Scrap Happy in August

 We are having uncomfortably high temperatures at the moment. It is August in the Northern Hemisphere after all. I have a couple of quilts that need binding but I just can't face working on them in this heat. I'm not even interested in making blocks for a future quilt. Gotta have the iron on for that process. So I have turned to hand sewing and working with some of the smallest scraps in my magpie's nest.

I started with a strip of muslin 2.5" high and about 23" long. On top of that I raw-edge appliqued various patches, mostly in pinks and purples as it turned out. 

Once I had the strip covered I began embellishing it with simple embroidery stitches. 

There are some lazy daisy or detached chain stitches and straight stitches in various configurations in the section above. 

I did a spider web rose, blanket stitches, tiny upright cross stitches, and more chain stitches in this section.

Eventually I added other embellishments like strips of ribbon and lace, charms, buttons, and a tag from a man's necktie. Following are photos from the left end to the right end. 

I believe that's a piece of antique lace in this section.

 

 The next step is to put a back on the strip and find something to wind it around for the full scroll effect. While I do that you can visit these other Scrap Happy Day participants. 😊

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

 

Scrap Happy in July

 I'm going to take this opportunity to share the stitchery squares I made for the third round of the Great Big Little Stitchery Swap. This swap was instigated by Annie Claxton on her YouTube channel last year. It's been fun to make 4" stitched squares and trade them with ladies around the world. Most of my squares stayed in the United States this time around. Only one went overseas, to New Zealand. All were made with some of my smallest scraps, various embroidery threads and embellishments.

 

I purposely kept them as flat and lightweight as possible so they could travel in a card at regular first class postage rates. The next round of swaps is scheduled to begin in October of this year. I'll have to do a follow-up post to show you the squares I received from my partners! 

Scrap Happy Day is hosted by Kate in Australia and Gun in Sweden. Everyone in the list below may not have something to share every month but there's bound to be inspiration to be had in all of them. 😊

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

April Entries in My Stitch Journal

We began April in the weekly stitch journal project with Kathryn of k3n.clothtales using multiple layers of cloth to honor the moon. Kathryn cut a primitive wolf shape to use as a silhouette for the final layer on her moon. I couldn't resist using a large-ish charm I had on hand. 😉

The following week was the week of the solar eclipse. Even though k3n is in France and the eclipse occurred over the United States she suggested this representation of the event.

 I understand that some folks who were in the path of the eclipse but not in the zone of totality created a representation of their partial eclipse. This piece was also an opportunity to practice stacked running stitches and split stitch. 

Having done the stars (last month), the moon, and the sun Kathryn figured it was time to honor the planet on which we live. This prompt occurred just prior to Earth Day too, making it that much more appropriate.

The brown and green strips represent the roughly 30% of the globe that has land mass and the blue strips convey the 70% covered by oceans. I added a bit of crinkled seam binding for the foam of the waves on the beach and rick rack to help indicate the movement of the waves through the water. 

Kathryn threw us a plot twist for the last week of April. We were to pick a printed fabric that we could embellish or enhance with thread and stitches...

And then mount it in our journals with the back of the work showing instead of the front. 😁

One of her goals is to help us break free from the idea that the back of our work needs to be as neat as the front, thus causing extra stress and less enjoyment of the process.

Kathryn and others made journals in which to mount their work each week. I was reluctant to make something that might end up being too small before the end of the year so I purchased an 8" x 6" sketchbook similar to this one:

 

We're only a third of the way through the year and I had to remove the coil binding. I chose to replace it with 3" binder rings. 

I figure they should give me enough room for the rest of the year. I can do something prettier in the end if I feel the need. The rings make it a bit awkward to lay flat on a desk top at the moment but I can remove one page to stitch my piece onto if I want and then put it back in the book. I may very well end up using a box to store this in rather than trying to put it on a shelf like a regular book!

Catching Up

I've been doing some more little stitched panels of late, just for the heck of it. 😊

This first one began with that triangle of pink silk on which I placed the key at the very end.

