A Garden of Stiches

Brown Eyed Susans

2010-02-13T13:20:00.000-08:00

I am making a diaper bag for a friend. She bought plain brown fabric, so I thought it would be nice to do a simple embroidery on the front flap. I have a hard time making things that are completely plain, even if it takes longer. Seeing as it is for a diaper bag it couldn't be very elaborate, and needed to be easily washable.

My mother-in-law gave me a bunch of old iron-on embroidery transfers. Of all the daughter-in-laws (5 currently) and one daughter, there is only one other that does crafts, and she mostly makes soap, so I am getting most of her craft books and supplies. The transfer didn't seem to want to iron onto the fabric (I don't know if it was due to age or to the colour of the fabric), so I traced the image onto some tracing paper and sewed through it.

Here is the finished embroidery. It is simple, but I think perfect. It is all just done in backstitch with 2 strands of DMC embroidery cotton.

Hello

2010-01-21T14:24:00.000-08:00

I know I haven't been around for awhile, but I haven't been doing any embroidery. My printer is not working properly, so I have not been able to print faces for my grandma dolls, or to print the finishing touches for Marvella's memorial quilt. I hope to get to these soonish. I also need to create some Grandpa dolls, as my Grandpa died almost exactly 6 months after my Grandma.

A New Set of Grandma Dolls

2009-06-16T14:39:00.000-07:00

My other Grandma died in May. I wanted to make Grandma dolls for my family again, but this side of my family is much bigger than the first. So I came up with the idea of making a base image to which I can add some embroidery.

My Grandma and Grandpa lived on an orchard which they eventually turned into a Christmas tree farm for most of my life. We (along with cousins aunts and uncles) went there every summer to help with the cherry harvest. I myself picked cherries from age 8 to 16, when they changed to Christmas trees. To me my grandparents are linked to trees, and cherries in particular. So when I designed this doll I thought that it needed to be a cherry tree.

I drew the image on paper, scanned it, then used inkscape and gimp to make a digital file. I made a tree trunk with a sun above it. I will print off pictures of my grandma's face onto cloth and put them inside the suns. Then I can add leaves and cherries to the tree trunk and branches. The back has a heart with my grandma's name, birthdate and death date. I think that this will make for a simpler project for me, while still being beautiful. I was able to fit 30 dolls to a yard of fabric.

Pieces of Friendship

2009-05-19T10:54:00.001-07:00

I am participating in the Pieces of Frienship swap. For this swap you make 4 four inch puzzle pieces using any method. I chose to do mini crazy quilts.

Here are the 4 completed puzzle pieces placed together. I am really happy with how they turned out. I used a small nature image from some fabric scraps that I had for each puzzle piece. Then I surrounded them each with a little bit of some Spoonflower swatches. The spoonflower fabric was fairly dark compared to the middle images, so I chose threads to match colours from the centre image for the embroidery.

I started with the butterfly piece. The image got cut off a bit when I sewed the different fabrics together, so I wanted to "fix" the butterfly a bit. I embroidered a missing piece of the wing at the top and continued the branch it was sitting on out of the centre. I wanted the orange colour to balance out the orange of the butterfly, but I thought it might be too overpowering by itself. So the leaf, branch and vine type embroidery with orange french knots seemed just right. Then there were some empty spaces, so I thought that some detatched chain butterflies would go nicely.

I wanted to continue the centre image again for the flowers. I basically just added some stems and leaves that mirrored what was printed on the fabric. I liked the vines, leaves, branches, and butterflies from the first piece, so I just repeated them.

The frog didn't really need any touch up so I just repeated the same seam treatments and butterflies.

The bee also didn't need any touch up. The way this piece was cut, the left strip of fabric was much bigger than any of the other pieces. I ended up adding an extra branch there so it didn't look too plain.

Then I added a backing and blanket stitched around the edge. I used the light yellow to bring the colour out from the middle again.

Pagoda

2009-05-04T09:49:00.000-07:00

I made this pagoda for the front flap of a bag I made for my mom. It is done from a drawing I did of a miniature pagoda my parents brought back from Japan. The outline is done with 2 strands of embroidery floss in split stitch. The windows are done with one strand in back stitch. Then I added tear drop shaped beads at the corners to represent the lanterns of the pagoda.

My Grandma's Wreath

2009-03-12T15:53:00.000-07:00

This is one of my all time favourite things that I made for my Grandma. I made this a long time ago as well. The pattern was in Cross Stitch and Country Crafts magazine.

I don't know why it is so appealing to me. I'm not really a bird person, although this bird is really cute. I think the whole package just come together nicely.

This is probably the thing I wanted back from my Grandma the most. I have loved it since I made it, and I am really happy to have it back.

My Grandma's Heart

2009-03-05T17:35:00.000-08:00

I made this for my Grandma for Christmas in the early 90s. My aunt was going through my Grandma's things and thought I would want to have it back.

