WIPW - A Dancing Doll Needlecase

Today, Work In Progress Wednesday  is about

Conveyor Belt Needle Case

I completed it with a few stitches, a 'tongue' and a little metal mesh bead.

 When I showed the work last week, a professional designer told me she saw a dancing figure in this one. I hadn't noticed but think she is right!

This is the other side.

With this project out of the way, what shall I do, start a new one? No, wait, there are some UFOs. I'll get to work on them first.

Pile 'em On

I haven't worked on this for ages so it is high time I put some more Canvas stitches into it.

Chicken Scratch

This Chicken Scratch project is something I have only been working on while travelling. However, I will probably not go on a train journey for some time, so will complete this at home.

WIPW - Appleton

Work In Progress Wednesday for this week is featuring my

'Conveyor Belt' needlecase 
wool embroidery. I am stitching on black cashmere with Appleton wool. Wonderfully soft!

 These are the shades I selected.

Last week I showed the design I had marked on the black cashmere, and

this is how it looks now.
It is far from completed, but was the most enjoyable work!

WIPW - Fruity Cushion Resting

This week, Work In Progress Wednesday reports on the completion of the

Fruity Cushion.
I made up the cushion, lined it, attached a zipper and added a tassel for each corner.

For the lining I used a special kind of thin silk crepe used for Japanese summer kimonos, 楊柳 youryuu.

 In my stash I have a number of samples of summer silk, and the width was perfect for the  lining.

For the tassels I cut up lengths of the linen thread used in the embroidery.

The cushion is now resting on my bed.

So with the cushion completed I need another project. 

Conveyor Belt Needle Case

Starting back in February I made several needle cases in a 'conveyor belt' fashion in wool embroidery from a Swedish design. (There are five WIPW posts starting with this one).

The needle cases have all been given away, but I will be needing one more for a gift, so I drew the design and mounted the black wool in a hoop.

WIPW - Taking Off

The line up for this week's Work In Progress Wednesday is:

*something taking off
*something stepping up
*something creeping up
*something being locked up

Swedish Wool Embroidery Conveyor Belt Needle Case
I assembled the three needle cases - conveyor belt style. Before I remembered to take out my camera, one had already taken off on an air mail journey to Sweden.
Here are the remaining two, though:

Pile 'em On
This week the pulled work was these green Diagonal Satin Filling Stitches that are stepping up inside a flame. Or are they leading downwards?

 In the circle something is creeping up - they are pink Drizzle stitches (TAST #35).

TASTy Beads Galore
All the 17 beaded TAST stitches have now been used, so I am locking up this beaded panel, with the final TAST #131 Beaded Lock Stitch.

I will need to make a frame or mount the piece on board. This is what it looks like at the moment, and it will remain locked up until I have decided what to do. A new UFO?

Actually all my projects will become UFOs for a couple of weeks. I will be unable to sew, blog and read blogs on a regular basis, so please forgive me for not replying to any comments, nor visiting others'  blogs.
I hope to be back to normal routines some time in April.

WIPW - Standing Up

My Work In Progress this Wednesday contains some upright stitches.

Pile 'em On
Standing up? Yes, the Woven Picots are sprouting in the circle; they make me think of bamboo shoots!

I completed the Drawn Faggot Filling Stitches that I hadn't finished last week (no picture). Then I worked a flame of Honeycomb Filling Stitches.

TASTy Beads Galore
To balance the TAST stitches #113 Beaded Feathered Chain and #125 Beaded Herringbone previously worked on the right,  I added a set of the same ones on the left hand side. Then I encircled them all with #127 Beaded Up and Down Alternating Buttonhole.

Conveyor Belt Needle Cases
I took a break from Swedish wool embroidery and worked with felt and #5 perle thread instead.

I am truely grateful for all the various TAST stitches Sharon at Pintangle has taught me, they are such fun to use!

WIPW - When Life Gets in the Way

There isn't much progress to report on Work In Progress Wednesday when life gets in the way. It has been one of those weeks when needlework time was gobbled up by other chores.

Pile 'em On
Anyway I started adding bars of needle weaving to the centre.

 To make the weaving hassle free I used a slip of paper underneath.

A half finished flame of Drawn Faggot Filling Stitch was all I had time for. I found it slightly difficult and it took more time and concentration than I had to my disposal.


TASTY Beads Galore
There are only three beaded TAST stitches left to add; here is one of them, #125 Beaded Herringbone, inside last week's odd 'flower'. I used Gütermann Sulky in yellow and small blue beads.

Conveyor Belt Needle Cases
One more needle case base was made with various stitches in Appleton wool on cashmere.

 End of story!

WIPW - A Short Report

A short report for this week's Work In Progress Wednesday.

Pile 'em On
A flame of Four Sided Stitch, and odd threads added to the circle.

 Swedish Wool Embroidery - Needle cases

 Two more parts completed on the needle case 'conveyor belt'.

TASTy Beads Galore
I made only the base stem of a new plant, using TAST # 137 Beaded Knotted Buttonhole Band.

Don't ask me, ask Blogger, why the photo is upside down!

New (but reported a couple of days ago) HINA ornaments
I made three new ornaments for the Doll Festival, 2015. Read more here.

I'm afraid, that's all for this week.

WIPW - Back to work!

Work In Progress Wednesday. I enjoyed the quilt show, but it is nice to have time to work on projects myself again.

Pile 'em On
I began filling in a new 'flame' with Punch Stitch, but have not finished yet. The fabric is slightly uneven in the weave and I made a counting mistake. Just a thread too much here and there and the mistake is glaring you in the face. This has been a lesson in how important it is to have good light and count correctly. Never mind, Pile 'em On is for stress relief and should look 'messy' so it might just fit the bill!

TASTy Beads Galore
It was time for the TAST stitch #103 Beaded Butterfly Chain to be used for a plant.

New and Completed
This is a project I have not reported on before. The reason? It has been deep asleep on the UFO shelf for a long time.
It was started on a 45-minute workshop at Festival Of Quilts in Birmingham in 2013, but there was no time to complete it then, so it went into hibernation.  When I read my friend Tanya's report on how her protégé Yuma-kun had started on just such a quilt I decided it was time to finish mine.

This kind of quilt is called Happy Villages and is an original idea by Karen Eckmeier. It is so easy and great fun to make, I highly recommend getting her book.

This is my happy village:

 It has wetted my appetite for making other, more impressive villages and landscapes, but for now, this UFO is completed!

New and Completed
For my birthday I was given a subscription for this Swedish craft magazine.

It covers a lot of different crafts like woodwork and paper, as well as textile related craft. In this issue there was a pattern for stitched needle cases. I just had to try the pattern right away, and made these two, very simple ones:

I got the taste for making more, and make them more decorative with proper Swedish wool embroidery, maybe a bit of leather or fur, kavelfrans (napped edgings) and braided strings (kumihimo or lucet).

Have you had a good week?