Back to Stitching

When I was asked to take part in the Quilt Group Open Day,(The link will take you to the Toowoomba Quilt Group Blog where you will find lovely examples of the quilts the ladies have made),I was very flattered. 

I don't quilt now myself  but I  was to have a display of my embroidery work, (which you can also see on the Quilt  Group Open Day link, and demonstrate some stitching throughout the day. 

The Club had a very successful day, with lots and lots of visitors.   Our organiser Ineke did a wonderful job with the Club getting a lot of positive feedback.

Needing something to stitch on, I made up a couple of little sample kits to use, and have now been able to finish these.

This first one is demonstrating some Mountmellick style stitching, and the second I have used to show bullions and woven picots which are used a lot in Casalguidi work.   Of course, being me I have not done things in the traditional manner but put  a creative twist to the designs.

The last of the first batch of cushions is ready to post when the rain stops, and now these will all be subjected to being thrown into the washing machine to establish how everything stands up to being laundered in this manner.......fingers crossed!   DIL wants to ensure that they will do what the label says they will do, and we can eliminate using any threads that are not colorfast.

In the photo the G looks crooked but on the piece I could not see that, so in future DIL is going to do the attaching of the letters because she has a better eye for a straight line than I do.  Although I think it would be pretty good if all the letters and hearts were crooked.

When I was stitching last week I was having trouble seeing the work, and not at all at night so on the advice of my good friend Dianne went to the website of The Scissorman and found myself a floor lamp. Check out the website it is very interesting and tempting.

Yesterday this box was left on my doorstep .  Inside was another box

And inside that were the makings of this.

I am so proud of myself I was able to put it together without the help of any man and did not electrocute myself when I plugged it in and turned it on.   No doubt many of you will already have one of these or similar and know what a difference they can make to being able to see your work clearer.   It even comes with a magnifying glass.  Sorry about the poor photo

New Venture

I think my dear DIL thinks that I am bored and need purpose in my life so she has devised a "plan" to give me something to while away the boring hours of my day.:)

She is of the opinion that her two furry babies should be able to enjoy the same comforts of home as she and hubby do, and has decided to expand that to include all furry babies.

 Chloe and Beau, our furry babies have their own web page and Facebook page if you would like to have a look. If you want to read about her two lovelies, who I might add love their nana, you can go to this link.   On the link site there are also more photos of the "children" on their facebook page.

To this end she feels that all pets should have the luxury of resting their dear little heads on a soft comfy cushion.  So she is in the process of designing cushions just for pets, and has enlisted my help to make sure said cushions are in the luxury category and include some hand embroidery.

So as a result, last week I received a package in the mail with the first lot of fabrics and instructions:

After some deliberations as to colours and some instructions from my friend Di on how to use visofix I have come up with the first two

The wording is to ensure that the humans in the family do not steal the cushions for their own use.  The design range will expand I am sure as we go on.  Which means I am so glad that in the last couple of weeks I realised I could no longer vacuum and have engaged a nice lady to do it for me.

Now I can sit back and embroider and pretend I am a lady.

Fortunately I do not have to do the machine sewing of the actual cushions DIL is much more experienced in this. My  sewing machine and I are definitely not friends.

There will be more designs coming, and will be on the Wag the Dog Website as soon as we are organised.

 I have given myself a new nickname...if these sell in any numbers I will be then known as "sweatshop shirley".....my only hope is they will not turn the "dungeon" under their home into my workroom.

That on its own is a reason to stay healthy so I can live in my own lovely little unit, sitting back with my needle and threads in idle relaxion.

More pretty cushions to come.  I'm on a roll.

Catching Up

Last week my friend Di and I had the pleasure of lunching with an old friend from our Rainbow Beach days.   Ellie was a long time member of our local craft group there, and was our very able President.

Ellie with Di

Now 89 we discovered that she had moved to Toowoomba into a retirement village.     It was so exciting to see her again.  She is an absolute marvel, still stitching, and quilting.    Bright as a button, we had a wonderful time reminiscing about old times.

I was sent a link to a site which sells beautiful hand dyed threads,

 LES Designs by lorraine. 

Unfortunately I was very naughty because I could not resist purchasing some of the beautiful threads. 

I mentioned in my email to Lorraine, that I was looking for some threads in aqua/turquoise tones, and she even sent me two samples to try until she has restocked those colours.

The two threads at the bottom are my free samples.   Oh well I did only buy three skeins so I suppose that is only a little bit naughty.

Hope all my friends are enjoying a lovely weekend.