Norma's Needleworkz

Sunday, July 27, 2008

A Little Bit of This and That

It has been a few weeks since I've updated my blog so I thought it was about time to share a few things with my friends. I think I previously mentioned I was embroidering a denim bag. Well, at last it is finished. This is one of those DMC kits that I found at a half price sale at Michael's back earlier in the year. The bag had the design imprinted on it, 3 skeins of DMC Pearl Cotton size 5, a size 22 Chenille needle and the instructions. I used the colors included - 437, 712, 758 ..... the subtle color change doesn't really show up in the photo but since I plan on putting this in the bazzar this fall I didn't want to change the colors to something I might have preferred for myself.

I'm down to the wire for my 25 tatting motif challenge. This bookmark worked in size 30 crochet cotton is
piece 24. It will probably also be placed in the fall bazzar.

My piece number 25 is a tatted butterfly heart that I placed on a very special cq square and the whole square shows up later in this post. The original pattern designed by Karey Solomon was done with CTM (continuous thread method) but since I had some green and lavender size 30 on shuttles that I need to empty I decided to make my butterfly heart in the two colors.

I have to tell you that all of my Yahoo groups give such wonderful tips, patterns and ideas that I cannot begin to express my gratitude to everyone. This is a photo of a Lael Morgan wood tatting shuttle. It is bigger than most of my shuttles and a bit awkward to use. I was quit a bit upset when I broke one of the "legs" of the shuttle and really didn't know what to do with the shuttle. Just recently on a HBT post one of the ladies told about how she was taking one of her broken Lady Hoare shuttles and turning it into a necklace .... voila! Although the Lael Morgan is a much larger shuttle than the Lady Hoare why couldn't I do the same thing????? Tomorrow I will take the shuttle with me to a local craft store to see if I can find the correct size jump rings that I need to make this into a necklace. I will also want some larger beads than I use for my cq. Wish me luck on making a necklace! If it works I'll post a pic sometime in the future.

I'm one of those people who hates to throw anything away .... especially in the fabric and fiber lines sooooo
here is a cq bookmark using only embroidery floss as embellishments. I certainly wouldn't want to cause damage to a book! This will also be a part of the fall bazzar.

This is really hard to see but this is a cream colored lace poncho that I knitted last year ..... perfect to wear in air-conditioned churches or theaters. I had pulled it out to take with me on my trip a couple of weeks ago but decided it was too dressy for where I was going.

I tried to do a close-up of part of the pattern of the poncho ... think I needed a darker background ..... but maybe you can see some of the lace pattern.

Another bazzar item. This time a lacey neck scarf. I'm trying to de-stash some of my yarns and found a left-over skein of fun fur and one of Allure, a discontinued fingering weight wool by Unger. They worked beautifully together with just the right weight and a color that goes well with just about anything. The photo is a bit darker than the actual scarf but I'm still trying to learn how to edit my photos. Sometimes I do a better job than others.

This is a beautifully embroidered heart from one of the newest members of the ChainsOfHearts group I belong to. Maretta, from Australia, was kind enough to leave a wide margin around the heart for trimming. I wish you could see up close her tiny and delicate stitching.

The latest square I've been working on ..... do you see the tatted butterfly heart in the lower right corner? I have several other pieces of tatting on there as well. For instance in the upper right corner is a flower that picks up the colors of the flower focus fabric. Then at the upper left is a tatted motif with a heart charm stitched in the middle. A very special friend who shares several groups with me was the recent receipient of a kidney transplant and someone on the CQForNewbies group suggested we start a "Hearts and Flowers" Shower for members having special needs or circumstances. Just as with a swap or round robin the shower square has certain guidelines to follow. Only those who want to participate sign up and you don't have to participate everytime a shower decision is made. We were supposed to do two seams and one patch but as you can see I didn't stop there. I left plenty of room for my friend to stitch as she recuperates.
Continued prayers coming your way Lori as you heal.

Well, I've chatted long enough! Time to think about a bite to eat, so guess I'll see you all next time. Have a blessed week everyone till we meet again.