5 weeks break - stumpwork embroidery cufflinks

One of my great loves is stumpwork embroidery.  If you don't know it stumpwork is the art of 3D embroidery. Pieces are created on a flat piec of fabric, edged with wire and cut out, The loose piece is usually then added to another work to add dimension.  I specialise in making jewellery from my stumpwork.  (Commissions always welcome)

As stupid as it sounds, I often deny myself the pleasure of doing things I love. I commute, I work, I cook dinner, I complain I'm tired and go bed to work early.  Aah.

Finally I have the time, energy and head space to create.

Again its raining and raining. Its freezing cold.  I have the fire roaring, sitting stitching tiny embroidery leaves in autumn colours.

The edge is made from copper wire and picked out in buttonhole stitch. The details of the leaves are created in thread painting, long and short stitch.  A lot of people don't like long and short stitch but I think its the most forgiving stitch of all. It gives the ability to create subtle changes of colour.

When complete, I carefully cut out the shapes using sharp scissors and a good magnifying lamp. It takes hours to cut them out precisely and remove all the tiny fibres of fabric outside the wire edge.

Preserved with fabric stiffener, my lovely leaves are glued into cufflink findings. My husband commissioned them last autumn, so I made him two sets, from 4 mis-matched leaves.

You can see some of my other work here. 

Penfriends are great

Last year I signed up for a pen friend through a promotion being run by the craft revival blog. I was paired with a lovely American girl called Jacquie.

We have been writing back and forth since May getting to know one another chatting about the different words we use to describe the same things.

This weekend I got a huge parcel from Jacquie and I wanted to show you all the lovely things she sent me.



Jacquie hand embroidered this dapper bird for me - he's going on my desk at work. The mug is going there too. Can't have too many giant smiles at work.  I haven't tried any of the candy yet - that's all a bit exciting. How cute is that cookie cutter - to be honest I'm not great at rolling out dough but I'll have to perfect it now. A sparkly pen to write more letters with.  The Jacob journal is fantastic.  They have kept some of the original story pages and added in plain un-ruled acid free paper in between. Its so awesome I have gone online and ordered some more as gifts, for myself and others.  This one I am using to keep Jacquie's letters.


Do you have a pen friend? Happy to hear your pen friend adventures here. And tips for rolling out cookie dough appreciated too.

New DarlingBridget brooches hot off the hoop

I've just finished five new brooches to take to this weekend's Handmade Canberra Market. I really love making these. I make each leaf, petal and wing separately and then combine them together to make the brooches. Most times I don't know which I'll combine before hand. Like the small leaves in the foreground and the leaf with the little yellow butterfly. They were all completely separate but I liked them together. The purple flower in the centre is the exception. They were designed to be together as a copy of a flowering vine that grows wild in my area.

Launching new DarlingBridget range this weekend

This weekend I will launch a new DarlingBridget range at the Art + Design Christmas Market in Wollongong.

Friends and family have been sending me their favourite quotes and I have begun to turn them into framed art pieces. 

 Some are inspiring, some funny, some romantic. I have hand embroidered the quotes onto vintage doilies and framed them. They are ready to be hung on the wall or stood on a desk at home or at work.

I have tried to match the quote to a doily, looking for what seems to fit the theme.

What inspires you? What is your favourite quote? Please share

Custom orders welcome.

Quotes for DarlingBridget embroidery project

I have sent out a call for friends to send me in their favourite quotes.

I am about to start creating some art featuring vintage doilies and famous inspiring or funny quotes. I think they'll be lovely (hope) and will share as I make them.

The quotes are coming in so I thought I would share them with you and ask for your feedback.

Four and twenty blackbirds...

Interestingly some themes have emerged: courage and love. Also two different people have sent me Judy Garland quotes. Sounds like synchronicity to me.

