Button 8

Button 8 is called Half Cutwork which is self explanitory really.
I love the textural look of this one and the small peek of the patterned fabric in the cut out section.
The stitches I used are Running stitch-Buttonhole stitch-Lazy Daisy stitch and French Knots again on Cream Duchess Satin and using cream Perle 12 thread.
The button size is 38mm.

Tomorrow we learn something new-I can't wait to find out what it is.

Button 7

Here is the seventh button that I have made in Karen's class and it also involves cutwork.
The centre hole started out as a circle but lost it's shape in the process.

Now to work on the latest one.

Button 6

This is the sixth button that I have made in the class with Karen and it was the most difficult one so far.
I have problems with fiddly bits where I am working in confined spaces but after several attempts I managed to get this one right.
The centre part is made from a piece of silk organza which had the cutwork design on it and I have layered it over a piece of pink cotton Voile to give it a little bit of colour.




I had a slight accident yesterday which could have been worse than it was.
I was making my Christmas pudding and when it had finished cooking I was lifting it out of the boiler when it slipped out of my hands back into the boiling water which then splashed up onto my chest and arms.
After screaming like a mad Banshee woman and uttering a few unlady like words I pulled my top off and immediately and went and had a cold shower.
I rang the help hotline who put me onto a doctor and luckily I had done everything correctly and she gave me advice on what to do next.
Luckily it did not blister so I realise that I was very lucky indeed.
Oh and the pudding was not hurt in the drama.
Hope the family appreciate it at Christmas time.

Padded Embellishments

Todays button as part of the Button's and More class is a padded embellishment--you can just see the outline of the covered button behind the green fabric.
The fabric I have used is one of my hand dyed silks--it is Silk Georgette and has French knots in Silk Ribbon and thread which were hand dyed at the same time as the silk.
I am going to wear it as a brooch because I love this green.

I am going to experiment and make more of these using different fabrics.

Finished Buttons

Here are the 4 buttons completed ---I am so pleased with them .

Now I must start on the next items-----mmmmmmmmmmmmm

Damp Stretching Done

The next step in the procedure in Buttons and More was to damp stretch the fabric with the embroidery on it in preparation to cut out the circles around the embroidery ready to put them on to the metal button bases.
This part was new to me because I have always ironed the fabric after I have finished the embroidery which I now know is a no-no.
I can see that by damp stretching the fabric it is perfectly flat--something that Ironing would not achieve.
I do know how to cover the buttons but I am going to wait for my instructions from Karen just in case she has
a tiny tip for me----always willing to learn something new.
Gee I wish that white on white would photograph better.



Oh and another thing---whenever I check my photos after posting them on my blog--instead of seeing what I used to-ie a photo that I could click on and it would then allow me to enlarge it-----I now get a black screen that shows all my photos for that post in a line and it becomes a photostream.
Why has this happened?
I haven't changed any settings on my blog?---is blogger being a pest again?
Please leave me alone when I am happy Mr Blogger I do not need attitude from you.

UPDATE-------------------

Thanks to Penny my problem is solved.
Next time Mr Blogger should ask me before he changes something --or maybe he did and I wasn't listening.

A little bit More

Three more little pieces that will be turned into buttons.
I am doing the "Buttons and More" workshop over on Karen's Contemporary Embroidery sight.
The idea is to embroider within the circle and then make it into a covered button--you can see my tacking thread in some of the photos.
This one looks like a vase of flowers--not planned but that is how it turned out-there are Spider Webs-French Knots and Bullion Stitch.
I have decided to add a small amount of pink to each one which will tie them all together.




Little worms?--- I think I can honestly say I can do Bullion stitch now.

This one is hard to see because I was having trouble with the camera.

There are three bands of needle weaving and one of them has a row of pink Buttonhole stitch which then has another row in white to make it look like lace.

The other stitches are mainly French Knots (with three pink ones) and lastly is a spider web but it is not in the usual shape--just to be different.

My intention is to mount these on a box canvas but Iwill have to make one more (so there is an uneven number)
I am enjoying this class.

Now I have to try my hand at damp stretching---------------

Hello Remember Me?

