Monday 30 June 2014

Stitching in Sunshine


Good morning folks - hope the sun is shining where you are. We've had some torrential rain over the last couple of days but the sky is blue - mostly! and the sun is shining this morning. Weirdly this has not helped my indoor photography so apologies for that.

We've had a pretty quiet weekend, and today appears to be just strolling along gently. I am going for a walk and popping in to visit mum on the way back. She was quite up-beat when I last saw her, looking more herself, less the bewildered and wizened old lady. I have a couple of textile commissions to finish so will be working on them today, and this evening it will be a spot of music and gossip over at Rob and Marj's. They have just returned home after a wonderful week on a narrow-boat on the Welsh canals.

 Following on from my last two posts, both of which included stories and photographs of narrow boats, I have been pondering about the resurgence in interest in this gentle form of transport. I have a friend who lives full time with her husband on their narrow-boat, the Lady Arwen, and they love their life. Another friend and her family live between their house and their narrow-boat, purchased initially as 'digs' for her husband who lectures at a university too far away from home to commute. Yet another young musical friend (all these people are musicians!) spends most of his life renovating his narrow-boat and holding epic parties-  it seems to me, from the photographs, on-board as he progresses! Other friends are tentatively taking their first narrow-boating holidays, having caught onto the current 'zeitgeist'.  I would love to try it myself - but I suspect our visit to Brecon earlier this month is the closest I am likely to get!

So, back to textiles - here a few photos of the wool cushion I am making for the next craft fair.


Close up of the front, I am re-using the Big Blue Bird, which also featured on one of the cushions which sold at Open Studios. The main fabric is a charity-shop blanket which I dyed in the washing machine - I love this raspberry colour.


Here a close-up of the reverse side, showing a hand-stitched button-hole and two hand-made felt and cardboard buttons - yes, they will have stitching -holes punched into them before I attach them!


Here is the front of a cushion cover requested by a visitor to Open Studios. She wanted a small cushion with the image of a naive vase and flowers which I had included on a small folk-art quilt. I sized up the image and appliqued the pieces onto the background, which I then stipple-quilted to give that antique effect she had so admired.


I added a little hand embroidery here and there, and attached the two borders. I now have to make the back, which will be constructed form a man's thrifted shirt; I shall use the front, so that the buttons will provide a ready-made opening for the cushion pad to be inserted.


This last is an unfinished commission which I can't tell you any more about because it is a secret! Again, as I said in an earlier post, the greens just do not reproduce well on my camera, but I am using pieces from the two blankets I dyed, the green and the raspberry. I need more blankets!!!! I am really enjoying using them and can choose my own colours by dyeing them myself.

So, the sun is still shining - I am off for my walk and visit. Have a lovely day yourselves, won't you!

29 comments:

  1. I love both the cushions and what a clever idea to use a shirt front for the back so as to utilise the buttoned fronts for the opening for the cushions. I gave to the night shelter a couple of blankets I had been hoarding and now I'm wishing I had saved them to dye and use like you - they say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery don't they?!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Indeed it is, And thank you! Yes, I have to admit I pinched the idea - it is not mine! But I've been meaning to use it for some time. Watch this space! Lx

      Delete
  2. Just finished all my gardening tasks so I can watch some tennis this afternoon. It would take me forever and a day to do that stippling, but it is so very beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Dc, yes, it is pretty time consuming, but very therapeutic to do! Hope you enjoy your tennis viewing, I have lost all interest in it I'm afraid, I scarcely recognise the names these days!

      Delete
  3. So pretty. Enjoy your walk; looks like it may stay dry today...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Ali, yes, had a lovely walk and a good visit with mum, and the sun is stick blazing away here - wonderful!

      Delete
  4. here i am fresh (?!!!) from glastonbury!!!! and yes it did rain and there was mud BUT overall a fantastic experience to have (although we did cheat and come home every night!!!!!) loving the cushions - how busy you've been again and how lovely to have commissions!!!! i'm afraid i didn't enjoy my canal boat holiday - it was very expensive but something i thought i wanted to do however i was suffering from vertigo on the trip (the first time i had had it) and spent the whole time feeling a kind of sea sickness wherever i went!!!! when i got off to go for a meal it felt as if the pub was moving from side to side as well - we also had someone untie us during the night and woke up drifting out in the canal!!!! i can laugh about it now but it has put me off forever!!!! hope you enjoyed your walk and that you arrived back dry and that your mum was having a good day - that makes all the difference!! xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh Lynne! What a dreadful experience you had on the water! Poor you, but I'm sure the vertigo coloured the whole thing for you. Sounds like Glasto was good - we watched Dolly on the TV. Yes - cheating a little coming home each night, but you can hold your head up - there WAS mud!! Lx

