guest host Jen, at Quilter in the Closet, for a fabulous Christmas Wreath mini quilt tutorial. Jen's header says that she is trying to figure out quilting, but if you see the photos of her quilts above that line you will know that it looks pretty much that she has it sussed! Jen hosts a weekly Block Link Party and is looking for guest hosts over the summer, so if you want to dip a toe in the waters of Link Party hosting head on over to Quilter in the Closet and sign up.


As always, it wouldn't be a Ho, Ho, Ho and on We Sew Link Party without a giveaway and this month one lucky linker will receive these fabulous FQ's of screenprinted fabric courtesy of the lovely Lu at Summersville.

Lu prints the most gorgeous fabrics inspired by the countryside around her in her beautiful corner of England, and this month's giveaway would be a great addition to any quilter's stash.

The winner of last month's Clock Making Kit was Sandra who linked up her brilliant robot themed cargo bag, congratulations Sandra!


To be in with a chance of winning this month's giveaway head on over to Jen at Quilter in the Closet and link up your Christmas or Holiday makes from June. As ever the link party closes at 23.59 GMT on June 30th, so you have lots of time to get those projects linked up. No blasts from the past though, we are all about stockpiling throughout the year here so restrict yourself to links to projects you have worked on this month:)

Thanks again to our lovely giveaway sponsors who have been so generous in their support of the link party.

  

 

A home fit for a stitcher

Last September I joined an Embroidery Group, having been on the waiting list for over two years! With fellow stitchers who had been attending classes for, in some cases, 18 years the standard of the work being produced was intimidatingly high.

I decided to make a 3-D sewing box that would give me the chance to try out several New to Me techniques. The original plan was to make the box as a Christmas present for my daughter-in-law, but needless to say Christmas came and went without a finish in sight!

Each year the Group holds an exhibition of their work in the venue and this year's exhibition is taking place today (May 13th) and tomorrow in St Andrew's Cottage, Corbridge. So, the pressure was on to finish the box to have at least one thing to show in the exhibition, and here it is, my Stitchers House.

Each side of the cottage is a different technique, so you can see above lots of French Knots for the rambling roses and then ribbon embroidery for the apple tree.

You can see the apple tree better here. The grapes on the vine are all seed beads and the geraniums in the basket are more ribbon embroidery.

The fourth side has a removable pin cushion attached, which I filled with a metal scouring pad to help keep my pins sharp.

Of course, I made life more difficult for myself by following a French magazine for this project so when it came to putting the box together there was a fair amount of "winging it" involved :) The linen of the embroidered panels needed interfacing to stop it from fraying too much, but it was difficult to interface the beaded panel sufficiently so there was lots of finger crossing going on at that stage. If I was making another one I would tackle the construction slightly differently, but hindsight is a wonderful thing!

Inside the box contains a felt needle holder, gathered pocket (what a nightmare that was to do!), a ring to hold embroidery scissors and two rings for threads. The pincushion in the middle is the removable one from the fourth side.

Although I probably rushed the construction at the end to make it in time for the exhibition, it has been a very enjoyable project to do. You know me, I can never pass up the opportunity to try something new, so to have lots of new to me techniques in one project is most definitely up my street!

If you happen to be in the Corbridge area on May 13th or 14th, do pop in and have a look at the exhibition. Some of the pieces on display will blow you away.

Linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts


 

The Hardhome Embroidery

So far you have only seen this

and then this

and this

but at last I can show you what I have been working on!

A family crest as part of the Hardhome Embroidery created by the Embroiderers Guild in partnership with Royal School of Needlework, Hand & Lock and Fine Cell Work for the launch of Game of Thrones Series 5 boxset this month!

The request for participants from the Embroiderers Guild dropped in to my inbox at the end of last year and well, being a huge Game of Thrones fan, how could I resist?? Of course then I began to worry about whether I was up to the challenge, and continued to worry about that throughout the whole process I might add!

 

https://embroiderersguild.com/index.php?page_no=869

As you can see the final piece is huge, 5m (nearly 17') long by 4m (13.6') high so my contribution is just a tiny part of that, but no less thrilling all the same. (second down from the top left hand corner in case you are wondering!) The timescale for the project was very tight given that the completed embroideries had to be returned to the organisers by March 2nd at the latest. My poor fingers didn't quite know what had hit them :)

My adult sons are hugely impressed that Mum now has a connection (however tenuous!) with Game of Thrones so it was worth the sore fingers for that alone!

The Hardhome Embroidery will go on tour in the coming months so I am hoping that it ventures far enough North for me to get a chance to go and see the complete banner and maybe mention in passing that I was involved in its production :)

Of course if you get a chance to see it too I would love to hear what you think of it, the descriptions that I have seen of the different elements of the panel sound amazing so I am sure that they will be worth seeing.

You can see some of the progress shots here and a list of contributors to the project here.

One of my three projects for the 100 Day challenge done and dusted!

Linking up to

New to Me in February

Welcome to the February New to Me Link Party.

This month I have tried my New to Me's are all embroidery related. I had read somewhere that French Knots and Bullion Knots were easier to stitch with Milliner's needles, and as I am all for making life easier I hunted in my local needlework shops for these.

They are supposedly easier because they don't bulge at the top for the eye like an ordinary sewing needle does, so they are easier to pull through the thread to make the knot. Well, that is the theory anyway!

I gave them a go on my EG project and I have to say that given I was stitching the French knots on canvas and with two threads in the needle, one of which was metallic, it did seem to go much more smoothly than normal. So, I am guessing that the theory is right :)

I have also been trying my hand at ribbon embroidery for the first time. I struggled at first not to pull the ribbon through too tightly but I am hoping that practice in this case will make perfect. I have even attempted ribbon French knots, but haven't got around to taking a photo of that yet. I may just be getting carried away here!

Some of those sparkly new threads that I treated myself to recently have been used for this whipped chain stitch border (another New to Me stitch!) for my EG project too. So there have been lots of firsts in this project already and I am only halfway through it.

So, that's my New to Me's this month, now it is your turn. As ever please help to spread the word by linking back to this post in your post and/or adding the blog button to your sidebar.




Check out the other links too and, maybe, leave an encouraging comment along the way. The emphasis of this link party is to celebrate the trying so a little encouragement here and there would not go amiss! 

The link will remain open until 23.59GMT on February 29th, so you have some time yet to try something new and link up and join the party :)

An InLinkz Link-up