I see now where I went wrong in laying down my petals. But whatever...next time I'll do a better job. The trouble with silk ribbon is that if you do a stitch wrong it's mega difficult to back it out.
It's been a couple of weeks since I last posted. I have no idea what I have been doing. Messing about with stuff I guess:)
I did finally get around to doing the next task in the CQ class I'm taking. More silk ribbon embroidery but this time sunflowers and violets.
Here is what I produced.......sunflowers to the bottom left. I quite like them myself. I did the middles in French knots and they are very soft to the touch.
The violets that Kathy teaches are very cute but I didn't have enough ribbon in the right size or colour. I did a few teeny tiny ones in the middle here and then filled in with some other flowers. I must give them another try once I get more ribbon.
I put them on my fan shaped block in a little empty space. It turned out to be quite a good idea as the lace edging looks like a little fence. Purely accidental on my part:)
Someone in my class asked what kind of laying tool I used when I did my sunflowers.
I have this thing. I don't know where I got it or what it actually is. At first I thought it might be from an old manicure kit but now I think I got it as a freebie with some DAS paper clay.
Oh how I dreaded this part. I can't go to the next task until I do this one. I procrastinated as much as I could...but.
I find silk ribbon so hard to use. It hates me!!
Here is my block before......
Here is my "silkie" framed with silk ribbon embroidery. The colours in this block seem to be tending towards green, rose and pick so I think I will continue with that in my seam treatments as well.
Here is my grape block before.....
...and, my silk ribbon cluster in the corner of the fan.
More about my crazy quilting sampler on line class with Kathy Shaw.
I'm finding that the silk ribbon embroidery is not my forte. It looks pretty though. Anyone who can master it rocks in my books...LOL I would say it takes lots of practice to get it right.
I found it was very difficult to keep the soft integrity of the silk ribbon while pulling it through the two layers of fabric. Pliers were needed when doing the vine. Bad planning on my part. A lot of my leaves are over areas where the seams meet and there are four layers of fabric. Ah well this is how you learn stuff...what not to do.....right?
We have now been introduced to Fly Stitch Roses and French Knot Wraps....eeeek !!
Thank goodness there are videos.
I'm posting the videos here so I can find them again. Also you might like to give SRE a try.
Fly Stitch Rose
French Knot Rose
Rosebud Made With French Knot and Beads
Twirled Ribbon Rose.....
Anyway, here is my effort. I think I may be done with this. I'll finish the edges and put it in my stitch diary book for further reference. I've learned quite a bit from this class and I'm considering taking Kathy's intermediate class when she offers it.
If you're interested in cloth doll making, I have also started a new class with Angela Jarecki called The Traveler: Anya and Baba. You can find out what I'm up to over here.
I'm joining up today with The Needle & Thread Network...come on over and see what my fellow Canadians are up to.
I was planning to show you further progress on my crazy quilt sampler today but things didn't go as planned. I need a certain width of green silk ribbon for the embroidery. I went to my favourite store and they had none in stock. I did buy some sequins and beads but alas no ribbon.
I wasn't idle today though. I had this small piece of cotton that was part of a fat quarter bundle. It's very pretty but I really didn't think I could use it as it is.
I cut a small corner off the piece as I decided to fussy cute some of it just to see it I could use the motifs for anything. To add a little more body I used some Wonder-Under and fused a piece of plain fabric to the back. Then I mod podged the whole piece of fabric as well. I know.... pretty weird but it really changes the whole texture of the fabric. I then cut out the butterflies and dragonflies with small sharp scissors.
The edges still frayed a bit because the cotton was very thin. Also, you can see in the picture below that the top left butterfly has a white edge that I didn't think was very attractive. As an experiment I used some Lumiere in Halo Violet Gold and slightly dabbed the paint on the edge of each butterfly. See the butterflies on the bottom and top right. Now the white edges can't be seen, there is no further fraying and there is a wee bit of glitter.
Now I have a bunch of kinky butterflies and dragonflies to use as embellishments :)
I managed to get some paint on the bodies of a few of the butterflies as I didn't realize I had some paint on my fingers....ooops. No harm done though:)
Tomorrow I'm going to another store that I do know has the right size of green silk ribbon I need. This time I called ahead. They have six shades of green so I'm spoiled for choice. It's a store for Cross Stitchers that has quite a selection of threads too:)
Well my sampler block for the online crazy quilting class I'm taking with Kathy Shaw is starting to fill up. I've done almost all the steps except the ribbon embroidery.
I remember doing silk ribbon embroidery years ago when Brazilian embroidery was a big fad. Silk ribbon is not easy to handle. It takes a light hand, patience and practice but the results are very pretty.
I really love the work of Di van Niekerk. She does such lovely work and she makes it look so easy. Kathy posted a link to Di's YouTube video on doing the iris stitch and I thought I'd share too.
Also here is her video on spiderweb roses...they are often used in crazy quilting....
Di van Niekerk has other videos if you are interested....here.
Til next time.....
Take care:)
Added:
A great source for embroidery stitching how to's is Mary Corbet's videos which you came find ...here.
