Every Inchie Monday - Jacket

Rather than not partake in this week's challenge word which is "jacket" I have decided to publish an unfinished Inchie!! Unfortunately I didn't have time to finish it before leaving today for a week's work  away from home so rather than miss it I have taken a picture of my Inchie as is.  What you have to do is imagine a nice blanket stitched surround and a line of stitching for the centre front of the jacket  plus maybe a couple of tiny French knots for buttons! To see what other brilliant jacket inchies there are please click on this link everyinchiemonday and thanks for visiting - I will put a picture of the finished jacket Inchie on next Mondays blog.

Every Inchie Monday - Rope

Monday again!  Don't they come round quickly!? Only 4 Monday's to go till Christmas!!  And today we were putting the lights up outside as it was such a lovely day - bright sunshine and still - no wind at all.  You bet your life if we leave it till nearer December it will be blowing a hooley, cascading water from the skies or freezing cold and covered in white stuff!!  So we have our lights up but not switched on yet I hasten to add!! So Rope .... I had real problems with this one - could only think of a boat with a rope holding it fast - or an anchor rope but so difficult to portray on an inch square in embroidery!!  Course I could have done a hangman's noose but I thought that was a bit morbid!!  But then half way through the day - when I was at the top of the ladder putting on the lights - goodness knows where it came from but I thought of "skipping rope"!  And so here below is my mini skipping rope on a one inch square!  Hope you like it and please check out all the other inchies on Every Inchie Monday by clicking the link.  Thanks for visiting.

Every Inchie Monday - Old

Hello you Monday people.  Today's challenge word is "old" and I think that's quite a difficult concept to put in a picture on a one inch square!  Especially in fabric and embroidery which is my favoured medium only because when I started I thought it would be a way of experimenting with different techniques!!  So now I'm committed and somehow a grandfather clock didn't suit my medium!!  So I was thinking and I came up with the oldest conundrum I know "Which came first - the chicken or the egg?!"  So I have tried to portray that - I had some material with small chickens on and tried to make a 3D egg!!  It's not exactly what I had thought it would look like but I had problems with the egg after I'd stitched it and pricked my finger and stared askance at a bloody egg!!! After a lot of sucking (the material I meant not the finger!!) I managed to get it to a colour that was egg like and I'm afraid I've gone with what I've got rather than start again!  However the idea I thought was good - maybe not such a good production of it!!  Oh well - you can't win them all!!  Have a happy Monday and don't forget to click this link at everyinchiemonday to see what other inchie makers have done!

Every Inchie Monday - Mouth

On Every Inchie Monday this week the challenge word is Mouth!  My husband said I could have done the Rolling Stones mouth!!  The one with the big tongue! However I thought more outside the box this week and remembered Zippy in Rainbow!  My kids used to love that show. Of course I couldn't sew a whole zippy onto a one inch square but I was in my attic room trying to work something out with a zip and I found this old one from an old sofa cushion.  I'd kept the zip as thought it might be useful!  I was going to leave the zip tag on but there just wasn't room in the one inch!!  So I just made the open zip hopefully look like a mouth!!!  Well I think it does anyway and a zip does have teeth!!!  Thanks for looking and please click on the link to view all the other inchies this week.

Birthday Card

I made a card for my great niece who was 8 on 30th October this year.  She is such a lovely girl always animal mad and loves it when she comes here as I have loads of animals too and know a kennels where there are puppies and kittens etc.  She loves to cuddle and mother things!  A couple of years ago we were in France with the grandchildren and the great nieces and nephews - a big family holiday staying with my sister and in the summer time there the fields are full of sunflowers which is where this photo was taken when walking the dog! When it came to making the card I remembered this picture and having just found some old samples of curtain material - one had sunflowers on it so I used it to make this card.  The girl is stood on the sunflower with a cat in her arms and I rather like the simplicity of it and the fact she's in red as is Darcy in the picture! Thank you for visiting.

Every Inchie Monday - Danger Notice

I had great fun searching through google pictures of danger notices which was this Monday's challenge word on Every Inchie Monday - there was even one with a crocodile on it!!  I was very tempted!  However I decided on this one which is obviously unsafe cliffs!!!  And it is supposed to be viewed as a diamond shape.   Hope you all enjoyed this week's challenge.  Please check out all the other player's inchies - they are all superb - just click the link. 

