Mini Summer Project I: Brooch/Kleines Sommerprojekt: Brosche

While sitting in the garden and chatting with my Mum, I worked on this small brooch -



- all by hand and with scrap materials found in my glass jar. I think it looks a bit folkloristic Scandinavian, especially with this white blouse.



(German summary: Nur eine kleine Brosche mit Material aus dem Resteglas, das ich gemacht habe, während ich plaudernd mit meiner Mutter im Garten gesessen bin - ich finde, es hat etwas Skandinavisches, oder?)

It's just another cat, my deer!/Raubtierhirsch

Funny enough, it seems as if the scrappiest of scraps boost my imagination the most!

This is today's deer, where I had to assemble three outline patches (and even add a bit of additional drawing) to achieve one animal.



Here you can see the three fragments joined:



I found a piece of wildcat fabric in my stash and decided to use it for the body.



Then I took a clear plastic envelope for tracing the outlines - this way I could see where to position the eye best:



The beads on neck and back are not only embellishments, but also help holding the fabrics together.

And as I seem to be in a creative upswing right now, I made this ring for myself today as well - it's basically a piece of black rubber, some natural beads (coral and bone) and a platinum covered metal bar with a removable knob.



(German summary: Je anspruchsloser die Reste, umso mehr wird anscheinend meine Experimentierlust angestachelt! Drei Reststücke und etwas Raubtierstoff bilden heute das Gerüst meines neuen Hirsches - dann noch ein paar Perlen und Metallpailletten für's Geweih ... Ja, und der Ring kam heute auch noch zustande: Gummi, Naturperlen und ein Steg mit abschraubbaren Verschluß.)

Elk in action/Fortlaufender Elch

And I wondered what would happen if I'd use a black/white paper cord for outlining this elk (or moose) ...

I couched it down with one of my hand-dyed cotton threads -



- and then grabbed a Japanese newspaper I had at hand :-) ... and pasted it down with some napkin glue.



*** to be continued ***

By the way, go see these inspirational YouTube videos about Léa Stansal and her overwhelming fabric work: here is the first one, here the other one! - And for those who don't speak French: it's well worth just looking at the pictures ...

(German summary: Diesmal hat es einen Elch getroffen - ich habe die Konturen mit einer schwarzweißen Papierschnur 'nachgezogen', und diese mit einem selbstgefärbten Baumwollfaden festgestickt. Ich habe auch kleine Stücke Zeitungspapier mit dem Serviettenkleber an den Stoff geklebt ...

Außerdem noch zwei Links zu YouTube und der fantastischen Textilkünstlerin Léa Stansal!)

Oh deer! Fabric Wildlife/Rotwild im Musterwald

A friend sent me some scraps of a cotton fabric, which had the outlines of different deers printed on it.

And like in a drawing book, these outlines just asked to be filled in with colour ...

I chose strands of cotton threads and some light weight fabrics from my stash palette - the pictures show work in progress, of course.





Furthermore, these gorgeous linen-blended wool strands are hand-dyed by Dornröschen and now waiting for me in a basket beneath my spinning wheel ...



And - I've bought myself a new pair of shoes ... running gear, almost like walking barefoot!



(German summary: Die Konturen dieses Stoffes haben richtiggehend nach Farbe und Inhalt gerufen - ich verwende Moulinégarn und dünne Stoffreste dazu. - Spinnfutter von Dornröschen - diesmal eine neue Mischung, mit Leinen! Und dann habe ich mir noch ein paar neue Schuhe gekauft ... fast wie barfuß laufen!)

Stitching flowers/Blumenstickerei

I've done a bit of stitching again lately - actually it's a combination of different techniques:

first, I used my embellisher to needle-felt some scraps of different novelty yarns to the pre-felted green background, then I did some embroidery on it, partly with woolen threads, partly with hand-dyed cotton ones - then I used my embellisher on it again - and finally I added a couple of fabric mini yo-yos, which I made out of fabric scraps and then sew on to the center on some of the flowers.

I'm not yet quite sure how to proceed with this - maybe I'll use it for a book cover.

(German summary: Ein kleines Werkstück mit einer Kombination verschiedener Techniken - Trockenfilzen mit dem Embellisher, Handstickerei und ein paar Mini-Rosetten, die ich mit dem Yo-yo-maker gemacht habe - der Hintergrund ist ein Stück grüner Vorfilz.)

