More stitching

Its been a bit quiet as I have been up to my neck in things which needed to be done by this week..... Now I'm able to breathe again and can report on the next stitching day.
Great fun, difficult to explain to a non stitcher that you spent a day learning 3 new stitches and stitching variations of them!
We started where we left off - Sorbello Stitch but using yarn in the needle made up of strands from different coloured stranded threads - 3 yellow 1 blue / 2 yellow 2 blues /  3 blue 1 yellow giving a gradual transition more subtle than the multi dyed threads.

I am sure that I can use this in my work.
We then looked at stitches which involved weaving techniques. Woven spiders web stitch is simple but very effective and despite its name would give textured flowers.

In a more celestial vein the same stitch with long tentacles left un-stitched and beaded is very effective.

Bullion knots were next on the agenda, flat and wiggly!

All of these stitchy elements could be incorporated into one of my future quilts, a very exciting prospect!

Stitching the paper

I have had such fun exploring what I can do with my acrylic painted papers!
The accidental colouration from paintng fabric has turned into some very delicate stalks of a plant and makes a very acceptable card.

The acrylic wax version has become another Bookwrap! I backed the paper with felt and applied small squares of copper shim by stitching through them. I then free machine quilted the background to adhere the layers together. I had to manufacture sleeves to hold the book cover in place but this enabled me to insert twisted and stitch sari ribbon as ties and put lost wax African beads on the end.

As a first attempt I'm not too unhappy with it but am ready to try a sheet of A3 paper so that I have a larger area to play with. I'm leaning towards this as a method of doing my Christmas cards this year - watch this space!

More stitching.....

To-day I have been "playing", at least that is what it has felt like. A whole day given over to stitch - such a luxury.
We started by playing with colour and adding colour to fabric that we would then stitch into. Koh-I-Noor paint dyes provided a fabulous way of painting directly onto fabric, with paper beneath I was able to get a fabric and a painted paper for one lot of effort.
This was what was on the paper which I added to with Inktense pencils.

When dry I scrunched the paper up repeatedly to soften it and to create a textured surface. It began to feel more like a fabric than paper and with iron-on Vilene on the back it should be robust enough to take stitch which  I'm now ready to do.
I also used up all the paint left on my palette just daubing it over a sheet of paper. Not very interesting - but scrunched the texture was interesting, but with acrylic wax applied on the surface I have a really exciting canvas to stitch on. Vilene on the back too to provide stability.

My painted fabric was then used to try out Sorbello Stitch, a simple but effective stitch capable of being used linearly and in blocks.

Now I'm going to see what I can do with my new paper fabric.
I am amazed that although I have been stitching in some form since about 8/9 I can still find so many new and exiting techniques to try.

Sue Lancaster

I was lucky to listen to Sue Lancaster talk about her work with some stunning examples of the variety of cretive things she does. Sue's website, "Stitched up and Fleeced" is a showcase of her work. http://www.stitchedupandfleeced.com/

I love the heavily textured machine embroidery she employs. Above a piece from a while back, but landscapes and fabulous 3D stitched pieces are a feature of her more recent work. A teacher with her own studio in Sheffield, Sue is an excellent teacher, encouraging individual responses to the challenges she sets her students.