I stitched what would have been seam lines except all the fabric was left raw edge. Then I sprinkled it with French knots, a few star sequins, and some bead chips. 

This one was very simply treated with running stitches... until I felt compelled to stitch over some of the flourish applique. 

The stitching is very subtle on this one but it's there, trust me. 

And this one is reminiscent of a square I made for the Great Big Little Stitchery Swap Round 2. There's seed stitching amongst the little floral bouquets. I tried to emphasize the tiny flowers under the hedgehog with some straight stitches and Colonial knots. All of these panels are in the neighborhood of 3" x5." Well, the one at the top is probably just under 4" square. They've all been sent to the Disabled Artists Foundation for fundraising purposes.

I decided to keep this one for myself. 😁 It's about 3" x 4." Just seed stitching and one column of chain stitches, then an outline stitch to highlight a line that was already in the music print. I'm not sure what I will do with it but I sense there's a fabric book in my future and it could be a cute pocket!

 

A Quick Stitchy Update

Tori's (koolkookykreatures) postcard stitch along prompt for February is Zodiac Mind Warp. That really threw me for a loop. Tori said we could use anything from astrology to astronomy. My mind went first to the Chinese year of the dragon but I didn't feel up to stitching a dragon. Nor did I have any dragon imagery on fabric that would fit into the 4" x 6" format. When I turned to astronomy I came up with something I could do:

Sirius, the Dog Star. 😁 The background is a single piece of quilter's cotton (with sparkles!). Sirius was cut from another print, laid over a piece of felt, and then blanket stitched in place. Simple but effective. 

The theme for week 5 of K3n's weekly stitch journal was "Hidden Histories, Untold Stories." This was from a show catalog from an exhibit in the Victoria & Albert Museum. Kathryn used English paper piecing to make a single flower shape. Her templates were cut from copies of old letters or documents, thus the hidden history. Hexies to fit onto a 4.5" square was too fiddly for me. I chose to use a layer of feed sack cotton over a handwritten synopsis of my family's history. There was a hole already in the fabric, which I stitched around to create an eyelet. Then I made a couple more holes and stitched around them. I basted the fabric onto my paper, hiding most of the history (more than I intended as it turned out!). 

English paper piecing speaks to Kathryn's English heritage. My ancestors were all laborers, mostly working the land. I feel like the feed sack fabric speaks to my heritage. 

For the first official week of February Kathryn invited us to work with those types of fabrics that can be challenging: anything slippery, sheer, ravelly, thick, etc. She encouraged us to "listen to the fabric" and work intuitively. I found a piece of satin, a couple of silks, a velvet, and a loosely woven scrap to work with. 

 There were tears in that blue silk. I just tacked them down with a matching floss. That green velvet moved as I cross stitched it in place. I decided to leave the scraps in the shape they came to me rather than trimming them. The tan woven scrap covers up a gap between the velvet and the yellow satin. Another piece of silk was stitched on top. Then the sheer with the turquoise rectangle went on top of the yellow satin. Finally, I rolled a narrow strip of organza and couched it in place. I'm pleased with the result. Surprised, actually, that I had that wide range of fabric types that fell into a cohesive color palette! 

Second Week of January '24

 So far, so good! I've managed to stay on schedule with the weekly prompts I've undertaken for the year. One may not be weekly, but has been so far. 

The second week of Kathryn's Weekly Slowstitch 2024 was a depiction of balance between light and dark.  A strip of a light fabric and one of dark overlaid with a circle cut from a third fabric. Then seed stitching and some couching. I didn't follow Kathryn's lead exactly. She used some twined cloth to create a light and dark frame around her circle. I chose to couch a black yarn with white embroidery floss.

Kathryn also did a double running stitch with a black thread and then a white one around the perimeter of her square. I don't especially enjoy running stitch so I simply blanket stitched the perimeter to hold the layers together more securely.

The other current weekly project is Annie Claxton's Color Inspiration project. I thought I would be making a case for my Iphone for the first prompt. Unfortunately, I miscalculated the dimensions. The phone wouldn't fit in what I ended up with. Now I'm planning to use the piece I made as a cover for a fabric book. I'm hoping I can respond to future prompts on fabric and have them become the pages in the book. 