Did you all think I had fallen off the twig?
Well to be honest with you I have not had anything to write about until now that is.
I have signed up to do a workshop with the fabulous Karen Ruane called "Buttons and More".
If you don't know about Karen and her amazing white on white embroidery(where have you been) click on the link above and go check it out.
Karen is a very talented embroiderer and I have admired her work for a while this year and I follow her blog daily (because she posts daily).
This is the second class that she has offered this year but I couldn't do the first one because it crossed with the preparation that I was involved with for the Guild exhibition.
Now I know you are going to say to me "but Doreen you can embroider and do these stitches"--true---but anything that I can learn from Karen that will improve what I already do has to be a bonus.
The design that I have worked here involves French Knots (my favourite stitch) Bullion stitch (one of my least favourite stitches) and a spider web wheel (but with a few more legs).
My first sample was white on white but I then did a second one and added a small amount of pink which I am very pleased with.
This will eventually be made into a button after Karen shows us a few tricks.
Watch this space as the saying goes.

Spring has Sprung

Finally a week later I have fully recovered from the hectic weekend of the exhibition.
We are having typical Spring weather in Canberra, beautiful sunny days and then several rainy days which is great for the gardens.
As you all may well know I am not your average keen gardener --I love looking at beautiful gardens but I just don't like all the hard work involved in having one.
This weekend Ebony and I brought some new Herb plants and transplanted them into bigger pots and replanted the two that survived from last year.
There are a couple more that I want to get and I think I will be capable of looking after them-well time will tell anyway.
So here they are freshly planted and standing up straight -from the left is Parsley-Oregeno-Basil-Chives and Mint.

Now I am off for a Nanny Nap.

Ask Me How I feel?

Well the answer is --exhausted.

I worked seven hours on Thursday setting up the recycle table--very tiring- then back for the official opening at 7.30pm then seven hours on Friday selling the stuff on the recycle table and today it was 6 hours.

Friday was a busy day and we had lots of customers but today was a cold and bitter day so things were very quiet.

Tomorrow it will be nine hours because after it closes we have to pull everything down and pack all the stuff up.

Thank goodness it only happens once a year--I don't think this old body could take another day.

It has been a great time meeting up with old friends who seem to show up annually to check out all the work that the members have done.

I thought I would show a photo that was taken of Stephen and his gorgeous wife (me) at the opening night--and I can tell you that after standing for all that time selling stuff I am even more shorter than him now.

OK I know it is early but I am off to bed.

Diaries

There's no stopping me now-----
I have finished the diaries that I started yesterday and I am happy with the results.
The first ones are made from some of our hand dyed felt overlaid with hand dyed silk organza and then machine stitched for hilights.



These two were made using some of my samples that I had tucked away--there was a third one but I have decided not to go ahead with that one as I don't think it will stand up to the wear and tear that it would get.

Next I have to make some cards and then that's it--I think !!!

Lavender Bags

Something else for the Sales Table at the exhibition--some Lavender bags.
I have made seven of these and I did the embroidery on them when we went to Melbourne in June this year then I finished them off yesterday.
The embroidery is done in either Silk ribbon or Perle cotton and the cords were made on the machine bobbin in Perle thread as well.
I had to leave the filling of them with the Lavender until Stephen was out of the house because he is allergic to it and when they are done I have to put them in a plastic container and store them in the garage until next week--"or else"--------------------

I also made four smaller pillow ones from Silk fabric with Silk ribbon embroidery on them so now I am off to finish covering some diaries (for 2012) that I have started----busy busy.

Another UFO Bag

This is the last UFO bag that I have finished.
It started about seven years ago when I had woven the panel on the front and I sat it on the purple piece of fabric and thought that it was a good match.
I made the length of cord that became the handles (on the sewing machine) at about the same time and that was as far as it went.It has lingered in the same box as the others-only seeing daylight for as long as it took me to decide not to finish it at that stage.
It is not a big bag but it does look nice--my colours- but not my style so along with both the others I will try and sell them at the exhibition which starts on the 23rd September.

Now to finish all the bits and bobs that will go on the sales table.

Every year I say I won't leave everything until the last minute but I still do and I'm too old to change now.

Another One

Another UFO--this time the fabric was pieced together about two years ago and I cut the shapes out of felt and pinned them onto the piece of fabric where it all sat until last week.
Nice to have another one out of the way.

