wool cushion

This WIP has been around for quite a while, but I finished it at last and made it into a cushion.

The embroidery is done in wool thread on wool felt. Most of the embroidery is done in a chain stitch, and some satin stitch.

The design comes from this book by  Karin Holmberg.

The postman brought a fabric parcel from Germany yesterday, 

from the nice ladies at Cotton & Color
(because what ever I am doing, I am always thinking about another project 😉).

As Vreni rightly pointed out in her comment, the shop (and webshop) is in fact in Switzerland, on the border with Germany; my parcels are always posted in Germany.

I like their website, it is very easy to use, the selection of fabrics very much up to date, the colours true, the service is prompt and efficient. And you can still buy only 25 cm length; I find that some web shops one has to buy half a meter min.  

They have a huge selection of fabrics (they claim more then 5,000!). With so many fabrics in one place, paying little extra postage seems quite justified, considering that I can end up paying more if buying from more then one supplier here in UK, as I rarely seem to find what I am looking for in one place. 

The weather forecast for the week ahead is not good, 

the sewing room is going to be the best place!

*** Just a quick note re Margaret's comment below - I have ordered from this website several times and never paid more then the cost of postage for a large letter, well below 5 Euros; no other cost is involved. 

©pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2017

easy miniature quilts

First March Sunday is only half way through and we have had it all - sun, rain, hailstones....yes, it is a miserable Sunday in England.

The first long awaited blossom of new camellia in our garden is here at last,
all soggy;

and the first primula. 

Like every spring, it is all there, just waiting...........

You might remember that I have a young stitching friend, my granddaughter. 

She is working on her new project, a miniature quilt.

This is an interesting applique method, where you don't actually have to stitch the applique pieces to the background fabric individually (to her great pleasure - impatient youth 😀). 

She just arranged her fabric shapes on a background fabric and secured with a temporary fabric glue (using a glue stick), we "sandwiched" her project as usual (wadding and backing), overlaid the top with a piece of fine tulle (you could use very fine organza), and now she is ready to quilt, which she will be doing on her machine, using just straight lines all over.

 The tulle keeps the shapes secure, as long as you stitch over every shape at least once.

This is a method Julia Gahagan from Home Grown Textiles is using, making her miniature quilts.

You can see her YouTube video here.

                                                         I started hand quilting Chateau Hexagon,



                             and last night I returned to a rather forgotten wool embroidery project.

I hope you are having a better weather where ever you are!

©pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2017

nice things in small parcels

Don't you just love the little parcels the postman brings?

This lovely small book has come from Sweden, my order from Tulips & Roses.

Yes, it is all in Swedish, and no, I don't speak it, but it doesn't seem to matter; it is the inspiration I am looking for.

I am enjoying my wool embroidery right now and this book is packed full of lovely designs.

Also some more Appleton crewel wool arrived from Hand - embroidered to add to my stash of beautiful shades, which has been growing very nicely recently.

I love handling these soft wool threads.

This blue bird is the latest addition to my wool embroidery project.

One more little parcel - this one did not travel such a distance. 

Small book by Janet Clare, A Field Guide - a book very much "one with nature".

In her projects Janet shows us how to draw inspirations from the nature around us; colours, bees, birds, butterflies..... 

I find this a very calming book; a little therapy during the build up to Christmas.

©pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2015

this and that

December is nearly here and Christmas round the corner - there is so much more to think about this time year. 

Which probably explains the slow stitching week.

But I did manage to make 3 more sets of flying geese for "Cool Flying Geese" quilt; that makes 23;
7 more to make for the main part of the quilt.

We are having horrid first Sunday of Advent,
rain and strong winds; it is really dark and grey outside, not good for taking pictures.

I have completed the bottom part of wool embroidery.
I am enjoying stitching these mystical flowers and creatures.

I have also been doing some more hand quilting of the Yoko Saito's quilt and more applique stitching on "St. Germain".



