Monday 21 July 2008

Work In Progress

Oh, wow! I have much more energy now that the dreaded virus has been beaten - a bit of a lingering cough but nothing like what it was like at the start of last week. It also amazing what a few nights of sleep without interruption can do for you.

I have started work on a little felt book - another gift for the impending new arrivals in the extended family. Two pages have evolved so far. One has a flower stitched onto it and the other a butterfly. Both of the pictures have been designed from scratch and I was very happy with the butterfly. What do you think?



I also practised a new stitch - a variation of blanket stitch called closed blanket stitch where two stitches are worked from the one hole to form a triangular pattern. The idea came from a book borrowed from the library called "embroidery basics - all you need to know to start stitching" by Betty Barnden. My library cover actually says "start embroidery - all you need to know to start stitching" but the inside cover says "embroidery basics".


If you look closely at this one you can see where I had to unpick one of the feelers and have a second go at it. Lesson learnt - draw a faint pencil line for your stitching to follow.

One of the hardest things that I have found with our adventures into blogging is getting good colour reproduction in the photos that I take. Note the difference in the pink of the flower centre in the top and bottom photos.

I love my digital SLR that I was so lucky to get given at Christmas but find that I am still struggling with some of the settings. Lucky for me digital means you can take lots and lots of shots in varying positions in the garden. I have started investigating how to set up and indoor studio because with a day like today there was no hope of trying to take outdoor shots.

Whilst wandering the garden I took a few tree and flower shots as well. This one is my favourite.

5 comments:

  1. I love little embroidered embellishments like those....very sweet

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  2. Glad to hear you are feeling brighter! Love the idea of a felt book - your pages look so colourful!

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  3. What a lovely gift this will make...beautiful designs and your stitching is wonderful!
    Sorry to hear you've been unwell..how did you survive last night? Don't think I've ever been so damn cold in my place.. woodheater didn't seem to have any effect! The snow on our hills is pretty though. Gx

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  4. Love your little book....glad your feeling better....yeh for digital you can take lots of shots and pick the best.

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  5. I just LOVE your little felt book - that would be a perfect gift. The pages are so colorful and cute. Good work!

    Sarah Doyle
    http://SewingBusiness.com
    http://SarahJDoyle.com

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