If you are looking for a quick Christmas project or something for the kids to do while on holidays here is a super easy and inexpensive project. You will need: 1 metal ring (50mm diameter) 1 pkt of mixed beads. eg Bead Gravy by Hoffman Originals or create your own using left over beads and pearls Small piece of felt, colour should match beads, to cover metal ring beading needle or fine straw/sharp needle. Beading thread, to match bead colour. You can substitute bsewing thread but it is not as strong as beading thread. Cut a long thin rectangular strip... Continue reading

It has been a long time since I have posted anything on this blog. Apologies to you all. I could bore you all with the details of my life journey but lets suffice to say that I had a change of job, more hours work and family commitments. But I am determined to take back control and here is the perfect place to start. Now the plan is to get back to what makes me happy and refreshes my soul. So I will begin with projects I started to blog and maybe start some new ones. I will try to... Continue reading

This is the fun part! Now that you have selected your fabric you can start getting the threads together. If you have a thread stash, get it out. If you don't have a stash, now is the time to start putting one together. The threads you choose will be influenced by a number of things: The colour of your background fabric. I started by selecting colours for the main elements ie the tree trunks and then built the colours around these. I chose a lot of variegated threads for this project as they worked well with the many colours in... Continue reading

I started the Enchanted Forest over 12 months ago – it isn’t finished yet. I keep adding little bits and pieces to it every now and again. Kind of like growing a garden! Once again it was the fabric that caught my attention first. This fabric is batik – if you look really closely you can see the shape of trees in the fabric. The blues, purples and teal colours were so rich and inviting. That is the downside of working at a quilting and embroidery store – temptation is always lurking. The upside is I am surrounded by fabulous... Continue reading

A week or so ago I received a free copy of a craft magazine, Handmade Vol 27 No 11, in the mail. I wasn’t sure why I had received this magazine as I didn’t subscribe to it. I figured it must have been a promotion as I do subscribe to Creative Embroidery & Cross Stitch, a magazine published by the same company, Express Publications. So I put the magazine aside unopened and took it along to my stitching group that night. As we were sitting around chatting, I decided to open the magazine and flick through it. Suddenly I exclaimed... Continue reading

I have finally finished writing up the instruction for my Golden Lotus design. Now that the instructions are done, I am concentrating on the second in the lotus series – On Golden Pond. My last post described the process of making the gilt edged detached petals for the lotus flower. I have since started to work on the surface embroidery. I statred with the foundation work, applying the lily pads of silk dupion. They have been fused to the base silk fabric using Mistyfuse ™. It is a very fine fusible web, ideal for working with fine fabrics. It doesn’t... Continue reading

Previously I said that I was busily sewing samples for the store for the upcoming CraftExpo being held at the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre on March 25-28 2010. I just could resist making some of the goodies out of Nancy Halvorsen's latest book Sew Necessary. I started with the scissor chatelaines - there were so many to choose from! I decided on the posy - quick and easy and oh so cute. I also made the bumble bee chatelaine but forgot to take a photo. A fabric charm pack bu Moda was just the thing to use to make... Continue reading

Thank you all for your comments. I will attempt to answer your questions. Firstly - Hints for Satin Stitch When stitching satin stitch on the leaves the first stitch is made along the centre vein of the leaf. It is stitched from the base to the tip and the tip should be 'hyper-extended' - ie made one needle width longer than the traced outline on the tip. This adds to the illusion of length and gives a pleasing shape to the leaf. The following stitches are stitched following the traced outlined. In the stitch guide, the principal "less is more"is... Continue reading

You all must have thought I had fallen of the planet- but no just, really hectic with life. I have managed to do some stitching. I am working on a new design as well as sewing samples for the store for the upcoming craft craft show in March. I will post some pictures of these soon. Today, I’m all excited about starting my Floral Glove Needlecase. Thanks to Tricia Wilson Nguyen and the Thistle Threads team for the opportunity to re-create a little piece of history. At last all of my goodies have arrived. After receiving my notes and instructions... Continue reading