One UFO Done

About five months ago I made a list of the UFO's that I had and I am ashamed to say that there were over twenty of them.Many of them had the stitching finished and only needed to be constructed.
This Sashiko one has been lurking around for about 6 years --I had finished the stitching but I didn't know what to do with it after that.
I didn't need anymore cushions and I didn't want to make it into a wall hanging because I had nowhere that I could hang it so it just sat in a box with the other stuff.
This week I decided to make it into a bag and it is now finished.
The corded handle is made from commercial cord which I zig zagged together and I added a small hand made tassel on one side.

I have another one almost finished--today could be the day.

Silk packs to sell

Previously I had shown you about our dying day where we had dyed silk fabrics and ribbons etc. to sell at the Guild exhibition in two weeks time--well yesterday I packages some of the things into packs in colourways that will be handy for Crazy Patchwork and embroidery.
Each of the colourway items were dyed in one jar together so that they could be used together and it is amazing how different fabrics etc. take up the colours in different ways.

The last two packets had Pumpkin Spice as one of the colours in it and it seems to have taken over but I rather like how they have turned out.

Now to pack all the silk ribbons and threads.

More Stuff

I seem to be only able to manage a post every fortnight at present but it should improve in the future.
What I have been doing is getting stuff ready to sell on the sales table at the exhibition in a fortnight.
I have been busily stitching all the embroidery parts and now I am at the stage of constructing it all.
I first cut out all the little bags etc then I do the embroidery on all of them then I stitch them up and make the cords etc.
Just like a little production line sweat shop.
These little bags are lined and they will contain a little bag with lavender.
The fabric is silk with silk ribbon embroidery and the cords are made using the bobbin method on my sewing machine.

Can't stop here chatting --must get back to it.

What have I been doing?

Well I didn't realise I hadn't posted for 2 weeks until I logged on today.
Nothing is wrong with me--well nothing that a bit of energy wouldn't fix anyway.
I have been making this little embroidery kit and a bag to store it in for the Guild Exhibition this year.
This will surely knock the socks of the other Guild members when they see it because I don't usually do things of this nature.
Why did I do it?
Well--I found this beautiful piece of pink and white cotton check fabric and it said to me "Do something different with me" so after much thought I decided to make this little embroidery kit and embellish it with Silk Ribbon embroidery.
I made the cord that is couched around the edges on the sewing machine by using the bobbin winder.





Then there happened to be enough fabric left over to make a dilly bag to store the kit in.
I didn't add embroidery onto the bag because I felt it looked better left plain.
Again I made the twisted cord on the sewing machine and I added four buttonhole loop carriers for the cord to go through.






I had intended to sell it at the exhibition but alas my daughter said she wanted it for a friend so........

More Dying

We also dyed silk ribbon-threads -braids and laces while we were at it and I am sure going to find it hard parting with these--but I know that I would only store them away and just look at them.
The first picture is the silk ribbon and threads-for some reason we don't have a green.




This bundle is the braids-laces and some motifs.

This is some silk velvet-very pretty soft colours.

This is silk dupion dyed in the same jars as the velvets above.
We had several metres of cotton lace that we dyed with the stuff I showed yesterday and for some reason it came out with big white blotches so Suzanne overdyed it with pearl grey which toned down the original colours and gave the white sections a soft muted colour.

Very happy with the result.


All we have to do now is iron all the stuff and package it--phew not looking forward to that job.

Our Dying Day Results

Finally I have photographed the stuff that we dyed recently to sell at the guild exhibition.
Each bundle was dyed in a jar-there are 5 different silk fabrics plus threads-laces and Silk ribbons.
We are a bit hap hazard with how much dye solution is poured into the jar so we would not be able to reproduce the colour-way exactly the same again.
Our idea is to produce one off colour-ways that are special--not a commercial amount.
The photos are true colours (thanks to a beautiful sunny day here) so I think they will sell well.
Sorry about the long line of photos but I don't know how to set them up in nice little boxes side by side.
The dyes we used were Procion-----------

Chartreuse and Purple---------
Old Rose and Pearl Grey----------

Bronze and Turquoise----------

Intense Blue and Fuschia-----------

Pumpkin Spice Sun Yellow and Intense Blue

Pumpkin Spice and Chino------------ Chino and Golden Delicous------------

Robins Egg Blue and Antique Gold-----------