Patchwork

One of my lovely Stitchettes is teaching me how to do Machine-Sewed Patchwork and I'm using some Madras cotton we used as napkins when we were children.
When I've mastered the technique I'd like to make a bedspread and I've been looking for suitable fabrics.
Ikea have some lovely retro-style designs that I'd love to get so I'm more than a little frustrated at not being able to drive!


They're from the Fredirika range and are 3.99 each. You can see them here.

Ruby Wedding Present.

I wanted to stitch something special for my parents' Ruby Wedding but didn't want anything sloppy or cute; they're not the kind of people who'd appreciate Me to You Bears or the like. They've lived in the same small Cotswold town for their entire married life and the whole family is obsessed by maps so I've created an embroidered map for them. I completely forgot to take a picture of the finished product but don't worry I've got someone on to it and will post it when it arrives.

I gave them the present on Saturday and it went down really well. Everyone was interested and complimentary and one friend has asked me to create one for her. She wants a map of Amalfi to give to her husband as they honeymooned there ten years ago.

Tattoos

I realised tonight that I've had a tattoo for nearly twenty years. I had a small Celtic knot put on my shoulder in 1991 and it was so unusual for a woman to have a tattoo that people would come up to me in the University Bar and ask if they could see it. A few years later I had a flying heart put on my upper arm but tattoos become so popular now that I've said that given the choice I would prefer not to have any at all. Until tonight.

Inspired by an amazing tattoo we saw with pin cushions, buttons and stitch style writing, some of my Itchin' for Stitchin' girls and I were considering some stitching themed body art. I thought I could cover my Celtic knot with a picture ball of wool but I haven't decided what the "thread" would say. Any ideas?

Embroidering the Truth.

Our exhibition is up and running, we had a fantastic opening night (many Margeritas were consumed by one person I know), and we've all sold at least one piece. I wonder if you can tell the difference between my early pieces and the ones I stitched as I became more practised.

Creativity

I don't normally blog this often in a day but I want to introduce you all (all? I have two followers!) to my interests and obsessions.

I love crafting. I've been trying to make things for years but for some reason (surely not lack of skill?) my creations have never matched up to the beautiful pictures in my head. I taught myself to crochet but I never managed to finish anything, I'd just unravel and start again. It became a bit of a joke though the wonderful girls at my Stitch and Bitch group never held it against me. I spent money on crafting magazines, crafting supplies, fabric, thread, sewing machines, wool, paint, papers, ribbon, glues. You name it, I had it. And yet nothing was ever finished and I was never satisfied.

Then one evening one of the Stitchettes said,

"I think we should have an exhibition!"

I'm sure I'm not the only one who felt a cold hand clutch her heart whilst feigning enthusiasm . But the idea was born. We'd have an exhibition of cross-stitches and embroideries with the theme, "Overheards".

Just imagine, all those times you hear someone say something totally ridiculous, funny, disgusting or amazing, all those times you look round thinking,
"Someone must have heard that!", all those times you've loved someone's one-liner and wanted to write it down, all those times lovingly stitched, mounted, framed and hung.

I started badly. I hadn't embroidered in 28 years and was a little rusty. I didn't realise that you really DO need to split your embroidery silk into strands to get a good result, but this was my first creation.

I heard it on a bus going through a particularly deprived part of town and I should explain that Chicken George is a sub-KFC fast food joint, not a gourmet experience.