Hallowe'en Trick or Treat blog hop

Welcome to the next letter of the blog hop for Hallowe'en organised by Jo over at Serendipitous Stitching.  At time of posting I don't know what order I am in the hop so if you arrived here at random and want to join in, use the link on the right hand side to Serendipitous Stitching, start at the beginning and I will see you back here in a bit.

Now the rules for the hopping stops are simple, we share a picture for the theme and pop in the letter to be added to the others collected on the hop.

I had to do a bit of thinking on this one, the only thing I had a picture of fully in theme I shared last year (all hallows eve on 31.10.2013) from my try at pumpkin carving.  Then I remembered an item I made for my brother who is a sound and light engineer.  For a little while his business cards (which were orange, a very hallowe'een colour of late) bore the legend "sound wizard".

So I made this for him and I think the wizard (on 18 count and originally intended as a book mark) looks suitably scary in his purple (another hallowe'en colour ) robes.  The musical notes on my version were stars on the original design. I had no picture of the finished item, got in touch with my brother all digital due to distance and asked did he still have and if so could he take a picture.  A happy yes to both (it lives on the wall of his home studio) and here he is, Sound Wizard.

Sound Wizard

I can almost hear you asking where's the letter and the link to the next step.  Well you have kindly hopped into my blog world and here is the reward.

and now you have it added to your word, just hop on this link to keep your journey going. 

    

http://minnie-allxxs.blogspot.co.uk/

Jo's 500 Followers Blog Hop - Becca

 500 thats a big number and the land mark number of followers Jo who can't think of a clever nickname from Serendipitous Stitching has reached.  To mark the occasion those of us who were able to do so are taking part in an impromptu blog hop.  The theme is very King and I, "getting to know you", or rather getting to know one of our fellow blog-ing Jo followers.

So I have newly met (via the magic of the blogverse) Becca of Finding Flapjack

http://findingflapjack.blogspot.co.uk/

So let me introduce you to her, Becca lives in the UK in the bit of the country that falls between the South and Scotland.  I have a similarly North Easterly direction, although a bit more North and East. Becca is an intrepid explorer with the courage to talk about her journeys of discovery in her blog. Now these explorations are not in the main geographical but the rather more scary explorations of self, who we are, who we want to be and the steps to get from one to the other.  Oh and the occasional leap of faith with mini sewing machines.

Becca has a strong positive faith and is open and brave enough to share it. She kindly provides the option of meeting all of her on her home page or just the bits we might be comfortable with on the faith page or the craft page of her blog.  (I am impressed enough with the pages part as my technical bits of blog posting are somewhat slim) OK back to the introduction, Becca and I have a few things in common in addition to the part of the world we live in.  Mothers who make good flapjack, a liking for Dr Who although I am not sure either of us is a Whovian, a strong faith, and an eclectic taste in crafts although we do not share all of those crafts.

Crochet is amongst Becca's talents it is most certainly not one of mine nor is cooking, which the cakes you can view but sadly not taste at Finding Flapjacks indicate is one of Becca's.

We both like classical music although I restrict myself to listening to it, Becca plays violin.  Within our coinciding tastes falls nicely a delight in the lyrical beauty of Isaiah's symbolism and the musical interpretation of many of those words in Handel's The Messiah. 

As part of the 500 hop we are asked to choose a picture of a piece of our own work we feel (having met) our new acquaintance (and future friend?) would like.  I have shared this particular image before on my post entitled Christmas Card Inspirations 12 December 2013 so I won't go into the whys and wherefores of it again however I hope Becca will like my Christmas embroidery which incorporates Isaiah 9:6 into a multi national nativity.

So hop yourself over to Finding Flapjacks  and sample for yourself either your normal faire, be it faith or craft or perhaps the whole smorgasbord of self Becca offers.

And if you did not get here from Serendipitous Stitching hop over there too, meet Jo and the rest of the 500.

Oh and in case you were wondering, this is where my introduction was made  blog hop.

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Dragon Mirror (woodwork)

This involves a dragon design you have seen before (if before you have visited with me) in the posts titled, anyone with ability 13.01.2014 and dragon egg 17.04.2014.

The item in question was made at the same time as my Celtic knot dragon box on my post of 19.01.2014 and was made from the same source wood, scraps of skirting board.

The idea foe this was born from my dislike of throwing stuff away and wanting to do something with the round mirror from a used up plastic compact (not the refillable kind) which I had managed to knock loose when I dropped it.  (I note that when I did not want to detach the mirror one little drop and off it popped, attempts to purposely remove mirrors from their plastic housing have subsequently been less effective.)

