Felting an Autumn scene with heather & sheep ...

 In 2022, I took a 3D free motion embroidery day course in using dissolvable film to create a tree which was mounted in a tea cup. The details are here and the results are here ...  

A cousin has been visiting & she asked about how needle felting is done so I got down some of the things, it is easier to do than explain. 

My teacup & the test piece was close at hand so we used that as inspiration. 

It was the first  time she had done needle felting so the multi needle stabber with the safety piece was sensible. I had learnt to needle felt on a local course in 2017  & love the creativeness of it. 

Time passed so quickly while cousin & I felted a scene.  I decided to do 3 fat Shropshire sheep for mine; my previous one had 5 smaller ones but I like a change. 

The faces & legs are stitched on with black thread & after a few stitches, they looked good, like well fed sheep in early Autumn. I had felted in some sheep on my Scottish scroll with wool I had found along the way so had had recent practise. 

Cousin Lorraine tinkered with her trees the next morning & her scene was very sweet. She really enjoyed the new challenge & went away with some of my bits to carry on with some more felting. 

I have put both my little panels together with my 3D tree, they are similar but not the same. The lifelong teacher in me loves sharing my skills & inspiring others. 

I hope  you  find time to seize the moment & learn new skills whenever the opportunity arises. 

Thanks for stopping by, taking time to read & liking or sharing the blog, it is much appreciated. 

Dee 📍🧵🪡🐏🐑

Sir Christopher Wren's connection to St Mary's church, Ingestre

 On a visit to Staffordshire, we made a detour to the Ingestre golf course where hubby had recently played & won in a tournament. He had spied a church on the estate & wanted to see more.

The estate on which the golf course is, has so many interesting cottages, buildings & a church that is the only church outside of London attributed to Sir Christopher Wren, the acclaimed architect of St Paul's Cathedral in London & many others rebuilt after the Great Fire of London in 1666.

The church details are as such ... 

The Church to the south-east of the house dates to 1673, and is attributed to Sir Christopher Wren. The formal gardens of that time are extensive. There is a large wilderness on the hill above to the west, and a parterre towards the park to the north.

The inside is absolutely beautiful with impressive tombs & monuments to the Earls of Shrewsbury & other members of the Chetwynd, Talbot & Chetwynd-Talbot families. 

Some of the church windows come from the original church before it was remodelled by Sir Christopher Wren; they are not as bright as the later ones. Some windows were Victorian & we made in the workshops of William Morris, the leader of the Arts  & Crafts Movement. These reflect the richness of the pre-Raphaelite colours.

The cemetery around the church is fascinating too with many family plots & impressive headstones. 

I was touched by this tribute to a teacher.  How amazing to be recognised for his dedication to his profession. It is some thing us educators aspire to; to have our contribution acknowledged. 

A very interesting time soaking in history in this small church set in an estate n that would have been hugely influential in its time. 

I hope you have enjoyed the visit with me, do stop by again, subscribe & share the link please. 

Dee 

A return to Shugborough in Staffordshire ...

 It has been some years since we visited the extensive Shugborough Estate in Staffordshire. 

It has been in the same family for generations, the most recent famous inhabitant being the acclaimed photographer Patrick Anson, 5th Earl of Lichfield. His close connection to the Royal Family through the Bowes Lyon family of Elizabeth, the Queen Mother gave him access to the royals & his photographs of them are well known. 

The Anson line at Shugborough stretches way back to 1624 & the 2 brothers, Thomas & George. George spent 4 years circumnavigating the globe. They started off with 7 ships & returned with just 1 after the trials & tribulations of the voyages. 

The Wind House was particularly lovely with beautiful stained glass windows & doors on either side which would have given stunning view out over the estate. 

The downstairs life of servants, footmen, butlers, ladies maids, scullery maids etc is always interesting. The wages they were paid were set out with the actual names of those who worked at the estate (information from census records) and their wages details given. For many, life at the estate was good with food & accommodation secured. They would have had better jobs than others working on farms etc. 

Life in the laundry, turning out pristine clothes & bedding etc with very basic articles. It was a physically demanding job ... 

Gleaming copper pots, pans & moulds line the shelves. They would have turned out fantastic meals for guests upstairs ... 

The Anson line at Shugborough stretches way back to 1624 & the 2 brothers, Thomas & George. George spent 4 years circumnavigating the globe. They started off with 7 ships & returned with just 1 after the trials & tribulations of the voyages. 

It is a fascinating place with strong oriental influences from their travels, the Chinese house dating back to 1747.  It is a much photographed feature with its red oriental bridge in the foreground. 

Lord Lichfield's apartments are no photography allowed space but it is a fascinating glimpse in to that time & his influence on photography. 

I am glad we returned to it, another visit in the spring perhaps? 

Thank you for stopping by, leaving a comment or just subscribing & sharing the blog. 
Dee 🧹🏡🪑⛲️🏞️

I am finished Picking up the Pieces (I think) ...