Every Inchie Monday - Thunderstorm

Firstly the opperative words for this week and last week have been storm and I was just hoping that none of you suffered from the St Jude Storm this weekend.  Luckily living west of where it hit we just had high winds but nothing like they had in Sussex, Surrey and Hampshire.  So Monday hit us sadly with scenes of devastation from the south east, and this Monday's challenge word on Every Inchie Monday is Thunderstorm.  A fitting word!  However I found it quite hard to convey this week and couldn't find the appropriate material so I opted for a plain piece of off-white and coloured in the clouds and sky with promarkers leaving the light area for the lightening.  I mean every thunderstorm has lightening even if you can hardly see mine!!  I did it in silver thread but it's so small!  I made more of the thunder clouds than the lightening.  Hopefully its simple but effective.  Thank you for visiting and please check out everyone else's inchies on this everyinchiemonday link.



Every Inchie Monday - Storm

For this week on Every Inchie Monday our challenge word is Storm.  When I was little I can remember lying in bed listening to my older sister and mother chatting late when she'd come in from a date and one of the phrases I remember Mum using a lot was "Don't worry it'll blow over - it's just a storm in a teacup!"  I never did know what they were talking about or what that meant until later in life but this was always my vision!!  So here's my version of "Storm"!!  Thank you for looking and please be sure to click the link and check out all the other brilliant versions.

Every Inchie Monday - Dispute

On Every Inchie Monday this week the challenge word is dispute.  Quite a difficult concept on which to do a piece of art let alone as small as a one inch square! However I have a brother-in-law who loves an argument, debate or dispute - whatever,  we always say he would argue that black is white!! And that's what I thought I'd depict!  So here is my version of dispute. Please click the link to see what other clever bloggers have done.

Every Inchie Monday - Foot

And another Monday bites the dust!!  Honestly I swear the days are quickening up - don't seem to get nearly so much done as I used to!  So here we are - Monday again and today's challenge on Every Inchie Monday is Foot.  And rather than think laterally like 12 inches, or the foot of a building or an animal's foot I thought about the delights of walking bare foot in the grass and so that's what my inchie depicts!  I did embroider some strands of grass going over the foot but it lost the outline of the foot and I had to unpick them!!  Hoping you all have a good week and please click the link to see what others have been doing.

Every Inchie Monday - Bag

Late again!!  Honestly Monday's come round so quickly and there's always something happening at the weekends I never seem to get time to sit and sew!  However last night I completed my bag Inchie which is this week's subject on Every Inchie Monday.  I was going to do a stumpwork bag using felt to fatten it out and give it a 3D look but I found this lovely sample of a leather type material and thought "that will be my bag!" So because I wanted the opening and clasp to look like metal I have used a variegated machine thread (copper and turquoise) as I had no metal thread,  to sew the top and put some French knots for the clasp as beads would have been too big.  I sewed the bag down with the same thread with tiny glitter stitches.  A little shading grounded the bag and I made the handle by blanket stitching over some strands of the same thread so it is actually not sewn to the fabric.  Hopefully this gives it the 3D effect I wanted and I'm rather pleased with it!  Hope you liked looking and please click the link to see what everyone else has done.

Every Inchie Monday - Gate

Well sorry I'm so late - no excuses - just didn't feel like doing anything this week!  Anyway finally managed to get my Gate Inchie done tonight which was supposed to be done for Every Inchie MONDAY!  I guess a gate wasn't exactly what I fancied sewing - so I did another scene - with a gate in it - somewhere!!!  It's supposed to be a farm gate into a corn field but the gate part is a bit insignificant - but it is there!!  Anyway happy weekend to all you hard working bloggers and please click the link to see what everyone else has done.

Every Inchie Monday - Road

What horrid weather to come back to - it's done nothing but pour down, miserable Monday but it's rather nice to curl up on the sofa with a fire going and embroider!  In fact this one was a hard one for me this week on Every Inchie Monday after all Road is such a flat subject for embroidery!!  So I decided to do a mountainous scene with a road going off into the distance and curling round the bend of the mountain.  Not quite as easy as I though but got there in the end though the road in the distance is a bit squiffy because the material was such a tiny piece that when I tried sewing it on it started disintegrating!  Anyway here's my take on Road and please take a look at everyone else's by clicking the link.

