Welcome visitors from Pintangle!

Thank you very much for clicking over to see me. ☺

I was very flattered when Sharon asked to include me in her TAST interview series, especially as I haven't been able to join in as much as I'd have liked to.  Also, if you've read the interview you'll know I'm not very good at the exploratory process - I'm very different from many of the artists featured thus far!  However, I do like to learn new things and develop as much skill as I can, so TAST is one of the challenges that offer a constant opportunity to move forward.  I'm planning on looking more closely into the Embroiderer's Guild distance learning courses towards the end of this year, so they may provide the needed impetus.

If you'd like to know more about the wedding dress panel, you can see my series of seven posts on the project, or hop over to the Kreinik Threads Blog to read their interview with me about it. ☺♥☻

I'm having some technology problems at the moment - both my laptop and my digital camera urgently need replacing (the camera I can only use if I seal the battery door up with duct tape, and the laptop is exasperatingly slow, no matter how much I delete, disable or otherwise clean up), so blogging has been rather neglected of late.  It takes a lot of patience and planning to get anything done, so there are a few projects waiting to be published.  Assuming I get my tech up to speed in the next few weeks (as I very much hope to, and Sir has agreed the funds for it ☺) , here's a sneak peek at what's coming up soon:

Here you can see some previews of counted thread and freestyle embroideries, sewing and knitting projects, and preparation for entering some local summer shows.

I'll be blogging all of these projects and more in the near future, including my sewing workshop days and some overviews of all the handicrafts exhibits at the Bingley and Ryedale Shows held later this month and the Shadwell Flower Show in mid August.

You can subscribe using the e-mail service (just remember to complete the verification process, or you won't be signed up), or any of the usual reader services.  There are widgets for some of the most popular part way down in the side bar.  I'm also on Instagram.

If you'd like to know more about my work, please do feel free to have a look at the gallery pages which you can find links for just under the blog header image.

My apologies for a relatively short and dull intro post, but I seem to be in for a bout of tonsillitis (or a cold at least) and I'm feeling just that little bit ropey today. However, thanks very much again for calling in and I hope to host you in my web home often. ☺♥☻

If you haven't seen the interview I'm referring to in this post, click here for a look!


Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2017

It's time.

Time to what?  Don't worry, not time to stop stitching or blogging or anything like that.  It's time to make a few changes to what I'm stitching/making and for whom.

You see, for the majority of the time I've been doing a lot of needlecrafts, i.e. the last 15 years, almost every thing I made was for someone else.  I have a hardanger needlecase, an XS bookmark, and there are some pictures hanging up around our home and two scatter cushions here on the sofa I'm sitting on, but the vast majority of things - including all of the 'masterpiece' projects - I've made have gone elsewhere.  Don't get me wrong, there's not a single thing wrong with that.  In fact, it's a good thing.  Not only would I never had done those stretch projects in the first place without the impetus of giving them to someone else, but I would have been inundated with stitched bits and bobs and, of course, it's not good for a body to be entirely focused on themselves.  Not good at all!  However, having said that, there's a balance needed.

You're probably wondering what the pictures of worn out bags are, right?  Well, they're my things.  The things I've been using, whilst they were clearly shabby, worn out and, frankly, falling to bits.  My handbag is terrible too.  I recently bought one on eBay - a cheap Chinese made thing in horribly hard fake leather and without the inner pockets they advertised.  (No photo at the mo, but I will take one soon, as I intend to use the fixings for a new one.)  My knitting needle bag that you can see here could be as much as 70 years old as my mum said her mum bought it for her.  I'm assuming it was when she was quite young and living at home.  The colours are lovely, I like that about it, and the shape is pretty much perfect for needles, but the fabric is horrible and you can see what condition it's in!

I stood one day looking at my disgraceful manicure pouch (seen above) which an old friend gave me when I went to Taiwan the first time 20 years ago, having in mind the knitting needle bag with its side coming away from the zip and thought, "You spend hours on end making beautiful things for other people, whilst your own stuff is dropping to pieces.  Why on earth don't you start making things for yourself?!"

