Recycling

Recycling is so very 'now'.  But recycling has been going on for ever.  Then again, recycling can mean something quite different depending on the era.

This book was published in 1915. 

WW1 was raging and recycling was a necessity for most people, so, it was often a topic of interest, especially for women trying to make ends meet.  I find the difference in how we 'express' ourselves in different eras interesting.  Back in 1915 we 'explained' what we meant with a lot more words.

A good example was the 'Preface'.

War is a hard, stern teacher, and its lessons are bitter in the learning; yet some of its teaching we badly needed - and not the least important of its main lessons is the one it inculcated on the criminality of waste.

To so many of us "waste" was a word with a comparative meaning. What was waste in one woman was not necessarily waste in another, we argued.  It was wrong for the factory girl to let her skirts drop off her for lack of mending: but not wrong for the better-off women to discard their clothes directly they showed the least sign of wear, because they could afford to buy more, we said; and besides, it made it good for trade - that was a favourite argument used by the extravagent to excuse their wanton waste.

Harsh words indeed.

On reading this book I had no idea that you could use old crockery for beads.  It seems like a lot of work.  We can purchase beads at a very cheap price today, maybe this is something that will change over the next 100 years?

What I was looking for was drawings, rather like those of Margaret Clarke, to use in my 1920's quilt.  The only thing I found was these illustrations in advertisements.

I might use the faces of the girls looking over the wall and the flowers on the cover could translate into an applique.  Or maybe these?

 

What I can't see myself doing is turning the collars of my husbands shirts.  If he wants that he can do it himself!

Pin Cushions

I am a great fan of  Yumiko Higuchi's work and the Japanese embroiderer, aurinco, has a interesting short video demonstrating how she makes her pin cushions using Higuchi's designs.  (There are some great tips on how to turn through your work.)

There is also a piece on the DMC site about Yumiko Higuchi, and if you just want to sit and admire her designs have a look at her Instagram posts.

Samplered Out

I only  have a small section to finish on the back of my canvas work sampler and I am becoming addicted to canvas work.  I will have to get over that.  I have used old yarns that I bought second hand and it shows but they were just right for learning and after I block this the stitching will look a lot better.

Next, I intend to return to the piece that got me started. 

I'm glad I took the time to practice the stitching before I got into this piece.  This has made me look at things differently.  I look at the sky and think, "look at all the different shades of blue, how could I stitch that?"

And then I have another quilt in mind based around these faces.

Problem is that the fabric was rolled and cut the wrong way.  I washed ironed and trimmed them but  there is no way I can get the centre one the same size or shape.

What do you want for Mother's Day Mum?

This is a question I am asked each year.  "What do you want for Mother's Day Mum?"

This year I think I know.

I know it is a kit but I love the design.  And, I had so much fun just scrolling through the Ehrman site.

Asia Pacific exhibition (continued)

There were a lot of textiles in this exhibition and that included hand embroidery.

For me, I think the work for Uzbeckistan was the most notable.  My friend Pam has sent me a jacket and a quilt  she had embroidered here as gifts.  She buys used sari's in India which are then Kantha quilted by artisans.  They are then  made into jackets or quilts which she then takes to Uzbeckistan to have them hand embroidered.

I love both of these pieces.  When I compare how the embroidery is stitched in my pieces and those pieces in the exhibition, the level of skills is totally different.  The pieces in the exhibition are "Tambour work" by highly skilled embroiderers.  My pieces have been made for commercial purposes using basic stitches.

This level of skill is outstanding and takes lots of practise but my pieces carry lots of love with them.

 

 

A Brief Moment, then...

So I was connected for a brief moment and then lost everything again.

I came to the Guild today and brought my laptop with me so I can connect again.  The island will not be back online until April.  I can only post if I bring my laptop to the mainland to get a connection.  I have been trying to get in touch with creditors because I have no connection to receive and pay bills, everything is done online these days and I have no connection.  This has meant getting a barge to the mainland, going into the bank and then trying to pay the bills!  Then not knowing if they received the payment.  And now my inbox is overflowing!!

The other thing I need is more threads, so that order is now flying through the ether! 

My mind is still in survival mode but I need to get back to my Sonnet piece for this month and I underestimated the amount of thread I needed.  As luck would have it there is a old sampler up on the wall here at the Guild.

