Starting again

My beloved partner/husband died in May and it has been a sad and difficult time.  But I am getting back behind the sewing machine, picking up needle and thread and starting to enjoy the comfort of textile art again.

Just now I'm making dimensional flowers to adorn wall hangings or simply to make little corsages.  No photos yet, sorry.  Soon I'll make enough to put images on here.

I've been making children's quilts and am half way through several of those.  So therapeutic even though I haven't got grandchildren small enough to give them to, but they're not to part with at the moment, only to enjoy until somebody provides me with a great grandchild.

I hope to return to regular blogging now and I look forward to finding out if anyone out there is following along.

 And another thing .................  the hard drive on my laptop gave up and so I lost all the photos easily to hand.  but I do have plenty saved on USB memory sticks and will find them and reload.

Promises, promises and not much to look at today but this is just to say hello again and an effort to win back some readers.

So work in progress includes small wall art quilts with applique and hand embroidery, quilts for children, dimensional flowers for inclusion in wall hangings and purely for decoration.

Hope to be back soon.

Moonlight Layered

It's neen quite a while since I posted here because my husband, who has Parkinson's Disease' had several falls and had to be taken to hospital.  Since then he has been admitted to a care home and all the emotional and physical trials have had to take priority.

But in between all the upset I have found a few moments to practice a little textile art and the result is a small wall hanging which I am calling Moonlight.  The idea is based on the book by Wendy Dolan called Layer, Paint & Stitch.

The clue is in the title:  First you take strips of different fabrics, then you colour them with paint or crayon and after that you add the stitching, either by machine or hand, or sometimes both.

I started with a base of calico on top of tear away stabiliser.

I used pieces of chiffon, silk, scrim, muslin, hessian and canvas.

The torn frayed edges add interest.

 The only design feature I used was a circle of silk to hint at a moon and then a piece of lace to indicate a cloud passing over the moon.

The remainder of the design was random.

I used Neocolour soluble crayons to add colour which I prefer rather than fabric paint.  I like the delicate nature of the crayons which become more vibrant as water is added with a paintbrush.


 This tree was created using Lutrudor painted silver and cut into shape.  Lutrudor can be given a lace-like finish by applying a heat gun to it until it melts into holes.  That's a useful trick for creating clouds.

Here you see I have started to add foliage using free machine embroidery, I added more later on.

This image shows some more free machine embroidery being added to the flower stalks and lower down on the broderie anglais strip coloured blue.

The torn cotton coloured maize yellow at the bottom has a pleasing natural appearance because of the lovely frayed edges.

The border and backing are meant to represent a night sky.

Embroidered Wall Hanging

Some time ago I  wrote about a bedspread that my mum had embroidered.  I said how she had bought a cheap bedspread in a plain brown nylon fabric with a quilted finish and that she had spent many evenings embroidering free-form flowers in the triangular spaces between the quilting.

I found this after she had died and wanted to recognise the value of her work by using the bedspread in a way that would suit modern style.

So I removed the frill and all redundant material and have backed it with cotton patchwork, bound it and put a hanging sleeve on it.  The result is either a throw for sofa or bed, or a large wall hanging for a bedroom.

Here are some photos of her beautiful embroideries on the finished article.

She didn't use patterns but made it up as she went along.










I 'tied' the backing and top by sewing beads shaped like little sea shells in a colour that barely shows.













The patchwork backing won't show and the binding is a subtle pale pink which doesn't clash.




 Every one of the flowers is different.  I don't know how long it took her to do but she obviously loved doing it because each individual design is special.












Mum's era was before the internet and she didn't know anything about it but how surprised she would be to know that so many people across the world could actually see the lovely work she did.

The lady in question (my beautiful mum) was called Gertie Horton.

Indian Block Printed Shopping Bag

The Easy Peasy shopping bag could become addictive because it is such a useful base for adding decorative detail.


I love using Indian Wood Printing Blocks so the latest little shopping bag I've made was just the excuse for playing with wood blocks and paint.


I used a stiff Klona cotton fabric in a pale yellow.  The body of the bag is decorated with different wood blocks on each side.  The paint is Beryl Metallic Fabric Paint which leaves a lovely pearly finish although not obvious on these images.