So, I decided I would.

Then I looked at my clothes.  That wasn't too pretty a sight either.  Not that all of them are falling apart, but the ones in the best condition are those that I can't wear anymore thanks to having gained weight.  I threw out a lot of the far too small stuff before we moved a year last February, but some more have 'fallen into disuse' since.

To be honest, I could have bought some new things, but when money was tightest and Sir needed clothes too, it was more important for him to look smart at work every day than me to do so at home, so I told him to get what he needed and I'd take care of myself later.  At the back of my mind too, was that I wanted to shape back up a bit.

Another clothes buying challenge is that I just plain don't like a lot of styles that are around.  You either have to deal with fabrics, colours or shapes you don't really like or try to compensate for insufficient fabric as so many dresses etc are less than modest these days.

"Enough!" thought I.  Time for a change.  A big change.

As you've probably guessed, I decided to make, not only accessories for myself, but also to knit and sew the clothes I really wanted in fabrics I loved.  I came to this idea from Lydia of Made My Wardrobe, who gave herself a year to replace all her clothes with ones she'd created herself - from first principles in her case, as she's a trained textile expert who could design and draft her own patterns.  (Thanks to Amanda of Amanda Jane Textiles who 'introduced' me to Lydia's project via her own blog.)  I thought, if Lydia could do that, why couldn't I?  I knew how to sew and knit a bit, so why not develop those abilities further and replace my clothes at the same time?

I haven't started on the bag making yet, although you can now understand including 'Start on bag making tasks' in the list for the month, but I am on with my knitting work as you've also seen.  I've started with things that I can use straight away and am focusing on tops until my sizing is more stable.  I'm currently working on knitting the 4th of the 5 large pieces needed for a replacement for the very shabby, thinning at the elbows, has a hole in the pocket front and is seriously bobbly old cardigan I've worn to death over the past seven winters and, of course, am wearing right now!

I've also completed this double stocking stitch scarf in yarn that matches a pair of gloves my mum gave me and goes nicely with my black coat - which also rather needs replacing......

I've bought umpteen sewing and knitting patterns (you can see what I've bought as well as some inspiration on my Creating my Own Wardrobe pinterest board), and am already booked in to two sewing workshops to help me learn more and gain confidence.  If I like the format etc, I have my eye on a few more for the autumn, such as pattern adaptation and drafting.

So, whilst I'm going to be continuing to stitch and embroider - especially in the run up to the summer Show season, I'll also be doing a lot of dressmaking and knitting, and then reporting on that in due course.  I plan on embroidering some of my own clothes and even aspire to a crazy patchwork jacket in the fullness of time.

What about you?  Do you make any of your own clothes and/or accessories?  Any tips or experiences that you can share?  Let me know if you have any ideas and what you think of the selection on the pinterest board too.

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2017

Anniversary things finished

I had a feeling of déjà vu this anniversary.  Last year I didn't feel very satisfied with the things I'd made for Sir, and this year was pretty much the same.  He liked them well enough, so that's what really mattered, but I wish I'd done things just a little differently....

The Bible cover project was a bit of a bodged up job as, sadly, the textile I'd created here was too the tiniest bit too short and one of the four inner flap edges (two on each of the two flaps, of course), didn't catch in the main seam.  I had to sew it up by hand.  Also, some of the decorative seams are straining a bit and won't last well Having said that, he's pleased with it and he likes the fabrics and the gold zig-zagging.  I do too, I just wish the whole piece had been just half a centimetre or so 'taller' so that the seams wouldn't have failed and there would be just the tiniest bit of give in the length, thus avoiding some of the stretch.  Still, it was a first attempt at several things - creating this sort of fabric weaving effect, using metallics in the machine, making the cover at all and doing the fastening stuff.