This is one of the first crazy quilt items that I ever made. I was working on my first crazy quilt at the time. My mom gave me a crazy quilting book (I think it is the original of this book), which led me to making the crazy quilt in the first place. It also had a bunch of small projects in it, including this heart. I made a few other ones. I can't even remember who for anymore, and I didn't take any pictures. I even was asked to teach a group of ladies at my Grandma's church how to make the hearts.

The flower in the centre is done with french knots. The rest is pretty simply decorated with cretan stitch, herringbone stitch, and beads.

Marvella's memorial quilt- the vines

2009-03-04T10:23:00.000-08:00

I am busy doing stem stitch vines along all the purple rectangles that surround the t-shirt pictures. I don't want the quilt to become too busy, but I thought the purple needed a bit of something.

Marvella's memorial quilt part 3

2009-03-01T13:48:00.000-08:00

I have finished sewing the t-shirt pictures, the framed picture and cloth from the dress together into a large square. I'm not sure that I used the best or easiest method to do this, but it looks good and is flat so that is all that really matters!

I started by sewing one side of the t-shirt pictures together with strips of the dress material.

Then I took the other side's t-shirt pictures and laid them on top to see how much fabric I would need in between them. Once this side was sewn together I really had to improvise to sew the whole thing together. At some points I ended up folding over the edges of the dress fabric and top stitching it to the t-shirt pictures. Once I had done this, I decided that I would top stitch around all of the t-shirt pictures so that it all looked the same. It also helped it to lie flat and I think it looks nice that way.

Now I am working on doing a bit of embroidery. I won't do too much, because the quilt is about the t-shirts, pictures and bridesmaid dress fabric.

Marvella's memorial quilt part 2

2009-02-28T08:41:00.000-08:00

Here is the finished picture "frame". I did a running stitch around the picture with some nice silk thread on both sides of the bias tape. Then I finished some more bias tape this way to make the bow at the bottom.
This is the bridesmaid dress that I am using in between the t-shirts. I think I will save the embroidered denim to make a Japanese knot bag for them as well.

Marvella's memorial quilt

2009-02-26T09:10:00.000-08:00

My brother-in-law's sister died unexpectedly a few months ago. They asked me if I could make a memorial quilt for them with her picture, some of her t-shirts, and her bridesmaid dress from my sister and brother-in-law's birthday.

I have finally been able to get started on it. I printed her picture onto some cotton cloth. In the above picture I am getting ready to sew the picture to some of the dress material. Iused safety pins to keep it in place and sewed it in place using bias tape.

Here are the pictures from the t-shirts that I decided to use. They gave me more shirts than I could use, so I chose ones that I thought represented her the best. I will post more pictures as my work progresses.

Grandma Dolls 13 & 14

2009-02-24T09:00:00.000-08:00

The final two grandma dolls. These are again basically the same except for the colour.

I started with the back stitch heart. Then I did 2 Maria's roses with cast on stitch. I gave the roses some leaves with detached chains done in silk ribbon. And finally I filled in the heart with beads. I first added the big beads, then filled in the area with the clear seed beads.

Grandma Dolls 11 & 12

2009-02-23T09:33:00.000-08:00

Here are the next 2 Grandma dolls. They are basically the same other than the colours so I decided to post them together.

As always I started with the back stitch heart. These dolls have 3 cast on stitch daisies with beads in the center and detached chain silk ribbon leaves. They are simple, but I think very pretty.

Finally there are 2 pink dolls (the other one will be in the next post). These both have the same heads as the other 3, except they only have 4 swarovski beads. The other 4 beads are pink bugle beads. They also have silk ribbon colonial knots, and their wings are off white with flecks of gold.

Grandma Doll 10

2009-02-22T16:07:00.000-08:00

Here is the next Grandma doll. I didn't chose who gets this one (or any of the following dolls). The remaining people to receive these dolls all live in my city so I decided to let them decide which one they get. Hopefully this doesn't cause any fights!

My grandma's favourite colours were pink and purple, so I wanted to do all the flowers in these colours. I didn't have much silk ribbon in these colours, so this is the only doll with silk ribbon flowers.

I did the heart in back stitch first. Then I did the 2 bullion roses. I added Japanese ribbon stitch flowers and leaves. Then I finished off with colonial knot centers and buds. I am really liking colonial knots over french knots in a lot of cases, because they seem to have more body for less wraps.

The heads of the remaining 5 dolls are all basically the same. First I surrounded the face with blanket stitch. Then I did a detached chain with silk ribbon between each "spoke" of the circle. Finally I alternated a bead and a colonial knot at the end of each "spoke". Here there are pink Swarovski beads alternating with purple colonial knots.

Grandma Dolls 8 & 9

2009-02-21T08:38:00.000-08:00

Here are the last 2 dolls for the babies. They are done the same as my daughters seen here.

