This blog is two years old! Wow!
The stitching is complete for the first set of elements, hydrogen, oxygen, and helium. The color palette red, yellow, and blue, so I used those colors pretty playfully.
Hydrogen
I love the neat messiness of the wrong side.
The thread is DMC and the fabric is a Kona solid in Snow.
Oxygen
Helium
Cricket Bear!
Thank you again for all the support! This next year we hope to start offering a slow trickle of ready-to-order items off of Etsy.
Happy New Year!
2016, like all years, has been incredible. This embroidered piece is influenced by the many sunrises I caught this year; waking up in the dawn’s dark is one of my favorite activities.
After the embroidery was finished, I machine quilted the double wool batting with gold Gutermann thread.
The front up close.
The blue behind.
Thanks for stopping by at any point during this year and after!
Rain clouds stopped by last week allowing us to trek midday with the pups to Red Rock Canyon. It’s a stunning landscape with much for the eye to catch, making me itch for extra time out there to hike, think and imagine.
I sat down immediately when home and started stitching this idea. The coloring stitches aren’t finished yet, but the piece is pleasing to the eye already.
Back stitch and straight stitch are being employed here. The thread is DMC.
The photography professor I studied with encouraged shooting around 7 AM & PM for interesting lighting. Today I caught shadows.
Husband!
How was your weekend? What did you make?
A stitched blue quill on the windowsill.
Here it is next to brown thread.
Nice behind.
I couldn’t be clearer any closer.
Tell me about your stitching.
The morning light is soft, warm, and surprising. With all of the resettling here I surprised myself by cutting out squares for applique on a quilt top. The color palette is warm with pinks and oranges highlighted by blues, greens, and purples. Looking up from under the water reminds me of summer, and for me these colors reflect the interplay between sun and sea.
I find prepping applique pieces relaxing. After today’s beautiful sunrise, not unlike these colors, I am ready to get to work basting. A couple of quilts are in my future for the new apartment, because we moved when we were only staying for vacation: life has a natural flow and I can’t, and don’t want to, stop it.
The printed fabric is Kim Anderson’s Tidal Lace from Windham Fabrics. I picked it up at Super Buzzy last time I was in California. Both fabric and store are amazing.
What have you been making lately?
This pattern, Eggbert, came to me while I waited for students to filter in for conferences. Thirty seconds downtime doesn’t allow much room for my critical brain to inhibit the creative part and suddenly I had eggs drawn on the paper.
This isn’t surprising. As a child I was prone to carrying an egg around. I love eggs. They have such strength and weight. They move internally. They are food. They are life. They come in many colors. They can be dyed and covered in hot wax, or hollowed, stuffed with confetti, and pasted over again for a spring burst.
I thought this would be a great time to share the applique preview. After transferring the refined version over to paper, and then to wax paper, I started to think about fabric. I hunted around in the stash and, of course, found some of my favorite grey background fabric! Batiks are a great choice here, because the fabric is nicely woven and the patterns create playful movement. The final design isn’t completely ready to be revealed, but will be available on PDF soon!
Eggbert is a great shape for those just beginning to applique and want to practice. I love these little eggs and I look forward to sharing the finished products soon.
All scraps are being reused and the stash consists of the small, long, thin bits of fabric. Since I buy all the fabric the scraps all came together pretty well; purples, blues, orange, grey, greens, and pinks merged together in both of these pieces. Many things are on my mind when I work with color: eye-interest, ease of this interest, viewing the piece as fresh, and feeling like it presents something new to look at each time are important. Beautiful and interesting aren’t always the same, but I like to explore the space where two meet in a complicated way. Here is where endless possibilities of fabric keep me awake all night!
Aren’t borders lovely? These are my first couple of attempts at attaching borders, but the effect is incredible. The pieces instantly possess weight and feel grounded. Even though I ran out of green for Arcs the grey presented itself as a natural compliment. I doubled the size of the recommended borders for Lori Smith’s project. I like the finish, and am looking forward to quilting these pieces.
The new sewing machine is on order and I am looking forward to hearing from the dealer. Thank you, Janome, for your sale in March.
Two summers ago I took Alabama Chanin’s Studio Week. It was an amazing experience and helped me understand a lot about garment construction and the make up of fabric and a pattern. I’ve made a dress, circle skirt, and a pin cushion since that time. Ideally my entire wardrobe would be handmade Albama Chanin, and I’m working on that! Whenever I wear the baby-doll dress people stop to ask about it and are shocked to learn that I made it.
At the workshop I also cut out a long-sleeved t-shirt top in a dark blue cotton jersey. Like all items cut and set aside I planned on finishing this top a long time ago, but now I am grateful for the time. I hadn’t learned how to applique yet, and I really wanted to applique a panel of this top.
The other week I caught the flu like many others and was laid out in bed. Luckily this shirt was all handwork! I used blanket and straight stitches. The fabric is Alabama Chanin’s cotton. 
The shirt is incredibly soft and form fitting. I love the sense of accomplishment I have each time I make a garment, especially a hand sewn one! Have you made any of Alabama Chanin’s garments?
Valentine’s Day is fun. This is a sweet time of year, and I love to send out cards. For previous Valentine’s Days I’ve sent out postcards, embroidered hearts, glitter cards (and those turned in to glitter bombs after being processed through the mail!), and now these old school grade school valentines I found about a year and a half ago when helping a relative move.
These sweet animal cards were perfect. Time has been a bit crunched the past two weeks, but I still wanted to send out cards.
The other evening I sat down with some Winsor & Newton Designer Gouache in Gold and set to drawing. It’s been about eight months since I used a calligraphy pen and nib, so there were some rusty moments and valentines were limited, but I was able to ease up on the amount of pressure my fingers wanted to apply to the pen and the cards turned out cute. The sun came out just as I was taking pictures, and the gold really sparkles.
How and why colors coming together are constantly on my mind. I want to tell a story with each piece I make, and it should not be a story that leaves one wondering why it was created. The story should be steady enough to enter and fresh enough to the eye each time that one keeps returning; I’m thinking a lot about it! After trying many other combinations, these two were my final contenders.
Chain-piecing was one of my favorite skills I learned in beginner quilting. The product makes me want to hang garlands all around the house.
A new sewing machine is close to being a part of my life, but I still love my little Janome. It is doing a great job sewing up those seams!
I decided to nestle the clouds between the solid purple and blue Arcs to give this more of a sunrise feeling. Catching the sunrise everyday is one of the most amazing times of the day, and the sun pushes the pinks, purples, and dark reds against the blue sky. With this much print, I felt it was important to create a balance within the already chosen colors, and then find the most cohesive union between these rows. I’ve been contemplating a border the entire week and have yet to settle on any one idea.
Any tips on how you decide on borders?
Happy Valentine’s Day! What are you doing to mark the day?
Brambleton Threads 