Every Inchie Monday - Car

Gosh I've been away for over two weeks and it's quite hard to get back into the normal procedure, plus we've come back from France with my daughter, who has been taken straight into hospital with acute ear ache, so rather a lot on my mind - hence the late inchie.  However back to Monday or rather it's Thursday now!  But the subject for Every Inchie Monday this week is Car and being on holiday reminded me of where we were this time last year which was Canada and Alaska and on this Monday last year we actually went up Grouse Mountain in Vancouver in what they call a Gondola, which is actually a cable car, and so I thought this would be a rather different interpretation of car!! I selected fabrics that seemed to convey sky, tops of mountains and greenery, using the pinking sheared edge as the tree tops, and a light orange shape for the base of the cable car - (this is actually like one I went in years ago as a child in Switzerland) - then I took a deeper coloured thread and embroidered over the fabric where I thought there would be shade, leaving the lighter area sun drenched. So here is my cable car complete with mountains and trees.  Wishing everyone a happy September and please click the link to see what other talented people have done.

Every Inchie Monday - Night Watchman

And so I've been to France and come back and gone to France again!!  This time to see my sister and have a week with her in peace and quiet having had all the family and grandchildren for last week !!  So this week for Every Inchie Monday the challenge is Night Watchman.  Well I actually have a tame barn owl - her name is Beatie short for Beatrix because when she was little and all fluffy she looked like one of the dancers in the Beatrix Potter ballet!!  Anyway I rescued her 19 years ago and she's still with us and as you can see very tame and having a bath in the dogs drinking bowl in the kitchen!  However I am diverting ...  The reason I've put photos of Beatie on is because I have always thought of barn owls as being the Night-watchmen of nature and so for this Monday my inchie is a barn owl perched on a bough with the full moon behind.  Please click on the link to check out everyone else's interpretations. Also I'm sorry if I haven't commented on everyone's inchies - I don't always have wi-fi and data roaming is too expensive so I have it switched off. However I am so impressed every time I go onto someone else's blog - you are a very talented lot of people and thank you for your lovely comments to me.

Every Inchie Monday - Song

Well I'm actually writing this on the Friday before Monday as I will be sunning myself in France by then!  So decided to write my blog and then I can just publish it from my iPad on Monday - hopefully!  Never posted from my iPad so fingers crossed it works!  Anyway this Monday's Every Inchie Monday title is Song and I thought of my canaries that were singing away out in the out-house.  Then, just as I was drawing out my rough picture, a blackbird alighted on the tree outside my window and really let rip!!!  So I changed from a yellow bird to a black one!  So my interpretation is Bird Song.  Please click on the link and view what others have done.  And now I can get back to my packing! Just to add - I am now in France and it is beautiful and we are all having a lovely time!

Birthday Card

Well I'm back to embroidering my flower pictures within the materials and since it was my daughter's birthday last week and we have some tiny miniature bright pink roses climbing up our wall I thought I'd try and do a card with these lovely roses being my daughter's name is Rosie!  I used a dry wet wipe as the base and coloured it with pink and yellow inks and maybe a bit of mauve, then bondaweb, then arranged my roses - (which I dried as they were very thick and juicy and didn't work the first time) plus some dried meadow sweet, then sandwiched it with bondaweb again and white organza - then parchment paper on top and ironed it all together.  Then I embroidered it with a new thread I'd just received from Stef  Francis in beautiful yellows and pinks - it was just ideal.  I tried beads on it but it didn't work so pulled them off!  Then I ironed on a piece of interfacing onto the back and glued it onto a card.  I thought it would be nice to follow the lines of sewing onto the card - so tried it out though you can hardly see.  Then I glued on a dried rose and viola.  Here is my card.

Every Inchie Monday - Pocketwatch

Well we've had a lovely weekend entertaining the family and seeing our 90 year old relatives and catching up with family history. Still got the sisters-in-law and grandchildren staying so trying to do embroidery is a bit of a no no - thankfully I did this last week in a spare moment.  Not sure if I shall be able to do the next two weeks as I shall be on holiday but I'll try!!  Anyway here we are at Monday again and I had this quirky idea for pocket watch - rather than a clock I took the idea of a little tiny man on watch in a pocket!!  Am hoping you can see him - he does hold a rifle and has on a hat but I had to highlight the edge of the jacket and pocket as they didn't stand out enough.  So here for my Every Inchie Monday challenge is Pocket Watch! Please click the link to see what everyone else has done.

Every Inchie Monday - Grey

So for today's subject on Every Inchie Monday I was trying to think of things that were grey!  And I came up with a grey Parrot because we used to have blue and gold parrots and our friends had grey ones so I thought that would be a cool thing to try and embroider!  I'm so glad I did this last week though as I have a house full this week and 4 are under 8 so we've been doing treasure hunts and long walks to exhaust them (and me as well!) this weekend.  Please click the link to see what others have done and thank you for looking.

