World Embroidereers' Day 2019

Well another one put to rest!  I haven't heard back from the other sites as yet but the event I attended at the local library was well attended and attracted a lot of interest.  In fact we never had a spare seat.

There was a good range of ages and everyone just loved the stitching.

One of our Guild members, Lee, prepared a great bundle of pieces to be embroidered.  (Personally , I am hoping that there are lots of pieces left over that I can use for a Children's Class.)

They were not to big and could be finished in a couple of hours.   The ladies who stitched these was going to make them up as pin cushions.

So I have a few to stitch myself and I will see what I can produce from them.  Although I think the pin cushion idea is a good one. 

A great day.

Working on Designs

I haven't even started my needle painting practice piece as yet but I got a great photo of a 'welcome swallow'  on the jetty and this is what I want to embroider.  I just love these little birds and I have been trying to get a good shot for ages.

There must have been something about the weather that day because a pod of dolphins came in and rounded up a school of fish.  I think a movie would have been a better option but I'm not quite sure now to work the camera.  So, just one fin and a seagull watching to see what might be left over.

All those fishermen on the jetty missed out.  Nothing left after the dolphins come through.

Introducing a new family member

This is nugget.

He is a Beagle, Pug cross, 6 weeks old and a bundle of energy.  At the moment his favourite occupation is chewing everything up.  Tomorrow he and Charlie are going to be introduced.  I wonder what the outcome will be?

Testing Designs

I have to have some really special designs for my beginners and that isn't as easy as it sounds.  I have decided that we will mount the pieces in 3" hoops and that they will embroider Xmas Greetings of various sorts.  For some kids this will be as much as they could handle but they can decorate this will little glitter shapes.

Now, I got in a mess with the glue!  I will have to come up with some better way of handling this for the kids.

World Embroiderers' Day

WORLD EMBROIDERY DAY
Celebrate on Sunday, 28 July 2019
Our Guild will celebrate World Embroidery Day this year on Sunday, 28 July.
Once again, four Brisbane City Council libraries (Brisbane Square, Carindale, Chermside and Indooroopilly) are co-operating with our Guild to showcase embroidery during July with an embroidery display on show at each library. On Sunday, 28 July, we will offer a hands on experience to the public at each library from 10.30am – 12.30pm.
World Embroidery Day offers us a wonderful opportunity to highlight the joy of embroidery. It is also a chance to promote the many benefits of belonging to our Guild: the learning and sharing of skills, fellowship and friendship, and mindfulness.

WIPW

Lots of thinking about work but no progress on much of it.  I did finish the cheater panel for Jasmine's Quilt, so I can cross that one off.

Choppy and the Universe

My son had a little dog called Chopper. ( Named after a notorious criminal, Chopper Reid.)  We was a Jack Russell, King Charles Spaniel cross and he had the sweetest personality.  He has been part of our family since he was a pup.  We always looked after him when they went on holidays or had to go somewhere where they couldn't take him.  He would tear up and down the beach in sheer delight and loved to find ways to escape.

He and Charlie, my dog, have always been the best of friends and have grown old together.  When they were puppies they romped around.

My grand daughters have grown up with him and Charlie.

As a little thing they would always stay close and play next to her.  Here she turned around and told them they were making too much noise!

But now he has grown old and ill, so the decision had to be made to put him down.  He was just in so much pain.  It is very sad to loose a family member and the girls have given him a funeral and buried him in the garden.

Monique has her own telescope and often he would sit beside her as she looked out at the skys.  This inspired an embroidery for one of my Children's Classes a few years ago which was made into covers for the lids of boxes. I called the embroidery " Download Choppy and the Universe .  In memory of Chopper I offer it as a free download.

Learning a new Technique

I am going away for a few days next month and as it is for rest and recreation I decided it would be a good opportunity to learn a new embroidery skill.   I have been looking at needle painting for a while now and I think I have mastered the machine version but I wanted to trial the hand embroidery version.  But, where to start?

I looked around for a class I could take but just couldn't find anything that appealed.  Then I happened on the work of Emillie Ferris on Etsy.  It cost $25.00 (Aust.) for the Ebook but the instructions are extensive and being a Ebook you can zoom in to see the fine detail.  So that was the first thing to go in the bag.

