Goodbye Chapter Seven

After a busy weekend with family I finally got some time this evening to get this final chapter seven sample stitched up. And boy am I happy to see the back of this one.Right up until the end I kept having problems with tension and thread breakage even though I thought I'd cracked the settings. Still it's done now. I just have to get it all written up and I'll be ready to start on chapter 8.

Apart from this last sample I've really enjoyed this first foray into free motion.

I won't be doing a formal submission post yet as I need to go back and do the work for chapter 6 in my sketchbook before I can put these samples and notes in. I left a message with the repairs shop today to find out what is going on with Jemimah, so hopefully I'll have news soon.

Eureka

I had a really good play around on my machine last night and finally I think I got to the eureka moment and have figured out a way to get past the problems I was having with the free machine zig zag.

First up I switched on to a new piece of fabric and put a heavier stabilizer behind. Janet suggest pelmet vilene but as I didn't have any of that I went for a bit of TimTex that I had around for postcard making.This did seem to help and I certainly didn't get as much puckering and pulling but I was still having problems when stitching the big razzle dazzle cross down the middle, I couldn't seem to get the tension right and still had some thread breaks. So I switched out the thread and changed the stitch size and the second set of stitching across the bottom came out like a dream.

I then had a few more problems when I switched thread and stitch setting again for the lettering I started at the top. Anyway to cut a long story short after a process of elimination I figured that Beatrice can only handle the free machining on one of her zig zag settings.
Just out of interest I went back to the first sample with the nappy liner stabiliser and stitched out a few letters, and there is a lot less puckering now I've got the stitch setting right.
These two pieces will go in my sketch book as they are, but now I'm going to start a third which will hopefully be my final sample. My original idea for this was to use only threads in red and orange shades to provide a contrast to the blue and greens in the backing fabric. But now that I have figured that I can only use one stitch width I think I am going to make the stitching a rainbow of colours to add interest to the piece that way. Lets hope I really have got to the bottom of the problems and the next piece works!

Sometimes you just have to get up and walk away

To really appreciate the happiness of success I think you have to go through the frustration of failure once in a while. Last night I started on the final sample for chapter seven, and oh dear what a disaster. Nothing was going right for me last night.

I had thread snaps galore, my machine was doing random jumps here there and everywhere, something was just not working and I couldn't figure out what it was. I persisted for 2 hours - yes you read that right! - and all I ended up with was this awful mess.
It's so tempting to start all over again, but I won't that's not what this course is about. Documenting the things that go wrong is as important as the ones that go right.

Still I'm telling myself today is another day and there is still lots more stitching to be done until this one is finished so maybe things will improve. :)

Razzle Dazzle One Done

My sample is finished and lets just say I won't be winning any school prizes for neat handwriting for this one :) It was a fun exercise though, I don't think I've ever tried writing with my sewing machine needle before.

Some of the colours pop out from the black background more than others. I like that it looks a bit like a whole mess of graffiti.
But I think my favourite thing is how some of the letters and words get lost and become obscured when they over lap. Phrases like 'hidden meaning' and 'reading between the lines' kept popping in to my head while I was stitching .....this could be an idea to think about in the future.

I have one more 'Razzle Dazzle' sample to do and chapter seven will be complete, so I hope to get it done this week before I take off to see family this weekend.

Waste not want not

I have been enjoying stitching on to the lovely black wool felt that you might have seen me using for some of the samples here (sadly my local store has stopped carrying it now so I might have to search out another source).

I'm working in an A4 sketchbook, so to be able to fit my pieces in, once stitching comes out of the hoop I have to trim it all down so I'm getting left with lots of odd sized little stripsThe latest sample I'm working all calls for working outside the hoop. So being a waste not want not kind of person I have been tacking these little strips to the back of my main piece of fabric to make my second stabilising layer.It's only a small piece so I'm hand stitching it on in strips, taking some really long stitches on the back which you might be able to make out here and just using really tiny stitches through to the front - they are practically invisible.