Just what I need for inspiration.

Needlepoint

As I am starting all over again with this type of embroidery I thought I would begin with an old text on the subject.  Sad to say I remember when this book was first published back in the 1970's!  But I also remember it as being very informative.

I then raided the sale table at the Guild and managed to find some canvas and thread for sale.  I seem to remember that I liked DMC the best but I got some of all those available.

This set me back $10.00.  (I'm not going to lose on this?)

Then I remembered that I had a very old piece I had stitched back in the 70's.  I had run out of wool and it needed only a few stitches to finished it.  But, the condition was terrible.  I washed it first and realised that the moths had got into it.

But, as this year is about finishing up all my unfinished pieces I bought some thread and finished it off.

I couldn't match the colours exactly so went with a multi coloured thread.  In some places those moths had got through the canvas but I fixed it as best I could.  It is also stitched on a mono canvas and I have bought some Penelope canvas, so I will have to piece this into it. I am going to use it in my sampler which will be made into a cover for one of my sketch books. 

I never thought I would be stitching this genre again, but there you go!

Bees Wax

I have been stitching a lot using a metallic thread lately and I find that running it through some bees wax stops the fraying from pulling it through the fabric.   My beeswax is from my neighbours hives, all natural, with no added anything so I don't need to clarify it before I use it.  It comes is quite large blocks.  Far too large to carry around to the Guild or any other place I stitch socially.  (There is a block in the jug.)

So my solution?  Chocolate moulds.  I heated the wax in a glass jug in the microwave using 30 second bursts of microwaves.  The jug gets very hot so something to protect the hands and your work surface is needed.

I then poured the melted wax into the moulds and left the wax to set.

Now these are bite size pieces ready for use for my thread but not to be eaten.

When things just don't work out

Some times you just have to admit defeat and move on and find another way.

This is what I have had to do with my book-cover piece.

On paper it looked great but I just couldn't stitch the design with my needle.  If I could digitize the seabirds and stitch them out on a machine it might have worked.  But, I don't have those skills. So I have had to rethink the whole thing.   What I have decided to do is reuse some beading I had on an old blouse.  I think I will machine stitch this in place and then outline the lino print in a gold thread.

And in my search for pieces I might be able to use I found this very old tent stitched piece.  I ran out of thread to finish it and packed it away, for about 30 years, but was unable to throw it out.

I went to the embroidery supplies shop, (All Threads), and bought some thread to finish it.  I think it will be used in another book cover.

Just having made those decisions makes me able to face some of the other stitching problems I have!  Like where did I put my lino print making tools?  I think I threw them away and now I need them.  Bugger!!

A friend of a friend

Stitchers around the world make up quite a community and a friend in my patchwork group has a friend in Denmark who is also a stitcher.  We were all nomads in the mining camps back in the 70's, wives of engineers and chemists who worked on these developments.  I lent my friend some of my candelwicking design books and these were sent to Denmark for her friend to stitch.

Her take on candlewicking was different.  She did the traditional stitch around the design but added a filling stitch in coloured thread,  much like the stitching of traditional pieces from the 1800's Scandinavian folk tradition.  The finished piece was stunning.  Now this same friend has adopted this approach to a Sashiko panel.  This blending of stitching traditions comes up with something quite different.

Like fusion foods this is fusion stitching.

Some other ideas for 'Emotional Support Stitching'

Natalie Bird, who is the designer behind Birdhouse Designs and is also a member of my local patchwork group, Star Sea Quilters,  has some really easy, non thinking type stitching in her range.  (These are available in her shop.)

What is good about them is that they come pre-printed onto cotton and there are a number of different designs.  I bought the "letters to my daughter panel".

I cut it into strips and put a cotton voile fabric as a backing and take it with me to the Guild or other meetings just to stitch. I used these little embroideries in cards, pin cushions, needlebooks etc.

I think I need another panel to add to my emotional support stitching but was unable to find any in my local patchwork shop.  (I will have to order them on line.). But, that got me thinking about small embroideries and how they have been around, in one form or another, since forever.  The ones that spring to mind are those of the Elizabethan era that you can find on Pinterest.

Or what about the Folk Designs from just about every culture?

I think I might use some of these sources to come up with my own small stitcheries.