Been very busy

Well, I have just tried to start a blog on Stitchinfingers but I'm afraid I have given up. Not only did I lose it all after pre veiwing but the darned picture thing that keeps stretching all pictures that are above a certain size is really getting on my nerves. So I will be blogging here instead. I did try!

On a good note, I have been oh so busy, what with my new toy (The Embellisher) and all the swaps, I have had to make lots of lists. I'm getting a bit overloaded but I would prefer that to being bored.

Well as I promised everyone, I will add my first big project that I used the embellisher for.

I thought I would make my Grand daughter a little pressie, she is such a clever lass. She is already a British Champion in Acro Gymnastics and she is only 11 years of age. Very shortly she will be going in for the trials for the Worlds Competition and she will be the youngest competitor. She has had a lot of obstacles to overcome to get this far and she never gives up, so she deserves something nice.

My Grand daughter as well as my own 14 year old son have been into Goth fashion of recent years. So when I asked my Daughter what she would like we had a chat and we both decided that a Goth Fashion type bag would be appreciated. Well I couldn't find the material I wanted for the project so I decided to make my own on the felting machine. here is the result:

This is the front of the bag, made with needle felt that has been woven the make the check fabric.

Here is the back, she is so pleased with this especially as it has her name on it, she is Rebekah really but she likes to be called Bex.

Now my teenage son wants a hat, he likes a flat cap he has which he wore when he was younger at one of the Victorian days at his primary school, trouble is this one is brown, so now I have to make a black flat cap, help, I've never done this before. Well, I've made a paper pattern from the one he has, but I won't be using felt. I have some plain black fabric so I'll just be doing a standard flat cap. He doesn't even want any patterns or motifs on it so it shouldn't be too hard. He looks so cool when he wears his flat cap with his shoulder length wavy hair. I can't wait to see him in the new one.

Well, the other reason why I have been so busy is that I have been making lots of swaps. Here are the ones I have received today;

This one is from Helen Miles The photo doesn't do it justice I'm afraid, it's simply beautiful, it really reminds me of the sea and I just want to go down the coast when I look at it. Thank you Helen, your's is in the post, I won't put the picture up until you receive it, I would hate to spoil the surprise.

This next one is from Liz we met on the Unlimited Textiles site and this months challenge is to make and swap a Postcard with the theme of landscape. This is a beautiful piece and it is made with a lot of beautiful silk, how did Liz know I loved Poppies? Thank you Liz.

This last swap is an ATC from Anne in France, we were introduced to do this swap by Doreen in Australia, apparently they have been doing swaps for some time now. Thank you Doreen for introducing us. Thank you Anne for such an exquisite little card, you wouldn't believe folks how small these stitches are. Don't you just want to give her a hug. Your card Anne is in the post too, I hope you like it.

Well that's just about it for now, but I will put my cards here that I have swapped next time. Till then, bye for now. Tricia

More swaps

Hello again,
I've, just received this beautiful ATC from Ati in Norway, I am so proud to be in possession of such wonderful stitchery. Ati also posted some lovely fibres to me with this card, it is so generous of her, Thank you Ati. I thought it such a clever idea to post something extra, I had to do the same. I hope it arrives safely for her, as it does make it a little bulky especially with my needlefelted piece. I won't put Ati's on here yet as I don't want to spoil the surprise. Hope you like it Ati.

New Textile Challenge Site

Hi there all, well, you might already be aware that I have started a new challenge site, it is called Tricia's Textile Challenge. We have 15 members to date and we're doing fine, there are some very talented people already on this site so it's quite exciting, go take a look and if you'd like to join let us know.


Well, I said I would blog about the piece I made for the first challenge.


The first challenge will last till the end of June and then we plan to do a swap with the results. It is entitled Ancient Symbols. I asked everyone to make a postcard sized piece based upon an ancient symbol, could be a hieroglyph or a rock carving, infact anything from any culture, religious or otherwise. We've had some very interesting results already.

Well, here's how I did mine,
I have a little book all about ancient rock carvings mainly from the North of England. I am fascinated by what they might mean. Having done a little study about symbolism including universal symbolism I think that the one I chose has probably got something to do with the sun and seasons.
Some of the symbol has obviously worn away but you can gather what it did look like originally.
Well, I cheated, not having seen the rock and only having a picture of the symbol I decided to find a nice stone amongst my collection of stones and so I drew a picture of it and then drew the symbol on top, superimposing it as it were. Here is the drawing below:


The finished piece here below is 6 inches x 4 inches (postcard size) and is needlefelted. The symbol was embroidered on to the felt exactly as it looks in the book. The edging is also sewn as are the little line stitches on the background. The edging I hand dyed myself using a rust technique which worked remarkably well, this picture doesn't do it justice, the thread of the edging is two toned as it almost carries the imprint of the rusted metal it was wrapped around when it was dyed.


Last but not least here is a close up of the piece.

I Hope the person I swap with likes it.

Speak soon Tricia