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I promised yesterday, the lace, remember? Here it is.......I want to make more. I want to spend every day making this, all day. Then again I feel like that about other pieces too...not enough days never mind hours.....
It looks different now. It's been laid over another embroidered piece. It's informing new work that's yet to be started. I will show you the two pieces together soon, this one and the one it's laid upon, I will show you how that looks.
Good morning!! I'm early, I have to go out for an hour and chose to be early rather than late. I put this together yesterday afternoon, More hankies, snippets, offcuts on a white cotton base. So far there are bullion loops, French knots, stab stitches and a single bumpy bit edged with green silk chain stitch. I do love that green silk thread, it's gorgeous to work with and can you tell I love folding these things.....it's becoming an obsession.
Do you remember this? It's finished now. I'm just a little bit in love with it, with the process, with the end result.....I will show you tomorrow.
Did I confuse you? I do apologise. The first pocket, the first pillow....quite probably. I made these in another life and came across them again yesterday. I hadn't forgotten about them, they were just resting, relaxing.....in a box. I have put them in the shop but if they don't get adopted it doesn't matter. I will keep them, only not in a box. I will keep them in full view, love them a little more, (I always loved them, just not enough)
I can't decide which way to fold this one, this pocket. Should I go with the top image or the second image? I'm leaning towards the top image but then the back isn't as interesting on that one. Maybe I should work a little more on the back, create the interest.
And did you notice that a little strip of Liberty fabric sneaked it's way onto this last night? I wanted something to ''lift'' the piece and to fill a space. It works better than I thought it would, doesn't look out of place yet is unexpected. I'm thinking Liberty is the way to go in order to achieve that certain something on the other side. Good thing my ironing board is up then, off I trot to press a scrap of Liberty.
Does it? Count as in''you will only see white for a couple of days'' like I said earlier this week? It's mostly white. It has been in progress for a while so I decided to finish it and maybe make it into a pocket. I do have a couple of other little, unfinished pieces that will also get finished over the next few days.
I pin tucked this silk in Simply Stitch 5. Since then I have added bullion knots, French knots, some wrapped threads and a lot of buttonhole lace edges. There is perhaps another one hour of stitching left to do on the surface before it is damp stretched again and finished.
The cloth from yesterday, the unfinished wrapping cloth, do you remember? I have decided not to square it off and finish it as it is now. I have decided to extend it and complete it as I originally intended. That won't happen in a hurry but when it starts to happen you will be the first to see it.
A public service announcement now for my Swathed in Stitch girls. Your post will arrive in the next few hours. I am stitching my fingers to the bone. Don't stand by your computers though, you may get cramp!!
I worked on white yesterday. White bullion knots on white Broderie Anglaise which was laid on white silk with some piping cord in that mix too. When I started to take pictures this morning I thought it may be a bit too much of a shock for you seeing the stark white piece on its own, also a little boring maybe? Hence the addition of a piece of ''old'' white. An unfinished wrapping cloth made mostly from vintage pieces. One thing though, laying the old piece alongside yesterdays piece illustrates how bullion knots and cross stitch have been a theme here for quite some time.
This has also got me thinking about the ''old'' piece. It really wouldn't take much to finish that one. I could add to it, make it bigger or I could square it off, back it, titivate the edges and voila. If I were to do that I would have a small cloth, 35 x 20 inches. (90 x 53 cm) Having said that, a cloth that size would be acceptable, usable. It would definitely keep my feet warm. I see another toe wrap in my future.
Another pillow, another one to compliment this one. Today's pillow has a buttonhole lace edge as opposed to a running stitch edge. This one also has row of what I like to call ''droplets'', ''ringlets'', little bullion knot loops that hang freely.
There won't be any colour for a day or two now. I have a white piece newly started which I added bullion knots to last night. Hopefully I will have made enough progress with that before I go to bed today to damp stretch it for tomorrow. I then want to work some more on the lace piece from yesterday. It's taking every ounce of self control I have to let that one lie whilst I get on with other things.
Lace, lace, lace......lace cloth. It's going to be an overlay, that's the plan. It's going to lay over the cross stitch and hexagon piece. That will depend firstly on it working, working as I envisage it will work and secondly on whether I can put it down, stop embroidering on it. If I can restrain the stitch to the planned minimum or whether I won't be able to control myself and embroider it to death which is very tempting as it's so wonderful to handle.
This is happening in 'swathed in stitch'. I need to exercise some self control or we will never move on, we will spend 12 weeks stitching on this one piece.
After posting yesterdays offering i noticed something. Did you? I noticed a distinct lack of white. OK, this piece today is mostly white but it's not pure white, white and nothing else. I have remedied that this morning, put something else together. White, white and more white. Embroidery on that will begin this evening starting with bullion knots. I haven't done any of those for all of 24 hours.
Yesterday I mentioned that the second pillow top was being embellished with cross stitch hearts. Here it is, cross stitch completed, bullion knots and French knots added, damp stretched and ready to be finished into another pillow. It is photographed alongside my recent work, newish work, not as new as the piece finished last night but new all the same.
It's good to group things together like this. It serves as a reminder that you haven't in fact been quite as idle as you think. Get it all together, look, appreciate the time you have spent with stitch.
One of the pillow tops from yesterdays post has now magically transformed itself into an actual finished pillow. Wow.....it all came together so quickly at the end. I backed it, I stuffed it, I hand finished all four edges with running stitch and I then made seven tiny puffs to adorn the top. These are tied on giving the reverse a quilted appearance.
This will be coming to London with me. I have plans to create so many things for London. If I manage to get them all done there is a danger there won't be any room for me in the car. Then again, I may not get half of it done so I'm not panicking yet.
The second piece from yesterday is in the process of being titivated with a little cross stitch. That may be done by tomorrow but the actual pillow will take a little longer because of damp stretching and everything which comes after. Yes, you've guessed it, backing, stuffing and titivating.
Meanwhile......lace. Yes, lace is being created over in 'swathed in stitch'. I'm just a little bit in love with that and hope to share on here on Wednesday.