On the dining room wall  "Winter House" quilt, finished a year ago, has replaced  "Four Seasons Chickens" quilt, which had been hanging there for the past few months.

And I want to start baking some Christmas biscuits this week.

I hope you are having fun with all your Christmas preparation!

©pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2015

FNwF - wool embroidery

The first Friday in November (really?) and another enjoyable time stitching with friends around the world.

Thank you Cherryl for hosting it yet again, you are a star!

So what was I doing doing?

I resurrected a wool embroidery for a cushion, which I started a year ago and which was lingering in the corner of my room. It is interesting how, when the weather gets cooler, we gravitate towards something warmer to stitch. That said, it has actually been quite warm for the the time of year, be it wet and windy, quite horrid the last couple of days. Sitting indoors with some stitching has been absolutely the best place to be.

The design comes from this book by

Karin Holmberg.

I love this book, I wish I had the time to make more of the projects in it.  

I made a mistake right at the start (this is my first wool embroidery) by marking the whole design on the wool felt I am working with. 

Live and learn - it just doesn't stay there, most of it rubs away while stitching. The thing to do, obviously, is to mark only the outline; the details later, as and when working it.

I finished the central motif,

and I started working on a flower further down the design.

If you want to know what the others got up to on Friday,

just visit Cherryl's blog by clicking on her name at the top of this post.

©pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2015

wool embroidery - start

I made a start on the wool embroidery for my cushion. 

In the end I decided to use a design from Karin Holmberg's book.

This is the first time I am embroidering on wool felt.

I am starting with the central motif and I have already realised how different it is from stitching on say cotton or linen fabric. To start with, it is not as easy to mark the design on the fabric. I have marked the whole design on the felt background all in one go, which I now realised was a mistake.

By the time I completed the center ring of leaves, most the rest of the design has rubbed off.

So  now I just refresh the outlines and draw the rest free hand as I go along. That is probably how the original wool embroideries were done anyway - freehand.

Also, stitching with on wool on wool, it is more difficult to keep to the line of design. I realised that I can't be as fussy as if I was embroidering with cotton or silk on linen. It is very different, one just has be more bold! 

©pleasureinstitching.blogspot co uk 2014

wool embroidery

October has a definite autumnal feel, with trees now changing colour and wet leaves on the ground.

It is still very mild for the time of year, around 18°C during the day. The garden is now looking little tired, but still refusing to give up completely.

The fuchsia, hanging by the kitchen door, is  still in a full swing.

But I felt that a little seasonal planting was needed for a continuation of colour.

I wanted a new embroidery project for the coming winter evenings, so I decided on a wool embroidery. The inspiration came from wool embroideries I had seen on our trips to Scandinavia, and also from this book, which has some lovely projects, including wool embroidered cushions. So, an embroidered wool cushion will be my next embroidery project for this winter. 

But I wanted to find few more pictures and Internet research found the book pictured below, 

which looked like something "I really need"

(you know how it is).

I expect some of our Scandinavian friends know it.

Unfortunately only in Swedish, but this has not put me off.  Eventually I found a Swedish bookseller who was prepared to ship to UK.

No, I don't speak Swedish, so yes, I am probably missing a lot, but the pictures are the most important thing in this case and the book is full of  them.

I have never done a crewel embroidery on wool, only on linen, but I want to make this all wool, so I started to look for wool felt. I soon realised that it is not an easy task, most craft felt is now from recycled man made materials.

Eventually Google found Cloud Craft, where you can find lovely soft 100% wool felt in some gorgeous shades.  

Don't you just love it, when the postman brings little packages of fabrics and threads?

This is the colour of felt I chose. Dark background is so good for showing of bright colour threads.

Another package had new supply of Appleton crewel threads,

and another Renaissance Dyeing crewel threads, to add to some I have already.

These are very soft, softer than Appleton, but they don't come in many strong vibrant shades, because their colour comes from natural dyes.   

So, all materials are here, all I have to do now, is to make a final decision on a design I want to make, there are so many beautiful ideas in both books.

©pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2014