The Needles Excellency

New Project - Floral Pillowcase

laren@webcon.net.au (Laren) — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 02:25:00 +0000

I bought some plain white linen to make a pillow case. I've tranfered a lovely floral design and I am going to work it in pastel colours. No progress so far, but I should have some done by tomorrow. The weather has started to heat up so sewing is a bit harder.

I also got some 400 count colour ready made pillow cases. I am going to put designs on them as well. I know a higher thread count is meant to be better, but I think these feel rather hard.

New Door

laren@webcon.net.au (Laren) — Sun, 12 Nov 2006 02:22:00 +0000

I don't have solid doors on a couple of the rooms of my house. But I need to be able to shut the rooms off to keep hot/cold air in. So I've made hangings to go over the doorways. The current ones I have are from two colours shemes ago and look like crap - Note: Indian cotton that is dyed multiple colours does not wash well!

So I went to Spotlight yesterday. I was going to get some heavy duty fabric to make a new door hanging. But when I checked the curtain section again I was able to find a curtain the matched the new couch covers I got earlier. So with a minimal amount of sewing, I have a new door hanging, that not only better matches the new colour scheme, but that also matches the couches! ;-)

Remember

laren@webcon.net.au (Laren) — Sat, 11 Nov 2006 02:21:00 +0000

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

Lest We Forget

Sewing Roosters Back On

laren@webcon.net.au (Laren) — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 23:43:00 +0000

I was finally able to get another tea towel, so I can get the final Rooster done. I should be able to get it done this weekend. Once I send it to my sister, I will get her to take a photo of the finished set and post that.

Roosters Delivered

laren@webcon.net.au (Laren) — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 23:44:00 +0000

My sister and her husband came for a quick visit. They've been staying with my Dad. We went out for dinner at the RSL and then played poker when we got home, as well as having a chat. I gave the 6 completed rooster tea towels to her. I think she liked them. Her hubby has been told they are not to be used!

New Vogart Patterns

laren@webcon.net.au (Laren) — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 23:30:00 +0000

These are the latest Vogart patterns I bought on ebay from the USA. They were from 3 separate auctions, but they all arrived on the same day, it was like Christmas!!

Blackwork Shirt - Bath

laren@webcon.net.au (Laren) — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 01:09:00 +0000

Man's shirt with blackwork embroidery, originally uploaded by felicity wormwood.

Good image, check out the largest size for detail of pattern.

Blackwork Jacket

laren@webcon.net.au (Laren) — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 02:28:00 +0000

Woman's jacket with blackwork embroidery, originally uploaded by felicity wormwood.

I've been playing around in Flickr again. Found a few gems. Here is one of them. Looks to be a Jacobean blackwork jacket. Links to others to follow. I've never seen this one before.

Jacobean Blackwork Jacket Leaves

laren@webcon.net.au (Laren) — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 02:33:00 +0000

Jacobean blackwork jacket, originally uploaded by vintageskies83.

Another blackwork jacket. This posting straight from Flickr works pretty well.

Vogart Floral Wreath

laren@webcon.net.au (Laren) — Sat, 04 Nov 2006 22:39:00 +0000

I deviated from the usual embroidery style today. Hanging out the in the Flickr group made me need a dose of pastel. So a floral wreath using a Vogart pattern. I tried using perle cotton for the firt time. It worked OK, but I used 5 and I think this was a bit big. Maybe 8 next time. I am going to try this with stranded to see if I like it better. Now I need to decide what to make with it. It's about 5" square.

Rainy Days

laren@webcon.net.au (Laren) — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 22:36:00 +0000

I went shopping today. Picked up some clear index tabs from Officeworks to make a customise planner/diary. Also got some perle cotton and linen fabric from Spotlight to make a pillowcase. Got some Indian cotton to make a new room divider, I have no doors, need the divider to keep warm/cold air in the room. It's been raining all day, doesn't look like it's going to let up any time soon.

No Sewing and Flickr

laren@webcon.net.au (Laren) — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 00:36:00 +0000

No sewing the last couple of days. Still no tea towels. I talked to the manager of the supermarket, he said they might have a new shipment next week. So I will have to find something else to keep my occupied. It looks like it's going to be a rainy weekend, so a good time to get prep work for projects out of the way.

Also, I've been wandering around Flickr the last couple of days. I've never really used it as I usually host my own images, but it does have it's uses. I've joined a few groups, including Embroidery. This group tends to be more free form embroidery oriented, so alot more of the sort of stuff that I am interested in.

I also found some nice images of embroidery from museums and other places, that people had uploaded as part of their holiday snaps.

Saturday Rooster Finished

laren@webcon.net.au (Laren) — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 23:30:00 +0000

The Saturday Rooster is finished. They are starting to make an impressive pile now. I will take a photo of them all, once I have given them an iron.

I tried to get the last tea towel, still none at the shop. I will have to try another supermarket on the way home tonight.

Vogart Pattern Gallery

laren@webcon.net.au (Laren) — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 23:34:00 +0000

As you will know, I have a bit of a soft spot for the Vogart Embroidery Transfers from the 40's and 50's. I have a small collection, which I add to when I can get them cheaply on Ebay.

I want to put up a gallery on the web, showing all the patterns that are available. I think it would be a useful reference resource for anyone interested in these patterns. There seems to be very little information out there on them.

So, below is the list of patterns that I need to complete my collection (of images, not patterns, it would be a much longer list!). If you have a scan of these covers, I'd love a copy. Email to: laren@webcon.net.au :

123
125
131
132
140
155
156
161
165
168
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176
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181
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216
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224
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239
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255
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261
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265
266
268
277
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283
285
287
288
289
296
298
299
600
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606
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609
610
613
614
617
618
619
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621
622
623
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626
627

Hail Report

laren@webcon.net.au (Laren) — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 23:31:00 +0000

Good news on the hail front, well for me anyway. Just a few very small dents in the roof and the bonnet. Paint isn't cracked so I will just leave them as is. No windows damaged, so that is good.

Other parts of the campus, just a couple of hundred metres away were hit much worse. Lots of damage to the main Uni Admin block and people with smashed windscreens. Bad news is that there are supposed to be more storms on the way. We haven't had a hail that big in years. The sky didn't even look that green, but in other parts of the city it did according to the news.