Milagros embroidery and New Classes

Yesterday I started an embroidery that is all in backstitch, (with just a few french knots). 

 I was inspired by the work of Yumiko Higuchi,

you can see lots of her stuff on her Pinterest boards, here

She seems to cover a whole piece of fabric with motifs, like this:

and then either frame it or use the fabric to make another item: such as these bags:

So, I drew out some motifs onto one of my fat quarters of Essex Linen, using a blue ink pen that disappears when it gets wet.  

  

 I had about 4 hours yesterday to stitch, so I was able to get a pretty good start on it.

 

Sometimes in redwork embroidery you use backstitch for more detailed pictures, and stem stitch when you want a heavier line, 

Anyway, the way of having the motifs randomly spread out over the surface reminded me of Milagros, the little motifs that many south americans use for prayer.  they sometimes fix them to a cross or a heart, as reminders of what to pray for,

The back of the piece, for whoever is interested......

 CLASSES!

As I was stitiching, I started to  think that it would be lots of fun to have a class at the store based on embroidery stitches!  (My mind is in overdrive right now as I am thinking of our new store space).  

It's been about 4 years since we had a whole variety of classes, since we just haven't had a dedicated space for a classroom.  However, in our new space there is a full basement (2000sq.ft!) and surely we will carve out a large sewing room.  So, now my brain is churning about what sort of classes we might offer.....  If there is something you've been hankering to take a class in, let me know!!

Enjoy the process

Have you ever heard that saying "he went riding off in all directions."?  That describes me the last couple days.  I have been working on all sorts of different projects. However I have finished a couple of small gifts for Christmas. Remember the lavender sachets?

Remember the Dottie quilt top?

I put the borders on, and was preparing the backing fabric, (that's the zigzag fabric in the photo above), when I realized I could make small pieced border for the quilt as well. It's not on the pattern, but I think it would be nice edging for it. I was thinking of just some gray and white half square triangles all around the perimeter.

I'm up to four blocks done for the Swoon quilt:

And I decided to try some simple embroidery on one of the cotton linen fabrics:

I traced a couple of black and white images of birds on to  6 inch squares on the fabric and I am backstitching the outlines.   

So far I have done a sparrow, and have started on a screech owl

I'm thinking that I might make papers pieced frames to put around the birds.

Not quite too sure about this project, where it's going.  I guess it's one of those that evolve. I'm not sure if I'll use just the linen fabrics or maybe use one of them as a background and use printed fabrics for the hexagons.....

Well I hope you are getting some Christmas projects done, just enjoy the process!