Another bag trio

This week I returned to embroidering a couple of flowers on Ink and Spindle Black Cockatoo linen that I had set aside while working on a couple of major gift projects. The linen was already cut for a bag, and I had begun embroidering a couple of the flowers using bullion knots in perle 5 cotton to add a touch of dimension. I finished the two bullion knot flowers and added one in straight stitch. The back of the bag uses the same fabric but is left without embroidery.

I had another two panels in the flannel flower print, already embroidered and awaiting construction into a tote, as well as another length of fabric set aside with a Nicola Jarvis bird I had embroidered several years ago, so I spent a few hours ironing and cutting out lining, sides and bases to make up the three bags.  

The two sets for embroidered totes made up fairly easily over a couple of days once I put my mind and machine to it.

The grevillea print was trickier. I try to work with the shape and orientation of the fabric and this piece suggested a horizontal orientation, so I worked on a folio-style bag with a zip along the opening. 

As usual, I was working it out as I went along, and intending to attach a shoulder strap across the top, but realised, after I had stitched the zip to the outer layer, that it would need handles in the centre as well, so they had to be added. This also meant it would be better if the shoulder strap could be kept inside the bag until needed, but that could only work with the bag unzipped.  

The shoulder strap was, at this point, in two pieces, waiting to be joined. 

It occurred to me that if the shoulder strap clipped together in the centre, the two pieces could be tucked down their respective sides of the bag, so I made a trip to Spotlight for a clip to join the two ends, rather than stitch them together as I originally intended. 

At the tab end of the zip, the strap can be tucked in the open bag. 

At the other end I made a gusset, so the strap is tucked between the lining and the outer layer. It’s a somewhat strange solution I admit.

In addition, the bag is not entirely symmetrical - an unintended consequence of my work-it-out-as-I-go approach. It is 41cm wide and 30cm high in the centre, but with a 2cm discrepancy at the side edges.

It is, however, sturdy and will hold a fair bit - certainly a towel and beach equipment, artist equipment, or even overnight travel needs. It was fun to experiment. As I learned while doing Barbara Mullan’s Design Online Course, I fall into the design-as-you-go rather than design-it-in-advance group and that's OK.

These three add to my growing pile of tote gift bags - and I have fabric for more. I now have the zipped bag, seven embroidered linen tote bags and three printed tote bags awaiting homes. I have linen for at least another six, probably more. Better, I think, give tote bags a rest for a while.

Four months on I resume with a catch up

 I last posted to this blog in October, when I summarised the embroidery I had completed over the previous three months.  This had been reported in a haphazard way in the daily blog posts I undertook in https://jillian-england2020.blogspot.com/ which I began as a travel blog during my visit to the UK in March 2020 but continued when I returned to lock-down and then Covid restrictions. Friends encouraged me to keep that blog going as a record of Covid experience in Adelaide, Australia. I kept it going on a daily basis for a full year. As of 25 February I intend to keep it going on a weekly basis until our borders open up - probably the end of this year.

The weekly posts will summarise what I've been doing. This will include embroidery, but without a lot of detail. I'm planning therefore, to return to posting detail about my embroidery adventures here on Jillian-AlwaysStitching.

This post is a quick summary of completed embroidery projects since my post here in October last year.

1. Crewel Feathers

This series of feathers is from a cushion by The Crewel Work Company. I have worked the feathers as separate additions to my Crewel chair. Rather than ostrich feathers, which the design reflects historically, I worked them in the colours of native Australian birds that I see regularly.

 2. Inuit embroidery

This odd-looking piece is a result of a World Embroidery Study Group meeting to look at Inuit embroidery.  We used some templates from a book on the subject to try out common stitches and figures (mostly worked on hide). This is a hunter and bear (yes, others have commented it looks like a meerkat!)

We plan to put these together as an entry into the Guild Exhibition next month.

3. Shawl

This is the shawl I was working on when I last posted here. It was finished in time for my daughter to wear it to a wedding in November.

4. I worked a number of crewel pieces from The Crewel Work Company   

  and added them to the chair, along with the feathers discussed above.

