Buttons, Beads and Bobbin

I have been on my travels this week, with a lovely few days on Deb's new boat, including a bit of foraging in the market, the antique hall and the art shop. I couldn't resist the glass beads - I was very pleased to find the round black ones, because they are perfect for eyes, which means I can get on with adding the faces to the Fairy Tale quilt. I also got a bag of small shell buttons, which have a lovely sheen. It's hard not to see faces in two-hole buttons, and because these are natural and imperfect, there are some interesting expressions among them.  Then we treated ourselves to some stones from the market. The black piece is apparently from Whitby, and contains a mass of tiny fossils. The other is, I think, striped calcite palm stone, and I bought it for its beautiful lines and colours. 

An artistic selection of my new purchases. Now I will have to sort them all back into their little bags.

To our great joy, there was a sale of DMC embroidery thread in the art shop, so we treated ourselves to four skeins each. I'm looking forward to using the new variegated thread - but I'm not sure on what! I also got a present from Deb, a vintage loom spool which will eventually be used to make a scroll. All the cotton has to be wound from it first.

Lovely colours, and a lot of cotton to use up

Travelling by train is a good time to get a bit of sewing done, if it isn't too crowded, but I've learnt from experience that some sorts of sewing work better than others. Joining inch-sized paper hexagons was too fiddly, and it's hard to evenly hand quilt when the train is jolting around. So for this journey I prepared a bit of easy stitching in honour of Hallowe'en. These ten little witches are marching along in their hats and cloaks, looking quite determined. They are about 4cm high, including their hats, and are cut from the bits in the tiny scrap bag. They are attached with minute seed stitches in a single strand of thread, and their hair and arms are six strands, couched on, although, in retrospect, I wished I'd used wool for their hair. The background is adorned with cross stitch, to give it a bit of texture. The advantage of seed stitching is that it doesn't really matter where the stitches go, and its nice to feel all the floppy bits of loose fabric merge into a single piece. 

Witches on the move - I wonder where they are going?

Finally, I thought I would show some of the books in my collection that have given me inspiration over the years. This one is Fairy Tale Quilts and Embroidery by Gale Harker, first published in 1992. Inside, there's lots of advice on planning, sources, materials and techniques, and full colour pictures of some beautiful works by a range of artists. My favourite is the quilt shown on the front cover, especially as the princess is peeping out from her own patchwork quilt. The designer of this quilt clearly didn't have my problem with drawing frogs!

Big Bloomers

Bare Rabbit has some bloomers! 

I was nearly defeated by the first leg of pintucks, which took a long session of folding, pinning, undoing, re-pinning and several cups of tea. The wobbly result is evident! However, after a good night's sleep, the second leg seemed much easier, and I flew through sewing on the gathered trim and up the seams. 

However, it quickly became obvious that the bloomers were going to be huge on Bare Rabbit's skinny legs, not at all how they looked in the book. I debated taking in the side seams for a better fit, but decided not to bother. For one thing, the whole bloomers thing seems a bit below Bare Rabbit's quiet dignity, and the exercise was to improve my sewing skills, which I certainly have done.

I'm not sure why some of the clothes seem to have come out too big. At any rate, I feel I've learned enough for now from this book, and I'm going to have a look for another machine project, because I have enjoyed the process very much. 

The Fairy Tale Quilt is progressing too. All the main pieces are attached, and it's time to add a bit of personality. I'm using tiny beads for eyes, noses and hooves, and had to hunt through the drawer of 'things used once a decade' to find the beading needles. There were two left in a pack of four  (I wonder where the other two are lurking) and both were bent, but, luckily, skinny enough for the tiniest, fiddliest beads. 

Faces can be a bit unpredictable. The slightest crooked stitch or misplaced bead can cause these lovable characters to turn into brooding evil masterminds. Puss in Boots, however, looks like a kindly soul; a bit ironic, because he was a cunning trickster in the story.

Puss in Questionable Boots

Meanwhile, Daddy Bear has the glazed look of a father who was dragged out of bed too early on a Sunday morning and forced to go for a walk before he's even had his porridge. (You can see it cooling in the cottage window.) He too has a pleasant smile, though. A little fly stitch works wonders for the mood.

A hungry bear and his bowl of porridge.

Interestingly, the story of the three bears is included in my German book of Fairy Tales, but in this version, the rotten thief is not a golden haired girl, but a little old lady who utters bad words when things are not to her liking. I much prefer this version, although there is the worrying possibility that she is arrested and thrown into an asylum at the end. Hopefully, I have misunderstood the German.

Finally, here are a couple of Billy Goats Gruff, with their trip-trapping legs flying, although they are nowhere near the bridge. You can imagine those little beaded hooves would make enough noise to try the patience of any troll. I have a soft spot for trolls, and don't like to think of them being bad tempered. Perhaps he'd just had a hard day. 

Clueless-looking goats. They should muffle their hooves.