The Great Big Little Stitchery Swap Continued

 I began this worldwide stitchery swap with six partners. If I've counted correctly I'm now up to eleven. The first squares have been sent and received, and squares are beginning to arrive in my mailbox. This is fun! 

This was the first square to be delivered here. It was made by SF in Arizona.

Remember, these squares are only around four inches in either direction. Aren't those hexagons wonderful?

The next one to arrive came from CG in Pennsylvania. Look at those tiny, tiny stitches!

She included a few extra goodies in the envelope, fabric swatches I can use in future stitcheries. 

My third swap square also came from Arizona, from MA. 

It's another amazing piece of art, with beads and sequins and organza flowers. Not to mention the lace frame. 

And most recently this square from LS was delivered from Oklahoma.

Absolutely charming! She stitched on denim, and those flower heads are loose, not stitched through the denim. Tatting? Detached buttonhole stitches? I don't know how she made them. 

In the meantime I've been making additional squares and sending them off. I haven't always remembered to take photos before putting my squares in the mail however. Nor do I remember which squares were sent where.

 

 

I know I've sent squares to each of the ladies I've received these squares from. I've sent a couple to England and at least one to Australia. As of this writing I have one more square to make, for a new partner in Canada. Annie has promised us there will be another swap in another few months for those who may have missed out this time around. And those of us who want to do it again!

Scrap Happy in July

I have a pile of quilt blocks made out of scraps as you are accustomed to seeing here in The Magpie's Nest for Scrap Happy Day. What I do not have is a photo of them. And since the design wall is currently covered with pieces for a project in progress I don't have an easy way to get such a photograph for you. So this month I will share with you more of the slow stitching/embroidery efforts I've been working on. 

 First off is this needle book. You've seen the cover in process previously. I finally put on the finishing touches of embroidery and sewed in felt pages. 

3.5" high x 9" long

This is the extent of the cover. Scrap strips secured with embroidery to a strip of scrap batting.

Folded in half, this is the half I decided would be the front. (Originally it was to be the back.)

Which makes this half the back cover.

I went so far as to hand sew in the felt pages too. Okay, the felt may not qualify as scrap materials, but I didn't use anything I didn't already have in my stash. And most of it has been there for a good long time!

I have also made two more 4" squares for the Great Big Little Stitchery Swap.

Both of these began with 2.5" squares of William Morris reproduction prints I was given almost three years ago. (Or was it longer?)

Again, the merest scraps of lace and thread were used in the creation of these squares. 😁

Scrap Happy Day is hosted on the 15th of each month by Kate in Australia and Gun in Sweden. It's an opportunity for us to share things we've made entirely out of scrap or repurposed materials. Participants live all over the world. If you'd like some motivation for reducing the scraps in your work space you can add your name to the list by leaving a comment on Kate or Gun's blogs. In the meantime, happy scrapping!

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

The Great Big Little Stitchery Swap

As I may have mentioned previously, I've finally fallen into the YouTube rabbit hole. One of the channels I follow is hosted by Annie Claxton (otherwise known as ArtyFartyAnnie). She indulges in a wide variety of artistic endeavors, slow stitching among them. To that end she has created the Great Big Little Stitchery Swap. She has invited her followers to make 4" squares, stitched in any way they enjoy most, to swap with other members of the community she has created. How could I resist?!  At this point I've committed to about half a dozen swaps, half overseas and half here in the USA.

This is the first little square I made:

The idea is to leave a seam allowance around the four inches so the recipient can finish the squares in whatever way they choose. They could become a wall hanging or pages in a book or even a scroll I suppose. I have no idea yet what I might do with the squares I receive. 

This is the second square I've made:

These first two squares will go overseas. It was a bit of a struggle to keep them flat enough to go into an envelope at the base rate for international postage. I'm always wanting to add buttons or charms or beads and sequins. 😁 Fortunately, that little button in the middle of the yellow lace nestles down into the center of that circle of lace sufficiently to keep the whole piece flat enough. I find it interesting that I don't particularly enjoy making yo-yo's (otherwise known as Suffolk Puffs) but I do like gathering laces or other strips into circles. Possibly it has to do with the fact that I can begin with a strip rather than having to cut out a circle.

It looks very much like this won't be the only stitchery swap Annie organizes. She has also set up an art swap for those who prefer to play with pencils and paint and the like. We have until the end of August to make and mail our stitched squares. This will be an ideal activity for the times when it's too hot to have the iron on for my piecing endeavors. I just have to be careful not to do too much hand work in any one day. And to take regular breaks. My wrist and hands have been feeling much better of late. I don't want to aggravate those muscles and ligaments I need and use the most!

