We’ve oodles of willows down by the creek and I thought I’d give a try to making a willow frame for one of my blackwork pieces. So on a warm sunny winter day off we trekked, the dogs and I, to gather willows.
Once the willows had warmed up to room temperature and were bendy again, the Corgi’s helped me wrap willows to make a roundish-shaped frame.
They chewed twigs, and supervised and generally wore themselves out.
I had in mind to lace the stitched piece onto the frame and wanted a border of fabric to attach the lacing thread to. I started with an octagon shape, and sewed strips of pretty green fabric onto each side.
I ended up with a not-octagon-shape. Hmmm. Well, I will do better next time!
I laced the blackwork to the willow frame…
and voila! A pretty country-style frame for my blackwork castle (find the pattern here.)
There’s still oodles of willows, so I will definitely be refining the procedure and making more willow frames 🙂
Happy New Year! To close out the old year and ring in the new, here is a little roundup of my crafty doings over the last while.
Coffee or tea as you read? You can put your cup and a cookie on these mug rugs. I made some for me…
And some as a gift.
The fabrics are from my stash of fat quarters – I pick up a couple – or five or six – every time I’m in the local quilt shop. I matched floss to the fabric, only need two colours so that’s easy and a great use of the stash of floss and fabric.
I decided to make something pretty to protect the top of my vintage sewing machine, which still works but is doing duty as decorative plant stand these days. Hmmm, need to re-pot that African Violet, I think.
A friend bought a new house, which got me thinking about housewarming gifts, which led to a new blackwork design – Home Sweet Castle. The towers are covered in pink trumpet vines – castle, trumpets – see what I did there? 😉
More sewing! It’s becoming a habit 😉 I’m sewing a quilt from a kit that was given to me for Christmas – lucky girl I am! It will be a twin size when the last two rows are added. I’d like it to be king size though, so will be buying more material and adding some rows. I don’t think my machine will handle the quilting, but I’ll try it to see and if not, then I’ll take it to a local quilter for finishing. That feels like cheating though!
And last but definitely not least, the cross stitch project that I’m working on is Pretty Little Sydney, by Satsuma Street. I love her designs. As I’m stitching, I’m remembering riding in a little boat across the Sydney Harbour to the Opera House, bringing smiles and happy thoughts.
My Blackwork Zentangle was patiently waiting to be finished into Something Useful. I have a box of stitched items, also waiting patiently and I didn’t want to add the Zentangle to that stash!
A pouch for my tablet would be most handy, especially when travelling. While strolling through the airport waiting for boarding to start, I’ve juggled my tablet, purse, carry-on, and a coffee, trying to not drop the important stuff – tablet and coffee.
So, project decided and I started to cut fabric into strips and squares and sew them together – the start of making the zentangle into Something Useful.
I used a piece of an old sheet for the back. The quilting is stitch-in-the-ditch, which is one of the easiest quilting patterns to sew… but I wobbled out of the ditch several times.
And with only a few hours cutting, ironing and sewing, I now have a handy pouch for my tablet, and the zentangle did not get tossed in a box.
I have since sewed together some strips and attached a strap to the pouch – now for sure there’s a free hand for my coffee! 🙂
This pretty blackwork ornament is for Canada Stitches‘ ornament drive; they are fundraising for Ladybird Animal Sanctuary and Annex Cat Rescue. The designs are from Box of Delights by Elizabeth Almond and the floss is American Snow Cone by Fiberlicious.
Beaded Blackwork Ornament – side oneBeaded Blackwork Ornament – side two
To make the ornament a little cushy, I attached a piece of felt onto the backs with iron-on fusing.
Ornament felt back and fusing
The ornament front and backs are whip-stitched together, just under the stitches but not through the material.
I added a bead every other stitch for a pretty edge, a loop of beads for a hanger, and a beaded fringe to finish.
Adding beads to the edgeSewing the ornaments sides together
Stitching slows down in the summer as the weeds grow faster, but I did finish a new design and I stitched a few chocolates from the Box of Delights SAL too.
