Finding a positive from a negative

Another month draws to a close, and sadly travel restrictions continue to be enforced in Queensland!  Life in the "fast-lane" may have slowed down for us as travellers but it certainly has not slowed in the Woman's Cave. Whilst my "travelling" heart is longing to be on the road again to warmer parts of our State, my "creative" heart is loving the confinement of home and the Woman's Cave. 

I always try to find a 'positive' for any 'negative' in my life (must be the photographer in me!!!) ---- and I have certainly found a few positives from this state of "lockdown". One thing in particular that fills my heart with joy is for the first time in many years we have a winter veggie garden growing. For the past few years we have always travelled away from the rather cold Toowoomba winter, so when we had to cancel all our travel plans this year, we decided to plant a few veggie seedlings with hopes of enjoying the "fruits of our labour", so to speak. Now every time my "travelling" heart is longing to be on the road again I just look out of my Woman's Cave window and my eyes rest upon the beautiful image of a thriving veggie garden.

"Cave" Activities

My time this month has been shared between a number of different hand embroidery projects and making lap quilts. 

Lap quilts/knee rugs

At the last Guild meeting in early March, I made a commitment to make some lap size quilts (knee rugs) for a new local residential nursing home due to open early next year. I had not expected to have so much time at home in the first half of the year so had planned to make them after our travels. So another positive here. 

During May I have designed, cut, and stitched four rugs --- at the time of writing this post there are two quilted and completed, one partially quilted and one waiting to be layered and quilted. All four tops, and two backings, have been made with fabric from my scrap drawers. And there is plenty more where they came from!!! My goal is to have TEN completed before the end of the year.

Lap quilt 1

Lap quilt 2

Lap quilt 3

Lap quilt 4

Hardanger project No.2

Hardanger

My new hardanger project is progressing and I am still enjoying the challenge of this counted thread technique. 

Goal --- finish by the end of June.

Oriental fabric quilt

Now gracing our queen bed. I finished hand stitching the binding and hubby insisted it be placed on our bed the night the binding was completed. Needless to say, I think it is a success! 

RAK project - Under the Sea

RAK project -- Under the Sea cross-stitch

This beautiful colourful project has now been returned to my stitching friend on the coast, @Meryl Mollross.  I so enjoyed this project. Every time I picked up a needle and thread to stitch on it, my heart felt light and happy.

NEW EMBROIDERY PROJECTS in MAY 

Cross stitch project:     Some months ago hubby purchased the Winstitch program with the intention of converting some of our beautiful flora, fauna, and bird photographs (of which we literally have thousands on the computer!) into cross stitch charts. 

Whilst I was busy with the RAK project hubby was motivated to work through the Winstitch program and created our first chart - a beautiful red-backed kingfisher.  All chart designers need a 'test stitcher' and now was the perfect time to be working on this inaugural chart. 

Redbacked Kingfisher

Progress is a little slower than I thought it would be, but in my defense there is an awful lot of "confetti" in the head area of this bird! But it does look like a kingfisher!!!

Portuguese Whitework  -- Guimaraes style 

Guimaraes  whitework

 

As mentioned in my last post, I set myself a new learning goal after watching a Flosstube video by @Yvette Stanton, from Vetty Creations ( https://www.vettycreations.com.au/ ).

 This particular style of Whitework consists mainly of bullion stitches and eyelets with some stem stitch, Algerian eyelets and pulled threadwork,  to create beautiful motifs using white pearl cotton on white 38 count evenweave linen. 

After purchasing her wonderful resource book and some 38 count linen, I started my first small project. 

First project completed

It only took me a week to complete this small project, and I know there are a few errors but it was a learning experience.

Guimaraes new start June 1st

 I am now all charged ready to start a little more challenging project from Yvette's book.  Goal::  to complete this project by the end of July

So we head into the month of June -- almost half way through another year. For many this will be a year they will never forget, filled with sadness and heartache. My heart goes out to each and everyone that has suffered, and may continue to suffer, from this terrible worldwide pandemic. 

Stay safe my friends, and remember --- you can always find a positive from a negative -- you just have to look.

May update 2020

Since diving into the world of hand embroidery in 2012, I have been given many opportunities to learn more about this beautiful, and rather addictive, craft, which has given me so much joy through some very stressful times.

Every time I finish a project I feel a great sense of personal achievement and grow a little more confident in my own ability to learn new techniques and stitches.

Each year I try to learn something new and set myself one or two goals to consolidate what I have been learning. Much of what I have learned since 2012 has been thanks to the wonderful ladies at my local Embroiderers Guild who are always so willing to show me, and teach me, the different elements I strive to achieve.

More recently, with the restrictions of social distancing due to Covid-19, I have found inspiration and guidance through some Flosstube videos on YouTube. And it is from there that my newest goal has been set --- Portuguese Whitework. Many thanks to Yvette Stanton, from Vetty Creations, for inspiring  me to try this technique. More on that in a later post once I make some progress.

But before I move onto my newest goal, there have been some other achievements this year that I need to record in this post.