There are 5 more dolls left to post about, they are more ornate.

Grandma Dolls 6 & 7

2009-02-20T10:52:00.001-08:00

Grandma Dolls 6 & 7
Originally uploaded by ilailea2.

Here are the next set of dolls. They are basically the same other than the centre flower(s).

I did blanket stitch and french knot flowers around the face. The heart and "Grandma" are done with back stitch. Then there are detached chain flowers with french knots in the centre.

Grandma doll 5

2009-02-19T13:35:00.001-08:00

Grandma doll 5
Originally uploaded by ilailea2.

Here is Grandma doll 5. This is for my nephew. It is on the simple side again, but he is older so I made him an angel doll. I found the perfect pattern for angel wings to crochet.

The face is surrounded by blanket stitch and french knot flowers with detached chain stitch leaves. The heart and words are done with back stitch. Then there is a cast on stitch daisy with french knots for decoration.

Gandma Dolls!

2009-02-18T11:13:00.000-08:00

I have finally started work to finish the Grandma dolls for the rest of my family. I have finished the embroidery, and now I am working on sewing them together and crocheting wings. I found the perfect pattern to crochet wings which helps a lot. I will post pictures of each individual doll when they are finished.

Sunshine

2009-02-07T12:30:00.000-08:00

Here is my newest attempt at creating embroidery. I have been having the song "You are My Sunshine" in my head as a symbol for my children for awhile now. I have been wanting to create some sunshine images because of this. I think it looks pretty good, and it gave me some ideas for other similar images to try.

There are some pencil marks still on the fabric, but otherwise I think this is done. I used back stitch and buttonhole stitch.

Happy Mistake

2009-01-13T16:02:00.001-08:00

I was ironing the edges under and got distracted. I ended up leaving the iron on it for a bit to long and it got scorched on one edge. But I had been thinking that the cloth was too white to go with the rest of the bag so I decided to scorch the rest. It almost looks coffee/tea dyed now. I don't know what the long term effects will be, but I am happy with it now.

To see the whole bag visit my other blog here.

Rose embroidery

2009-01-12T10:41:00.000-08:00

I have decided to start creating some line drawings to use for embroidering on things that I am sewing. I drew this rose using a picture I took of some roses awhile ago. I am going to make 2 of them and use them as applique patches on a diaper bag I am making myself. I think it turned out nicely.

I am only back stitching the lines at this point, because I want to get the diaper bag done. Eventually I think I will experiment to add some texture or something.

A mini crazy quilt

2008-12-29T15:42:00.000-08:00

This is the front flap of a diaper bag I made for my sister-in-law for Christmas. I wanted to do some embroidery, but I also wanted it to stand up to wear and tear so it is pretty simple. There are no beads. The centre flower is a Brazilian embroidery African Daisy. The inner seam treatments are all buttonhole stitch.

The rest of the bag is done in the dark green fabric bordering this block. I did feather stitch around the whole block. The thread I used to make the tree branches on the green fabric was once my great grandmother's thread!

Of course I forgot to take a picture of the whole bag, but the pattern I used can be found at Wired Up Designs and turned out nicely.

Back after the holidays

2008-12-19T13:59:00.000-08:00

I have been doing a bit of embroidery lately. I can't share it now, because it is on Christmas gifts, but I will be posting after Christmas.

"Blu" jeans

2008-09-24T14:13:00.001-07:00

IMG_4722
Originally uploaded by ilailea2.

This is a pair of "blu" jeans I am making for my son.The pattern can be found at: Blu

The yarn comes from a recycled sweater. I dyed some white with icy blue koolaid. Here you can see the embroidery is done to make them look like real jeans.

Meredith's Doll

2008-08-10T15:26:00.001-07:00

IMG_4501
Originally uploaded by ilailea2.

I made a doll for my niece's 1st birthday. Here is a close up of the embroidered face. It was much easier to do than I expected, and I think it turned out nicely.

Grandma Doll 4

2008-07-30T17:40:00.001-07:00

Grandma Doll 4
Originally uploaded by ilailea2.

I have finished the 3rd and fourth Grandma dolls. These will be for my niece and my brother and his wife.

I decided to make the adult dolls all look like angels. I think I am going to have to work on the wings a bit, but I think this one turned out nicely.

The doll for my niece is the same as the one I made for my daughter, except with her face instead.

2nd Grandma Doll

2008-07-02T19:45:00.000-07:00

Here is my second Grandma comfort doll:This one is for my daughter. I made it simple with only thread embroidery and no beads. I want her to be able to play with it and touch it if she wants. She is three so beads probably would have been okay, but I think that this design will allow the doll to stay nice for awhile at least whatever she does with it.

