The rain and wind keeps on here in Cornwall so more sewing and I'm really enjoying having a go at machine embroidery.
This is my second attempt:
I have sewn rectangles of different fabrics to my base fabric before starting on the stitching. All the seed heads are slightly different to those on my first picture and after the machine sewing in dark grey I have done some hand embroidery - just straight stitch, back stitch and french knots.
I wasn't sure about the background so this is another I have sewn on plain calico.
This one is all machine embroidery apart from the dear little red flowers.
Finally a reminder of my first attempt which may still be my favourite - I love the daisies!
Happy sewing - Anita x
We had such fun at Flowerpatch Quilters last Thursday. The evening was titled "Questions and Cake" and there was plenty of both. Members had decided upon most of the questions at the previous meeting and anyone and everyone had an opinion on the answers so there was plenty of chat and laughter. To give you a taste these were some of the questions posed:
- Do you wash your fabric before you begin? - Most said "no" except for fabrics that will shrink a lot like calico.
- Do you follow a pattern or prefer to go your own way. - Most people seem to do a bit of each, even within the same quilt.
- What sewing gadgets would you recommend? - Lots of ideas here.
- Are pressing mats worth the expense? - The two people who have them think they're wonderful.
- What do you use to mark quilting lines? - There didn't seem to be a definitive answer to this and everyone seemed to have problems, especially with dark fabrics.
Etc, etc - I'm sure you get the drift and it was a thoroughly informative evening.
The cakes made by the committee were delicious and much appreciated. We all decided that it was an evening worth repeating in the future.
This weekend has been yet another extremely wet and windy one as we're in the middle of storm "Dennis". I've not bothered to step outside the door today and have had a lovey time sewing. I find it hard to practise free motion stitching (feed dogs down on the sewing machine) - it can be a bit boring, so I decided to do a picture with free motion instead. I have been wanting to stitch seed heads and umbelliferae etc for some time and, not being much good at drawing, I have copied shapes from pictures on Pinterest. These have been taken from "Snapdragon" .
I'm hoping that now I have copied I shall be able to design more of my own little pictures ........ I think it's raining tomorrow, too! 😀 I'm thinking that the next one will have machine and hand sewing - this one is all done by machine. They will probably be used as pages in my next book.
Happy stitching - Anita x