      Delete
  5. I was just finishing a new post then I thought I'd pop over to leave a comment on your fab post and there you were commenting on mine!
    I am so pleased to read things are running smoother for you and your Mum and life in general. The Big Blue Bird is fantabulous. Like me you are always stitching and I have just posted the "waste time" quilt I have finished. It is so satisfying. I adore the traditional quality of your work but there is always your own flair added.
    I wanted to ask you if you would like a couple of cashmere jumpers to felt. The moths have had a munch leaving some tiny holes but I can't bear to throw them out. Let me know if you can use them.
    Jo x

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi Jo, yes, I LOVE your fabric book, it is beautiful! Will pop back to see your quilt. I am really enjoying working with the wool/felt, the colours just 'pop' and it is so lovely to stitch. Yes please, I am sure the cashmere will felt beautifully, thank you very much, can you email me your address and I will send you the postage, and give you mine also. Lxx

    ReplyDelete
  7. You will have a lot of happy customers Lynne !
    That blue bird is so lovely and bright !
    What a good idea those felt buttons ;-)
    Happy stitching !

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Els, I do enjoy sewing these cushions, and I thought I should be making the backs more user-friendly than just stitching round the whole thing. The buttons are so easy to make too. Lxx

      Delete
  8. Lynne, it is wonderful to hear that you are having a sunny day . . . I know that they must be a treasured event. Then again, you would not have all the gorgeous flowers and greenery without your frequent rains. It is nice to hear that you Mum is doing better. Now I'm going to check and see if I missed any posts about your narrow boat holiday. I have been following a couple blogs done by narrow boat owners and it seems like such a marvelous way to spend ones life.
    Stay happy :)
    Your blogging sister, Connie

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Connie, thanks as always for your lovely comments! We have had rain but lots of sunshine too, this year. Mum is indeed settling in her new home, thgough it grieves me that she needs to be there. Sadly, Connie, I have not been on a narrowboat holiday, we got as far as visiting the marina while in Wales, but as I have written, I know so many people who are either living the life or havoing a holiday on the water. Bliss! Maybe one day! Lxx

      Delete
  9. What is it about the lure of life afloat? There are lots of boat poets, too - not least the very lovely and talented Canal Laureate, Jo Bell.
    Lynne, I love the idea of dying charity shop blankets and backing with a shirt front. This needle-shy poet is almost (but,sadly, not quuuite) tempted to try her hand at something simple...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Jayne, I will look her up, always lovely to find a new writer! Ahhh now, come on now, pick up that needle! I fought against it for decades, but now feel the need to stitch every day or I get a bit edgy - except, unsurprisingly, when I am at Burwell! Lxxxx

      Delete
  10. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Oooh Lynne, lovely sunny stitches there! Glad you're mum is doing better, take a bit of adjusting for them when they move but you know she will be safer. Have a lovely week :) x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Ada, yes things are looking up for mum - slightly! Hope your week goes well too. Lxxx

      Delete
  12. I went on a barge holiday years ago with a group of friends around the Avon ring and it was excellent!!
    Lovely work, you have been very busy. I can only mnage little projects at the moment.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I bet that was a great holiday, and if you get the right weather it must be idyllic! My projects are quite small too - I seem to have got myself another couple of deadlines! Lxx

    ReplyDelete
  14. That's a beautiful cushion Lynne, lovely summery colours. And the rain has gone from our neck of the woods now, hope you've enjoyed many walks this week.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Gosh sorry I am late publishing and replying to this, Jay - I hadn't seen it - naughty non-blogger that I am! We have lovely sunshine again, and I am trying to get out and walk, but iut doesn't come naturally to me, I have to confess! Hope you are in the sunshine band again today, it is lovely here, but I think the rain is due tomorrow. Lxx

      Delete
  15. Lovely colorful, whimsical projects! Your big blue bird is particularly charming!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello Cynthia, thankyou for you comment, I do love stitching on wool! And I am very late with my next post!! Must get onto it today!! Lxx

      Delete
  16. Hi Lynne - I really love the way you do your folk art motifs - beautiful! Lovely to read about your trip to Brecon in your last post - we were down that way ourselves a few weeks ago - bliss! xCathy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi CAthy - sorry am late publishing and replying again! Yes we had a lovely time, and I am feverishly trying to get a load of things completed before the August Bank Holiday Craft Fair. Lxx

      Delete
  17. I love the idea of living on a narrow boat, its such a gentle way of travelling, however, I can't see it happening... As for your stitching, it is so beautiful, I only wished I lived nearer to you, and could catch you at a craft fair, I would love to own a piece ♥ suex

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Sue - again, sorry about the delay publishing this, didn't think to look as i am so overdue to blog again! If you can get yourselfup to Letheringsett, near Holt on the August BAnk Holiday I am 'appearing' at Back to the Garden Restaurant and craft show.Mor edetails in next blog post xx

      Delete

I'd love you to comment, maybe join in the conversation - I always try and reply if I can.Anonymous spammers take note: you will not be published. Genuine posters having difficulty will be accepted. Thanks so much for visiting!