Another lockdown, another flurry of finished items.

Well just over a month ago we were going to have our embroidery meeting and suddenly we were in lockdown 4 stay at home. How many were taken by surprise at the swiftness of the lockdown and were you prepared for a lengthy stay at home event?

   

Hardanger Scissor case and needlebook - finished.

My stitching was certainly taken by surprise. It sat up, looked at me and said you have time, stitch me now. Unfortunately, it did not happen. I did finish a couple of small items, stitched the remainder of my guild project "Wessex Sampler", (thought about the finishing and decided I didn’t quite know what I was doing), sewed more masks and wheat bags as well as a stitch bob for myself. Magazines were reviewed with some since Level 3 finding a new home as  life has opened up. I even managed to complete about three days of card making which used a bit more of the stash and was a relaxing way to have a three day weekend.

Mystery Sampler moving right along

Since I have been back at school, the mystery sampler has been looking at me and I have been busy stitching, changing the stitches and sorting out the colours. The power of the black and white photo is great when looking at tonal variety. It has been interesting to view the many finished ones online, and hopefully at the next conference we should have a great display. Many are finishing them as a bag pocket or cushion which is totally suitable.

Project bag - partially made from recycled laundry bag.

Another thing i have been trying to improve is my sewing skills and making project bags. My friend makes really lovely ones and I have been the recipient on several occasions. This is my attempt at making one with a see through front using a recycled laundry bag. It took a lot of undoing before it was finished.

Fruit paste version 2 - Citrus and apple

Also this year I have been using excess fruit in making fruit paste to have with cheese and crackers, mostly becuase I no longer have jam and toast for breakfast. The first lot was feijoia and apple - this is citrus and apple. Very tasty as mum and I had some at the weekend. I am also trying to use scraps of linen to make scissor fobs for sale and this is one that is quite nice to stitch and bead.

Scissor fobs - for sale.

 Diane

Charming or Tedious

My thought for the day is:

“It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious” Oscar Wilde.

Some days my stitching is in the same frame. It is neither good nor bad, but I am charmed by the development and thoughts that happen as I stitch (currently on the ANZEG mystery sampler which is having a lot of stitch development in my case) or I find that the pattern or colour is tedious and I want to get this out of the way.

I have just finished a hardanger scissor case and needlebook and I realised why I have not done large scale hardanger projects. The buttonhole edge drove me nuts and I could only do one thread at a time. This for me was some tedious stitching but others find it charming. How are you viewing your stitching this month?

I will find time later this month to post pictures of the completed stitching and also the Wessex needlebook that our guild is creating. I am slightly behind but getting there.

Embroidery conference

Well finally the conference is here and I have had two days of classes so far. It has been a bit of dega vu today with Betty Morgan 's class but still we learnt some new things and did finish our little small to go with the Gathering for Winter etui.

Saturday saw Cheryl, Marilyn and I drive to Auckland to arrive at Stephanie's in time for a cuppa and then all off to Ellerslie Event Cetnre for the exhibition and merchants mall where we managed to spend a bit of money. Maree met us just after three pm and we wandered into the exhibition to see maree's pieces on display. It was fun choosing the ones that we thought might win. Marilyn and Stephanie went out for dinner while I attended the conference dinner with Maree and other members of our guild and region. The highlight of the day was the winning of the traditional award by Maree for her white work Angel. Really lovely. She was also given a merit award for her Founders piece so very successful evening for her.

Sunday saw Marilyn, Stephanie and I visit Sylvia Park for retail therapy then to Bean There Cafe for lunch before I went back to the conference to see if I could get into her Jo Dixey speak. Unfortunately I could not so Cheryl and I had another round of retail therapy and I purchased some extra things for Marilyn. Stephanie had taken Marilyn to the airport, but we were alerted that her flight was delayed and her arrival at home was about an hour later than expected.

Monday - up early to drive to the event centre and only had one hiccup being the wrong lane on the grit south road. Got to class in plenty of time to find a nice space with good light. It was pleasing to see that all 21 of us had completed our pre stitching and I was not the only one to use the pumpkin thread instead of the gold one. Betsy's notes are excellent and really detailed. if you read them through, it sounds like she is talking to you. 

Day 2 pincushions completed for gathering for winter etui

Waxer box for "its for Betty" etui

Day 1 class: waxer box for etui but still no cords to tie it together.

Day 3 and 4 sees me doing a class with Alison Snepp - a miniature white work sampler. Due to her requirements no photos will be posted but this piece is lovely and I am enjoying the stitching all though I have not spent five hours stitching for a long time so today was a long day. After class we went up to Silks Cafe to discuss class, have a drink and take part in a short quiz evening, where Cheryl ended up getting the highest number of points while Maree and I were in the next group. We all came home with a box of woollen threads but Cheryl did get a little wooden pincushion form which is cherming. I also got another dmc thread so that was nice but same pattern as the one I already have so disappointed. Well off to bed now so will post this hoping that the pictures work and if not I can fix them at the weekend.

