Dire Cats: Embroidery Done!

It is done! Well, the embroidery part anyway. Now I will make it into a banner wall hanging. This beast took months, I think because a lot of it was procrastinating. I knew what I wanted the design to look like, but I agonized over what colors should go where, what stitch, etc. The goldwork paw was tedious, but the result is just sublime! It's still on my sister-in-law's frame, so it's hard to see the top reads Dire Cats and below reads Fur & Purr. It's a little play on the Game of Thrones Targeryn house sigil. It will be a gift to the family that adopted two of my foster kittens. 

 

 

Moonlighting

I've been working on the Dire Cat project with lots (to me) of satin stitch and I needed a break, but needed to get my creativity out too. So, this came into being. Stitches used: chain, braided chain, lazy daisy, stem, French knots and a tiny bit of satin. It took about 2.5 hours from start to finish, and is about 2.25 inches wide and 2.5 inches tall, approximately.

This will be part of a collaborative project between myself and hubby for a neighbor. We're making their daughter a growth measuring stick, and this will go at the top! (Any bits of ink you see will disappear in a little while - air soluble marker.)

Framed Mjölnir

Apparently I'm not a great photographer. It's okay, I can live with that. There are some GLARING (to me) mistakes in this piece, but it's framed and I will not touch it as it is. I am seeing thread ends through the fabric, and the lightning bolts got messed with a bit when framed, so that the metal work isn't laying as close as I'd like to the inside embroidery. I just keep reminding myself to let it go.

Completed Mjölnir!

I finally completed the Thor's Hammer embroidery today. I was procrastinating because of the wire work (goldwork) that I was afraid I would mess up and ruin the piece. It was the first time I'd ever done goldwork. The piece didn't really pull together for me until I stepped back and saw the completed work. The cross with upward facing arms is the Norse/Viking symbol for protection.

Embroidered with silk embroidery floss, goldwork wires and metallic filament for accent on the lightning bolts.
Art by tattoo artist Mad Mike Dowis, embroidered with express permission by me.
Now to the framers!

To be donated and raffled off for Lucas Thor's medical bills.
https://www.facebook.com/lucasthor/

When you really don't feel it, don't go with it.

I tried a little bit of gold work with red check purl and a dark grey smooth purl wires, but I just didn't care for it, and it was REALLY fiddly. I also wasn't loving the rustic X work in red silk, so I snipped it all out. I now plan to simply outline the rectangular areas in red silk stem stitch. Sometimes simple is better.

Progress

I've been working on my first charity piece for a while now, and am just thinking I should add a post about it. The piece will be raffled off for funds to help a little boy and his family. Lucas Thor is a 5 year old boy with Chronic Granulomatous Disease. He has received a bone marrow transplant, has a G-tube for feeding and medication and was lucky enough to be in the movie Patriot's Day! His family is a large, blended group of awesome humans, all dedicated to helping Lucas.

For this piece, I couldn't think of a more appropriate subject than Mjölnir, Thor's hammer, for a boy whose middle name is Thor! 'm at the repetitive stage, doing the silver "nail heads" and the red cross-hatching. I don't love repetitive work, so it's slow progress. I added some polyester gold metallic filament to the lightning to give it some pizazz! All the other thread is silk. 

I'm still planning to outline the silver "nail heads" and the red cross-hatching with metal wires, so all the design lines will be covered up. If I can ever get through the nail heads and cross-hatching! The outer border lines will also be done with metal. This piece will be badass!!

The silver symbol in the middle which looks sort of like a Christian cross with upward bent sides is the Viking rune for protection.

Cat toys, machine sewing

Just for fun, and because Talyn really likes to chew (and destroy) traditional cat toys, I made a few today out of a nice tough cotton canvas. I made three squarish pillow puffs and a long rectangular "kick stick". Talyn was happy to model them.I'm very much a novice at machine sewing, and complex shapes were aggravating me, so these were the order of the day. The squares are filled with fiber fill, but the "kick stick" is filled with some leftover cotton batting from a previous machine project. So far, all three cats seem to be enjoying them!

Adventures in transferring

I had a first today. Normally, I use a transfer paper and pen to trace over the design I want to use, and then iron it onto the surface I want to embroider. I have an old towel on my ironing board, and my fabric and transfer paper get laid on top of that for ironing. I had my transfer paper carefully placed onto my fabric and was happily ironing away when I checked a corner of the design and realized it wasn't transferring. Hm. Odd. I cranked the iron to its highest setting and went over the design again, scorching the transfer paper. Still no transfer. Frustrated, I lifted the fabric off the towel and low and behold, there was my perfectly transferred image. On an old towel. Huh?! It went THROUGH my working fabric!
I am entirely stumped as to how this happened. I have transferred numerous designs with no issue whatsoever! I've written to Sublime Stitching, the makers of my preferred transfer paper with my dilemma and am awaiting a response. I'm not quite sure how to proceed. Was it the fabric? I hadn't washed it..Could that have caused some sort of issue? I just don't know. I hope Sublime gets back to me soon with some possibilities for what might have gone wrong. Until then, I'll re-ink my transfer paper so that I have a nice, clear image for transferring (hopefully not onto old towels!).

Welcome

Welcome. I'm no writer, but I am an amateur stitcher, needle point worker, embroiderer. Whatever you want to call it. Sewing is my "zen". It's my happy place, wherever I may be. I love to create things and gift them to people. Here, I will post thoughts, ramblings, past, present and future projects as well as other entirely random tidbits.