The first prompt was to explore one color in any or all media of your choice. I chose yellow.

First I laid down various yellow prints and stitched over them with assorted shades of yellow threads. I was a little surprised that I gravitated to orange-yellows more than the lighter lemon yellow. On such a small project there wasn't room to include the full range of yellow I have in my stash. (I began with a strip of batting 4" x 14." You're only seeing half of that strip in the photo above.)

This project gave me an opportunity to use some items I've had in The Nest for some time. Things I didn't have a clue how or when I would use them but couldn't bear to part with. Like the plastic feather you see on what has become the cover for this eventual book. 😊

The label is from a man's silk tie I took apart years ago. I used running stitches, back stitch, and cross stitch on this side. Oh yes, there are two lines of herringbone on either side of the beaded trim too. 

More running stitches and cross stitches on the back along with some fly stitches around the pink polka dots. Managed to include some beads on this side too. 😁 

The next step for the Color Inspiration project is to create with a complimentary color scheme, include black and white and one shape. This should be interesting!

Introduction to 2024

 I have to preface this post with the fact that my new year did not begin auspiciously. Subsequent days have been much better, thank goodness, so now I feel a bit better about the whole thing. 😉

Faithful visitors may be surprised to learn that I have not been working on a quilt of any kind lately. Instead there's been more of the hand stitching that you've seen occasionally here. It's looking very much like there will continue to be more of that sort of thing. I've never been one for resolutions. New projects, group projects, stitch alongs, that sort of thing has more appeal for me. And there's no shortage of such things to be found on YouTube and elsewhere. (I confess, I've been spending a lot of time on YouTube.) I have a list of ladies who stitch that I'm following, and several of them have instigated projects I find tempting. I suspect that I will be picking and choosing from among their various prompts rather than adhering to one particular path or another. 

Having said that, there is one stitch along that I hope to participate in throughout the coming year. It's hosted by Tori at KoolKookyKreatures. It is not a demanding project, just one 4" x 6" textile postcard per month. She has created a prompt for each month already so I have a good idea what's coming up. I've already stitched my postcard for January:

The theme was "Cozy It Up." I chose to use flannel scraps and a couple of other fabrics that have the same velvety feel to make a replica of a cozy crazy quilt. A couple of books and a furry companion complete my scene. The orange and black plaid puts me in mind of a fire. The button is wooden, standing in for the log in a fireplace. 

Several of the stitchers I follow are planning to do some kind of slow stitching every week this year. This is where I expect to be picking and choosing among the opportunities presented. To begin the year I have done some fabric weaving per Kathryn's example. 

Once the weaving was done there had to be stitching and embellishing of course! 

And because of my chemical sensitivities I do not go into stores or most other public places anymore. Which means I spend a couple of hours a week sitting in the car while someone else does the shopping, etc. Sometimes I will have a book to read or some other diversion but often I use that time to do some random stitching. I've learned that I'm most comfortable stitching on small pieces held in my hands rather than on a hoop. I make sure I have a square of about 4" in a cute bag with my assortment of Sulky 12wt threads, a tiny needle book, and scissors when I know I'm going to be in the car for a time. 

Mostly I use the neurographic approach on these squares. I take my needle for a walk across the square and then fill in the areas with whatever feels good in the moment. 

On this piece I wanted to play with the pastel threads I've collected. I also put a scrap of batting under the purple fabric just to see how it would feel. I do like the squish you get with batting but in this case it made the chain stitches harder to accomplish in one movement, From now on I will probably stick to just two layers of cotton. In fact, I started a new square today:

This one will likely be all blanket stitches. Or nearly all anyway. This was inspired by Jo of peaceofpie studio. 

There will be patchwork in 2024, I'm sure, but for the time being I'm enjoying the gentle, quiet activity of pulling thread through fabric. 

