Wednesday 26 June 2013

Yesterday Newcastle...Tomorrow Stay at Home

My season of travelling for work is at an end. I am not scheduled to go anywhere now until November, by when I will hopefully have left. Ha! My last work trip was an overnighter in Newcastle on Monday and in the evening I had time to indulge in an orgy of pinning on Pinterest and favouriting on Flickr. I have obviously been blogging more about sewing than knitting for a few months now but it's not like I haven't been doing both. It's just that vanilla socks in commercial yarn - which have been my companion during all the travelling - aren't that interesting to report. So on to the good stuff.

My love of hexagon patchwork continues but I have been thinking heretical thoughts recently about it not being 'enough' just to stitch them together endlessly. Then I saw these:
Embroidery Inspiration
(Click on mosaic for links to originals)
So cute and in fact they reminded me that I have seen this before (it may even be the same person). Essentially you trace hexagon shapes onto a sheet of fabric and embroider them using a hoop before cutting them out (since if you cut them out first they'd be too small to embroider). Isn't that sun adorable? I can think of all sorts of things to put in them.

The embroidery transfer groups on Flickr (I belong to two) are another endless source of inspiration and these in particular caught my eye on Monday night.
Embroidery Transfers
(Click on mosaic for links to originals)
That top middle pin-up - I think it's best to assume that's a lipstick and the scale has gone a bit wrong. I do not do a lot of embroidery but I enjoy what I do and a lot of my collection could probably be adapted for those little hexagons. You can see my other favourites on this Pinterest Board.

Then of course there is the patchwork.
Patchwork Inspiration
(Click on mosaic for links to originals)
So divine. I am pretty sure I could keep myself entertained all day everyday making patchwork. There is something so socially acceptable about the schizophrenic way you cut up fabric only to reassemble it into something smaller than the original. More other lovelies on this Pinterest Board.

I hope you enjoyed looking at these favourites! And beware of what I realise I have big problems with...Procraftinating.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I don't know, embroidering quilts might take a while, but still, it might keep you busy for a long time with a minimum of fabric, since floss and thread takes up less storage space. you could hex-ify a piece (or a few) of fabric, say 1 foot by 1 foot, then choose the fillings, and carry it around with you on trains or just when you need a "quick" activity. Then when you are done with them all, you can take them back home and spread them around in a large, full sized quilt. :-)

I saw a crazy quilt at a quilt show (I embroider, not quilt) that was done during the US great depression (1929-1939ish) by the mother of the woman who was displaying it. It was a (full sized)beautiful crazy quilt (random shapes sewn together) but each (small) area of fabric was hand embroidered with a bird or a basket of flowers, each one different. According to the display information, it took the mother seven years in Oklahoma (an area hardest hit by the depression) of embroidery and hand sewing to complete it, but the winner of the quilt show was a mini (3ftx3ft) quilt that was a silk screened, machine sewn, 5 week ""masterpiece""........ That is why I rarely attend quilt shows, the handmade ones are shoved to the back, and the fanciest ones (no matter how small) win.