Gifted Gorgeousness - February 2018

"GIFTED GORGEOUSNESS" ..... a monthly link party run by the wonderful Jo of Serendipitous Stitching. Link runs from the 15th until the end of the month. If you would like to find out more and maybe join up go HERE!

Read all about who's joining in with GG this month HERE (on Jo's blog).

Hello Dear Reader,

I don't have much to show this month! I haven't been stitching ..... I've been working on "A Fragile Nature", but ..... when we were shopping the other day I had a look at the magazines, like you do, and I just couldn't resist buying a copy of the March issue of Cross Stitcher which had this lovely free gift, and as a free gift this project qualifies for GG!


"Love & Roses"
Usual disclaimers apply here ..... I am not being paid, etc... however the free gift really appealed to me because it wasn't Aida, I think the fabric is linen, and the kit includes ribbons with instructions on how to make a spider web ribbon rose which is something I've been wanting to do but not had the ribbon to do it. The pattern is a mix of cross stitch and embroidery, with felt for the backing and a badge pin, oh and buttons too!

"Love & Roses"

Before I start stitching I always enlarge the pattern I'm working on and adhere it to A4 card, fold, add a Key, and punch holes for the threads. Usually I colour the pattern in as I stitch and then can tell where I’m up to. Couldn’t do that this time as it’s a coloured pattern, but it’s still easier to follow if it’s been enlarged. I did the same with the instructions too ..... and stuck them on the back of the card. The fabric is just the right size to use in a small hoop.

And so on Friday evening I was quite excited to get stitching!

It's a nice small project, easy to carry about, and it will be a pretty brooch, and since the badge I’d been making hasn't progressed lately I thought this would be a nice "quick” little project.

Now I just need some hand cream to sooth my dry winter hands to stop them catching on the cottons!

Keep Warm!

Whatcher stitchin'?

Hugs,

Barbara xxx

TUSAL - February 2018

Hello Dear Reader,

Oops, I should have posted this before IH&SW but I was trying not to be late with my first post for IH&SW. Just a shame I had about three posts ready to go at the same time.

Not a lot of stitching to show this time for TUSAL, as I've been mainly working on "A Fragile Nature".

I’ve found a nice new jar for my ORTS and pulled last month’s out of last year’s jar and started the New Year's jar, as you can see below!

ORTS this month were mainly from "Stitch by Stitch":

Stitch by Stitch - pattern by Anchor

a few from "Butterfly" (which is almost finished) and the rest from the free gift below:

"Love & Roses"

Read about "Love & Roses" HERE.





Barbara xx

International Hermit & Stitch Weekend (IH&SW)

Hello Dear Reader,

This is my first time joining in with Joysze's International Hermit & Stitch Weekend. The idea is to make time for a weekend of stitching bliss knowing that a group of us are all joining together in the same pursuit! 

Btw I hope I am doing this right! I couldn’t find a link up page ..... is there one? And, I’m sorry no pretty picture of the hermit .... I’m useless at grabbing code and pictures, and then I can never find the piccies in my files, but apart from that I think I’ve covered most things! Tee hee!

 I’ve even remembered to comment on the join up call ..... well, I'm learning.

Visit Joysze's blog ‘Random Ramblings’ to read all about it and see who else is joining in, and maybe next month you might like to join in too!

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I liked the idea of a cosy weekend stitching, especially as both DH and I have colds at the moment. My cold is not so bad now, and hopefully is on the way out, so I felt fine to sit and stitch. I made myself comfy, with the fire on, (it’s been pretty chilly here lately) in front of the TV (watching the Olympics of course). Don't tell DH (although I think he has a pretty good idea already) but this is exactly how I spent most of the weekend!

If you have visited my blog before you may well have seen this little project hanging around here, and last time it was looking like this:

Stitch by Stitch by Anchor

This weekend I started from the top and stitched round to the left with a row of white stitches and then a row of brown. It was very tricky stitching and the frog did visit a few times! The brown stitching and my few grid lines in certainly made it a whole lot easier to keep track.

Well, I am very pleased with the amount of stitching I did, and, in fact, I’ve been working on it again tonight too! Now I’m off to see who else was stitching this weekend!

Joysze, I'm really glad you asked me if I'd thought of joining in! I’ll see you next month!

Hugs,

Barbara xxx

A Fragile Nature

Hello Dear Reader,

If you are new here, or haven’t read my previous posts you might not know that I’ve joined a group of quilters called The Endeavourers and that we were all working on quilts of the same subject - 'Nature'. 

For all the gen about my new friends at The Endeavourers visit HERE, and their blogs are listed at the end of this page, so you can see the wonderful quilts they have made!




Firstly I must apologise to Catherine, Janine and the other “Endeavourers” for being so late. I really underestimated the time my quilt would take, and unfortunately a recurring back problem has stopped me working as quickly as I would have liked.

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"A Fragile Nature"

In my last post I spoke about my inspiration for this piece and how I got started ... HERE. 

Well .... there has been this box of fabric paints lurking, unused, in one of our cupboards ever since I took part in a workshop for block printing. I had the idea that one day I would add to my block prints ..... but that hasn’t happened yet! Happily this meant I had fabric paints on hand to use on this project.

Progress on my quilt has been soooo slow, what with my dodgy back and then the light not being good enough. But also, when I decided to paint my design I didn't realise how long it would take me to find the right colours, and then as I progressed I found I could only see properly to paint in daylight. I was also scared to add to the painting in case I ruined my project.

Main piece on the left, Tester 1 on the right.

My first attempt became one of my test pieces early on(Tester 2). I'd made the mistake of painting on wet fabric! Of course it ran! So, when I wasn't sure how to paint the blue there was plenty of fabric to experiment on.

Tester 2

Tester 3

In all there were quite a few test pieces, which looked quite pretty, but when I started on my main project I couldn’t remember which colours I'd mixed together. 

I realise ..... now (thanks to Google) ..... the way to do it is to make a chart!

Anyway, thanks to all the practice, I now have some pretty little pieces which I am thinking of using to make a pencil case one day.

This is the flimsy after adding the final colours to the dormouse.

The next step will be to outline the branches, berries, and dormouse with machine stitch.

Here you can see the binding I've painted too!

To read a little more about my quiltlet I hope you would like to pop over to The Endeavourers.

But it is already time to think about the next project: due 1st May 2018, and the subject is:

Change/Transformation.

Oh help ..... any ideas anyone????

Hugs

Barbara xxx

The Endeavourers:

Catherine - http://www.knottedcotton.com   @knottedcotton
Janine – https://rainbowhare.com/
Nancy – http://www.patchworkbreeze.blogspot.com/
Carol – http://beadsandbirds.blogspot.com/
Barbara – https://theflashingscissors.blogspot.co.uk/
Ruth – http://benandcharlyscorner.blogspot.co.uk/
Gwen – https://textileranger.com/
Martha – www.weekenddoings.com
Julie – www.pinkdoxies.com
Tonia – http://allthingzsewn.blogspot.com
Kay – http://thecraftyyak.wordpress.com
Soma – http://www.whimsandfancies.com/
Fiona - http://celticthistlestitches.blogspot.co.uk/