Matrioshka brooch/Matrioschka-Brosche

Did you see the little Matrioshka in the middle of the Noro yarn in my previous posting?

It's a small brooch I made, just for fun.



Some time ago I bought a cotton fabric which had printed Matrioshkas on it - I cut out one of them and worked some satin stitches on it in the corresponding colours, added a couple of beads and sew it to a piece of wool felt done with the embellisher - and ready was my Matrioshka brooch!

I'm still knitting on my sleeveless Noro-sweaters - one is almost done! - and I'm a little excited: next week I'm going to Alicante in Spain to visit Sara! She has invited me to stay with her for a week and I'm sure we will have a great time together!

(German summary: Die kleine Brosche, die im vorigen Posting mitten in der Noro-Wolle zu sehen war, ist eigentlich ein Stoffdruck, den ich mit Perlen und Garn bestickt habe. Ich stricke noch fleißig an meinen Pullundern - und nächste Woche fliege ich nach Alicante, um Sara zu besuchen!)

Scandinavian wrist warmers with tin thread embroidery/Skandinavische Pulswärmer mit Zinnfadenstickerei

Another deep dive into my stash ... and what I found this time was some curly sheep fur, some tin thread, bone, metal and glass beads, and some small pieces of fulled cloth - very, very soft, probably with angora ...

I just couldn't resist sewing these small bits together to wear as wrist warmers!



I used another bit of sheep skin - also very soft and this time without curls - as an appliqué for the leaf, then couched the tin thread with a silver metal thread for the borders of the leaf.

Tin thread embroidery - which is a couching stitch - has a long tradition in Scandinavia, often used by the Sami people on reindeer skin. The 'naked' sheep skin I used here has the right 'look', I think.



The red borders, which I layered in between while sewing, are just waste cut-offs - but I found them being most decorative for this project!

The wrist warmers are not lined with the fur - I only had very narrow strips of it (waste material as well), which i sew under the edges to complete the Scandinavian touch!

(German summary: Noch ein paar Schätze aus meinem Fundus - diesmal entstanden ein paar Pulswärmer aus den Walkstoffresten, Pelzstreifen, Zinnfäden und Perlen!)

A lace collage needlebook/Ein Nadelbrief aus alten Spitzen

Finally, I've come to the conclusion that it is now time to use the treasures in my stash - not just collecting them ...

Maybe the situation is familiar to you as well: You keep collecting and piling beautiful material, spending quite some time organizing and stashing your treasures (and if you're not too organized ;-): searching for certain items you know should be there somewhere) - and of course this is a pleasure itself, sometimes ...

but just having reached the break-even point of my lifetime, I'm now convinced that I want to use and have fun with these things, rather than collecting a lot more of them ...

So I took a dive into my beloved stash and found a box of vintage lace - and decided to make a 'Victorian' needlebook especially for my embroidery needles ...

It's not finished yet - I still want to add some beads - but this is the back so far:



- and the front:



(German summary: Ich habe mich entschlossen, daß jetzt die Zeit gekommen ist, wo ich meine gehorteten Schätze auch verwenden möchte, nicht nur mehr sammeln und horten ... Hier ein geräumiger Nadelbrief aus alten Spitzen, extra für meine Sticknadeln - noch in Arbeit, da ich die Spitzen mit mehr Perlen befestigen möchte.)

Fragments for the New Year/Neujahrsfragmente

A new year, and some new fragments ...

The first one, an experiment with bamboo fibers on wool, found in my stash, now embellished with cotton thread in a running stitch and some metal thread for the cross couching.



Makes me think of snow and starfilled winter nights, of Santa's beard, of longhaired reindeer winter fur and of the Northern light.

The second one, another experiment, this time with bleached linen fibers on wool cloth - now embellished with a piece of blueish organza and another metal thread:



makes me think of birch tree bark and of a hidden cobweb door, to be trespassed by fairies only ...

What fragments may this year bring, which will be brought to mind?

(German summary: Zwei neue Fragmente zum neuen Jahr; mit Bambus-Fasern und etwas Stickerei, das winterliche Assoziationen bringt - das andere mit Leinen-Fasern und ein hauchdünnes Stück Organza, eine Feen-Tür vielleicht ...)