Inspired by Halloween

I have finished a slow work in progress in time for Halloween and the Days of the Dead. I'm really pleased to have it finished and on display. It's hard to photograph because it's long and narrow, but here's the whole thing:

It's three inches wide and about 27 inches long (or tall). Here's a series of detail shots, working from the top to the bottom:

A spider charm and fly stitches above and feather stitching and some seed stitches below.

The skeleton is printed on ribbon. The cat is a charm, as is the ghost below.

I do enjoy feather stitching. And the fly stitches look like bats on the wing to me. 😁 

The undertaker print is from a Tim Holtz fabric.

There's a surprise hidden underneath that bit of wide lace. 😉

I went over the major lines of the spider web with 12 wt Sulky thread to give it a bit more definition. There's more seed stitching in the background. 

You can't really tell in the photograph, but I put a tiny roll of batting underneath the skeletal hand to make it stand out a bit from the surface. 

The poison print is another from a Tim Holtz fabric. Not sure which line the scorpion came from.

I have another slow stitch Halloween project in the works but it's far from finished at this point. Maybe next year! 🎃

Just Because in Denim

I've debated whether to save this for Scrap Happy Day - which is right around the corner - but wanted to share before I forget to do it at all. 

Suddenly we've had a rash of worn out blue jeans. We are not of the generation who thinks it's a fashion statement to go out in public in ripped jeans. However, there's still a lot of good denim remaining. And I have come to love a frayed edge. So I ripped some strips off one leg of a pair of jeans, starting at the rip that was already there. I kept the strips at a width I find comfortable to hold in my hands for slow stitching/embroidery. (Really, the term slow stitching pretty well covers what I tend to do with thread and embellishments on fabric. I'm not one for the complex embroidery stitches or fine technique anymore. I prefer simple, straightforward stitches and adding charms and beads and things to complete whatever picture or story I'm trying to convey. The Perfectionist dwelling within can just go sit in the back of the room and keep quiet.) This is what I ended up with. You can see the hem from the bottom of the pant leg on this cover of my denim book.

The first page I chose to decorate is actually the last page of the book. I watched videos from Emma Freeman on YouTube in which she shared her use of seed stitches to create patterns that give the impression of text. I was really taken with that and wanted to have a go myself. This was the place to do it. I used some cotton crochet thread I'd picked up secondhand. Next time I will use a stouter thread if I do more on denim.

I also added a strip of vintage lace and an old button I believe is Mother of Pearl (MOP). So this page definitely qualifies for Scrap Happy Day! 

I've been buying pieces of crochet as well as laces lately. Someone else has sourced the original work and cut it up specifically for those of us who enjoy using these salvaged bits in our art work. One such piece was a perfect fit on the cover of my book.

I may end up doing some further embellishment of the cover but for now I'm content to showcase this lovely piece of crochet (a skill I haven't been able to master). 

One of my recent acquisitions was a wide strip of vintage lace. A small section of that made for a little pocket on another page of my book.

Then I felt compelled to make a little journal to go into the pocket. I used a discarded library return card for the cover and some scraps of various papers for the signature inside. I chose to use a small piece of a handmade paper (again, someone else's cast-off) to alter the front cover of the little book. I've finally found a paste I can use in place of the glues my body finds so toxic.

The sunflowers are a vellum sticker.

 

One of the pages in my denim book came from the original hole in the jeans. That edge created a natural thumb notch for a pocket. I stitched along that edge to help strengthen the fibers. There was further weakness in that section of denim so I did some weaving with floss over that area, then added a couple of tiny buttons for visual interest. It looks like a large flower pot or urn to me.

By the time this page was finished I had created a flower bed complete with visiting snail!

I sewed this page to the one behind it (which is the first page I showed you) to turn them into a larger pocket. I'm not sure yet what may end up living in that pocket. For the purposes of demonstration I have slipped a piece of paper into the pocket in the photo below.

There will eventually be four pages between the covers of this book. I have one and a half finished at this point. I love the way this feels in my hands. It's so soft and tactile. I want to continue to use little treasures I've acquired along the way, things that are special to me. It's time - past time! - for these little things to be given a home where they can be enjoyed and not merely stored away out of sight. 😊