Hoop-la

I started my embroidery without the aid of a hoop, initial project just hand held and the only tension my wondering if it would work out OK.

A but then I discovered hoops, wonderful hoops.  All sorts of sizes and a variation on shape (although mainly round).  Wonderful for stopping the design going all wobbly and astray.

Then joy of joys the quilting hoop, I love my hoops.

Hoops for all tasks.
Embroidery and Quilting

Of course as I have mentioned, hoarding is in my nature so my collection of hoops has grown.  After all if you want to do several projects all at once you need enough hoops to accommodate that, don't you?

I don't generally use a hoop for cross stitch however, I prefer to hold it in my hand and mostly still mange an even tension and a flat finish.  My one (so far) exception to this rule was the smallest count design I have ever done, but it deserves a post of its own at a later date.

I am not so keen on the three blue plastic hoops with the metal inner, I don't find they have enough hold and the material slips as you work.  I keep them because I do that, and someday perhaps when I am busy spreading the sewing bug I will find someone who does like them and I can be confident they are off to a good home.

Just in case you were wondering the biggest hoop (quilting) is 21 inches.

more celtic touches

Celtic Knot bookmark

since I mentioned the illuminated gospel inspired quilt I have been looking at the other items I have made with Celtic knot work.  It is a lot more than I had thought, though I do not know why I am surprised the designs are so strong and their beautiful complexity so stunning that they lend themselves readily to craft projects.

Here is a stitched book mark. I appear to make a lot of bookmarks of one sort or another which is ironic as I tend to use anything but a bookmark to hold my place. Receipts, corners of envelopes, used bus tickets (that is a whole other blog) sweet wrappers the list is endless, but not the ones I make.  In general other people get gifted or inflicted with those.  so expect to see more of them as I find them tucked away and snap a picture or I make more.

This particular example shows how effective variegated threads can be when combined with a Celtic knot.  The emphasise the flowing lines beautifully.

                                                                                                 

Celtic knot detail

Sewing thread dragons

 More hoarding discovered.

Nine patch dragon cushion cover

This little nine patch cushion was one of my early moves towards sewn decoration.  The dragons were completed using ordinary sewing thread and not a specialised embroidery floss.  The colours are different thicknesses of thread, the light grey  and golden yellow were easier to work with than the dark.  This cushion was made about three years before the grey log cabin quilt in my earlier entry. You can see the lessons learnt from pinny to cushion to quilt decoration is quite a marked one.

Proof positive

not sadly that I was a stitching child prodigy but rather that I am a hoarder!

Another search through my craft stuff, looking to catalogue my frames this time and I came across further projects from school.

school apron

Another item from junior school, but a year or two later and another from the first year at senior school.  Each item with the same purpose, both red yet with different designs and levels of decoration.

This first has a whipped stitch boarder and ties just at the waist.

School pinny

The later version loops over the neck and ties at the waist. The pockets are decorated with a mermaid and what is supposed to be a large shell with my initials in and a couple of fishes.

Decorated pockets

Sadly although I had access to proper stranded thread I had no idea that the thread should be separated to suit the size and style of the design.  So using the full six strands my mermaid is rather a chunky thing.

Six strand mermaid

She does show however, that less than stellar starts can lead to better things.  At least I do hope you will think so when you see some of my later embroidery projects.  Mind projects to wear, are less of a progressive story.

Cushions and spangles

now these are not cushions for sitting on, lying on or even just admiring.  These are the lace making cushions I was referring to in my 'touch of lace' blog.  They are also called pillow by some by you would not want to try sleeping on one.

The larger of my cushions, has a lace edging in production.

Bobbin lace

The card pattern is called a pricking, as you prick out the pattern with a needle (or there are special tools you can get) and the holes tell you where to put the pins as you work.  The pattern is in two pieces, as you finish one section and get about halfway onto the second you take all of the pins out of the first section of lace and move the pattern ready for it to be the third section, and as you work the second second piece of pattern moves to be the fourth.

As you can see I am using a mix of the basic wooden bobbins which I painted with enamel paints,( red on my first set first set and black on the second ) and some turned wood, bone, horn versions I have added over the years.        

Lace bobbins

                                                                            The beads at the ends of the bobbins help stop them rolling about, and they look pretty.  I like to have a small silver charm or a special focal bead at the middle of the loop of beads. The more expensive bobbins tend to get the equivalent quality of focal charm or semi precious stone in their bead loop.