In the summer I’m busy outside, taking advantage of the sunshine to walk and play with the dogs and visit with the horses. I’ve flower beds and a small orchard of Haskap Berry, (or Honeyberry) bushes to tend. We have a short growing season, and the weeds grow fast and furious to make best use of it. I’m kept busy digging encroaching grass, dandelions and pig-weed; I don’t use chemicals for weed control.
The Haskap bushes are 3 years old, not yet mature, but I’ve picked enough berries for a couple of pies and there are still a few more ripening on the bushes. I’ve picked a few too soon, before they were quite ripe and they are very tangy, almost sour. The ripe berries are yummy, juicy and sweet and they remind me of a Saskatoon – but without the seeds!
Haskap Berries – Yum!
I’m stitching a little bit in the mornings while it’s still cool. I couldn’t pass up using some of my new Fiberlicious flosses, so instead of continuing to stitch Box of Delights with this colour scheme:
Box of Delights SAL by Blackwork Journey
I stitched some of the chocolates from blocks 3 and 4 with Fiberlicious’ “Court Jester” and “Hawaiian Sunset”. The roses and lavender in my flower garden smell so sweet, and I thought it would be nice to dry some for sachets. I attached a small piece of material to the back of my stitching, with iron-on fusible web so that the dried flowers stay in the sachet. Then sewed a piece of fabric to the back of my stitching to create a little sachet. I’ve left an opening so I can pour in the flowers when they finish drying.
Making SachetsRose petals and Lavender
My newest blackwork design is an Inuksuk, for Canada Day. Inuksuit are created by the people of the Arctic to mark a place of importance. In Canada, Inuksuit are found in the northern Territories of Yukon and Nunavut and have come to represent Friendship and Welcome.
This Inuksuk is surrounded by maple leaves, the iconic symbol of Canada, and shining suns representing the land of the midnight sun. He is stitched in warm autumn colours – Flamboyant Fall and Apple Harvest – with glimmers of Arctic gold. The pattern is 50 x 59 stitches – on 18ct that’s 2.75 x 3.25 inches, a nice size for a small hoop, or a card.
Inuksuk
And now I’m off to enjoy some more country air and sunshine… and maybe pull a couple of more weeds!
I dug one of my favorite wips out of my workbasket and resumed stitching this week. Misty by Seba Designs has been neglected for over a year because I poached the floss for another project and then had to wait for a mail order to come in. By then I was on to other projects. I love the colours in this fabulous design. I’ve used Janie’s Christmas #148 (Dinky Dyes) for the blackwork and and a variegated green (dmc) for the cross stitch.
Misty by Seba Designs
Box of Delights part 2 was released this month, and I thought I had better hurry up and show you because part 3 is coming out in about a day, give or take a time-zone or two. I took out the french knots that I stitched in part one, and replaced them with pretty gold beads. I’m just knot a fan of french knots!
Box of Delights SAL by Blackwork Journey
In my last bit of stitchy news, I’ve revamped my popular blackwork kites bookmark pattern and made the design more versatile. These blackwork kites with a whimsical kite-tail border, can be made into a card, a box top, a needle-book cover, or pop it into a small hoop to decorate any wall.
I like to have more than one project on the go at the same time. I don’t have a schedule for stitching, I just work on whatever strikes my fancy, although I try to keep up with the stitch-alongs. These are the works-in-progress currently hanging out in my workbasket.
You can see two new bands added to the Dentelles / Lacework sampler. The fifth band has a space where we could add our initials or a date if we wished. Don’t forget to pop over to Broduese Bressane’s Blogspot to check out the rest of the group’s progress in the stitch-along.
I have NOT kept up with the Save the Stitches Stitch-along, but I will finish it eventually 🙂 It’s a gorgeous design of blackwork fill patterns. You can see a photo gallery on Liz Almond’s webpage, Blackwork Journey. She has a new blackwork stitch-along starting next month, that I’m looking forward to starting – Box of Delights.
Soon to be added to my workbasket is my new design which features a dog or two 🙂 It’s still in the graphing stage, but I hope to start stitching soon.
