For Jane...

 

Jane asked for cream and gold colours with woven wheels and insertion stitches. It's a long time since I have used either of these stitches so it was "interesting" to try them. 

I have used perle thread throughout for faggoting, lacing with raised chain band and laced blanket stitch. You have to be very careful to keep your place when working woven wheels as it can easily go wrong. Gold fabric was inserted behind the stitches. Machine stitch and beads complete the piece.

Thank you for following us Rosemary.

For Sue...

 

Blue always makes me think of the sea. So I started by making a stamp of several fish using sticky backed foam that I stuck on to some mount board to make it easy to use. I looked out some hand dyed fabric, scrim and a scrap of music paper that I had coloured during a mad dyeing in jam jar session.
I printed a mariners compass onto TAP paper to transfer it to the fabric. And the background evolved from there. A zigzag edge and flowing machine stitching set the scene.
But I had to concentrate so much when it came to the hand stitching because I never normally do french knots I always do colonial knots. But after several false starts I got there in the end. Finishing with single and double seed stitch and a trim of lace.  Janex

For Rosemary...

 

This one just came to me as I was sorting through my black and grey fabrics in my stash. Inspiration came from the backing fabric, which is a Paisley cotton I made myself a blouse and skirt from in the 1980s, which I also wore to our engagement party! You can just see it peeping around the sides. And another piece from an early quillow, with the same sort of flowing swirls and shapes.

A pieced background including some texture magic on silk. Then chain stitch and raised chain band with felt appliqué, to echo and emphasise the Paisley shape. I love the swirly pattern of Paisley, and hope you like this page Rosemary.
With love
Debbiex

For Debbie...

 

Turquoise and Aqua are not colours that I have in my stash so finding suitable colours meant a real rummage! I thoroughly enjoyed using a new stitch (never heard of pistil stitch before) and of course revisiting herringbone stitch was fun. Anyone my age will remember that was the stitch of choice for crimplene dress hems back in the day - I actually winced when I wrote the word crimplene!  Mostly stranded cotton, a bit of perle no 8  and some broderie anglaise, a length of granny's lace she used on nighties and petticoats and 5 heart buttons to show the love that was included in the piece. 

love to all and keep on keeping safe

Margaret

 

For Margaret...

My piece for Margaret who chose Running Stitch and Back Stitch in Ecru. Cotton, linen and upholstery fabrics. Free-cut pieced background. Machine quilted. Perle and linen threads and beads.

Sue

A New Challenge...

 

We decided to keep to 8 inch squares as before. This time each Maid chose a background colour and two hand stitches. The other Maids then completed a square in their choice of fabrics and threads. Some found the stitches challenging but then that is the point!

My piece for Sue for which she chose blue and French knots and seeding stitches was stitched on indigo dyed fabric from a very distant dyeing session. Just shows the colour holds for a long time. I used a thermofax screen with white paint for the cow parsley adding pearl seed beads to the stitching. 

I hope you enjoy seeing our new pieces and can feel that we loved doing them for each other. We will be having a big hand over of the work to each other as soon as we feel safe to get together. Until then please enjoy!

Thanks for reading

Rosemary

'Slow' Stitches.....

 

Like the other Textile Maids I have really enjoyed sewing these eight inch square pages for each other. I kept it simple and used the same format for the pieces just changing the colour to the individual's choice. I had great pleasure covering the fabric in a variety of 'slow' stitches. I have always felt there is a wonderful element in hand stitching that links all sewers through time and I love the simplicity of using a running stitch - surely the first stitch we learn and the stitch that all others develop from. 

It will be such a joy to meet up and exchange pages sometime in the summer, maybe in a garden- with tea and cake involved!

Back soon

Margaret