For any future projects of this type, I'll be making the whole thing at least 1cm bigger than needed and I'll make a press-stud flap, or something similar, instead of trying to do Chinese knotwork with the most horribly springy elasticated cord.  Totally unsuitable for the job!  I need to look into some good alternatives.

The card wasn't too bad, but I wish I'd thought on to put a fancy paper shape under the stitching as I did the first time I did this kind of crafted XS card.  Need to remember that for next time too.  Lots of learning curves!!!  Not a bad thing on the whole, but I often wish I could learn in a 'safer' environment than to be always experimenting with new techniques on someone's gift.  So, I'm looking into courses again....

Again, I only used things that I had in stash for these projects with the exception of the elasticated cord, which I had to spend an extravagant 35p (US 50c) on!!!  I've recently used up quite a few things and run others down quite low.  I'm going to need some more Bondaweb soon, esp. if there are to be any more of this sort of project in the offing.

Coming up soon:  A new hardanger scatter cushion cover project and a small thread painting that I thought I'd never use mounted in a nice card.

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2016

Projects in progress and on standby

'Project on Standby'.  Isn't that so much nicer and more positive a term than 'Unfinished Object', or 'UFO'?? =)  Sometimes I call them 'stalled projects' too.

Of course, long-time readers (you kind souls!) will know that I don't 'do' UFOs.  I always try my hardest to finish my projects as I dislike wasting work done in the past and the time spent on it.  Wasting time is soooo much worse than wasting money, and that's bad enough!  OK, so I'll admit that I have pulled out the work on a couple of small pieces and dumped the idea, but it gets thoroughly dumped, not just dropped in a drawer or box waiting for the elusive 'someday' as when we say, "Someday I'll finish that".  I do have a few 'Someday I'll start on that's though....  But that's another story.  After Janet Granger's post this morning on projects she wants to give attention to after a major finish, I felt a similar stock-take coming on, so let's talk about things that need finishing off and other things that I'm planning to get done soon for this summer's shows.

I really need to get back to and complete the little hardanger samples you can see here and that I plan to mount in small, coordinating cards.  Thankfully, one of the shows I hope to be entering (Heckington in Lincolnshire - where we'll be on holiday/vacation the same week), has a 'Handmade Greetings Card' class, so that will give me some impetus to get them completed so as to be able to exhibit at least one, especially as there are free exhibitor entry passes for anyone entering 15 or more items.

I also want to get that needle-painted violet finished off and, as my confidence in my needle-painting skills has been boosted by the success of the white roses, I feel more ready to get back to that one.

And, of course, there's still the old Paradise Island cross stitch, which I've worked a few hours on since we moved here 4 months ago and currently looks like this:

You might be able to see a tiny white dot on the very top edge of the photo, just left of the centre.  That's where, alarmingly enough, a hole has appeared in the fabric!  It's outside the design area and should be taken in under the finishing fabric when the time comes, but I'm keeping an eye on it in the meantime.  Any suggestions would be appreciated.  Perhaps I need to invest in some Fray Check.

However, before any of that comes back into commission, there are anniversary things to finish as it's our 17th on Sunday and, as usual, I'm making a couple of things for Sir.  This year, (after having bought him something he wanted earlier in the year), there's a card, for which this is the cross stitched piece.  Just needs pressing and mounting.  I'm going to have another go at surface mounting, I think, but I haven't fully decided yet.  Need to get my card blanks out and experiment a bit.

In addition to that, I'm in the middle of making him a new Bible cover, because his old one, as you can very clearly see in the first photo here, was incredibly worn and absolutely unfit to be seen.  I've 'lent' him mine, which is in much better condition, for the interim period as he's very much a cover fan and rarely goes without one.

Yup, you've guessed it - using up some scraps from the oriental baby quilt. =)  I just need to strengthen the machine zig-zag stitching on the outer edges where it could easily fray, organise some kind of fastening and then finally seam across the top and bottom including a lining.  These covers look so clever, but once you turn them fully inside-out, they're amazingly simple.  More on this one when it's done.

