Friday, September 16, 2022

Embroideries in hoops

I've been doing some slow stitching in the last few weeks. It's always such a relaxing thing to do.

Stitching a second seascape

Last month, I wrote a post about Embroidering a seascape. It was based on TextileArtist.org's workshop with Bethany Duffy (see Related links below). I decided that I wanted to go further with this technique since it's a lot of fun and since I changed it up a little, was able to learn a new beading technique 😊!

A second seascape with a shell and sea glass

As you can see, it's still a work in progress (WIP).

I used a piece of cotton for reinforcement and a hand-dyed piece as the background. On top of that, I added hand-dyed cheese cloth. I love the way that it looks like an old fishing net.

I attached the sea glass by making a beaded bezel. Since I had not way of attaching the sea glass, I treated it as a cabochon. I used Thom Atkins' book, Beading Artistry for Quilts. His explanations were great. It's obviously working since the sea glass is still attached after a couple of weeks!

Update: Here is a picture of the finished Seascape and Sea Glass

Finished Seascape and Sea Glass (Dec 2022)

I love how it's turning out, so much so that I started another squirrel - literally 😊

Getting caught up in a Squirrel

Here is my second WIP. I found a half nut shell that had holes inside, so why not use it too? With a nut comes a tree and a squirrel! I used a double layer of a blue-grey sheet as my base and added some of my own hand-dyed cheese cloth. I love the texture that it gives the piece.

A tree, a nut shell and a Squirrel!

I started with a tree trunk (a scrap of brown batik) and then some kind of olive green voile (from an old skirt) for the top of the tree. I've added a few daisy stitches as leaves and I'll continue doing that. I haven't attached the squirrel on the log yet. The squirrel may move, depending on what else I add to the piece.

It's far from finished but it makes me smile when I look at it.

Meditation stitching

Last weekend I spent a couple of hours at the Out of the Box (OOTB) booth at Fibrefest in Almonte. I did some great shopping beforehand and at the booth worked on some meditation stitching. A little difficult to be mindful with people asking questions but it was enjoyable talking with like-minded people 😊

Wonky star mat and the meditation block

Practice wonky star block

Can you see the quarter of the practice wonky star block as the background to the meditation block? I love trapping bits of thread and yarn beneath the tulle. This tulle is nice and glittery. I just finished the block, so here it is!

The beginning of a meditation block

Finished meditation piece

What I learned

Learning how to create a beaded bezel was interesting. I'm surprised that I was able to follow it easily - the instructions were very well written.
I should have used smaller seed beads as I went up and around the sea glass. I didn't even know that they made them smaller than size 11! I'll have to go to a beading store for those.
I don't think that I have much to do to finish the seascape embroidery, just tidy it up and finish the back.
I pierced a hole on the inside of the nut to attach it. It was tricky getting the needle through it. Now I know what a curved needle could be used for!
I will probably be working on the squirrel hoop for a bit - there is still lots to do.
I'm working on more meditation pieces since it looks like I'll be teaching this later in the fall. I want to create a few finished articles to show what can be done with these, other than my huge traveller's blanket.
Did you notice the lovely polar bear pin cushion that Turid sent me last year? I love it 😍