Courage

"Courage is the power to let go of the familiar” Raymond Lindquist

“Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I’ll try tomorrow.” Mary Anne Radmacher

"Promise me you'll always remember: You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." AA Milne Christopher Robin to Pooh

Love

'love me when I least deserve it because that is when I need it most...'

"I used to read fairytales... but now I have you"

For it was not into my ear you whispered, but into my heart. It was not my lips you kissed, but my soul.

Judy Garland

More quotes are welcome, always.

What do you think of these?

Vintage teatowel finds await their new life as cool bags

 After scouring op shops finally pay dirt a new stash of souvenir tea towels. Washed and ironed they are ready to be made into new bags. One of the things I love about these towels is that they were rarely used so are mostly in pristine condition. As I recall they didn't dry the dishes well!

 They are deliciously kitsch! Check out this koala. Ouch!

 The calendar towels are my favourite and whilst most are vintage these wear their credentials on their sleeve.

 Apparently wattle was in vogue in 1979 along with turquoise and orange, one of my favourite colour combos. Seriously.

 The Aboriginal images are the ultimate kitsch but some are not PC these days. A little piece of our cultural history.

 Placemats - not quite sure how to use these but couldn't resist them.

 More doilies and traycloths. My mum is on the trail and picked up most of these for me.

I find these darling cloths so motivating, can't wait to play with them and make some lovely homespun things from them.

New DarlingBridget Store at madeit.com.au

I have just created a second DarlingBridget store, this time on madeit.com.au an Australian art and design website. My store address is www.madeit.com.au/DarlingBridget

I am going to concentrate on listing my art to wear range on this new store so have listed three autumn leaf brooches.  To see some of these brooches and read the story of their creation click here.

I am pretty excited about this new range of products and have high hopes for them being a successful venture.

By the way it is Sunday morning and another magnificent day in the Southern Highlands, clear, crisp and full of colour. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you are having a great day.

Ideas that take courage to manifest

You know those ideas that you have just before you go to sleep or maybe just before you are fully awake? The ones that bubble and perculate at the back of your mind for months. That ones that seem so perfect in your minds eye that it takes real courage to even attempt to bring them to life.  You don't want to shatter the ideal by not being able to make it as well as you dreamt.

I've just had a birthday. My Mum asked me what I wanted and for once I anticipated this and thought about it before hand. Courage was my answer, at least something that will make me feel courageous when I look at it.  Off to the markets we went and we found the perfect thing. I'll share a photo of it another day however because right now I want to show you what I have made.

I have been doing a lot of sewing, bags and purses and things. And making mosaics which I really enjoy. But my truest love is embroidery. The thing that ties me up in knots about not doing well enough. I love it but am not content to follow other people's patterns. I'm not content to sew doilies even though I collect them. I even put my work in shows because I have a need to be told its good. Then I stop creating again because the stress was too much or I didn't win anything. Aah the torture I can put myself through.

Well I've had a breakthrough. I have created the dream. And I know they're good, even before I ask anyone else. They are the dream idea brought to life. But enough ramble.

I have used my stumpwork embroidery skills to create three unique brooches. They are hand stitched then coated with a special glue that makes them hard. They are too delicate to be handled otherwise.  I hope you like them.

I am offering them to be stocked in some art stores. Otherwise I will put them up on my etsy store.
I can't describe how I feel. Like I've climbed Everest perhaps....

More op shopping fun

We hit the op shops this week. We started with the recycling shop at the Moss Vale tip, my favourite of the op shops. I bought two more little tables to mosaic, a vintage sleeping jacket, doilies. My Mum got magazines and some great clothes.

 
Next we headed off to a couple of Vinnies in Moss Vale and later Bowral. Here we picked up more exciting finds. Mum and I both bought some lovely winter scarves: a  vibrant blue and orange one for me, and a purple, orange and black silk velvet shawl for Mum.


Mum is starting a collection of ginger jars. The larger one appears to be very old.

More embroidered cloths, some buttons and a buckle that intrigued me - is it old or new?