The second smaller cushion I use has sloped edges on three sides this helps with the tension when working the lace and can be used with un-beaded bobbins but it is no good for patterns that turn corners, just small straight designs like book marks or lace cuffs. Indeed the pricking on the pillow pictured is for a bookmark.  
                                                                            

Lace making cushion

Bookmarks, like this one were indeed the most likely product of my lace making.  One similar to this made its way to China as a gift for the wife of a Chinese gentleman who came to my fathers factory for a working visit.  He in turn gifted me with a pack of playing cards from China.  I hope his wife liked it and it has been if some use.

Lace bookmark in three colours

But bookmarks and dollie edgings are not the pinnacle of my lace making to date.

back through the mists of time

well possibly not quite as far as that.  During a recent trip to the loft, repository of craft overflow, to search for some yellow material (found it but not quite right so will look to get some more) I stumbled across a long forgotten craft item.

Now had I been asked prior to the loft discovery "what was the first applique you did?" I would have laughed and said a dragon, what else.

This is the item I would have been referring to. A small randomly patched cushion, and I do mean small, with the dragon in a fine dress weight velvet.  The satin stitch edging is a bit higgildy (or as members of the quilting group would say, a little unique) but I am still rather fond of it.

dragon applique

However my sojourn in the loft has shown that answer would have been incorrect.For there tucked into one of the bags, only one of its wooden handles still attached lay the truth.  My first applique was a swan, a brown swan (I wanted the blue one but I was last to pick) running stitched onto a hessian bag.

Long necked duck (swan) bag

I think I was seven, this was a school project, all the class made one. Having found the bag memories came back of trying to make the best of brown over blue, of being quite disgruntled there were so many letters in my name that there was not enough thread left for me to do my whole name in one colour. Or in the same shade when it came to my surname.

Although when it comes to waterfowl I prefer ducks, the swan was OK, just a long necked duck really (there once was an ugly duckling) and in many ways ugly was how I thought of my bag once it was done.

I was not at the time upset when the handle got broken, in fact I was almost pleased not to be able to use it while it waited to be fixed.  It has been waiting a long time.

More name than thread

I like it better now, perhaps a touch of nostalgia has made it more appealing, or perhaps my tastes now encompass the subtle as well as the bold.  So I guess I am looking for wooden handles so I can finally fix it and allow it back out of the loft and I guess as a non-plastic bag it is all fashionable now! 

Infections and coals to Newcastle (quilting and cross stitch)

a hobbyist or crafter can be quite infectious.  I have a friend who started out as a happy recipient of my hobbies.  Cross stitches, embroideries, quilts, salt dough, just about anything I tried.  After a while, possibly in self defence she agreed to give some of them a go herself.

Together we made a logcabin  baby quilt for her son to be,then we moved on to something a little larger.

logcabin variation

This time I was less of a participant and more of a consultant.  Subsequent quilts have had less and less of my input with only the occasional problem solving or "might try" tip required.

For a birthday gift for me, she made, all on her own without my knowledge a lap quilt.  Now some may think that there is no point in giving a quilt to a quilter, that it is like taking coal to Newcastle! (well before they shut down the mines and Newcastle had no coal).

log cabin with multi boarder

Don't you believe it, as a quilter I was more than delighted to be so gifted.  As I excitedly admired the mitred corners she admitted with a grin that was the only way to finish corners I had ever shown her!  We have tried a few different methods since.

the reverse

Subsequently she is making baby quilts for her brothers children and larger quilts for her own home.

Sadly or perhaps joyfully she has also been infected with the cross-stitch strain of crafting.  I am delighted to say that I have also been the recipient of the fruits of that infection also. A dragon, as you can see my friend knows me well (I am less fond of lettering so would never have done this for myself).

Pink Dragon 

Mind I am not the only one to pass on obsessions, she has also been the recipient of the card making bug from her mother-in -law,  of which she has given me a milder case.

She has also a genetic inclination passed on through the female line of her family, knitting! She has done her very best to pass this one on to me, I will come back to that later, actually you will find that later is definitely a good description of my knitting.  

Purposefully inedible dough

Salt dough to be exact.  This has been a 'learnt at church' craft.  One of the sisters was very 'into' it for a while with books showing different designs.  I particularly liked a princess and the pea wall plaque she made. Sadly I do not have a picture for that.

For the lesson at church she suggested we bring a picture of something we would like to make, or chose something from a pattern book.  I took a birthday card I had received with a picture of a dragon on it, a slightly humorous image that I hoped would work. I told you there would be more dragons, lots more.

salt dough dragon

The fat parts of the design were built around a tinfoil support to even out the sections for baking in the oven.  I used enamel paints to finish it off and glued it to watermarked silk before mounting it in the frame.