Dragon mirror

The first bit was to cut the circle for the mirror to drop into.  Smaller at the front and the full size at the back.  Then to carve the dragon.  Chisels to take away the thickness around the tail then onto the grinders for the rest.

The beads which finish the item off are haematite, a by product of the mining industry this semi precious stone is a favourite of mine.  It is heavy and can be magnetised as it has a high iron content.

The beads are glued on.  

The pink on black flowers you can see in the mirror are the case for my phone with its super dooper digital camera.

Oh and it is about 7 cm wide by 12 cm high.

Wedding samplers, cross stitch.

I have made a few cross stitches to celebrate or commemorate weddings.  Most of them small enough for a fairly quick sew to be sure they would be finished on time.  One  made for  two work mates, one for Heather ( from the young women's quilt), one for a child hood friend.  That one was a bit of a giggle in retrospect.  The pattern had white rabbit bride and groom in formal wedding attire, top hat and tails, white dress and veil.  I knew the white rabbits were OK symbolism for that cultural connection,  what I had not considered was the traditional Chinese bridal colour...red. I was not the only one a bit surprised by that, the bride had kept it as a secret from all.

For my friend with the cross stitching wife I made a cross stitch sampler of the song "in the bleak mid winter" the brides favourite carol sung at their December wedding.  This was not made for the wedding itself as previously noted but as a Christmas gift with wedding remembrance mixed in.

My best efforts however went into the sampler for my best friend, I had lots of notice for her wedding , more than a year to get it done.  I consulted with her for several months over patterns, likes dislikes, suitable symbolism, colours, verses ext.

None of the "for weddings" designs fully appealed to her so a composite was the answer. A picture in the middle from Cross My Heart Inc's Artistic Landscapes, Sunset Silhouette and the verse (Apache Marriage Blessing) which most appealed down the sides, names at the top, date at the bottom.  I worked out the positions for the lettering on graph paper, that felt like the tricky-est bit of all, some of the letters at the top and bottom had to be overlapped to get it all to fit. I sourced the letters from American School of Needlework , The Ultimate Cross stitch Alphabet book by the Kooler Design Studio.  Leaves at the top and bottom of the poem at either side with lilac rose buds ,(the Groom, best man and other gentlemen of the wedding party were to have lilac roses for their lapels) in between each verse.  These were stitched over two to get the proportions balanced.

Wedding Sampler

Here it is before I had it framed, laid out on my bridesmaid's dress with one of the flowers I would wear in my hair. 

It took, from start of the design to completion, seven months and as previously mentioned I had it professionally framed.

Bride and groom

I presented it on their wedding day at the reception. Happily they were both delighted.

This picture of them with their gift was published in Cross Stitcher the following May, which we almost missed, it was a work mate of the groom who spotted it , mentioned it to him and set us all on a hunt to find a copy.  One for me, one for them one for the grooms mother (also a crafter and cross stitcher).  Happily we did find them.

It was rather fun to see it in print, even if they had not included the details about the source of the patterns and had used the time for the whole layout and design and stitching process as if it applied just to the sewing to make it fit with the theme my letter was published under of projects you couldn't put down.

Cross Stitcher May 2003 

Article in the May 2003 Cross Stitcher

I still like the middle picture although the branches on the tree were rather bitty, I hope one day to do it for myself. 

Oh and in 2024 I found a Forestella song to link to this picture

Ice Bucket Challenge, cross stitch

So the charity theme of 2014 appears, so far at least to have been rather wet and cold.  Both sensations I prefer to avoid, and avoid them I have.

Fortunately for all concerned ,one has challenged me to dowse myself with iced water.  I would have said no, with capitals I will freely admit.

However, the Dragon of Dragon Dreams Inc (find her on Facebook) bless her fiery imagination came up with a way for me (oh and I expect many another stitcher) to join in the world wide charity challenge whist staying warn and dry and doing something we love.

Her "The Summer of 2o14" design  with her signature dragons joining in is a delight.  And it is free to download from the Facebook page with the on-line version of an honesty box.  You download with the promise to donate a $5 minimum (or equivalent) to the charity of your choice.  

The pattern is great, just a few colours so you can stick to the set key or easily change the shade, add some sparkly bits (I added some blue blending filament to the water for mine not that it shows much in the picture) there is room for some lettering, go for Dragon Dreams "Surviving the summer of 2014" or choose something more personal to you or the charity you support.

