Wool Embroidery on a Sewing Kit

This past December, my art friends and I did a little Secret Santa gift exchange.  I made a wool & cotton sewing kit for my friend Lulu.  

I used Sue Spargo's Greta Needle Roll pattern as the basis for the kit and then modified it a bit from there.  For the front, I used Sue's flower design instead of the plant that is shown in the pattern.  I added an extra inner pocket, the inner flower, modified the name plate on the back of the kit and a few other things.  

I used one of the greeting cards that Lulu designed, featuring her own art work (the girl with cat on her head), and turned it into a hand bound book with 2 signatures.  It fits perfectly into one of the large pockets.

This was my first time putting in a zipper, and there are 2 zippered pouches  inside the kit.  These were also the first bees and ladybugs that I made with embroidery.

The stitches I used are detailed below.

Front of the needle roll.

Orange/Yellow Flower:

Turkey work with Shepherd's Silk

Coral stitch with beads and Spaghetti thread

Seed stitch with Valdani

Single cast on with Valdani

French knot with chenille

Crested chain and bullions with Valdani

Purple/Pink Flower:

Drizzle stitch with Valdani

Pistil stitch with Valdani

French knot with Chenille

Bullion with Silken Pearl

Fly stitch with hand dyed silk ribbon 

Palestrina knot with hand dyed Pearl Cotton #5 from Sue Spargo

A little blurry on the bees, but they only stay still for a second.

Back of the needle roll.  There is space here to write the owners name with a fabric pen or stitching.

The outside of the needle roll. 

Cat girl mini book I stitched together using Lulu's card featuring her own painting.

Inside of the needle roll, featuring pockets for scissors, pen, ruler and a notepad.  

Zippered pockets on the left and right hold more items.

Bird pin cushion and wool needle book keep things in place.

I added a second small pocket and a mini embroidered flower on the right side.

Bird Pin Cushion:

Bullions for the black eye.

Small pink inside flower:

French knot with Valdani

Single cast on with Valdani

French knot with chenille

Bullion with Valdani

Heart on the needle keeper:

French knots in chenille

Bullions in Silken Pearl

Pistil stitch in Valdani

Back stitch of blue Chenille

Three different types of Sue Spargo ribbon used 

in the needle book.

A very quick signature done just minutes before 

presenting my gift.

Lulu - delighted with her gift!

A Little Cyber Retreat with Galloping Pony

Hello!  This weekend I've been on a cyber retreat with Galloping Pony: her second annual retreat.  We have been playing QUILTO - the quilter's version of BINGO, using quilting words.  We had a Valentine heart challenge to make a card.  I really enjoyed that and ended up sewing 2 things which I plan to make into a little fabric book with some pictures from my trip to France last summer.

 The white back ground fabric is a street map of Paris with famous sites on it.

     The Eiffel Tower I free hand stitched on the machine with no pattern.  It was pretty fun to do. My mom, Sally Jo, and I were sewing at the same time, which is always wonderful.  There is a star block pattern that we can try out, and I'll see if I can do that today.  I think cyber retreats are actually pretty fun - a group of women from all over the country sewing together - on their own projects and a class project.

 

     This is Sally Jo's appliqued heart card.  She stitched "Love" with 4 different shades of linen thread that I got her for Christmas. The heart is on script fabric that is attached with 4 of her grandmother's buttons to hand painted paper that she made this past October at the Art and Soul retreat in Portland, OR.