Teatowels.



We stopped for a look around Made by Others in Moss Vale and treated ourselves to a chai and hot chocolate.  This art and design store features lovely bags, jewellery, art and quirky things. Very Frankie.


I love this tray. The wallpaper roses are very retro.

Mum picked up a bright and chirpy table cloth.

We had a great time out. Literally shopped until we dropped. It was such a major shopping spree yet everything came from second hand stores so I don't need to feel guilty. Quite the opposite actually as most of it will be upcycled.  

Amazing Aprons exhibition at Exeter Village Hall

This Saturday my Mum and I amused ourselves with a visit to the Amazing Aprons exhibition put on by the Exeter CWA (Country Women's Association).

The Village Hall is a tiny but very cute community hall.  They turned on a great display.

Pinnies on Parade

 A nautical theme

 I loved this hand embroidered apron with its little heart pocket.

 I have never seen anything like this diagonal striped apron with crocheted top.

 Ned Kelly style apron.

These frothy little aprons were so sweet, definitely for serving not cooking in!

Collecting and altering embroidered doilies and traycloths

The interest started when I inherited a collection of damask cloths, embroidered serviettes and a 

stunning cross-stitch tablecloth from my Nana. When she grew up her large family didn't particularly care about sitting down to dinner together. Later she learnt to cook and set the table from a landlady.

Some of my earliest memories are dinner at Nana's. The way Nana presented the table, our food and drinks, was always so exciting. There were prawn cocktails in glass dishes suspended over goblets of green liquid. Our glasses were festooned with umbrellas, swinging monkeys and swizell sticks from international hotels and airlines. We drank lemonade from champagne saucers and ginger ale from brandy balloons. 

I still have the swizell sticks, some of the glasses and the cloths. And I love to set the table beautifully 

for dinner parties. I collect and use mismatched cutlery as servers and like one off silver serviette rings.  

Click here for the cheesecake recipe.

I gradually started to buy serviettes to supplement Nana's collection.  I like the luxury of a hand embroidered lined napkin. I never use paper ones. I can't see the appeal when the cloth ones are so easy and cheap to buy. They're durable and pretty.

But lately I have been going a bit mad and actively looking in op shops for pretty serviettes and cloths. 

I am astonished at how cheap and unappreciated they are. 

Someone sat and hand embroidered these dainty little things and now they are virtually thrown away.  These four pretty little cocktail napkins were only 10cents for the lot. 

I had to give them a home. Washed and ironed they are perfectly serviceable. 

One of the serviettes I inherited from Nana was this pretty little stray. I just had the one. 

Until yesterday. I found these four serviettes. The pale and dark pink are reversed but they are otherwise a match! 

When I went to the Finders Keepers market in Sydney last year I noticed a trend to take vintage tray cloths and add extra embroidered images or messages to them. Framed they become a work of art far removed from their original practical purpose. This disturbed me deeply.  Mostly because I wasn't sure we had the right to alter something someone else had made. Typically after becoming more aware of something I started to encounter more and more of these little tray cloths and doilies needing homes. 

Most of us don't have dressing tables any more so we don't need a linen cloth with crocheted edge to sit our perfume bottles on. So this particular type of cloth doesn't really have a purpose. 

If it can give joy in a new way where's the harm? 

Wow, now there's a groovy colour combo.

I've been converted and am on a mission to collect the little lost things and breathe new life into them.  

This little tray cloth is so pretty I have added it to my own collection.

I am keeping this cross-stitch cloth too. It was in an opshop for only $4. The cloths below are destined to be altered in some way and find a new purpose. 

To conclude I have been brave, I have been bold and I have altered my first doily.  This cheerful blue edged doily has a happy island holiday theme so I teamed it with a hopeful quote from Robert Browning: All we have willed or hoped or dreamed of good shall exist. 

The doily now has a new home with my friend Rachael. 

I'll keep you posted as I alter others and offer them to new homes.