Saturday Sightings of Spring - 13

 Spring has sprung, and almost gone; next week the weather will be warm and summery. 

I have completed the Jacquie Harvey design cushion I have been working on.

As you might know, I have used Shantung silk for the base fabric, felt for the appliqué and worked many of the embroidery stitches I have learned through TAST and Sunday Stitch School to embellish the felt. Finally I have echo quilted in Kantha style. I got my inspiration from Fay Maxwell's fantastic work.

I used the envelope style opening, and so avoided inserting a zip.

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Sightings of Spring

Yes, spring has come a long way and will turn into summer soon, I guess. This will be record breakingly early. 

The double cherry blossoms ended up in the gutter.

The rhododendron is showing off.

as are the irises.

Thank you for having followed me on this stitch adventure. This is the last post about this cushion. I will take a little pause before I start the next new project or one of the UFOs I have lurking in the cupboard.

WIPW - Assembling the Crazy

 Work In Progress Wednesday - here is my report on progress.

Crazy for Crazy

I have started assembling the octagon blocks.

Log Cabin Challenge

The third panel of 60 log cabin blocks is completed.

Laid out on the day bed the three panels look like this.

Saturday Sightings of Spring

The silk cushion is completed, as you might have noticed in the picture above. A longer report will be posted on Saturday.

Saturday Sightings of Spring - 12

The quilting on my silk cushion is now complete. What remains is to construct the cushion. I will use the envelope method without a zipper. That should be easy and quick, so the next, and final, post will be of a completed project.

Many thanks to Jacquie Harvey for the design, (hers has Suffolk Puffs or Yo-yos, as you can see)

and to Fay Maxwell, whose Crewel and Unusual style inspired my work with embroidery on felt, shisha mirrors and Indian Kantha style quilting.

Here is the completed flimsy:

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Sightings of Spring.

Wisteria in full bloom.

Yaizakura, a kind of cherry blossoms with masses of dark pink petals. Blossoming late, the leaves are also opening.

WIPW - Slow work

Work In Progress Wednesday.

I didn't do much work over the Easter Holiday as you can see, just the following:

Log Cabin Challenge

Four sets of 12 locks each were assembled.

Crazy for Crazy

No real work, but a bit of planning how to put the blocks together, by hand or machine, how to stitch the 'filling fabric' in the gaps.

By the way, here is a picture of the fabric.

Saturday Sightings of Spring

Nearing the end of the quilting, more details on Saturday.

Sorry, not a very interesting blog post today.

WIPW - Tail Chasing

My Work In Progress Wednesday report for the past week ... it has been a Tail Chasing week, with FAR too much work, and too little play - in my opinion. Anyway this is what I have been up to.

Log Cabin Quilt

I have only managed to assemble two units of 12 blocks each.

Crazy for Crazy

Here are the twenty octagon blocks, and the outlay for the quilt top.

I might turn some blocks in another direction... A graphite gray cotton fabric with printed golden swirls is what I am going to use for filling in the gaps between the blocks.

Tatting

I am learning how to make a cross, but have not completed it yet. I want it done before Good Friday so two more days.

Saturday Sightings of Spring

The Kantha quilting continues.... more in my report on Saturday.

Saturday Sightings of Spring - 11

This is a progress report on the Jacquie Harvey cushion I am making.

I am still working on the Kantha quilting. The area below the main motif is done, and I have started the echo quilting near the coin, the Japanese 100 yen coin with its cherry blossoms.

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It feels appropriate to quilt this area. Outside the window the cherry trees are in full bloom.

Inside the house there is  another sign of spring - a small treat for tea time, a so called Tulip Rose confectionery. The tulip is made of 'cat tongue' batter (in French known as 'Langue de Chat', and the rose is berry flavoured butter cream. Isn't it beautiful?

Cat Tongues can be found in many countries in Europe, but also in South America and Asia. In Japan one of the most famous versions is Shiroi Koibito - a sandwich of  two square cookies with either white or milk chocolate in between.

WIPW - Tandem Blocks Completed

 Hello and welcome to my Work In Progress Wednesday report.

Crazy For Crazy

I have now completed the last two blocks for this quilt, which I worked in tandem.

On the red purple block I attached the Buttonhole Petal ring I had made earlier, inserted a paste jewel in the centre. There are cut beads inside the holes of the tatted arch, too, and a sprinkling of sequins. The gimp that I couched down a couple of weeks ago looked a bit dull. I changed the couching thread to a raspberry one, but the difference is not that spectacular.

