Stitching Goal 2021 - January

 

My stitching goal for 2021 (one of my stitching goals actually…) is the sampler "Toned Down" from Sue Spargo. I can proudly announce that 19 of 90 circles are embroidered until today! I really tried to stitch also the last one in the second row, to have 20 finished circles in January, but I had not enough energy yesterday evening.

 

My favourite circles:

It´s a funny project and I start to be really hooked on it. I just love some of the new stitches I learned this month.

I'm working on another project in parallel, a bag for my good friend, who loves animals and Australia. For myself I call it "Project Australia". It´s very much inspired by Sue Spargo´s work, by her appliqués and embroidery. I consider it my  second embroidery sampler. 

It develops very nicely, it´s going to be embroidered, quilted, embellished, very heavy. I have plenty of time, so I´m going to enjoy the work.

For more inspiration I bought another great book:

  

 

Happy stitching!

Michaela

 

 

 

 

January, Month of Finishing UFO´s

 January seems to be a typical month when the quiltmakers try to finish their „unfinished objects“, so called UFO´s. I must admit that there are many UFO´s hiding at my workplace, big and small, some quite new and some very old ones. This time my eye fell on tops of three bags sewn - how long ago? A year ago, may be longer. The tops are made from squares of my favourite fabrics from Annie Downs. The original idea was, that they will be quilted, of course, and completed with appliqué pictures by the same author. I quilted the six panels by machine in a classical way and then tried to choose some pictures by Anni, but even though they were very nice, it still wasn´t the right thing. Finally, I chose for the pictures from the funny panel  „Hey cupcake!“ and it wasn´t a bad choice at all! They look just great and give one a felling of a shiny summer day.

Bag No.44

  

 

Bag No.45

Bag.No.46

 

 

 

 

Happy stitching, happy finishing UFO´s of any kind!

Michaela

Stitching Goal 2021

 

I´m not very devoted to embroidery. But I see in it a great potential for embellishment of the quilt surface . Until now, my most favourite stitch has been the running stitch. Of course, I can use also other stitches, but actually only the basic ones. To develop my stitching skills, I bought the great basic book of creative stitches by Sue Spargo. 

 

I planned to try out every described stitch, but as I am not a systematic person, only a few has been done until now. But I really admire works of Sue Spargo and I was very delighted, when Sue published her stitching sampler “Toned Down”. 

 

 

The pattern is downloadable, which means no extra expenses for shipping, and you have the pattern in an instant on your PC, which is just great.

The sampler can be stitched in 90 days or evenings, but in my case, it will take longer, I´m sure about that. But I would love to go through the whole sampler, to discover new possibilities, to learn new stitches and to find my new favourite ones among them. The decision is made, the whole year 2021 seems to be a generous time to complete the task. I hope so:) I also promised a secret reward to myself for reaching the “finish tape”, just for motivation... 

In contrast to the pattern, I chose for a dark background fabric. Being a bit lazy, I made the grid by machine, using the longest stitches I could. I should be able to unstitch them later easily. 

 

The circles are cut from cotton flannels (Thank you Alena for helping me to cut the circles on your Big Shot machine!). 

 

I use for the circles neutral white, beige and brown colour. Here my set of chosen threads. 

 

The first two circles are stitched by now. The second one is not a big success, the Palestrina knot is dancing around the edge of the circle quite unsightly.

 

 

But as Sue Spargo says: “I never remove stitches from my samplers. An honest sampler is one that is started and finished in an artistic state of mind. An artist is, above all else, honest to oneself. As the cliché goes: is about the journey, not the destination.”

Happy stitching!

 

Michaela