Bobbinwork Bag

I went to Husqvarna Club this morning with some Show and Tell. Last month's challenge was to use thick threads in the bobbin, stitching from the wrong side so the thread developed texture on the right side.

I decided to use two different threads - a cream crochet cotton and a variegated brown. I threaded the brown thread through the tension and stitched it on cream.



The cream thread, stitched on brown, was not threaded through the tension. I love the bubbly look, but it took about 20 bobbins to do, all wound by hand.


I made the bits of fabric into a bag. I think I will have to start giving some of the bags I make away - I have so many hanging on the sewing room doorknob (both sides of the door) that they keep falling off.

Moving right along

I have finished the machine quilting on my Stitched and Bound entry. The next step involves hand work - I am arranging some embellishments and tomorrow I hope to start the stitching. It needs a bit of thinking time before I dive into it. I may even make the deadline of Friday to deliver the quilt for photography. Or I may not. I can deliver it to Margaret on Sunday - she says Monday is too late!

I have discovered yet another project I want to try - shabby chic roses as demonstrated in a video on Roben-Marie's blog.

Add these to the felted flowers I discovered in an issue of Yarn I borrowed from my friend Lois, plus the other projects in the lineup . .

Aim: Finish Stitched and Bound tomorrow - I don't have any other jobs to do. Then start the DW Back in Black challenge (must look at my Lutrador/Rainbow Spun collection to see if I still have some silver left) and at least one of the pieces I want to make for the Contemporary Quilt Group display at QuiltWest in May. I don't think they will be ready by Friday when they are supposed to be delivered, but I am sure I can finish them before the actual display date!

Challenges

At the February meeting of Designing Women we were challenged to bring along a small plastic bag of textiley bits for an exchange.

All the bags were put in brown paper bags and then we had to select one of them The challenge had two parts: make something from the bits you got using a dissolvable such as Romeo or Vilene 541 AND decorate the brown paper bag and bring it back in March.
This is what I did with the bits I received.


And this is what Juliet did.


And then, as if I didn't haven't enough deadlines with Stitched and Bound (which is still two pieces of fabric and a pile of photos) and QuiltWest, I embarked on a new project - crazy squares using some of the collection of lace I have been hoarding for years.

The centre bits are textured fabric using various techniques. I started them yesterday, but ran out of steam, so no square has more than two rounds of lace attached. At this moment I don't know if they will be a quilt or a cushion.

Friday Flaunt

Quilting Down Under, which is one of the Internet groups I belong to, has a "Friday Flaunt" where members who have blogs post examples of work they have accomplished during the week.

I think I need to flaunt something and this is really the only bit of textile stuff that I have finished all week. This was a challenge for the meeting of the Husqvarna Club last Tuesday - seminole patchwork constructed with an overlocker. I made 2 pieces and used them to border hand towels.


The piece of woollen blanket which I dyed with lavender and an iron cog looks great. It has come out in shades of dark olive green/khaki. I think I may dye another piece or maybe two - I have a couple of blankets in different colours and I would like to see how the lavender takes on them.

A Whiter Shade of Pale

The February challenge for Designing Women was to interpret the song title in a small textile piece measuring 35 cm by 15 cm (14" by 6"). The results were amazing. Here are some of them.

This was mine, made from lace scraps stitched onto Vilene 541

Margaret P used the Flower Stitcher foot for the background and is now adding more 3D shapes.

Linda recycled a piece she made on dissolvable in her student days and added silk paper.

Margaret F thought of a snow white dove as she did lots of stitching.

Helen did some recycling of home decor fabric and lots of stitching as well.

Dorothy has heavily stitched a sandwich of fabrics, then added a feather and some flowers.

Delys has used stitched and stamped water soluble paper, tyvek and printed paper scraps.

And the piece de resistance - Juliet's free machined images from the song lyrics.

Doing nothing much

except reading, but I started a textile piece today. It is the challenge for the Designing Women meeting on Saturday week: "a whiter shade of pale". I am using some of my large collection of lace. No photo until the meeting - I want to keep it under wraps.

As for the reading, after I finished reading Ian Rankin's The Falls, which I really enjoyed, I have been rereading Kerry Greenwood's Phyrne Fisher series and am now about to start number 11. But I am also reading the other Ian Rankin which Sheila loaned me so I may give Phryne a break for now.

The pile of books that I have not read, as opposed to those I want to reread, doesn't seem to lessen. I am appalled by the number of unread books in my bookshelves, and I am still buying. Trying to restrict myself to secondhand stuff, though - I bought A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian for $2 at swapmeet last week - I have heard good reports of it and the price was right.

Contemporary Quilt Group

Today was the last meeting for the year and we were asked to bring our altered pieces again. I was delighted to see that Stella has done a further alteration of her piece.

This is what I did to her piece in the original swap. This is what she has now done: added the Mad Hatter Teaparty silhouettes and some buttons like a watch and a teacup and turned the whole thing into a bag. Well done, Stella!

The ATCs made a fabulous display. I couldn't fit them all into one pic - so you get two.


Fourteen people took part and almost everyone had made 18 or 20. I like my share very much - and my total collection is getting close to 200!

Altered Art Journal

Finished! And I think it looks OK.

Even found some matching beads and embellished the knot at the end of the cords.

Altering Art

A couple of months ago we had a challenge at Contemporary Quilt Group where we took a piece of someone else's and altered it in some way. I received back a beaded and heat distressed piece mounted on black which was lovely, but I couldn't visualise a way to use/display it.

Today the light bulb went off. It will be the cover for a journal. So I tore up some handmade paper for the signatures, unpicked the fabric from its black base, fused a batik print on the back as a lining and machine buttonholed the edges and made some machine cords for ties.

No photos - because it doesn't look like much as yet. Maybe tomorrow. I need to finish it before Friday and the next meeting.

Altered Textile Swap

I took along my altered piece for the Contemporary Quilt Group meeting. This is the original piece.


This is the altered version.


There were some great pieces, though not everyone was there and so we have to bring them again next month.

Lyn Nixon gave us a great workshop on framing and my little red bit looks great all framed up.

View Finding

We have to take a piece of textile work 8cm square to Contemporary Quilt Group on Friday.

This piece is painted vliesofix ironed on to black felt with some embroidery, including bobbin work, added. The whole piece is unusable as it is because of its poor design, so I have been using an old mount to try and select parts that might be OK by themselves.

Here are three alternatives:





Which shall I choose?

Altered Textile Challenge

At the July meeting of Contemporary Quilt Group a few of us brought along a textile piece that we were willing to have altered by someone else. The challenge is due at the meeting next Friday, so I thought I had better get started.

Red plus blue-green equals ?

The Blues

We have a challenge to make a tassel for swapping at Designing Women this month. I was going to use some of the piles of yarn I have when I spotted this hank at Spotlight. This is the purple colour way. It just shouted TASSEL at me.



The yarn is actually 10 yarns, simply tied end to end. This is what I ended up with when I unwound the blue one.


Tassel, here I come.