Charley Harper Quiltalong - tick!

So, where had we left off with the old Charley Harper Quiltalong embroidery?







I think I’d just finished doing the little fish and was going on to the prawny thing …

 






So, this weekend I started at the prawny thing … You know I love the prawny thing.







All defining embroidery done, just a few blotches and some reeds to go …

… all hail the reeds … 

I especially like that I trusted my gut feeling about not using black for the reeds - I love the black in the print, but I think stitching some light reflectiveness in nudges it comfortably from print to textile ... 



I used three strands of a really high gloss satiny grey twisted with three strands of flat olive green.  I think it gives it a nice reedy sheen … I’d been dying to use that satiny thread, but it’s oh so slippy! 

I also added in the dark coral blotches on the old muskie’s head …

 

Here’s a really low res reminder of the original print:

… et voila! … 






… pressed and neat … quite yum … 


I’m really happy with how it turned out … I didn’t want to overdo it and kill that stark Charley Harper graphic style, but I think I brought in just enough texture with the embroidery.  


I also thoroughly enjoyed the process.  The design, the applique, the pressing, the raw edge machine sewing, the embroidering.  All of it.  


I’m not entirely sure what I’ll do with it yet, but it was such a great pick-up
put-down project, I may start another and just let them build slowly into a collection of Charley Harper panels … 


… I do really really want to do this one! 

… but have other projects to finish first …

What projects are you itching to get started on, but having to delay for finishing-other-stuff reasons?

Sunday Stash - RUN DMC

This hand quilting lark means my original embroidery thread stash, from since I was a teenager, has dwindled to practically nuffink.

It’s actually pretty much a 50-50 split between DMC and Anchor.  I don’t have a preference unless it’s concerning richness of colour.  To generalise massively, I think DMC does wonderful warm tones and Anchor is the king of cools.  

I really wanted to buy Perle thread - with a twist in it - but it is so hard to get here in Brighton and I was too impatient to wait for an e-bay mission. Next year.

I also splashed out the princely sum of £1 on some cardboard bobbins- I know I could have printed out a template and cut them all out and so on, but 

A. I don’t have a printer at home*
*part of my green kick - I use about 80% less paper than when I did have one - and I really don’t notice the difference much.  My classes are paperless too.  Bit rum considering I have such a rampant stationery fetish!  

B. This is not the time to be doing that kind of stuff





I tried using a plastic winder but it was unbelievably useless, like a cheap Christmas cracker novelty … prob on account of the fact that it was incredibly cheap. 

So I spent about a year and a half bloody hours winding it all onto the spools.

It was worth it

love these fab new satin threads which are way shiny

… probably best for single strand work perhaps?!

shininess best seen with flash





… a little colour goes a long way to cheering up a dull winter’s morning.  Oh yes. 

Just imagine what life would be like without it?

 

… Imagine too, if you will, what life would have been like without  Run DMC. Aerosmith and Walk This Way - I dare you not to smile and maybe even rock out a bit. 



Enjoy your Sunday :)