I did buttonhole stitch around her face. I alternated between long and short buttonholes. I then put a detached chain between each buttonhole stitch. I added a yellow French knot on the short buttonholes and a pink French knot on the long ones.

I also added a picture of my daughter from when she was a baby. I did short buttonhole stitch all the way around her face, then went around again with longer buttonhole stitches between each of the short ones. I wanted it to look like a sun, because I like the idea of the song "You are my Sunshine" referring to babies and children. And the great grandchildren were my grandma's sunshine.

1st Grandma Doll

2008-06-12T20:05:00.000-07:00

I have finished my first Grandma doll.

I think that it turned out nicely. I used some of the kimono fabric that my parents brought back from Japan for the front. I made the body so that there was a head space at the top and then it flares out at the bottom so that the wings could be seen from the front.

I used colonial knots with pink silk ribbon, detached chain stitch with thread and beads to circle her face. On the body I decided to make a stem stitch heart. Then I made detached chain leaves and Japanese ribbon stitch flowers . I made the flowers and leaves over the petals that you can see on the kimono fabric. I started off with the leaves, then made the flowers. I started inside the heart, then decided that it looked nice to have a few outside.

On the back I used the rose fabric I bought to make the dolls. I backstitched my Grandma's name, birthdate, and date of death.

My Grandma

2008-05-30T16:28:00.000-07:00

My Grandma died in November. It was a bit sudden, but I think that she is happier. She went from living in her own home at almost 91 to breaking her leg and being in a nursing home. It was really hard on her to be so dependent on others. She was really happy to have had 4 great grandchildren, 3 of whom were born the summer before she died.

Anyways Beadin' Gram made a post in April about a pin she made in remembrance of her mom. This made me think of my grandma. I have decided to make some dolls for my grandma's immediate family with my grandma's face. I also thought that it would be nice to take a picture of the 4 great-grand children's faces and make a doll of my grandma holding them. My daughter is almost 3 so hopefully she will remember my grandma, but the babies will only have pictures.

I have the faces ready to print, and today I got some cloth that is ready to be printed on. I was going to make my own printable cloth, but I have been having trouble finding freezer paper. I also got some nice pink fabric with roses, which I think my grandma would have liked. So now I just have to get going on these dolls. I think I will use the wings I posted about below for my doll, because it will make my grandma into an angel.

Cafepress

2008-04-24T12:12:00.001-07:00

I have opened a Cafepress store which includes some images of my embroidery seen here. If you are interested take a look here for some nice items.

Wings

2008-04-22T15:02:00.001-07:00

I have had these wings for a long time, probably more than 10 years. I bought them because I loved them, but I was never quite sure what to do with them. Today I was reading the Comfort Doll Project blog, and I saw this doll with wings. It immediately made me think of my wings. I think that I have finally found the perfect project for these wings!

Kimono Cloth

2008-04-22T14:36:00.001-07:00

My parents have just returned from 3 weeks in Japan, and they have brought me this lovely fabric. It is 4 pieces reclaimed from old kimonos.

There is red...

Black ...

Pink...

and Purple!

They all have different textures and designs. I am really happy to have received these pieces of fabric, and I think I will have to make a crazy quilt with them.

My Daughter's face

2008-04-03T19:14:00.001-07:00

I am done the stitching on my daughter's face portion of this embroidery. It is done on light pink dupioni silk with dark brown thread. I am not sure what exactly the thread is, my mom says it was something my great grandmother used.

Next I will need to practice doing cherry blossoms, before I add them to this embroidery. I think that I will do the cherry branches with casalguidi stitch, but I have to plan and practice the flowers.

My Daughter's embroidery started

2008-04-02T17:46:00.000-07:00

I have started my daughter's embroidery. I took a copy of the drawing and am sewing through the paper onto the cloth. I will tear the paper off when I am done the main components, then I will add some detail.

This is what it looks like so far. I did the outline in stem stitch, and the details are in backstitch and straight stitch.
Here is a slightly blurry picture without the flash. You can see the drawing and see what I have left to do. It is turning out fairly nicely so far. I wasn't sure what to expect.

New Blog

2008-03-28T09:10:00.000-07:00

I have decided to make a new blog for all my non-embroidery related crafts. You can see it at http://ilailea-dragonstreasure.blogspot.com/

needle felted chick

2008-03-20T12:58:00.001-07:00

needle felted chick 1
Originally uploaded by ilailea2.

This is the second project in the needle felting course I am taking through Joggles.com. It is so cute. Now that I have put it down for a few days I see that I really should needle it better.

The felting process seems to be never ending. It looks done and then you bend a part or leave it and suddenly it doesn't look quite so done anymore.

I am now working on the final project from the class. It is a cute bunny. I hope to have it done for Easter, but felting the cover wool is going to take a long time. It took me a few hours just to do each arm and I am seeing some parts that might not be as done as they could be still. But that is what I will be doing for the next while, when the kids let me!

