What a busy weekend it has been. A special hello goes out to all my new followers from all corners of the globe It has been wonderful to welcome you to my Mystery Blackwork Stitch Along (SAL) and the photographs of your beautiful work which I’ve received so far, can now be seen in the gallery here. I’ll update the gallery as I receive your new photo’s.

If you like what you see there, take a peek at the gallery of another SAL organised by my dear friend Claire. She has an English blog here and a French blog here. She is so talented!

I couldn’t resist a few statistics about the SAL so far, so here goes…

There are 24 stitchers in the group.

13 are from France, 3 from the US, 3 from the UK, 1 from Germany, 1 from Singapore, 1 from Sweden, 1 from Switzerland and 1 from The Gambia (how exotic is that!?)

If anyone else wants to join the group, there is still time. You will need about one hour per week to stitch each part. All the instructions and free chart are here. Any questions, just ask!

Today, I have something to show you that I have made for a very special friend who had a birthday recently. I decided to photograph my progress as I used the “Quilt as you go” method to make a mug rug. There are many ways to make one of these. This is my favourite way as there is no need to quilt it at the end. I hope you like it!

You will need:

Backing fabric 11 x 9 inches

Wadding 11 x 9 inches (you may wish to use heat resistant wadding but do not use polyester wadding as it will melt on your iron)

Five strips 8 x 2.5 inches

Binding 48 x 2.25 inches, folded and pressed in half with wrong sides facing.

Lay the wadding on top of the backing fabric.

Position the first strip, right side up, about one quarter of an inch from the right hand edge.

Sew in place using a quarter inch seam through all three layers.

Turn the work so that the strip is positioned to the left.

Lay the next strip on top of the previous strip with right sides facing.

Sew a quarter inch seam through all layers down the right hand side of the strip.

Lift the second strip and press towards the right.

Like this.

Place the third strip on top of the second strip with right sides facing.

Sew a quarter inch seam through all layers down the right hand side of the strip.

Lift the new strip and press to the right.

Continue until all five strips are attached. Then sew down the right hand side of the final strip.

Then sew along the top and bottom and trim all the way round to make a rectangle.

Line up the raw edges of the folded binding strip with the edge of the mug rug. Leave about 3 inches before starting to sew a quarter inch seam down the side.

Stop sewing one quarter of an inch before the first corner.

Pull the work away from the needle area of the machine. There is no need to cut the threads. Turn the work to this position.

Lift the binding and finger press in this position. The fold should make a 45 degree angle and the raw edge should be in line with the right hand side of the work.

Keeping the fold in place, bring the binding down in line with the next raw edge of the work.

Continue to sew from the very edge of the work to the next corner and repeat until all four corners are done. Stop sewing about three inches before the finish.

Overlap the ends of the binding strip and cut so there is a half inch overlap.

This bit is quite tricky! Sew the ends of the binding, right sides together, using a quarter inch seam.

Finger press the seam open then continue to sew the rest of the binding to the mug rug. Turn the binding towards the back of the work.

Hand stitch the binding to the back, folding to make the mitred corners.

Ta-da!

Just testing

I’ve also made table runners, toppers, cushion fronts and place mats using the ”Quilt as you go” method. It also works well for small jelly roll strip quilts. If you want some extra challenge….use diagonal strips, maybe of different widths……you choose, be creative! Whatever you decide to do, have lots of fun experimenting

Latest news! Lin has now received her prezzie and she’s making good use of it. I love fig rolls too!

And look what she’s busy with….the Mystery Blackwork SAL. I’m looking forward to seeing this one on the dark fabric

If you’ve missed the first part and would like to stitch along with us, you can find it here. You can join the group at any time.

Starting with mine

Alison

Angela

Cath

Claire

Corinne

Gun

Jule

Jocelyne

Masha

Nora

]]> http://ohsewtempting.wordpress.com/2013/05/18/mystery-blackwork-sal-gallery/feed/ 21 ohsewtempting Stage 1 051813_0385 20130520_145032 salcopclaireétape1 SALClaire01 SalBsurprise01copie broderi,part1 bw01 BM CIMG0791 mayy22018 http://ohsewtempting.wordpress.com/2013/05/17/mystery-blackwork-stitch-along-part-1/ http://ohsewtempting.wordpress.com/2013/05/17/mystery-blackwork-stitch-along-part-1/#comments Fri, 17 May 2013 00:01:32 +0000 Oh Sew Tempting http://ohsewtempting.wordpress.com/?p=5707 ]]> Welcome to Part 1 of my Mystery Blackwork SAL

My dear friend Claire introduced me to blackwork a few months ago and I’ve been very happily stitching along with her. Several of my regular readers will have stitched along too!

