Wessex Embroidery

is a very old type of embroidery which is thought to have originated in medieval England. 

It is made up of a sort of counted background motive which is then woven with another thread to form little flowers.

 I decided to make a little needle book and team the Wessex embroidery with some of my own ideas.

It is worked on 28ct evenweave fabric.

 I used variegated Chameleon threads and added some petite beads around the border as well as a little verse on the back of the booklet

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Feel free to print and use the pattern below. Please bear with me, I am still learning about adding photos to my blog. Below is a scanned copy of the design. I have no idea how to convert designs out of EasyCross to put up on my blog yet. Will practice though.

Enjoy your stitching.....:)

Pulled thread

One of our many projects in class last year was pulled thread embroidery. Some of the ladies attending my classes were embroidering pulled thread projects for a Women's Agricultural Union Competition.

I decided to join in the fun and embroidered a 90cm x 90cm Overlay.

It is worked on 32ct Linen, over threee threads. I used DMC No 5 and 12 Perle yarns.

The design I used is partly from a book by the very talented South African Embroidery Designer

 Hetsie van Wyk as well as my own adaptations.

The colours were kept off white as I wanted the piece to have an antique look.

It took me about a year to finish this overlay, working almost every day on it.

It was very trying, working on the same piece for such a long time and there were many days when I just wanted to give up. But in the end it turned out to be an heirloom and I won third place in the competition.

I hope my future daughter in law will appreciate it.......... lol  :)

Crochet Pin Booklet

Have you ever embroidered on felt? If not, do yourself a favour and try it. It is such a nice feeling. The needle just seems to slide through the felt and the stitches look so beautiful.....

I have kept my crochet needles in and old, tatty spectacle case for years now. (Which I suppose is a pretty good idea....... -others were hiding in all sorts of places.)

 Every time I needed one I had to throw out the whole lot and search for the right one etc.

The other day I came up with the idea of making myself a little booklet where they are all held in their place neatly. Again, a mixture of odd stranded and perle yarns were used for the embroidery. It didn't turn out too bad for a first try....  The hunt for " loose" crochet hooks is on, to be put into their beautiful new home.

I'll have to make this a class project........... 

 Mmmmmh, what about another one for knitting needles?

Left over yarn

I have always wanted to give Granny Squares a try. The other day I was searching for wool and I was reminded about all the lovely little bits of left over wool and yarn, not to mention all the bargain odd balls.

Do you do that as well? I am such a sucker when it comes to Sales. I keep buying odd balls of crochet yarns because they are marked down. And even though  a little voice at the back of my head says,: "Its not enough yarn to make something", I make the same mistake again and again. I have some quite convincing excuses, like the colour is beautiful or the price is just too good to let this ball go. Hence, I have a whole box full of odd yarns and wool.

So, the other day I thought maybe its time to use some of these precious bargains, (some of them have been in my possession for 15 years already)

What do you think?  I will probably turn them into a knee blanket, or pot holders? Or a bag?

Any ideas anyone? Please help me, otherwise I will be stashing these squares for another 15 years?

Baobab Trees

are so amazing. In winter, when they have no leaves, they look like uprooted trees that someone stuck back in the soil the wrong way around. They can become very old, (hundreds of years), and very huge.

On a recent trip to one of the game reserves nearby we came across this beautiful example.

I wonder how much of the tree my mom got on her camera.......

Luckily we live in an area of South Africa, (the Limpopo Province), where these trees are abundant. Altough, big ones like in this photo are sort of rare.....