I'M STILL IN LOVE........

I'm still in love with Italian embroideries, and am quite behind in sharing with you all, what I have stitched. Away back in May of this year the piece I stitched was Deruta Embroidery. This was a first for me and I loved it, so much so I also stitched another piece for a gift, which I forgot to photograph, however here is my challenge piece again a small coaster 10cm square.

 I found wonderfully clear information on stitching this technique on two blogs.Tutto Ricamo   found here and riccamiamoinsieme.canalblog.com in the blog  archives  And yes I will be stitching this again as the Guild here has decided to do My Italian Love Affair challenge next year. I need to get some more photos so I can share with you what I stitched in the following months.

I don't usually share cooking ideas, but I was so thrilled with this effort,  I found the idea on Pinterest, just a photo with no instructions, it looked so easy to make and it was. Two boxes of frozen cream puffs a little icing and some chocolate leaves. Yes I made my own leaves, however next time will make smaller ones. I made this one for the Guild Christmas party and plan another one for the church Christmas Lunch this Sunday.

Today 1st December is the beginning of Summer here, and after a very wet, wet winter and spring the sunshine is very welcome. I hope there is some sunshine in your day too.

A LITTLE STITCHING

I planned a theme of hearts for next year, then when deciding what to make for my exchange gift for the Embroiderer's Guild Christmas party I decided on ..... yes hearts. and from there many ideas came, so expect to see more. These first hearts were inspired by some tiny hearts I had made  a couple of years ago.

Inspired by some that I found on Pinterest I had made my own version using lace on felt for the background adding beads and jewellery findings for the decoration. This time after making the tiny hearts I mounted them on red silk and love the new idea even more.

My next lot of hearts are quite different, Jan had requested five small items all the same, some of these are for folk who received decorations I made last year, to see those ones  again the  link

The first one is finished and the rest not far behind.

I need to sort out and upload some more photos so I can share with you more of my Italian

stitching,

 be back again soon.

A NEW MONTH.... A NEW DECADE

A new month and a new decade for me....  I started the month by celebrating my  80th Birthday, all my family were able to be present which added to the occasion, I was also spoilt with lovely flowers........

 From Jan and family,  a lovely bouquet of  lilies and rose, which I had the pleasure of arranging , the florist had included a good range of foliage and with a few extras from the garden I was able to make this beautiful arrangement.

The card with the other flowers said...... from your little man and family. and came with this beautiful arrangement, gladiola, lilies,roses,  carnations, orchids and bells of Ireland .The photo does not show that the roses here were soft mauve.

                                            

                     

                                                               

  And I have updated my profile photo with this one taken when the family took me out to dinner at Mountain House.                                                      I will be back shortly with some embroidery to share. 

 

 

Part 2- EARTH, SEA and SKY

Sea........

I grew up by the sea many hours spent exploring the rock pools, and the quote I found for this etui was  " The sea once it casts its net holds you in its spell of wonder forever "          ( Jacque Cousteau)  

 I have a little dried sea horse that I  first got over 50 years ago and it was the inspiration for this etui, 

 Maree found me a perfect fabric, hand dyed linen, it reminded me of the colours of a stormy sea.The linen is darker than the photos show and goes well with the pieces of Paua shell that I have used..

 finding the small sea horse charms at the Bead Hold here in Stratford was just perfect. Both the Sea horse and fish were embroidered  then added to the background.

opening it the quote is now shown, I wanted it to look like it was an old message rescued from a bottle thrown in the sea

and fully open it is ready for use

and Sky........

I wanted to photography this piece against the sky but that did not prove to be easy!! although there was a lovely blue sky with just a few clouds but in a built up area to find a patch of sky.

so inside shots it was.............

Another hand dyed linen for the last etui, blue with the suggestion of clouds, the bird again was embroidered first then added and the little backstitch birds were from a chart I drew up some years ago and have used many times

The quote "O birds of beauty, the sky is your home  just spread your wings and fly high" (unknown)  is seen before the etui if fully opened.

These pieces took much longer than I expected to do but I have enjoyed them from the planning though the stitching to the finish,  This photo was taken before the final finish, the first scissor fob I made was to thick when the etui was closed so when the shops opened on the monday I bought two more bird charms like those I had on the cords and used them. then it was time to meet the deadline and deliver my pieces.

I hope you have enjoyed my sharing of the photos.

IT'S BEEN A LONG TIME

Thank you to those who have contacted me re my absence,  first it was computer problems I don't find the I pad works well for blogging, , winter and I seems to live were the warmth is, and time slips by with plenty of procrastinating too!  I know excuses, excuses!!

But I have been stitching and have just completed a project that has been in the planning for about a year. It started under the title of the Daisy Chain Project but when I learnt that this years Taranaki-Mamatatu-Wanganui Regional Exhibition  theme was "Earth Sea and Sky"my project grew from one item to three.  Three notebook etuis, small in size, intended to be suitable to take with one in a handbag or when traveling, closed they are each 9.5 cm by 7cm and each tells part of my story, the exhibition opened last Saturday so I can now share with you .
 I have named my pieces-

  "My Favourite things from Earth, Sea and Sky"

Earth........

 "Daisies, ye flowers of lowly birth, embroiderers of the carpet earth."   this quote from a poem by John Clare (1793-1864) I have used  many times with embroidered pieces and it was the inspiration for my piece, along with memories of a cloth my grandmother Caroline Haworth (1873-1949) had stitched.  Caroline won prizes for her embroidery as a child, and four generations of needlewomen followed her.

I'm not sure when she embroidered the cloth, the linen quality looks pre-war, and my sister now has it. The design does have four crinoline ladies sitting in the daisies. not shown in the photo and a plain crocheted edge unlike most of her other cloths which had quite fancy edging, I think the plain edge really suits this piece the border is so rich in stitching.

 

The cover of my etui has the daisies on both the front and the back stitched in a similar style to the border on the cloth,  and opens to show  the daisy flowers in my  style of embroidery, 

then opens out fully when in use, a pocket on the left holds a packet of needles and the scissor pocket is on the right. and I have stitch the quote across the top above the flannel for pins and needles.

I have uploaded photos of I think this will get the second etui but will keep them for my posting as this will become photo heavy if I continue.   part 2 coming soon