At the start of September, I was so fortunate to join the lovely Christine of Gentlework in a days course entitled 'Picking up the pieces'. 

This is what our day was like as we spent the day using up little pieces of fabric The time passed way too quickly, as it did on the previous workshop I did a decade before in our county town of Shrewsbury. 

The whole idea is totally indulgent - the spend the day creating a panel for no reason other than to inspire us - how fabulous is that?  This is some of the completed details ... 

I had positioned all my fabric bits & stitched them down at the workshop & have since then spent hours adding in the details that I really like. Hand sewing is a meditative process where you just concentrate on adding in details. It is a very creative experience because you have to draw from your stitch knowledge to find the ones that  will suit that section. I have my favourite stitches & sometimes simple is often best. I am fortunate to have a good selection of buttons that came from my late mother in law who was a very accomplished sewer but always with a purpose. I have used some of her vintage buttons & silk threads in this piece. 

I like the pieces to have some form of continuity & so added similar colours or finished the shapes with obvious stitching that completes it - old & new evident.    

  I also like merging fabrics to create something new (on the triangles at the top left) and the square pink on the top right. The lace, buttons & beads were vintage. 

I fortunately had several cards of vintage silk threads that were used for stockings. I used them in various thicknesses. 

The soft colours of the vintage silk threads were the right colour to pick up the pinks & blues of the patterns & to provide continuity across the sections. 

I also used vintage & modern threads in the stitching. 

One thing I noticed 10 years apart - the blue fabric looks identical to the one I used on my panel I did in 2013. Do you agree? 

It is very enlightening that I used the same / a very similar blue & pink fabric swatch to complete both panels. Perhaps we are just drawn to certain combinations ... 

The cow parsley flowers are a new one for me - I looked it up & think they look perfect filling in the space from the lettering to the triangles - they just look right in their muted shades with the tall stems reaching in to the space... 

The final part was to add a plain backing fabric & to blanket stitch it to the edges to give a neat edge. 

I fortunately acquired this lovely set of Coats Mercer - crochet threads recently. The colours are so lovely & they are in various weights / thicknesses which gives lots of options. I used one of these threads for the edge blanket stitch. It was the perfect colour in single strand because it did not distract from the panel at all, yet it held it all together. 

I think it is done, though I know that I might be tempted to tinker ... 

These are the stitches I mostly used on this piece, stitches I am comfortable with & which blend together harmoniously. 

I will probably sew loops on the back  & hang it in the room where I have all my sewing things. How would you display it? 

This is the panel from the start (top & bottom left) to the completed one. I like the pops of pink & the hints of blue with light touches of green - I think the colours go well together. 

Thank you for stopping by & sharing this workshop  stitching. I hope I have inspired you to do something for the sake of the love of stitching & creating. 

Dee 🧵📍🪡✔️

#9 Circular Stitching - Seasonal Secrets

Month 9  of the 12 month circular stitch project & this one has been challenging, only because I had a lot of other projects on the go & didn't spend as much time on this one. 

The previous 8 challenges & links are in last months project if you want to pop over  & look ... 

The leaf shape with suggested shibori technique looked interesting but it is not one I have tried before & I think I will still have a go at it.  

Some on the group had tried leaf impressions by hammering the leaf on to the square for it to leave an imprint but I did not find this too successful, some leaves are probably better at leaving an imprint than others I think. It might be something I investigate. Has anyone got any suggestions for this? My garden is still very much in the pink / green / purple colour range & so I decided to stay within this palette of colours. 

Again, it is all on a 6x6 inch square with a 4 inch circle in the middle to keep all of the pages uniform for the final assembly in December. 

My imprints did not work but hammering some fuschia flowers from our bush gave a blotchy outline. However, the garden is blotchy & messy at this transitional stage so perhaps I will leave those imprints? 

I decided to felt a leaf shape with leaves from our garden as inspiration. I have not felted in a few weeks & it was interesting to get to a shape that I was happy with. The yellow / cream / red markings are not as clear as I would have liked but it worked in the end. 

I then jabbed it on to the background fabric because linen is a good background for felting. 

An interesting challenge that I should have taken more time over but I can overthink challenges so sometimes it is important to just work the project until you get a result that you can live with. What do you think? 

Again it was finished off like the others with a row of machine stitching on 3 sides, the stiffening piece added in before the last side was machined. The edges were then blanket stitched using the same large roll of thread to give uniformity to all the pieces at the end. 

I will still machine embroider the project name for the back (my choice) when I have a few to do as that is easier for me. 

It has been interesting once again & I’m pleased to be done within the month.  I know we do not always keep up with the projects we sign up to so this is a good discipline for me to complete each in the time allotted so they do not bunch up & overwhelm. 

Thank you for stopping by, your visits are always appreciated. 

Dee 🧵📍🪡🌳🏡