So if you are visiting my blog, consider yourself challenged to sew nice little dragons and their bucket challenge and donate to the charity your conscience prefers. 

Ice Bucket Challenge
Dragon Dreams Inc

No words on mine yet as I am undecided. Oh and my donation, made in memory of a colleague  from work goes to SARCOMA uk

I added this link 12.04.2024 to a solo song written and performed by one of Forestella. There is an explanation before the song so give it that as well its a lot of the reason I chose to add it here.

local show 2014

Today is the local craft show, it is not a grand big show but still it is judged and that is always interesting.  There was a lot of changes to the classifications for entries this year.  A new quilting class, when before quilts were grouped into best sewn item, a class that has vanished.

I entered Roses for Helen and the quilt made from the yellow flowers and the bits left over from my uncles quilt, Little yellow flowers.

Roses for Helen

Little yellow flowers

A new class of , crafted animal in any medium was part of the reason Mr Giles Gentlemouse came into being and he also made the trip to the show ground yesterday.

Profile of Mr Giles Gentlemouse

It is always an odd moment handing in entries. My BBF and I have started a tradition, we go together to hand in our entries (this year that was a quilted bag and a small blue/grey camouflage quilt with FMQ) then we head off for a meal out after sneaking a glance at the other entries.

Over dinner we talk about the competition and what we might choose were we to judge, all the time knowing there will be other entries arriving after ours.  We try not to think of the safety of all that work and time as it spends the night under canvas even when we make delivery in the rain or like last night high winds.

Then the following morning (this morning) off to the showground into the tent, eyes peeled to see the results as soon as within distance...and there are cards, what colour means what this year, which item is it on?  All braced to act gracefully in defeat or victory (and make Rudyard Kipling proud IF he was watching).  Last year for me was all the former as nothing placed.

Mr Giles Gentlemouse winner and proud of it

This year, Mr Giles Gentlemouse did me proud and won his class.  Here he is with his winning notice tucked under his arm, looking rather pleased with himself.  Sorry it is a bit blurry I took it from a distance.

No snazzy trophy this year (cut backs) still a certificate from the Mayor and £10 prize money to follow in the post.

As for the quilted item, I could see from a distance that my friends bag and one of my quilts had cards , sadly neither were red.

Green for the bag, and yellow for the quilt.  A closer look and yellow is second and green third this year.

Quilted bag

Yellow trumps pink

So much, once again for my take on my quilts, I would have picked the pink over the yellow. The judges had a different opinion.

The winning quilt, I can almost hear you wondering, so here it is.  The purple one on the left.  I did better with second guessing the judges on this one.  This quilt was already there when we dropped of our entries and it caught my eye then.

Winning quilt

I had no cross stitch finish this year which was suitable to enter.  Perhaps next year .In an interesting twist there was a stall in the "selling" part of the craft tent with four different colour felt bears, three of which had sold by the time the competition prizes were given out.

Take a peek as my post Bear Evolution to see what they looked like and why it was amusing to see them today.

pyrography dragon two

The items I have previously completed and posted were created using my tool which has a variety of nibs but the only way to control the temperature is on and off and watching the time.

Wood burning Iron

Currently I have a long term loan of something a bit more sophisticated, with a temperature control.  So once I have it at the temperature I want it, it stays there till I change it.

Pyrography tool

So with something a little more consistent, time to try a slightly more complicated design, unsurprisingly for me that happens to be a dragon. I have had the wooden backed brush for awhile and have always intended the dragon to  be its embellishment.  The original design is from a council produced booklet to encourage tourism of the local area, it makes reference to a local legend (I will tell more of that another time as it features heavily in another project which is still a work in progress). Anyway the original design needed a tweak or two to fit the brush, I extended the tail and straightened out the curvature of it a bit.  

Dragon design taped to brush

Dragon design transferred to brush

I did the design out on greaseproof paper, put carbon paper underneath it and taped the two onto the brush.  There is probably a proper way to do this, but this is what I have.

Set to with the pyrography tool, not restricted to lines and not lines but able to add a bit of shading I am rather pleased with the end result. 

Design and finished dragon

Dragon brush finished

  

Snoozing dragon close up

Wedding bag

My best friend got married in 2002 .(link to the wedding sampler)  We had a lot of fun with the plans for the year before.

One of the things we did to add the personal touch was make dolly bags for bride, bridesmaids and flower girls.  The bags were lined and made out of ivory satin to complement the brides gown.