Every Inchie Monday - Evil

I seem to have been very busy this week but nothing to post - as none are finished!!  However here we are again for Every Inchie Monday and this week's title is Evil.  I'm afraid I did the first picture that formed in my head which was a Devil's pronged fork and the horns - black on red felt.  I have to say it was one of the quickest inchies I've done to date so a nice change!  Please click the link to see what others have done.

Every Inchie Monday - Wild

I can't believe another week has gone by and it's Monday

AGAIN!!  And so it's Every Inchie Monday time and we

have to portray Wild on an inch square!  I drew a mock

up for my normal embroidery of a stylised wild horse with

 its mane flowing and I really liked it: which is why I've put a picture here for you to see what I mean - I liked the flowing lines but how to get them in embroidery because stitches tend to be straight!  So I decided to try and couch a thread in flowing lines but the result was really disappointing and I am loath to even share it with you but here goes anyway - I've done it now so it seems churlish not to put it on!!

You can see I've lost those thin areas which make the horse so sleek in the drawing.  So I decided to do another Wild Inchie and this time I racked my brains to think what would do for wild and so I opted for a wolf baying to the moon:  I am more comfortable with this one.



Every Inchie Monday - Fantasy

Once again it's Monday and this week's Every Inchie Monday challenge is Fantasy.  What to do in embroidery - as that's my favoured medium - that conjures up fantasy!  Well I was reading the Little Mermaid to Sophia the other day so I thought she would like me to do a Mermaid - so here she is!  Not Ariel as no red hair but although I think I bit off more than I could chew I managed it in the end!

Every Inchie Monday - Friendship

Well it's Monday again!!  Have had such a manic weekend with grandchildren here and the weather so gorgeous so no time for sewing except to make a dolly's dress!!  However now they are gone and in between trying to do the garden and weed a huge bed I keep nipping in for a cup of tea and to sew!  So this Every Inchie Monday the subject is Friendship and all I could think of was these two little girls I saw, sat in the dunes looking out to sea, with their towels round them, chatting.  Just seemed to say Friendship to me.

Every Inchie Monday - Story

The title of this Monday's Inchie on Every Inchie Monday is Story and I thought immediately of my daughter's favourite - Cinderella!  I felt that a glass slipper, a pumpkin and a wand would portray this story, but how to achieve it!! - on an inch square!!  I strated with a piece of pure white fabric as I always think of Cinder's ball gown as being white - although it looks pale blue in the picture! Actually having laid out the beads to try and get a slipper they sewed on pretty well but the pumpkin was a different matter and the green thread to portray tendrils and wheels of the "coach" as an after thought actually made it look so much better.  Sewing the word Cinderella was fiddley but having drawn a wand on in my sketch I didn't think I'd have room to sew one on but it looked lost without it so I threw caution to the wind, loaded my needle with gold thread and went for it!!  I really like it now!

More Catch Up Inchies - Life, Spring Meadow and Bicycle

Didn't have time to post all my catch up Inchies last week having finished them all now so here are the last 6  although I'm posting them in groups of three so at last I have done all the Inchie subjects from the beginning of the year for Every Inchie Monday. 

First is Life and don't you think the

germination of the bean just depicts life?

Next was Spring Meadow and this was one of my first inchies.

I think now I could do something different but at the time I just embroidered some beads over a tiny floral fabric.

And finally comes bicycle which I only completed last week being one of the more complicated inchies I've tried to do. I thought about how to do this for quite a while before I could do it! But finally realised that couching the thread in a circle for the rim of the wheel would be the easiest, then sew the spokes from the rim to the centre. Was actually surprised as this turned out much better than I imagined it would and was very enjoyable to do.

  



Last three Catch Up Inchies - Turtle, Track and Flowers

And here are the final three catch up inchies so I'm all up to date now and have 26 inchies completed to date! 

This is Turtle Inchie for May 6th.

Here is my Track Inchie for May 13th.  I really enjoyed doing this one although my railway lines have gone a bit wonky! And finally my flower Inchie is made with my preserved flower technique which I posted last week and is made with a real wild violet from my lane.  At last all inchies are completed.





Every Inchie Monday - Hour

I've been away for the weekend and had such a fabulous time, I'm so glad I did my Inchie for this week's Every Inchie Monday last week as I am absolutely shattered!!  However, this week's title is Hour and I couldn't think what I could sew on a one inch square!!  I was going to try and do an hour glass maybe in organza but then I decided to look at my fabrics for a base fabric and came across this one which looked like part of a clock with clocks in the distance!   I decided to do just part of the clock face and what better way to portray this subject than depicting the eleventh hour which is usually how I do everything!! Funny how this is the first time I haven't left it to the last minute - or The Eleventh Hour as they say!!