This leaves one space on the back of the chair for the Aesop Fables Frame which I am working on at the moment. 

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 5. Before Christmas I worked a couple of Sashiko panels and turned them into a pouch and a zip bag respectively.

6. This hussif was the product of a Counted Sashiko  class with Carol Mullan at the Guild in November.

7.  Embroidered tote bags - four of these are Nicola Jarvis birds, embroidered on linen and appliqued on to bags I made from fabric from Ink and Spindle. The fifth (lower right) is an Anna Scott design from Inspirations Magazine, embroidered directly on to the bag. These are entries in the Guild exhibition and will be mostly gifts when the exhibition is over. 

8.I have just finished working this quote from Alan Garner's The Owl Service.

We are now more or less caught up. I will try to post here more regularly from now on.  

Catch up

It is a long time since I posted to this blog. In the last post, on 19 April,  I explained that I was posting daily to what began as my travel blog,  https://jillian-england2020.blogspot.com.  I continued the daily posts in order to provide a bit of a record of my Coronavirus lockdown, and then living under the post-covid restrictions. 

I have no idea how long I will continue the daily blog. I have assumed that there will be a point when the end of the Covid restrictions will bring the blog to a natural conclusion. If this is not the case I will need to reassess. When the daily blog concludes, I will return to more-or-less weekly posts here.

Two projects completed from the Crewel Work Company Retreat in March.

In the meantime, this is a summary of the embroidery projects I have finished in the last couple of months and discussed in the other place. I will continue to summarise every month or so.

The top piece is from Nicola Jarvis's class and the lower one from Kate Barlow's class.

The Muncaster Orange shown here being blocked, was begun in a class with Phillipa Turnbull at the March retreat.

The Muncaster Orange was added to my crewel chair, along with the Mellerstain Screen panel which I worked once I had returned home.










This bag is based on a design from the family collection of a friend of Italian-Australian background. An account of that collection can be found at https://www.jdellit.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/TheEmbroideryLegacyofMariaGraziaCarminaandherFamily-1.pdf




I completed this songbird design by Anna Scott from Inspirations magazine Issue 106 and appliqued it on to a bag I made from fabric from Ink and Spindle.















These 78 hexies are ready to add to to plain black edges of my winter quilt when it comes off my bed as outlined in my 24 March post.


These two birds are designs printed on linen by Nicola Jarvis. I embroidered them using colours of Australian birds and appliqued them on to another bag made from Ink and Spindle fabric.






















Niamh is modelling a Fair Isle scarf I made for one of my daughters,











The owl bag was my travel project. It has progressed, but isn't finished.




This Muncaster Orange is a reverse of the one above, to fit on the chair in a complementary position. This is what I am working on at the moment.

The hand-towel below has not been part of the daily blog. It was a birthday gift for a friend whose birthday is today. I would not have normally picked pink, but I wasn't able to source another colour in a timeline I could rely on.








We are both fond of flannel flowers-Actinotis Helianthi.













This brings us up to date.  I will continue to update this blog on an irregular basis until I reach a point where daily post-Covid posts are not needed.

Herdwick Shaker box

This week my Shaker Box arrived. I didn't waste much time in getting to work to attach my version of Nicola Jarvis's Herdwick sheep design.















There were instructions for the mounting.

The fit was very good, but in order to fit in the edges of the leaves on the diagonal, I needed to mound the piece to raise it up.

I did this using a layer of felt and a lot of wool-based stuffing over cardboard. I gathered the embroidery over this, cut off the excess and then  lashed it across the back.






I decided against using glue, and opted for double-sided tape. This worked well for most of the piece, but the short ends would not stick easily. I clamped them overnight but they still lifted a little.


In the end I bought some heavy duty double-sided tape and again clamped it.

The inside of the box is plain. I think I might use it as a sewing box, and keep a complete set of tools in it. While I usually assemble a set for each project bag, it would be really useful to have a set that always stays in one place.






So here it is, finished. Flora amongst her flowers.
I am very happy with it.