That elusive certain something ...

Do you ever make something and think 'uhm, it's okay, but it's missing a certain something'? Some kind of spark that gives your sewing (or drawing, painting, crochet or whatever craft) life and energy. That added extra you can't define but know when you see it. Or rather, when you don't.

I've been making simple Jude Hill style pieces of stitching, some of which I'm more pleased with than others.

The one on the left - the moon with a face - wasn't right, but I knew what to do to stop it annoying me. The yellow material I'd used was too harsh a yellow, and the facial expression wasn't what I'd been aiming for. So I appliqued a more mellow yellow over the original piece, a slightly fiddly thing to do but I was much happier with the result. I haven't re-sewn the face yet, but probably will.

This other piece - in the photo below - hasn't proved so straightforward to put right. It looked too plain, and frankly too boring.

I added more lines of running stitch, then used upcycled sari material to liven up the left hand side of it.

Which was better, but still lacking something or other. Anyway, I've put it aside for now, and maybe coming back to it with fresh eyes in a few days or weeks time will help me work out what I need to do next. In the meantime I've bought the boxes and bags of Christmas decorations downstairs, ready for when I decide it's time to put them up. As they only come out once a year I tend to forget what's in them.

There's a brown and red felt reindeer, made years ago, and a pair of simple embroidered birds sewn last Christmas, complete with a couple of my handmade boho style beads. Well, there's no subtlety to festive decs, are there? It's all about the shiny-ness and the sparkle.

Comments

Fabric bowls & electrical cables ...

To add to my seemingly never ending list of works-in-progress, I've started making a fabric bowl. Or should I call it a fabric basket? I'm not sure. Anyway, I've made the odd bowl or two before, like this blue & white one that I keep cotton perle in. I decided to use upholstery material, which has both advantages & disadvantages. On the good side, it has a certain stiffness, which helps the bowl stay in shape. On the irritating side, the kind of material I'm using frays like mad, and I'm forever picking up threads off the carpet. The bowl's a simple construction, and I've used a circle of cardboard covered with brown felt for the base. It'll look much better when I've embroidered and stitched into it. I've made a start on that, and appliqued on a rectangle of plum coloured velvet for extra interest. When not stitching, I've been catching up on my reading. I finished C J Sansom's 'Dark Fire'. Real...

Threads of Freedom and charity shop bargains

It's Saturday afternoon, and I haven't done half the things I'd meant to. Partly because I spent most of this morning messing about with paints, stencils and the gell plate. Never mind, everything on today's 'To Do' list will join tomorrow's 'To Do' list ... it's hardly life or death if I don't haul the hoover around the room or pull up weeds in the front garden. I thought I'd show you what I made on Wednesday. I'd gone to my monthly StitchArt group, and this time we did something a little different. There's a project called 'Threads of Freedom' which is working with various community groups across the city. It's about creating little stitched pieces, some of which will be included in a textile panel to go on display at Leeds art gallery. There was lots of fabric we could choose from to sew with, and I picked this vintage tray cloth with the roses embroidery. My own embroidery's not a patch on those flo...

Another fabric bowl & what's starting to look like a craft room ...

Hello on what's been a beautiful autumn day. Bright blue clear sky, a chilly start but warming up in the afternoon. I've been on a long walk around a local nature reserve, not wanting to stay inside when it's so lovely outdoors. In the last week or so, I've been finishing this fabric bowl, and have started making another. But mainly I've been having a bit of a change-around in my house. I've hauled furniture from one room to another, clutter-cleared cupboards and bagged up things for the charity shop, and generally hoovered and cleaned all those dusty corners. I'd finally made a decision about turning the dumping ground of the front bedroom into a craft room. It's taking shape, though it really has taken some effort. Larger pieces of material are stacked on shelves, grouped into colours. Lower down is my Sissix machine and die cuts, and at the base of the shelving are beads and jewellery making supplies...

rubykittyruby

Search This Blog