Not UFO's - Slow Works in Progress

I have started creating a textile book for April but work has stalled. I'm waiting for delivery of some special supplies. While I wait some old needlepoint projects have resurfaced. And I've been enticed by a new hand painted canvas. 😉

You may remember this one if you've been around for a few years.

 I'm thinking I will overstitch a spiderweb to liven up the background. Just haven't had the courage to attempt it yet. 

Then there's this canvas.  

 There are still a few detail stitches to put in. I'll need to do something about the background around it as well. 

The canvas I just bought fits right in with these two. 😁

 So someday I (or our children more likely) could have a triptych to display in the fall! That's assuming my eyes hold out long enough to get al three completed. They are all 18 mesh canvases, meaning 18 stitches to the inch. My eyes have changed in the last couple of years. One improved, the other got worse! So now in order to see what I'm doing on these canvases I'm having to remove my glasses altogether and hold the canvas right under my nose. 

Except that I haven't been working on any of these Halloween theme images. I've been stitching this one:

 This is another 18 mesh hand painted canvas. The black areas have been particularly challenging to see. When I purchased the chandelier canvas the seller gifted me a card of bamboo thread that was the perfect blue for the darker areas in the background. That's actually what got me started on needlepoint again. Since this photo was taken I've filled in the patch on the dog's face and on her body (more than once - I couldn't find the right color brown to use) and put a bright green in the light areas of the lower border. I have a feeling I'll be finishing this one up before I move on to either of the Halloween canvases. And then there's the book for April to get back to... 

 

Scrap Happy in April

 I've got another little book to share with you. This may have been my very first attempt at a fabric book, inspired by Susan Taylor Brown's "just because" books. Other books have been started and finished since I embarked on this one.   

 This book is about 3.25" wide and 5" tall. I only used things I found in my stash. The challenge was to see what I could do in a black and white palette. The 'Liberty' tag was cut from a silk tie. The buttons are vintage. I had fun playing with my buttons in this book. 

 I tried to use a variety of fabric types. The eyelet on page 2 is a little pocket. The black flower next to it is a crochet piece as is the white flower on the next page. 

 More labels from neckties on page four. The number 2 and the spiffy fella on page 5 were cut from quilting cottons. I used this book as an opportunity to feature some laces along with everything else.  

 After I'd added the mouse (from another quilter's cotton), the strip of crochet and the fibers I couldn't bring myself to do any additional stitching on this center spread. I really like being able to read the words that were printed on the cotton along with the images of cookie dough on the cookie sheets. 

 More labels. Then I fell into spooky mode. 

 On the upper left of the back cover is a waterfall of scrap patches. 

 I used this book as a learning experience. That's one reason it has taken so long to get it to a finished state. I'd get stuck, not knowing what to do next. Then I'd come across someone else's approach or technique and give it a try. I've learned what I enjoy doing and what doesn't appeal to me so much. 

Here are the links for other bloggers who generally participate in this blog hop.  😊

Kate, Eva, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Tracy, Jan, 
Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys,
Claire, Jean, Dawn, Gwen,
Sunny, Kjerstin, Sue L, Vera, 
Ann, Dawn 2, Carol, Preeti,
Viv, Karrin,  Alissa,
Hannah and Maggie  

 

Textile Tales Book 3

 I used Rachel Ashwell's book My Floral Affair as inspiration for my third effort in Roxy's Journal of Stitchery Volume 9. I also used it as a place to feature some of the embroidered corners of the vintage hankies I've been collecting. 😊 But it was a hand towel that became the outer cover for the book.

 I decorated it with short bits of lace. 

The stitching on the back cover started as a way to make the back long enough when I accidentally cut it too short. I added on another piece of the towel with herringbone stitch then added a row of blanket stitches and another row of herringbone to balance it out. Oh, and I added a couple more of the lazy daisy flowers and leaves to fill up he back cover. 

I used a quilting cotton for the inside of the covers. There's a layer of thin cotton batting between the two layers. 

 All the flowers (and the leaves on the inside front cover) have been fussy cut from vintage hankies and raw edge appliqued in place. On the first page I used the corner of the hankie to save the scalloped hem and seed stitched the background area with tiny upright cross stitches. They've become my favorite way to give a background texture.  

 On the left hand page of this spread I used a green cotton print under the hankie pieces to give more a feel of a garden. I used detached chain stitches (lazy daisy stitches) to fill the background and give a further impression of leaves. The yellow on the next page was from a linen handkerchief. I added to the foliage on the upper half with some fern stitches.

Here I've used another corner over a burgundy cotton. I outlined the flowers and big white-on-white leaves, securing the hankie to the cotton with those stitches. 

 This is a linen and Battenburg lace doily that was hand dyed (but not by me). This is the center spread in my book.

 This page on the right was the last one I worked on. I was able to purchase the lacy pocket and the little pots of daisies from the same lady the pink doily came from. I used this pocket to hold a tag with the documentation I'm trying to include with each book.

 Next we have more of the yellow linen with another corner laid over top. I've simply stitched around the flowers again. On the right I appliqued pieces from two different hankies, once more preserving a shaped corner.

 The final page features a rose and rosebuds, again from two different hankies. 

 When I made the cover I added a square of a plaid I particularly like, intending to use it for documentation. I'd forgotten about that when I found the lacy pocket and was anxious to complete the book pages. 😉 I didn't add the crocheted flower until the very end. 

 And that closes the book for March!