Women of Influence

Goodness! It has been a while since I posted but I have had so many projects, crafty and otherwise, on the go that I've got a bit behind. I've been working on family tree research, which has taken up quite a bit of my time and is very interesting. At some point I will have to share some of the best bits here. I have also been doing a little bit of stitching, the first piece of which I will share with you now.

My Women of Influence quilt square will be part of my Feminist Statement quilt.... when I finish it! It's one of those WIPs that goes on forever.... but I digress. Looking back at my childhood I have noticed many things that had shaped who I am today. Two of these things are She-Ra and Jem from Jem and the Holograms. Though both of these women are only cartoon characters I think they influenced my a lot - strong women who know what they want. She-Ra helps those in need and Jem has a fabulous wardrobe haha! So they both had to feature on my quilt. I wanted them to be on the same square as they are from the same era and the same media.

I've had the image of this square in my head and sketched out in my sketchbook for a while but finally got the chance to realise it now. I used a simple back stitch so the colours and the image itself were the main focus.

I used only three strands of thread at the most for the main outlines then striped down to one or two strands for the details and features. I'm always concerned about how facial features come out in my stitching but I think these came out ok.

This was a pretty simple embroidery piece but I think it will be one of my favourites in the quilt when it is completed!

More Jem embroidery to come!!!

SpiroHazard

The latest Phat Quarter Swap was themed around toys. I was very fortunate and got Olisa aka cocoaeyes as my swap partner. She made me a piece for the food swap so now it was my turn to return the favour!

I knew that Olisa loved hazard signs and wanted to include this in my piece. I then found out from her that she also loves Spirograph. I decided to create a take on the biohazard sign in a hoop for her, but instead of the biohazard symbol I would use a Spirograph pattern!

I found a pattern that I liked and centred it in a black triangle on a yellow background. I thought the Spirography design might take a while to stitch but the satin stitching of the triangle was actually a lot more time consuming - I always forget that about satin stitch before I start it!

I wrapped the hoop frame with some black fabric so the whole thing was a hazard sign and sent it off! I was really pleased with how this turned out and how much it was personalised for my recipient. I think Olisa really liked it too - right Olisa?!

Introducing Frankie!

One of our Guest Entertainers is a good friend of mine and bought me an early Christmas present. We were walking around Walmart and saw in the toy department a set of fashion dolls based on movie monsters. When I wasn't looking she went through them and found me the perfect one....

Please meet Frankie Stein!

Not only is she based on Frankenstein's monster (ie awesome) but she takes Home Ick class at Monster High! How funny is that?! She has scissor earrings and came with a tiny reel of cotton and a needle - she's a mini me! We have decided that Frankie is now coming everywhere with us - she even has her own Facebook page with photos of her travels.

In my free time I'm making her some new outfits and already she has admirers following her around! It doesn't matter how old you are, toys are still fun to play with!!

More adventures with Frankie to come!!

Child of the 80's

Originally I designed this piece for the STITCH Magazine Glimpse of Childhood competition, but I had to use Madeira threads in it. I couldn't find any Madeira threads in the stores that are open in New York on Sundays so couldn't enter, but stitched it up anyway.

The theme Glimpse Of Childhood made me think of toys I liked when I was a child, and characters I liked. I decided to combine the popular toy the Fashion Wheel with three of my favourite cartoon characters. My favourite characters also happen to be three strong women!

Jem from Jem and the Holograms

I used different colours of fabric behind each section like the different texture sections on the Fashion Wheel. I used Jem for the top section as she has the most recognisable face.

She-Ra

I used She-Ra's torso as she has the most interesting outfit. I actually stitched this section first. Originally I was going to just stitch the outline, but when I finished this section I realised it needed more colour so I coloured each section with coloured pencils to add more definition.

Rainbow Bright

I chose Rainbow Bright for the bottom section as her shoes are just so fabulous! Plus the 80s was all about bright colours.

This piece did make it to the Stitch & Craft show eventually as part of the Mr X Stitch Urban Cross Stitch Exhibition from 17th-20th March at Olympia 2 in London! If you're going to the show please do go check it out in real life :-)