Sheena Chapman workshop - Branching Out

I recently had the pleasure of attending a workshop run by Sheena Chapman, called 'Branching out and Hang ups', at Calico & Ivy in Balmain. It is still in my WIP (work in progress) pile - but slowly I am getting it done.

The technique was quite new to me - involved taking a rotary cutter to your fabric with no pattern - shocking but also quite liberating!! Then cutting out the pictures in fabric to create butterflys, leaves & flowers. I am in the process now of embroidering the details and hope to turn it into a cushion cover.

Vintage Pattern Cup Sleeve

I recently updated my mugs to these beautiful 'beakers'. I love the shape and the pattern but they can be a bit hot to hold when full of tea or coffee.

So... inspired by jodie court's cuff... I made these cup sleeves using feeling stitchy's Vintage pattern from the February Stitch along.I plan to make a few different patterns so I have enough for all my beakers... I think the floral pattern contrasts nicely with the stripes - so may be some more organic patterns.

February Vintage Pattern Stitch Along

Have you seen the feeling stitchy website? They are currently running a February Stitchalong - so much fun. This is my first stitch along - but essentially you download the pattern and then over the month post pictures on the Embroidery Flickr Group of your work (either in progress or completed). Feeling Stitchy is also a great place to find free patterns, tips and tricks and of course lots of beautiful pictures of inspirational embroidery work. As you can see I'm still pretty new at this :) ! I had the most trouble with the petal stitches - keeping them even and not too loose was my biggest challenge.

Last week I had the chance to pop into the new Calico & Ivy store in Balmain. It is so beautiful I could have spent hours in there just looking. They have the most gorgeous collection of fabrics, yarn, patterns and books oh my! The hardest (but also most fun) part is choosing the fabric... this is what I came home with.

It is a bit of an eclectic mix of Amy Butler, Liberty and Japanese prints. For one reason or another these prints jumped out at me - I'm not exactly sure what I am going to do with them yet. I have a few ideas... but ...watch this space! Whilst there I also met Amy of badskirt blog fame. She is so lovely and helpful (even though I knocked over a shelf of patterns... oops!). I really recommend you stop by her blog or pop into the store in Balmain - you won't be disappointed!