Oval Poppy Brooch

Steph, my sewing partner-in-crime, is a prolific dressmaker and blogs about the her wardrobe themes, which gives me great clues for colour choices when I make a birthday present for her. Last year her them was black, white and red.

Hazel Blomkamp's flower brooch design in Inspirations magazine issue 101 had caught my eye and I thought it might work for a poppy brooch. I simplified the design which gave a more formal effect than the original and I was quite pleased with the result. Best of all, apart from the brooch back, all the materials came from my stash.

Ruby Dahlia Satin Box

Two years ago, my friend Hazel asked me to help her try some bead embroidery for the first time. She wanted make a satin box for her mother's 80th birthday and had a month to complete it. I decided the easiest approach would be to use the Magenta Star design from Margaret Lee's bead embroidery book and to work through the design myself  at the same time. 

I already had a navy blue satin box and some matching  cotton fabric. It was an easy choice to pick out ruby tri-cut and seed beads. Hazel chose to use anemone colours for her flower. They worked really well and she finished the box in good time for her mother's birthday. On the other hand, I  put the project to one side and only finished it 1 year later. Although I can tell it was early in the year because of the snow on the ground.

Holly and Mistletoe Pin Cushion

I had intended to post pictures of the Holly and Mistletoe Pincushion at Christmas but as the world is turned upside down at the moment, I thought I might as well post it now. The kit was from Lorna Bateman.  It was a fun, small kit to do and I enjoyed the combination of techniques.  I did have a couple of attempts at the fly stitch holly leaves. I found it difficult to get the angle of the stitches right and my stitches seem crowded.

It was a Christmas project and was finished in January 2019. As you can tell, I am working my way through my backlog of finished projects. You never know, I might it through to this year's completions by the time things start to get back on track.

Versailles Necklace

We are living in very strange times now. Watching the news feels like watching a movie. Surely this can't really be happening.  It is a very anxious time for everyone. Worry about being separated from all but the closest family and anxiety about not being able to carry on with normal life. My parents live 200 miles away. Too far for me to be able pop round and drop off anything they need. So the most I can do for them is to organise online deliveries and talk on the phone. Fortunately they are fit, healthy and have each other for company. They have a big supermarket in easy walking distance  and should be able to buy their basics now that the supermarkets are prioritising vulnerable groups early in the day.

I have often joked about wanting to hide in my cave so that I can spend more time on my hobbies and now it looks like this has come to pass. I still have work to do but losing the daily commute and quieter weekends will result in more free time. So I thought it was about time I shared my 18 month  backlog of completed projects!

The Versailles necklace was a  workshop with Sabine Lippert at Stitch 'n' Craft back in September 2018. Sabine's designs bring together a variety of bead shapes and colours resulting in opulent designs. I have made Sabine's Granada design several times already and enjoyed the construction technique. The workshop was excellent and the pattern instructions were very clear. There was lots of useful information from Sabine during the class and because we were a small group, it was a relaxing day. 

My colour choices were a simple silver and blue combination because I thought this would a be useful necklace to wear with an evening dress. I have worn the completed necklace with a plain t-shirt a couple of times but I am still waiting for an evening outing. Looks like I'll be waiting a while.

Bouquet de Lavande Necklace

I saw the Bouquet de Lavande necklace kit at a Laura McCabe workshop in 2016. Even though I managed to restrain myself from buying it, I kept think it would suit Mum. So I finally bought it when I saw it again at the workshop with Laura one year later. 

The design includes my favourite beadwork techniques, bezelled rivolis and rhythmic tubular herringbone. As usual a found a way to make the finished item unique to me. This could also be described as reading the pattern wrong and doing my own thing! In this case one of the tubular herringbone straps should have been a different shade of green but I think I got away with it.

Laura warned us that the bar in the clasp could become weak so we should insert something in the peyote tube to strengthen it. I found that the filament used by 3D printers was the the perfect thickness. 

 Laura's instructions are very comprehensive and her kits are beautifully presented. I still have the 2 workshop designs to finish but it's only because of lack of time. I hope to get at least one of the them finished this year. I suspect I finished Bouquet de Lavande because I had an intended recipient . I don't seem to be quite so focused when it is something for me. I am happy to say Mum was very pleased with the necklace and had not trouble finding the perfect outfit to wear with it. 

Christmas 2019

It's been a long time since I updated my blog. I was really hoping to get this Christmas update done in January but it wasn't to be. The theme for the Christmas decorations this year was red, white and gold. I'd like to say it was planned, but in reality it was a happy accident which fortunately coincided with Jennifer and Christina's colour scheme for the family tree.

I bought the pattern and kit for the Poinsettia Angel from Stable Lodge Beads at the Havant Lace Fair in November 2019. The pattern is by Iceni Bead Designs and is available online as well. She was fun to make and very photogenic. There are a few things I would like to fix - the wings are a bit floppy and the halo is loose. If I am motivated enough, I will remake the wings using Fireline because it gives a crisper finish. There was one improvement I did make on the pattern. I felt the body was a bit squishy so Graeme 3D printed an angel torso for me. It worked very well and I think I will use more 3D inserts in future beading projects.

For a while I have been feeling the urge to go back to bobbin lace. I picked up Christine Springett's Seven Pointed Star pattern at Havant Lace Fair in 2018. It was a nice pattern to make and didn't take too long. Japanese Embroidery takes up most of my time these days but I see more lacemaking on my horizon in the next couple of years.

While I was busy making bobbin lace, my sewing machine was making free standing lace stockings and mittens. These designs from Urban Threads are very well digitised and worth the money, especially if you manage to buy them in the sale!

The final decoration I made was the Anastasia Bauble kit from Spellbound beads. It wasn't ready in time for Christmas but it will be ready in good time for next year. When I started the hanging loop I realised I had used the wrong beads for the finials on top of the bezelled rivolis. I toyed with the idea of completely remaking the kit but I think I will leave it as it is and adjust the hanging loop to use the beads I have left. Love the decadent fringe on this bauble. It brightens up my window sill quite nicely.

Himotaba

I am so far behind with blog posts, it is almost a year since I finished Himotaba, my phase 5 Japanese embroidery piece. Cords are not general popular with JE students but I like their rhythm. When I first came across, Japanese embroidery, this was the design that drew me in so I was looking forward to stitching it. 

It took me about 5 months to complete but in that time I reworked many of the cords to get more practise. I found the blue cord, which uses the wicker technique, the most challenging to stitch. In the design, this cord goes round a very tight curve early on and it was difficult to keep the balance of the two sides of the stitch. 

I also found the cord end fade outs difficult to achieve. Even after many attempts, I was still not sure they look natural enough but in the end I came to the conclusion it was time to move on.