I'll also have some mounting of older pieces that I can enter in the shows to do (including a slight repair/improvement to the goldwork viola) and this hardanger cushion cover to start.  I'm not going to work the whole thing as, I don't know what you think, but I find it too 'busy' a design to be really attractive as it is.  I plan to do the central diamond and some of the squares abutting it, but probably nothing more.  Maybe one or two small surface motifs in the corners, but not cutwork.  What do you say?

A productive summer coming up!  What about you?  What are your creative plans for the next few months?

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2016

Long Update Posting!

Well, hello there!

Long time no see, I hear you say, and you're right!  I am still alive and kicking, just dealing with a lot of stuff these days and not getting a lot of creative work done.

Having said that, here's what my cross stitch piece looks like just now.  There's not a lot of difference, just another line of mid-green underneath the left hand leaf, but at least I've done a tiny bit.  Very fractionally better than nothing, no? =)

So, what *have* I been doing if not stitching etc?  Well, we're planning to move back to Leeds to be nearer to Mum this summer, so I've been devoting pretty much all of my spare time to clearing out and cutting down on stuff.  That means everything from sorting through drawers, boxes and cupboards, through selling and donating stuff to throwing stuff out and using things up too.  I've been blogging much of the process over on my goals and lifestyle blog, Fluffy Little Idiot, where I've got recently created Use-up and Read-up lists, which are helping me to prioritise my time with a view to having less stuff to take with us.  You see, some of the things on my old goals list, including needlework things, yes, were things I wanted to do and complete, but were also things that I was planning to keep.  For instance, there was a Chinese history book in the old list's reading section, but I'm not expecting to give that book away in the short term, so I shelved that one and got on with volumes that I do want to pass on very soon.  I've also emptied out a number of boxes etc and sold some stuff already.

The most recent part of the clear up process was this third drawer of my larger set in my room:

Here it is mid-sort through and not really getting anywhere.  I was hoping to clear this out a lot and also a basket-bag which I keep my hoops, frames etc in and put what remained in this drawer, but there didn't turn out to be enough room as I really only lost two embroidery hoops - poor quality ones, two flexi-frames - in colours I didn't like and certainly wouldn't use, and a few odds and ends of paper pattern pieces and fabric scraps for the charity shop to sell to the rag merchant.

I also found a few sewing projects that need attention.

This is a cute one, isn't it?  I started this when I was about 12 and in the Girl Guides.  I didn't get on very well with it and the leaders gave me the pattern and the pieces to finish the lion off later on.  As you can see, I didn't!  However, I've decided I will soon and then I can make a gift of it to a little child.  I even have a little girl in mind already. =)

In the first drawer photo you can also see a piece of stitching I worked a few years ago and never quite finished completing up into a tiny cushion/pillow.  The story behind this one is that, a few years ago, a lady called Nicole Burgess, who was running the pearl cotton version of Six Strand Sweets, Pearl Sweets, asked me to make up a couple of models for her to put on her website.  Sadly, her enterprise never really took off and so I didn't have much impetus to put the finishing touches to this, which was just to stuff the cushion and sew up the final seam.  I came across it recently and thought that it would make a perfect engagement/wedding souvenir for an old friend who gets married in May, so I finally completed it and handed it over to her house-mate on Saturday.

Does anyone remember these fabrics?  I've been planning on making these into a case for my digital camera ever since my hubby bought it for me nearly six years ago, but got no further than roughly cutting some pieces of fabric in readiness.  I found the whole lot, including thread, a button for the fastening, some lightweight wadding and some Vilene to stiffen it in this drawer too.  So, that's something else to get done and out of the way.

This last one is the parcel I received in an exchange that was run on the long since defunct Country Bumpkin web forums.  I was living in Taiwan at the time and I think my parcel came from an American lady.  This is what she sent me (along with three skeins of co-ordinating DMC cotton, some over-dyed silk and some wooden thread holder gadgets), and I've long been intending to make it into a nice glasses case for myself.  I plan to stitch something on the evenweave fabric, embellished with the beads and make the case up with the dyed fabric as a lining and the button as a fastener.  I have no idea when that will happen, but the 'kit' is still here ready!

