what's in the bag? part two Elephants

 Past adventures with a needle

Some elephant stitching..........

I know that there are more elephants around, I must have had a thing about this pattern :-)

what's in the bag? part one

 As the destash continues, I'm discovering old projects from when I was at college.

I pulled out this bag.

The bag itself was part of a prize from Sewing World back in 2007 when they asked people to design and embroider a heart. You may have seen the heart hanging in my workroom photos. I was a runner up in the competition.

I don't often win things !

These days, the bag holds many treasure, some are just starting ideas and some are completed projects. I've posted some of these before but a good few years ago now.

edited to add, I posted about this in 2008 and in the same post I mentioned six unimportant things about myself.

SIX UNIMPORTANT THINGS ABOUT ME

This has been really difficult to work out but I finally came up with these.

When I was about 11, I won 1st, 2nd and third prize in a photography competition because I was the only contestant.

We have not had a TV for nearly 20 years although the purchase of a computer 8 years ago means we do watch DVDs. 

 (Still no TV in 2024)

I loathed Domestic Science at school ( needlework and cookery) and gave it up as soon as possible

I have never made anything that I can wear other than the occasional piece of fabric jewellery. 

( now knit hats etc)

We used to have an arcade pinball machine in our 17th floor flat.

First rode pillion ( on a scooter) at around 6 years old.

( final ride as pillion was around the age of 56/57 when I realised that getting on and off the bike was getting difficult due to mobility issues)

Here's a sneak peak at the bag contents.

bag

remember this sample from this post?


well today I found the finshed bag whilst moving a few things in my room.


torn recycle sari material woven through gold mesh fabric edged with cord cord recycled from xmas packaging, fastened with found button.lined with felt
finished in 2000 I think :-)

Italian Holiday from Sketch to Stitch (part four)

back to playing with torn papers, this time influenced by mosaic floors.





these have yet to be transferred to fabric

Italian Holiday from Sketch to Stitch (part three)

Paint and stitch on fabric.
At this point I must say that if I do this again using this design, the end result would be very different but this was about 5 years ago!





This is the closest colour match that I could get, Fuji cameras always give me a problem with red. Finished item painted, hand embroidered and beaded. Confession-it has lived in a bag at the back od a cupboard since the collage exhibition as I simply didn't like it much!!

Italian Holiday from Sketch to Stitch (part two)

Ok, now I have a simple idea to play with.



more torn papers.
Next step was to find a simple motif from the original carving and make a print block.






Now to mix both ideas using paint, ink , bleach and some silk papers.







This is the one I liked, even more so once I changed the colour.


Next problem is to stitch it as a panel so I'll leave that for the next post.

Italian Holiday from Sketch to Stitch (part one)

In 2001, our motorcycle travels took us to lake Garda in Italy and we visited Sirmione at the southern part of the lake. Some background to the trip can be found here on Biker Teds blog. At the time I was looking for a subject to use for my city and guilds part two in creative embroidery so I took as many photos as I could (pre digital era!!) to use as inspiration.







These are the first pages in my sketch book and the jumping off point for design.





Easy steps first, just torn painted paper following the floor tile/brick design at the Roman Villa

more shiny bits

I think these are a bit more my style.

Today's challenge is to see if I can cope with cross stitch. I have a little project left over from several years ago to sort out so I am meeting with some like minded people this morning to sew and natter.

We are having a new carpet laid tomorrow so hopefully by the weekend I should have the shelves out of my workroom. At the moment I can't get to most of my stash and I want to sort out some fabric to put on one side to make some shopping bags once I am able to hold my rotary cutter or scissors. Also I now have extra lace pillows and bobbins ready for anyone from stitched up who would like to have a go and need to find a proper home for them.

On the cooking front, thanks to everyone who suggested a slow cooker :-) Made our first meal in one last weekend, definitely going to use it regularly, Ian and BikerTed's cooking skills are coming on a treat. They are both taking care of me wonderfully and I am very grateful.

playing with shiny bits (City and Guilds use of metallic thread etc) part three

mostly machine embroidery, bottom sample (right) is a variation on the weave material into a plastic mesh bag (the kind you get fruit it) ! found some gold mesh and wove in some torn sari material.Will have a hunt for the bag that I made using this method.

It's dark and wet outside so I'm waiting for it to dry up before going to the library, mainly because I can't get anything waterproof over the frame on my arm because the sleeves are not wide enough.

playing with shiny bits (City and Guilds use of metallic thread etc) part two

Ok, if I remember rightly this is string glued to cartridge paper. Crumpled tissue paper then glued over the top, bleached in places, gold dots added (can't remember how) touch of shiva stick and machine embroidery in gold thread. I bought a large kop of gold coloured thread very cheap when I started the course and still have some left!!



Examples of tradtional goldwork which I must admit that I wasn't too keen on hence the very small samples except the one at the bottom that was stiched over gold painted cocktail sticks.

playing with shiny bits (City and Guilds use of metallic thread etc) part one

For creative embroidery part two (not sure what it is called now) we had to show that we could use metallic threads etc so take on reel of copper wire and......

knit with it



add sequins as you knit



add beads as you knit and spray paint when finished



knit then machine and handstitch over it



French knit with it



add beads as you knit



wrap it round cocktail sticks



I later used wire and beads in brooches but can't actually get to them to photo-maybe later.

next post will be stitching with metallic thread.

geological design board, from sketch to stitch,finished bag

so, what did I end up with?




a bag.

geological design board, from sketch to stitch, part four

I printed and hand quilted it



I printed and hand stitched it


I then had to decided what to make from it, watch this space.......

geological design board, from sketch to stitch, part three

I made it as a rag rug sample




I tried cut back applique on black velvet


I stitched it as a tapestry using hand dyed wool