!!

Needle Case from my preserved flower fabric

So here is one of my preserved flower pieces made with wild violets from my lane and I have made it into a needle case:

 Front

Back

Inside ( I'm afraid I took the photo before I tidied up the felt edges!)

Preserved Flowers

My latest thing is preserving flowers between material. it's a technique I got from a project called Precious Petals from Stitch magazine.  I use dry wet wipes coloured with a bit of sponged ink as the base.  I lay a piece of bondaweb over it, then put the flowers on then cover with another piece of bondaweb and finally lay a piece of organza on the top.  You then carefiully iron over parchment pressing and sealing the whole sandwich together.  I've done a lot of experimenting and flat flowers work best.  Anyway after sealing it together you then embroider at will.  Here are a few samples:

 The one above is wild potentilla's growing in the forestry nearby plus ferns and to the left here is bluebells with a couple of dried daisies.  I have actually embroidered this one but haven't photographed it yet.  The one above is before embroidery and  below you can see the effect you get with the embellishments and

next to it you can see the effect you get when made into a card.

These are the four I made at the weekend



I have now made them into cards here's one of them:

More Catch up Inchies - Map, Travel and Mountain Peak

I'm a bit late putting these on my blog having said I'd finished them all!  The next 3 late Every Inchie Monday inchies were from March 25th - April 8th and the first was Map and I decided to try and do a treasure map!!  Took a bit longer than I anticipated but realised straight off I needed to do really tiny stitches - wish I could see as magnified as the picture turns out - you can see all the faults!!  But I was rather pleased I managed to get two palm trees in and a galleon!! Sorry I took the picture against the black of my laptop and you can see the keyboard!

The next one due was travel and I had this great idea to portray a desert island complete with sunset and palm tree with a plane disappearing into the background.  My granddaughter loves this one and wants it!  She keeps saying "can I have this one please" and when I say no it becomes "will you make me one please Nana?"!!

The last one of this group is Mountain Peak which I finished last of all and came out exactly as I envisioned it.  In fact I'm really pleased with these three but they were three of the last I did so I think I'm getting better!

Or maybe it was just the subjects I liked.

Every Inchie Monday - Wing

So this Monday's title for Every Inchie Monday is Wing and I have a magazine with instructions for a stumpwork dragon fly wing which I have been eager to attempt.  However when I started to plan it out I realised I wouldn't have room on a one inch square!!  So I have compromised and made wings from doubled up organza. I know it's titled wing but I couldn't give him only one!!   I hope you like it - I do!

More Catch up Inchies - Wave, Glasses and Footprint

Well I have finally finished all the Every Inchie Monday inchies that preceded the one I started with this year which was Melody and was posted for Monday May 27th!  So I am going to post them in threes as I started doing when I first decided to join this challenge my aim being to do all the inchies in material and embroidery.  Unfortunately I started with the first one "star" at the beginning of May and managed to do about 12 in order during the next 3 weeks but realised if I didn't make and post the inchie due that date I would never join this challenge - so I have managed to keep up to date and meanwhile have been playing catch up with past Inchie subjects. 

So the next one in order of posting is Wave.  I decided I wanted to do this in Felting however  having chosen a piece of black felt to felt my wool on I tried to do a wave but somehow got lost and couldn't make it look right - even after I'd added some beads for the foam it didn't look right.  I showed it to a couple of people and the general consensus was I'd made it too light underneath the wave so I added embroidery in a darker thread and some white French knots on the top.  Still not happy with it but I've now put too much time into it so it will have to do.

My next catch up inchie is Glasses and I immediately thought of Harry Potter!!  My own daughter had to wear glasses when she was 3 and they were the National Health ones the same as Harry's so I feel empathy for him!  I drew him out on the material but realised it was going to be difficult to embroider his skin so I have done a reverse shadow (although it looks like he's got a beard!!) and when it came to his hair instead of doing it in black thread I stayed with the neutral giving it a sepia look - I hope!!! Of course the glasses were bent wire. Am very pleased with him actually!!

My third catch up is Footprint and I found a tiny stamp of a pawprint in all my rubber stamps - didn't even know I had it was looking for something else entirely so stamped in black and embroidered over it!  I love it though - think it's so cute!