The idea was that we were to create a kit pack for our partner and they were to make something from it.  I sent this parcel of Oriental goodies to Dian Nunn in Australia and I wonder if she ever made anything from it??!! =)

I remember really enjoying looking for the beads and buttons in the shops, making up this parcel and photographing it.

This morning I was looking at the local Show stuff again and wondering if I would have anything worth entering.  I've really done nothing since.  Well, nothing I can enter, anyway!  Also, I don't know where we'll be living when the Sheffield Fayre is on and I'm not ready to enter the Leeds Show this year.  I have some ideas to try for the Sheffield one and I daresay I can still enter as a recent city leaver.

I really need to get on and complete the two embroidery projects that I have on hand at the mo.  It's hard to motivate yourself when you're finding one rather hard (as I always do with Helen M Stevens' designs) and the other irritatingly bitty to stitch.  Can't tolerate unfinished projects though, so completed they must be.  Recently I got quite into the Myers-Briggs personality typing stuff and found that it's part of the personality type as to whether one is results or journey oriented.  For instance, numerous stitchers have umpteen projects on the go and don't really care whether they finish them or not.  Some tell me I'm being 'hard on myself' when I, as an INFJ type, require completion of things before starting something new and feel uncomfy with part-done stuff hanging around.  They probably have a 'P' at the end of their personality types.  My 'J', however, and means being keen on lists, schedules, orderliness, results and so on (and I test very strongly 'J', apparently!).  'J' types find the 'P' type disorganised and unproductive and can't understand how they can bear it.  So, if you're a 'P', don't expect a 'J' to chill out and 'stop giving themselves such a hard time', they're happy with their method and it feels deep down good to them.  Conversely, it's no good we 'J's exhorting our 'P' friends to get on and be systematic about it and get things finished, 'cos they just don't have any sort of need to and seriously don't care about it. LOL! =)  Kind of a stitchers' live and let live!!! =)  Anyway, if you have a go at the test, let me know what type you come out as and how you feel it relates to your stitching habits and preferences.

That's all for now and I hope to have something more creative to share soon.

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2015

Introducing Hanako!

Remember this exotic lady?  I didn't actually showcase the whole of her when I completed the appliqué and so on back in late Feb/early March as I wanted to save her and display her in situ.  Well, the scatter cushion cover she was made up into was finally finished on Wednesday, shortly after my posting the feather finish.=)

She's worked on white fine cotton lawn fabric, which was backed with another similar piece of white.  The appliquéd fabrics are Japanese imports bought in a fabric market in Taipei, Taiwan.  They were sold in either fat quarters or rolls about an eighth of a fat quarter in area for patchwork and quilting (which seems quite popular in both countries).  The background to the hands and face was painted using Colourcraft's fabric paints and all the outlines were put in using good old anchor stranded cottons.

Sewing this one up was almost as bad as all those trousers! I think it was too much at one time.  It was also the most complex scatter cushion cover I'd ever done, having a border with mitred corners on, plus piping.  It was my first go at mitred corners and three of the four came out very well.  The fourth just missed, but the gap isn't really glaring, so I decided to let it go and put that down to experience.=)

So, what do you think?  Was she worth the five month wait?!!

Here's the top corner of the back so you can see the pretty backing fabric.  I actually used the same one that appears in Hanako's obi.

I think I'll send a photo to the 'Inspirations' magazine team , because I got the outline for her from a back issue and they may be interested to see what I've made of it.  I'm considering sending a shot or two of the ring cushion to Helen M Stevens too.=)  Have you ever sent photos of your work to the designer?  What happened?

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2014

Field Mice Done - YAY!

