Thursday, 8 May 2014

Easily Distracted

I've been quilting, honestly I have. But last night, about 9pm, I had the sudden urge to do a little embroidery. Far be it for me to deny myself an urge like this so I rustled up a scrap of linen, and spray basted a wadding scrap to the back, because I seldom use hoops and this adds structure while I am stitching.

I looked at a few photos online and before you knew it I was attempting to stitch some lavender.


On the left is what I accomplished last night. This morning I finished it, and immediately embarked on another. This is a super easy stitchery to do. I used my water soluble pen to sketch out some lines for the stems, but if you look closely you will see I ignored those lines for the most part. You can make this up as you go along, really.

The other great thing about this - for me - was I finally took the advice of a wise lady and ditched the French knots for colonial knots. OMG! Why don't I listen more often? Love these. They don't unravel like some of my French knots are prone to do; nor simply disappear like you never wrapped the thread around the needle in the first place. I am totally converted. If you are curious how to do them there are some very good tutorials online. It's how I learned last night.

Crap quality of the photos totally due to the equally crap weather today.

My embroideries are now lavender bags. I have the urge to make more. Not like I have anything else to do.

 Focus, Susan, focus!

Susan
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22 comments:

  1. Teresa S.8 May 2014 at 20:17

    Pretty!

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  2. Catherine8 May 2014 at 20:45

    These are gorgeous

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  3. Claire8 May 2014 at 21:15

    Quick and super cute too!

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  4. Unknown8 May 2014 at 21:28

    Very pretty! Honestly....is there anything that you aren't good at??? Love your blog!

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  5. Judith, Belfast8 May 2014 at 23:03

    I love the prettiness of these! Adorable! Jxo

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  6. Gertie Pye8 May 2014 at 23:32

    These are lovely! Why have I never heard of a colonial knot before? Off to Google it!

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  7. moira8 May 2014 at 23:52

    Colonial knots you say... I'm doing a Lisa ^^^!

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  8. suemac9 May 2014 at 00:06

    So cute. I love lavender. They have a lavender festival here in Texas every year. There is all things lavender

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  9. Sharon - Lilabelle Lane9 May 2014 at 00:54

    They are very cute. hugs

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  10. gilly9 May 2014 at 09:56

    Those are so sweet - I'm off to google Colonial Knots now! xx

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  11. Lynz9 May 2014 at 10:57

    She's a smart lady that Helen! I struggle with French knots for all your reasons - defo trying the Colonials! Beautiful wee bags, too. Such a pretty distraction.

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  12. Isisjem9 May 2014 at 12:15

    These are so precious. I don't know the difference between a colonial and french knot. I am not convinced my version of a french knot is actually how it should be done ;-)

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  13. Lucy | Charm About You9 May 2014 at 20:35

    So pretty!! I've done colonial knots but still prefer French ones! I do them the sublime stitching way and it's so easy.

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  14. Shay9 May 2014 at 23:51

    Very very pretty! I think this episode of distraction was well worth while !

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  15. Terri10 May 2014 at 08:14

    Aw. So perty :-)

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  16. Hilary Florence10 May 2014 at 10:14

    Hi, Hilary Florence here. I can't find your email address to email you directly about today's post, so forgive me for answering here. I wanted to encourage you and say not to be put off or give up on entering shows. I entered my first show 6 months ago - got 2 'goods' and the rest 'satisfactory'. Like you, I hated the word 'satisfactory' and felt that my work was better than that. Unlike you, I did not get a second, more favorable set of comments! The second show I entered was the BQTV show at Utoexeter that you did - and I won 2nd in wall hanging. My ticks went from 'satisfactory' to 'very good and 'excellent' and I can assure you the quality of my work has not improved that much in 6 months! What I think made the difference was a much stronger design. But as your 2 comment sheets show, so much is the taste of the judge. So keep going. And perhaps we should start a campaign to change 'satisfactory' to 'shows promise'? So much more encouraging.

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  17. Archie The Wonder Dog10 May 2014 at 12:00

    I'm glad you like the colonial knots - there's no way I'd go back to French knots! The lavender bags are gorgeous!

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  18. tusen10 May 2014 at 17:53

    They are so lovely. I think linen lavender bags with lavender flowers embroidered on them are just perfect.

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  19. helenjean@midgetgemquilts10 May 2014 at 21:17

    omg. - have spent the last two days embroidering a daisy chain and tonight was to be french knots for the centres. Now I have to check out colonial knots. An exciting Saturday night here!

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  20. Kati from Kati's Quilting11 May 2014 at 02:24

    Never heard of colonial knots, but will have to check them out! Your bags are super cute!

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  21. Cindy11 May 2014 at 18:11

    They're VERY cute. I'm so glad you do get distracted. Will have to check out colonial knots. Why haven't we heard of them before?

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  22. Sarah24 May 2014 at 12:21

    Swapped to colonial knots myself, a few years ago. I find them much better coz they don't unravel.

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