Needle felted Ukrainian egg

2008-03-18T13:22:00.001-07:00

Needle felted Ukrainian egg
Originally uploaded by ilailea2.

I have been taking an introduction to needle felting class by Amy Rawson at www.joggles.com. The first project was eggs. I love Ukrainian eggs, so I decided to try needle felting one. This is a simple 40 triangles pattern. When I have more time I will probably attempt more complex designs.

My Daughter's embroidery

2008-02-25T12:36:00.000-08:00

I have been thinking about doing an embroidery for my daughter for awhile now.

My dad and me are big fans of Japan. When my daughter was born, one of my dad's friends in Japan said she looked like a flower petal or something like that. This led to my dad asking for a Japanese name for her. Her Japanese name is Sakura-Chan. Sakura is the Japanese cherry blossom.

When my daughter was 4.5 months old, I drew this picture of her while she was sleeping in my arms. So my plan is to embroider this picture with cherry blossoms around it. Right now it is just in the planning stages. If it works out nicely I want to do the same thing for my two nieces whose Japanese names mean peach blossom and dogwood blossom. Eventually my son should have a Japanese name as well and then I will make him one also.

I'm Back

2008-02-13T13:49:00.000-08:00

Well after about a year of not doing anything crafty really I have started back at it. It is tough to do too much with a baby and a toddler. I have started with some crocheting and knitting. I have also been trying needle felting. I watched Martha Stewart show needle felting on Ugg boots and decided I wanted to try it. Here is my second try at it. This is a hoodie for my new niece Meredith.

Update

2007-10-08T11:50:00.001-07:00

Well I haven't been doing much embroidery for the last little while. I was in the hospital and on bed rest for most of July due to pregnancy complications. Then my family was adjusting to life with a new baby. Here is Anthony at 2 months old.

Things are settling down now, so I hope to start some doing embroidery again. I signed up for Sharon B's Sumptuous Surfaces class, but haven't had a chance to do more than look at the first lesson. I plan on working my way through that class (better late than never), as well as working on some other ideas/projects that I have been thinking about.

Flower Girl Dress

2007-04-29T07:47:00.000-07:00

My daughter was the flower girl for my brother last summer, and they asked me to make her dress. Their colours were pale yellow and sage green.

The pattern of four flowers and one flower linked by a vine with leaves goes around the whole skirt. I used satin ribbon and filled the centers with beads, so the dress is kinda heavy.

The bottom picture is my daughter on the wedding day at the picture taking session.

My first Crazy Quilt - close up of embroidery sampler section

2007-04-25T17:24:00.000-07:00

Ok, this is the close ups of the embroidery.

My mom took Brazilian Embroidery Classes probably 20 years ago. She gave her left over threads, as well as the books when I was finishing this quilt. I had never done Brazilian Embroidery before, so I decided to give it a try. These 4 blocks have one of most of the different kinds of flowers in the books.

A couple of the flowers are done in both Brazilian Embroidery and silk ribbon embroidery to see a compairison of the two.

Each square has a different representation of a tree. There are also a few insects and animals.

The white feather stitches done to separate the sections are done with silk that I spun on my spinning wheel. It is not the most even thread, so I doubled it to even the thickness somewhat.

It is nice to have these samples to help me decide what I might what to do in the future. The Brazilian Embroidery books are all line drawings, so it is nice to be able to see the actual flower.

My first Crazy Quilt - close up of crazy quilt portion

2007-04-18T16:33:00.000-07:00

Here is a close up of the 5 crazy quilt blocks.

I didn't really know what I was doing when I started this quilt. I saw a crazy quilt somewhere and decided that I wanted to try it, so I took a bunch of different cloths and cut them up into small pieces. I then basically basted them onto a 12 inch square of old, soft denim. I just fit the fabric pieces together how I cut them.

Once I started stitching I realized that I had cut the pieces way to small, and it was a huge job to embroider all the edges. Most of the borders are just basic stitches. I had a basic book (which I can't remember the name) with some projects and basic stitches. All the edge stitches come from that book.

All of the squares use the same fabrics over and over. On some of the fabrics I even used the same stitch and colour of thread each time the fabric appeared. I found the small size of the pieces and the repetition eventually became monotonous, so I took a huge break (like 8 years probably) before finally finishing the quilt. When I decided that I finally needed to finish the quilt, I decided to go with the faux crazy quilt blocks. I will show close ups of those blocks next time.

My first Crazy Quilt

2007-04-15T17:22:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone. It has been a long time since I last wrote, and for that I am sorry. The reason for this is mainly because I am five months pregnant. Between working full time, taking care of my 22 month old daughter, and being pregnant I have not had much energy to do anything lately. I am hoping to get going on some small projects again though.

But for now I thought that I would post about some of my old projects of which I am really proud. To start I have my first crazy quilt.

