At last I seem to be sewing again. I have been working on a couple of projects for lately. The first is Pam's Build a Seam blocks. I have finished 3. The first one is the Chevron Stitch

 I used Chevron to cover the seam and then had a nice play with fly-stitch, colonial knots, detached chain and pistil stitch.

The next block I did was the Cretan stitch

instead of doing the seam I filled in the little blue area with cretan leaves, bullion roses, colonial knot forget-me-nots and some detached chain leaves.

The last one I have finished so far is the Buttonhole Stitch.

For this I used knotted buttonhole on the seam with buttonhole and colonial knot hollyhocks with a few detached chain leaves thrown in for good measure. 

The colours in these photos are not very good but then I am not much of a photographer.

The second project is some butterflies using different methods of stitching for my U3A class I attend on Tuesday afternoon during term time. I am also experimenting with a way to transfer drawings to embroider to my fabric. For this series I am using a water soluble fabric with the design drawn on it. As the item I am embroidering on is to be used as a food cover it will need washing so I am not worried about whether I can wash it. 

The first butterfly is my version of Jacobean Embroidery

Not a great photo but there you go.

The second is Dorset Feather Embroidery 

This photo is better and you can see the water soluble fabric I am using.

And last so far is an appliqué using sheer fabric

I hope it works but we shall see. You can also see the sewing lines on the water-soluble fabric.

I also did a Dorset Feather strip that I will eventually stitch onto a hand towel.

With this I used an ordinary pencil to do the placement marks. I am sure it will wash out.

Hi all it has been an awfully long time since I came to play here but hopefully I am back. In March 2012 I had a fall and broke my left hip and then in April I had my left foot reconstructed. This had to be one of the silliest things I have ever done because I have spent since then in a wheel chair with only very limited access to my computer. At last I am now at least using a walking frame or, at home, a walking stick. I am sewing more and have just finished my bit on the 9 blocks for Joyce

This is the buttonhole stitch I did the little butterfly and the twisted buttonhole with buttonhole wheel flowers. The nest 2 photos are close-ups of my buttonholes.

This is the backstitch block and a close-up of my cornucopia.

Chain stitch is one of my favourites and the little octopus and sand dollars are both worked in chain.

Next is Chevron Stitch 

 This is the herringbone stitch I used 3 different colours and 3 rows of stitching one on top of the other.

Fly stitch is used on this block.

 close-up

 Straight stitch was a bit of a problem for an idea at first but then I thought of Pekinese stitch which is a sort of whipped straight stitch.

Just have fun so that is what I did. Black feather stitch which is very hard to see on the dark velvet and red needle woven daisies with black colonial knot centres.

I loved working on these beautiful blocks with their rich colours and textures. I am sorry I did not do more but I felt these blocks had been held up long enough so I just pu the best I could on each block.