I decided that this block had all it needed, so simply declared it done without adding anything more.

Next week I will take out the other 18 blocks and play around with how to arrange them for the quilt. Furthermore I need to find some suitable fabric for the triangles I need to fill in the gaps between the blocks - they are octagonal and don't join beautifully as hexagon blocks do. A big planning mistake on my part!

Log Cabin Quilt

The five units I showed last week were stitched together, then joined to the previous length. I now have 120 blocks and you can see how much of the daybed they cover.

Saturday Sightings of Spring

More on this progress on Saturday, here is just another glimpse of the Kantha quilting.

Tatting

I am following the instructions of Rusti Kate to make a cross, but haven't had time to finish it yet. Too many other things get in the way all the time.

Hardanger

Norway has a wealth of fantastic folk costumes. The district of Hardanger is famous for its beautiful dress. The apron has a wide border of Hardanger embroidery. There are plenty of pictures on Pinterest. 

This Norwegian embroidery style from Hardanger has long been on my bucket list. 

Several of my friends have been an inspiration - Margaret in the UK starts her work spontaneously somewhere in the middle of the fabric and just works from there, totally without planning. The result is always spectacular. 

I also admire another Margaret, in New Zealand. She is a Hardanger wizard and makes lovely Christmas ornaments and angels. 

I have a Norwegian aunt who once gave me a pillow case, then some years ago a friend in the UK gave me 'The Anchor Book of Hardanger Embroidery', and today in the post I found some charts for Hardanger designs sent to me by Pamela, another lover of Hardanger. Look at the beautiful brooch with added beads.

she once made.

So you see, I just have to get started on my own Hardanger project. Before that I want to finish the Saturday Sightings of Spring silk cushion, though. Watch this space.

Saturday Sightings of Spring - 10

Although I have added a lot of Kantha style quilting on my silk cushion, it does not look like much.

The central motif has all been surrounded with echo quilting, though.

Much of what remains to be quilted is 'dead' space, eg. the back of the cushion or areas that will be  hidden in the envelope style closing I am planning to make.

Anyway I am trying to add some circular patterns for added interest.

I am making this cushion on silk with felt appliqué and rich free style embroidery. It is based on a Jacquie Harvey design, 'Promise of Spring':

For the appliqué and embellishments I was inspired by Fay Maxwell's 'Crewel and Unusual'.

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Sightings of spring

The cherry trees have begun to blossom in Tokyo. 

There are parks where you can see many splendid trees, although this year, like 2020, there are strict crowd control measures in place: No picnics, no eating or drinking while walking, no singing or loud voices, and the paths have been roped into one way lanes. 

I won't be going to any of these famous spots. Actually there is no need to go far for a view of the pink flowers. Along back alleys, or in gardens there are many trees that can be seen over the fence.

Tall trees reach up among the ugly electric power lines and clouds of pink flowers add beauty to a plain parking spot.

Saturday Sightings of Spring - 9

Those who have followed this series of blog posts know that I am making a silk cushion with felt appliqué on top of which I have added heavy embroidery.

 The design is Jacquie Harvey's, 

but I am using the quirky style of Fay Maxwell known as 'Crewel and Unusual'.

I have now reached the quilting stage, and in Fay's fashion I am using Kantha style stitching = large, and in my case, slightly uneven, Running Stitch, echoing the appliqué outlines.

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Saturday Sightings of Spring

The magnolia trees are in bloom in Tokyo. You can also see that the sky is getting greyer and there are clouds, two other sure signs that we are moving away from the crispy dry winter air. In a few months' time  I will be complaining about the oppressive humidity and milky sky...

WIPW - Josephine Chain

How fast is not one week gone? It is hard to keep track of time.

Here is my weekly Work In Progress Wednesday report.

Log Cabin Quilt

I stitched 24 blocks together.

Crazy for Crazy

On the raspberry octagon block I added mirrored Buttonhole Stitch and grey pearls as well as a meander of grey gimp.

The brown block got a stem of Stem Stitch and a few ribbon embroidery buds.

Tatting

I learned how to do the Josephine chain - like a corkscrew.

Saturday Sightings of Spring

On the silk cushion I have now started the Kantha quilting. More pictures on Saturday's report.