Teaching Debut with Cats

Recently I was privileged and honoured to be accepted as a tutor with the Queensland Embroiderers' Guild to assist with the 2 day children's holiday classes during the final week of their school holidays.  The necessary paperwork was completed and all tutors handed the kit with explanations for the project that was going to be taught so we could stitch it up ourselves first.  It was an appliqued cat and mouse design using blanket stitch for the applique and fly stitch, stem stitch, chain stitch and french knots for facial and detail features.  The front, backing and wadding were to be then machine sewed around the edges, turned out, slip stitched and a running stitch around the border to finish off.

As you can see I worked my blanket stitch to match the stripes and also did a very, very small blanket stitch around the cat's eyes to hold them firmly in place - actually, they looked like pretty eyelashes.

So...the first day of the classes arrived and I was given two sweet and polite 11 year old girls (who were school friends) to help and found out that one of the girls had already taken a couple of QEG holiday classes previously, but for the other girl it was the first time she had picked up a needle and thread.   I helped them select their choice of background fabric, cat fabric and the threads to either match or complement their cat colour choice and I think they really enjoyed that part of the process.  I could see them using their visual skills to imagine the finished look.  We then set to work ironing the design on to the fabric and after showing them how to pull 2 threads from a 6 skein length of thread easily without it becoming knotted and a total mess (they thought that was really cool), set about threading up and learning their first stitch - blanket stitch.  

Now as can be expected - particularly with the first timer - the stitches were a little loopy and uneven to begin with and there was a bit of intervention on my part to help with tension and maneouvring corners and points, but I was really surprised at how quickly they picked up their skills.  By the end of the first day (about 4-5 hours work), one girl had completely finished all the appliqueing of her cat and head, bow and mouse and the other only needed to finish appliqueing the cat's head.  

On Day 2, I enlisted the help of another tutor as I was finding that both the girls were needing one-on-one help with the more finer facial details.  I must admit too that I felt this was quite intricate work for learners so it was important to help them as much as possible. By lunchtime their work was at the stage of machine stitching the layers together around the edge (done only by one of the ladies who had been delegated this job) which just left the turning out, slip stitching and running stitch around the edge to be completed before the end of the class.

I asked the girls' permission to photograph their work and because they were just so proud of themselves happily agreed.   

This first piece was done by the young girl who had taken classes previously.  I think she has created a very friendly looking cat with a rather lopsided smirk and kind eyes.

This piece is the embroidery done by the girl who was a beginner and never threaded a needle in her life before.  Her cat might have a slightly 'detached' head, but yet again a friendly and engaging face and smile.

What was so enjoyable for me was seeing the pleasure and satisfaction that both gained from these classes.  And what I also found interesting was that the beginner admitted she enjoyed Day 2 the best because she learnt different stitches and felt she'd achieved so much.  I could tell they were so, so proud of their efforts and have decided to use their embroidery pieces on their bedside tables as showpieces.  

Both girls want to attend the next holiday classes because they had so much fun and I can honestly admit that I found it a most enjoyable experience also.  It is indeed heartening to see young talent with an enthusiasm towards embroidery.  In this modern age these skills could be considered a lost art because of the younger generation's desire for instant gratification.

Ros

'A person can succeed at anything for which there is enthusiasm' - Charles M Schwab

  

New Design Release - Mountain Devil

Happy New Year to everyone and welcome to the release of my first design for 2016 - the Mountain Devil flower. 

I agree that the name is unusual and dramatic and perhaps conjures images of witchcraft but rest assured it is derived from the horned woody follicles which retain a seed bank in its canopy and released after bushfires.  What I find so absolutely fascinating with some of our wildflower bushes are their ability to regenerate and re-establish after the heat and intensity of our harsh bushfires. 

This showy flower, consisting of seven individual tubular flowers, has a common name of Honey Flower and produces an abundance of sweet nectar which attracts a variety of native birds, eg. honeyeaters, noisy miners, little wattlebirds and eastern spinebills. The multi-stemmed bush spreads to a height of two metres with stiff, narrow leaves and showy pink to red flowerheads.  It is endemic to New South Wales and found on or to the east of the Great Dividing Range growing in sandy or rocky soils of open forests.

