Sewing with a touch of crochet...

Do you remember back HERE when I first began my obsession with crocheting the edge of all my teatowels? I made them for gifts, for family, and lots for myself. I simply could not stop crocheting edges for months! And then I took a break. 

But...the break is over. Ha ha! And this time it's not tea towels that are given the pretty vintage trim of crochet. It's my own stitchery designs. 

About four months ago a parcel arrived from Fiona at Tilda Australia, and inside I discovered a 1/4 metre bundle (10" wide x WOF) of Sunday Brunch. These fabrics took me back a lot of years to the lovely florals of Tilda's early design days, when I bought them from Europe because we could not buy them in Australia. When they eventually did hit our shores I was thrilled, but also blessed because that's when I began to receive some of the Tilda ranges to design with. 

Now I only get them sporadically, and sometimes I decline the offer, because her style changed a lot and the colours were too bright or even 'garish' for me...but though some of the colours in Sunday Brunch are brighter than I'd personally choose, specifically the orange if I'm to be honest, many of them are simply beautiful. 

And so I needed a design that would work with the fabrics freshly opened out of the postbag. It's always a big thing to plan a project when you've been gifted the fabric, because you have a responsibility to the supplier, and also to Tone Finnanger herself, to 'show up' the fabrics in the best possible way. I pondered all this for about a week, and had many ideas drawn up, but then I had an idea. After so many years designing embroidery patterns, I have a large plastic tub full of my original stitcheries, all waiting patiently for their moment to shine in a project. Well, I found one that was a favourite, and it was in just the right thread colours to blend perfectly with the Sunday Brunch prints.

I've always loved this prim style crow design which was included with my July 2016 Stitchery Club patterns, along with the other prim style designs I offered that month. Now I could finally let it shine as a small wall quilt. A number of mini-quilt sketches were drawn up, and I eventually chose this one, as it displays a lot of the lovely prints in Sunday Brunch.

The decision to add a crochet edge around three sides came easily, as did the half-inch crosshatch hand quilting - they both gave this sweet wall quilt a bit more impact, and it's definitely a special project for me personally. The addition of the applique pear was a nod to my quirky love of pears and the lovely ones I've collected and been gifted over the years. Yep, I love pears!

The finished wall quilt measures 17.5" square, and you could skip the crochet and easily turn it into a cushion cover, but then again, you could crochet around all four sides and still turn it into a cushion cover. Hmmm, a new crochet edging idea is forming in my mind!!

The pattern is in my shop now and you'll find it HERE. It's actually a great way to use lots of little scraps too, which is why I'm planning another one, but with a different stitchery. I love collecting small offcuts of the fabrics I use, especially those that are the last remnants of a favourite print. Do you do that too??

But wait, I did not stop there!! 

Going through my collection of original stticheries, I saw another that could do with a fresh reason to shine, and once again, crochet edging came to mind. 

Ten years ago I created this design for Australian Homespun magazine (it even made the cover), and I really loved it, still do, but after a while I decided that the border and the large wooden picture frame I had displayed it in weren't my style at all, so I pulled it out of the frame, ripped off the borders, and promptly added it to my steadily growing stack of original hand embroideries. 

You know, many people love to hand embroider more than quilting. And many people have a lot of UFO stitcheries in their cupboards. I know this because its a common question I am asked - "What do you do with all your stitcheries? I have a lot and can't think how to use them." 

I'm not much help really. As I design and stitch for a living, I can't avoid having lots of my work stored away, but I do make some into gifts, and some become items for the home, but overall they're mostly in the 'waiting room'. 

Anyhow, this is the design I started telling you about, and how I have finally given it a makeover with absolute delight in my heart! Crochet edging too!

This is one of those designs that has a lot of my heart in it, for it's a reminder of Nana and the simple old-fashioned life she shared with me and Pop when I was a child. Flowers, tie back curtains with a ruffle, apple pie and an open window. Everything home baked with love. The addition of the bird was to feature another love of mine. 

The gingham borders just worked so well, adding another touch of the past, a nod to simpler days when gingham meant home and comfort and security and love, and delicious food served in steaming bowls atop the centre of a gingham tablecloth. 

The crochet edging is only along the bottom edge, as it is another reminder of the ruffle-edged curtains in Nana's kitchen. This is now hanging in my kitchen area, pride of place. 

The pattern is in my shop HERE

Now as much as I'd love you to purchase one of my patterns, I'm hopeful that these projects have given you ideas for using some of your own completed stitcheries. Why don't you gather them together, brew a nice cuppa, and spend some time going through them all...let your imagination take over and consider ways to display your lovely work. Let us not allow new projects to pile up whilst the older ones are still waiting for their time to shine. 

I can honestly say that over the past few months I have fallen in love with my sewing machine, and that's a new thing for me, but its allowing me to create from what I already have on hand...not just fabric, but stitcheries, just like the two I have shown you today. 

Already I have a new idea for a number of small ones I completed years ago, and am excited to see if my idea will work. And I am excited too, about how I can incorporate a touch of crochet.

 You know, God created us in His image, and that means we have creative genes from our Father in heaven. I learned that back in 2007 when I first prayed that He would share with me some of His creativity. We were in the final few years of homeschooling and I wasn't sure what I'd do when the kids graduated, but I had only just taught myself to embroider and quilt by reading magazines, and wondered if He would bless me with an ability to design my own patterns. I prayed that for about eighteen months, and in early 2009 I shared my first free block of the month right here on the blog. The fact that He has kept on blessing me for so many years still astounds me. May I always give Him the glory! His grace abounds always. 

So if you're not sure what to do with your own embroidered pieces, patchwork blocks, paintings, sketches, pottery, jewellery projects - anything you've spent time creating with love and joy - just pray and ask for a measure of His creativity.  

I shall leave you today with the final new pattern just added to my shop, and it has a message for you. This is not an old pattern of mine, but it's based on an old, much simpler one that had the same message. Miracles Happen. Because they still do. 

God bless each of you, my precious blogworld friends, and may your life overflow with the gift of creativity, given by the Father who loves you so dearly. 

Next time, it's back to homemaking...see you then.

Hugs

You will find me on Instagram HERE @jennyofelefantz

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