Faffing about WIP and now back at work

So, the bruises are fading, my wrist and arm is less tender, Im feeling good as new and I've been stitching abit.... christmas bits.... in july.... naturally lol

Wierd what you fancy stitching at any one time isn't it!

To be fair I just picked up the container with scrappy bits of xmas fabrics in it and thought I'd hand stitch some odds and end shapes together and see where it led me.

Well they sort of emerged into small banner-y bits so I went with that idea and backed them with a leafy green cotton.

I guess they'd sit okay above a doorway or hang on a mantle piece but they were just easy stitching after the op, so fit the bill!

Just before the op I was looking online at the various Clover gadgets you can buy to make yo yo shapes.

And they do look great but are afew pounds for each one and as I sat with a cupper I picked up the lid from a large yoghurt container and started faffing about a bit...and it worked!

I can make yo yos but they always seem to be abit skew whif, so the advantage of using Clover gadgets is obvious, you'll have uniformly shaped yo yos.
So this 'make do' method is more a guide to stitch in the round really, useful for a simpleton like me lol

I quite liked this effect though they look more like flowers than yo yo's

and it worked with lace too.
 I stitched from beneath it, up, so I used the holes Id made as a guide of where to stitch and then, of course the round shape itself, helped me cut out a proper circle.
I think the mistakes I've made have been cutting the circles out first freehand and then stitching round them..............so no surprise my yo yo's have always been yo yewed!
But don't hold your breath for me making the other yo yo shapes like Clover make - I know my limitations!

I'm putting together another Topic Box at work, so am making up a 14" tall model something to go in it....here's the basis of whats to come...
any ideas anyone?

I have to say also, I am still in awe of that stunning Olympic cauldren that was lit for the start of the Olympics.
Its such a beautiful design and how lovely too that each country will be given one of the individual bowls to keep.
An Australian design but made up by a Yorkshire firm.......yeahhhh
I can forsee some amazing textile works emerging, representing that cauldren of fire............er....no...not from me lol.....like I said I know my limitations!

Look at this blog!!

Go check out the embroidery on the cat walk!!

http://plays-with-needles.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/the-needle-storms-runways.html

An emergency op and look at this!

Okay, so your thinking...why has she put a photo of her toothbrushes... well hold on and I'll tell you...
I'm at home recovering, having been into hospital for a diagnostic angiogram but they found I had a 90% plus blockage and was a heart attack waiting to happen, they said.
I'd had atypical angina symptoms so it was reasuring to know Id not imagined them - but blummin scary to see how bad it really was!
lol
Abit disconcerting when your flat on your back, looking at the screen and you realise that Weeny thread line is stopping your heart from filling with blood and performing properly.
Anyway I was advised and elected to have an angioplasty there and then, as an emergency op, so was in hospital abit longer than expected.

On coming home I nipped into the bathroom and saw the toothbrushes and thought blimey.........I hadnt noticed my daughters spare toothbrush was SO worn...

but............presumably it floated through the window and settled right there !

Last wknds embroidery club meeting was a talk about childrens clothing  worn when they were buried in the Egyptian Mamluk period.
It was quite interesting and centered around the textile repair and conservation of 4 damaged little jackets and 2 hats.
There was nothing much to photograph this month, it was all slides on this occasion, but I was struck by these pieces made by one of our members.
They were on the display table and Im SO cross that I managed to miss out the name of the club member, who had made them.
I was sure Id got the ladys name in the pics too.
I thought these were smashing and well worth showing so my apologies to our club member and I will try and establish her name and tell you when I find out.

Okay back to the feet up and resting ..............lol

I finally found a 1997 Embroidery magazine that I had put somewhere safe............yeahhh!

I'd kept it because there was an article in it that fascinated me and it was centred around the piece of work above that had also appealed to me.
The artist concerned is called Elizabeth Cottom from Gressingham, near Lancaster. She was a member of the WI up there, I wonder if she is still stitching?

This wallhanging was then hanging in a Norman church in Gressingham and I would love to go to see if it is still there.

The article calls this lady's work her 'fleece embroidery' and its that technique that interested me.
I do have the article scanned now, before I lose the magazine again lol 
If anyone wanted to read it and see how she must do this technique, email me seperately and I will send you the scanned article.
The base fabric is simple hessian and from the picture it appears the central whirl is a mix of embroidery stitches and then circular rows of proddy technique but using wool fleece.
Its like an inbetween stage, somewhere tween wet felting and embellishing!
Elizabeth uses carded fleece and 'rollags' ( rolls?) of carded wool fleece which are stitched in position with small stitches on the top and longer stitches beneath.
It says she used shaped tufts of fleece to make the leaves, then stitched them in place, but there are areas of what looks like wool yarn, stitched in a variety of embroidery stitches, over, laid fleece background.
She uses a crochet hook to pull fleece through in places too it says, maybe thats where she has done thge proddy bits.
Apparently once the design is all in place, loose parts of the design are stitched down and then the top surface is " flicked" with soapy water to "dampen the surface".
Then a towel is laid over the work and a folded blanket on top of that and it's left overnight.
This partially felts the work and its allowed to dry out naturally, after which edges can be " heringboned" securely.
After that it can be hung on a batten but it says every 10 years or so lol it should be handwashed gently to keep it clean and refreshed.

I doubt youll be able to read the text on the pics below but as I say I can email you the scanned pages which might you should be able to read easily.
Its an interesting idea dont you think and I hadnt come across it before the article in the magazine.
If any of you happen to know if this lady has done  anything else Id love to knowabout it and whether shes still stitching today.
I havnt found anything on the great Google about her, but I reckon she must have done more than just this!

What I used, colour catchers and a clever cat!

I am daft at times....Im posting the head hugger pictures but I finally figured out that if I also showed what yarns Id used together, it might benefit some of you if you want to make a similar knit texture.
If that makes sense ~
So here's the latest with whats left from the odd balls I've used...
Im not sure which yarn to make the feature flower/trim with yet....so this one is resting, till I decide!

I sorted through a basket and realised Ive got so many colour catchers that I really ought to DO something ( more than I did here  http://liniecat.blogspot.co.uk/2011/06/my-hexies-another-rose-and-etsy-shop.html )
with them....so my thinking cap is on and I await inspiration to strike!

These are the most colourful ones......... and using them, never fails to make me realise how much dye comes out of a normal wash and why my daughter and son, used to so frequently have multi coloured...white...socks LOL
And bear in mind the lovely shibori-ish patterns are serendipity or because youve scrunched the catcher or folded it when youve put it in the washer...
The little woven squares on the left are still WIP....maybe I should make more of them and frame them up as nine patches of sorts?
Hmmm maybe....

The colours arent true on this one below, they are charcoal grey thru to a mauvey grey......

The ones below are subtle pale coloured and these I will pop, one at a time, back in with a wash, to pick up more stray colours.  You can end up with some interesting two tone effects that way.

And the ones below, I used when I was flower pounding last summer!

And cat carers amongst you might recognise my concern, when I heard my Hilly puss hike up 'something'  - but I then couldnt find 'it' anywhere.
I looked for all that day and the next...but no fur ball or mound of sick came to light.
It had the definative sound of 'something' of size and shape - but it was nowhere to be found.
So imagine my surprise when my grandson came 3 days later and I grabbed his slippers, which had been sat on the stairs......only to find that Hilly had managed to throw up in Jack's left slipper!!
Not a spot on the outside it was all dried inside.........thats a pretty good aim all in all since he only wears a size 7 childs shoe!