Its been a couple of busy months

I did not realise that it had been so long since posting but I have been having a very busy time with school, stitching and swapping as well as card making on the side. For another month I have had to change logins and passwords for everything so it is becoming a pain to try and remember them as now you cannot use the same word again.

Anyhow here are the photos that I have taken of work recently.

The first two are brooches that I have been making for sale in the Percy Thomson Gallery in Stratford. They currently have a textile art exhibition so very fitting they are on sale. 

Flower Brooches - one already sold

Octy pins I call these. Having fun with embellishments

On the Stampin Up side of things I have had a couple of card nights as well as having the odd afternoon with friends. It has been fun but I am trying to use up more of my supplies so the holiday break will hopefully see me making some more children's cards to sell. Pinterest is a great resource for ideas.

My next big project idea is making project bags for my conference classes. I decided that I needed a notes folder for myself so that is what i made. Then as I will be in class with a couple of friends and their usual holder of a plastic bag is not ideal I have made one for each of them. Next I decided that Marilyn needs one for her Betsy Morgan class so a quick visit to steal some of her fabric and i will have it made next weekend. They have been fun to make and I am looking at making a couple for myself rather than just the one. This weekend I have to get all my supplies organised for conference - mostly just needles, scissors, light and hoops i think plus my spending money.

On the home front Ewan and Erin arrive today with Erin staying with me the nights she is in Stratford. It will be fun and I hope that she is warm enough.

Conference is over

Well conference is over for two years and it was a success at least for me. I came home with something that is finished today and even wore it out of the classroom.  Marilyn and I did felted flowers and butterflies with felicity Willis and both got them finished. I made a butterfly while Marilyn did a red flower. Here is a photo of our classes work from today. It was loads of fun and we used this amazing stuff called wash away fabric. It just dissolved in hot water. Most exciting part of the day.

My butterfly is the one in the middle. 

Embroidery conference classes

My class with Jo dixey was a hoot. I learned lots and her technique was fabulous. So fast and so sure. No agonising over stitch placement, no wonder I love needlepoint. Here is my face after day one and then day three, no I between photo.

Another month done

I have finished the ginkgo leaf for BJP and Creative Stitchers this month. 

The ginkgo leaf belongs to Alison when I checked my records not Glenis who often uses it in her sample works. As this was a pieces tried to do quickly I decided to layer chiffon fabric over the vilene shape which allowed the vein lines to show. Once I started stitching the bead lines I decided not to encrust the shape as this would takeaway the texture of the nobbly veins and bring relief to the smoothness of the leaf. I beaded the edge with a single bead buttonhole stitch as I will not be applying this piece and felt that this would give a suitable edge to stitch it on with. This was a meditative piece using a very  small palette of colour.

May 2011 BJP done

 May 2011 BJP piece completed. This project had stalled after april's but inpiration was gained from our recent creative stitchers meeting where we talked about the theme "Power and Protection". We then constructed a felt image of the protecting eye used in many belief systems. My next piece will be the :Power piece and then comes the evil eye.

Below are the five months of this project done so far starting with egyptian eye (january), precious eyes (February 2011), jealous eyes (March 2011), red eye (April 2011) and Protection (May 2011).

Five months completed.

I feel strange that i am still naming these as the months but that helps me keep the project in line. My book is filling with all the thoughts that revolve around each so i am hoping it will be a nice table cetnre piece at the end. These pieces will go to Christchurch in July for the Extensions exhibition at the ANZEG conference.

more work done

I have been a busy beaver and completed a tiny kit from School of Beadwork - Double Delish - onsie. It is lime and blue and very cute. I am attaching it to a key ring to give away as a christmas gift on my travels in December.
Maree and I went to St Mary's Cathedral in New Plymouth last night for the unveiling of the completed Peace Altar Frontal. We went one night to stitch as guild members so it was nice to be at the end to put another stitch in. Now the construction phase begins and in two months they will have the dedication ceremony. It was a nice service with reminders about Parihaka, Sept 11 2001 and the way of peace in the world.
Also made the new decoration in Bead and Button and now have put the magazine away carefully so cannot make another one. oh well I will find it.
Nearly completed the next month for my BJP so going to watch some tv and stitch some more on it.

A very busy time

It has been nearly a month since I last wrote and things have been really busy.



My Soduku - very halloween ish.

I have finished Sudoku and here are the finished pieces from my Monday night ladies. This has been one of our most successful projects for a couple of years with five of us completing it within the same year we started. It is doing projects like this that I miss Liz and how much she would have enjoyed doing this work.

Judy's piece - same colours as Sue

Jills piece used the colours as stated in the pattern.

Mum used a monotone palete which looks great.

Sue used the same colours as judy but quite different results

Mum and I went to Dunedin to visit Alice and while there I completed a mill Hill Christmas kit plus finished the Mill Hill Scissor case 9without the long neck cord) as well as completed the outside row for my Lativan work. I have also started the May piece for BJP 4 and am back onto walk on the wild side with canvas #1 finished and number 2 underway. Mum has finished one and two so she is racing ahead of me.
My Colourific piece has been received and the exhibition opens at the end of this month in Arrowtown so it will interesting to see if Skadi comes home afterwards.