You + Me = Home: TAST 44-49

Towards the end of last year I fell quite behind with the TAST challenge.  I meant to catch up by stitching individual samplers for each stitch, and I did do a couple, but in the end I decided to do one ensemble piece that included all the stitches I had missed.  Incidentally, the TAST format has changed a little for 2013.  Stitches are now listed by number rather than by week, the featured work item will be less regular than last year and will feature work that shows any of the TAST stitches, not just the stitch of the week, and there will be a design challenge every 4-6 weeks.  For full details head over to the TAST FAQ page on Pin Tangle.

Inspired by these cute house ornaments I saw on Pinterest I thought it would be nice to try an embroidered version. "You + me = Home" popped into my head and I thought it would be nice to combine the words "you" and "me" within the word "home".  Originally I was thinking that the word "home" would somehow make up the outline of the house, but this is what I ended up with:

I've used arrowhead stitch (45) for the roof, Portuguese border stitch (44) for the window and door frames, knotted cable chain stitch (48) for the door, buttonhole eyelet flowers (46) on the right and knotted feather stitch (49) with berry stitch (47) for the flowers on the left.  I also had my first attempt at stem stitch (14 - needs practice!) and split stitch. Phew!

I like how it's turned out, but if I were to do it again, I think I'd be a little more adventurous with the backing fabric.  I'm also thinking about printing the picture on to the front of as greetings card. What do you think?

Book Review - The Encyclopedia Of Stitches

While out Christmas shopping I came across this book in a discount book store: "The Encyclopedia Of Stitches" edited by Karen Hemingway. 

The cover first caught my eye with the lovely picture of a sampler stitched in brightly coloured threads. After a quick leaf through and at only £5.99 for the hardback I knew I had to get it.

There are chapters on counted thread work, free embroidery (including sections on beadwork, silk ribbon embroidery, stumpwork and more), cut work, smocking and canvas work, with a short introduction into preparing and mounting fabric.  While the chapters don't comprehensively cover any of the areas, they do still present a good variation of stitches.  Each section starts with a brief suggestion about the type of fabrics and threads to use, followed by the stitch guides, and then a project at the end. There are lots of bold, bright colours, which appeals to me, and gives some of the more traditional needlecrafts, like canvas work, a bright, modern look.  The stitch guides are clear and well illustrated although at times a little short.

I would class myself as a beginner embroiderer - I have done some embroidery but there are a lot of stitches and techniques in the book that I haven't tried or come across before.  So I think this would be a great book for someone like me, or someone with a little more experience looking to expand their embroidery repertoire.

2012

It's customary at this time of year to recap the year gone by. From a crafty point of view it's been an excellent year for me mainly because I've moved from just thinking about being creative and making to actually producing and finishing lots of things. I started the year totally obsessed with crochet but towards the middle of the year I got back into sewing and later on, embroidery. 

Right at the start of the year I signed up to the Granny-a-day crochet challenge set by Ali with the hope that it would encourage me to get making, but I soon fell behind and never really caught up. In hindsight I think it would have helped if I'd had a project in mind at the start as producing random granny squares with no plan soon lost its appeal. Also I found the daily challenge a bit stifling after a while. But I did manage to produce a few pretty things, both granny square-related and otherwise.

I also started going to a sewing class which rekindled my love of sewing. An unfortunate side-effect is that it has also rekindled my fabric addiction!

In September I came across the Take A Stitch Tuesday (TAST) embroidery challenge on Pin Tangle and fell in love with it. Embroidery is a skill I really want to develop and I loved the process of learning a new stitch, then thinking of a way to use it and also seeing what everyone else came up with.  Some of the creations were really inspiring.  I missed the last few weeks of the challenge, but fully intend to catch up, and to take part again next year.  The format will be a bit different, but should still be fun and interesting.

Overall I've learnt a lot this year, picked up a few new skills and honed a few old ones. I think I've achieved most of my sewing aspirations for the year, apart from using up my fabric stash, which has instead grown to epic proportions!  I'm looking forward to getting more creative (and productive) in 2013.  How has your 2012 craft journey been?

Patchwork Advent Calendar

I finally got around to making an Advent calendar. It's a little late (ahem!), but as they say better late than never.  I made it using 7x7cm squares of Christmas fabric sewn together in patchwork strips and then attached to a linen background. I sewed up the seams of the individual squares to make little pockets. The spacing of the rows is a bit off, but I really like it and more importantly my 5yo likes it.

5 Reasons to Visit CRAFTfest - The Online Craft Fair

My soapmaking alter-ego, Fairfield Gardens, is taking part in CRAFTfest, an online craft fair, which started on Saturday and runs until 1st December.

There are lots of great reasons to visit, not least the 250 or so stalls to browse through, but here are my top 5:

1. It's on 24/7 so you can dip in and out whenever you feel like it.

2. There is so much to discover. One of the nice things about real-life fairs is finding something new or unexpected.

3. You can bookmark finds. If you're not in the market right now you can bookmark finds and makers that you like and come back to them at a later date.

4. Oodles of inspiration. Let's be honest. Sometimes you're not really interested in buying anything; you just want to look at the stalls and bask in the loveliness. With CRAFTfest there are blogs to discover, Facebook pages to follow, Pinterest boards to covet... You can find a list of most of the stall holders and their various locations on the internet via this CRAFTfest networking spreadsheet.

5. You can browse from wherever you are. It's nice to get out, and be able to touch and smell the goods on offer, but if it's raining buckets, or freezing cold outside, you just don't fancy getting dressed or you're on the move, you don't have to miss out.

So what are you waiting for? Head over to CRAFTfest and start browsing. If you're not convinced here's a taste of what's on offer: