Embroidered Teal Mirror

Started this so long ago ....pulled it from the UFO drawer determined it would get done!

I started the cover for this mirror you may remember this post

It began life as an ugly flower cut from fabric which I used at random just to play around with machine embroidery and sheer layers.

I kinda lost interest in it and a couple of times it spoke to me with the suggestion that I should cut it and weave it, which I eventually did...nothing to loose ...not precious in any way just experimental

Not too impressed with the cut and weave thing, after stitching it onto this crushed teal fabric deciding it would be the base of a mirror cover and set it aside again.....

Embellishment seemed to be the next course, perhaps some heavy layered stitching, I'm just not sure where to go with this one, I don't even like it much at the moment, but that's just another step in the process, I've been there before with other projects.....I just haven't worked out where to go with it next :?

a few months down the line and here it is!

Finished and embellished ....

with a mix of glass,
 handmade paper and handmade metal beads

cords and yarn

and another UFO complete,  now SOLD

Rethymnon Door

Finished! my little door photographed in Rethymnon Crete 

you may have seen my posts earlier about the Alison King workshop 'Entrances & Exits' and this is my finished doorway

the view through the window & door wirework is of Santorini,
a picture from a callander I bought in Crete

Update : the finished piece

Little House

I have been working a little project for the past couple of months in the construction of 'A Little House' 

each member of Fife branch Embroiderers Guild is making one for a future exhibition.

you may have read this post 'Little Stitches'where I posted some little glimpses of the pieces I was working on. This is it finally finished after much arranging and rearranging, sometimes you put things together and they look great for a while then the more you look ....they don't work any more when a better idea comes into play. I'm happy with the end result now ....

 front and side

Copper ring window surrounded with cast on stitches 

french knot roses

stump-work velvet window frame

little door

extending a little fragment

 back and side

Wisteria detail using isolated drizzle stitches on stump-work branches

working on the A-Z stitch tags has brought some new and varied stitches to my attention, this project has enabled me to develop them further so I feel doing the tags has been really worthwhile

 back view 

You can see also the laced up side closure on the right.

The transferred image is of a photograph of a real window from a derelict house from the Highland clearances the date plaque coincides with the period also.

my little spider and web I stitched at Halloween found a home!

as well as the Queen Ann's Lace.

This is the roof ....

strips of fabric, yarn and rick-rack, a paper butterfly and a vintage china cabinet key attached with some pink silk ribbon.

I have photographed it on top of my flower quilt you may remember my posts on that.....here

Flower Quilt

Retrieved from my workshop, I'm determined to work to get that completed, its been sitting unfinished for too long..... hopefully I'll get back on it soon.

Oh almost forgot my little house is called 'Blue Lace Cottage'

Fabric collage workshop

I recently attended a Richard Box fabric collage workshop with the Guild 

I didn't get any photos on the day, I was enjoying the process to much stop and get out my camera :)

The purpose of the workshop was to try the techniques that Richard uses to make his own beautiful collage pictures. Some of the group had taken a workshop with Richard before and they worked on the 'Primrose' but most of us worked on the 'Poppies' kit 

supplied and put together with instructions, and after a very clear demonstration from Richard we were soon all working on our own little creations.

Beginning with fabric snipping and glueing then free machine stitching. I did my hand stitching at home in the the evening ready to take back the next day for the final machine embroidery on top.

I was delighted with my little 'Poppies'

The rest of day 2 we worked on our own piece,
 most of them were larger, chosen from a photo, magazine cut out or painting.
 I chose this one 

 originally a greeting card which I kept as I liked the colours and composition 

I didn't get a lot of it done on the day as you can see and I had to put it aside thinking its going to take a bit longer to do and with all the preparations for Christmas taking over this past week. However with the technique still clear in my head and that need to work on it I decided to do another little one for a gift for my Mother, she has decided to add a touch of pink to her accessories in her living room and I found the perfect picture for her

this was taken by Kevin in Crete in 2005

and this is the piece I did

 sorry this is a bit blurry but you get the idea

 I added some seed beads to the centre

now framed and wrapped up

I hope she likes it!
Merry Christmas everyone wherever you are in the world,
& however you celebrate it x

A little bit of stitchery

I have had this little piece of fabric for about 20yrs or so

It came from a printed cushion panel, in fact I have two of them, they were printed alonside the main cushion square just using up space on the fabric I guess.

I came across it while searching for fabric to make myself a little case.

I thought it was a bit plain and not really my style so I decided to

 play around with the little heart print with some beautiful Oliver Twist space dyed thread

fluff up the sheep

 with a bit of needle felting and couched on some looped yarn, gave them a nice crimson yarn collar

and satin stitched the legs in a lighter colour.

add a couple of trees

and some more french knots because I enjoy stitching them

I resisted adding beads ,

 just wanted to be able to feel the texture of the stitches

I added a little bit of wool blanket offcut to the back before I started the stitching as I needed it to be thicker and padded.

and some lovely blue velvet I have had in my stash for ever

backed this too with with wool blanket offcut

and machine stitched a little tree

stitched them together

 to make a much needed glasses case for my handbag,
  another project complete and more of my stash used up

Thanks for stopping by

Yvonne x

Postcard Exchange

As mentioned briefly on this post, I recently took part in a postcard exchange via Ann's blog Freyed at the Edge.

The postcards were to be sent off before the end of January

these are the postcards I sent to Linda across the pond in Central PA.

 had a little fun with some scraps of fabric, yarns and threads and played with my sewing machine

I added some little beads and sequins to sparkle it up and some french knots

 because I love doing them

 and couched some dark bronze coloured wire for the stems, found a roll of it at the back of a drawer in my clear out......I should clear out more often :)

I hand stitched the edge to finish

I forgot to get a picture of the back of it which was white cotton and machine stitched with address lines and the word postcard, then I added a hand written message in pen.

Linda posted three cards to me, one stitched, one paper craft and one from her hometown you can see a picture and read her post about the cards she sent to me here on her blog why not pop over and visit.

Looking forward to seeing all the other postcards made for the exchange

Thanks for stopping by

Yvonne x