This quilt is a mix of real crazy quilting and faux crazy quilting. I got tired of doing the crazy quilt blocks, because they are all similar, so I decided to finish the quilt off with a sampler of different embroideries. They are mostly silk ribbon and brazilian embroidery. I will post closer up shots of each square in future posts.

Take a Stitch Tuesday-detatched chain, cretan, chevron

2007-02-06T12:36:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone,

I am sorry I haven't been around lately, but I have had a ton of appointments and some illness.

Anyways I have made a new sampler with detatched chain, chevron and cretan stitches. The border is 4 different chevron/detatched chain combinations. The tree trunks and grass are cretan stitch.

Take a Stitch Tuesday - Buttonhole Stitch - Comments

2007-01-18T17:18:00.000-08:00

I have had a lot of nice comments on my buttonhole sampler, and would like to say thank you. I have also has some questions about it, so I will answer them here.

Lil asked if the thread is variegated. Yes the thread is variegated. It is watercolors by Caron. My daughter has done something with the tag so I don't know the name of the color.

Tina asked about the stitch halfway down the sampler that crosses over. It is called antwerp edging stitch, which Sharon B shared with us in her Personal Library of Stitches class at Joggles.com. I also did single and double knotted buttonhole stitch which I aslo got from Sharon's class.

Take a Stitch Tuesday - Buttonhole Stitch

2007-01-13T11:59:00.000-08:00

Ok I have finally completed my buttonhole stitch sampler. It took a lot longer than I thought it would. I did it on 14 count aida.

Take a Stitch Tuesday - Herringbone 2

2007-01-05T11:06:00.000-08:00

Here is my new herringbone sampler. I used some felted wool (old second hand store pants). I think that the fabric was perhaps a bit too busy, but light coloured threads worked out ok. I will do samplers on evenweave/linen/etc too, but I want to experiment with different fabrics as well as stitches in these samplers.

Take a Stitch Tuesday - Herringbone 1

2007-01-04T17:00:00.000-08:00

Wow it's been awhile since I have posted! Well the first stitch in Sharon B's TAST challenge is Herringbone stitch. I have started a sampler and will post a picture soon. But for now I thought I would direct people who are interested to the sampler that I already posted. I did this one during Sharon's personal library of stitches class.

My Daughter's Christmas Stocking

2006-12-19T16:26:00.000-08:00

This is the Christmas stocking that I made for my daughter's first Christmas last year. It has 4 different red fabrics which I did feather stitch over the seams, and buttonhole stitch around the cross stitches and along the green edges. I was so pleased with this that I decided to make ones for my husband and I as well. So now I am busy finishing them up. Hopefully I will get them done in time.

My Grandma's Christmas Present

2006-12-19T16:19:00.000-08:00

My Grandma has loved hummingbirds all my life and we have given her lots of hummingbird items over the years. When I saw this tatted hummingbird pattern I knew that I wanted to make it for her. I added a three petal woven detached chain flower and put it into the front window of a photo album for her.

Take a Stitch Tuesday

2006-12-13T17:42:00.000-08:00

This is a reminder to anyone who may have for gotten, and an introduction to anyone who hasn't heard about Take a Stitch Tuesday, hosted by Sharon B. You can learn more information here at Sharon's In A minute Ago Blog. The more people who participate the better, so I hope to see you there!

Class Block Finished

2006-12-11T16:45:00.001-08:00

Class Block Finished
Originally uploaded by ilailea2.

I have finally finished my class block for Sharon B's Encrusted class. I am very pleased with how it has turned out. I am not sure what I will do with it yet, but I am leaning towards framing it and putting in on my wall.

Sampler #3-Finished

2006-12-07T16:13:00.000-08:00

I have finally been able to finish this sampler. It took a long time, but I am happy with the outcome.

I have added chain stiched, feather stitches, moss stitches, and button hole stitches. I chain stitched over the swirls that were already on the fabric to make them stand out some more. I also satin stitched over a plastic ring in the bottom right corner.

Sampler #3

2006-11-30T16:29:00.000-08:00

I have started my third sampler. I don't have a lot of time to work right now so I am behind on the lessons of Sharon B's Personal library of stitches class. I have decided that this sampler with incorporate parts of all the lessons so far.

I decided to use some diaper flannel for this sampler. I started with a simple border of stem stitch done with some silk I spun myself. It is not super even so the border has thicker and thinner parts.

Ever since I first saw the Casalguidi stitch in Sharon's stitch dictionary I have wanted to try it. I thought the swirls on the fabric were the perfect place to give it a go. I think that it would have been better to use a less thick thread, but all in all I am happy with my first try.

Then I decided to do some woven detached chain stitches over the tight curve of the Casalguidi stitch. Now I have started mimicking the bottom left swirl with french knots. They are smallish and fairly dense at this time. I intend to change the size and density as I work the spiral. I may also change the thread and colour.