Rock carving fragments/Viking comic

A couple of new fragments, which I would call 'Viking comics', as they show moving men and animals in action ...

Although I'm not quite sure if this first motif really is a Viking one ... With no doubth it shows reindeers, and this kind of carving is more likely to be of Sami origin - there are similar Sami pictures in the book 'People of Eight Seasons' by Ernst Manker, which I once borrowed at the Stockholm City Library. (More about the Sami people in this earlier posting.)


When visiting Sweden in spring, I went to the Historical Museum in Stockholm with my drawing pad and jotted down everything which caught my eye in this pictural respect.

At the museum shop there were some fabric prints too, and I think these sheep might be influenced by those prints ...


As far as I know, this last one is really a genuine rock carving found in the county of Bohuslän (Sweden), at Tegneby, Tanum:


The embroidery technique itself is not very spectacular - I just used the common basic ones in order to keep it as simple as possible and let the graphics of these ancient, unknown artists talk for themselves.

(My friend Elizabeth/Landanna wrote in her blog today that she'll be posting about 'helleristningar' (rock carvings) tomorrow or during the weekend - so why don't you pop over and have a look - I will for sure!)

(German summary: Drei ganz simple Fragmente, aus dem Bilderschatz der skandinavischen Geschichte - die dargestellten Tiere und Menschen, alle in Bewegung, lassen mich fast an ein Comic strip denken ...)

Fiber scrap fragment/Restefragment

I have a glass jar, where I put all the threadends and fiber leftovers when working. When punching with the embellisher - which is, as I've said before, a wonderful recycling tool - I can see through the glass if there are any convenient scraps to use with the current project.

For this fragment, I've used a handful of threads from there, which I then bound with a couching stitch.



By the way, I think there are far more ways to encounter embroidery threads than visiting your local craft shop:

at hardware stores and building centers, you can find interesting packthread or rope, made out of all kind of recycling fibers, which you can use as a single thread for embroidery -

and at flea markets and thrift shops, you might find tassels or silk wired curtain holders, which do not only provide you with the outer layer of silk, but also with an 'inner life', possibly consisting of colourful recycled cotton or wool threads ...

At garage sales, you might also find unfinished embroidery kits, where the motif might be ugly but the threads most useful ...

The threads of linen fabric may consist of useful threads, and so can a ball of variegated sock wool or a supply of darning wool ...

There are a couple of earlier postings I wrote on this subject beginning here.

(German summary: Dieses Fragment besteht aus kurzen Restfäden, die ich beim Arbeiten in einem Marmeladenglas sammele - und wenn man die Augen offenhält, finden sich bei Baumärkten und Flohmärkten auch allerhand Fasern von aufgemachten Schnüren und Kordeln, die für's Sticken taugen ... Auch Sockenwollreste und aufgeribbeltes Leinengewebe sind nicht schlecht!)

The winter is over!/Der Winter ist vorbei!

It's been a long and cold and ugly winter, but now I feel spring is on its way, with more warmth to come.

As I took my coffee cup outside yesterday, to sit a while in the garden, I discovered the first early spring flowers persistently digging their way up through the wet soil, and I saw the first honey bees flying around.

I'm truly sorry for having neglected you and my blog for such a long period now - it's been a difficult time and my energy resources have been very low.

But now I'm back again, hoping to find you still being there ...

For Christmas, I had an exciting surprice parcel from Elizabeth at Landanna - she had used some of my materials to embroider this beautiful one-of-a-kind textile rune stone:



It is embroidered with black and red linen thread on woolen cloth, then mounted on a knitted red background - I'm really impressed by this perfect solution! (Read her own blog posting here.)

And a fortnight ago, I had Sara visiting me and we spent a relaxed, yet inspiring week together, talking, working, making future plans ...

She brought this gorgeous cushion as a birthday present:



It's a combination of punching, patchwork and embroidery on wool and I adore it! (You can read about the details in her own blog entry here.)

What a joy receiving such beautiful gifts from two such talented and wonderful friends!

Sara is now starting a new blog called 'Sheezo, Frenya and the little lamb', which is divided into three parts, corresponding to her main art work.

My blog will remain being a mixture of the different things I'm doing and discovering.

