Just wanted to explain, you will see my posts all have the same date which could mean I have been very busy sewing but in fact it's just that I have been slow blogging! All the projects have been completed in 2009 though.

For those of you interested here's the latest photos of Treacle (top) and Fudge taken last week. As you can see they are growing and growing and growing!

The needlecase was made for the May challenge on Tricia's Textile Group and this month's theme was 'pattern'. The pattern I came up with is taken from a photo of a vaulted ceiling in a Norman church in Crondall in Hampshire which just so happens to be where my ancestors originate from. I've 'reflected' the design 4 ways (you can just see the cross hair pencil line going through the centre).

I then free machine stitched the design in Madeira FS thread and burned away areas with a soldiering iron. It was then backed with some shiny gold fabric to show through the open sections. It was difficult to see the original stitching so I had to stitch over again this time with gold metallic.

The needlecase is lined with some dark red poly/cotton and the closure is a machine made cord stitched again with gold metallic thread and wrapped round a gold button from my stash. I'm pleased with the result but have made note to use a lighter colour thread when stitching on black!

These are some ready to wear T shirts and trousers purchased from Mothercare, that I have embroidered. I decided to make the embroidery into appliques and then sew them onto the garments because the T shirts were too small to fit into even the smallest hoop without unpicking the whole side seam. I didn't want to remove the pockets on the trousers as it would have been difficult to match the stitching and thread.

I tried something 'new to me' for the appliques by embroidering onto two layers of crystal organza which worked out really well and is something I'll do again.

I just finished this little outfit which is made using two patterns - the dress is Simplicity 3512 and the hat and pants are from Butterick 3782. The embroidered daisies are taken from a Zundt design which I cannabilised. The first photo shows one little daisy being used as a button at the top of the back zip.

Both the above patterns are multi-size which enabled me to use a small size in circumference but the larger size in length as my granddaughter is petite.
The fabric was bought at the NEC Stitching exhibition.

Birthday book

This is a little Birthday book I made for my two year old granddaughter. I made one for her first birthday so it's become a bit of a tradition. This year I used photos of her doing different things, that had been taken throughout the year.

I created the photo frames in Pfaff 4D software using the 'applique' tool in Stitch Editor and then cut away the inside of the 'frame'. All the embroidery was completed and then the pages bonded to pelmet vilene with Bondaweb to make them sturdy enough to support the photos.

Duvet set

This is a plain ready made poly cotton duvet set I embroidered for my granddaughter. I started by creating a rectangle in the centre of each side of the duvet cover then dividing the rectangle into squares. Creating the grid enabled me to place an embroidery within each square. The embroidery was stitched out on my Pfaff Creative Vision using the 150 x 150 all purpose hoop and two layers of tear away stabiliser. The outer rectangle was highlighted with ribbon. I washed the duvet cover after the embroidery to remove all traces of layout markings.

The embroidery designs were created within Pfaff 4D Software using a purchased design in the centre surrounded by circles of pattern stitches created within the software. I decided to place the embroidery for the pillowcase to one side in case it was uncomfortable against the face.

If I were to embroider another duvet I thinkI would make larger designs and stitch in a larger hoop to reduce the number of hoopings.