hand stitching

ever notice how lovely hand stitched pieces are small. like this beautiful elephant on the cover of Stitch magazine. It is 21 x 17.5cm. I now know why. I belong to a very small but great group of fibre artists - at our first meeting before Christmas last year we decided to work on a project from Quilting Arts Magazine Gifts issue. a bag from Linda & Laura Kemshall.
layers of sheers under tulle then lots of hand stitching. I worked on it diligently watching all the Christmas specials. you know the ones - the ones you know word for word - Grinch, Rudolph, Charlie Brown. Yup classics.
True to my theory that everything is smaller in the UK - cars, roads, fridges. I thought go big or go home. I started out with a fat quarter. so my stiched piece is a huge 42 x 48 cm. that's about 17 x 19"!!
all stitched and more than a few pricked fingertips!!
I love the texture, the bumpy surface where the stitching gathers up the batting.
the big question - what's next!!
Laura & Linda are know for painting on their quilted surfaces.
Yikes. but as Myrna said- the earth won't fall of its axis or birds fall out of the sky so why not!!

update on sunset

10 days away from the sewing room and I did about 2 hours of hand sewing on this sunset. I didn't have enough variety in the yarns I took. I am happy with how it is looking especially the bottom part. still needs lots of work. Here is the inspirational piece.

sunset background

all ready for hand stitching. This is a piece of the wool felt from the scarf I'm making. Little bits of wool roving and silk felted down. I forgot how luxurious silk rovings are. Some of the yarns ready to stitch a sunset. Or it could be a sunrise!

variegated

what is it about variegated stuff - thread, floss ,yarn that is so attractive?
these are DMC embroidery floss I bought at Michael's to do some hand work when I will be separated from my beloved sewing machine! I haven't done cross-stitch in years. I still have 2 beautiful roosters done languishing in the UFO box.
Its been eons since I've done any work by hand. I even resist finishing bindings by hand. I am interested in the following TAST has generated and my favourite magazine is Stitch by the Embroiderers' Guild in the UK. I recently saw it at a Chapters store but I get it when I'm in Northern Ireland because a special lady gets the magazine for me the day it hits the bookstores.
So its time I actually did some handwork again.
I'm thinking of something like this. the background is felted and then has stitching. I'll keep ya posted!