Herringbone Sampler

2006-11-26T15:38:00.000-08:00

I have finished my herringbone sampler. As you can seen I did a lot of experimentation with lacing. Mostly it was lacing the herringbone to look like rows of flowers.

Third from the bottom I tried out lacing the herringbone with 2 different fun fur yarns, and 2 different threads.

Then I couch down a piece of satin ribbon with a plain herringbone.

Finally I did a triple overlapping herringbone. It got slightly wider and shorter each time. It kinda reminds me of string art.

2006-11-25T17:30:00.000-08:00

Ok I have been able to do quite a bit of beading last night and today. I think I am nearing the end of this block, although I have at least some beading left to do on the upper left corner. I added some garnet beads to the yellow ribbon, but nothing else at this time.

In the upper right corner I added a whole bunch of beads. I went a little crazy with the beads I think. There are some opaque green Swarvowski beads, and some pearl shaped beads, then a ton of sead beads that are clear, white, and white with yellow or pink showing through.

Next I added 3 black buttons and some yellow bugle and sead beads to the flower spray on the lower right. I also added gold sead beads and clear green Swarvowski beads to the row of flower lace along the bottom right corner.

Finally I added some black Swarvowski beads to the centers of the yellow tatted row, and some reddish sead beads to the picots on the side of the tatting. Then I added some buttons with bead tassels, and some pink and black stone beads to the opposite seam. I filled in the center with a spider's web. I thought about making a spider for the web, but I think that I will look for a spider charm or something first.

Whole Block

2006-11-23T16:27:00.000-08:00

This is a view of my complete block. I haven't had chance to do much beading, but I like how it is going so far.

I have added oval beads to the lace on the bottom left corner, and sead beads to the flower centers of the lace in the top right side.

It is tough to get much done each night, but it will get done!

Started Beading

2006-11-22T16:35:00.000-08:00

I have finished the last of the stitching (I think!), and have started to work on the beading. So far I have just added beads to this seam of lace, but I am amazed at how it already has changed the look of the entire block.

Crazy quilt block progress

2006-11-20T17:07:00.000-08:00

I think that I am about ready to start adding the hard embellishments to this block now. I need to figure out what I want to do with the celtic knot in the bottom corner, and possibly add to the buttonhole seam along the bottom, but otherwise I think it is time to add buttons and beads.

Week 2 Sampler

2006-11-20T16:56:00.000-08:00

I have finished a sampler on points from lesson 2 of Sharon B's personal library of stitches class. I added a stem stitch border on the inside of the guilloche stitch that I had previously done, and then all of the sampler embroidery was done using only the colors from the border. I also added in some green seed beads at the bottom.

Progress on my block

2006-11-16T17:00:00.000-08:00

This is my progress on my block so far. I have added a lot of seam treatments since my last post, but I haven't had time to blog.

I still have a couple of seam left to do. I also think that I will add more of the pale yellow roses and add to the feather stitch seam that is beside the roses. Not sure what else I will do, before moving onto the hard embellishments.

The Latest Additions

2006-11-12T17:01:00.000-08:00

This is what I have been able to add to my block.

I couched down some fun fur yarn with feather stitch in one corner.

I added a celtic knot which I will fill in with more stuff later.

Finally, I added some gold thread to the vein in the row of flower lace.

The colour is a bit off, but you can get the idea of how it looks.

1st Motif

2006-11-11T15:09:00.000-08:00

Well I finally feel like I have more time to stitch.

I have been working on a spiderweb rose motif in the corner. I started with the herringbone seam treatment. I liked the last experiment I did on my sampler so much that I decided to use it as a seam treatment on this block. It kinda looked like a row of vases or trellis to me which led me to start making the roses. I did a bunch of roses, did some stem stitch tendrils, and then filled in the spaces with detached chain leaves done with wool thread. I will probably be adding a bunch of beads when the time comes.

I'm not sure what the arches at the side will be, but it just seemed right when I was stitching. I will add more there later.

I covered the seam on the side with a strip of suede that I couched on with zigzag chain stitch.

2006-11-09T15:44:00.000-08:00

I haven't had much time to do anything but eat, sleep, and work lately it seems. But I have been doing a sampler of different herringbone ideas. It isn't finished, but I thought I would post a picture of it in progress.

The first row is just herringbone done with the same thread as the border.

Next is herringbone which I wove like a spiderweb rose around the crosses with some thread. The fifth spoke is made by the thread that you are wrapping around the herringbone cross.

The third row is some larger herringbones done in green with smaller burgandy herringbones over top. Then I made a small stitch over the crosses of the smaller harringbone.

Next, I thought that in my first attempt of weaving the herringbone the herringbone was not tall enough, so I made a taller and narrower row of herringbones and wove around them. I thought it looked nicer this way. Half the row was done with weaving on the top and bottom, and the other half with just the top woven.

