Suz: July Joys

There is joy in spending a hot July afternoon in the pursuit of creativity with needle and thread. Here's what I've been doing the past week:

All the Josephine Knot cascades have been tatted for my Heart Pocket. I just need to secure them and add the coloured french knots on the left side.

Two new FME (machine embroidery) lace pieces were created for a new CQ project. The first has snippets of a purple flower pattern on white, and purple organza added. The base is white organza. The thread is a variegated purple.

The second lace piece  uses the same thread and purple organza snippets on a turquoise organza base. These lace pieces are fun to do.

There is more progress on my Waves piece, and I hope to have all the waves completed by next week.

 Wrapping Cloth piece #13  received a little attention, too, with buttonhole lace

a fancy frill added to the cutwork

 fancy frill added to the side of  this pocket

and buttonhole lace added to the edges of three pockets

  Now, piece #13 is finished!


On to piece #14

My desk was piled with fabrics for the new CQ piece.

The first block is ready for titivations.

 These wee tatted flowers were tucked into an envelope, and are on their way to Australia. I hope DGD Jewel likes them.

The weatherman is predicting another hot and humid week, so maybe I'll get more stitching done!

Hope you've had a fun and creative week.

Hugs from Suz

Suz- July Jumbles

I have a jumble of projects on the go to keep me busy. I found a book at the second-hand store of Persian stencils, so they've been leading me down a wandering doodle path. One of the stencils looked like a wave (or a ribbon). Strung together, the waves turned into rolling water I painted, on a cotton napkin, using irridescent fabric paints.

 You can see where I added a bit of water to the paint to help it flow......it spread a little

I added an outline to the waves with a turquoise sharpie

I began to add some fibers for a little wave action on the left side of the fabric.





Contemplating wild abandon regarding the fibers versus a more structured look, I decided to begin a structured stitching on the right side of the fabric. Not much progress so far, so no photo yet.

At the second-hand shop, I also found a large, cotton tablecloth, which had a subtle clover design. I grabbed my micron pens and followed the pattern, then cut out a piece to stitch.
This may become a new pocket.

On wrapping Cloth piece #13, I created three interlocking cutwork circles, adding french knots and bullions. Beneath the open work is a layer of lace, and under that is a piece of my wild fabric peeking through the holes.

Progress on piece #13

I then added a double layer of tatting, using the fancy picot stitch. It creates a nice, layered frill.



That's what I've been doing during the last few days of hot and humid weather.

I hope you've been having some stitching fun, too.

Hugs from Suz

Suz: June is Here

June is here and I've been busy trying to tame, nurture, and plant the different garden beds. We had heavy rains over the weekend, and my tomato plants look as though they've been run over by a truck.......I hope they survive an thrive.
Sorry I was absent last week, but I had no work to show.
On the stitching front, I've added some beginnings to wrapping cloth piece #13, creating 4 pockets. You can clearly peek at two open ones in this photo. Pocket number three is created with the lace over the wild fabric, which is pocket number 4.

More embellishment is planned for each of the pockets.

   this bit of cutwork needs some bullions, I think

 I've begun my class with Karen Ruane :
"Embroidered Pockets, Human Cloth"  and we began with creating doodles. Now, I doodle when I'm on the phone, but I've not doodled before with the purpose of recreating those doodles in stitch.

I used parts of a stencil to create my 1st doodle

then I simplified it a little

then I created another variation

 
my first stitched doodle is the greenery-- the leaves and stem, which I like very much, but which I thought would overpower the delicate flowers  

I began my second stitched doodle on a piece of broderie anglais

adding needle tatted Josephine Knot cascades in the center

I like the way they look










I've added more flowers and leaves and plan to add more embroidery in white

Meanwhile, I've caught the doodling bug and have been spending many happy hours with pen, stencils, and doodles.

Here I played with a hexagon stencil. Who knew so many interesting shapes could be created just using hexagons!?

I'm off to doodle and stitch.

Hope you've had a creative week.

Hugs from Suz

Suz- April

A little stitching was accomplished over the last week:

a few more leaves and roses

on wrapping cloth piece #12, I added stitching to the rose and leaf pattern on the fabric

a row of bullions and french knots

and a few more long bullions

This piece is now finished!

wrapping cloth piece #13 is awaiting thread and needle







Hope everyone had a Happy Easter.

May you have a creative week ahead.

Hugs from Suz