Stitching Slowly

 It's that time of the year when the air quality is dangerous for me. We are not currently suffering from wild fire smoke in our area, thank goodness, but we have neighbors nearby who enjoy cooking in their back yards. And, in spite of the brief burn ban we were under, someone has been burning tree limbs or something. I don't go outside much at all. When I do go out to get the mail or deadhead the roses I wear an N95 mask. Sadly, that has not always been adequate of late. 

Aside from the immediate consequences of toxic smoke/fumes I am usually left with an inability to think constructively for a day or two. So, quilt making has pretty much come to a halt for the time being. On the other hand, the slow stitch movement has been a godsend. In my eyes slow stitching is simply hand quilting or even intuitive embroidery. The originators of the movement, as I understand it, were inspired by the stitching done by a variety of indigenous people around the world. The Japanese have boro stitching, the Indians have kantha stitching, Africans do kawandi. It's all rows and rows of running stitches, the simplest of straight stitches. Same stitch that's used for quilting the layers together to make a quilt. 

I've never been a particular fan of running stitch. I prefer the solid line you get with back stitch. Hand quilting held no appeal for me. (To do; I totally appreciate the hand quilting others do and have done.) Like most others, I began my needlework career by following the lines printed or transferred onto a piece of plain fabric. Eventually I moved on to printed or painted canvases for needlepoint. I've learned the basic embroidery stitches along the way. I was never one to get into the more complex forms of needlework. There are those who enjoy that level of effort, it's not for me. 

My take on slow stitching is more like freestyle or intuitive embroidery. It has been very helpful on days when I didn't have the brain power to build a quilt but needed something to do with my hands. A couple of the little stitcheries I showed in this post came out of a mindless start with scraps and thread. The world of art/junk journaling is also having an influence on me. All this is in explanation of the following. 

I'm not even sure what to call it actually. I began with a strip of muslin about 2" high and 36" or so long. My only thought was to strive for a boho vibe. I used scrap pieces of sari fabric and silks on top of the muslin and then embellished with bits of bling that seemed appropriate.

It has not been an easy thing to photograph. Hopefully, if you click on the pictures you can get a larger image to see the details.

Oh, that multicolor piece with the buttonhole covered ring is a bit of a woven material. There are scraps of quilter's cottons on here too.

The butterfly is a sequin.

At the end is a fiber wrapped bead I bought in one of the Disabled Artists Foundation's auctions. I want to include it with the scroll/wrap but haven't quite figured out how yet. I need a spool or something to wind this around. My hope is that the bead could be used as a closure. The right spool has yet to turn up.

In the interest of full disclosure, here's the back of my work. I make every effort to be neat and hide the ends of my threads. Someone else might go to the trouble of putting a lining on something like this to protect the threads from snagging or other abuse but I can't be bothered. I've learned that sometimes folks like to see the back of the work. That's good enough for me! 

Scrap Happy in June

 Some time ago I sewed scrappy Broken Dishes (and one Pinwheel) blocks into this 18" medallion. 

At the time I couldn't figure out what to do next so it ended up in the UFO pile. More appropriately, it became inventory in the Parts Department. My pile of Un-Finished Objects consists primarily of failed attempts from long ago. Anyway, when I unearthed it and put it on the design wall I suddenly knew what the next step was. 

I found a light lavender in the stash from which I cut 3.5" strips for a frame to bring the medallion up to 24" square. A lot can be done with 24 inches: 3" units, 4" units, 6" and even eight inches. As you can see, I used scrappy flying geese from the Parts Dept., 3" x6", to down the four sides. Then I made the four patch blocks out of more scrappy patches to fill in the corners. Now the flimsy was 36" square. I felt the need of another frame, also three inches finished.

That pretty well used up the purple remnant. That stripe I used in the four patch blocks has been reduced to a narrow strip now too. 

But what to do with a 42" square flimsy? That took me a day or so to figure out. I decided to use more of my scrappy Shoo-fly blocks (6" finished) down the two sides to bring the top up to 54" wide. A final border of three inches will make it 60" wide, a size I think works well for children or adults.

It really helped to have Shoo-fly blocks with both light and dark backgrounds. The next question was what to do with the top and bottom edges. The star blocks I've been making recently came to the rescue.

These were made specifically for this project but they were all made out of more scrappy Shoo-fly blocks and smaller pieces of older prints from the stash. I even found fabric leftover from a previous quilt back to use for the final border all the way around the quilt.

It couldn't have been more suitable if I'd gone to a quilt shop and chosen it fresh off the shelves there! This top will now finish 60" wide and 72" long. There's been a significant reduction in my remnants and my Parts Dept. inventory over the course of the last couple of quilt tops. Feels pretty good! 

Here's the link list for other folks who regularly share how they have used or repurposed scrap materials. If you'd like to join us in posting your scrappy creations on the 15th of the month just leave a comment to that effect on Kate or Gun's blogs. 😊

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