I [heart] Sashiko

If you've been reading this blog, you'll know that I enjoy experimentation just as much as working with a particular product in mind. However, once in a while it's very satisfying to actually finish a project that's been hanging around in the UFO (UnFinished Objects) basket for a while. A few days ago I put the final touches to a little sashiko drawstring purse that I started working on 1,5 years ago, on my trip to England and The Festival of Quilts in Birmingham. For this little baggie I followed the instructions in Susan Briscoe's The Ultimate Sashiko Sourcebook.

This image will illustrate how I went about creating the sashiko embroidery:

I marked the fabric with the help of my favorite marking tool, a Prym mechanical chalk pencil, and a circle cut out from card.


On one side of the purse I embroidered a pattern called 'linked seven treasures' (shippo tsunagi)

and on the other side a pattern called 'circular Bishamon' (maru bishamon) for courage, prosperity and protection.

This is what it looks like when the purse is closed:

I love the flower decorations at the end of the strings:

I hope I have inspired you to try some sashiko embrodery. The stitches are basically just a running stitch where the gap between the stitches should be shorter than the stitches themselves. I'm always amazed by how much you can do and how beautiful work you can create with the simple running stitch. I think it must be my favourite stitch along with French knots!

Thanks for visiting my blog!

Winter Blooming

Since I've been absent from this blog so much this past autumn and winter, I have a lot of catching up to do. Here's another project that I haven't shared with you yet. I learned this technique from Linda Kemshall. She calls the technique 'hydrangea blooming' in an episode of Design Matters TV. I just had to try it. There are four layers of cotton in this hanging bag; three of which I've cut open on the grain, to produce maximum fraying. I like the way the frayed threads form stamens in the middle of the blooms.

Speaking of blooms, here's an image of an amaryllis I was given by some of my students at the end of term in early December. It bloomed just before Christmas, again after New Year, and now it has produced a third stem, which is very short, but with full-sized flowers. Amazing!

Here's a view of my neighbourhood this time of year. We had gorgeous winter weather at the start of the week, and I treated myself to some free light therapy. The snow catching the sunlight and frost on the tree branches was a sight for light-starved eyes.

 Have a great week, and remember to drop by again soon! - Annika

Polka Dotty

It's been a bit quiet in Blogland lately, but I'm very happy to say that I'm on vacation again, so there should be more activity here within soon. You probably won't be surprised if I say that I have big plans, and I expect I will have time to accomplish only a fraction of what I want to do.

So, what do I want to do? I want to do another gradation, with a warm colour scheme this time, and I want to do some surface design on the fabrics that I dyed during my last dyecation. I'm also planning to sew a wrap around top with a stencilled and embroidered appliqué motif on the back. So stay tuned for reports about fun and games.

Meanwhile, I'll just share a couple of photos to show that I may have been quiet, but I haven't been idle. Here's a supercute bag I finished yesterday. (I blogged about it earlier when I'd finished the first outside pocket.) As soon as I saw the pattern in the Winter 2011-2012 issue of International Quilt Festival: Quilt Scene magazine I knew I had to make it. I bought the polka dot fabric in December, but haven't got round to sewing it until now. It's such a summery bag, isn't it? It makes me think of strawberries and cream. Yum!

You're not going to believe this, but this is a recently finished vest that I last blogged about exactly one year ago today, when I had just started knitting it. I discovered this right now when I was looking through my archive to see when I wrote about it. Funny coincidence, isn't it?

Okey dokey, better get back to copying the pattern for the top I plan to sew. I'm going to do things right this time and make a muslin version first, to make sure the fit is correct before I cut into the real fabric. I haven't been very good with that kind of thing in the past, but I realise that it is a crucial step if you want to be sure of success. I want to brush up and hone my clothes making skills, which have rusted a little from lack of use.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great week, and please return soon for an update on my new dyeing, surface design and garment sewing explorations. - Annika

Rooster and Ruffles

Easter is approaching fast, and with that four days of vacation, thank goodness. I sorely need it, as I've had a pretty hectic three weeks again and my vertigo has returned to my great dismay. I really should have stayed away from everything craft-related this weekend, but I was just so craft-starved after all the work I've done that I disregarded vertigo and crocheted this goofy bug-eyed rooster anyway, as therapy. It makes me laugh. (The pattern is from the spring issue of Novita magazine (Kevät 2012 [in Finnish].)

And I couldn't stay away from starting another project too. I've been planning to do this bag for months. This is as far as I got tonight. I love sashiko embroidery and decided to embellish the pockets with a flower motif I found in a book (Sashiko by French author Agnès Delage-Calvet). More information and images later.

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great week! - Annika