I have now charted my own design to share with all of you over the next few weeks and Claire has very kindly tested the complete chart. Of course, she has been sworn to secrecy, because this is a “Mystery” SAL. New stages will be released every Friday.

This is a small square project, only 62 stitches across and down. You will need a piece of your regular cross stitch fabric, embroidery thread, a needle and scissors. I’ve used 14 count aida fabric with one thread colour. You may wish to experiment with several colours. The choice is yours. You will need to stitch the entire design with one single thread to get the best finish (in my opinion) as the design is so fine and delicate.

So, be brave!! If you haven’t tried this type of embroidery before GO FOR IT Come on all you quilters! You know you want to try this. I’m sure you can spare about an hour a week to stitch along with us!

Here is my first part completed. 

If you are joining the SAL please:

• Leave a comment to let me know you are stitching along
• Mention which country you live in so we can all see how many countries are taking part
• Send me a photo (via email) of your stitching at the end of each stage so I can update the gallery for everyone to see

Finally, before you download my chart, please REMEMBER this! The design is my own and is provided for your personal use only. It MUST NOT be copied, reproduced or sold in any form.  I am sorry if this sounds harsh but my designs and tutorials have been copied and/or sold before. Please play nicely. I like to share

Click the link below to download

Part 1 Chart

Enjoy! See you next week,

Avis x

The SAL over at Claire’s blog  is now finished. I thought you might like to see my completed stitching which is actually “finish number 12″ for 2013! I was going to use different coloured threads, as indicated on the chart, but then decided to play safe with just pale turquoise. I’m pleased with the result and I’ll definitely make this design again. There is a bit of extra interest created by the cross stitches.

These small blackwork projects are ideal for picking up when you only have a few minutes to spare and there are lots of lovely free charts on the web. If you haven’t already tried it, have a go! You could even join my Mystery Blackwork SAL, starting here on Friday. I know you will love the results

Happy crafting!

Avis x

Thanks to all of you who have already expressed interest in joining the Mystery Blackwork SAL. You have only 6 days to gather a few items from your stash if you want to start on Friday. See here for more details of what you will need. I do hope you will stitch along with us

It’s been a busy week for me so I haven’t been able to do any patchwork or quilting for a few days. However, I have done some more of the Narrow Boat cross stitch.

Here is where I was up to on the last update.

Here is where I’m up to now

There is a lot of black back stitch outlining and a few French knots to add when all of the cross stitching is complete. It will give the design a sort of cartoon appearance which I think is quite fun!

When it is finished, it will look like this.

I’ve already stitched the camper van from the same series and it finally has a frame!

So, everything is happening here slowly but surely at the moment. I’ll be back on Friday with the first part of the SAL

I’m very excited!!

Avis x

Without further ado, I really need to welcome all my new followers this week, many of whom have found my blog via Claire, my wonderful cross-stitch friend in France. I know you are all waiting for the Mystery Stitch Along and I hope you can wait patiently for just a few more days I’m very excited about it as I’ve never organised a SAL before and I know there are already several people signed up. Hopefully, Claire will correct me if I make mistakes

The SAL will be open to everyone, the more the merrier. I would absolutely LOVE IT if some of you could maybe try blackwork for the very first time with us. You have 12 days to sort out a piece of fabric to stitch on. Any cross stitch fabric will be suitable. My preference is for 14 count aida fabric but you can choose. My design is about 60 stitches square so make sure your fabric is big enough. Also, you will need some embroidery floss. Traditionally, blackwork was stitched in black, I bet you hadn’t guessed that already You can stitch in one colour, or if you prefer, a selection of colours. Some of Claire’s SAL members have used variegated threads and they look lovely too. We will be stitching with only one thread, unlike cross stitch where we would normally use two threads at once. I will provide the chart for my design FREE of charge. So, there is something for nothing! Don’t you just love that idea? I will reveal stages of the chart every Friday and there will be about an hour of stitching per week if you want to keep up You can send photos of your work in progress to me (email address at the right of the page) and I’ll open, and regularly update, a stitchers gallery. So, watch this space……only 12 days to go!

A couple of my previous blackwork finishes are here and here so now you know what to expect

In the meantime, I declare another quilt finished  Yesterday, I decided I would quilt whichever work in progress was at the top of the box of patchwork waiting to be quilted.

