Embroidery fun

Almost the middle of July and a long over due blog update.

Once again I am trying hard to limit my time in front of my computer, less Facebook and Pinterest and more creativity.   Not that easy but important especially with the amazing summer weather we are experiencing in the UK.   A little too warm and humid as the houses here are built to be warm in winter, certainly not cool in summer.   The vegetable garden is looking good but we do need some rain as I am having to water every evening.

As I seemed to have a collection of bears waiting to be adopted I thought it was time to do some 'other' creative work.    Our second Etsy shop 'Grace & Whimsy' needs a boost so I have been busy with some new embroidery.

A purple linen pincushion and scissor keep with pink embroidered flowers. Trimmed with vintage lace, a tiny 'blingy' glass dragonfly and seed bead edging.

  

Rose print fabric heart with vintage lace and flower trim. Crushed seam binding ribbon bows and a bunch of pretty silver keys and 'treasures' charm. 

Vintage white cotton tape with tiny embroidered rosebuds.

 

and something a little different.   My husband is known in the family as the 'unhandyman' but I did manage to get him to cut out and paint these little ribbon holders for me.  They are not perfect but look suitably worn and aged!   I planned to experiment with an image transfer paper which is supposed to work on all different medium, paper, fabric, wood and glass.   After spending many hours on Photoshop designing and making something to fit exactly to size, printing it out and 'ironing' it on the wooden shapes I was very disappointed with the result.   I decided to print the design on plain paper, cut it out and used Mod Podge to glue and seal it on to the wood.   Still not perfect and it is taking ages to dry in the humid weather but they do look pretty.   Next stage is to dye and print some ribbon, watch this space.

I have also spent a little time on Facebook creating a page for Grace & Whimsy which might attract some interest.   I have not used social networking media to promote sales very much, most probably as I am an artist and rather dislike the marketing part.

Looking through all my beads, vintage lace and fabrics recently I am grateful that I have collected all this 'stuff' over many years.  Vintage lace is becoming increasingly hard to find, the old velvet flowers are very rare and extremely expensive and my bead supplies will last for many years.   Just wish I had the space to store it in a more accessible fashion.

In the meantime most of the bears have found homes and my work table is almost empty.  Hugglets is just around the corner so it will be back to bear making over the next few weeks and I do have a couple of orders to complete.

Have a wonderful weekend, we are off on a family picnic outing tomorrow.  Should have some pictures to share next time.