I've also been scouting out the local charity shops where I found this lovely little shallow wicker basket, perfect for keeping on my desk to store whatever threads I'm currently working with. This stops the reels rolling around the desk and becoming tempting play things for the cats!Don't these threads look delicious all snuggled up together?Of course these aren't the only threads in my collection. When they are not being used all my threads are stored by colour in boxes on the shelf.Somehow though no matter how many you have there are always more you need or when it comes to it you don't have quite the right shade of blue, even though you have at least 30 reels :)

Anyhow before I go here is a quick peek at the latest sample.There will be more to follow on this soon I'm sure.

Creating a design sample is done

Last night I finished up the sample that I have been working on the last few days.I changed up my idea one last time by combining elements of the two previous sections. So for the third I kept the randomness of the circles which is what I loved about the second section, but went back to the idea in the first section of putting the spirals back inside the circles. I just think this has a lot more impact than leaving the spirals as a separate element.

Anyhow this was a really fun exercise probably my favourite of the course so far, and I'm pleased with how my stitching panned out.

At the moment, having skipped chapter six for the time being I can't write up notes straight into my sketchbook so I'm keeping them all neatly collated so they are ready to go in just as soon as I'm able to get back on track.

Freemotion fun

What a glorious weekend we had, the weather was amazing. I managed to get along to the Urchfont open day yesterday which was brilliant. I got to meet Janet in person - thanks for taking the time to have a look through my work Janet! :) I also got to see some amazing work by some really talented ladies who have been working on the Level Two course. There were also lots of others showcasing their work so much talent and inspiration. I came straight back home and got working on my machine for a while.I'm still working on the same piece as last time. I've changed things up slightly as I thought the circles and spirals inside the curved lines looked a bit regimented, so I've started with the same central design but I'm going random with the circles and spirals. Still not sure about it, I like this design better than the first but I might try one more incarnation before I finish, as I like the randomness but I also like the spirals inside the circles so I might go back to that.

Curves, circles and spirals

Getting back to stitching again feels good :) I've decided to skip on over chapter six for now as I really need Jemimah back before I can do the work needed for that justice, so for now I'm going to continue on with chapter seven and some free motion fun.

You might remember back here I was have fun doodling some designs, well for the next stitch sample the task is to turn one of those designs into stitch.I'm happy to say that Beatrice is handling the free motion stuff like a dream. She doesn't have drop feed dog function but she does have a darning plate to cover the dogs. I don't have a freemotion foot for her either so I'm using her with no foot attachment at all, am being super careful watching where my fingers go!!

Sometimes I get so absorbed in what I'm doing I loose track of everything else. Last night I was busy stitching away, when I looked up and the sun had disappeared.Luckily I have Pip to come and tell me when enough is enough. You can't really see his eyes in the photo as it was so dark, but he's giving me the 'sewing time is over, Pippy pamper time starts now and will be lasting for at least the next hour so you may as well turn that machine off!' look.

Been Doodling

I haven't much felt like sitting at my sewing machine the last couple of days. Have been feeling a bit restless for one reason and another. But I have spent some time on more work for chapter seven though.Doodling with lines, circles and spirals. It's been fun. Next step is to interpret some of these doodles in stitch.

Stuck but all is not lost

After making a good start with the praries yesterday, I've hit a snag and need to wait for some advice from Janet before I move on. I figured that rather than wait around not doing anything I'd make a start on chapter seven - the first foray in free stitching. I'll be keeping notes on the computer that way I can easily print them out and stick them in the work book when it comes to going back to write up the chapter.I have done some free stitching before, but never with fabric in a hoop. I'm struggling with the hoop thing a bit but I guess it's the same as everything else - takes a bit of practise to get used to it. Anyway I'm quite happy doodling away in stitch. If you need me today you'll find me sat at my machine with a smile :-)