Vintage linen applique collage

Anyone who knows me, knows I love embroidery and I especially love vintage linen with hand embroidery.  I always wonder who sat and stitched all those perfect little stitches.  Did they love stitching as much as I do?  Did it bring them joy and peace or was it something that caused them no end of stress!  

But what do you do when you find a whole lot of vintage linen pieces that are worn, stained, holey and unraveling?  Chop them up of course!  I decided to make some felt backed notebook covers and bookmarks.  

It was so much fun just applying Vliesofix to all the pieces then cutting them up into rectangles and squares and then just fiddling with the layout until I was happy.  I don't muck around too much, I just go with my gut instinct, when I like something I know it immediately.  

I have a great little blanket stitch on my Bernina and a nice open toe foot so I can see what I'm doing.  So quick and effective.  A pinking blade on my rotary cutter made trimming the felt so simple.  I want to make more of these.  Love just winging it in my sewing room.  

Even tiniest scraps can be used.  I hate wasting anything!  How could anyone throw out gorgeous hand embroidery seriously?  

Family

This little Bareroots design says it all!

Mimosa Tote

This bag called Mimosa Tote recently finished by the girls at the shop really caught my eye. I have always loved Sue Spargo's designs and this one is no different, they are always primitive in styling with great strong colours. The applique is a combination of needle turned applique and wool felt that is applied with the most interesting hand embroider stitches. This bag has been kitted in the exact same fabrics and you can buy whatever sort of pre made handles you desire if you are keen I can put you in contact with the shop (very soon there will be a website). The 3 samll photos are taken from Sue's website just to show how talented she is. Have a look for yourselves.

An incomplete quilt

For those in the know these are commonly referred to as UFO's or Unfinished Objects................and I have many of those just crying out to be completed. This one is a favourite as it incorporates my love of embroidery, needle turn applique, patchwork and hand quilting and it is so feminine and of course my favourite colours of pink and green helps. I think I will have to sit this in a prominent place so I notice it more often and do a few quilting stitches whenever I get a few minutes. It is a quilt called 'Leanne's House' designed by an Australian called Leanne Beasley . Click the photo for a closer look at the details.

Freshcut grass

I've been busy over the last few days working with a charm pack sent to me by my sister of the lovely new range of fabrics called 'Freshcut' by Heather Bailey and also with my new Clover Yo Yo maker. This is a book for stitchers that has places to store all the little items you need when you are doing Needleturn applique and it was designed to guide beginners through some of the techniques used to make applique fun and easy before you launch into a quilt. The Yo Yo maker is so much fun, very easy to handle in your lap on the lounge and they turn out so perfectly every time, no more tedious tracing circles on fabric.

Chelsea Bloom

This is a very cuddly lap quilt made from a Hot Possums pattern called 'Chelsea Bloom'. They are Australian quilt designers based in Western Australia. I used a lot of Amy Butler prints and some Jennifer Sampou, most of the applique background is cotton velvet which is so soft now this quilt has been washed, dried and finished in the dryer. This pattern is very easy, all the applique was done with a blanket stitch on my Bernina Aurora. I completed the top in a weekend and sent it off to a machine quilter for the allover flower design, then I only had to do the binding and it was complete. Hot Possum has great children's quilts, I have seen many made up and the animals are very friendly and very easy to work with. Many apologies for the creased quilt, it has been folded for too long, an airing will do it good.

Climbing Roses

I designed this quilt for a group of embroiderers who wanted to learn more about hand applique and machine piecing. It is an assymetrical quilt as I don't really like things layed out perfectly. I used a block with a strong diagonal so I could turn it to give the quilt more interest by making the centre 'off centre'. The applique was very simplistic with gentle curves that are easy to achieve and a few pointy leaves to practice their cornering techniques. I don't seem to be able to show you the quilting on this one, it won't show up on the deep denim blue background but trust me it is gorgeous. This quilter echoed my applique designs in the blank areas and the border is very heavily quilted with the same flower shapes. Click on the photo and you can get a bit closer and see some of the quilting.

I make quilts sometimes too

Now don't think I'm complaining but it has been raining for a number of days and I just have to wash my bed sheets and air the quilt. I just rushed out to rescue this quilt of the line and thought I should snap a quick pic and let you see one of my early quilts. It's a very dull day and the colours are a little brighter than this photo depicts.


I made this one called 'Simply Roses' in 2002 for a needlework group as an introduction to patchwork with a border by border or 'medallion' style. It was a great success and many girls around this area have a quilt from this design although they have all added there own embellishments along the way. The applique is all done by hand using the needle-turn method, the piecing was done by machine and a professional machine quilter custom quilted it for me.


I also discovered while out the back that the lovely little cucumber vine you can see in the photo has produced so I am heading back out to do some picking.