My first quilt!

I recently became an auntie (yippee!) and wanted to make something for the new arrival. I've also been wanting to try quilting for a while now so I decided to make a pram quilt. With hindsight an entirely handstitched paper-pieced quilt might not have been the easiest choice for a novice quilter but I'm glad that's what I chose because I really enjoyed the process. Like hand embroidery it is a craft you can do whilst sat in a comfy chair, with the tv on in the background and a glass of wine  cup of tea

I won't lie it took ages- there are many hours of work here but it wasn't difficult and I felt a real sense of achievement when I finished. In fact I can't wait to get started on another and plan on tackling a throw sized quilt next time- I have a pattern in one of my books for a folded japanese quilt using this technique that I think would be really attractive in my favourite colour combination of grey and mustard yellow.

Honeycomb 5 by Olisa

This is the piece Olisa created for me in the Phat Quarter swap- Honeycomb 5.

Isn't it beautiful?

 Olisa has stitched over a watercolour background. Different colours of floss spring to the foreground depending which colour they are lying on. The yellow floss demands attention against the purple but recedes against the green.  I like the contrast between the repetitive grid and the watercolours blending into each other.

It's one of a series of stitched grids that Olisa has made;

http://cocoaeyesthestitcher.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/scenes-demaking-marks-with-paint-and.html

http://cocoaeyesthestitcher.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/so-many-colors-so-many-grids.html

I love Olisa's abstract stitch experiments- each one is so different. The stitched grids would be amazing on their own but with the addition of the painted backgrounds they come alive.  I was so pleased that she made one for me!! 

To see all the swap pieces have a look HERE!

Tall ship

Another scrimshaw influenced embroidery- this time of a tall ship. I am really enjoying using stitch to imitate engraving all those little lines. Really, really loving just playing around with shading and the effects it creates. Do you think if I did a large piece in this style using crewel wool I could ink up the embroidery and print with it or is that taking things a step too far?! (I am seriously considering this!)

This little ship is tiny - the embroidery is around three inches wide and is worked in a teal silk on white quilting/craft cotton. In the next one the waves will be more precise and will be stitched in minuscule sashiko. I think I'll have to go slightly larger though to achieve that- not massively bigger but enough to be able to fit in a few short stitches to create the shading on the waves.

Thanks for visiting, please say hello and if anyone tells me to go ahead and try printing with a crewel embroidery I promise to give it a try ;)

Diva Plavalaguna

P9300705, a photo by Sewphie T on Flickr.

I made this for the Phat Quarter "5" swap. Both me and my partner like the Fifth Element so I though I'd do an embroidery based on that. I originally started an embroidery of the films main character Leeloo but that didn't turn out so well! I ended up abandoning it part way through as I could tell it wasn't going to look good. I am glad I did because I love how this piece looks- Plavalaguna is blue so I chose blue cotton to stitch on. I am really into engravings and graphic novels at the moment, the use of repeated lines and cross hatching to create shadow and shape- and you can see I played around with that a lot here. These techniques really work for me in stitch and I am using them in my scrimshaw pieces too.
This was so much fun and I'm pleased to say my partner loved it which always make me happy :)
Now I just wait to receive my piece from the wonderful Olisa!!

Treasure!

I've had this little embroidered bag for years, I picked it up at an antique fair for about £8. I've always thought it was pretty but it's only since I've tried working in goldwork I can appreciate just how lovely it is. 

The goldwork wires are all laid down so neatly- no little jagged bits sticking up at all and I love the stylised detail on the tail. There are loads of small pieces of check purl stitched down like in the leaf above which catch the light. I don't know anything about this bag- I don't think it's particularly old or valuable but to me it's a bit special. 

Illustration Stitchalong piece

This quarter we did a free choice on the illustration stitchalong and I chose to stitch up a Matt Sewell illustration from the book Our Garden Birds. I thought it lent itself to wool embroidery- these are all Appleton Crewel Wool threads. The bright sunlight here shows where I've used two colours together in the needle for a blended, tweedy effect- it's actually a lot more subtle in real life. This little guy is so cute it is begging to be made into something else- I think it might end up on a tea cosy or something.
This round of the stitchalong has been a bit quieter than the Edward Gorey and Tim Burton ones but I think more people will join in next round for Dr Seuss stitching!!

woodpecker still in progress!

, a photo by Sewphie T on Flickr.

Thanks for all the advice on how to salvage this piece. I decided to fill stitch the background and I think I like it but I'm not totally sure so I have decided to have a break from it. I'm sort of tempted to go mad with texture on this piece ... we'll see