My cross stitch design has depicted the colours of this wildflower by using 11 colours to match as closely as possible to its natural counterpart.  The design uses 39 x 48 stitches and when stitched on 14 point Aida or 28 count evenweave fabric measures 71 x 87mm (2.8 x 3.4 inches).  As with all my designs, it is available in kit, chart or PDF.

A Google search of Australian Bush Flower Essences found an interesting fact for the Mountain Devil flower.  It states that the essence from this flower helps to deal with feelings of hatred, anger, jealousy and the major blocks to expressing love and for people who tend to be suspicious of others by helping to develop unconditional love and acceptance.  It also states that it helps to express anger in a healthy way and develop sound boundaries and may open the way to forgiveness.

Whether you believe is up to you but what a magical flower if found to be the case.  We live in a world today where we certainly could use more love and acceptance of others.

Ros

'From a little spark may burst a mighty flame' - Dante

Cardinal Joy

This year I decided to stitch a Christmas ornament for my Mum to display in her retirement unit.  After the passing of my Dad last year she didn't really feel it appropriate to hang bright decorations in her unit last Christmas but has decided to this year.  I came across this delightful little banner earlier in the year and research informed me that male red cardinals are very protective of their territory and everyone within it and that epitomised my father perfectly.  I felt this design 'spoke' to me.  

The design was sold by Dimensions as a kit which included full instructions, fabric, threads, seed beads, wire hanger and bells and was designed by Anita Phillips.  I'll admit that it was an intricate design and one which took much concentration and close study of the graph but the instructions were clear....so I plodded on.

Here are photos of the process - firstly the finished stitched design with border.

Then the edge was trimmed before it was folded and bells attached with red triple-strand thread through the back of the mitred corner and also the same was done with the wire hanger.

A neat slip-stitch hem was then stitched on the reverse to secure the edges and form a tidy finish over the border.  

I gave Cardinal Joy to my Mum last week and she has already found a home for it - one which catches the eye and is a feature of the room.  As a crafter herself, she absolutely loves it and the story behind it.

From my family to yours, I would like to take this opportunity to wish all my blog readers a Merry Christmas and a happy and safe New Year and look forward to showing and sharing more of my projects and new designs with you next year. 

Merry Christmas

Ros

'Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.' - (Norman Vincent Peale)

After The Storm

Serendipity is a wonderful, wonderful thing.  It had been on my mind for a week or so now that I needed to write a new post on my blog and whilst there were topics to speculate on or finished projects that I've worked on to show and share, the right descriptive words just weren't forming. Sometimes I take that as an omen to hold off until a subject presents itself clearly and never has that been so obvious than about half an hour ago ... something that I just had to share with everyone because it excited me so much and not just the topic but the timing. 

You see here in Brisbane we have entered the summer storm season with us experiencing a severe storm last night and yet another one at lunch time today.  I had eaten my lunch on our back deck overlooking a view of gum trees and bushland, picked up some rubbish to take downstairs and place in the bin with full intentions of then going to my workroom/office to write a new blogpost.  As I opened the screen door to take the rubbish to the bin, I was pleasantly greeted by a kookaburra sitting on our clothesline drying himself off after the storm.  So ... as you do ... I carefully retraced my steps, grabbed the camera and in order not to frighten him away, quietly started snapping photos.

This little fellow knew he was on display and in typical form, tilted his/her head from one side to the other for complimentary angle shots.

It was quite a tame kookaburra because I couldn't believe it when I was allowed to walk behind him/her and take this back view without the kookaburra ruffling even one little feather ... mind you the beady eyes were watching me very closely indeed.  And then while I was admiring the colours and size of this awesome iconic Australian bird, he then spotted a tasty bite to eat somewhere on our grass, flew to it, grabbed it in his powerful beak and flew to the nearby garden shed to swallow it in one giant gulp.

The kookaburra is one of my earlier designs (consisting of 13 colours) which can be found on the website - www.gumleafstitchdesigns.com.au - and for obvious reasons, quite a popular one.  