You all must have thought I had fallen of the planet- but no just, really hectic with life. I have managed to do some stitching. I am working on a new design as well as stitching a cute little felt fairy which I’ll show you tomorrow! Today, I’m all excited about starting my Floral Glove Needlecase. Thanks to Tricia Wilson Nguyen and the Thistle Threads team for the opportunity to re-create a little piece of history. At last all of my goodies have arrived. After receiving my notes and instructions for the first month, I just couldn’t wait for my... Continue reading

I'm back - sorry it has been so long . Life has gotten a little more hectic since I returned to work and the weather here in Queensland is so hot & humid . Unfortunately this isn't great weather for doing goldwork! But I did find a little gem I thought I would share - well actually it is a couple of little gems. I almost forgot we had them in the store where I work until I was looking for buttons the other day. Here they are - Gold Embroidered Buttons! The buttons are self cover shank buttons -... Continue reading

I have been following Mary Corbet's progress on her scrumptious crewel work rooster project on Needle n'Thread, and while browsing the internet for goldwork inspiration came across this amazing goldwork rooster by Tanja Berlin and just had to share it with you. This project is not for the feint-hearted, it took Tanja 48 hours to create! The rooster is featured on her Work In Progress page. There is a series of clear photos demonstrating her progress as the rooster is worked as well as information on the threads and wires used at various stages. I love the effect created by... Continue reading

I have enrolled in the Thistle Threads Online University course for the Floral Glove Needlecase. I am so excited, I just can't wait for my goodies to arrive. I had previously purchased a Silk Covered Purl Variety Packfrom Thistle threads thanks to a tip of from Mary Corbett at Needle n'Threads. The sample pack contained 1 yard of multicoloured silk covered purls. These new threads are copper wire wrapped with filament silk and then coiled over a mandrel into a purl. I haven't used them yet but just had to have some for future use, especially when I found out... Continue reading

I had a request to put together a tutorial for attaching gold threads to the edge of stumpwork petals. I had mentioned this method in a previous post. This method can be used for attaching various goldwork threads to the edge of detached petals. In the example shown I have used gilt smooth passing thread No 6 and filled the petals with Anchor Marlitt Stranded rayon floss. Work the detached stumpwork petals. The gilt passing thread is applied while the petal is still in the hoop. Thread a no 12 crewel needle with clear monofilament thread and secure the tread... Continue reading

Yesterday I decided to edge the detached waterlily petals for On Golden Pond with Gilt Pearl Purl. Here is how it is done. Place your selected fabric for the petals in a hoop and tighten until drum tuight. Trace the petals onto the fabric. Stretch a piece of No 1 Gilt Pearl Purl to 1 ½ times its original length. Measure the distance around the petal and cut a piece of the stretched pearl purl the same length. Cut a piece of fine gold coloured jewellery wire (I used 26 gauge wire) 5 cm or 2” longer than the pearl... Continue reading

A couple of years ago I designed and stitched a frog on a lily pad. While I was quite happy with it, I always felt that it needed something more. It needed a waterlily and a bug, maybe a dragon fly. Also, I wasn’t 100% happy with the background fabric I chose. Also, I have learnt alot since I stitched this little fellow. I recently finished stitching Golden Lotus, a project I designed in late 2009. This was the inspiration to redesign my frog on a lily pad. So to work. I have taken design elements from both projects, tweaked... Continue reading

Happy new year to all. My resolution for the year is to laugh more, stitch more and spend more time with friends and family (luckily most of my friends are also avid embroiderer’s and quilters!). I managed to fulfil one of my holiday commitments – Finish off my Jane Nicholas project, Persian Peony Tile. I thoroughly enjoyed stitching this project, not just for the beauty of it but because it provided many of the elements I look for in a project i.e. new and varied techniques, the use of a variety of threads, wires and embellishments, and a challenge. The... Continue reading

Merry Christmas to you all. Hope you had a relaxing and safe festive season. It was lovely to get away but I didn't get done as much as I thought I would. The Or Nué piece has been occupying my thoughts and what little time I have been stitching. Two of the circles have finally come together. I couldn't wait to fill in the little gap. The angle where the circles met was to sharp to bend and turn the passing thread so I had to dovetail the passing thread. I started on the outside edge of the piece and... Continue reading