Last month Andrea Zuill, aka BadBird posted an embroidery competiton on her blog: zuill.us/andreablog. The only rule was to use one of her free patterns.
Delighted with the excuse to do some hand embroidery, I quickly whipped up her Gnome pattern, adding my own text. I'd just packed my fiance off to deepest darkest rural Romania for two weeks, so "Welcome Gnome" seemed quite appropriate!
But I knew I wanted to 'do more' to it, so I grabbed my hexagon project scraps and pieced the borders. They mostly remind me of a loved one or a loved place, so add to the sentiment for me. They weren't all 2" square, so I was amazed that the corners (almost) met perfectly! Then with the full on PLAY spirit of 15 Minutes, I began to machine quilt it. This is not a skill I have mastered yet. I'm OK when it doesnt matter where the lines go, but, well, promise me you won't look too closely! To complete it, a kind friend donated the binding; a pair of old trousers!
So although I intended to enter it in an embroidery competition, I approached the quilt bit with the idea to Play. It didnt matter if it went 'wrong', because there was no pre-defined 'right'. It was good to practice some techniques and most importantly, I had fun!
7 comments:
play leads to improvement! YES! Fabulous! thanks for sharing that! he's really cute!
Very sweet! Love the sentiment.
That is adorable! May I copy it for my new house? There are plumbers and electricians under the floors this week and my Husband 2 dogs and myself are camped out in a small caravan :D
I would love to make something for when we can move back in and make it our home!
Yes - it is fun to play; and it can lead to such unexpected happy surprises!
This is just precious! Love the little gnome and the fabrics you chose to go with him--all remind me of the forest floor where he lives. Great!
thanks everyone!
I forgot to say, that i was lucky and got a runners up prize! :0)
Victoria - i can actually see where i started machine quilting and where i finished as there is visible improvement. i was tempted to rip out the early lines, but didnt: it's all part of the process, isn't it?
Kath - please do! though i wouldnt call it copying, as i'd be bowled over if you had the same fabrics (some are 1960s dress prints from my mum!). Can we see the result if you do? Please! Good luck with the new house :0)
So cute! And congrats on the runner-up prize!
Post a Comment