Spring is here at last

After the coldest winter for a long time followed by weeks of rain it was good today to go for a walk in the sunshine and see that Spring has really arrived.

Embroidered Mandala

I have drawn and crocheted many a mandala so I thought it only right to embroider one too.

It was stitched with stranded cotton on a plain cotton fabric using a pattern from the book ' Mandalas to Embroider' by Carina Envoldsen-Harris.  I really enjoyed doing it and will definitely be doing some more.

Sew4thesoul update

I've now completed my third stitch sampler in the Sew4thesoul series and together with the first two, the samplers are now mounted and framed.

I gel printed a backingr using blue, white and grey acrylic paint to compliment the colours of the embroideries.  For the actual samplers, I wrapped them around mountboard so they sit slightly raised on the background and I think they look good in the deep white box frames.

Granitos, feather, wheatear and running stitches

Gel Printing update

I've already reported just how much I enjoyed the #31daysof gelprinting that I took part in on Instagram but now I want to let you know what I've done with all the prints.

First, I decided to make a book for the majority of the print so that I would have a record of them for the future.  I debated whether to make a book myself but in the ended I took the easy option and bought a scrapbook to add them to.  I got a kraft paper book with a spiral spine so there was plenty of room for expanding.

Each day has it's own page with two or three prints together with a record of what I used to create the prints.

Cover

 

Crayon Resist

Circles

Hearts

Tissue Paper

Feathers

Letters

Leaves

Primary Colours

Then, with some of the paper left, I covered some small notebooks which I may use myself or give as gifts.

Sew4thesoul

I've recently joined in with a weekly stitching activity on Instagram - #sew4thesoul.

It's organised by Anne Brook (@hannemadebyanne) and each weekend she introduces a new embroidery stitch.   She's working on a long strip of linen which I love but sadly could not seem to find any to buy. 

Instead I decided to work samples of four stitches, worked in stranded cotton on linen, which I will mount and display as a series.  I was a bit late starting but soon caught up and now look forward each weekend for the next stitch.   They have mainly been simple embroidery stitches that you can 'play' with but I have learnt one new one - granitos - which I will definitely use again.

So far I have two completed in the series but they are still waiting to be mounted and framed.

Seed stitch - cross stitch - fly stitch - chain stitch

French knots - blanket stitch - bullion knots - pistol stitch

A Girl Can Never Have Too Many Shawls!

When my trip to the Spring Knitting and Stitching Show had to be abandoned because of the snow, I had to do something with all the money I did not spend so I treated myself to a pattern and yarn to make a new shawl.   The purchase was made through Lusciously Loopy who was selling a special pack of yarn with a new pattern by Lisa Cook for a Cumbria Way Shawl.  The yarn was Scheepjes Stone Washed and I chose to use  Moonstone, Brown Agate and Morganite.

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The pattern was made in two half hexagons which were them joined together before the border was stitched.

First half hexi finished

It was quite quick to get done – ideal if you are doing several things at once and chop and change between projects.    I love the way the tassels finish off the shawl.  I nearly didn’t put them one but I’m so glad I have.

Now I can’t wait to use it.

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GelPrinting Challenge

During March I took part in a gel printing challenge organised on Instagram by Birgit Koopsen.

It was quite time consuming (in a nice way!) so I tended to do three or four days at a time just in case I wasn't able to do a day.   We were also away for part of the month at our caravan so I took loads of stuff with me but of course as all you crafters will know, despite taking loads of stuff, there is always one or two things, or even more, that you should have included!

I enjoyed the whole process and learnt so much on the way thanks to Birgit who not only posted each day with us but also included videos many days which gave me loads of new ideas and techniques.

I did three or four prints for each day so now have well over a hundred A5 sized prints.  I decided to get a scrapbook to keep many of the prints to inspire me in the future so as soon as I get started, I will share it.

I also decided to print a fabric piece each day and make postcards.  I've done the first few days and have nearly finished stitching the rest - some on the machine and some by hand - so I will have to have a day of finishing off.   I might well send them to people I hope will appreciate them.

Just to give you an idea of what I did here's a compilation of the 15 'best' ones.   I'll get together some compilations of each day and post them in a few days.

You can also see the whole collection on my Instagram account @lccreatingchaos.

Another month, another Journal Quilt

For my April Journal Quilt I reached orange and yellow on the colour wheel and although on the face of it there is a traditional look to it, I used a variety of widths for the strips and included some orange and yellow striped strips too.  The centre square is also from the striped fabric.

I used a hand made block for the gelli printing on some of the yellow strips, using string wrapped around a piece of card and using an orange fabric paint.

To finish I machine quilted in straight lines from top to bottom, again varying the distances between the lines to reflect the different widths of the strips.

Spring!

After snow in March followed by incessant rain I felt the need to inspire Spring to arrive so I put together a few crafty items for further encouragement.

The crochet daffodils were from patterns by Coastal Crochet - the larger ones at the front - and Attic24 - the smaller ones at the back.  Both easy patterns with great results so I can see I will be using these for years to come and add to them each year.   The use of sea glass in the bottom of the jar was inspired by Coastal Crochet who, like me, is an avid collector.

The Spring embroidery was inspired by a Sew Along (SAL) hosted by Chrissie Crafts on Instagram.

Doing this stitching has really made me realise just how much I love embroidery and how much more I want to do.   Several ideas swimming around my head and I just how to plan them all in to the long list of other things to do!