My first flatfold, a gift in the mail and instructions for fringing a small pillow.

Hi to all my blogging friends. I have had a lovely week this week, my friend called around for lunch yesterday, we had salmon and cucumber sandwiches followed by cream cakes and plenty of cross stitch chat. My friend bought me a lovely bouquet of flowers and some chocolates, they really made my day very special, thankyou Diane!

Whilst my friend was visiting I received a parcel in the post, I thought it was an exchange so I was quite excited about it, however, when I opened the parcel I got a lovely surprise, it was not an exchange but a gift of a tatting shuttle and instruction booklets from a lady who read my blog and saw that I would like to take up tatting, or at least make an attempt. She asked me for my address and she sent me this lovely gift, I was so thrilled. I will post a picture on my next post. Thankyou Kate, it was very kind of you.

             

I thought I would attempt a different  finish on this gingerbread house and so I decided to make a flat fold, I am going to trim it with a polymer clay cane in red and white to match the design but I have not got around to it yet, and it may be after Christmas before I do, so I thought I would show the picture's now.

It is from The Gift Of Stitching Magazine 2008, Issue 34, page 42 and the designer is Olive Dyck of Olive Hope Designs. I stitched it on 25 count Dublin Lugana linen in pale blue.  

 

Fringing instructions for my little pillow ornament

I have been asked on a number of occasions how I do the fringing on my little pillow's, so I have decided to put together some finishing instructions. This is the pillow that I showed in my previous post.

All pictures are clickable for a close up view.

Cut the fabric exactly along the thread line of the fabric.

Pin the fabric in place onto the felt.

Count the thread lines from the design edge, in this case you can see I have counted two thread lines from the edge and started the blanket stitch. When you turn the corner you will still need to count two thread lines from the edge to ensure it is perfectly square. See the picture below.

When you have stitched the blacket stitch all around, only then do you pull out the threads to create the fringing. If you have cut it straight along the thread lines at the beginning you will not have any problems here, however, please be careful when you are stitching the blanket stitch, ensuring that you do not pull it out of shape when stitching it to the felt backing fabric.

      

 Cut another piece of felt the same size as the front and blanket, stitch it together leaving a small opening for stuffing the pillow and then continue blanket stitching to close it together.

Now you are ready to trim it how you wish.

Enjoy!

Random act of kindness and pinkeep finishing instructions.

All pictures are clickable for a closer view

Here is one of my latest stitching projects, a needlebook with fimo clay roses trimmed with a butterfly.

I was contacted by a lady who wished to use an alphabet that I use frequently  in some of my stitching projects, unfortunately I could not remember where I downloaded it from, (although I think it was the DMC website) and I thought I had deleted it from my computer, so I offered to send it in the post to her.

I always like to make the trip to the post office a worthwhile journey, so I decided  to make a

RAK (a random act of kindness for those of you that are new to blogging) and I sent this needlebook with the paper pattern. It just so happened to be this lady's birthday this week,  which was a nice surprise for her.

Happy Birthday Jane! 

My pinkeep finishing instructions

I have been asked on a number of occasions if I could provide details of how I finish my projects, so I decided to start off with my version of how I finish pinkeeps. I do not like using glue on my projects, but I did use it to add the ribbon on this pinkeep because I think it made for a better finish.   

   

      

Materials needed:

Stitched piece for the front

Fabric for the back

Wadding

Cardboard

Ribbon, pins and extras for decoration.

Fabric glue

Iron on the interfacing over the design on the back of the linen

Layer the materials - linen or fabric, wadding and cardboard.

You can use cereal packets, but I tend to use double thickness as it gives a better result. This is the first time

I used corrugated cardboard, I thought it gave a neat finish, however, I know some people use foam board but I have never tried this.

Lace with cotton sewing thread or use stranded cotton.

Ensure the corners are square

Fold over

ensuring the linen is square on the right side, stitch down the corners.

Lace across the other side

By now your two pieces should look like this

Place the smaller piece of wadding in the middle

Stitch all around the edge ensuring you stitch on the same thread line of the linen

 as this will ensure the fabric is not pulled out of line and will look neat from the front.

 

Glue the ribbon around the edge with fabric glue

And now for the best part, your decoration!

Gather some ribbon, pearl head pins, swarovski crystals or any decoration that you like and enjoy the process!

The finished pinkeep.

Stitching news 

I am currently stitching halloween projects and a couple of gifts for people, one of these gifts I cannot wait to send as I really loooove it! I was experimenting with something that I have not tried before and I must say I was pretty thrilled with the result, even though I say so myself! lol! 

I cannot say who it is for as it will spoil the surprise! Also I have just received my new kemper cutters for polymer clay making, I have been having fun playing around with them, I will be showing some of my new creations soon! 

I need to do some blog visiting as I am way behind, thankyou for visiting my blog - please call again soon!