I can't believe how long this piece has taken me to finally complete the stitching on! I started in in January, I think, and it's now almost the last day in May! The pattern estimates that it will take '15 evenings', but I sometimes wonder both how long those evenings are expected to last and whether the stitcher concerned is expected to have anything else going on in her life, such as making meals, doing dishes, dealing with other stuff and, of course, the small matter of family!! Anyway, whatever, it's done and I hope to get to the fabric market within the next week or so to get the material I need to make it into a sofa cushion/pillow. Anyway, click on the photo to get a better, larger view.

Whilst I'm there I also want to get something to back the hardanger needlecase with, although I may just use the doctor's flannel. Yes! Good news! I found out today, whilst looking out the stuff for my camera case, that I had actually brought the piece of cotton doctor's flannel needed for the pages of the needlebook/case, so I can finish it up after all. Margaret was so kind as to send me a piece of the woolen doctor's flannel, but it wasn't quite what I needed. However, it will come in for something and I've, at the very least, learned that there are two types of this particular cloth.

Here's the next project I want to start, a hardanger doily type thing. A local friend has been great recently, dropping in every so often with big bags of fruit. The funny thing is, she often seems to do this when we've run right down and I don't feel really up to lugging heavy bags around. So, I want to make her this little piece as a 'thank you'.


The next cross stitch I have in mind is this lovely narrowboat design I've had my eyes on doing for years. It's another 'Cross Stitch Crazy' magazine design that I copied out of my own mag before coming here, and, although the chart makes it look considerably larger than the field mice, it's as wide as they were high and so not so very big after all. The chart has larger squares. This one will be for me to put on the wall of my study/studio when we get our new home.=)

This is the book I plan to take most of the pattern for the camera case from and also some of the small pieces of fabric I brought with me for it. The shiny one is the outside and the other one the lining, which I bought here just over 2 years ago.

More on these soon, I hope!

The new blog is going well. Yesterday I did a short piece on blog design and how not to overdo it with fancy trimmings and today's posting contains 2 simple, but important, tips on how to avoid tooth decay!! Hop over to the Fluff and see for yourself.

10 days to go....

And I am now the proud owner of 2 homemade underskirts that still need elastic putting in them!! You can hardly get underskirts in the UK, certainly not decent, cool ones - just nylon stuff and totally the wrong shape and length, so I've had to fish out my old Vogue pattern and run up 3 new, lightweight cotton ones.=) I got them all cut out and then managed to lose the instruction sheet! Thankfully, I'd done it before and had read the instructions through a night or so before I was ready to start the sewing, so I managed to do everything OK - I think! As I mentioned, just need to put the elastic in, but that's a do-by-hand job, so I've been able to put the machine way for the time being. I hope to get time to make myself a little camera bag with some of the lovely fabric I got in Taiwan last spring and have already cut the main pieces out and found a design I can adapt in one of my books. Hope I get chance now....

Hardanger still coming on slowly. This is how far I've got - done all the surface work and removed the threads. Don't suppose I'll have chance to finish this one before we go which is rather a let-down as it's for someone I hope to see the first weekend we're over there and I didn't really want to take the larger R&R frames I'd need to work it in. Anyway, can't be helped and they are nice and light when all's said and done. The colour in the thread seems to have come out a bit better with the flash, but it's still a far cry from the actual thing.=(

No Wanda, I don't think you'd be flipping. I think you'd do the same as we've done - plan well in advance and then just get on with things as their time arrives. For us, now the time has arrived for packing up our belongings and moving them into storage. There are 13 boxes in the storage room already - mostly books and another 2 here waiting to be filled as you can see here:

These are the bags waiting to go to the charity shop/thrift store:

This is my favourite. As the car boot/trunk needs to be clear for taking boxes to and fro, we've had to take the usual motoring supplies out and, frankly, the only place I could find space for them where they wouldn't be in the way and need constant moving was in the bathroom!!

And this last shot is what you do when you have surplus flour, sugar, oil and cocoa and friends are throwing a little leaving do for you: