Christmas Cards

Yesterday our Church ladies group had an afternoon making Christmas cards.
One of ladies from our sister church led the group and provided all the bits and bobs and we only had to assemble them.
Some of the ladies had never made cards before and where happy with what they had made.
These are the cards that I made--it was hard to get some decent photos but you can get an idea as to what we did.
The card on the top left and the two bottom ones were made by using a punch to cut out the shapes and then I assembled them.
The one on the top right is made from tiny triangles of collaged paper which we could assemble however we wanted to.
I chose to make starts from two of the triangle--others made Christmas trees and wreaths.
Gold and red stickers were added to finish them off.

All in all a good afternoon of fun and fellowship was had.

Dorset Button

Today it is Dorset buttons-----which I really love doing.
I had made some of these a long time ago and had forgotten how lovely they are.
This is the basic design but there are litterally oodles of other designs that you can do..in fact you are only limited by your imagination.
They make gorgeous brooches but this one will go into my pink and white theme.

I have been busy making more toggles as well.

Toggle 1

When is a button not a button?
When it is a toggle..............
This is the latest in our "Buttons and More" class with Karen and I think I am in love with these.
I have again used the pink and white theme and I hope in the end I will have a fabulous display to arrange on a small wall quilt or whatever I decide to display them on--I keep changing my mind.
I have used the pink and white cotton gingham and pink broder cotton but I am running out of this beautiful fabric so I must use it sparingly from now on.

This is the last week of the class and I will be dissappointed when it finishes.

I have learned so much from this..not so much about embroidery but about myself and how I approach what I do.

There is more to embroidery than working on doylies etc. and I had forgotton what pleasure

it gives me to do beautiful delicate work.

Thanks Karen for guiding me back to a love that I had many years ago.

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.