eklectikfish by kateepie

Monday 24 May 2010

summer embroidery

I was so inspired yesterday evening, sitting in the garden and looking at all the pretty flowers to get out some linen and some embroidery thread and sew some flowers.  I haven't really done any/much freehand embroidery as such before (I used to do a lot of cross stitch), but I think this works.  No marks were made on the linen!


Aquilegias are definitely one of my favourite flowers from this time of year :-)

Thursday 20 May 2010

warping frame

I'm really proud of myself, as I, not being very good generally at making things square (thank goodness for big perspex thingies with lines on), have actually managed to make myself a warping frame.

I looked at several on the internet, but they seemed pretty expensive for what they were - so, a trip to B&Q and I had timber, two lengths of dowel, some metal plates and a pretty big drill bit.

Lots of sawing and sanding later, here it is!  I'm really pleased at how robust and sturdy it is... and square... which is the main thing!


I've ordered some texsolv heddles for my table loom, so hopefully once they arrive I can start work on warping up and getting some samples done.

Kx

Wednesday 12 May 2010

wordless wednesday - bluebell heaven







Ancient bluebell woodland at Keele University 12 May 2010

yummy yarns

My yarn arrived this morning from the Handweavers Studio unfortunately I must have messed up the order, so only got 25g of each - so I've just had to ring them to order 200g of each.

But, aren't the colours yummy?  The extra yarn will be slightly different - straw instead of gold and blue ming instead of dark teal, but hopefully they will still work...


Now I just need to work out some designs!  Can you tell I'm excited??

Tuesday 11 May 2010

sewing and weaving update

Argh its been one of those busy weeks where everyday I have thought 'I must post some more stuff on the blog' and then haven't had access to my pictures, or the time to compose my thoughts.

I had a productive day's sewing over the bank holiday weekend.  I bought myself a SciPhone (the Chinese version of the iphone) so thought I would sew myself a cosy for it in the meantime whilst I was waiting for it to arrive in the post.  I am really pleased with the phone cosy... I was a little less pleased with the phone (in fact I have sent it back as its rubbish), so the holder is now up for grabs on Etsy.... I do love the Alexander Henry spotted owl print :-)





I also thought I would have a go at customising the phone holder for a small laptop or netbook.  Here is the finished result, I think it works quite well, and matches a camera or small phone holder I made a while ago.







Next on the list was a peg bag, as ours is a horrible brown thing from the dreaded Tesco and has been left out in the rain a few too many times.  I need a better pattern for this - I think the bag bit that holds the pegs needs to be a lot deeper and I had to fudge the edges.  However, I do like the fabric, and was even inspired to embroider a peg on the front!  Excuse the fuzzy photo, I need to take better ones :-s.



Last, but not least, I would like to introduce Lucy - my pretty hen doorstop or paperweight.  I was inspired by my own hens and wanted something which was decorative, but also functional in some ways.  The material is from an old top that no longer fits me (ooh how liberating it was to cut into!) and she now happily sits on my desk.  I'm really, really pleased with her, so hopefully there will be some more in the pipeline soon for sale :-)





On the loom front, it has arrived!  She's now called Millicent (aptly meaning hard worker) and was taken to pieces and put together again in our top room.  She is a 4 shaft counterbalance floor loom, made locally in the 1970s from solid beams of mahogany.  I spent the day on Sunday cleaning her up and linseed oiling her, and she now looks a beauty.  Hopefully, if my yarn arrives on time I will be threading her up and starting to weave some samples later this week... hoorah!

This photo was taken pre-cleaning and oiling, I hasten to add ;-)





Bye for now,

Kx

Tuesday 4 May 2010

WINNIBRIGGSHOUSE 1st Giveaway


If you want to get your hands on some of the gorgeous goodies above, Jenny over at Winnibriggshouse is holding a giveaway to celebrate reaching 100 blog followers.  

Might think about doing the same when I get to 50 followers... :-)

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