More Project Bags

What seems like an age ago, and almost is, I was a guest of the Brit Bee 2014 retreat.  During the weekend we screen printed little memento panels which Mr Flying Blind of a Rocket Cycle had designed especially for the occasion.  

I found my panels recently and decided they really need to be put to use instead of skulking in a box. So, I paired them with some Priory Square fabrics and started to turn them into project bags.  Doesn't Priory Square work perfectly with the screen print ink colours?

In similar vein, I used my Chat Dans L'Aiguille Lotus Flower SAL embroidery as a smaller bag front, and I chose some Christmas fabrics to whip up a couple of bags for festive projects while I was at it.  In for a penny....

I'm really chuffed with how they all turned out, but I think the Brit Bee screen prints were particularly successful.

So much better to have the panels in use, don't you think?

Spelling Bee - Progress 4

I forgot to share my latest Spelling Bee progress here with you.

I stitched up L, P and the little dog.

The dog my favourite ;-)

How cute is he with his little embroidered face and red bandana?

Continuing my slow and steady progress with these blocks.  There will be a quilt one day.

Lilipopo Unicorn and Princess Embroidery

 

I embroidered this sweet free Lilipopo Unicorn and Princess design for my little Miss.

Can you tell she's very pleased to have it hanging in her little area of our living room?  She had to get her own unicorn in on the photo shoot, too, obviously.

This is a very beautiful, very generous free pattern by Lilipopo.  Not sure that my threads did it justice though.  I stitched with some off brand floss and the result is a little bit chunky for my liking - pattern specified stitching with 3 strands.  However, not every stitch is an heirloom in the making so it's perfectly acceptable for its purpose.  Her big smile proves it!!

March 2021 - Cross Stitch WIPGO

 

I was successful in completing my February WIPGO goals of working 10 hours on each project 4 - True Friends and project 20 - O Holy Night Advent Calendar.

I was quite pleased with my progress on True Friends.  As you can see, I manage all the words and the entire outline of the heart.  It was a lovely stitch and I am looking forward to filling in all the little flowers and butterflies in due course.

Progress on the O Holy Night Advent Calendar ornaments looks less impressive, but I did actually manage to complete 5 new little ornaments (except for the backstitch which I'll do all together at the end). There are certainly a very many more hours to work on this one, but that's for other times.

Having the projects on the WIPGO board worked well for February, so I'm excited to continue into March, this time with projects 10 and 24 called for.

Project 10 is my Bee Happy needlepoint from Historical Sampler Company. 

Prior to this month, I've already made a start on the border of this needlepoint.  Everything to the right and off right of the photo is complete but you can see I have some work to do filling in the orange checkerboard squares and the red bordering stitches to complete it.  I very much hope that in my 10 hour time goal for March I can finish the borders off and make a start on the centre.  I'm planning to make this a little cushion for my stitching chair.

Project 24 is the Bonnie and Camille Shine On Cross Stitch Sampler.  I can't show you anything for this one as my book (which has the pattern) has not yet arrived so there's no start yet. Hopefully, it will arrive before the end of the month and allow me time to get a good start on the sampler that I've been longing to do for ages.

I like having plans and so far appreciate the motivation that WIPGO is providing.

Fabric Dyeing Experiment

Following the 'success' of my Baxters beetroot pickle juice dye effort and many Floss Tube videos where lovely folks shared an interest in dyeing their own fabric base for stitching, I decided to experiment a little further.  In search of various shades of blue aida and even weave I bought some vintage blue Dylon and spend an hour playing with fabric oddments in my kitchen.

I soaked a variety of scrappy pieces of aida and even weave in a roasting tray dye bath.  Some for 15 mins, some for 30 mins, some for 45 mins and a final few for 1 hour.  All very scientific (if you exclude the fact I forgot to dye a 'control' piece of the exact same fabric in each batch).

Here are my results.

I found it quite interesting to see how the different weaves and counts of fabric accepted the dye.  I mean, there wasn't much difference between the aida left for 15 mins (far left) and that left for 60 mins (far right).  However, you can see that some of the creamier base fabrics accepted the dye to take on more of a duck-egg hue (central fabrics shown above).

My favourite piece was some 25 count even weave which dyed unevenly.  Of course, as soon as it had dried out, I couldn't wait to put some stitches in it!

I've been missing my mum  dreadfully over the past number of weeks, so I chose this beautiful free Mother's Day design from Jacob de Graff at Modern Folk Embroidery in her memory.  I'm using DMC variegated thread no 48.  I love how it is stitching up on the slight uneven dye of the fabric.  

My little dye experiment was a lot of fun so I might try some other shades of Dylon one day soon.  Watch this space!

Spelling Bee - Progress 3

Late in 2019 I made a start on Lori Holt's Spelling Bee Quilt.  At that time I published Progress 1 and Progress 2 posts and as you can see there's been a bit of a lull until this Progress 3 post!  2020 with all it's cancelled plans and nonsense got in the way somewhat and then I was distracted by the Kindred Spirits QAL, but it's lovely to be ready to pick this one up again.

Happily, I discovered that I had already cut the fabrics for M and W back in 2019 so these were a nice little easy return to piecing.

Then I cut and pieced the U and the hashtag.  Must say, it's very satisfying to choose fabrics and to work on these.  

I do hope to be able to make regular progress now with the Spelling Bee blocks, but to be honest, the cutting is intense with so many tiny pieces, so it will be slow and steady to win this race.

Valentine Stitching

As well as the Stitches From the Heart cross stitch, I found a few other Valentine themed stitcheries to play with this month.  

I finished up Bee Mine by Stitching with the Housewives. I cannot tell you how much I adore this fun, little design!

This pretty stitch is from a free pattern by The Primitive Hare.  I stitched this 1 strand over 1 thread on a 25 count even weave so it's teeny, tiny (3.5" embroidery scissors for scale).

And, just to keep exercising my ageing eyesight, this is another tiny one.  It's the 2020 Collector's Heart design by Heart In Hand.  I haven't made any further progress on this one, but maybe in time for next Valentines. Then, perhaps I'll make all of these Valentine smalls into little pillows or ornaments for a love-filled display.