Morsbags

The arrival of the Morsbags winter newsletter spurred me into action and I whizzed up these two Morsbags this avo:



They have been cut out and ready to sew for far too long - think the sparkly stretchy material was putting me off, but it wasn't too bad to sew up after all and is a bit festive :-)

I do like to be beside the seaside...at sunset

More fun with the embellisher :-)

I made this fabric postcard for my mum. The background fabric is a scrap of denim. I needle punched wool rovings, scraps of different fabrics and yarns onto the background, then hand embroidered using running stitch, fly stitch, herringbone and crown stitch; and then there's the beaded bling factor.

I am pretty pleased with it and I think mum liked it.

Check Out the Ring!

No, I'm not talking about dodgy horror films...or worse still, royal wedding engagements ;-). Eagle eyed readers will notice a new thingy on my side bar. Yes, I am very honoured to have been asked by the wonderful Dordogne Quilter, Clare to join the Liberated Quilters webring. Go check out the other liberated quilters - there's some great blogs featured :-)

A New Toy and a Proud Boy

Woohoo - I am the proud owner of an embellishing machine :-). It's a Pfaff 350P - check it out. I've done a bit of experimenting with various materials, yarns, ribbons, scraps...and so far this is my favourite piece, felted from pieces of two scarves I bought from a charity shop (plus a teeny bit of chiffon), then hand stitched with chain stitch swirly bits:




I think what I will love best about the embellisher is the opportunity to use all sorts of scraps and shiny bits...and making lovely textured surfaces to embroider on. Watch this space!

On the subject of proud, my eldest son, Gman, completed his first quilt project this week. He made a nine patch table runner for his bedroom drawers. He chose all the fabrics and pieced and quilted it himself. As you can see, he is very pleased with his efforts! And his mama is very proud :-)

More Stitch Files

I've been adding to my collection of stitches learned...you can check them out in my Flickr set here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/towardsagoodlife/sets/72157625237157390/with/5163666791/

This is my most recent and most fun:

Learning to Stitch - Cretan

Well, I've been carrying on trying out the new stitches in Sharon's The Stitch Files. This time I have given Cretan Stitch a go and here's the results of my experiments:



I put off trying this stitch, thinking it looked difficult, but it has been my favourite so far, surpassing even the good ole blanket/buttonhole stitch.

I love the way it looks over the ricrac, though not sure how secure the ricrac would be...so maybe a few beads or sparkly things to hold in place would do the trick. Mmmmm...ricrac and beads and sparkly things :-)