The fifth row was again weaving the herringbone crosses, but this time with silk ribbon. The left third is done with 4mm ribbon, and the right third was done with 7mm ribbon. I left the middle section empty so I could see the herringbone itself.

Finally I have done 2 rows of a very tall herringbone under a shorter one. On the first of these I have put stitches on all of the crosses, including where the 2 herringbone rows intersect. On the left side I did horizontal stitches, on the right side I did vertical stitches, and on the middle I did both. The other similar row is not done yet, but I intend to experiment with the spiderweb rose type weaving again.

Second Sampler Boarder

2006-11-05T12:17:00.000-08:00

Ok I have finished my second sampler boarder. I used 25 count evenweave and watercolours by Caron thread in Royal Jewels. I did the Nun stitch that Jacqui suggested in the class forum.

I think I will start stitching on this sampler soon, as I have some herringbone variations I have been wanting to try.

Sharon B's Personal Library of Stitches Class

2006-11-05T08:58:00.000-08:00

I have finished the border of my first sampler for Sharon B's Personal library of stitches class which I am also taking.

This is a 4x6 inch rectangle. A number of years ago I went to a second hand store and bought a bunch of old wool pants to felt with the intention of making a simple quilt I saw in a magazine. Well I never got around to making the quilt, but I still have all the wool. I have sent the fabric through the washer and dryer, but I don't think that it has felted as much as it could.

Anyway, I thought that the wool looked kinda like evenweave, and Sharon said to try out different fabrics, especially felt. I also got some 25 count evenweave to use, but this fabric was a bit more inspiring, so I started with it.

First I pulled out 4 threads to make the 4x6 rectangle. I sewed stem stitch along the pulled line with perle cotton #5. Then I did Guilloche stitch. The running stitch was done with the same perle cotton #5, the weaving was done with some unknown thread which was thicker than the #5, and the french knots and backstitch was done with thin Brazilian Embroidery rayon (size: Iris).

I wasn't sure how to join the Guilloche stitch at corners, so I decided to do a little backstitch design in the corner instead.

Grape Vine (Part 2)

2006-11-04T07:42:00.000-08:00

I have been really busy lately, but I have finally been able to complete the vine and grapes seam treatment!

I did french knot grapes with a 2 ply wool blend. On top of the foundation grapes I did another layer of french knots with one ply of the wool to make it look more like a real bunch of grapes. Then I connected each grape bunch to the center vine with a small stem of the same wool that I used for the tendrils on the leaf side.

Next I did ribbon stitch silk ribbon leaves at the ends of the tendrils, and I added a vein up the center of each leaf with a strand of something that I think might be silk. It is from a stash of threads given to me by my mom, which belonged to my great grandmother.

Grape Vine (Part 1)

2006-10-30T16:39:00.000-08:00

I have started my second seam treatment. I had some nice lace shaped like leaves which I dyed green.

I decided the leaves would look a bit more realistic and nice if I whipped the top bar and the stems with some brown threaded silk.

And finally I added some tendrils on the opposite side.

Next I will be adding grapes, and perhaps other things

My first seam treatment

2006-10-28T20:17:00.000-07:00

I have finished my first seam treatment on my block. I did button hole stitch in a wave with the points always facing out on the curve side. This was done with 2 strands of DMC stranded cotton. Then the inside of each curve has a bullion rose, and stem stitch stem with detached chain leaves. These were done with a thicker cotton. Finally I put a french knot at the end of every 4th button hole point with some DMC stranded linen. I will probably add some beads later on when I get to that stage.

These are close up views of the seam.

2006-10-27T16:59:00.000-07:00

This is my block and the lace I have chosen for it. The lace was all cream coloured, so I decided to dye it.

I got some lace dye at the creative needleworks festival. This is the first time that I have tried dyeing lace, although I have dyed yarn before.

I am really pleased with the results.
Now I can start embroidering on the seams!

Lace, braid and trim

2006-10-25T16:55:00.000-07:00

I did not add any lace, braid or trim when I was putting my block together. I have decided that I will have to go back and do that.

I have a bunch of cream or white lace, etc that I got recently at a creative needlework festival, as well as some lace dye. I am going to try my hand at dyeing the lace before I add it to my block.

I don't have any pictures at this time, but I will take some before and after shots and post them later.

CQ block 1

2006-10-24T16:39:00.000-07:00

CQ block 1, originally uploaded by ilailea2.

This is the first block that I have pieced for Sharon B's online encrusted crazy quilt class offered by Joggles.com.

It is 12 inches by 12 inches, and has 14 different fabrics. There are two dark greens that don't look really green in the photo, which balances it out a bit better in person. I ended up with 2 slivers of the square that didn't get covered, so I reused the light pink to finish off the square.

I can't wait to get going on the embellishment now!