A Bit Sparse…

Most of my stitching time last week was given up to organising a selection of my upcycled jewellery to go into The Old Stables Studio in Horncastle and knitting some socks (exciting!) and a lace scarf which I can’t show because it’s a Christmas present so things are a bit sparse this week. However, I did finish the last locket – this time with a peacock feathers design.

The feathers start with two nested detached chain stitches in royal blue and turquoise with a dark blue French knot in the centre.

Then I added straight stitches in a very fine green silk thread all the way round and gave the feathers split stitch quills…

…before setting it into the locket.

Thursday was the most perfect day for a trip to Horncastle with the autumn light turning the fields and trees of the Wolds golden. The Old Stables Studio is literally just off the Market Square and is a hidden away gem with a very tempting looking fabric/sewing shop next door.

I did have a little look round the town before I headed home and picked up a fantastic needlelace book from a second hand book shop, so there may be some needlelace samples coming shortly.

But instead of clearing old projects, I’ve started something else new instead. Inspired by Debbie’s recent return to the Print to Stitch workshop we did at Guild with Jan Dowson in February 2019, I’ve hunted out one of the other pieces I printed at that workshop, a medieval tile based one.

Trimmed, it now looks like this:

I wouldn’t normally show the back, but it’s basted to an unusual piece of felt I made during lockdown.

Before lockdown, my youngest managed to put a three cornered tear in the knee of her grey 100% wool M&S school trousers (charity shop bargain!). I had been trying to work out how to invisibly mend this tear for a while, but as the school year wore on, I realised that she wouldn’t be going back to school until September, when she would be Y11. At her school, the Y11s wear black trousers and sweatshirts, not grey like Years 7-10 so the trousers would be redundant. She wouldn’t wear them in real life and they couldn’t go to a charity shop. But they could go into the washing machine with a load of towels and become fabulous felt which they did! Oh waste not, want not!!

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Successes!

The snowflakes brooch take two is completed and has worked much better this time around. The blue silk makes the snowflakes really stand out and the actual snowflakes are definitely better executed. I finished it by gathering it round an oval of buckram to stiffen it…

…and then made another plain piece to cover the gathers on the back. I ladder stitched them together and then stuck the resulting ‘sandwich’ into the brooch setting.

I also got round to making the practice piece for the Chihuly Reeds to trial the alcohol inks. I was concerned that they might either run off the metallic fabric and bleed into the back ground or the applique stitches would wick the ink down into the fabric, but in fact, neither happened. There is some bleeding, but that was where I touched the tip of the brush onto the fabric – not easy to avoid, given the size of the piece.

Onto the main piece, feeling much more confident. I did catch the background fabric in a couple of very minor places but I think the variegation of the back ground fabric helps to hide it.

Then I added the dried grass around the bases. I’m really happy with the way the combination of the metallic fabric and the translucent inks has captured the shimmering glass. Success number two!

And success number three is that the lovely The Old Stables Studio in Horncastle is going to stock my upcycled jewellery! I had a scenic run out there last week and met Kate, the owner, who is passionate about upcycled and handmade and happy to stock a selection of my jewellery. So that’s where Snowflakes Take Two will be going, as will this underwater themed locket which I finished this morning.

Fingers crossed – that’s all I can do at the moment.

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