This little needlcase is finished now....I miss it already, embellishing the ribbon, securing a drawstring channel, embroidering the lining, adding beads and buttonhole lace to the edge. Do you feel lost when you finish making something you have relly enjoyed handling?
On the plus side.....I can make another one.
This one is now in the shop. The next one is already pieced and tacked.
There's a ten minute video today, chat, demonstration...thoughts about this piece. It's by way of an apology as I'm going to be missing for a few days.
The shop will stay open for you to register for my new class.
I'm starting to think this piece is almost finished in terms of the surface embroidery. I mention in the video how I am trying to decide how to finish this....forget about the bag idea, the pocket, the pouch which I speak about in the video. I've gone off that idea already. This will almost certainly be backed, have the edges titivated and live it's life as a simple cloth, to gaze at but more importantly to pick up and feed more work. The surface embroidery on here in addition to being decorative is a record, a record of every stitch and a reference to composition, what lives well with what, what compliments and what perhaps doesn't.
You are probably thinking after my post yesterday 'she said these wouldn't be rushed'. They won't, it wasn't. This has been several days in the making but one of my new tiny artist books is indeed finished. I think these might become addictive. This has half the pages of my 'white book' and those pages are half the size too, only three inches square. Compared to the white book this one did come together extraordinarily quickly. Part of the reason for that will be the size of my stash, lots of 'bits' to draw from, stitched papers, stitched cloth all created over a long period of time.
When I was putting this together I had everything strewn out around me, so much to choose from, decisions, decisions....only problem is I started to fall a little bit in love with this last night and if I'm not careful I will get to a stage where I can't bear to part with it. I am going to keep it for a little while longer though....just to gaze....I hope that's ok.
A few images from around the house this past week or so. Nothing is 'normal' this week. There's been a lot going on. I had my first Christmas dinner last week and of course will be having Christmas dinner number two on Monday. I've been shopping...and shopping. I've been wrapping....and wrapping and I seem to be constantly playing the domestic goddess role, seeing dust everywhere. I do hope the big guy is watching.
I've also been blessed and spoilt with lots of early gifts......the Paris gift is from my little girl, she was lucky enough to go there a couple of weeks ago.
And.....I treated myself to a ''fabric advent calendar''. Some of the goodies from there are below. It was always my intention to gift some of these pieces and I have done that with some already but if there is one you fancy let me know and I will see what I can do.
(sadly I can't give to everyone who expresses a wish for one of these but I hope I can make one or two of you happy)
and then there is this....it makes me want to cry every time (in a happy way), thank you so much.
Poorly lit I'm sorry but.....the hankie bag which caused me so much angst is now finished. Relax and breathe Karen.
I can't say I had fun putting this together but I certainly loved every minute of the surface embroidery, the choosing of hankies and lace and the playing with layers. Then there was the sweetie shop which is my sequin box, picking just the right ones from there...and let's not forget the beads and ribbons. For now I am just looking at this, appreciating it. Very soon it will hold cloth and it will hang exactly where it is now so I can see it every day.
I broke off from the ''putting together'' stage of this to make you a short video.....
Embroidery School 2018. Coming soon...read more here.
Progress from hankie class. One of these embroidered panels is for a needle case, the other for a layered and embellished bag. There's a lot of French knots here, a little bit of cross stitch and quite a few sequins.
If all goes to plan our needle cases will be finished later this week, the bag will continue for the remainder of class., more embroidered panels and layers of fabric edged with lace. That's the plan anyway.
Also this week I hope to make progress with my workshop kits for London 2018, a two day embroidery class. I spoke a little about those kits here. There are a lot of hexagons to stitch for that, a lot of ''grandmothers flower garden'' motifs to put together not to mention the embellished pockets I hope to make which will hold the workshop materials. That's a lot of stitching and not a lot of time to do it in. It will be here before you know it.
I did it!! The drawstring pouch is finished, hand finished, hours and hours of hand stitch to create the drawstring and attach the upper binding along with the hours of pleasure when embroidering the surface and adding pretty embroidery to the lining. I feel such an sense of accomplishment.
It is now in the shop. It was always going to go in the shop. I wavered last night with thoughts of keeping it for myself but really....how many bags does one girl need? Too many and some remain unappreciated so the shop it is. (but if there are no takers it won't be a hardship to keep it lol)
More images now
I also took some photographs whilst I was working on piecing it all together yesterday evening....
I hope you like it. The angst was definitely worth it for me.
You were spoilt in February. Two videos?! I've been doing it again, looking back.....today it's February. (I have nothing else to show you, my days are filled with wrapping paper, domestic chores, laundry and school work)
Do you remember January? The same applies here....too many images, too much choice. I have managed to whittle them down though. Most of these things left me in France, the buttons, the pin pillows...... except the pocket in the fourth image which was always intended to be for me. I fondle that every day.
The videos? One concerns a page, the other a little titivation.....if you have seen them before, if you remember them then skip this next bit!
A five minute page
A few glass beads
Monday January 9. New class.....Embroidery School. Read more here.
Seven of yesterdays Suffolk puffs have been added to this pocket as a finishing surface embellishment, the final touch. This one has the seam on it's side, to the right in the first image. Usually the seams travel up the centre of the back. This one found it's way onto the side because of that wonderful edge on the left in the first image, that lovely scalloped piece of vintage cloth. This is another tick on the list, an amazing tick actually because I love it so much, am happy to have it here, near me, visible, touchable.
I have a lot of e mails outstanding, a lot of comments awaiting a response. I do apologise, truly. I try to respond to every comment and love to visit you too but I have been so busy this week time has ran away from me. Can I ask for your patience? Is that OK? I am hoping to set aside some time at the weekend to leisurely travel around cyber space and pop in for a cup of coffee. I won't let you down I promise.
This morning I made more videos for the new class. That Flickr group is very active already which I love. The friendships I see forming within those groups is possibly the best part of the whole experience for me so thank you, all of you.
Now I have to make pockets for London, simple pockets, white pockets.....that is how I will spend my afternoon.
I'm making good progress with this work, with these 7 inch embroidered squares for a new cloth book of embroidery. The paper piece featured in my last post and I...