Lately, I've been knitting and crocheting a lot and have quite some projects on the go. I've kept on experimenting with variegated sock wool, but I have also found some new and exciting other colourful yarns which I'd like to show you. There will also be some lace knitting, a moebius, necklaces, flowers, starfish and recycling knitting - well, I hope it will be of interest to you!

I shall be posting again within the next few days.

(German summary:

Der elendlange Winter ist endlich vorbei und ich fasse Mut für einen Neustart. Von meinen Freundinnen Elizabeth und Sara habe ich diese wundervollen Geschenke bekommen, Details dazu gibt es auf ihren eigenen Blogs.

Ich habe recht viel gestrickt und gehäkelt während den letzten Wochen, und habe mit allen möglichen Techniken und Farben herumexperimentiert - mehr dazu in Kürze!)

Embellishing a patchwork vest - a recycling project

This weekend I started working on an embellished patchwork vest.

Originally, this was a 2nd-hand-sweater, a bit too loose and sloppy, but still comfortable to wear, thin knitwear and of a soft orange colour.

As I rather wanted a vest, I cut off the arms and secured the cuttings by punching a piece of a bright coloured, light-woven Chinese (!) shawl to it - other pieces of this shawl are found on the front and back of the piece. I then added some other scraps of tweed fabric from my stash - the colourful squares are from an old tweed skirt.

Here you can see a detail of the punched pieces.

As I neither did use any wool to bond it to the base/to the sweater, nor put the fabric overlapping, there are small gaps between the different pieces of fabric.

I therefore began filling in the gaps - and also securing the fabric scraps to the base - with strings of yarn, sometimes just punching the yarn into the gaps with the embellisher, sometimes embroidering with the yarn and then punching it from both sides, in order to "melt" it into the fabric layers.

As this is a real recycling project, I was careful to use odd yarn ends from my stash, of course ;-) ...

I think the black yarn is a good contrast to the very bright colours - I don't know why my camera doesn't bring out the colours "for real" - and still I expect them to become a bit more softened, when I finally punch it all from the backside, and the original orange colour melts into the front fabrics.

Due to the punching and the fabric scraps the vest is now getting sturdier and narrower, as I wanted and expected it to - and this time, wise from my first experiment (see earlier posting), I'm not using the coarse felting needles ...

I will keep you informed as the project proceeds!

Embroidering white woolen mittens

When visiting Vienna last week, I found two very nice embroidery books, the original titles in French are "blanc. Motifs de broderie traditionnelle et au point de croix" and "rouge.Motifs de broderie traditionnelle et au point de croix" by Agnès Delage-Calvet and Anne Sohier-Fournel. (There is a "blue" book in this series as well, but I didn't buy that.) They've been translated into German, so I guess they'd be available in English as well.

These are quite simple embroidery books, showing mainly cross-stich and back-stitch motives, but in the usual absolutely charming French way and with beautiful photos on different things to embroider upon. The booklets also come with a small embroidery kit corresponding in colours to the titles - but I bought them for the sweet motives, of course.

The books really make you want to start embroidering instantly, and as I found a few pairs of real oldfashioned 100% woolen, knitted and felted mittens the same day in another shop, I knew what some dear friends are going to find in their Christmas parcels this year ... my criteria are: useful and personal - and maybe a bit special.

Maybe I just have to keep a pair of them for myself ...!

Whatiffing 24-32, Hearts

It looks as if this Whatiffing's really got me hooked ... Yes, I do work on some other main projects as well, but they are larger and take more time to complete! And these small pieces are quite fun to do, I enjoy playing with this kind of small series ...

The hearts are punched with different shades of red wool on embroidery canvas for background and further embellished with (starting upper left corner going row-wise)

24. silk fibers, glass beads
25. free machine embroidery
26. felted knitting, hand embroidery
27. wool, metal net, hand embroidery
28. ceramic heart, hand embroidery
29. wool, hand embroidery
30. wool and cotton fabric, hand embroidery
31. yarn, metal wire, scoobidoo plastic
32. yarn, hand embroidery, beads

So, now I think I've made all my pieces required for one month! What about you, girls? I'm curious to see your Whatiffings, too!

A little Whatiffing with embroidery

Today I did a bit of my own Whatiffing again: a landscape punched with wool (and some silk) fibers on a woolen cloth - I tried out some free embroidery on it, which I've actually never done in this way before. It's fun to try something new!

The size is about 6,5"x7,5".