circle play

The "stitching in the garden" weather has returned, warm and sunny, coming from the continental Europe.

So my blue "summer play cloth" has made another outing outside, and I filled in another small block.

A combination of needleturn and wool applique, and some embroidery.

Another small batch of "summer jam", 

this time a combination of strawberries, raspberries, plums and apricots - 

more sunshine in the jar for winter months.

It is a holiday here tomorrow, and more sunshine to be enjoyed!

I wish you all a very good week, whatever you are up to!

©pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2010-2019

FNwF and my first finish of the year

It is the first Friday of this year and the first meeting at Cheryll's for Friday Night with Friends;

big thank you to Cheryll for lending us her blog again this year!

I have been playing with a small wool applique picture on cotton background (designed by Erica Kaprow), 

and tonight I finished it.

I backed the picture with some thin wadding and a piece of card, and then covered the back with a black felt.

And here it is, hanging on our hall wall, my first finish of 2018!

It was fun and I enjoyed making it, but I realised that it is not going to replace my love of needleturn applique; 

I miss it, and I will need to find some serious applique project for this year.

At this time of the year I often see on blogs lists of planned projects, or projects to be completed this year, or resolutions to work only from a stash.
I can never do the first, because (as many of my followers know 😀) my "projects moods" are rather changeable, there just can't be a "list".
I put this down to my star sign, LOL, but also my stitching often was an antidote to my job and its deadlines, and since I retired, I fully enjoy my freedom.
As for working from a stash only - I do appreciate that often there is an economic necessity to be considered and that we all try to do what we can with what we have.
But seeing new fabrics, feeling them, letting the imagination run riot -
that is a drug I would find very hard to give up!

I liked a post on Kathleen Tracy's blog (dated 27th December), which relates mainly to fabric storage, but she also writes, quote:

"Buying a new fabric is a good thing if it makes your heart flutter and fills your mind with inspiration. Buying and collecting fabric is a part of the reason we love to quilt."

How I agree!
It is often a sight of some new fabric which inspires me to find a pattern to do it a justice.
Or of course the other way around.
My fabric stash is pretty good, and as they are mainly small pieces, it may still have a role to play, but it is the new which gives me the inspiration I need to sit down to a new project.

But whatever you'll do and which ever way you do it, as long as it works for you,
have a fun this year!

©pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2018

feeling woolly

I hope you all had a nice Christmas, I certainly did.

But I also like this quiet time after. 

With the hustle and bustle of Christmas behind me, I just like to relax and think about possible new projects for the coming year.

But there is one very, very old project which I have returned to this week.

I stared knitting a wool jacket 6 years (!!!) ago. 

I always knew it was going to be a long term project, although I never thought it would take me this long.

It is a jacket from the book "Poetry in Stitches" by Norwegian designer Solveig Hisdal. 

It is knitted using Norwegian technique - knitted the whole body in one piece on a circular needle and then cutting into it for openings. 

I bought the wool (dyed specially for the projects in this book) directly from the factory in Norway .

This week I finished the main body at last, and started knitting the sleeves. 

I really hope that 2018 will be the year I will wear the jacket at last!

I have been wanting to play with some wool applique for some time, and today at last I got around to starting a small picture.

I am using some wool felt, rather then wool fabric, simply because it is cheaper and easier to get hold of. 

Also, instead of using a wool background, I am using this black fabric, just because I like fabric and I want to see how it will work together. I stabilised the fabric with Iron On Vilene, which should support the felt better. 

I hope you'll also get some time to yourselves this week for some little crafting at least.

©pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2017

getting there with St Germain and woolly plans

Sigh of relief! 

The last piece of applique on St Germain quilt border no 4 is done!

I spent most of the evenings this week 

snipping away all the fabric behind the applique pieces to reduce the bulk.

It was a long job, but all done now, and I can stitch the borders on and think about the backing.

I have lots of fabrics left over from this project, so I think I might use it to make up a piece for the back.

With winter evenings coming I am thinking something "woolly".

Last year I made a wool embroidered cushion,

but this year I would like to have a go at wool applique.

I love some of the folk inspired designs and I like Sue Spargo's designs, but when I saw a pattern by Erica Kaprow, 

I instantly fell in love with it 

and this morning the postman delivered it.

It comes in a form of a leaflet, 

but cleverly has its own folder to keep the loose pattern sheets in.

I like that.

I am thinking of using wool felt instead of wool fabric. Wool fabric is more expensive, and unless you dye your own (not something I want to get into), the choice of colours is not so great.

I already have some hand dyed wool felt (bought at various shows) in my stash. You see, you just never know when something comes handy! 😉

For my cushion I used wool felt as the background and it worked well, but I am even contemplating using dark fabric, possibly batik, which I would stabilise.

I made this wool sampler at a workshop with Madeleine Millington.
She was using dyed blankets, which she brought to the class.
It was fun to make, and my first taste of wool applique (or any applique for that matter), but the whole thing is rather thick.



Something to think about.....

In the garden the delphinium and the clematis started flowering again, and the camellia thinks the spring is just around the corner.

I think they are in for a shock soon!

©pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2017