Egg-stra stitching..

.... oh, brother....I suppose I could go on forever with the eggy titles...but, I should quit...hahhaha.... but, why? .... it's kinda fun and ...funny to me..... good enough.

Doing some extra stitching on the scalloped edge of the lace on the top of this one.... Karen's little frilly dilly stitch...she calls it Frilly Picot.  I never know if I've got it quite right...but, it looks right to me and with the number 12 Perle cotton and if I pull each stitch pretty tight...I can get it tiny.  Click on the photo to "biggify" and you can see it so much better.  I love it.  And, I think it really enhances the flat lace.  Gives it more body or something... and makes it more interesting to look at.


See the four little tiny scalloped bits on the lace edge? ....  just above the umbrella looking machine stitched flower on the cotton fabric I used for the base fabric?  Those are my little frilly dilly thingies ..... with some French Knots above holding the lace in position.. until the whole egg gets a backing of white silk.




I'm debating what to use for trim on this other guy...and ... more or less leaning towards a bit of this lace on the top end of the egg......

Not much time to stitch today ....but, must do a few each day at the very least.........every little helps, as my Mum was fond of saying.... then she would add...... "said the little old lady who peed in the sea"....... must be an old English saying ..or ... maybe she just made it up .......

Gwendolyn...

always somebody playing with  my stuff....

I think I can see using some of these beautiful fabric bits for dresses for this type of dolly....

I'm attempting to make a second Gwendolyn... not able to get much time spent on her yet though....

today I'm making funky puffs....

An amazing thing...

Damp stretching.  Ever heard of it?  I hadn't before I started this EEC class with Karen. (embroidery, embellish, create)

She showed us how to accomplish it... mentioned that she does it often..even for a better photo of her demonstrations etc...but.. I didn't try it right away... sort of thinking more of doing it later I guess.

However, I got tired of looking at "Rumpelstiltskin"...  which was what I had begun to call my first block of work.  Not very complimentary I know... ...but, it was looking pretty bedraggled and it just sort of sprang to mind.

I couldn't find a cork bath mat, which was Karen's first choice for us to use.... so settled for a cork display board from an office supply store.  She had said to check if colour came off ...which, luckily I did...because it sure as heck does!  I sprayed the cork surface..wiped it with paper towels... it was almost orange-y ... and it only got slightly  better with several wipes and then even a good wash.  I thought about taking it back ...hahaha..yeh... "I washed it down and then decided I didn't want it" ...  can you see the look on the clerk's face?

I decided to lay a couple of pieces of Saran Wrap on the board and then pin my fabric to it... spray... wait....fingers crossed... and hope for the best.

I put the board on the bathtub...just above the heat vent...so it dried nicely in about four hours.... 

Perfect!  My fabric was pristine when I removed it .. and ..... big 'AND' here!! .... what a great job damp stretching does to fabric and embroidery stitches.  It looks freshly laundered and ironed.  Not that it was dirty..but, just being all rumpled makes it look somewhat less than clean if you know what I mean...

Look how lovely and smooth!

new header

Check out little Tanner... remember him?

He went to live in the UK with a blog buddy.  She took this great picture of him ...  he was very busy 'helping'... they did a search for some white fabrics to add to my embroidered cloth that I am making.

She put it in the post last week ....so now...this week I will be looking out the door every 10 minutes.... to check the mail.... even though I know full well nothing has moved all weekend what with it being a holiday and everything....sigh..... maybe by Friday..........................................

Meantime.....what fun I'm having with every part of this Karen Ruane class.  She calls hers "wrapping cloths" ...but, ....I think I've decided to call this first one my "Friendship Garden Cloth" ...  because it is going to be a collection of bits and pieces that friends are helping me gather to make it.  My sister has found a pretty doily to send me too now... and a lady up the block has said she will go through her quilting pieces .... I've been thinking I may also be able to trade something, including two silk hankies (that are too colourful and not my choice for colours really.... to others in our class for some trims or hankies of other colours) ...  .. we'll see........

I added what was going to be a little silk pocket.  I was just fastening it with the two shell buttons and the thread wrapped loops when something happened....   my hand caught it kind of funny... it tipped up on the back end... the button fell off before I poked the needle through the hole,  ...  ... and ... all of a sudden, all these little white and gold stars and gold knots spilled out all over the place !! ....