I’m definitely happiest when my workbasket is full of WIPS – what about you? Do you like to stitch one pattern at a time, or do you have several going at once?
Yay! I’ve finally finished the first of the “Cats and Quilts” patterns by Kitty and Me Designs!
Cats & Quilts January – Kitty & Me Designs
I started this pattern last year, but then it got buried in my workbasket as I got busy with a totally awesome trip to Australia and New Zealand, which included a wedding:
Ring Pillow
The kitty and quilt stitching has been added to the stash that is destined for Pause 2 Help Paws, a group of crafters that donates hand-stitched items to raise funds to aid animal shelters.
If you’d like to stitch a little something for charity, don’t forget Canada Stitches – an international group of crafty volunteers that stitch premature infant quilts and cuddle cushions to be donated to children’s hospitals. Canada Stitches is hosting a Small Square Challenge – submit a small, 3 to 4 inch stitched square and be entered in their prize draw. The squares will be made into pillows, wall hangings and lap quilts to brighten someone’s day 🙂
I’ve stitched the second window in the collection from Seba Designs that I started for my New Year’s embroidery project. This lovely window features cute wrought iron planters which were fun to stitch.
As I stitched the brickwork around the window, I was reminded of a brick house I lived in many years ago. The house was built sometime in the late 1800’s, and though it had a lot of character, it was drafty and cold. It had been modernized with indoor plumbing, but there wasn’t any central heating. You could place your palm on the kitchen wall and push, and the entire brick wall would move because there was a crack through the mortar that ran from the top of the wall to the bottom. The best thing about the house was a gorgeous row of lilac trees all along the back fence; in the spring the air would fill with their sweet scent, and then I wouldn’t mind so much that the walls weren’t exactly solid.
One more window to stitch in this collection; I’ll be starting it soon. 🙂
With a blanket of snow covering everything outside, I am dreaming of spring! So I created a spring kaleidoscope in blackwork embroidery: pretty flowers and leaves, circled by stylized suns.
This is a small, quick to stitch pattern, a nice weekend project.
The design size is 64 x 64 stitches. On 18ct aida that is 3 1/2 inches square, and on 14ct it’s 4 5/8 inches.
I stitched the model with Dinky Dyes #23 Amethyst, Threadworx #11611 Tropical, DMC #4200 Wildfire, and DMC #4124 Bonfire.
Cute and quick to stitch, these blackwork ornaments will add festive cheer to your tree!
The designs are small, on 18 count Aida they are 1 3/4 inches by 2 inches, and 2 inches square – a perfect size to pop into a Christmas card, or to stitch as gift tag.
I stitched the models with variegated Threadworx floss, Red, Green and Gold.
I think you will want one of these on your tree this Christmas!
New from Seba Designs, these cute Christmas Bells are the most adorable ornaments I’ve seen. They stitch up very quickly, a nice week-end project, and it’s so easy to sew them up. The hardest part is deciding on which pattern to stitch, as there are ten to choose from.
I did finally make a decision and stitch a top and a bottom for my Christmas Bell.
I added an edging of beads, and threaded a ribbon through for a hanger. I think my next Christmas Bell will have beads hanging in the center. Definitely have to stitch more than one!
The bell could be a tree ornament, or if you are decorating your horse for a Christmas parade, several bells tied into his mane would look fabulously festive 🙂
Design your own Christmas ornament— choose from seven blackwork fill patterns to complete this 3-sided ornament.
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This sparkly Christmas ornament features a trio of blackwork designs stitched in Christmas colours of red, green and blue with Kreinik metallic braid. The gleaming gold ribbon framing each ornament shimmers with glints of blue, green, red and yellow in the braid, for a very festive touch.
The finished ornament is small, measuring about 3 1/2 inches tall by 2 inches wide.
The ornament is quick to stitch – a nice weekend project – and it is as easy to finish as a biscornu, just whip-stitch the edges together.
You can find the pattern in my Etsy shop. Happy stitching!
Blackwork embroidery designs 