Stitching Sundays 23

 I have made a little progress with my winter decorations today, while listening to the radio and watching television (not all at the same time, I hasten to add!)

 Here are my bird decorations made from my hand made felt and then embroidered with simple patterns. I really enjoyed making them as they were quick to make and I am really pleased with the finished decorations.

You can see I used a purple pen to draw a rough guide, but it didn't really like the felt much, so it was very much a guide.  It should fade in a day or so.  I used back stitch for this pattern and straight stitch to make the stars on the blue bird.  I have a couple more to make and some more snowflake decorations too.

Sttiching Sundays 6

 Having said I needed to make some felt leaves for the seasonal tree decoration, I decided to make them my next Stitching Sunday project.  I used my own hand made felt and then added some simple embroidery to give an indication of the veins in the leaves.

Here is my progress so far.  I think I shall have to make the yellow one again in more of a leafy shape, because once I had lightly stuffed it, I think it resembled a carrot, rather than a leaf!  Hmm, try again there!

 I have just been using split stitch, inspired by the TV programme I watched three times (just because I loved it!) on English medieval embroidery - opus anglicanum.  Split stitch seems to give a versatile and flexible line and I think it looks a bit like chain stitch too. 

The light was rotten today due to the rain, so apologies for the less than  impressive photos.  I do like the felt colours on the bottom leaf, but I think it needs a bit more embroidery...  I hope to get these finished by next week and go on to my next project.

Gorgeous colours

Here are the felt squares I have made over the last two days, ready to be transformed into three 'trios of felt hearts'. I really enjoyed blending the colours and experimenting. I'll take some more photos when I've finished the pieces.

Felt Stars

I've just finished making a few handmade felt stars for sale at a Christmas craft fair and also just realised that I have booked a table at another craft fair the following evening! This means that I will now have to devote more time to building up my stock. These stars have a satin ribbon hanger and are hand embroidered with tiny stars in complementary colours. The handmade felt gives these items an added interest as the different layers of coloured wool can be seen at the edges.

Felt Hearts

Still a lot more to finish, but here are the ones that I have completed so far. The coloured Merino hearts are going to be left plain but I shall make some more with embellishments. Each of the natural coloured hearts is decorated with a vintage button, sourced from family button boxes.