Although we have regular visits from kookaburras in the area with their reputable laughing call (which some people take to mean a sign of rain), it's not very often one pays us a visit in our backyard and on the clothesline.  Now, just how Aussie is that!!

Ros

'Sometimes serendipity is just intention unmasked' - Elizabeth Berg

Quilted Case Rules

On a whim a couple of weeks ago I decided to sew a quilted case for my quilting rulers to protect the corners from damage and the possibility of them being accidentally broken or cracked.  It occurred to me that it would be a great way to use up left-over fabric scraps in my stash (of which I have plenty) and a resourceful way to de-clutter.  Cleaning out the pillow-case of scraps brought back wonderful memories of garments that had been made for my daughter when she was very young and even some of my own clothes along with crafts from more recent years so this project really became a collection of memories.  

Firstly I measured a layout of the size and shape that would be needed onto brown paper and then set about blending and sewing the fabrics so the plain and floral colours would be evenly distributed. This was painstakingly done row by row and also in accordance with how much fabric was available for each colour.  The length of each strip in each row was staggered for a brick-like effect.  

But, of course, once the strips were sewn together, the embroiderer in me realised that it could do with a 'bit' of texture and interest here and there which, of course then led to perhaps a 'bit of bling' here and there which then led to filling each plain coloured fabric strip with some form of embroidery and/or beading or sequins.  I'll admit it, I confess ... I was obsessed ... but you see once I had started and could see how beautiful it was looking with just simple embroidery stitches ... alas, I could not stop.

By incorporating simple embroidery stitches of chain, stem, lazy daisy, star, straight, feather, blanket and french knots together with brightly coloured sequins, bugle, seed and pearl beads, it created an incredibly interesting work of art.  Because there was so much bright colour in the fabrics, I decided to only use white stranded cotton and thicker crochet cotton for contrast.  You can see by the above photograph that the edges of the strips were all of a slightly different length but would be neatly cut to the measured size as seen in the photograph below after it had been quilted with contrast fabric and wadding.  I decided to just quilt along the seam of the long strips and not the shorter seams of each strip as I felt this gave enough of an effect without becoming too tedious.

Once this stage had been reached, the blue binding was sewn and slip-stitched into place across the longer top edge before then folding the entire case into shape.

Once this was done blue binding was then sewn and slip stitched into place from the lower folded section through all thickness of front and back, around the overflap and back down the other side.

 A couple of press studs were then hand stitched on the flap and front of the case to ensure the rulers don't move and/or slip out.

This is the back closed view...

and this is the back open view.  After completion, I decided to carefully add a few more sequins on the red section and another backstitched star with seed bead on the black strip as they were on the front flap and 'front and centre' of the project.

I absolutely loved working on this project.  Who would have thought that left-over scraps of fabric, a little imagination and simple embroidery could create something so useful.

Ros

'The difference between try and triumph is just a little umph' - Marvin Phillips

Design Release - Numbat

Today I release a new design of a distinctively marked bush animal which admittedly is not very well known about both here in Australia and abroad.  The numbat is a small and colourful creature (between 35 to 45 centimetres or 14 to 18 inches in length) with a long pointed snout, bushy tail about the length of its body and white stripes over its back and rump.  A black stripe also runs over each eye from the base of the ear to its muzzle.  The numbat is sometimes called the banded anteater, marsupial anteater or walpurti and inhabits the natural environment of Western Australia's open woodland eucalypt and jarrah forests.

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The numbat's diet consists exclusively of termites with an adult requiring as much as 20,000 ants a day for its survival and like many ant-eating animals uses a long and narrow sticky tongue to collect its food from termite mounds.  The interesting fact about this animal is that whilst like all other marsupials it uses its strong sense of smell to hunt for food, it also possesses the highest visual ability of any other marsupial.  Adult numbats are solitary and territorial creatures setting up an area early in life and remaining there after that with the only exception of venturing out in the mating season.  These gentle creatures currently have an endangered status with their predators being foxes, carpet pythons and various falcons, eagles and hawks.

