The other day I had to visit with a client who lives a little way out of town. On the way there I came across a wonderful patch of Thistles and just HAD to stop and take some photos……
Seeing these beautiful flowers reminded me of a Crewel Embroidery picture that I made MANY years ago (for my cousin’s, Sue, wedding)……
Now I need to make a Thistle quilt…..just add it to the To-Do list!!!!
This week I finished up a small project that had been in my mind for a few weeks, and one which is a very different style for me.
Back in August, my friend Deb H. and I spent a day doing glue resist dyeing. Here is the original post. One of the pieces that I created was a simple vase of flowers and I knew almost immediately what I wanted to do with it.
The first step was to add some embroidery to the background. I used examples from a fairly recent article in Quilting Arts Magazine. The only difference was that the examples there used nice quality variegated threads and all I had were some cheap ones that I had bought some time back. But, I persevered and came up with a fairly nice background.
I felt that the vase and flowers needed to be highlighted too, so I trapuntoed them with 2 extra layers of batting.
I am NOT a paisley person, but this old fabric from my stash called to me and so I succumbed and used it as the final border.
The quilting was fairly straight forward, and I was happy to complete the quilt so quickly.
I took it to my local charity bee and, while showing them the finished product, realized that I didn’t like it because several of the threads were too light in color and the detracted from the background. So, while we were looking at another member’s quilt where she had painted many of the designs, I thought about using fabric pens and coloring over the “too bright” threads.
Voila …..I like it MUCH better now.
I DONT DO HANDWORK!!! And, with the exception of a quilt binding or a small bit of applique here and there, that is a true statement. Or at least it WAS a true statement.
Last night I worked on a piece that is going to have the background filled with handwork….simple embroidery stitches to liven it up. And, amazingly, I enjoyed working on it and am excited to get back to it.
As I worked, I started reminiscing about how I learned to do the stitches that so easily came to mind, and it took me back to 1977 in Lubbock, Texas. Well, actually, I need to go even further back than that……
My Mother was and is a whiz with a needle and thread. Before she rekindled her interest in quilting in the early 1970’s, she was into Crewel Embroidery. I know that you have seen it even if you didn’t know what it was called……It is a picture or design that is embroidered in a wool thread that is heavier than a normal embroidery thread. It’s weight lends itself to filled-in designs.
Now when Mom tried to teach me to embroider, it was not pretty. She was SO good at it and I simply never felt that I got it….my stitches were uneven and the backing fabric always puckered.
Now, back to 1977…… Michael and I had been married about 2 months when he was asked to accompany his Major Professor at Texas Tech (Dr. J., as we called him) on a 2 week plant collecting trip to Mexico. At the time, I had never stayed by myself, having moved from my parent’s house, to a college dorm and then to our apartment after marriage. I was not at all happy thinking about two weeks alone.
So, in steps Mrs. J. (Dr J’s wife) who offers for me to come and live with her for those two weeks. I had a wonderful time…..she treated me as if I was her daughter and took me out for dinners, to meet her friends and just generally loved on me for those two weeks. During that time, she pulled out her current project….. a Crewel work piece. I was once again enamored with the craft but told her of my previous attempts. Her answer was to put the backing fabric in a hoop and to “stab-stitch” the embroidery……DUH!!! So, we went out the next day and bought a kit for a Jacobean design and she started teaching me how to do this beautiful work.
It was followed by Thistles with fuzzy tops……
Ducks floating on a pond……
Baskets of Autumn flowers……
and a whole HOST of other pieces that were never photographed.
This post is to say THANK YOU to my Mom for teaching me the gift of making things with your hands and THANK YOU to Mrs. J. for teaching me that there is more than one way to accomplish a task!!!!
