Tea Cosy

I can finally post the pictures of my embroidered tea cosy. It was a gift to my Mum for her 80th birthday so it had to be secret until I gave it to her. I didn't have a plan for the design, just started stitching and trying out various styles (stumpwork etc.). It ended up as one big sampler!

Reef Slow Cloth

I've been quiet on the blogging scene for the last few days. I've had my mother visiting and also steadily growing my slow cloth peice. I love this idea of playing around with fabric and letting the fabric guide me to stitch.



The grey matter was starting work and the ideas were forming.













Then I started to stitch..... and while I stitched new ideas formed. The top section is still only pinned and the final peice may not look anything like this, who knows..... that is the joy in building my cloth.

I feel some more smallers patches coming for the vacant blue areas.









Close up of stitched areas so far...



Stay tuned for the next episode!

Another slow cloth peice perhaps...

I found another silk painted peice on some old parachute silk that I had done some time ago. It was crying out to be stitched. I have a large quilt in mind putting all my small works together. I suppose you can guess the theme....

Raindrops on Iris

This pretty Iris greeted me this morning in my garden.

Slow Cloth - Moonlight on the Reef

I have been inspired by Jude Hill's Blog - www.spiritcloth.typepad.com/ She does fantastic work. I love the idea of building layers of fabric to create your own cloth. I was so inspired I just had to start stitching, that is once I could drag myself away from the computer. I spent hours reading her blog and checking out links. The world around me stopped and my brain starting ticking away with new ideas.

This is my first attempt called "Moonlight on the Reef". I hope to let this little peice grow into something quite large. Time will tell...


A few years ago I attended Carolyn Sullivans' Kantha Stitching class at the Orange Forum. I found this was very helpful when working on my cloth.


These pics are the results from the classes.

Now for something completely different...

This is what I have been doing over the past few days. Playing around with photoshop using some old baby photos on myself and siblings. Learning basics like collage and colouring black and white photos. I printed a couple of pics onto canvas photo paper, then decided to experiment with some stitching. I made up a couple of notebooks from foam board covered in black suede material. Lined the inside with some lovely black Japanese paper and stitched in a pocket for notepads. I backed the pictures with some thin iron-on wadding and cardboard then glued the piece to the front of the notebook. It's my brothers birthday tomorrow and sisters on Tuesday so guess what their getting??

Embroidered Bag from sample

When I was making the large shoulder bag, I stitched a small piece with the same fabrics to use for sample stitches. I ended up with an interesting little rectangle of fabric and decided to make up a little evening bag.




















Not long after this I needed a little black and white bag to go with an outfit I had bought for my daughters formal, and this is what resulted.

Embroidered Crazy Patch Bag

I made this bag a few years ago. Started playing around with various materials until an idea came to me.

This was the beginning. I love the idea of crazy patch as you can go with the flow and make it up as you go along.

I sketched a design using teardrops as the feature.



This was the completed peice before putting it together into a bag.














These are close ups of the stitching.

The beginning of my blog experience

Well I've finally made the effort to start my embroidery blog. After blog lurking for what seems forever I thought it was time to record some of my creations. I'm sure I'll make some mistakes along the way but that is all part of the learning experience of trying something new.

I love all types of embroidery and mixed media crafts. I'll start by loading some pics of various works I have completed over the years.

This was my first attemp at silk painting and although I made a few mistakes I was able to disguise them with thread.






























The following series of photos are of an embroidered lap cushion I use when embroidering with my feet up on the couch! The reef scene continues around all sides of the cushion.





























This is another silk painted creation.