I have done the occasional small item since, bears mainly,that come in useful for adding to cards (for hand delivery, they would not do to well through the post) but my book reading dragon remains my favourite.  He hangs above my bookcase giving it delusions of being a library.

I like the idea of a book so exciting that a fire extinguisher needs to be on hand just in case.

Tracing inspirations (quilting)

A finished quilt is the culmination of lots of decisions.  The fabric (type,weight and colour) the size, the patchwork block pattern used and the style of the quilting.

Sometimes I start with one idea in mind and that makes it all the way to the end.  Mostly the plan changes as the quilt progresses.  And sometimes it is not easy to make the connection, even for me, between what inspired the quilt and the end result.

Some years ago I went to Dublin with my friend and we went to Trinity College to see the book of Kells.  We both have a fondness for Celtic knots and I occasionally try my hand at calligraphy (pun intended) it was a very enjoyable visit.  I recommend it if you visit the city.

I came away with an increased appreciation of the skill (the book is so much smaller than I had expected) required to complete such intricate designs, and a postcard of a carpet page from the book of Durrow.

Until recently I thought I had pretty much forgotten it.  But with the Lindisfarne Gospels coming to Durham I recognised it had been the influence behind a quilt I made.  The design, called snail trail or monkey wrench uses triangles in increasing dimensions growing out from a central square.  A triangle based logcabin construction now I come to think of it!

I chose material gradually moving from yellow to orange and from pink to red and set the block into an interlocking tessellation.

Snail trail , carpet page quilt

As you can see from the picture it is neither a celtic knot nor is it the same colours as the Post card image.

Being inspired does not have to lead to a copy.  I designed my own quilting pattern and was very pleased with the result.



Again it is not a Celtic knot nor an exacting spiral pattern but again I realise that it drew its inspiration from the artistry and skill of the monks.

It was some years between the visit to Dublin and the medieval manuscripts echo arriving in quilt form.  So having just seen the Lindisfarne Gospels at Durham (instead of their adopted home in London, again I recommend a visit to see them) I wonder when they will appear in one of my crafting projects?

My BFF likes the back just as much as the top.

Sharing obsessions in reverse order.(quilting)

I have over the years shared what I do with others.  I will no doubt go over some of those occurrences and the results at a later date. However, currently I am the guide to a quilting group at church and today is our one year anniversary.

In May last year I was asked if I would show the sisters (all female members of our church are referred to as sisters) how to make quilts.  I agreed to participate in a meeting once a month and so the quilting group was formed.  Our first meeting took place in June 2012, with the sisters bringing along fabric and raring to get started.

The participants all had different levels of sewing ability or experience.  After a quick discussion (and a bit of a show and tell of some of my finished quilts),  almost all opted to try nine patch patterns for baby quilts.  The exception is my best friend and as such she is already well steeped in my, now our obsession as she had a quilt already under way (whilst not a member of our church she joins us as a most welcome quilter). Although choosing the same basic pattern the different material choices resulted in quite different quilt designs.

The theme for the group, well what else would it be "not perfect, unique!" At Christmas I made pin cushions for all the group (myself included) using scraps from the quilts being made with our motto on the back and first initial on the front. The design is a logcabin variation generally know as either church or courthouse steps so it seemed appropriate for a church group.  They can be worn around the neck and have some very stiff material behind the sponge to prevent the user inadvertently pinning themselves

Church steps pin cushions

I will admit that I did not have high expectations for the group lasting past a meeting or two or even to the end of a project. Now, a year on, each of the original members have finished at least one project, from a quilted hot water bottle cover to baby quilts and lap quilts.  Some are onto their second or even third project. We are trying a new pattern out, postage stamp with strip piecing and our numbers have expanded by one.  Happy to remain small we have inspired a similar group to form at the branch of our church in a neighbouring town.

For our groups anniversary I made a little badge for us all with scissor charms. Here they are part way through making them.

Badges in the making. 

In addition I have a sewing box for the group to use,  and a felt needle case, both adorned with the group motto in the gold and blue colours of the church women's organisation Relief Society.  It will be a place to put the bits and bobs being donated to the group for shared use, and for those meetings where we forget to bring something vital, like a needle!

Sewing box with needle case and the badges

Badges and needle case all wrapped up ready for the meeting.

In the first months I was kept quite busy each meeting, answering the sisters questions and offering solutions to the problems they encountered.  More recently, they need me much less and very soon I anticipate I will need to have my own project to work on.

Perhaps I should be thinking what we can do for our second anniversary, but for today, Happy Birthday Quilting Group.