Joy Of Stitching

I've been taking part in an Art Journal Challenge recently - here are a few of my pieces. This was Crown This was - Feet Markers then Play and then Stamps

Recently my son gave me two pairs of his old jeans and a shirt he loved wearing when gigging, and asked me to make him a new quilt as the one I made him for the Millennium (The Millennium Quilt - which has a wonderful story of it's own) was showing signs of wear and he didn't want it to wear out. Anyway, I've just finished his new quilt 'Two Pairs of Jeans and a Gigging Shirt' I really enjoyed working on it. It's quite organic and proudly shows the signs of wear on the jeans, lots of big bold stitching and inside out seams. I kept some of the pockets whole from both the jeans and the shirt - it's the first quilt I've made with pockets in! As Craig plays both acoustic and bass guitars I printed out actual pictures of his guitars to use as templates for the appliqué guitars.  After I had finished the quilt I decided the appliqué shapes needed some hand stitching around them - so I had to finish it twice. As always it's hard letting go of a piece of...

Oh dear....I've been so good all year getting my Contemporary Challenge quilt finished each month on time. But for some reason July took me two months. I've just finished it this morning. Not sure why this was, because since finishing July this morning - I've almost completed August!!! The above picture is a 'cropped' section of the 8" Quilt. The fabric itself is a piece of Deborah O'hare's hand painted fabric.  As you can see, I'm continuing exploring the possibilities from this picture..   Which also inspired my June piece of work. Who'd have thought I'd get so much work out of such a simple scene.   I marked out the 8" square and started hand stitching from the bottom up.    Using different colours and either one or two strands of embroidery thread. I decided to just put some highlight stitching onto the sky. Added seven birds in flight (odd numbers are always good) And I'm done....

I've been working on this months - April's - Contemporary Quilt Group 's Challenge with The Quilters Guild of the British Isles. I began by making some headless sheep using water soluble plastic and freemotion stitching. Being a bit scared of getting their heads wrong I decided to make their heads later out of felt Then I machine embellished wool roving onto a felt background and added some wool to create the path and wall. I hand stitched and felted yellow flowers, Some grasses Swirly clouds and mountain trees Backed with a lovely grey wool fabric which I turned over to the front of the work as a self binding. Finally, I used a variegated thread to create a quilting stitch along the binding.  I thoroughly enjoyed working with the felt and wool  I'm going to explore these further.

Just wanted to share with you all this picture, as it involves the hexagon blanket from my last post. I posted this picture on facebook last week and I've had so many comments from friends and family about it. I was looking after William for the afternoon and I'd wrapped him in his Hexagon Blanket and laid him at one end of the settee. I sat at the other end and when I looked over and saw his little feet peeping out from the hexagons as he slept, I couldn't resist taking a picture. How cute is that?  EnJoy . 

Yippy! I've just today finished this crochet hexagon blanket for my baby grandson William. I even blocked it. First time I've ever blocked a piece of work - it always sounded so difficult. But it was simple. So I'm feeling rather proud of myself. Next it's back to the wavy blanket I started last year.

Happy St. Davids Day from Port Talbot - Wales  This is the third of my contemporary quilt challenge quilts. And being March's I thought a daffodil most appropriate. AND With it being St. Davids Day today (1st March) St. David is a patron Saint. of Wales AND The Daffodil is our National Flower You'll see lots of these worn in Wales today. If you see someone with a daffodil on elsewhere in the world on 1st March Chances are they are Welsh and showing their Welsh pride.  Anyway I digress This is another project using my new needlefelting machine. I cut out the daffodil shapes in felt  and needlefelted them onto the back of the black felt background to create a 'painterly' effect on the front.  I then freemotion stitched around the outlines and into the leaves and flower I stitched a grided 'nine patch' effect and then stitched around the edge using yellow thread and a zig zag stitch. I had intended ...

This picture kept calling me last week. It was in the foyer of the hotel we stayed in. And I was facinated with it. Inspirational I would say. Could I achieve something similar in fabric?