I decorated the straps as well - only an excuse to use some of the smaller print blocks really!

 I like the neat finish of this bag created by using French Seams and which also makes the tote nice and sturdy.

Decorated Shopping Bags

Plastic carrier bags are bad for the environment and we have to pay for them these days, so having plenty of home-made ones available is a good plan, but making boring bags is not very inspiring  To make it more fun the blandness of a simple bag can provide a canvas for decoration and for using up bits and pieces that most sewers seem to accumulate in drawers and boxes.

So I have been making and decorating shopping totes this week using a simple method.

You need:

• two pieces of fabric measuring 16" wide by 18.5" deep
• two strips of the same fabric measuring 24.5" by 2'5"
• matching thread
• decorations of your own choosing

(Apologies for mixing Imperial and Metric in the measurements above but it's easier).

Note: it's important to add the decoration to your cut pieces before sewing up as this gives you more freedom to finish the edges by machine, or to sew things on by hand with ease, or to add messy things like paint or block prints before joining everything up.

The bags shown here are decorated with bits and pieces that were lying unused in a drawer.  More information at the end of this post.

 I used French seams for the bag thus:. join the pieces with right sides out then turn, press and sew the seam again, capturing the first seam inside. Use a scant 1/4" for the first seam and a generous 1/4" for the second seam.
Sew the bottom first then the two sides. Curve around the bottom corners where the two seams meet to avoid the bump.

French seams produce a neat and sturdy finish.

For the straps iron 1/4" turnings to the wrong side along the long edges, then fold the strap in half lengthways with turnings placed together and then stitch close to this edge.

The top of the bag is turned down an inch and a half with raw edges turned under 1/4" to form a facing.

Tuck the strap ends under these raw edges and pin in place before stitching. Loop each strap front and back so that the two ends are caught under the seam about 6" apart.

Next the straps are brought upwards into carrying position and the joins stitched again firmly to hold in place on this top facing..

Decorations: For the bag with roses I used some free machine embroidery practice pieces previously discarded in a box.

For the second bag I picked up the theme of the fabric which was all about sewing and haberdashery so enjoyed sorting out buttons, lace and ribbons to sew on by hand.

For the red bag, which was the first one and which I had to decorate after sewing it up, I found a landscape I'd made from strips of fabric which I'd started at a workshop and never finished.  I decided it would never get finished but was good enough to decorate a shopping bag.

I want to make another one and decorate it with Indian wood printing blocks. When it's done I'll put a photo on here.

Hand Embroidery

My dear mum was a very clever stitcher.  She made her own clothes and soft furnishings; she made rugs from wool which I am still using and she enjoyed hand embroidery.  She was good at what she did but very modest about it, not showing off at all.  (Did I mention the beautiful knitting she did?).  After she died I found a bedspread which she had been embroidering in the evenings when she was not feeling too well and leading up to her final illness.

I thought it a shame that the lovely free-form stitching she had done was on a cheap nylon bedspread which didn't do the embroidery justice.  These days beds are deeper and people use duvets not bedspreads so it wasn't suitable for anyone in the family to use.  I put it away with a plan to do something with it one day when I had time.

Each flower motif is different and individual.  She has not used any pattern and all are her own design.  She has used stranded cotton in the loveliest colours.

So I have decided the time has come to convert it to a throw or a wall hanging.  So far I have cut away the excess nylon frill and a piece at the top that wasn't embroidered - but what is left is still quite large and retains all the embroideries.

Although it only has a very thin wadding backing I will leave it at that, not put extra wadding as additional quilting would spoil what she has done.
I'm presently making a backing for it out of a variety of fabrics in shades of pink and will bind it and add a hanging sleeve.  Once finished I'll put an image of it on this blog.


My mother did teach me how to do some simple embroidery stitches and I have done a little bit from time to time but her beautiful work has inspired me to take it up again and improve what I do..

Recently I discovered that the Embroiderer's Guild, South West Region Branch, are running a hand stitching course in Gloucester.  So I have joined them and been to three classes so far.

Meeting new friends and starting to learn basic stitches from the beginning is proving to be relaxing and enjoyable.  We have to do some homework between the monthly classes so I thought I would show them here each time with a little discussion of the methods used.