First, my embroidery goals for 2020 --
1. Learn Hardanger -- this has been something I have wanted to learn since I first joined the Guild, but never had the confidence to start. So in January, a Guild member, June Lederhose, offered to teach me and so began my love of Hardanger. We started with a small design and it just grew. By the beginning of April my first project was finished.

My first hardanger project

It's not traditional white on white but it's "me" and I was very proud to say "this is my first hardanger project".

Embroidery Goal number One achieved, and my second Hardanger project is currently underway.

Hardanger project number 2

2.  Then onto Goal number 2 -- Pulled Thread and Blackwork.  I have this particular project waiting to be started. Inspired by the work and designs of Elizabeth Almond at Blackwork Journey, this is another form of hand embroidery that intrigues me. I was introduced to Blackwork last year by a member of my Round Robin FB Group. Her project in the Round Robin was one of Elizabeth Almonds designs and I quite enjoyed stitching on that project. But I wanted to progress a little more and decided the Pulled Thread and Blackwork sampler would be another challenge for me. More on that goal in future posts -- I Hope!!

Round Robin Blackwork

3. Mountmellick --- about four years ago I "dabbled" a little in the world of  another Whitework technique called Mountmellick. I found the different stitches of this form of embroidery quite challenging at the time (maybe because I was teaching myself from a book!!). However, I did enjoy the Challenge and took my interest a little further by designing my own project. The inspiration for this project originated from my Welsh background as can be seen from the photo below. So Goal number three -- make some more progress on this project. I don't expect to finish it but some progress would be good.

My Welsh heritage in stitch

A Welsh harp in Mountmellick

In addition to my embroidery goals, I also set a few goals to complete some UFOs that have been needing some love for quite some time.
The first is my Oriental fabric quilt which I designed quite some time ago and promised hubby I would finish it this year!  Pleased to say there has been some progress on that one with the machine quilting finished and the binding added. Just have a little more tweaking to do on the hand quilting and hand stitch the binding down so that project is on target for a 2020 finish.

Quilt for hubby

The year in review -- 2019

OMG!  It seems that 2019 passed me by with only one blog post partially finished and never posted!!!!! ........... and here we are in 2020 in a pandemic lockdown around the world.

Although there has not been much activity here on my blog, that doesn't mean it has been quiet in the Woman's Cave. There have been a number of projects completed including some UFOs as well as new starts.

There were a few personal and stitching highlights in 2019 that I think I should mention. In March I was encouraged by some fellow stitchers to enter some of my work in the Toowoomba Show for the first time. Proud to say I was awarded two 2nd places  -- the Grecian Urns (cross stitch wallhanging and cushion covers) and my lovely embroidered wall hanging, On Freedoms Wings -- and one 3rd place for my patchwork placemats. There are photos in the page entitled Projects in 2019 in the menu bar above, along with many other projects for 2019.

Placemats --3rd place

On Freedoms Wings

Another highlight was a short retreat at Glenrose in Warwick, with my Stitching Sister, Carmel, and her friend, Davida. Four lovely days just stitching, chatting, and relaxing. I managed to partially finish three projects - an animal height chart for the grandsons which I finished in time for Christmas, and two wallhangings yet to be completed.

But my major stitching highlight for the year was when I was given the opportunity to display some of my embroidery work in the display cabinet at the Toowoomba Branch of the Queensland Embroiderers Guild for two months. Wow! A great personal achievement since I have only been a member and started my embroidery journey only 8 years ago when I turned 60 years of age.

Looking back on my photos I was very surprised at the amount of projects I had either completed, started, or worked on in 2019. No wonder I missed the blog posts.

As there were so many photos I have added a page in the menu bar above with a rather large selection for you to view if you are interested in seeing my work from 2019.

I have some very different projects to work on in 2020 and with the current global pandemic forcing us to "hibernate" for a few months there will be no travelling for us so there will be more time to spend in the Woman's Cave .

Stay safe and happy stitching everyone.

My work beautifully displayed

Work on display October 2019

2018 Year of Finishes

It might have been a Year of Finishes in 2018 but certainly not a year of blogging.

Despite a good start to the year life for us was not all smooth sailing in the first half of the year.

Creative activities slowed a little but there were some lovely finishes.

I make no promises that there will be regular blogging in 2019 as we will be travelling most of the year. However I will certainly make an effort to record my creative finishes when possible.

A few finishes in 2018 included my beautiful Petals and Patches bluebird wall hanging. I loved this project combining embroidery and patchwork.

Grecian Urns

Wall hanging and cushion covers

Another finish I was very pleased with was the cross stitched Grecian Vases project that was started way back in 2012 (I think??!!). These vases were part of a Round Robin that I finished cross stitching a long time ago. So I finally put them together as a wall hanging at a lovely little quilt retreat on Magnetic Island in May. The two remaining vases I turned into cushion covers and finished them in June when we were housesitting in Mareeba. This was a design by Anette Eriksson published in a  UK cross stitch magazine.


An experience I did enjoy in 2018, was stitching some samples for the designer, Anette Eriksson.  I undertook two projects for Anette who is from Denmark, but lives in Melbourne. She has some beautiful Danish designs on her website.

Christmas stitching was a busy time with three quilts and three stockings designed and finished in November and December.