Well I'm busy working on my second contemporary challenge quilt - Febuary's offering. I've decided to keep to a Welsh theme for the year. And this one is the Welsh Pear or paisley to most of you. I'm still playing on my needlefelting machine. And here is a close-up of the work in progress. The red and black fabric you can see around the outside edge has been used as a backing to the black felt. I've then needlefelted the outer border and a paisley shape from the back of the work creating a more subtle red and black image. I'm currently hand stitching quilting lines onto the work. Just thought I'd share with you my progress so far. Update - All finished now - mind you it's not a very photogenic quilt - looks better in real life. Still - I've finished it - and I've learnt lots in the process.

This crochet blanket has been on the go for a good six months. I'm making it for my new grandson William. It seems a long time ago I had lots of these....                                    Which then turned into many of these..... And is currently this....... Just the edging now - almost there Watch this space...

I've signed up for the Contemporary Group Challenge 2014 (part of The Quilters Guild of the British Isles) It's one 8" Quilt a month for the year and there has to be a line, vertical/diagonal from one edge to another. Far far below, is my January Challenge Quilt 2014. I began with some scraps of fabric from Welsh Costumes  Here is a picture of my daughter Sarah wearing her Welsh Costume   This was about 30 years ago! But Every March 1st (St. David's Day) you will see lots of little girls going to school in their Welsh Costumes. St. David is the Patron Saint of Wales - which is home for me.    I got a new Needle Felting Machine for Christmas and Keen to try it out I needlefelted the fabrics onto a black felt background.  I layered up wadding and a red flannel backing.   Hand Quilted in white red and black thread. And finished by turning the backing over onto the front for the binding. I'm thrilled...

I learnt a wonderful crafting lesson from an eight year old last week. My eight year old neighbour Sophie call over to see my dog Daisy. I had just poured out some paint ready to try using my new wooden stamps. I had carefully chosen two colours of paint and three of my precious new stamps. So I gave Sohpie three choices. 1. Stay and play with the dog. 2. Go home and call again. 3. Come to my workroom to try stamping on fabric. Sophie didn't hesitate. Option 2 was a complete non starter. Option 1 - well she figured she could play with Daisy anytime. And so she skipped happily behind me into my work room. Now, I don't know how you are at making decisions. But I had thought long and hard about which paints and printing blocks to use. I had spent days if not weeks working myself up to be ready to try out my precious new printing blocks. And of course the choice of fabric to print on had taken some considerable time too. So. The day had finally come. I ...

Well my Stitching friends, I got a Needlefelting Machine for Christmas, and here are some samples of my playtime with it.  The  possibilities are endless. And it's so quick and simple of use too. So far I've been using felt, and leftover wool strands.  Above and below are two pictures of some flowers I made. The one above is from the back of the work and so you get to see where the fabrics have been punched through to the back, which gives a lovely painterly effect. The one below is the front. This is simply felt on felt with a few strands of wool for the stems.  In the one below I've needlefelted some voile onto a felt background I'm playing around trying to get a beach/sand effect As I'm very much learning about my machine at the moment I watched a programme on Create and Craft (Shopping Channel) yesterday where I picked up a couple more tips I'll be trying out watch this space.....I'll let you know how it goes. Off to p...

I've been busy making these Cuddles Christmas BearsChristmas tree ornaments By Brenda Walker . I bought the kit in the Malvern Quilt Show in May this year. And I've finally got around to making them up. As usual, like a good girl I read all the instructions - then made them up my own way. This doesn't always produce the desired results But This time I'm very pleased with the results. And I have to say buying the kit rather than just the pattern was a great choice. Everything needed was to hand no searching around for the right fabrics/colours/button etc. Only two more sleeps now Sew Happy, Joy 

My first attempt a needle felting this week. I bought a kit in the show at the nec from Little Gem Knits . ( Take a peak at their website - there are some lovely kits there ). I am enjoying making it up. I'm doing it by hand which seemed fun for a while, bashing away at the foam with my hand held needle puncher. It seemed good for channeling any anger. At least for the first few minutes. It's coming along slowly. But it has helped me make a decision. Well two decisions. One, I've decided I very much like felting and the posibilities it opens up. And two. If I'm going to be Needle felting I want a needle felting machine- please. (Did you hear that Santa?)  Above my felting work so far And Below what it should look like when it's finished! I've been busy collecting goodies ready for my crafty experiments. I took the wooden printing blocks I had bought at the Hobbycrafts  Show at the NEC  ( This link is for the 2014 show) .along to Quilting ...