I'm sure that anyone who has embroidered for a long time has the same problem that I do. No more space on the walls in your house. Not a single square inch to hang another hand-stitched masterpiece.
Does that sound familiar to you?
Many of you that have met me abroad will have seen my 'rag books', a rather ingenious way of storing your pieces in pages and made for me by Pat, who is no longer with us. I suppose I could make more of those but I'll be honest, I won't make them like Pat did and anyway, that pile of rag books is building up. Time for something different.
For the last six months or so, between trips away, video making and working up other designs for publications, I have completed the first three blocks that will go into a quilt. That quilt could become a wall hanging but of course, the walls are full so I envisage that it could be a covering for a single bed. Not one you could sleep under because it has lots of beads on it but rather, a daytime bedspread, if you will.
The first thing I did was to draw what I have called a Quilt Map.
Once I had an idea of where I was headed, I drew a few designs, starting with the butterfly that will be block 12. Once I had that starting point, I went on to the Late Summer design that will be block 5. I was halfway through the Late Summer design when there was a quilt festival in our city, so I went on down there with both the projects and managed to find a pretty floral fabric that would work with the colours I had decided to use throughout the quilt.
That was easier said than done because there was not a lot of the only fabric that suited what I had in mind. But with a little digging around on that stand, we managed to find the end of the roll and few fat quarters which, between them, added up to what I was going to need - and a bit more for luck.
So with the pretty, floral fabric in my hot little hand, I was able to come home, draw up an image and get a better idea of where I am heading.
And this is where I'm at. Blocks 5, 11 and 12 done and finished with block no. 8 in progress. Block 10 will be dragonflies, intended to pair with the butterfly that is block 12 on the right. Blocks 7 and 9 will match but won't be identical designs. They will have a needle lace background with fruit and flowers. The remaining blocks, 1 to 4 and block 6 will be fruit, flora and fauna, fauna including some more butterflies, dragonflies and bees.
If you want to work along with me on this quilt, you can now make a start. If you don't want to make a quilt but would like to do one or two of the projects that will be made up into something else, or framed, you can do that too. All of the projects and printed on Ecru cotton twill. I am working the embroidery through batting - you might think that's tough on the fingers but it isn't really. If you're making a quilt, you would want to get a piece of batting big enough for the entire quilt and do that but if you are going to make the projects up in a different way, you probably won't want to.
So now, the projects.
Block no. 12, the big butterfly is called Fluttering Flowers.
The wings are filled with a variety of stitches and techniques. Needle lace fillers, conventional surface stitchery, wonderful random freestyle flowers and of course, lots of 3-dimensional beadwork flowers and leaves. And that's not to forget the subtle ecru butterflies in the background.
And here's the thing. If you don't know how to do for example, the needle lace techniques or the beadwork flowers, you can also get the full stitch and techniques dictionary. This provides high resolution video clips of every single stitch, needle lace technique and beadwork flower. We provide the beadwork flower video clips for both right-handers and left-handers.
You'll find the kit at HERE on our website. You can order the full kit or just the pattern and print (which provides the print and full instructions in the booklet). The materials pack has all the threads, beads and needles. If you order the full kit, you get everything you need for the project and of course, if you feel you need video instruction, add the Online Stitch Dictionary to your cart. We'll add the access document to that private domain so that you get into it on an ongoing basis.
Block no. 11, alongside the butterfly, is Almost Autumn.
Worked with mostly traditional surface embroidery stitches, some of which have tweaks to make them interesting, there is also some bead embroidery, two needle weaving variations and a brand new needle lace filler pattern.
As with the Fluttering Flowers project above and the Late Summer project below, you can also get the full stitch and techniques dictionary.
The stitch and techniques dictionary provides high resolution video clips of every single stitch, bead embroidery or needle weaving technique and of course, the aforementioned tweaks to some of the surface stitches.
You'll find the kit at HERE on our website. As with the other projects, you can order the full kit or just the pattern and print (which provides the print and full instructions in the booklet). The materials pack has all the threads, beads and needles. If you order the full kit, you get everything you need for the project and of course, if you feel you need video instruction, add the Online Stitch Dictionary to your cart. We'll add the access document to that private domain so that you get into it on an ongoing basis.
Block no. 5, which will be in the middle of the quilt, is Late Summer.
Sometimes I work up a design that goes smoothly from start to finish. No unpicking, no changing my mind on the colours I am using, it just flows. Late Summer was one of those designs. I so enjoyed working on it.
Worked with DMC stranded and perle #12 cotton, there are many traditional surface embroidery stitches, but there is also some bead embroidery, along with needle weaving variations and needle lace fillers. The most interesting thing to do is the random freestyle flowers. It's so satisfying to see that come together.
As with the two projects above, you can also get the full online stitch and techniques dictionary. This dictionary provides high resolution video clips of every single stitch, bead embroidery, needle lace or needle weaving technique as well as an instructional video for the random freestyle flowers.
You'll find the kit at HERE on our website. As with the other projects, you can order the full kit or just the pattern and print (which provides the print and full instructions in the booklet). The materials pack has all the threads, beads and needles. If you order the full kit, you get everything you need for the project and of course, if you feel you need video instruction, add the Online Stitch Dictionary to your cart. We'll add the access document to that private domain so that you get into it on an ongoing basis.
As I complete each block of the quilt, it will be turned into a kit and will be made available on our website. As mentioned, block 8 is in progress - or was in progress, it has been put on pause while I complete a project for Inspirations Magazine and I will get back to it in a week or so when that project is finished.
We'll email the access document to the lucky first 10 orders when we send off your kits.
In the meantime, whether you want to make a quilt or not, these three projects are up there just waiting for you. Have a close look at them, they are varied and interesting. Should be fun to do and of course, you don't need to battle with the techniques because the online dictionaries are available.
To set the ball rolling, we will send free access to the online stitch dictionary to the first 10 orders for these kits.
We'll email the access document to the lucky first 10 orders when we send off your kits.