There are 17 different colours in this piece and I have a huge collection of threads but I don't want to take any chances so I bought all new ones.  I also have a good selection of hoops but saw one with a wide frame so that went into the bag, along with new needles and 30cm of fabric, cost $75.00 (Aust.)  My eye sight isn't the best so I bought a small magnifyer and lamp, another $40.00.  

At a total cost of $140 I sure hope I like needle painting.

Just Walking

I'm afraid that walking is still a problem but if I take it slowly I can walk around a couple of blocks, then I have to sit down and my legs are swollen and I wonder why I did that!  It has been so long since I took my camera for a walk, (I seem to rely on my Iphone) that yesterday I got it out of it's case and took it on a short walk.  By the time I got back all of the above had happened and it hasn't been until this morning that I got to look at the photos.

All this activity is in preparation for my 2020 classes.  I want all new projects for my teaching.  I'm not sure that any of the photos will suit but I like looking at them and I live in a small paradise so there are things right outside the front door.  At this time of year the light is very clear and the shadows attractive. This is the road outside my house, I've already done something on those trees but I love their tangle.

There are always interesting clumps of grass and bushes.

Or flowers that have escaped into the verge.

I always keep my eyes peeled for the wattle. They seem to move around.  (I have visions of those wattle trees lifting their skirts and walking to a new location with better light and aspect.)

And by the time I walk the 500 metres to the end of the road, which is at the top of a small cliff and is at the southern end of the island, I can stand and look down on the beach in three directions.  I felt like yelling out to this man "Hey the tide is too low you won't catch any fish now".

And this dog had a thing about the tinnie.   He just kept barking at it.

Then I lift my eyes and can look right down the bay and can see the border rangers.  I wonder if I will ever get to go walking at O'Rielly's in the rainforest again?

Looking in the other direction, (north) there are numerous tracks that lead down onto the golf course and then into the mangroves.

I am always a bit careful walking here as I know there are lots of pythons living in this section and once I get down to the edge of the mangroves I go in another direction.  I have spoken to lots of people about the 'feeling' I get at this point.  Something seems to say "you can't go here".  I asked some of the indigenous women about this and they told me is was a "man's place".

I then walk over the old tennis courts where the children and I played tennis every holidays, lots of precious memories flash into my mind about these times. 

Now I sit with my grand children and we look for all the animal shapes hiding in those cracks.

Walking down a new section of path I come across a Rubber Tree that has escaped from it's life as an indoor plant and is in the process of growing to it's full glory.

Along with a Monsterio that has wonderful leaves and should have some good fruit soon.

Out the end of the path and I turn for home.  Some of the houses have interesting gardens and I think that this Bromiliad will make a great project.

The colours are delicious.

Or maybe this family of Magpies.

I love this vine growing over a trellis.  The sun is so bright that the orange flowers look bright yellow and a different species.  Maybe another potential design.

And then there are the 'Mother of Millions' flower, that might have potential.

So, two or three ideas.  The walk was worth the pain.

WIPW

I wish I could stitch quicker!  Especially when I am testing ideas.  There are the highs when it works and the lows when it doesn't but then, how can I make it work?

It has taken a week to work up these three pieces from start to finish, and I still have another 6 designs I want to try.

As usual it is getting the finishing right that takes the time.  Not only does it have to look right it has to be 'do-able' for a child.

So the deer outlined in Palestrina stitch looks really good, but will little ones be able to stitch this?  I know they can handle the whipped back stitch that I used on the other ones.  But this stitch used on the join isn't as good as the laced broad chain used on the first and forget about the join on the smaller one alltogether.

Then again, I am wondering how it would go if I stitched around that circle using a perle thread wound onto the bobbin and then sewn on the machine?  I might be able to loosen the tension and then whip it using a double thread?  This might look better?

Just by the by, I tried using off cuts from my quilt batting to pad the base, not as good as the Pellum.  Off to Spotlight to buy some more where they told me is was $27.00 per metre!!!!  NOT.  I ended up at a discount store and got it for $10.00 per metre.