I’ve named this one Picnic Pinwheels because the fabrics are the colours of the most beautiful flowers in the garden and the size, at 54″ square, is perfect for a picnic rug. I made the quilt top about a year ago at the same time as I made this one and this one. They are all from the same layer cake by Moda called Santorini. Not one scrap of the layer cake is left. I like to challenge myself to leave no scraps. I love the colours and the bold prints which I cooled down by teaming them with my most adorable Moda Bella solids.

I know I make a lot of pinwheels but look at them. How can I cure this addiction? Do I really want to be cured? Nah! I think my Picnic Pinwheels could be the eye candy in my conservatory for the next few months. I’ll be spending a lot of time here, sewing in the glorious daylight, hopefully hand stitching the binding of many more quilts (still my favourite pastime ever!!).

So, don’t forget to sort out your fabric and embroidery thread. Be there or be square a week come Friday

Have a wonderful crafty week! I’m linking to the Made It Challenge over at Woolhogs. Pop over and take a peek at all the goodies made by other bloggers this month

Avis x

Where did that week go? I hope you are all well and happy and you are getting lots of lovely sunshine as we are, here in the UK.

I have a couple of small finishes to share with you this week. You may remember my Strawberries and Cream post here. I’ve now finished the two table toppers. The larger quilt top will have to wait a little longer

First up is the scrappy one.

I enjoyed experimenting with the free motion quilting.

Here’s more detail.

I think it might work well with the plain side up for a change. Two for one……bargain

Next, the hexagonal kaleidoscope strip style one.

I played safe with the quilting here.

Also, binding the unusual shape was a new challenge for me but I found there was very little difference to binding 90 degree angles. You all know how much I love to bind

So, I had fun, fun, fun! I hope you have all had fun this week too

My Starry, Starry, Night quilt has been entered in this months “Made It” challenge at Woolhogs. You can pop over and vote for your favourite projects, which are not all sewing and quilting, and visit lots of lovely blogs.  The nice thing is that the winner is chosen at random. The voting is just for fun So enjoy!!

Some of my regular readers will know that Claire recently introduced me to blackwork embroidery. You can see a couple of my finished pieces here and here. If you visit Claire’s blog you will see lots of progress from all the stitcher’s on the latest “Stitch Along” here. There are still a few stages to go. What a difference a change of colour makes.

Also, today I’m letting you into a little secret

In a few weeks time, when Claire’s SAL is finished, there is going to be a Mystery Blackwork SAL here. It will be a small project, designed by me and it will last for about 6 weeks, with the chart being released in installments. That’s the mystery part! So, you all have plenty of time to sort out some embroidery floss and a small piece of aida fabric. You could also use linen or evenweave or your other favourite cross stitch fabric, though there won’t be any cross stitches. I’ll give more details later but would love to know if you’d like to join in the fun. I expect the stages to take about an hour per week to stitch so everyone will be able to find time to stitch along.

It’s going to be another busy week ahead for me. I hope I manage to get time some time to sew.

Thank you for all your lovely comments and emails. They make me very happy

Happy crafting!

Avis x

I just saw this from my garden and thought of you!

What a beautiful day. I hope it is wonderful where you are too

Avis x

I hope you are all having a wonderful crafty time. Welcome to my new followers and all the lovely crafting people across the globe

I have finally plucked up the courage to quilt a large quilt top which has been waiting in my box for almost two years. I think this was the third top I ever pieced. The fabrics screamed at me in the shop. I just had to buy them!

I quilted it with a surfy sea sort of pattern as the colours and prints are very watery.

The back is a gorgeous solid purple which is a perfect match for the purple marble on the front. I like a solid backing as it shows off the quilting….and I get a nice reversible quilt. Two for one…..bargain!

Now you can get an idea of the size. It’s massive!

Now, what’s next? Come on everyone….follow me over to see Claire. Part 3 of the SAL is now  available. I must get stitching!

Have a wonderful weekend

I’ve just entered this quilt in a challenge here:

http://woolhogs.wordpress.com/2013/04/25/aprils-made-it-25/

There are some wonderful entries. Don’t forget to pop along and vote for your favourites

Avis x

My pinwheel bug has mutated…..into the Trip Around the World Bargellow-ish bug. It’s quite a serious illness which makes people repeat things.

It’s quite a serious illness which makes people repeat…….. ha-ha only joking

As you’ve already seen two of these here and here, I won’t comment much further. This version is just two of the previous ones side by side. I quite like the effect.

The colours are white with robins egg, turquoise and teal from light to dark. I couldn’t decide which way around I preferred to look at it so both photos are included. I haven’t made two tops!

Hopefully I will now recover and do something different. I have a SAL to catch up on here. Come and join in the fun

Happy Thursday,

Avis x