Embroidery, samples, hand stitching.....I'm relaxing a little with these whilst we have a break from Alchemy. I'm enjoying reconnecting with hand work, simple embroidery.
I love to work with paper as you know but that doesn't mean I have lost my love of cloth or simple, relaxing hand work.
It's a sample, purely a playful exercise, exactly the same relaxing and creative pastime as the pieces here.
This piece started life as a practice drawstring edge when we were creating lots of drawstring channels in stitch along. It's developed quite a bit since then and is fast becoming a fully embellished surface. As there were no firm plans for this when it was started I've been wondering how best to use it, how best to show off the embroidery and I'm beginning to think it would make a rather nice wrap for a little book full of white and froth and lace.
You know what that means don't you? It means I need to also create a little book full of white and froth and lace. That definitely won't be a chore.
I'm stitching away, constantly, in a happy place, creating, making knots, joining seams, playing with thread, playing with cloth.......only thing is there is nothing substantially different to show for it yet......yet. Later this week I will have not one but two finished pockets. Can you bear the excitement? Meantime I am making progress with this, a happy pocket, a titivated pocket. The seams are almost complete, next on the list...applique....so how's about I stitch five lemon French knots with you? A relaxing Sunday pastime.....
This piece is quite wide, fourteen inch seams width ways.....that's a lot of bullion knots. I was about to start beating myself up about the lack of embroidery added to this since you last saw it but I feel so much better since I measured it and realised how wide it was. One seam down,two to go or maybe one and a half because I have stitched tiny lemon running stitches along another.
Surface ''adornment'' wise there's still some way to go. More padded applique flowers and something else??? Don't ask, I don't know yet.
This one is finished now, backed and stuffed, edges hand finished with running stitch and a little puff on one corner. There are two more pieces like this still to work on, lace, silk and white which need to be embroidered. This one measures 6 x 5 inches and the others should be around that size too.
In the background, out of sight, I'm still playing with my scribble doodles.....I'm also mentally playing with ideas from yesterdays post, making lists in my head, wondering what I can mix with what, doodle and paper, doodle, scribble on cloth and what any accompanying paperwork might look like, what form that might take.
Later today I'll be cutting pages and sharpening my pencil not forgetting the embroidery I want to do too. Embroidery is the main focus, the pencil and paper a quick ten minute distraction every now and then.
Lemon, I like a bit of lemon every now and then and I especially like how easily it lives with white silk, white lace and white stitch. One of the three white pillow tops is finished. Now it needs to be backed, stuffed, have the edges titivated....you know the drill, stuff and stitch. There's a ring to that...''stuff and stitch'', I'm sure there's a song in there somewhere.
I probably had more to say today than I've managed so far but it's gone clean out of my head because there has been a bit of a catastrophe at Ruane towers in the last half hour. A full mug of coffee launched itself from my hand causing untold damage, thankfully not to cloth....phew.....but to my computer desk and a pile of papers, letters, invoices. Oh my days, I'll be peeling apart wet paper for hours. Happy days.....what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.....the cloth remains pristine, safe, white, fresh and very relieved.
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!!
Several vintage handkerchiefs.
A little muslin.
A panel of Broderie Anglaise. (for the lining)
Snippets of vintage trim.
Lace, old and new.
Two hand bound buttonholes.
Two hand made buttons.
Five tiny funky puffs, (hand made).
Coton a Broder.
Too many French knots to count.
Too many bullion knots to count.
Lots of tiny cross stitches.
A sprinkling of buttonhole lace.
A few detached chain stitches.
One or two applique circles.
Several bumpy bits.
Mix with a passion for titivation and cook for several weeks!!
You probably know that I am making pouches, two of them to be precise. One of them has a base of white silk and is mostly embellished with white embroidery along with a scattering of pale pink and green. The second one has vintage handkerchiefs forming most of the background, again it has mostly been embellished with white thread however this time lemon stitches have been scattered across it to echo lemon stitches which are present in one of the handkerchiefs.
You will be seeing these pieces a lot over the coming days. They are both almost finished, both spoken for. I have one or two seams to titivate and they will both need to be backed/lined. I will then concentrate on the body bag along with an art piece I have been working towards with the simply stitch 3 group. So pretty perfect plans I think........if only it would stop raining!
To those of you in the U.S. stay inside. keep warm. Keep safe......that's an order.
Happy Wednesday everyone. I said I would and I am. Show you the lemon work close up I mean. Here it is. One of these pieces is new, the prominent piece with the plain background. Laid next to the other pouch pieces it appears to fit, to be at home. A hand bound buttonhole has also found its way into these pictures and that will form part of the surface of this pouch too. I feel as if i've never been away. One week on and I've slipped back into my usual inane rambling easily, without as much as a stutter. It's all pouches, embroidery, buttonholes, cloth.....
This time last week it was so very different. It wasn't pouches, embroidery, buttonholes and cloth It was turkey and rich food, gravy and tasty morsels. Today? Nothing at all of any excitement taste wise is to be found in this house. The memory of last week has me longing for last weeks food. Today, for lunch, I had a slice of chicken that was drier than a desert dwellers flip flop.....the cupboards are bare. I say sack the housekeeper, (yes that's me. I live in hope). Or, an even better idea, if you are planning a turkey dinner anytime today please invite me, save me a seat.