#100daysofstitch : Week 1

I decided to join #The100DayProject and my focus is #100daysofstitch because this year, before this push, I wasn't stitching at all and I missed it. Sharing weekly on a Thursday because I shared Day 1 last Thursday. After long deliberations about which project I would actually start with, I decided on this hand-embroidery class with Sue Spargo from Craftsy.

Day 1 : Blogged about my gatherings and my base block, 

Day 2 : My background from yesterday is approx 20cm square of felt. I cut out the butterfly pattern and chose my base felt colours and stitched one down. I've used Madeira Lana thread round the outside - doubled through the needle. It's lovely wool - goes so nicely with the felt.

Decided to do 2 butterflies to try a couple of different ways of doing this but I don't want to spend time doing a whole panel. All set for Day 3

Day 3 : second butterfly stitched down with a different colour-way of the Lana thread. Stayed the night with Mum so this was a lovely easy thing to take ♥

Day 4 : need to gather other cotton fabrics for the next layers

Day 6 : Antennae - wool for the circles - stitched and cut out next layer for wings

Day 7 : first layer on wings

Day 8 (yesterday) : bodies on

Day 5, I had a break from hand stitching because I needed to make a new batch of cards. Added machine stitching and you can see more details in my previous post.

Main learning this week : don't try and look ahead and guess where you'll get to. Just enjoy the process of what you have time for on that day. I don't want to bounce around without settling on one project, but I also want to be flexible. I needed the cards, and machine stitching for a day was fun. Looking forward to seeing where week 2 takes me. I've got a few more thoughts about this project which I'll share soon.
I'm sharing daily on my instagram account with a weekly summary here on the blog.

Teaching

Been a busy weekend preparing for classes. I'm looking forward to teaching adults on Tuesday night : 

I shared details of my project here : take one piece of watercolour paper and a 2 hour workshop to transform it into a creative book.

And at work I'm doing craft club again this term - we made book marks for the first fortnight, and this week we start Christmas felt decorations as we did last year 

with the added option of cardboard, blunt needles and wool for our younger students similar to these : (instructions at hello, Wonderful) 

Next Saturday is our school's Gala - I've been asked to help with face painting...

So a busy but fun creative week ahead - I'll let you know how it all goes. 

Inspired by

Have been struck down with a cold so sharing some inspiration on our Queen's Birthday long weekend Monday. 
Motto cushions by the the talented Linda Kemshall :

- free video and PDF pattern HERE.
Hints of a new online class coming from Mary Ann Moss 

- you can think of the class as the new 2017 version of REMAINS OF THE DAY.  sewn books of scraps, but different.
My new purchase at a recent Red Cross Book Sale : 

Wonderful definitions in larger print for found word arting for only $3. My old dictionary positioned over the new for word size comparison!

Poetry by Victoria Erickson :

What would your poem say? Mine in progress : I just want to live in a world of crashing waves, coffee, fresh fruit and salads, candlelit nights and sunshiney days, to play daily with paints, paper and stitch, connecting with others in love and laughter.
I'm in progress with a couple of creative projects : 

More soon. Hope you are finding time to be creative at your place.

Craft club : Christmas decorations

I work part-time as a school librarian. My love for quilting and mixed media projects has become known and as a result I was asked to teach a craft club lunchtime session this term. 

Every Wednesday lunchtime for 45 minutes in Weeks 2-7, the children learned how to make felt Christmas tree ornaments - deciding on the pattern shape and colours, then cutting them out and learning how to hand stitch and add other embellishments. 

We had a mix of boys and girls in the class, and ages were 9-12 years. I promised at the beginning that I would make a quilt for them to hang their decorations on so they would be displayed in the library for the last 2 weeks of the term.
The quilt is a simple tree shape - the children decided on the fabrics for border and the top Santa. I showed them at several stages of the process how the quilt was progressing - with and without the quilting

They all finished at least one felt decoration

and it was exciting for them to add their buttons to the tree ready for hanging their completed ornaments

So proud of their efforts. Presented at assembly on Friday to lots of gasps of appreciation ♥ 

Now hanging on display in the library. We will keep the quilt for craft club in term 4 again next year, and they can decide if their ornaments remain with the quilt or go home. All their names are on a label on the back so they will always be remembered.

More Fabric Cuffs

I shared my first fabric cuffs with you last week and here are the rest

Have you changed your mind about which one's your favourite?

Fabric cuffs

I've long wanted to make fabric cuffs inspired by the instructions in Ruth Rae's delightful book

Take a peek inside via Amazon here

They all start with a base of felt and a layer of hand-dyed scrim is stitched on top.

The embellishments that get added next make them individually special. Click on the photo to see better detail.

If you would like to make some yourself she also has an online class option. I'll show you some more next week. Which one would you like to receive for Christmas?