I have to admit that this cross stitch design was a challenge trying to feature the stripes and incorporate all colours and the details that this little fellow has.  Numbats vary in colour combinations from greys to copper so I decided to brighten the design by using the more of the earthy shades.  There are 11 colours in total and measures 98 x 74mm (3.9 x 2.9 inches) when stitched on 14 point aida fabric with stitch dimensions of 54 x 41 stitches.

Australia is indeed home to some very different and unusual animals - I guess it's what helps make us such an interesting nation and I am proud to be able to highlight our uniqueness through my work.

Ros

'We could learn a lot from crayons.  Some are sharp, some are pretty, some are dull, some have weird names and all are different colours...but they all have to learn to live in the same box' - Robert Fulghum

The Finished Quilt

A little while back I posted about a new skill I was learning - quilting and promised to share photos of my finished project.  It is only just now that I realise that I forgot to take photos of the progress of the quilt construction so you will just have to bear with me while I explain the process and use the image below to refer to.  

Once all the blocks had been completed, it was necessary to choose contrasting fabrics for sashings and posts which are placed around each block and used to join these blocks together.  On my quilt you will see I chose the red fabric as a highlight for the posts and purchased a more subtly patterned fabric for the sashings.  After deciding on the placement of each block which required laying out each block and then moving them around to achieve a layout whereby the colours and patterns were evenly distributed, it was then a case of systematically sewing the fabrics together in order of rows and then joining these rows together all the time being careful to match seams and keep everything straight.

After that came the task of cutting the border which involved quite precise measuring because as our teacher explained sometimes the length of the top and bottom and both sides of a finished piece of patchwork can be uneven no matter how careful the seam allowances were sewn.  So it was important to measure in three places (top, bottom and centre for the length and left side, right side and centre for the width) and use the average measurement to cut the lengths of border.  The side borders were sewn to the patchwork first before the top and bottom borders.  It was at this point while we had our fabric and rotary cutter on hand that we cut out strips for binding and were shown how to neatly join these lengths of strips together which was very easy.  This was then put away for use at the end of the project.

The following week we were taught how to lay our backing fabric (which was yet another piece of fabric purchased) face down on the work table, place the cotton wadding over top and then final placement of our 'work of art' on top.  We all worked together on each other's quilt because it was so important that when each layer was placed on top of the other, that it was gently and accurately placed to ensure evenness with no stretching or warping and straightness was maintained.  After securely attaching all three layers to the work table with the most high-tech of devices (bull-dog clips!), we all set to the task of pinning the layers together at close intervals but not on any seams.  Pinning four quilts together took up the entire lesson but it was a most enjoyable time for us all to chat about all sorts of topics.

The following week, we were taught the technique of 'stitching in the ditch' which really is just a quilting term for stitching in the seam allowance on the lower side.  We were also shown the correct way of securing and bringing the bobbin thread to the top of the quilt so the back of the quilt was smooth with no cut off threads and whilst it took us all a little while to master this technique, it was worth it for a beautiful and professional finish.  In order to keep the quilt flat and stable and prevent any possible warping, we were also advised on the order of stiching seams ie. the inside sashing borders first, then the outside before sewing the individual blocks.  All of my blocks were sewn in the ditch to reflect the pattern on the back so I'll admit it was a long process and required patience.  The quilt needed to be rolled carefully around the sewing machine when working in an area which was quite tight, but once I could see it coming together, it was inspiration for me to keep going albeit in stages.

The following and last week of our classes involved squaring and cutting the borders evenly and attaching the binding to the edge.  Our teacher was very implicit with the technique on how to mitre the corners to give a perfectly rounded point and instructed us on a clever technique to join the ends together so the binding appeared seamless and not bulky.  It was then just a matter of folding the binding to the wrong side and handstitching a slip stitch into place to cover the machine stitching and, for me, this was enjoyably done while watching television and listening to the rain or howling wind outside.  

My quilt now has pride of place displayed over a cream upholstered chair in our lounge room and I am so happy with my efforts and the finished effect that I often look and touch it lovingly when no-one is around (sshhh...don't tell anyone).  

I am also proud to say that I have already started my next quilting project which consists of log cabin blocks in very bright colours.  But I'll leave that story for another post.

Ros

'Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance' - Samuel Johnson