 We are stitching on calico or cotton and using stranded cotton embroidery thread or Perle cotton thread.

We started with running stitch and this example shows some variations created by weaving or threading Perle thread through some single strand running stitches.

The bottom example is Holbein Stitch where you stitch one way in one colour then back the other way, filling in the gaps, with another colour.

So far we've also learned and practised Fly Stitch, Fern Stitch, Herringbone Stitch and Feather Stitch, all demonstrated on this image. Some of these are quite similar.

Split stitch I found difficult and discovered that a single thread was best and the smallest needle and stitch you can get away with works for me.

Split stitch is used to outline shapes or also as a filler.  the Letter H to the right is filled with Split Stitch and the Cockerel's tail shown below is outlined with Split Stitch.

The Letter P shown above the H is a Back Stitch outline and the two are divided by a whipped backstitch line.  The initials PH are in Stem Stitch using two strands of stranded cotton embroidery thread.

 I have several good embroidery stitches reference books but currently my favourite is: 'The Embroidery Stitch Bible by Betty Barnden'.

We have been advised to bind our hoops with either masking tape or binding to stop them slipping and to avoid damaging the fabric.

To transfer my cockerel image I traced the design using a black marker pen on to tracing paper, then with the aid of a light box copied it on to my fabric using a hard pencil which hopefully is covered by the stitches but will disappear when it's washed.

There are other methods you can use if you don't intend washing the embroidered item. Will talk about these another time.

All these basic stitches have been incorporated into the cockerel and although I'm not delighted with this end result he provided an excellent learning curve - lots of Herringbone Stitch practice!

Time to pick up the threads

Many months have sped by since my last post and now it's time to catch up.  I have been busy but with other things so not much time for stitching.  Now I want to get back to it aided by my textiles group at Bredon in Gloucestershire, which goes by the grand title of Quilting Arts,

This is a Cathedral Window block which was something we tried just before Christmas and I truly want to do some more of this as the results are so rewarding and it's quite different from other types of patchwork.  I bought Lynne Edwards' book which demonstrates variations on this theme and some are so beautiful I can't wait to try them.  This aspiration gets added to the list of all the others in my head.

Currently we are being inspired by a book called Layer, Paint & Stitch by Wendy Dolan.  I'll post some photos of what we're doing as we progress.

As the title suggests the work is built up in a variety of ways and we have started the layering of different fabrics on to calico and at our meeting this month we will be using paints, heat guns to alter Xpandaprint (puff paint) and Lutradur.

Here you can see some tree shapes cut out of Lutradur and painted.  The foliage was blasted with a heat gun to introduce the lace-like structure and then painted.

I used the same technique to make clouds on a blue sky background.  Lutradur is white so it didn't need paint, just cutting into shape.  It doesn't fray but is quite stiff even though it looks lacy.


We held an exhibition in our Village hall last September which resulted in us attracting several new members. The exhibition was well received and we may decide to do it again some time.

Prior to that we had been making a Sampler Quilt a block at a time which some members have completed and others are still finishing with borders and binding and sewing up.  Those who didn't fancy this traditional quilting activity explored ways of creating cloth books featuring experiments and small pieces of work.

As the Winter approached  I quickly made a lap quilt for my husband who has Parkinson's Disease and feels the cold when no-one else does. This is bright and cheerful and I included a fleece lined pocket large enough to warm his chilled hands.

About this time I also made a table top cover with some more Sampler Blocks which were extra to the ones I had made up into the throw for my sofa.  I used a different colour scheme which re-awakened my interest in trialling patchwork techniques. I have to say that traditional patchwork and quilting is not my first love.

For a long time I had been storing an image of our garden pond printed on to fabric. So over Christmas and New Year I finally got round to making it up into a wall hanging.

It is all dupion silk and there is a mixture of free machine embroidery, computerised machine embroidery and quilting creating garden views around the original pond image.

I hit upon the idea of sewing a background of silk strips with colours that reflected those in the image of the pond.  This worked quite well blending into a background with sky, distant landscape, pond, grass and foreground.

Some of the surrounding features are 3D for example the little pots and the water lily leaves. The pink flower bushes at the front are multiple 3D petals hand sewn on with a French knot in the centre of each one.