Paisley + Embroidery = win! win!

I've written before that I really like Carina Envoldsen-Harrison's book Mandalas to Embroider and from time to time I hope to take a wee bit of time to stitch up more of her designs.  These are perfect projects for Sunday night stitching in front of the latest TV drama (I am currently suffering from the lack of a good period drama, though).

I chose Paisley Constellation (design no 6 in the book) as my next effort, mainly because I adore paisley patterns in pretty colours.  For as long as I can remember I have loved paisley design - can you imagine how beside myself I was when Bonnie and Camille included a paisley print in their Scrumptious collection?!  Anyway, it was no contest when I wanted to stitch up one of Carina's designs just for me (though there are plenty of others I'm keen to try too).

This is stitched on an off-cut of linen which I am informed is the very same linen which the Obamas ordered for curtains in the White House during their tenure.  Very swish!  Actually it is very beautiful, fine white linen and a dream to stitch on.  It just looks a little lumpy and bumpy in my pic because I haven't stretched it properly and have just folded the excess in behind roughly for the photo.

I sometimes find getting colour balances right a bit tricky if I am not working to the same palette as the original design, and I don't always achieve it.  I'm sure I have much to learn in that regard, but for now it remains just trial and error.  In this instance, I wonder if there should have been a little more of the deeper blue (almost navy) to balance things out a bit, but in general it will do nicely.  I hope to finish this one off in a slightly smaller hoop and maybe fabric wrap the hoop, too.  I'll come back and show you when I order up the right size hoop.

For me paisley and embroidery is definitely a winning combination!

Mandala Embroidery

When I ordered this beautiful Mandala Embroidery book last year I was dying to break out the embroidery hoop and floss again, so I did.  I combined it with a thought of being super-organised for a June birthday present for my dear and very lovely friend, Judith.

It was tricky deciding which of the beautiful designs to stitch, but this one won out and is aptly called 'Friendship Meadow' (no 11 in the book).  I chose soft, pretty hues of pink, lilac, green, yellow and orange to stitch with.  My choices were influenced by J's beautiful lounge room where I lose all ability to concentrate on our conversation because there are so many exquisite and unique little bits and pieces of design detail and decor, and my eyes are always distracted by the beauty I notice this time that I didn't last time.  

As you can see the wooden hoop looked bit bare when it was fitted.  So, I hunted out my little bundle of 6 Liberty fqs and found this PERFECT print to wrap the hoop with.  

I haven't tried wrapping a hoop in fabric before, but it was really not too hard.  I put double sided sticky tape on the inner and outer flat sides of the hoop (about 6 inches at a time so as not to be left having to hold the sticky wood) and just wrapped carefully.  The fine Liberty made this really easy.  Next time I need to work a wee bit closer at the beginning and ends of the wrapping to cover the little bits I didn't do, but as you can see in the picture below those have easily been hidden by a little scrappy bow ;-)

I added a little strip of the Liberty just looped and tied around the screw fixing which will allow J the choice of hanging her hoop or just propping it on a shelf.  

Carina's design worked up so beautifully and was such a pleasure to stitch in the early months of this year.  If you love embroidery, or would like to have a go, this book has some gorgeous designs and you can simplify the stitches if you need to though it's mostly backstitching, so not too tricky.  The book comes with iron on transfers for each design.  This was a new experience for me, and I'd recommend if you are new to iron on transfers, to try one of the designs you don't like so much on a scrap of calico or sheeting.  Each transfer works for a number of times, but I "wasted" a couple of mine because I didn't really know how hard to press, for how long etc.  I had a couple that were too feint and a wobbly one because I just lost balance while doing it - doh!

As you know, Judith runs her own Quilting Classes business from a beautiful studio in Belfast, so I couldn't resist having this print made up for her birthday, too.  Creativity is Judith's God gifting and I have watched her, and been inspired, dare I say "infected", by her talent and passion for so many years.  She is most certainly passing it on!   

Mixed bag!

Well, this week's stitching has been a bit of a mixed bag, mainly due to the tedium of unpicking my tragic medallion quilting.

Though it must be said that Fry's chocolate cream did help a little bit as those rows and rows of stitches had to be undone in a rescue bid.

When my eyes started crossing over unpicking white threads, I took a break and picked up my chevron crochet. The main body of this little throw is now finished - woohoo - but, I think it needs a simple border now just to tidy up the edges before I can truly call it a finish.  I'm waiting for one more ball of yarn to arrive and hopefully I can push this over the line in this FAL quarter.

I've also been piecing these grey and aqua retro butterfly blocks for my class with Just Jude Designs.  I missed class this week because hubby was speaking at an evening conference for work but I worked on my blocks anyway to keep up with the class schedule.  Missed my friends and the fun chatter though, hope hubby isn't working next week.

Eventually, all the nasty stitching was removed from the medallion top and on Friday I started my third attempt at quilting this medallion quilt.  I think that this quilt top is the elephant I will simply have to learn to eat piece by piece.

As you know, quilting is not my forte and is certainly my least favourite part of the quilt making process, but rather than balk in fear of ever getting it right, I am approaching this quilt one step at a time.  So, a little bit of star outlining and lots of quilting in the ditch has been the way to start over.

A bit more outlining of geese and stabilising of borders with ditch quilting yesterday morning and she is beginning to look a lot healthier than she was last week!

I know the top is hanging low in the picture, but you can see that the awful distortion of my second quilting attempt has been redeemed.  I need to tackle the tippecanoe border next, but I'm pleased to report that I am feeling a little less overwhelmed at the prospect than I was 10 days ago.

Little Spring Mandala, pattern by Made in K Town, measures 7" diameter

Finally, this morning I used the scrap ends of yarn from my chevron to make up this bright little sunshiney mandala.  This was really quick to crochet using this great tutorial (just note it's written in US crochet terms).  It's one of the mandala suggestions made by Lucy of Attic 24 for her Yarndale Mandala challenge, so soon it will be off to join the other pretties in this year's Yarndale displays. (If you are interested do check out Lucy's posts, but note she is looking for only ONE mandala per sender.)

Not too shabby a week all in all!