Seashells on the Seashore

I recently attended a workshop given by the inspirational Toni Hanley. The theme for the workshop was Seashore and shells, so we were asked to bring along bits and pieces such as beads, buttons and shells to add to our embroideries.

Never having worked with shells in an embroidery before, they were the first of several New to Me's that I was introduced to in the workshop!

The first element of the piece to be made involved colouring some silk fabric with paint.

We wrapped the plain silk fabric around a plastic cup and tied it tightly with cotton thread then painted over the scrunched up fabric with silk paint and left it to dry.

Then we cut up pieces of Tyvek, a definitely New to Me fabric, before attacking them with an iron and heat gun. I discovered that Tyvek, which is used in the making of items as diverse as envelopes and housewrap (!), is a favourite of mixed media artists, due to its capacity to warp and bubble when heated whilst retaining sufficient softness to allow for stitching through it.

This is what happens to those flat pieces of Tyvek after they have come into contact with a hot iron!

A dab of silk paint later and they were also left to dry.

Next up bonding Angelina Fibres with the iron to create a shimmering piece of fabric. Another New to Me too :)

Finally we ironed some painted Bondaweb to a piece of felt and covered it with a layer of iridescent film, as you have probably guessed another New to Me, and we were all set to start embroidering.

A couple of happy hours later and I had this to show for my day. The darker pieces are the painted Tyvek and the long piece at the top of the silk is a silk cocoon that has been teased out and painted.

I absolutely loved working on this and have been stitching away on it every chance I get ever since so, hopefully, will have a finished piece to show you in the not too distant future.

So, that's my New to Me's this month, now it is over to you to link up what you have been up to for the first time in March. As always, the link will remain open until the end of the month so you still have time to give that technique a whirl that you have been pondering about for a while :) Don't worry either if things didn't quite go as planned, we are all about the triumphs and tribulations here and who knows maybe someone else has had the same problems as you and knows a great fix. So share those New to You's with your fellow bloggers who are always up for anything that will extend their creative boundaries!

An InLinkz Link-up

If you have some finishes in the pipeline there are still some host spots available for the TGIFF link party in the coming weeks, sign up here and maybe tick another New to You off that list!

It's quilting, I think!

If you have been around here long enough you will know that on the 25th of each month we celebrate our attempts at any new experiences we have had that month.

So, welcome to another New to Me link party!

A couple of weeks ago my EG branch held a workshop on quilting with paper so, naturally, I signed up.

This is the example of the technique we were shown, it is definitely not something that I have ever attempted before!

The paper used in the example was ordinary brown wrapping paper scrunched up and layered together, hence the quilting. The class tutor had also brought along some sheets of the paper that you often find filling the space in the large boxes that a well-known online retailer uses for the smallest of items.

I decided to use that instead of the brown wrapping paper and instead of being inspired by tree bark as in the example above, was inspired by some of the walls that I have photographed on my travels, such as these in the Lake District.

Here is where I have got to so far. You can see that as well as the three scrunched up layers of packing paper I have added a layer of tissue paper to the top before hand quilting.

I have a lot of stitching yet to do and will, at some stage probably add some FMQing to the piece too, but I am surprised to find that I am enjoying working with this paper. The more that you work with it the softer it gets and the more like fabric it begins to feel.

I probably should have started with a smaller piece, but that is a lesson for another time :)

My other New to Me this month is not sewing related and is the eventual take-up of a birthday present from last year.

Salmon Ceviche

Chilli chocolate pot with Churros

A day Mexican cookery class at the Cook School Scotland! The class was a mixture of demonstration and hands-on cooking and was a great way to spend a cold Friday in February. With chillies in nearly everything we cooked and ate, there was no shortage of heat in that kitchen :)

So, that's my New to Me's for this month now it is your turn to share your triumphs and disasters as you navigate the uncharted territory of brand-new experiences. As ever the link party will remain open until the end of the month, so if you need a nudge to try something new that has been lurking in your mind for a while consider yourself nudged!

An InLinkz Link-up

Time for Tea

This year my Embroiderers Guild branch celebrates 20 years since it was founded. To commemorate this event all of the members have been asked to create a pincushion in a teacup, which will be distributed during afternoon tea at our last meeting of the year in May.

To kick start the members' thinking on the commemoration a recent meeting saw all of the members present creating a cupcake pincushion. We were given the silicon cupcake holder and scraps of fabric to do with as we wanted.

So, here is my cupcake pincushion.

The dots suggested flower centres to me, so I surrounded them with daisy chain stitches to create rows of flowers. The pompom trim, which was lurking in my ribbon stash, was the ideal match for the bright blue cupcake holder.

Another colourful addition to my stitching supplies!

I have also been on the lookout for a vintage china cup and saucer for our anniversary project. I was loath to break up any of the tea sets that I own, so have been searching the local charity shops for a lone china teacup and saucer that would fit the bill. All of the cups and saucers that I found in the local shops were being sold in pairs and as I didn't want to end up with an odd cup and saucer afterwards I have resisted making a purchase.

On our recent visit to Gravesend I came across this in a vintage shop and knew that it would be ideal for our commemoration project. The cup and saucer were originally being sold as a pair according to the ticket price but there was no sign of the second cup and saucer, so the owner was happy to sell me this lone cup and saucer.

I have an idea in my head of creating a flower garden for the pincushion and have pinned lots of ideas but time will tell whether that works out!

In the meantime at least I have started the process with the purchase of a cup!