Monday was a long weekend in Canada and I happily spent most of the afternoon doing some slow stitching with my daughter. She was embroidering and listening to video essays while I was working on my Traveller's Blanket and listening in on the programs. It was so peaceful and pleasant. I wish that I could spend all of my afternoons like that😊
Traveller's Blanket
So what it a Traveller's Blanket? If you google it, you will find links to Dejanne Cevaal's work. Dejanne has made a number of Traveller's Blankets - blankets that might have been made by travellers to depict what they had seen during their travels. I follow Dejanne on Instagram and saw that she was offering an online course. Since I've really enjoyed meditation stitching, I thought that this would be a great way to display them.
I'm using a very fine piece of cotton that I dyed a couple of years ago. I love the colours and I'm sure that it will make a great background to my small meditation stitched blocks.
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| My dyed background piece (39" x 25") |
The idea is then to attach pieces of fabric to the background and to embroider them on and around them.
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First block stitched down with a blanket stitch
and then adding seed stitches |
I finished the first block and then attached the second block last night. I also pinned an embroidered hexie that will be stitched down next.
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| Two blocks stitched down and the hexie pinned |
For the online course, so far Dejanne has sent us a couple of PDF lessons and we are sharing on a private Facebook group. It's a lovely group of ladies from around the world.
Here are some of my favourite meditation stitching.
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| Impressions of Dried Flowers |
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| Star Light |
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| Web in the Flower of Life |
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| Orange, Pink & a feather |
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| Pretty Moon & Stars; Angles; Green & Blue with Bark; and Shining Rose |
Here are some of the hexies that I embroidered. The spring bulbs have now gone but they were lovely a few weeks ago.
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| Embroidered hexies in the spring garden |
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| Close-up of embroidered hexies |
What I learned
- In the first meditation stitched block that I attached, I ran out of the pink embroidery floss that I was using for the outside chain stitch. As I was posting my pictures on Facebook, I realised that I could leave the chain stitch open and have a few seed stitches spilling out of the open frame.
- I'm not a big Facebook fan but this is a lovely small group so things can easily be found.
- It's really fun to see other participants' work. The fabrics that are being attached to the blankets tell a story. Either they were acquired while travelling , hand-dyed, etc.
- I have quite a few meditation stitched pieces done but will be making more to add to the blanket.
- I want to stitch a border around each block. It's fun that I can add more stitching to the borders later.
- I'm looking forward to seeing how my hexies look when interspersed around the blocks.
Related links
Linking parties
I will be linking this post to many fun linky parties. Let's see what's happening out there!
Oh Scrap!,
15 Minutes to Stitch 2020,
Monday Making,
Colour & Inspiration Tuesday,
Free Motion Mavericks,
Off the Wall Friday,
Foto Fun Friday,
Can I Get A Whoop Whoop?,
Peacock Party,
Slow Sunday Stitching,
Midweek Makers,
Needle & Thread Thursday,
Put Your Foot Down,
Fun idea... like a crafters version of a scout badge blanket. Useful and sentimental all at once. Thanks for sharing at the Chameleon's Colour & Interest Party.
ReplyDeleteHi Dione, I have never heard of a scout badge blanket but that sound cool.
DeleteI love your meditation stitchings and I think it's a great idea to add them to your hand dyed fabric to make a travellers blanket. It's nice to see someone making something really unique and full of special memories :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Janine. It's a lot of fun and I'm so glad to be able to use my meditation stitching since I really love some of them.
DeleteBeautiful stitching and gorgeous colors. Enjoy the rest of the process!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much Kate. It is really fun to make.
DeleteLove the concept of meditation pieces!
ReplyDeleteAnd stitching with your daughter is just so wonderful!
Thanks Kathy. It really was lovely to stitch with my daughter. I've got some more ideas for the meditation pieces that I'm looking forward to trying out. That blanket is going to need lots of those pieces :-) Take care.
DeleteYou do create the most interesting pretties, Andree. Love the pieces you have imagined so far for your Traveller's blanket. Love those hexies, too.
ReplyDeleteThanks Kim, you always leave the best comments :-) I'm really enjoying making these pretties and have more ideas than time - which is a good thing since there's nothing worse than not being inspired. Take care of yourself and your pretties.
DeleteIt seems like a good course. I really like your hexies!
ReplyDeleteThanks Angela, it's been really great - and of course I couldn't help but add hexies! Take care.
DeleteThis one is going to keep you on your toes, I like the idea behind it. Looking forward to seeing it progress. Thank you for linking up all these unique projects to Put your foot down.
ReplyDeleteThanks Denise, I've finally been working on it again. It'll take a while but it's slowing taking shape. There should be an update soon! Take care.
DeleteHello Andrée, the dried flower impressions are really pretty. Meanwhile I can't help seeing the dyed background as an erupting volcano so I'm looking forward to seeing how you are going to reconcile those two images.
ReplyDeleteLove, Muv
Thanks Muv, the traveller's blanket is slowly taking shape. I hope to write an update post soon. Take care.
DeleteAn interesting concept. Love your canvas and additions.
ReplyDelete