Wedding bag

Dolly bag

Each bag had the initial of the recipient embroidered on it with a few beads (to reflect the beading on the brides stole).  The embroidery and beading had to be completed before the bags were made up and the placement had to be as precise as possible.

The thread used is Anchor Marlitt, I was familiar with it from one of my Christmas themed stitches.  It is slippery to work with but the results are worth it.  The letters were modified from a cross stitch alphabet

The drawstring were different colours of satin cord to co-ordinate with the participants gowns, green and lilac.






The bag pictured above is mine, and as such I did not do the embroidery on this one, my friend insisted on doing mine.  I did work on the other five, every one was pleased and they did the job on the day.
The bag below is the brides.  Amazing the difference to the colour the light the pictures were in makes to the ivory satin.  The same material was used to make the table cloth for the wedding cake table and a quilted handle for the bridal bouquet (which I, as the bridesmaid holding it for part of the service appreciated too).

 

My first ever kit (cross stitch)

This was a gift from my brother's then girlfriend .  She is a knitter not a cross stitcher and bought the kit because she knew I liked dragons.  The year before she bought me a pattern book with dragon, prince, castle, unicorn/ pegasus  ext, but the black red and blue symbols made my eyes spin and I did nothing with it.

Perhaps she thought with a kit I might be more inclined to get started on it.  She was right, however a Teresa Wenzler design noted as being for the experienced stitcher may not have been the ideal starting point for the reasonably novice stitcher I was then.

I set to and met the delights of fractional stitches, blended threads and confetti placement that is the hallmark of a T.W design.  I plodded away at it, got fed up with it bundled it away, started other projects, finished other projects and intermittently came back to it.

I used the wrong colour on a section, stared hard at that and decided it made it unique and left it be.  I think frogging would have been such a backward step it might have taken even longer than it did.

I got lost in the mountains below the castle, working from the left to the right.  Although I knew I had gone off by a couple of stitches I could not figure out where.  Another pause and another design variation decision, working from the right side I kept following the pattern till it bumped into the incorrect bit and stuck in a bit more green to fudge in the off pattern section.

At last only the backstitching left to do, ha! T.W does not let you rest there either, the instructions for that were huge with many a shade here and there.  I read it all carefully and then did what I liked with the backstitching as I just could not be bothered at that point. I am sure I have mentioned I do not delight in backstitching although I can appreciate the difference it makes.

From start to finish it took seven years.  You will have gathered by now that it is not unusual for things for me to take that long but still it was a long time in the making.

So to the framing, I had a very fixed idea in my head, I wanted the frame to be green in a shade that picked up the dragon and I wanted it to have a corrugated effect.  I looked and I looked and there was nothing.  Then a new addition to the congregation at church mentioned his occupation, a picture framer, joy.  He kindly brought me his trade catalogues to look at and there it was the edging from my mind made manifest.  He ordered the edging and made up the frame cut the mounts and everything . Actually he insisted, more than insisted,  on doing it all.  He asked for the finished item to be sure the measurements for the frame and mount would be correct and kidnapped it and returned it finished (and not for a Kings ransom either, he ever so kindly did it for cost). Previously I had bought a frame and perhaps a mount but then framed the item myself.  At the same time he did the T.W he also did framing on a wedding sampler I had completed (click her to see that one) and re-pinned an item I had framed myself (Nantucket Rose) both of which were started after the T.W and finished before.  Later I had him do the Disney cross stitch already mentioned on "be careful what you wish for" my posts are not particularly chronological as you may have noticed.

And there it was finished at last.  And here it is, I am sure you will have seen many versions of T.W's The Castle, this is mine, unique bits and all.

You will see later that it has been inspiring.

Inspired by item.

And yes I found a Forestella song to link here as well.

  

Out of pink comes yellow (quilting)

If you have seen the blog about the quilt made for my cousin you will recall I fussy/fancy cut the roses to maximise the pink and reduce the yellow.

Top pieced

Well that left bits with yellow flowers that, after some thought were the subject of their own fussy cutting.  There were not a lot of pieces nor were they big, but mixed with yellow left over from my uncles quilt there was enough to make a small lap quilt.

Something small enough to have another go at free motion quilting.  It had its moments, when I would forget my hands and not my foot controlled the speed and got some very small stitches.  Or trying to get the quilts bulk (small thought it is) through the throat of my machine.

All quilted

I am quite pleased with the result, possibly even pleased enough to brave it again.  I did better with the flowers on the boarder than in the middle of the quilt.  I expect because I had a little more practice by then and no seams to sew over.

Close up of free motion quilting

Boarder